A gleeful reality

chapter 3

"And cut!" Brad Falchuk shouted. "Alright everyone, that's a wrap!"

"Nice guys, nice work. I think we're going to be coming back strong for season 2." Ryan Murphy praised the entire group who were now coming down from the stairwell where they had just finished their last scene, the group dance number for their premiere episode, "Audition" to the song, "Empire State of Mind."

The dance went perfectly for filming and everyone, especially Dianna was impressed with how good Cory did. It was like a 180 rebound for him after the pep talk from Chris and Mark. He was more confident of himself and therefore, more confident in his dancing ability.

Kevin stood up from the wheelchair and walked down the steps with the rest of the cast. "Yeah, we take our craft seriously." he jokingly told Ryan in return which earned him an approving pat on the back as he walked past.

Cory and Lea were the last two to start to come down from the top of the stairwell where they had run up to ask a crewmember a quick question.

"So, you really did great Cor, I'm proud of you." Lea complimented, giving Cory a soft nudge with her elbow as they made their way down the stairs. "You kicked those dance moves butt's. You really brought it from rehearsals a few days ago. What changed from the fumbling, unfocused Cory?" she asked, teasingly.

"I uh, got some good advice from Chris and Mark. It was quite the pep talk actually." Cory answered with a smile, brushing off her teasing as they stopped mid way on the stairwell landing.

"Oh? And what exactly was said in this pep talk to make you have such a turn around?" Lea questioned with a quirked eyebrow and an accompanying smirk.

"Well, what happened was-" Cory had started to explain when a voice from the bottom of the stairs called up to him.

"Hey Cory! Come here you!" Dianna called playfully with a summoning finger.

Cory smiled at Dianna and quickly shifted his view back to the petite brunette in front of him.

"Can I tell you later?" Cory asked hopefully with apologetic eyes.

Lea let a small understanding smile grace her features and nodded as she took a deep breathe and drawled, "Go ahead…" in an exasperated tone.

Cory gave Lea his famous grin to thank her and turned to continue to make his way down the stairs to his favorite girl.

"Hey!" Cory said cheerfully, leaning against the edge of the stairwell railing, trying to act nonchalant and cool.

"Hey." Dianna echoed, smiling. "I just wanted to say that you did really well with the dance and filming just now." Cory smiled and blushed a little, not enough for Dianna to notice though, and stayed quiet as she continued to talk. "I was a little worried about you the day we started to learn the dance-"

"Oh! The day you brought Alex by?" he interrupted in a subtly bitter tone.

"Yeah, that day." Dianna agreed in an up beat voice, clearly not picking up on the venomous tone Cory had given.

Cory wanted to roll his eyes from thinking about that day but decided against it and just nodded along instead for Dianna to continue to talk.

"But anyway, I'm proud of you." Dianna smiled a full on smile as she poked Cory in the chest.

"Wow, you know, you're the second person to tell me that they're proud of me today." He informed her, pausing to fold his arms across his chest now as he continued to lean against the railing. "You know, I didn't think I was that bad before."

A playful smile grew on her face at his reasoning before she said, "Oh Cory, I'm not even going to comment." letting out a giggle even though she tried not to.