Besties

Uncomfortable

"So, how's The Originals going?"

"It's going pretty good, I guess. One of the other actors kind of makes me uncomfortable."

I pulled the apple pie I'd been baking out of the oven and set it on the counter to cool off. I had recently gotten a small role on a new CW show. It was bigger than my role in Cheaper by the Dozen had been. I actually got some lines with this one, however one of the actors who played a larger role had been eyeing me suggestively on set, and it was really starting to make me uncomfortable.

"Ask him to stop," Tom told me, looking at the pie longingly.

"I haven't gotten the chance. He's busier than me since he has a bigger part. And when we are anywhere near each other, it's because we're running a scene and by the time there's a long enough break that I could tell him to stop, he goes away or becomes preoccupied with something else."

Tom tore his gaze from the pie to look into my eyes.

"Scar, you're not the timid, shy girl I met ten years ago. You can stand up for yourself. Just go to his trailer and tell him to stop."

"But he's so much more established than me and what if it totally backfires and I lose my job or something because I confronted him."

"Okay, why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You talk yourself down and compare yourself to other people. It gets worse when you're drunk. Why do you do that?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I mumbled, turning away to grab some plates and cut us slices of the pie.

"No, seriously Scarlett, you've been doing that since I met you. Why do you talk down about yourself all the time?"

"I dunno," I shrugged.

"Well, if we are going to continue being friends, that has to stop, do you understand me?"

Tom fixed me with a pointed look and I nodded my head.

"Alright. Enough of this serious talk. Let's see if our favorite Winchester brothers can take your mind off of work, shall we?"

I grinned and raced him into the living room and jumped onto the couch while he grabbed the remote to turn on the latest episode of Supernatural. Things were getting really intense because Dean had gotten the Mark of Cain after splitting off from Sam because Kevin died thanks to the angel that was possessing Sam, Gadreel, and Dean blamed himself since he tricked Sam into letting Gadreel possess him.

In the episode we were watching, Garth was back, and apparently he was a werewolf. I was crying by the end of the episode because Sam told Dean that he didn't want to be brothers and for their relationship to be purely business.

"B-but he c-can't do that," I sobbed. "M-my p-poor Dean-y Pie n-needs his b-brother."

"Scar, it's just a show," Tom said, smirking down at me.

I jumped up from the couch, standing in front of him with my hands on my hips.

"JUST A SHOW! EXCUSE ME THOMAS JOSEPH WELLING, BUT THIS SHOW IS MY EVERYTHING AND IF YOU ARE GOING TO DISS IT IN FRONT OF ME LIKE THAT, YOU CAN LEAVE!"

Tom and I glared at each other for a few moments, and then we just both burst out laughing. There were very few things that Tom and I could stay mad at each other for, and something like calling Supernatural 'just a show' wasn't one of them.

***

A couple weeks passed, and the actor from set continued his behavior on set. It became clear pretty fast that he was a total player, sleeping around with some of the other actresses on set. From the way he continued looking at me, it was clear that it wouldn't be long before he made a move on me as well. One day, as I was gathering my stuff to head home after filming, my suspicions were confirmed when he walked over and started to come on to me.

However, before it could get out of hand, I sprayed him with the pepper spray I'd taken to carrying with me to set every day. When I got home, I called Tom immediately.

"Scarlett? What's up?"

"H-how s-soon can you come over?"

"I'm on my way now. What happened? Is everything alright?"

I could hear the worry lacing Tom's voice.

"J-just get over here. I-I'll explain when you a-arrive."

"Okay. Just hang tight, okay?" he told me. "I'm hurrying as fast as I can."

I could only nod, tears streaming down my face as I hung up the phone and curled up on the couch to sob. Ten minutes later, Tom came in carrying a container of Ben and Jerry's ice cream and plopped down on the couch next to me.

"Okay, spill."

I sat up, taking the ice cream and spoon from him and digging in as I launched into an explanation of what happened.

"Seriously?" Tom demanded when I'd finished. "He actually thought he could get away with that? You have to tell somebody, Scar."

"No," I shook my head. "He's slept around with half the girls on set. If somebody was going to do something about it, they would have already. I'm just going to go back to work and hopefully things will go back to normal, and it'll be like it never happened."

Tom fixed me with an incredulous stare.

"You can't be serious. That's your plan? He practically forced himself onto you, Scarlett. You have to do something about this."

"No, I don't. I pepper sprayed him, that's enough. I don't want to think about it anymore. Let's just see what's on TV."

I could feel Tom's eyes boring into the side of my head the entire time we were watching whatever channel I'd settled on. I didn't even fully comprehend what was on, just zoning out as I ate my ice cream and sat on the couch in silence next to Tom. Eventually, he tore his gaze from my head to also focus on the TV screen.