Just for a Moment

65 | Last Minute

By now they were exhausted. The cast had all done the big dance for episode six so many times by now that they could probably do it in their sleep.

It was another break, and Matt and Joshua were standing by craft services. "Oh my god, I haven't eaten in hours," Matt said, munching a bowl of cereal.

"Maybe Tim would let us leave on a lunch break. I know everything is kind of everywhere with the schedule changes and all but maybe."

Matt shook his head. "Don't bother. He's in the zone right now. Besides, the food here doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon," he said with his mouth full.

"Why didn't you make a sandwich? It's not exactly breakfast time."

"I needed something quick. Plus, don't pretend like you've never had breakfast for dinner."

"Who said I was pretending?"

Matt chuckles a little with a little milk dripping down his chin. "By the way," he said, swallowing, "what was up with you and Liv this morning? And why did it take so long for her to get you back here?"

Frankie and Larry came over to join. "What to eat?" Larry thought out loud, tapping his chin. Frankie grabbed a bagel while Larry's eyes continued up and down the table.

"Nothing," Joshua answered. "It was an accident."

Matt raised a brow and tilted his head. It was like when you did something stupid, and your friend and/or parent was judging you for your decision. "An accident? If you're going to take the excuse route, at least make it believable."

"But it's the truth!" he insisted.

"What's the truth?" Frankie asked.

Before Joshua could answer, Matt chimed back in and said, "Josh is claiming that this morning was an 'accident.'"

"Accident my foot!" Frankie exclaimed, squinting his eyes at Joshua. "There is no way you could end up sleeping in a bed that's not yours without being like.... drunk or something."

"Look, I'll put it this way: I never intended to spend the night at her place; I was just worried after the fall to make sure she was ok. We got into talking, and I only remember falling asleep. I don't know what else you want to hear. And, and, that is what has happened every other time too."

"Ok, fine," Larry said, joining the conversation.

"I thought you were still looking at food," Frankie said. Larry shook his head, biting into a sandwich.

"Anyway," Joshua said, moving the topic along, "believe me now?"

"Yeah," Matt nodded. "But answer me this... do you like her?"

Joshua already knew what way his friend was getting at. "No, of course not. Besides, it wasn't too long ago that she got out of a relationship. I doubt she would want one, and I definitely do not need one."

"Mhm." He just went back to eating.

"No my ass," Frankie muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, Sof, do you have a minute?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"Um, so I just wanted to get something off my chest."

"Of course." They were standing next to the ledge in the cafeteria a little away from everyone else.

"You know how I showed you that song earlier?"

"Yeah."

"So I got this notification from Instagram, and, well... Just look." She handed her her phone with Ethan's post open.

"What the hell?"

"Yeah, so I had the same reaction-"

"So he runs away to Hawaii after almost getting us killed and is perfectly fine just moving on with his life while the rest of us are traumatized!?"

"Look, calm down-"

"Calm down? Give me one good reason why I should!?" Matt had a fucking panic attack the other day over this!

"Shh!!" Olivia hissed. "There's no need to alert New York about this!" She glanced over, and people were beginning to look at them.

Sofia took a deep breath. "Ok, continue."

Olivia sighed, thinking through her words. "I was just so angry in the moment-"

"Me too," Sofia added.

"Anyway, these lyrics just kinda... happened. I guess I'm just not completely over him yet." She sat down and put her head in her hands.

"Hey, it's ok to not get over someone in a flash."

"Yeah, but he's a maniac. Hell, we haven't even said anything about us breaking up online yet, and this is how people are gonna find out?! I definitely don't want to read anything about us. The media is always twisting everything around."

"Well, have you told anyone else this?"

"Uh, just Madison. She said I wasn't crazy, but I don't know. I just... I miss him a lot more than I'd like to admit." Sofia frowned a little, not knowing how to help her.

"Ok, let's give it another try!" Tim shouted.

Both girls stood up, but before they went back to their places, Sofia added, "Don't worry. I'm sure talking this out with the others could help as well."

"I guess."

That post really didn't seem to sit well with Olivia, and Sofia could obviously tell. That bastard's lucky he's in Hawaii.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They went back to their places, and it was going well. Not many mistakes were made except for when they were a little out of sync, but that was to be expected after such a long day.

They were currently at the part between the bridge and the final group chorus. Everyone began to come back together to begin singing once more. Unfortunately, it didn't end well.

Just like at rehearsal, nobody understands what happened; as they began to move to the right, Dara had stepped wrong. Joshua and Olivia, being closest to her, quickly bent down to try and save her. The music cuts as the cast crowds around her.

Dara's face was scrunched up as the pain from whatever had happened started sinking in. "Are you ok?" Tim immediately said.

"Uh-huh," she grunted. "I think so." Joshua gently pulled on her arm to help her sit up. Tim called someone over, and they handed her an ice pack.

"Can you stand?" Joe asked.

Sofia, Olivia, and Joshua try to help her up. "Nope. I... I can't put any pressure on it."

"Oh my god, what are we gonna do?" Tim mumbled to himself, panicking. Kaycee Stroh couldn't stay for long, so it's not like Dara had the same recovery time as Olivia.

"Larry!" he exclaimed, snapping his fingers and spinning around. "What if you stepped in?"

"What?!" he said, eyes bulging.

"No, no, listen to me. It could work. Someone could work with you, and we could continue faster than having to wait on Dara's ankle to heal."

"I'll help you with it," Julia offered.

"What do you say?" Tim asked him.

"I, uh..." He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to learn this whole dance so soon. Sure, he'd been watching, but actually doing it was totally different. But this was a big deal, and they were scrambling to have this done.

"Ok, I'll do it."

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Any stories you guys would recommend? Wattpad's been kinda dead since S2, so I'm just wondering.