naive | ben tyler cook

✦ two ✦

( six months earlier )

•

rylee wiped her sweaty palms along the sides of her jeans, blinking widely as her contacts seemed to dry up in her eyes. she glanced at every other cast member in the room. she examined their clothes, height, hair colors, and smiles. they all seemed completely cool and comfortable with one another. some, she noticed, already knew each other from their broadway connections and previous shows.

there were a lot of newsies, she also noticed. mostly ones from the tour. but two or three from the original cast. she felt kinda star struck, especially by kate rockwell, who had been in the original cast of bring it on. she wanted to walk over to her and introduce herself. but she just couldn't. so she continued to stand and stare at everyone else.

then she felt a hand on her shoulder and she spun around. "hello!" tina fey, the fucking tina fey, slid her hand into rylee's. she shook it firmly, keeping straight eye contact with her.

"h-hello," rylee stuttered out. she stuffed her hands in her back pockets, offering an awkward smile. "i am rylee west. and you're, youre tina fey!"

tina laughed at rylee and set a hand on her arm again. "no need to be nervous! i know who you are. i watched your audition tape. you're amazing at acting and singing. and i'm very excited to be working with you."

rylee scratched the back of her head and nodded rapidly. "thank you. thank you so much. that means a lot."

tina nodded and continued, "well, i just wanted to say hello and let you know that you can take a seat right over there-"

she pointed towards a chair that was placed in the practical center of the room. rylee's eyes widened at the placement and made an awkward step towards it.

"thanks!" she gave tina a finger gun and made her way over to it. she clutched her bag in her hand and dug our her script and music folder. she set a water down on the floor and hugged the binder on her lap as she sat down.

the room slowly went silent as more people sat in the chairs alongside hers. the ensemble, it seemed, was seated behind her. the director rose his hands in the air and caught their attention.

"thank you!" he snapped a finger and sat down behind the table with tina fey and a couple other people. "i'm so glad to have everyone here today. as it goes, this is the final and complete cast for mean girls the musical. give yourselves a round of applause!"

a grin spread out on rylee's face and she clapped loudly with everyone else. kate rockwell, who was right next to her, grabbed rylee's hand and shook it excitedly.

rylee suddenly felt comfortable. she realized that this was her new family. they were all here for the same reason, and she could just feel that they all had ginormous hearts. no one was going to hurt her here. she was safe and loved in this space. even if the guy behind her, who was admiring the red tint to her hair, didn't know her name.

•

a few hours later, they were released from the studio for lunch. rylee tagged along with barrett, kate, taylor, and greg. they ate at the subway across the street, all salads and water to keep their voices open and ready for more singing.

they had already sang their way through the first act. there were many mistakes, as it usually goes. but the director was simply taking notes for the next three weeks of preparations for their run in dc. then it was straight to broadway and beyond.

rylee bonded very quickly with the people she ate lunch with. they were very kind and complimenting to her. 'we love the sweetness of your voice, your hair color, your adorable little smile, you,' they rapidly complimented her. 'you're pretty good for a rookie,' kate even teased.

rylee felt at home.

they made their way back to the theater, where there were still thirty-seven minutes 'till 'lights up' on act two. rylee sat down by her bag in the corner of the room. she pulled out her phone and texted quinn, her aunt, who was on the edge of her seat for news on her first day. she typed out a response and put her phone away. she opened her script and mumbled some of her lines to herself.

rylee heard someone sit down in front of her, so she lifted her head with a smile ready. a curly headed blond crossed his legs and reached out a hand for her to shake.

"hello, rylee west." he grinned a sweet little smile that made rylee's grow. "i'm ben tyler cook."

"oh, middle name and all." she felt a sudden burst of confidence and made a joke towards his introduction.

"and all. and yours?"

"rylee jane west."

"guess we both got stuck with the generic titles." ben laughed.

rylee shrugged, her eyebrows moving naturally. "but we give them life by being ourselves, right, btc?"

"i gotcha, rjw." he fumbled with a string on the hem of his adidas sweatpants.

rylee tilted her head at him, "rj is catchy. very 80s cliche suave."

ben nodded and pulled his phone out of his pocket. he typed around a bit before showing her the open, empty contact on the screen. "so, rjw it is, then?"

rylee pressed her fingers to her forehead, laughing at his smooth pickup. "and it's btc for you?" she gave him her unlocked phone.

they swapped their devices and gave each other their numbers. they talked for a bit more before they went to their seats.

when it was time to sing 'i see stars,' tina urged rylee to stand in front of the cast and sing. she nervously did, gripping her binder in her hands. ben admired her as she sing, feeling chills down his spine when the chorus hit. his smile grew as she got more comfortable and used her space to sing to them.

she set her binder down, having obviously memorized everything already. rylee's face shifted as she sang, showing the passion and talent sleeping through her pores. he shivered in his seat and shifted around. she made eye contact with him at the bridge and stared deeply into his eyes. then, the females sang a line with her, shouted different lines, and the company singing together.

they all stood up, clutching each other and cheering each other on through the song. a few people started crying, including rylee. kate and taylor stood on either side of her, clutching her arms and helping her power through. when the song picked up tempo, they danced around somewhat, and finally belted out the last couple notes. the music faded out and the cast broke out into cheers.

rylee made eye contact with ben, who made his way over to her and hugged her tightly. "that was amazing!"

the day ended soon enough and taylor walked with rylee to the subway station. she teased her about ben, who she noticed had been watching rylee intensely.

"he's cute." rylee shrugged before bidding her dues to taylor and catching her car.