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SEVENTEEN frozen - ╰────❀────╮
"I can run to the pit, and I have the orchestra cut that part" I'm sorry, what? No, absolutely not. My girl Gina worked hard on that tray-ography, even if she isn't here, it's being performed. Even if I have to stand on stage and do it myself. Well, maybe not that because I do still have stage fright, but I think you get my point. "No! I mean- uh. We can just have Gina do it!" I ran up to Gina and threw my arms around her. "Gina!" I heard the cast yell from behind me. "You're back!" I screamed practically directly into her ear. "Wow, you guys. I don't want to interrupt."
"How did you get here?"
"A friend bought me a last-minute flight back. I was gonna drop off these cupcakes, then hide in the gym and cheer you guys on"
"Gina, no one wants to hide in the gym more than I do."
"Wait, are you playing Taylor?" It felt like nothing had changed, and for a split second, I forgot that after the show, Gina would be gone again. My smile faded a bit, but I doubt anyone noticed since all the attention was on Gina. Which, of course, I didn't mind. "I was, and it was nice, and now it's your turn to save my butt and do the dance."
"Can I?" The question was directed to my aunt, but as her niece and student director of the play, I think I can answer it. "Of course!"
Stick to the Status Quo was even better than it was during rehearsals. As expected, Gina killed her routine, even if she has to leave tonight. I'm glad I got to see her do it on stage. I could tell she was glad too because as soon as she did her final pose, she was smiling harder than I've ever seen. Now, it's time for Getcha Head In The Game. I knew Ricky isn't a dancer, so I never blamed him for getting the timing off during rehearsals. Carlos always yelled at him, but choreography wasn't exactly my forte, so I stayed silent. But this was the real thing, and if Ricky messed up, Carlos couldn't help him.
I stood behind the curtains, careful to stay out of audience view. I cheered in my head every time Ricky killed a move he struggled with in rehearsals.
"Should I go for it?" As soon as Ricky dropped the ball, my eyes began scanning the audience, trying to find what threw him off. I stopped my scan of the audience when my eyes landed on the twins sitting with Katie and Bella. Memories of homecoming came rushing back like a flood. She was smiling with the twins like I'd seen her do a thousand times before. Katie was sitting beside her as if nothing was wrong. It didn't make sense. Of all the times for her to suddenly decide to support me, of course, it's now. I'm supposed to be figuring what's wrong with Ricky. But instead, I'm frozen just like he was. Except I didn't have a song to finish, and I wasn't the lead, so there was no reason for me to stay. So, I didn't. I walked past Kourtney and Carlos. I didn't stop until I was in the bathroom. I didn't even realize that I was crying again.
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰
The tears stopped a few minutes after act two started, I wanted to force myself to go back into the gym, but I couldn't. I stepped out of my bathroom stall and stared at myself in the mirror. "You're pathetic, you know that," I whispered to myself, before shaking my head. I sat at every single rehearsal, I'm seeing this through to the end, even if I have to look at Bella the whole time.
As I stepped out of the bathroom, I saw Ricky standing there. "What the hell, Ricky?" Maybe that was a little too violent because he genuinely seemed scared. Which actually made me proud of myself. Only 5′ 1″ but still intimidating, that's pretty good. "It's a long story. I could ask you the same thing. What's wrong?" I leaned against the table beside him. "You really couldn't because I'm not the lead. Why aren't you on stage?" Ricky shot me a look. "You're deflecting." Huh. When did Ricky learn to read me like a book?
"Does it matter? You're the lead, so why are you out here and not on stage?"
"Todd showed up, and it's Nini's big moment. The best thing I can do for her is just step back and watch."
"When'd you become an idiot? Nini acts the best when she's on stage with you. You worked so hard on this musical you're really gonna let Todd ruin that for you? Plus, we've had too many cast changes in this musical. Whoever Nini needs to impress is probably super confused." Ricky chuckled and glanced down at his feet. When he looked up, he was smiling. He held a hand out to me. "Shall we?" I grabbed his hand and practically dragged him back into the auditorium.
