Sequel (Advent Calendar 2016)

THE 2ND OF DECEMBER

The 2nd of December

...

Rob's in his own thoughts, chewing on some cold nachos, when a familiar voice sounds behind him.

"Mind if I sit here?"

He looks up at Kristen. She's standing on the opposite side of the table with a sandwich and a coke in her hands.

The way she's looking at him makes him doubt if she thinks he's gonna decline.

"Of course," he says with his mouth full of crisps. She sits down in the chair across from him, and he's almost about to take her hand and lean over and kiss her. He shakes his head.

"When's our next scene?" He asks, not because he doesn't know, but because he needs to distract his mind.

"In an hour," she answers, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"And which scene?"

"Uh, pretty sure it's the one where Daniel and Chloe meet."

He looks at her with wide eyes.

"I love that scene!"

"Me too! I literally sat with my mouth agape when I read it. The dialogue, the way they interact... I can't wait to play it out," Kristen babbles excitedly, with that smile that Rob has seen countless times before. It's the smile she had when she'd come home after a good day on set, or after she'd read a great script. He can still picture her standing in the doorway, with that smile on her lips and a script in her hands, waving it slightly. "Good?" He'd ask her, her smile rubbing off on him. "Amazing," she would say.

It's her "I love my job" smile.

She had that smile on her face after they filmed the first scene yesterday.

"Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how it works on screen. There's another scene too, I can't remember when it is. I think it's when they have the really intense talk, where he tells her that, ugh, I don't remember the line, but the dialogue is incredible, such well-written lines. I am so excited to film that as well."

Kristen has a look on her face that Rob can't quite place.

"Isn't that the kissing scene as well?" She asks.

He looks down at his nachos, suddenly finding them very interesting as he feels blood rushing to his cheeks.

"Uh, yeah, I guess so," he says nonchalantly, popping a crisp into his mouth. He looks up at her. They avoid eye contact, then chuckle awkwardly.

"Kissing scenes..." Kristen says, dragging the words out, not knowing where she's going with it.

"Gotta do it for the job," Rob finishes for her.

Kristen snorts. He looks questioningly at her.

"For the job? Please."

"What do you mean?"

"Twilight."

"I am familiar with that movie, yes."

Kristen rolls her eyes. Rob chuckles.

"You didn't do the kissing scenes for the job, dude. You did the job for the kissing scenes."

He wants to deny it. He can't.

"Well, you're one to talk," he says, his eyebrow cocked, challenging her.

"Oh, would you shut up. I was literally forced to do kissing scenes with you."

"That's true." But no one forced you to kiss me off screen, he thinks. "So unfortunate for you."

"Yeah, but, you know, gotta do it for the job," she says, clicking her tongue. He smiles slightly at her.

Rob then notices her half-eaten sandwich. He looks at it, then at her, and then at his food, wondering.

"Why didn't you get nachos?" He asks her. You love nachos.

"Didn't have to," she says, reaching across the table and stealing one of his crisps, dipping it in both salsa and guacamole. She chews it loudly with a mischievous look in her eyes.

Back in the older days, he would have given her the whole tray, but he knows better now. The lioness doesn't want to be fed, it wants to chase its own food.

He pushes his nachos closer to him, protecting them with his arm. She narrows her eyes, planning a strategy. He chews as he watches her.

She launches herself across the table, reaching out after the food, and manages to get a grip on the tray with two fingers. He grabs her hand to get it off, but she's got a strong hold. They look like two fighting kids as Kristen tries to get a nacho and Rob tries to remove her hand. Suddenly, the tray tips over, and the crisps are spread out on the table. They look at the food, then at each other, before they attack the nachos, putting as many in their mouths as they can before the other eats them.

"Who starved you two? Or do you always have eating competitions?" One of their co-stars asks as he sits down next to Kristen. They both swallow and look at the guy. "Kristen tried to steal my nachos," Rob explains, hearing how this sentence should be said in the 1st grade, not by a 30 year old, and not to a guy he's met less than five times.

"I see. Well there are plenty of nachos left, you can just go up there and..." The guy tells Rob. They stop listening, look at what's left of the nachos on the table, then at each other. And then like they've always done, they communicate with their eyes. She looks at him, and he looks at her, and it's like they've always looked at each other. And in some ways, they have. Since they met, they've had this special way of talking with their eyes, a way of sharing information no one else needs to know. Right now, they're telling each other the same thing. He doesn't get them. But who would?

They don't even get themselves.

...

"Uh, can I sit here?"

It's Rob who's asking her. He looks like a shy teenage boy. Scratch that. His expression looks like a shy teenage boy's. The rest of him looks like a 21-year old, good-looking man with a British accent that makes her melt. If she could kiss a voice...

Where the fuck did that come from?

"Uhm, sure," she says and gestures to the seat next to her, trying her hardest to act nonchalant.

His hands look strong as they lie there on the table. Hers are so small compared to them. She imagines for a split second how it would be to slip her tiny hand into his much bigger one, and intertwine their fingers. Fuck you and your stupid, sexy British accent.

"Nachos too?" He asks her, noticing that they've chosen the same meal. It's the most brilliant thing he can think of saying. She looks at his food.

"I fucking love nachos," she mumbles around a corn crisp. When she's done with her own tray, she eyes his.

"You want some?" He offers her.

"Yes, but not when you willingly give them to me. Here I was, planning the best strategy to steal your food and then you go and almost literally serve it on a silver plate for me. You disappoint me, Robert," she tells him with a glint in her eyes. He smiles at her, and pushes his plate away from her, holding a hand over it. She tries to take one of his nachos, and he does anything he can to keep her small hands away from his food. When she finally gets a crisp, he can't help but smile at the satisfied look on her face.

"Am I still a disappointment?" He asks her.

She shakes her head and takes another one of his crisps.

"Ten points to Hufflepuff."