Just for a Moment

81 | Consternation

"Ok!" Tim called. "We are now onto EJ and Carlos as Troy and Gabriella."

"This is gonna be hilarious," Julia whispered to Dara.

"I know. Who wants to bet that Frankie breaks character?"

"Oh, 100%."

"Everyone ready?!" Tim asked. They nodded; Frankie stood in front of a desk while Kate was off to the side. "Action!"

"Ok, we just need to nail down our lighting and our sound, and ta-da, we've got a show," Kate (Miss Jenn) said cheerily. "I need some bodies for the rooftop scene."

"I can do Troy," Matt (EJ) immediately volunteered.

"Fine."

"At least some people think so," he mumbled.

"Carlos, stand in for Gabriella. Do we have a working lightboard?" she asked anyone. "Do we have a working light switch?"

"Found it!" Larry called from a distance, so they would know their cue (his actual scene would be shot later). A lever was pulled, and the stage was flooded with blue lighting. The colored lights highlighted these mannequins with neon clothing, scaring some people and making them scream (mostly Matt and Kate).

"Sorry, everyone," Frankie (Carlos) apologized. "My Uncle Ruben said there was gonna be some leftover stuff from the fashion show. I guess the theme was '80s rave?"

"In a nuclear reactor?" Julia said off-camera.

"Big Red, do we have anything more flattering?"

"Uh, working on it!" A different lever was pulled, and the blue lights went away.

"Ok, Troy, basketball stuff; Gabriella, math stuff; nobody doesn't cry; and we end up here center stage," she explained as she walked to her desk. "Gabriella, give us your cue."

"Cut!"

Matt moved off stage to one of the crew members; she was going to put something in his eye to get a crying reaction since he wasn't able to cry on command. His eyes twitched as she did it, but he could feel it was already starting to work.

He quickly went back on stage and got into position, and Tim called, "Action!"

"'Remember in kindergarten, you'd meet a kid, know nothing about them, then ten seconds later, you were best friends?'" Frankie (Carlos) read.

"'Yeah.'"

"'Singing with you felt like that.'"

"'I never thought about singing; that's for sure. Until you.'" Frankie (Carlos) looked up at him like he was crazy. "'And now... I don't wanna stop... ever.'" Frankie (Carlos) looked in the direction of Kate's (Miss Jenn's) desk for help. Behind the camera, everyone had their hands over their mouths to stop themselves from laughing.

"That's excellent and a little weird," Kate commented off-camera. "Big Red, can we hit these guys with a spotlight?" she asked, so they could time out the scenes right.

"Uh, I'll look for it!"

"What is happening right now?" Frankie (Carlos) asked.

"Oh, I'm just emoting, Carlos. Feel free to join me."

"This is a tech rehearsal, and I'm your choreographer," he said, his mouth forming a line.

"Ok, boys, let's not wait for the lights. Just stand on your marks and give me your cue again," she said questioningly.

Matt (EJ) looked at the script before beginning. "'I never thought about singing; that's for sure. Until you.'" His eyes were watering much more, and Frankie was actually becoming concerned for him. "'And now... I don't wanna stop,'" he said, putting his hand on the side of his face. "'Ev-'"

"Wait, I'm sorry," Frankie said, laughing.

"Called it," Julia said, putting her hand out for Dara to high-five her.

Tim was laughing himself as he said, "Cut!"

"Oh god," Matt muttered, wiping his eyes only a little since they had to do the scene again. (They had to do it five more times before Frankie was able to contain himself.)

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

"EJ?" Kate (Miss Jenn) called. They both looked over at her, and she made a come here motion with her hand.

Matt walked out of the frame, and they jumped to Carlos's next line: "Wait a minute, I know what's going on here," he mumbled to himself. A prop ladder then fell right next to him, making people jump. What is with Tim and falling props?

"Cut!" Cameras moved to behind Kate for the shot of EJ walking over, a quick moment. The ladder was picked up and prepared to be knocked over again for the next scene. "Action!"

Matt (EJ) chuckled and wiped an eye, walking towards her. I didn't think I'd be crying this much. "Yeah?"

"Are you sick?" she asked bluntly. The ladder fell, and the cast all jumped again, even though they've already experienced it once.

"Big Red, did you do that?"

"No." She jumped and screamed when Larry was suddenly sitting right next to her, the camera moving over to get him in the frame.

"Cut! That was great, guys," Tim complimented. "Let's run through it a few more times then we should be done. Matt, can I talk with you for a second?"

"Uh, sure."

When he went over to him, Tim asked, "Are you ok? I didn't think your eyes would get that red?"

"No no, I'm fine," Matt said, wiping his eyes. "I'll be fine."

"Ok." He then raised his voice to address everyone else. "Let's go through this again."

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

This scene took a lot longer than they thought it would because once one thing was completed, Tim would say they needed to do three more. "Ok, I think the next step is-" He was cut off with a blaring alarm.

Everyone looked around and saw the fire alarms flashing. "This isn't part of the episode, is it?" Larry asked.

"Everyone out of the building now!!" Tim yelled, pointing to a side exit since it was closer.

"Wait, what about Liv and Jo-?" Julia began. She was pushed out of the theater by everyone else's scrambling, and her voice was drowned out by the alarms.

They made it outside fairly quickly. "Oh my god, where are Josh and Liv!?" Joe yelled.

"Thank you!" Julia exclaimed.

Joanna and the camera people with her then came running out of the building. "Are Josh and Liv with you?" Tim asked her.

"I think so. I told them to follow me back to the theater," she explained.

"Who would've pulled the fire alarm?" Larry asked. Everyone shook their heads, confused; no one claimed to have done it.

"Oh my god!" Frankie exclaimed, his hands coming to his face. "Josh and Liv pulled it! And they're still stuck in there!"

"They probably don't have their phones on them either," Dara added.

"Oh god, oh god," Tim mumbled, getting out his phone. It wasn't long before they heard sirens in the distance.

"What do we do!?" Matt panicked.

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I don't remember where I heard this (or even if it's true), but I could've sworn Matt said something about them having to do something to his eyes before the EJ/Carlos rooftop scene, so he would cry.
(I have no clue if I made that up or if it's in an interview somewhere. [It's been a hot minute since I've watched any interviews of them.])