Zach Stone's Last Laugh

Chapter 3

Now the two young adults sat in Zach's dressing room, it was clean besides the water bottles laying around in miscellaneous areas and a oxygen tank in the corner- Genesis assumed to make sure Zach didn't die while doing all of his songs in one fucking breath....maybe she was exaggerating. "You did amazing out there tonight, by the way." Genesis spoke softly, her legs insecurely crossing in front of her as she sat on the chair opposite of Zach on the couch. Her voice wavered in its tone due to the fact it had to cut through a thick layer of awkward tension that hung over the two. Who knew two anxiety ridden humans couldn't carry a conversation properly?

"Thank you. I'm glad you were able to enjoy it." The response was simple, with a small bitter taste lingering in Zach's mouth as he leaned into the word 'you'. He didn't mean to be coming off so rude, but something about today's show had really rubbed him raw- and particularly low in his "people battery".

"That last song...it hit way harder than you thought it would, didn't it?" Genesis mumbled out after a few seconds of letting Zach bask in his own regret of being so unprofessional. Zach's head shot up at the young woman's accusation, his eyebrows furrowed as if he was offended by such a question- when in reality he would later label it a defense mechanism.

"What are you talking about?" He questioned in an unintentionally condescending tone, "Look, I leave my show vague and pretty open to interpretation on purpose, but that's so you can reflect on yourself. Not project onto me." Again with the one breath sentences, these two really did have more in common than they would perceive. Once Zach finished his sentence, his eyes raised from the floor to meet Genesis's eyes, the eye contact making him slow his movements. His brain went blank and his hands that he used to express himself had came to a frozen position in front of his sternum.  He didn't regret what he had said, he needed to say it, people were always trying to paint their views as reality- or as if what they thought was the only possible out come of what he had created. It was his. Not theirs. What he did regret however, was the person he had said it to- he was in fact doing the exact thing he had just Genesis not to do.

"I'm making an observation. At some parts, I genuinely believed you were going to break down and have a panic attack right in front of everyone." Genesis stated as if it was the most simple and obvious thing in the world, but not everyone had gotten that uncomfortable vibe like she had gotten from the show. Some had believed Zach was in his prime, every single time he was on the stage, but this performance of 'what.' was one of the hardest for him.

"I was." Zach shrugged it off, giving off the same ignorance that Genesis had to her sentence previously. "But as they say, the show must go on." He sighed out, relaxing back into the couch- feeling as though admitting he had gone through a serious incident in front of 100s of people, took a huge weight off of him.

"Didn't know you were one to dump all the beans at once." Genesis whispered mostly to herself, not knowing exactly what to say. She could explain that she understands and explain to him that, that's not good and he's ruining himself for powering through- but she wouldn't want to hear that. She's 99% sure he already is yelling that to himself in his head. "Do you do that often?" She questioned, her legs unwinding from themselves as she also relaxed a little.

"More often then I would like to admit-" Zach stopped himself when he really processed what Genesis had whispered, he knew she was mostly talking to herself- but he was also thinking it. Why was he telling this to her? Somehow, he could understand she said it just to help her cope with the awkwardness of the situation- for that he grateful. "What was your favorite song- shoot!" He said in a higher pitched tone than before, he was able to push past the spillover of anxiety and put on his small smile. It was genuine, as genuine as he could give at the time.

Nice way to change the topic, Genesis was also applauding him in her own mind. "Left brain, right brain. But prolonged eye contact really got me going in the first half." She laughed as she replied, her hand coming up to lessen the volume of her laugh as it passed her lips. That one got a nice laugh out of Zach as well, knowing the awkwardness of prolonged eye contact matched Genesis.

"Ah yes, prolonged eye contact took me hours to write. Sadly, you were not chosen to be stared at during the show." Zach said, in his mind questioning why it was sad, but he would brush it off as being because it would've been even more funny to grab his junk at a famous actress. "But again, why are you wanting to talk again." There he was, terribly segwaying again. He would have to work on that. He doesn't think it's as funny in real life as it is on the stage. He had to remind himself how exhausted he was while speaking to Genesis, if they spoke any longer he might say something and regret it. At least, that's usually how it went.

"Honestly, Harini did most of the talking with Douglass- over whatever they were thinking about doing, but I would love to be friends." Genesis tried to explain as best as she could, she really should've asked Harini what she was here to do. "I mean, not to push a friendship, but on a business level I think we could really do something. Whether it be a movie, writing something together, or just- existing and acknowledging each other once in a while." She rambled out, trying to over explain everything in order to hopefully make it sound friendly and not like the two were making a business deal- when really, that's all Genesis could do. Genesis constantly questioned every friendship she had with other celebrities, even staff members. Since they were so rooted in her career, and professionalism, she felt as if she truly didn't have any friends outside the singular person she had kept since middle school. Her twin flame. She'd think more about her later when she wasn't stressing over some white man's response.