Pirouettes and Playbills-Ben Cook X OC

Chapter 17

Days passed, and we arrived in Louisville, Kentucky. I came to the theater early one day to start preparing. I walked into my dressing room and as soon as I put my things down, a knock came.

"Come in,"

I saw Ben walk in, excitement and nervousness taking over his features. "Indi, I'm going on as Crutchie tonight. Zach lost his voice."

I gasped and hugged him. "Oh my gosh, that's wonderful! And awful. Poor Zach. But I know you're going to be amazing."

"Thank you," he smiled.

"I am going to miss working alongside you tonight, but I'm so happy you're getting to go on,"

"Oh come on, all you're going to miss is us kissing," he smirked.

"Oh? Is that what you think?"

"Yeah,"

He started leaning in, but I pulled back. "Only after the show." I winked. "Besides, I shouldn't be kissing someone who isn't my boyfriend so much. It isn't very decent. I already kiss you almost every night anyway."

He laughed. "You want to go out again say, tomorrow?"

I smiled. "I'd love to." I leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Break a leg."

"You too,"

He left and I pulled my earbuds out of my bag. I started listening to some soothing nature sounds to calm my nerves. I had just started to do some pre-show rituals the past few weeks and this was one of them.

A knock on the door came again.

"Come in!"

Jordan walked in with a camera in hand. "Say hey to the camera, Indi!"

"Hi...?"

"I'm vlogging. I'm asking some people what some of their pre-show rituals are. Do you have any?"

"Yes, I do. I've just started doing them recently. I like to get to the theater about an hour and a half to an hour before showtime. For about twenty minutes, I'll listen to some soothing sounds like rain falling on leaves to calm my nerves. While I'm doing that I'll drink a lot of water to stay hydrated. Then for fifteen minutes I'll stretch and make sure I'm warmed up. Then I'll start gathering everything I need and start getting ready. It's not much but it's still something,"

"Awesome. Thanks, Indi." he smiled.

"Of course." I smiled back and he left.

I finished listening to the sounds and started stretching. As I got into my split, I remembered that I needed to meet with whoever was covering Ben's track tonight.

After I finished my rituals I left to meet with one of our awesome Swings. As I walked to where we were meeting, I realized I would have to kiss whoever was playing Race. We went over a few things and were practically ready for the show.

Except I just really wasn't.

Before I knew it, we were on stage. It was odd not to be with Ben in our scene, but it was fine. It was awkward too after he kissed me; I wondered what Ben's reaction would be. He must have forgotten about saying he wouldn't.

Everyone congratulated each other as we did after every show. I ran up to Ben. "Oh, my gosh, Ben. You did amazing! You nearly made me cry in your solo!"

"Thanks. You did great, too." His tone told me something was bothering him.

I looked at him. "What's wrong?"

He frowned. "What makes you think that something's wrong?"

"First of all, your tone. Second, you're not as happy as I would have thought you'd be after playing your understudy role. Thirdly, I can just tell."

He sighed. "It's nothing."

I raised a brow. I looked at him for a second and turned around to see where he was staring. I tried not to laugh as I turned back to him.

"Benjamin Cook, are you jealous?"

He looked down, still frowning. "No,"

I laughed. "You are too!"

He looked down.

"Ben, look at me,"

He looked up, still frowning.

"You're the one I like. He said he wasn't going to kiss me because he knew we had something going. He must've forgotten. Besides, he apologized when he came and told me good job."

He looked down, face red. "I'm sorry, I know it was stupid. I shouldn't have been like that,"

I looped my arm through his as we walked. "Ben, I'd be the same way if I saw you kiss another girl. It's normal. Are you going to stage door tonight?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah. I know after seeing a few shows I would always want to see as much of the cast as possible when I would go to stage door. Unless I'm sick or something, I'm always going to try to go to the stagedoor. I doubt I have any fans, but I still like meeting them,"

"Oh, come on. You're amazing. I know you have fans. I know who you're number one fan is,"

"Who?" I looked at him. "And don't say you," I giggled.

"Crap." He looked down. "Okay, uh well, where would you like to go tomorrow?"

"Maybe just like a snack place or something."

"Like, coffee?"

"Coffee?"

We both laughed. "We love our coffee, don't we?"

"Seems we do,"

~~~

Soon we arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Ben and I had gone out on a few more dates and were practically boyfriend and girlfriend, but not official.

We walked down the streets, hand in hand back to where we were staying. We had just finished a date and we both were going back to the hotel to grab our things and head to the theater.

"You know what, Indi?"

"What?"

"I think I like you,"

I giggled. "I think I like you too,"