Tourgether

Rehearsal

“Excuse me,” I said making my way around people with a heavy bag of food. “Eee!” I heard behind me. “It’s Eliza!” I turned to see a girl, probably around fourteen or fifteen, practically jumping up and down. I smiled as I juggled the bag into one hand to wave at her, “Hi, what’s up?” I asked as I stopped in front of her. “Hi! I’m Alexis and I’m a huge fan. I was subscribed even before you collabed with Dan and Phil,” she said. I smiled, “Ah, one of the original 30,000-ish. Thanks so much.” Alexis nodded, “Can I get a picture?” I nodded, “Of course.” We took a selfie with both my phone and hers. I loved having selfies with my fans on my phone. “Alright, it was nice talking to you, but I’ve got to bring the boys lunch. Byeza!” I called as I left to hail a cab.

“Thank God! I was about to die of starvation!” Phil said dramatically. I rolled my eyes as I set the bag down and handed the boys their food. “How’s the planning going?” I asked the director, Ed. “Good, except that we can’t figure out a good transition to Dil controlling Dan and Phil,” Ed said as I handed him his order. “Plus we still don’t know when it’s a good time for you to go backstage before that,” Dan explained. I looked through the papers. “Well, what about fanfiction? Like you did in your book, but IRL,” I suggested. “Like we act out those fanfics?” Dan asked. “Mine would be really hard,” Phil pointed out. “Or we do it where it’s a story and the audience chooses between two different paths,” Ed thought out loud. “Yeah, like ‘Dan and Phil are Cowboys or Astronauts?’ And then they choose cowboys because Brokeback Mountain,” I joked. “That’s good,” Ed said jotting down notes as Dan and Phil laughed. “And then we can reveal that Dil is actually the one controlling the outcome,” Ed continued. “And I can leave before the fanfiction for some made up excuse because I don’t want to be part of the fanfiction,” I finished. We refined the idea over lunch before I had to go. We needed groceries in the apartment.

~~~

“Dan! Phil! We have to go to rehearsal!” I called. We had been rehearsing for about a week now and I had my part down for the most part but Dan and Phil still had a ways to go. “Ugh,” Phil groaned as he came downstairs. “What? You aren’t having fun at rehearsal?” I asked. “We’re having fun rehearsing, but we aren’t having fun watching all the guys hit on you,” Dan explained. I cocked an eyebrow, “What do you mean?” I knew Zack, the actor who played Dil, liked me, but that was it. “Zack, Chris-” I cut Dan off, “Chris?” Dan raised his eyebrow this time, “Do I detect a hopefulness in your tone?” Dan asked. “Pff, what?” I said, my voice raising an octave or two. “Eliza?” Phil asked in astonishment. “What? He’s cute and he can do magic! Guys have no idea the effect magicians have on girls,” I tried to explain. “Phil you better keep an eye on her when you're practicing with Chris.” I rolled my eyes, “If he can keep his eyes off Chris himself,” I mumbled. Phil blushed and Dan groaned. “Come on, Dan, he’s really cute,” Phil tried to defend. Dan shook his head as he exited the apartment mumbling, “Worst partners ever.” Phil and I giggled as we followed Dan down to the awaiting cab.

“Hello! So I am about to rehearse my magic show,” Phil said as Dan recorded him. I leaned against the back of the chair Dan was sitting on. “Practicing with the incredible Chris Cox.” Dan panned over to Chris. “Are you incredible?” Dan asked. I bit the inside of my cheek at the slightest bit of jealousy in Dan’s tone. “Depends who you ask,” Chris said with a quick glance my way. I tried really hard not to blush. Dan then recorded Phil practicing his different tricks, giving little quips every time he messed something up. I tried to focus and cheer Phil on, but I was distracted by Dan, probably unknowingly, rubbing circles on my leg with his free hand. Chris actually saw this and scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. I blushed crimson and swatted Dan’s hand away. It was too late, we were caught.

I was helping clean up the magic show when Chris came up to talk to me. “Hey Eliza,” he greeted, helping me with the heavier stuff. “Hey Chris, what’s up?” I asked hoping he would avoid the obvious topic. No such luck. “Well I was going to ask you out for a drink later but that’s probably not going to happen is it,” Chris stated more than asked. “No, sorry. I’m flattered though, really. Just one of those wrong place wrong time scenarios,” I explained. A pause, then, “Can I just ask, why are you two keeping it a secret?” Chris asked as we put the rest of the props in a trunk. I sat on the trunk, “It’s… complicated.” Chris chuckled lightly as he sat next to me, “Isn’t it always?” I smiled, “Seems like it. Just please-” Chris cut me off by raising his hand, “Hey, I get it. My lips are sealed,” he made a zipping and locking motion over his lips and pretended to put the key in my hand. As luck would have it Dan walked in just as it looked like we were holding hands, “Eliza, what do you want for lun-” he blinked at us. I quickly dropped Chris’ hand and stood up. “I’m thinking pizza,” I said walking over and kissing Dan on the cheek. I looked over at Chris who repeated the zipping and locking motion for Dan. Dan put his arm around my shoulders and, with one last glance over his shoulder, led me out of the room. “You so did that leg thing on purpose,” I whispered as we left. Dan said nothing as he dropped his arm before we went into the room Phil and Ed were in. He didn’t have to say anything, his face said it all. “You sneaky sneaky man-child,” I said just as we opened the door. “What’d he do now?” Phil asked. I shook my head, “I’ll tell you later. What were you guys thinking for lunch?”

Ed went out with a friend for lunch so the three of us went out to a pizza place. “Dan! What if he tells somebody?” Phil said after we told him what had happened. “Nah, that won’t happen. I trust Chris, he’s a good guy,” I said and then took a bite of my pizza. “Either way, Dan, you need to control your jealousy.” Dan rolled his eyes. “I’m serious, what if next time it’s someone who can’t keep a secret,” Phil said. I kicked Phil under the table just as a couple of girls walked over to our table. “Ow!” Phil said. “Hi!” one of the girls said. Phil turned and smiled at them. “Can we get a picture?” They asked. We nodded, “Of course.” After several pictures the girls left and we resumed our meal more careful of what we said. Phil paid for the meal, but the waitress gave Dan the receipt with a wink. She had written her number on the back. I giggled as Dan squirmed uncomfortably and basically dragged us out of the restaurant as quickly as possible.