Ostara : Barry Keoghan

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As the two of them were reaching the hotel, after a quick dinner because they ended up not eating on the plane and were starving, Theodora was practically bouncing out of her seat. Barry occasionally looking over to watch her excitement bubble over, smiling and chuckling to himself before looking back at the road.

As they were pulling up to the hotel, Theo could already see Lauren standing just outfit the front doors, waiting for them. She barely let Barry stop the car before she was opening the door and running out towards the other actress.

Both Lauren and Theo crashed into each other from excitement, hugging each other to the point of crushing the other with her arms. The two of them has become extremely close even both meeting in person which led to this. They exchanged messages and posts, FaceTiming and everything.

When they pulled back, both of them had the widest smiles on their faces, the black woman quickly signed, "I can't believe I am finally meeting you in person!"

Theodora smiled and nodded, signing back, "Me too! This whole thing feels like a dream."

Part of the reason Lauren may have gravitated towards her is because the blonde was the only person in the cast that was fully fluent in sign language. It definitely helped knowing that there was someone that could translate during meetings and everything, not having her translator around all the time.

"Oh, I'm going to go let the others know you are here." She hugged her once more before walking with a little more pep in her step than more, walking back into the hotel.

"I didn't know you knew sign language."

The sudden voice of Barry appeared next to her, holding both of their bags in each hand. She recovered from shock with a sigh and smiled, "When I was younger, I had terrible social anxiety so when they're were too many people around me or I was recovering from a panic attack, I would go mute. To communicate with the rest of my family when I was stuck in this state, I learned sign language and they learned how to understand what I was saying."

"Wow, I had no idea. I'm sorry you went through that."

"It's okay, I still have moments but I've gotten over most of my social anxiety. Besides, it has really helped me connect with the deaf and mute communities." They looked at each other for a second more, just smiling before Theo realized that he had carried her bag all the way from the car, "Oh, I'm sorry! I got so excited to just left you with everything."

"Trust me, I could tell. But it's alright, I am very big and strong." She laughed at the dorky look on his face when he said the last part, nodding her head, "Yes, you are. Alright, bug strong man, gimme my bag."

Barry laughed before rolling her suitcase over to her, watching her grab the handle before practically skipping to the front of the building.

"Man, this is going to be fun.."

***

As soon as Theo opened the door, the whole cast was in happy uproar. The hotel had let them rent a conference room out to do their readings in and as this was the biggest room, this was also where they were all meeting for the first time. Salma got to her first, pulling her into a giant, homey hug, one she would expect from her own mother.

"It's so nice to finally meet you in person, Theodora." The older woman said, her accent was addicting, especially when she said her name.

"You too! But, you guys can just call me Theo if it's easier. Theodora doesn't roll off the tongue as easily." The blonde said with a wide smile as they pulled back looking at everyone else in the room.

On the outside, she was happy and calm, but on the inside, she was freaking out. She was surrounding by actors from movies and tv shoes that she watched herself all the time. Gemma in Crazy Rich Asians, Angelina in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, both Kit and Richard in Game of Thrones.

God, she was freaking out.

"Excuse me, I thought I was getting the first hug." Angelina said, pointing to herself as she raised a brow, stepping forward in front of Theo.

"Well, Lauren already beat you to that but how about you hug me longer?" She said, her heart getting a little fluttery about the fact that these actresses were fighting over who got to hug her first.

The older woman thought about it for a second before nodding her head and wrapping her arms around Theo.

Everyone else followed after that, hugging or giving hand shakes to both Theo and Barry before Chloe came over, doing the same before saying, "Alright, now that everyone is here, very excited by the way, we are going to do a quick check in to explain what will be happening and a small read over the script. Just the beginning part as I am sure that most of you are pretty jet lagged right now."

The cast cheered causing the director to chuckle a little before continuing, "Now, let's get started."

***

Theo flopped on the bed of her hotel room, groaning at the softness and the other thought in her mind that she is going to have to get up at some point to put on pajamas. She heard Lauren do the same as her to the twin bed next to hers.

After talking it over, the two of them requested sharing a room whenever they were staying at a hotel. It was partly to make communication easier for the staff and Lauren with Theo's sign language skills. Also because the two of them were very excited to be hanging out with each other.

"So how's everything been going with Barry?"
Lauren signed to her with a cheeky smile and a waggle of the eyebrows as they both sat up slightly to look at each other.

"Great..nothing like what your eyebrows are insinuating."

"Come on, T! You can't tell me that nothing is going on between the two of you. I've seen the way he looks at you when you aren't looking."

"What? Nooo. We're just friends."

Lauren raised her brow at her before signing, "Oh really? What's his biggest pet peeve?"

"When someone coughs without covering their mouth."

"What's his secret favorite movie that he only watches when he's alone."

"Mr. and Mrs. Smith. He likes the slight comedy."

"What does he call his dog?"

"Baba but anyone who looks at his Instagram story knows that."

The blonde's face had unknownly spread into a causal smile. The deaf actress narrowed her eyes at Theo, signing, mostly to herself,
"Just friends my ass."

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