A Stolen Minute

Chapter One: Sat, Day 1

"Cooking is the most sensual art form, and these,"

Normani gestured to the plates of food in front of her.

"are my paints."

"So your hands must be brushes."

One of her coworkers and now friends, Garcia, said right after.

"Don't interrupt."

Normani rebutted smoothly making the other four in the room laugh at the face Garcia made.

"In a pot of boiling water we cook our spaghetti until it's al dente. Firm to the touch. Here you go. Pass it around. Feel the texture."

Normani continued, picking up some of the already cooked noodles in front of her. She hadn't planned on making dinner for her whole team but when they insisted she couldn't resist; especially since cooking was in her blood.

"Now in a large pan,"

She turned around to the stove, picking up the pan she was referring to.

"We fry our pancetta. We make sure our edges are crisp."

"And careful not to burn the onions."

Another coworker chimed in getting a different reaction from Normani.

"Bravo Aaron!"

He shrugged a little as Normani continued her step by step process.

"Sauté until translucent."

The doorbell rang making Derek stick his hand up to stop Normani from getting her door.

"Don't worry, I'll get it."

As he went to stand up, he stumbled making J.J., who was sitting next to him spill a glass of wine. They all laughed collectively, more laughs joining in as another voice sounded over.

"Cut! Cut!"

"Sorry my foot got caught."

They continued to laugh as they attempted the clean up the mess, waiting for the director to check the playback. Soon after, the director was yelling again over the casts and crews mingling.

"The take was good. There's plenty of Reid waking in from the other takes. We'll finish the rest the next few days. Goodnight everyone."

The cast and crew all cheered happy they could finally go home. Normani said her quick goodbyes to her costars, leaving to her dressing room. Normally she would stay and talk with her fellow actors since most of the time they were together they were different people. Literally. But today she had to speak with her manager about a lot of things. Most importantly, how she was going to manage her new movie opportunity. As soon as she walked in her dressing room her manager, Johnathan, was sitting in her makeup chair.

"Hey Mani. How was work?"

She sighed, stripping out of her wardrobe to change into her regular clothing.

"Good. Between takes we actually got to eat the spaghetti we were making for the last half hour."

He chuckled, waiting for Normani to finish changing before he continued with why he was actually here.

"Have you thought about the movie deal?"

Normani sighed, leaning against the counter next to him.

"Yeah I have. I want to take it. I'm just nervous about the transition from this to that. Especially since I've been on this show for five years. I haven't done anything remotely like Dreamgirls."