Meet Us at the Barre: A Series of SAB Oneshots

your mother only smiled on her tv show (2)

"You gave us quite a fright there, Mate." Mark kneeled before Ben, handing him a water bottle.

"Yeah, Honey, you can't be performing like this." Emmie coaxed, rubbing Ben's back.

"I'm sorry. Thank you." Ben mumbled at a whisper, reaching out weakly to grab the water bottle as he clutched onto the trashcan between his legs.

He barely got through a swallow of water before bending over and throwing up again.

"Mark." Katherine called, gesturing for him to come towards her. Mark followed Kath and left Emmie and Ben alone.

"No, no, Honey, don't cry. It'll make it worse." Emmie shook her head rapidly, gently lifting Ben's chin up so he could see her. "Hey...what's the matter?"

"My mom said that you...you could..." Ben stammered over his words, choking on tears. "You could stand to lose a few pounds for the stage." He finally got the sentence out, wincing at how it sounded as the words fell past his lips.

Emmie's face fell. She remembered all the times Ben found her crying after fittings or rehearsals. How he held her when she was sick, but lied about why or how she exactly became so sick.

She'd gotten past all that. And now, this?

But she didn't matter. Ben's mom's horrible comment didn't matter. Ben's health mattered now.

"I don't care, Benjamin. What I do care about is you not performing like this. You can't, Honey, and I know you're going to try, but I'm serious this time."

"Em..." His voice sounded rough, of course it did, with how sick he was. "I have to."

"If you get out on that stage, you literally might die. You freaking fainted walking a foot out the door." Emmie stated. "What are we performing tonight?"

This was her test.

Ben's glance immediately fell onto Emmie's dress. "Copellia."

"You only knew that because you looked at my tutu. Baby, you have to sleep and rest this off. Sleep in my dressing room, okay? I can make up the sofa for you, and Kath nor I don't have any quick changes, so nobody is about to bother you in here."

"No, Emmie, I have t--" Ben's eyes widened and his breath caught as he flung himself over the trash can once again.

Emmie panicked. She'd never seen anyone this sick in a long time. "Jesus, Ben, how sick are you?"

"Viciously." He groaned, slumping against the wall. His whole body was pale and weak.

Emmie sighed, almost tearing up. It killed her to see him like this.

"I gotta..." He swallowed hard. "I gotta get back into costume."

Emmie watched in pain as he clamored around on the tile floor, trying to pull back on his many costume top pieces that everyone had worked to get off of his chest, in fear he'd overheat when he came back to his senses after he fainted.

"No! These costumes are heavy as hell, Ben, you're not putting that back on, and you're not performing. That's final!" Emmie snapped.

Ben shakily stood up. "I have to perform."

~~~~~

PART TRES COMING SOOOOOOON