Behind the Curtains

+Eight+

He hadn’t meant to say it, it just came out. He wanted her to know he cared, but that’s not quite the way he wanted to say it. He had only told Matt and Dylan how he really felt about her. It was only recently that he had realized it anyways. She wasn’t supposed to find out like this.
“I… yes. I’m in love with you. I don’t know why it took me so long to realize it, but I am.”
“A.J…”
“I know that I always said I liked us better as friends, but I was wrong.”
“A.J.-”
“I want to be with you-”
“A.J., I don’t love you like that. I mean… yes, I love you, but I’m not in love with you. At least, not anymore. I gave up on that the second A Very Potter Senior Year was over. I was with Jeff, and I was happy there. I just felt that if you didn’t feel the same way about me by then, you never would. I decided that I would rather be happy than cry over someone that wouldn’t reciprocate. I’m sorry.”
“...how long did you feel that way?”
“Since third grade, A.J. Ten years.”
“I wish I would’ve known sooner so I could’ve-”
“You were the only one that didn’t. I was about to confess when we went to dinner after I came to Frankenstein, but then you called me an amazing friend, and I knew then that…”
“That I didn’t love you the same…”
“Yea. It hurt to love you that way. I’m really sorry that we couldn’t get the timing right on this.”
“Belle-”
“Could we please just stop talking about this? Nothing good’s gonna come from us just going back and forth about the fact that we don’t feel the same. We still love each other, and we’re still friends. That’s all that should matter.”
“Fine. As long as you stay in my life.”
“I will. I’m not going anywhere.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They were still friends, but that odd distance remained between them. Annabelle and Jeff had gotten back together within two weeks of working on the show. Now that they lived in the same town again, they felt better being together, and she moved into his place within a month. The only time they weren’t together was when she was in the booth and he was on or backstage, and the occasions where she would go out and come back with lunch for both of them.
“What sounds good today?”
“I’m thinking chinese again.”
“Jeff, we’ve literally had chinese for three days in a row.”
“I know, but it’s so good! I can’t get enough of it.”
“Alright, fine, but we’re breaking pattern tomorrow.”
“Ugh, you suck.”
“Love you too.”
Jeff, Rachael, and Dylan decided to stay behind with A.J. during their lunch break to work through a few scenes that they couldn’t get quite right, and everyone else went out. The majority of people planned on going to an actual restaurant to have a sit-down lunch. Denise practically begged Annabelle to join them.
“Come on! Please? You can just bring Jeff your leftovers,” she said, tugging her arm to drag her towards her car. Annabelle laughed and took her arm back.
“I can’t. I promised I’d be back to workshop some character stuff, and I’m honestly behind with a lot of my lighting notes. Sarah’s gonna kill me if I don't get my shit together here,” she responded, taking the keys out of her pocket. She clicked a button, and a motorcycle near the back of the parking lot roared to life.
“Woah, shit! Is that yours?” Robert yelled from his car window.
“You bet your sweet ass, Manion!” she yelled back, putting her helmet on and hopping onto the vehicle before speeding off down the road.
~~~~~~~~~
They always locked the doors when more than half of them left. Annabelle set down the bag of food she was carrying so she could rummage through her pocket for the key. A hand grabbed her roughly by the arm and spun her around.
“Hey, baby. Where do you think you're going?” the guy growled through his cigarette-stained teeth. She pulled her arm away from him, bumping her elbow into the door.
“Don't touch me,” she snapped back. She turned back around and unlocked the door before picking up her lunch with her foot, and heading inside.
“Where you goin’? I never said you could walk away from me.”
“I don't need your permission, jackass. Leave me alone.”
“Oh, I think you do.”
He reached to grab her arm once again, but she wheeled around and grabbed his arm, twisting it so that he couldn’t move it, and using all of her force to push him back towards the door.
“I’m gonna call the cops if you don’t fuck off right now,” she said, raising her voice in the hopes of someone in the theatre hearing her, but she could hear the piano, and Rachael & Jeff’s voices. None of them heard anything. She quickly made a break for the theatre, but he grabbed her ankle, sending her crashing to the ground. She managed to let out one scream for help before his hand was holding her mouth tightly shut.
“I’m gonna get what I want, and you’re gonna shut up abou-” A metal sound, a thud, and he was on the floor next to her, completely unconscious. Annabelle scooted away from him as quickly as possible. Dylan dropped the metal bat he was holding and knelt next to her.
“You okay, Fischbach? What did he do to you?”
“Nothing yet. I-I just- he only managed to knock me on the ground.”
“Alright, get into the booth and stay there. I’ll call the cops and deal with this piece of shit.” He helped her stand and collect her things off the floor so she could run into the theatre. Her things were immediately thrown aside when she got there, the food placed on an empty table, and the light turned off so nobody would see her have the panic attack that she was on the brink of.