Girl Meets the Real World

•6•

Okay, guys these next few chapters may be confusing as opposed to the timeline. This chapter (6) will be Rowan's POV when she goes to rehearse with Bradley. The chapter after that (7) will be Peyton's POV from where we left off in chapter 5 so it is basically chapter 6 from Peyton's POV. And the chapter after that (8) will be Rowan's POV after she finished rehearsing with Bradley. Sorry if that confused anyone, but you will probably understand as I continue the story which starts... now!

Rowan's POV

I burst out Peyton's dressing room door and began running, sprinting to the lounge. Peyton yelled out to me. He was wondering why I had to leave, but I didn't have any time to stop. I kept on running.
-
After running full speed through the twists and turns of the building, the middle of the Matthew's living room - which caused many crew members to stare at me like I was insane - and turning down some wrong hallways, I finally found myself in the lounge.

"Sorry I'm late, I lost track of time." I told Bradley while I rested my hands on my knees, panting. I was clearly out of breath. But to my surprise, Bradley greeted me with a smile.

"It's okay." He said with forgiveness in his voice. "It happens to the best of us. Are you ready to start?"

"Yeah, sure." I said. I had finally caught my breath after my morning run. At least I got in my exercise in for the day.

Bradley grabbed two short stacks of paper that were stapled on the top left corner and handed me one of the stacks. The stacks of paper contained the dialogue for the new episode.

"How'd you get those?" I asked him. He wasn't on the show and didn't work on set.

"I just asked Michael and he gave them to me." He answered simply while shrugging his shoulders. But I knew there was no way Michael would just freely give out the scripts for a new show that hasn't aired yet.

"You're lying." I sang as I looked up at the ceiling.

"Okay, fine!" he confessed. "I had to sneak into Peyton's dressing room early this morning and take his. I then made some copies, and put the original back in his dressing room."

My heart raced and my eyes went wide. Did he see Peyton and I? Surely he would have said something. Maybe this was his way of telling me he knew...

"Oh, um, how did you get in?" I asked him. He eyed me curiously as if he thought I was going to try it myself.

"Peyton always keeps his door unlocked." Bradley explained to me. "We have become pretty good friends with me being here all the time because of Sabrina and all. I remembered him telling me one day about how he always keeps his dressing room unlocked in fear of loosing his key. Why do you ask? You look really awkward and stiff..." I looked down immediately and realized that I was standing like a toy soldier with its arms glued to its sides, dart straight. I sighed.

"Did Peyton hear you?" I asked him curiously.

Bradley squinted his eyes at me.

"How did you know Peyton was in his dressing room last night?" He asked.

Uh-oh

My heart started thumping loudly. I was sure Bradley could hear it. A bead of sweat dripped down my forehead and I suddenly felt light headed. I made my way to the couch and sat down.

"He told me he was going to sleep in his dressing room before he left the chat?" I almost asked him. It wasn't a believable lie. I had never been a good liar.

"Rowan," he said softly. "I know that isn't true. Peyton had to carry you out last night because you were so tired. I saw him walking out with you while I was waiting for Sabrina so I could drive her home. What's bothering you?" He asked. "I'm your friend. You can tell me anything." Bradley smiled at me softly with kind eyes. I can trust him. He's right. He's my friend.

But I couldn't tell him just yet.

"I'll tell you later, just please, oh PLEASE stop interrogating me!" I snapped. If he found out, he would tell Sabrina and with my luck, she would say something about it in front of Michael and then I would have to have a talk with him about "keeping our relationship under wraps for now" and "not being shocked if we lose some fans because of it". I shook my head.

"Okay, okay." Bradley said. He was clearly disappointed that I didn't come out to him.

"Now let's get to work!" I said excitedly. "I want someone to practice this with before I have rehearsals later with Peyton."

"How does this make things any different?" he questioned. He wasn't being rude; I could tell he was purely curious.

"Because if I rehearse with you first, it will help me remember that this is only acting and is purely professional. Nothing between Peyton and I." At this, I paused and thought about last night. There WAS something between Peyton and I. But of course, I couldn't tell Bradley. I continued with my explanation. "This way, it won't be so awkward for me after Peyton and I rehearse." I concluded. He looked overwhelmed with information. I guess that was sort of confusing. And I wasn't sure if this would even work. It would probably still be awkward between Peyton and I. But after last night... I'm not so sure if it would be awkward anymore. But then again, maybe it would be even more awkward.
-
It was almost the end of the scene we were rehearsing. This was the biggest Rucas moment of the episode. I looked deeply into Bradley's eyes.

"We've been dating for a whole day now and it's not awkward this time." I said with a slight smirk. "A lot longer than the last time we started dating." I have a slight giggle. Bradley gazed into my eyes, looking at me as if I were the most precious thing in the world to him. He was an extraordinary actor.

"Yeah," he said to me. "I'm glad that we're ready to be together again."

In this scene, Lucas and Riley were sitting in Riley's mother's cafe alone after it had closed up. So, to get into character as much as possible, Bradley and I were sitting on the couch in the lounge. As the script said, we slowly started to lean into each other. I closed my eyes and softly touched my lips to his. This kiss was supposed to last about two seconds. It was longer Rucas' last kiss, which was about a millisecond long. We were about to pull apart when the door creaked open. We immediately whipped around and I saw someone standing in the doorway. Someone I didn't want to know about me rehearsing with Bradley. Someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Peyton.