Three's A Crowd

Eighty | Rough Times Usually Call For Two

The debrief Alvy gave you on the kid took no longer that twenty minutes long, a grand chorus of utter silence falling upon all the little groups present  within the area as a staticky sound of who was probably Webb filled the cold air as he disclosed the information to all you on Pineda's phone.

As you unstrap the belly prop, your phone starts to buzz and vibrate on your bed. You quickly reach over to it and flip it over on the screen, struggling to unclasp the prop with only one hand. Sebastian's saved contact name is flashing on the upper part of your screen as you work behind you and set the prop down and slide to answer, your whole body feeling lighter and more relaxed as you await for the brunet's voice to fill your still-cold trailer.

"Hey."

"Hey. Just wanted to check in on you," he says quietly, his voice hoarse and gravelly. "A whole night shoot is pretty tiring."

"Tell me about it," you giggle softly and plop down on the bed, sighing. "Nothing a few cups of coffee couldn't fix."

"I doubt coffee does anything but make you more sleepy (y/n). I know your coffee clock by heart."

"Time zones in Georgia have you switching the usual for a general normality for caffeine purpose, add in the upcoming cold of the Christmas season, it actually works when there's no where to actually lay down without accidentally freezing yourself to death. Hot chocolate here just doesn't do it for me like Chris's does."

"That's actually the only part in this whole conversation where I agree with you."

"Just another day at work... same days, different hours, another redo shoot if the directing group want to change something up a bit," you huff in slight annoyance, tucking your free hand in your other arm. "They serve Barako coffee here, so, the bitter, the better, I guess."

Sebastian remains quiet on the other end of the line, and you swore you could hear him smiling, biting back a laugh behind the straight set of those pearly whites you've known since you were twelve. "I'll quote you on that."

"Please don't."

"There are cafes in New York that serve Barako. Rare, but they exist. Might take you on a little coffee date, drag Chris along and get him used to stronger hits of caffeine."

"I promise, it's just the work. We had to postpone shooting for the night. A local film crew lost a little girl and they need all the help they can get."

"She couldn't have gone missing this long if you guys are hearing about it now. Couldn't have gotten that far either."

"It's been more than nth hours... and she's only about eight years old. You know I drink strong coffee only when I need to."

"Yeah. Just not Barako."

"When I really need to." you try to emphasize, an impulsive three-second thought of guiltily luring your boyfriend into a false sense of having to rightfully know what you had meant when you emphasized the second time.

"Well, not that much that you're compromising your well-being for it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I know that a certain level of caffeine spikes anxiety. It's not a good..."

You purse your lips, the furrow of your brow causing creases to appear on your forehead as you stared yourself down in the little mirror you had there. "It was only a cup, I'm fine."

"A full cup nonetheless," Sebastian pointed out. "Look, I might be overlooking into this, but I just wanna know if you're okay. I'll drop it if you deny me the third time, but I just want to know, from the rawest expression of everything that's your voice, if you're okay." you hold your breath, shamefully looking away from the mirror set up besides your bed. "Because then I'll know. Then I'll try my luck tomorrow, give you the time and maybe wait by the phone throughout the day for you to call me yourself."