Wait For It | a Hamilton fanfiction | wattys 2017

Chapter 81

Jessa gathered up a bunch of blankets and a pillow from the ensemble dressing room. She figured that sleeping on the stage with everyone wouldn't hurt- and it would be fun. She'd always wondered what it would be like to sleep in a theatre, onstage.

"You're sleeping with us?" Pippa asked, seeing Jessa with her stuff.

"Why not?" Jessa shrugged. "It'll be fun. Plus, girl talk is always great." Pippa smiled.

"That's true," she agreed. They both headed down to the stage together. "I think we're sleeping on the turntables, because sleeping on the second level is probably not a good idea."

"I'd honestly roll off," Jessa laughed.

"Would you keep an eye on Lana?" Pippa asked. Jessa frowned.

"Why?"

"I'm worried about her... I think she's stressing herself out too much, and she seemed really out of it during rehearsal. She said she wasn't feeling well," Pippa explained.

"We were all out of it," Jessa said. "But yeah, I see what you mean. I will, don't worry."

"Thanks, Jessa," Pippa said gratefully.

They made it to the stage, and Jessa plopped her stuff down next to Lana. "Hey," she said.

Lana looked slightly confused. "Hey," she said back. "What are you doing? I thought you were going to sleep with the rest of the girls."

"Nah," Jessa told her. "I decided to keep you guys company. Plus, I can learn all the gossip on the Schuyler Sisters now."

Lana laughed a little bit. "I'm afraid I'm not going to talk that much- I'm going to sleep as soon as possible."

"Pippa told me that you didn't feel well," Jessa said, sitting next to Lana. "I couldn't tell when you sang 'Satisfied.'"

"That's a relief," Lana replied, hugging one of the pillows that had been in her dressing room. "I thought I sounded stuffy, but that's probably because my head felt like it was full of crap."

"I'm sorry," Jessa said sympathetically.

"I'm sorry about how intense that rehearsal was. James really needs to stop. I hate him so much."

"The thing is, there were starting to be mistakes from everyone in ensemble. We were all tired and angry, and that didn't make anything better, quite honestly."

Lana grabbed her water bottle and took a sip. "I felt bad. The way he talked to Carleigh was just... it's like he's a different person."

"He's stressed. We all are," Jessa reasoned.

"Yeah," Lana said absentmindedly.

"You're tired. I'll let you sleep," Jessa said, patting Lana on the back before bounding over to Carleigh, who had joined Pippa and Jazzy onstage.

~~~~~~~~~~

After talking to Carleigh, and listening to her friend worrying about her dancing, Jessa decided to go to bed. She went to the bathroom to get ready and returned about five minutes later wearing a non-sweaty tank top and leggings.

Lana was already asleep, but Jessa could tell that her sickness wasn't making it easy for her. She was tossing and turning under her blanket. Jessa smoothed the hair off of Lana's forehead.

"Shh, Lana, you're okay," she told her friend, gently kissing her forehead.

Jessa decided to stay awake to make sure that Lana didn't overheat. She decided to stalk Lana's Instagram instead, out of boredom, because she'd already stalked Pippa's and Jazzy's.

She was surprised to find that Lana was a dog person, and that she used to be an ice skater when she was little. The transition from ice skating to dance seemed natural to Jessa, but she'd never considered it as an option.

"Jessa?"

Jessa whipped around. It was Pippa. "Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you?"

"Sure, yeah," Jessa said, standing up. "What about?" She followed Pippa to the other side of the stage, so they didn't disrupt Lana.

"I was just thinking... I don't know. How do you feel about Lana?"

"What?" Jessa asked, blinking. "I like her more than I did at the beginning of the tour... she's a lot cooler now. She's more chill about everything. Why?"

Pippa fiddled with the strings of her hoodie. "I was wondering if you liked her. In a romantic way."

"This is what you wanted to talk to me about? Pippa, she's straight," Jessa said, confused.

"I know that, but someone's sexual orientation could never stop what someone else feels," Pippa protested.

"I've never thought about her in that way. She's a friend. Just... no, that's strange, but okay..." Jessa frowned. "I don't know where you pulled that from... what have I done that would make you think that?"

"The way you were with her five minutes ago... and you guys seem to have been hanging out more. I don't know," Pippa said, blushing a little bit.

"Okay then," Jessa cleared her throat. "I'm going to sleep, if that's alright. I won't be surprised if Daveed wakes us all up in the middle of a night with a whistle and makes us rehearse."

"Honestly, same," Pippa said. "I'm sorry about... whatever that was."

"No, it's alright, I was just really, really confused," Jessa laughed. "Goodnight, Pips."

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my bad about the chapter confusion yesterday, dudes. well, now you know what happened :)

the freshman is expected to make a full recovery so keep thinking about her as well. thanks for your positive response yesterday!