Love Is a Bunch of Stupid Decisions

Chapter 28

First of all!!! Sorry again for going completely MIA for months :/ I am regret.
Also, I saw Mean Girls back in November! Here's an incredibly low-quality, probably-not-legal picture of curtain call. Our boi is fourth from the left, back row. he did gud. :) 

ALRIGHT NOW GO READ SINCE I LEFT YOU ON A CLIFFHANGER

I felt myself laugh. "Ok, good one. Seriously, why are you here? Did you forget something?"

The look on his face stayed the same.

He was serious.

"Ben... Tell me that you're kidding. Me? The lead role? What happened to literally every swing and standby and understudy?"

"Look, grab your stuff and I'll explain on the way to the theater," He says, already headed for the door again. Realizing that I'm not getting out of this, and being too confused to say much of anything at all, I follow him.

My heart was already racing by the time we got outside, the freezing cold air filling my lungs. "So, I think I'm just a little bit lost. What the hell is going on?" I say, practically panting as I tried to keep up with Ben, who was walking so fast it made me nervous.

"Char, every single person who knows Cady's track is out tonight. They're either sick or injured, I guess. You know Amber, our swing? She was supposed to go on tonight, but she slipped on some ice about half an hour ago, so that's when we thought of you."

I sigh, not sure how I was even supposed to take this all in as a knot formed in my stomach. "We? Who is we? Who's idea was this?"

A small smirk grows on his face as he chuckles. "I guess it was kinda my idea."

I stop dead in my tracks, something inside me angry with him for laughing. "This was your idea? You really thought I might be able to do something like this?"

"I don't 'think you might be able to'. I am so insanely sure you're going to be able to." He says, walking back several steps to where I had stopped on the sidewalk. He paused for a second, obviously sensing the fear and anxiety I was radiating. "Char, I know you're terrified. I'm asking a huge, stupid favor of you. But you've got so much more talent in you than you think. Kind of like a butterfly that can't see its own wings," He smiles, the knot in my stomach calming down temporarily as he brings up the whole butterfly thing for the millionth time. "And aside from that, this is our only option besides canceling the show. Please, Char?"

I take a deep, shaky breath. "I have no idea why I'm doing this... but yes."

He smiles, obviously relieved. "Perfect! We've got an hour and a half until showtime, that's plenty of time to get hair, makeup, costuming, and review some choreography and blocking if you need-"

"Ok, now you're just stressing me out," I laugh, the two of us speed walking once more towards the theater.

A billion thoughts run through my head on our walk. Why in the world would Ben recommend me to fill in for the lead role? Why had everyone agreed that this was a good idea when they hadn't even seen me sing or dance? What if none of the costumes fit? Was canceling really that bad of an option? I haven't acted since high school, and even then, I wasn't great. What the hell was he getting me into?