Sequel (Advent Calendar 2016)

THE 7TH OF DECEMBER

The 7th of December

...

As Stephanie calls 'Cut' on their last scene for the morning, Rob smiles at Kristen, silently telling her that she did great. The chemistry that they had yesterday during the kissing scene is still there today; he doesn't feel like he has to act in any scenes where Daniel is expressing his love for Chloe. A small voice inside his head tells him, that if their chemistry was that good on-screen, maybe it could still be as good in real life too. For what feels like the one hundredth time, he drowns a thought out, replacing it with another, a reminder. A sequel would ruin it.

Before he can speak to her, Kristen walks away to get a coffee, leaving Rob in the middle of the studio, watching her walk away from him. It's not the first time she's walked away. Rob shakes his head softly, not wanting to remember.

Stephanie starts to talk to him about the scene they just filmed, but he doesn't listen; his eyes are fixed on Kristen as she talks to one of their co-stars, Lucy, over a cup of coffee.

Kristen's hand is on Lucy's arm as they laugh about something, before smiling at each other and sipping their coffees as they talk. Lucy smiles at her and playfully winks. Kristen chuckles, and, if his mind isn't tricking him, blushes. I was the one who used to make you blush. Both Lucy and Kristen's arms are laid stretched out on the table, their fingers almost brushing against each other, mere millimetres and some courage away from being intertwined. The way Lucy is looking at Kristen though, tells him that she wants more than just to hold hands. Rob knows that Kristen's had several girlfriends since they broke up, through mutual friends and occasional Google searches, but he's certain she's single at the moment.

He doesn't know if Lucy is single. He looks at her. The hand that is not almost touching Kristen's is running through her long, dark brown hair, her brown eyes smiling as she watches Kristen talk. He hopes Lucy is single (he'd feel bad for her partner otherwise). And a small part of him also hopes she's straight, but that is one hundred percent unrealistic with the way she's looking at Kristen.

It's almost against his nature not to go over to Kristen and kiss her or take her hand, something, to show Lucy that Kristen is taken. Through the years, he got used to fighting off people who were interested in his girlfriend. But it's been a long time since she was his girlfriend. She's single now, and a blatantly non-straight girl is sitting across from her, kissing her with her eyes. He involuntarily grits his teeth.

Kristen's facing away from him. His eyes fall on her back and thinking about the symbolism for a moment, he immediately feels bad; he'd ignored her last night after they finished filming. Completely, unfairly ignored her. He'd desperately wanted to talk to her, but his head had been flooded with thoughts of the kissing scene, and on top of that, his mind thought it should replay every kissing scene - both on-screen and off-screen - they've done together. He'd felt like he was hungover from memories of their past. So no matter how desperately he'd wanted to talk to Kristen last night, he knew it wasn't a wise idea. And he'd avoided her.

He wants to apologise to her, make it up to her. Maybe if he invites her to his trailer tonight, to jam on their guitars, eat nachos and have a couple of drinks, just like in the good old days, he could apologise to her then? Show her he's sorry he ignored her? In the scene they just filmed, she seemed pretty fond of him, smiling and laughing. Sure, it was Daniel and Chloe, but that doesn't mean Chloe's mood can't rub off on Kristen. He pictures her, in his trailer, with her guitar in her lap, taking a swig of a beer and a handful of nachos, smiling at him as he strums randomly on his own guitar.

Before he can overthink it, he starts walking towards her.

"Do you wanna go out tonight, Kris? I found this cute Italian restaurant five minutes away, which looks amazing."

Rob stops walking; as he's only a few metres away from the two of them, he can hear their conversation perfectly. As he hears Kristen say yes to Lily, he feels something in his chest clench, almost contract. His hope shatters, along with the picture of her smiling at him in his trailer.

Maybe if I hadn't ignored you yesterday, you would be saying 'yes' to me instead.

With that thought, Rob turns and walks back to his trailer, Kristen's sweet laugh ringing in his ears as she makes plans with someone that isn't him.

...

"Kristen, do you want to- no, that sounds wrong... Kristen, what are you doing- no... hey Kris, want to watch a movie tonight? Maybe that will work..."

As Rob walks towards Kristen's trailer, all the possible scenarios running through his mind, he sees her reading the script at the little dining table they all have in their trailers. Rob smiles as he spots her hair piled up into a messy bun on the top of her head as she reads, his palms getting sweaty as he gets closer to her trailer.

Before he can reach it, however, he spots movement in her trailer. He stops to see who it is; if she's having a meeting, he wouldn't want to disturb.

But it's not a meeting.

It's her boyfriend. Michael.

Rob watches him kiss her, removing her hair tie so her long hair falls down the side of her neck. He kisses the tip of her nose, before moving down to her lips and kissing her there as well. Before Rob can look away, he sees Kristen smile and shut the curtain, shutting the world, and Rob, out of their 'private time' together.

He walks back to his trailer, his heart aching, clenching. He can try again tomorrow, but one fact will still remain - she's got a boyfriend, and it isn't Rob.