Falling // Ben Cook

Backstage

Millie POV:

I sat in my dressing room carefully taking off my wig after another successful show at Beetlejuice. My short dirty blonde hair fell in front of my face looking like a wavy mess after being up in this wig all night. I still can't believe I finally made it. I'm on broadway. It's been a month now and it still doesn't feel real.

"Hey Millie, there's still some donuts left if you want one." Leslie said knocking on my door with a big box of donuts. She had brought them for the whole cast today as a surprise.

"I've already eaten like 5 of them!" I laughed.

"Maybe six could be your lucky number?" She smiled. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a donut out of the box. I'll just take it home with me and eat it later. She closed the door behind her but not all the way, leaving a small crack behind her. Time to get some of this stubborn makeup off before the stagedoor. Just then there was a knock on the door.

"Hey! It's me! I have a friend coming backstage today and I thought you would like to meet him! He was in Mean Girls with me!" Kerry smiled cracking open the door a little more.

"Yeah of course, I'll be ready in a minute. Just need to get changed. I'll meet you on the stage!" I smiled. It was fall here in New York City so it was just starting to get a little chilly. I threw on my light brown sweater and blue jeans, then tied a white headband around my head to make hair not look so crazy. I added my combat boots to complete the look then headed out to the stage. A lot of the cast was standing around talking.

"Hey, you killed it tonight." Alex said grabbing me in a side hug.

"Always do when I'm performing with you." I laughed. It truly was amazing to get to perform with Alex Brightman, he brought an energy to the stage that nobody could match.

"Millie! Hey!" Kerry smiled walking up with a tall, curly haired boy. "This is Ben, he was in Mean Girls with me." He reaches his hand out to shake mine.

"I'm Millie." I shook his hand and smiled, he seemed sweet, and pretty young. Not what I was expecting.

"You were incredible tonight, you have such a beautiful voice." Ben said as he released my hand.

"Thank you, it means a lot! And I'm glad you enjoyed the show!"

"Ben here is about to be in the West Side Story movie and is going to be joining them on broadway." Kerry said looking at him like a proud mom.

"That's insane! Guess we will have to swing by and see you, but only if you take us backstage like we are doing for you now." I smirked. He laughed in response and I could tell it was going great. We stood on the stage talking for a few more minutes and snapped a picture of the two of us on the stage, then I took one of him and Kerry. It felt like we had only been talking for a minute when a stage manager interrupted us.

"Kerry, Millie, are you doing stagedoor tonight?" he asked. I looked around and the rest of the cast

"Shoot, right! Of course I will be out in one minute!" I said. It didn't even feel like we had been talking that long. He told me about how he was in Newsies touring and then Tuck Everlasting, then Mean Girls, and now West Side Story. It's incredible to see somebody the same age as me with such a resume! "Well I have to head out to the stagedoor, it was so great to meet you!" I smiled.

"Yeah, you too!" He said and I turned and left. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm here!" I said to stage door security as I ran out the door. As usual it was insane out there, but there was a little less people since it took me so long to come out. The stagedoor was always my favorite part of the night and I tried to go out every night. I remember being a young girl how much it meant to me when I would meet my favorite stars there. I know it's not required for me to do it or expected, but it makes me so happy to meet everybody. When I was finished I headed off to the subway and rode the train back to my apartment. When I got there, my two roommates were sitting up watching a movie.

"What are you guys watching?" I asked setting my stuff down on the table.

"I'm not really sure, we can't find the remote." Cole said as he shoved popcorn into his face.

"I leave for one show and you two lose the remote?" I laughed.

"In our defense, I think we lost it before you left." Jackson added. I kicked my shoes off and joined them on the couch, grabbing a handful of popcorn.

"How was the show tonight? You're back later than usual." Cole asked.

"Yeah Kerry brought one of her old cast mates from Mean Girls backstage and I was talking with him and lost track of time. Almost missed doing the stagedoor." I added. I have been rooming with Jackson and Cole since I first moved to New York. My family lives in New Jersey, right outside of New York but I wanted to be here in the city. So I answered their craigslist ad searching for a roommate and once they didn't kill me I when I came over for the interview, I moved in right away. At first they weren't sure about a girl moving in but they needed somebody right away and I could pay rent. They have been my biggest supporters here in New York. Cheering me on for every audition, picking me up when I would get rejected. When I found out I got cast as Lydia they threw a huge party for me here in the apartment and bought tickets to see me for my first three performances. I couldn't have asked for better roommates or best friends.

"It must have been a pretty interesting conversation if it was keeping you from the stagedoor." Jackson laughed.

"It was just really cool because he's the same age as me and has been in all of these shows! It was so interesting listening to him. Anyways, I'm heading off to bed now. Good luck finding the remote." I said standing up.

"Goodnight Mills!" They both screamed as I closed the door to my room. I fell backwards onto my bed and felt my whole body relax. It's been a long day. I grabbed my phone and saw I had a new Instagram notification. I checked and Ben had tagged me in an Instagram post. It was a bunch of the pictures he had taken tonight and he had included the one of him and I. I was about to like the picture when I got a new dm.

bentylercook: Hey! It was so great meeting you after your show today. I wanted to know if you wanted to go grab coffee or something tomorrow morning so we could talk more!

milliestrang: hey! I'd love to! I usually wake up around like 10 or 11 so I could meet you somewhere at 12! I definitely want to hear more about your upcoming projects!

I put my phone on the charger next to my nightstand and quickly changed into pajamas. It's cool to make some new friends on broadway, mostly all of my friends right now are in Beetlejuice. I haven't met many other people in the broadway community and Ben seems like the perfect person to start with. I'm actually pretty excited to go grab coffee with him tomorrow, and I can't remember the last time I was this excited just to hangout with somebody...