Together

Cup Of Tea

Man guys, my dress rehearsal today just killed me. Wow I'm e x h a u s t e d. But I have a dance recital tomorrow so yay! Anyone else have any fun plans for the weekend? Do you all have Monday off too? We love a good long weekend. I can't wait to get some writing in. I've got some fun stuff planned for this book! Enjoy this chap! Don't forget to comment and vote!
-ab

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October 14, 2025

Harper

I show up at rehearsal the day after my little dance session with Patrick, absolutely terrified as to what the day is going to have in store.

"Alright everybody," Luke announces, "we are starting off with 'Land Of Yesterday.' Harper, you're off with Sienna. I'm expecting this dance to improve today, clear?"

"Yes sir," I whimper, shrinking into myself as I feel my other cast members turning to look at me.

"Anybody else who isn't in 'Land Of Yesterday,' please be running lines and practicing choreography in studio B. If you are not doing that, then please otherwise amuse yourself, quietly, and I expect you to be perfect in our first full run-through, which will be on Monday, a week from yesterday. We are getting closer to your put-ins than you all realize."

We all nod.

"Now, all of you, scatter."

Everyone stands up and begins to gather their things. Toby comes up behind me, just as I'm picking up my backpack from the floor.

"Harper, love, is everything okay?" he asks me, causing me to jump a bit, as I don't see him.

"Oh, um, yeah," I lie. "It's fine."

"Luke sounded threatening up there..."

"Look," I sigh, running my hand through my hair, "can we talk about this later? Hopefully it won't even be an issue."

"Okay," Toby tells me. "If you need anything, please don't be afraid to ask, okay?"

"How about some tea from the theatre cafe?" I joke.

"Do you want me to run over there for you? I totally can. I'm not in 'Land Of Yesterday,' and I'm off-book already."

"You don't have to," I tell him. "It was really just a joke."

"No, I'm going to go for you. What do you like?"

"You're absolutely wonderful," I tell him. "I'll go for a peppermint today, I suppose."

"I'll be back in like, forty minutes."

"Thank you so much," I tell him. He rubs my back, telling me to take a deep breath.

"Everything's going to be okay. I promise. Now, go off with Sienna like Luke told you to."

"Thanks," I tell him. "Bye."

"Bye."

I strap my backpack onto my shoulders and walk over to Sienna.

"You ready to put in some work today, girl?" she asks me. "You're not on the rehearsal schedule until the very end of the day, when we are going 'Paris,' and then 'In My Dreams.' Until then, you're scheduled to be working with me."

"Okay," I tell her. "I worked on it last night, so maybe it'll be better today. Patrick helped me with it."

"Is he a dancer?"

"No," I laugh. "A physical therapist."

"Well, it was probably at least helpful to get a fresh set of eyes watching you. Now, let's just have a quick stretch, then we can get into working. We will do barefoot first, and then get your character heels on, okay?"

"Okay," I tell Sienna.

"Would you fancy some T-Swift while we are warming up?"

"Always," I laugh. She turns on her phone, and after a moment, the opening notes of 'Blank Space' begin to play through her Bluetooth speaker.

I pull my sweatshirt off, leaving me in a leotard and compression shorts, then roll my tights up over my feet.

Following Sienna, I move myself through the flow of stretches, and soon, she decides that we are all warmed up.

"Let's just go through the dance and take it from there. Sing with it, too."

I do as I'm told and run through the dance. I feel good about it, and Sienna's smile indicates that she does too.

"Patrick must've done something right," she laughs. "That was a lot better than when I last saw it, Harper. If you could just do it like that for Luke, then he'd be happy and this whole thing would be over with. Do you understand that?"

"I know, but I'm just so scared that I'm going to mess up, and his eyes seem to be shooting daggers at me, and... ugh, Sienna, I'm just so scared."

"I know that he can seem intimidating, but when you get to know Luke, he's a softie. I promise. He told me yesterday that he really wants you to get this dance. He likes you, even if he has a weird way of showing it."

"He threatened to fire me."

"That's nothing in his control. It's his obligation to be sure that the cast can put on the show correctly, love. If somebody can't execute the dance correctly, then it would be any director's job to replace them."

"I suppose," I admit.

"But that shouldn't matter, becuase I know that you can do this. Let's just dance through it again, alright?"

We run through it once more, then Sienna turns to me. "Let's get those heels on and get it going."

I sigh. "Alright." Taking a seat on the floor, I rummage through my backpack until I pull out the shoes. Just as I'm about to strap them on, Sienna and I hear a knock on the door. She goes to open it.

"Special delivery for Harper," Toby says, holding two cups, decorated with designs from Wicked on the outside.

"You're a saint," I giggle, hopping up and grabbing the cup that Toby hands me. "What do I owe you?"

"On me," he replies.

"Thank you so much," I tell him, giving him a quick little hug before he heads off to go read over his lines again. "What a man," I tell Sienna with a laugh.

"Yes, but we still have to dance," she tells me. "Put the tea down, and let's get going."

After a quick sip, I obey her, setting my cup down in the corner. With my character heels on, everything feels a little bit different.

After a few hours of practice, though, Sienna seems to get through to me. I manage to do the dance the whole way through, without messing it up.

Twice in a row.

As the music ends, I let out a little squeal.

"I did it again!"

"You did," she tells me. "Good job. Go out on your lunch break now, and come back in an hour. We will run through this for about another hour, then Luke wants to run it with the full company, okay? I want you to impress him today so that you can get this whole thing off of your chest."

"Thank you so much for helping me."

At that, I run into the restroom to change my shorts into jeans, just pulled on over my tights and leotard. After wriggling into my hoodie, I head out of the rehearsal studio and find myself on the streets of London for a much-needed break.