Middle of the Week Motivation

Like a Date?

*Not everyone Crew/Cast relationship is like the one demonstrated in this fic. Plenty of Casts are very nice. I'm just going off previous experiences.*

"You're staring again." Felix said, nudging Jack with his elbow.

Jack flinched, and tore his gaze away from the stage to look at his friend. "What?"

Felix sighed, covering his mic on the headset so the sound booth wouldn't hear their conversation. "You're staring. At Mark. The lead role?"

Jack's face flushed red slightly. "Oh."

"This is the second time this week I've covered for you, and it's only Monday. If you're not careful, I'm gonna have to kick you off the crew." Felix teased.

Jack scoffed. "You wouldn't last a day without me."

"Yeah, but if you don't get your head in the game, then neither of us are gonna last a week." Felix pointed out.

"Ok, ok. Geez." The pair made eye contact and giggled, before Felix uncovered his mic and said something to the booth.

He turned to Jack after a moment of dialogue with the booth. "Top of the scene."

Jack found himself able to get through most of the changes with ease, and the rest of the practice went rather flawlessly. Jack wasn't a big fan of the cast, though most of the crew felt the same way. After every rehearsal, the cast would come bustling back stage, leaving the prop area and the changing area a huge mess. No matter how many times the lead techie complained to the director, the cast continued to do it without fail.

Sure, Jack found Mark to be rather attractive, but if he was as douche as the rest of the cast, then the lead actor could stay right where he was. And like rain, when the practice ended, all the actors broke up into their little cliches, making their way back stage. At the sound of "That's all for today!" all the techies presses themselves to the wall or in little corners to get out of the way.

Jack stood next to Felix, waving over frantic set crew workers who scurried over to huddle next to him in fright. Jack looked down at the girl who had taken refuge next to him, a freshman named Addison who had just joined them this year. He smiled down at her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder with silent reassurance.

Finally, the herd of smelly cast had passed through, the crew all letting out a sigh of relief as the door shut. Then, Oliver, a senior and the clown of the group of techies spoke up. "Ooh, I'm a cast member..." he said in a prissy voice, prancing around in the tiny space they had in the wings. "I'm so much better than everyone else because I don't have social anxiety." This sent a round of giggles through the group of techies. "Look here, I like to be the center of attention to raise my self esteem. Oh I'm so great."

This caused more giggles to sound, before Felix spoke up. "Thank you, Oliver, for your wonderful show, but let's clean up so we can get home, shall we?" Even as Felix dispersed the group that had gathered there, you could see the laughter in his eyes.

Days passed, and the ever approaching dead line of the first show was speeding right towards them. Jack took a deep breath as that Friday night arrived. He knew everything would be alright, but he stilled worried. He had been moved just a few weeks prior to be the stage manager on stage right, which means he was on the opposite side of the stage of Felix who was stage manager for stage left. Sure, they could still talk, but now Jack had even more responsibility and he felt like a mother hen, looking after his 7 set crew hatchlings.

The lights went up and the crowd fell silent. Jack held his breath as the curtain opened, Felix whispering him words of encouragement under his breath. Opening night went... relatively well, and Jack was pleased with how his crew had done. He met up with Felix after the inevitable cast chaos, and the pair discussed the notes they had gathered. They confronted their teams together, before each addressing their own separately and dismissing them for the night. Jack watched them go with a smile, before trudging back over to stage right, and tiredly observing the mess that was left.