Falling For The Co-Star

Incomplete

My phone wakes me up with a message on the screen, 'Hey Gaby, hope you're feeling better today? Donnie xx'

I squint to try to read it, still feeling sleepy. Carl taps on my bedroom door, oh crap did he stay over?! I shot out of bed to check him. "I didn't know you would still be here, Carl." He looks sheepishly. "I wanted to make sure you were okay. I'm sorry for upsetting you yesterday." I roll my eyes. I walk past him towards the kitchen. "Want anything?" He laughs, "you sit down sis, I'll sort breakfast out. The least I can do." Guess I can't argue with that. I plonk myself down on the kitchen table. He tells me how I shouldn't go without breakfast because he doesn't want me to end up in hospital. "I was running late. And I was just tired. I'm not fragile Carl. I'll make sure I look after myself, okay?" I try to reason with him. Maybe I should encourage him to spend time with Dawn, then one thing for certain is that he'll back off from me.
"Have you spoken to Dawn lately?" I glance at him. "Yeah, she's pretty cool. We're gonna hang out later after work." Ohh, curiosity is getting the better of me, "have you seen a lot of her?" I notice him smirking, he begins to nervously whistles. "Carl, I wasn't asking anything like that, eww. I guess you're getting to know each other well then." I pretend to gag. "Oh shut it sis! No complaints from me." Eww gross. I put my hands over my ears. Definitely don't want the image of my dear brother in this way! Think of something nice... Donnie appears in my thoughts. Hmm that's much nicer. This reminds me, I should reply back to him. 'Hi D, I'm feeling much better today, thank you. Just having breakfast then I'll be on my way soon. Gaby xx' I watch the screen to see if he reads it. The three little dots flicker on the screen, 'stay home and rest! D xx' I don't respond, instead I eat my breakfast. I quickly get ready. "Gabrielle, why don't you just rest for today, surely they can manage without you for one day?!" Carl tries to change my mind and reluctantly agrees to drop me off whenever I'm ready. An hour later and we're pulling up outside the studio. Dawn is waiting for us, I guess Carl been talking to her about me. "Hey girly!! Been given strict orders to look after you." She hugs me as soon as I get out of the car. "Huh, I'm fine!" Just as I think she's going to walk with me, she climbs into the car. "I'm on a break, be back in an hour. Don't worry, I've organised for someone to monitor you while I'm gone. See ya soon!" They wave, and Carl drives off. I'm stood here stunned. Like, what the hell. I laugh. I start to walk to my dressing room and to get ready for my first scenes. "And what do you think you're doing?" That manly familiar voice booms from behind me, I stop, turn around and I'm stood face to face with Donnie. I smile. "Hi Donnie. I'm going to my dressing room to get ready. Isn't that what you do when you're at work, actually work?" I playfully question him. "Gaby. I don't want you to collapse again." Looking at the worry that's etched on his face. "Honestly, I appreciate you caring, but I'm really am feeling much better." All of a sudden, I feel his arms around me. I follow suit and put my arms around his body. "Okay. I have been given orders to look after you though, please take it easy. No doing any active scenes today." I agree. We part and  carry on walking to my room. "I have my phone on me so don't worry." I try to reassure him. I go inside and he goes to his own. I sit down and breathe a sigh of relief. I quickly change and open my door slightly for the makeup artist to come in when she's ready.
Half an hour later when I'm all ready for my first scene of the day. Thankfully for everyone else, my character is mostly sitting down. There's a knock at the door. "Come in." I see his big smile before I see the rest of him. "Are you ready for some work then?" He questions me. I stand up and walk towards him. I pat him on the shoulder, "ready as I'll ever be, Wahlberg!" He gestures for me to walk past him which I do.
Again our characters are not the best of partners with miscommunication or differences. Whatever Gaby's character says or does, always ends up going awry which causes Danny (Donnie's character) to get frustrated with her.
The crew stop filming for everyone to have some dinner. "Would you like to go to the local diner with me?" Donnie asks me. "Okay, let me just grab my coat and bag." He comes with me. Ten minutes later, we're at the little diner. I'm looking at the menu. A waitress comes to take our order. Donnie orders a cheeseburger and I get a tuna and mayonnaise jacket potato. "You've certainly made an impact with everyone at work. How are you liking it?" Genuinely, I can't help but smile. "It's great. I'm so thankful for this opportunity. It's been a lot of fun too." The same waitress brings our order. " enjoy!" We thank her.

"So you live a varied life with working on Blue Bloods and being in the New Kids. How do you manage it all?" He shrugs his shoulders. "It's all about balance. When I'm not working on here, I'm there with the guys. I can't and won't complain because it could all be taken away tomorrow. We just got to be grateful."
"I listened to some of your music. It's actually really good. Can't remember the songs but they were fun." I tell him. He beams. "Glad you enjoyed our music. You should definitely come and see us on tour, unless you'd rather be at a Backstreet Boys show?" He smirks. "I'm sure I can tear myself away from BSB for a few hours, I won't be Incomplete without them." I playfully roll my eyes at him. "If it's too much trouble then never mind. You're missing out." I burst out laughing. If only he knew how much I would love to see him perform. He's a good sport for playing along with me like he has. We check the time and realise we need to get back to the studio, so we pay up and leave.