FALSETTOS - Andrew × Christian

Back to the stage

With help from Christian, Andrew was able to get back into his green shirt and brown pants in time for the rehearsals. When James saw him he assumed, like everyone else, that Andrew was better and was up for a full show run through.

"Andrew it's good to have you back! You're looking well!" Andrew laughed nervously, "so everyone is saying"

"Well... how are you feeling?"

"Still not one hundred percent but i thought it would be better to jump back in than stay at home and do nothing but watch movies all day" once again he laughed nervously; he knew full well that if James thought he wasn't up to it he would pull him out permanently and he didn't want that.

"That's good." He turned and walked Andrew further away from the stage. "Listen, if you need to take it easy please let me know i would hate to run you into the ground" Andrew could tell that he couldn't show any sign of weakness or breathlessness to James.

"No no ofcourse not, I'll be ok."

"But you said that last time; so please just don't over do it. We can change parts if need be."

Andrew nodded and walked up the steps to the stage and as the show began he felt fine. It was slightly harder to dance about in his trousers and couldn't stop thinking about the tightness of his shirt but other than that he seemed ok.

Lunch break came and Lapine had ordered pizza as a sort of welcome back gift for Rannells but he couldn't even go near it. The smell of it made him feel sick especially after singing and dancing for an hour. He sat in the corner on his phone for 5 minutes until Anthony came and sat down next to him.

"Hey, Andrew!"

"Anthony!" He looked up startled, he was praying that Anthony didn't mention anything about him not eating or his weight.

"How are you I've missed you" said anthony as he gave Andrew the warmest of hugs.

"You know kid, I'm not great but i'm trying and I'm getting somewhere" Rannells said with a grin on his face.

"I heard you shouting earlier-" Rosenthall said as he twiddled his thumbs. "Oh god, I'm so sorry you had to hear that. I'm just really frustrated about everything and I shouldn't have shouted like that." He felt ashamed of himself, everyone must have heard him and now everyone knows that he's not any better.

"It's ok Andy, I think you look great! And i think it'll take time but you'll get there!"

Why does this 12 year old know exactly what to say? Rannells thought.

"Thank you, honestly" he muttered as he pulled Anthony in for another hug before he walked back to the rest of the cast.

For the rest of the break Rannells stayed in his dressing room alone asleep. Suddenly Betsy was knocking on the door but Andrew didn't wake up.

"Andy, Can i come in?" She heard no reply. "Andyyy" she said loudly as she walked in to a sleeping Andrew. She kept calling his name as she walked towards him but he didn't wake up. Betsy had to shake him almost violently before he even began to wake up.

"Andrew are you okay?" Wolfe said in a panic. As he began to wake up she noticed how hot and sweaty he was.

"What's g-going o-on...?" Andrew muttered.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Betsy was concerned but tried to hide it. She grabbed a bottle from the side and gave it to him "drink this."

As soon as he took a sip he started coughing and gagging, Betsy had to grab a bin for him but because he had skipped food for the entire day nothing came up. Betsy saw the pain in his face as it felt like his he was going to throw up his stomach and his heart rate was through the roof.

"Oh god" he said before he began to retch more. Anthony walked past his room at this point and the sight of Betsy rubbing Andrews back was too much for him to handle he began to tear up as he stood and watched him.

About 10 minutes later when Andrew began to feel better Betsy helped clean him up. "Please don't tell anyone, I don't think i can handle more time off."

"You're not well enough Andy"

"I accepted that the first time and look where it got me. 20lbs heavier and not any better than before. Please..." Andrew could see that Betsy wasn't going to agree. "...atleast not yet this is only my first rehearsal back. I need to get my body used to it again after doing nothing for three weeks. Please."

"How do i know that you're going to be honest with me or Christian or anyone?"

"I promise i will i just need to get into it" As he stood up to hug her his vision went almost fully black and his head was so light and Betsy could see this but the more she pushed the more he would hide things.

Andrew knew this was normal for him at the moment and that he couldn't let Betsy see him like this again.