Ten Minutes Ago // Ben Tyler Cook

Part Three / Chapter Fourteen

The next week is full of performances, and I don't catch a break. On my day off, instead of sleeping in, I get up early, donning a sweater and a pair of comfy jeans. Once I'm ready, I pull out my phone, following the directions to the studio where we're recording the cast album. Most of the cast has already arrived, and they're hanging out on a couple couches. I settle on one of the couches, ready to spend the whole day here.

In the next few hours, we work on recording the songs. It takes a lot longer than I thought, but I'm having fun. When I'm not in the booth, I hang out outside it with everyone else, snacking. Erika walks around the studio with a camera in her hand, filming random things throughout the day. She's already on the fourth episode of the web series Broadway.com requested her to do. During our lunch break, I eat next to Ben.

"You're sounding great when I can hear you," Ben says, looking over at me with a smile.

"You, too!" I answer happily. "Even though I can't hear you specifically all the time, the ensemble sounds great. I can't wait to hear your part in Do This Thing, though."

"Oh, I'm excited for that one," he says, smiling cheerily. We sit in silence for a few minutes as both of us eat our lunch. We don't have much to talk about, but that's okay. Both of us are happy to sit in a comfortable silence.

I pull out my phone, scrolling through Instagram. When I see a post that Elle, my roommate from London, made, I gasp, almost choking on my food.

Ben looks up, alarmed. "What? Are you choking?"

I shake my head, coughing a little. "No, I just saw something on Instagram."

"What is it?" He leans over my shoulder to look at my phone. I tense slightly; these days, I'm finding it hard to concentrate when he's close to me.

"My roommate back in London just got engaged!" I tilt my phone in his direction, showing him the photos she posted. Ben sits up straighter when I show him my phone, and he's thankfully no longer close to me. I can breathe.

"That's awesome." He gives me a slight smile, and I can't help but wonder if he's thinking about that almost happening between the two of us. I wonder if he thinks about it a lot. I, for one, think about that day more than I should.

Before I accidentally bring it up, however, we're interrupted by Grey. He sits across from me, the three of us forming a small circle. "So how's it going?" He asks with a smile not unlike the smug look Erika had last week.

"Good," Ben answers, glancing at me and definitely picking up on why Grey is smiling like that. The tips of his ears begin to turn red. "Just finishing lunch. How about you?"

"Good, good." Grey nods, raising an eyebrow at me.

I roll my eyes. "I'm going to get another water. I'll be back," I announce, standing up from my spot on the floor and throwing away my trash while I'm at it.

"Marlee!" Barrett beckons me over to the couch she's on as I grab another water bottle. "Do you want to play Mario Kart? Tee brought her Switch."

I nod, smiling slightly. "Yeah, sounds fun." I settle on the couch next to Barrett. "Who am I playing against?"

She shrugs. "I'm still eating," she answers. "Hey, who wants to play Mario Kart with Marlee?" She calls loudly, grabbing the attention of the cast.

"Dibs!" I hear Kyle shout. Jogging over to the couch, he plops down next to me. "Hand me the controller, you're about to be massacred."

Barrett raises an eyebrow. "That's dark," she comments, handing both of us a controller. "Have at it."

We play an intense round, and surprisingly, I beat Kyle to the finish line. "Ha!" I grin.

"What?" Kyle complains. "Two out of three?"

"Nope, I already called dibs on playing the winner," Cheech states. "Off the couch, Kyle."
Grumbling, Kyle stands up so Cheech can sit down. "You're going down, Granger," he says, taking the controller.

Apparently I'm better at Mario Kart than I thought. I keep winning as multiple cast members try to beat me. My latest opponent, Collins, gets up from the couch, defeated. "Who hasn't tried to beat her?" She asks. "Ben?"

Ben shakes his head. "I don't think I have a chance." He laughs. At the pushing of his friends, however, he takes a seat next to me. "Let's do this."

I try not to look scared when Ben sits down. How am I going to focus? I sigh, stretch my fingers a little, and put my game face on. "Be prepared to lose." I play harder than I had in previous rounds. However, we're forced to pause the game in the middle of the race; the studio's intern interrupts us to tell us who they need in the booth: Kyle and Erika. The next song they're recording is the reprise of Stupid with Love.

"Do you want to start over?" Barrett asks us once they leave. She's pretty much refereeing the matches. "Since you were stopped."

I shrug. Ben turns to look at me, a mischievous glimmer in his eye. Oh no. "I think we're good. Aren't we, Marlee?" With that question, Ben grins and gives me a wink. He knows exactly what he's doing. Great.

Determined not to let my confident exterior break even though I know I'm blushing, I nod. "We're good." We jump back into the race, but I'm distracted by trying to make my blush disappear by the sheer force of my will. To my dismay, since I'm not fully concentrated on the game, Ben ends up pulling ahead of me and winning the race. The cast cheers, struggling to keep the volume down.

With an annoying smirk, Ben looks at me. "Good game."

"Good game," I mumble, setting down the controller and getting up off the couch.

"Ouch, someone's a sore loser," Ben teases, still on the couch.

I take a breath and turn to him. "Can I talk to you outside?" I ask, earning oohs from my friends. I roll my eyes as Ben walks past me and into the hallway outside the studio. Once the door closes, I smack him.

"Hey!" He rubs his arm where I hit him. "What was that for?"

"You cheated!" I hiss, causing him to grin. "That's not fair!"
   
"I didn't think it would work." He laughs, wiggling his eyebrows playfully.

Rolling my eyes again, I sigh. "I would have won if you didn't cheat. I was ahead of you."

He holds up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "You agreed that we didn't need to start over. It's not my fault you were distracted."

"Yes, it is, and you know it!" I smack him again. "I want a rematch later." With that, I turn and walk back inside the studio just as the intern comes back to announce they need everyone who sings in Do This Thing.

After a whole day of singing, eating, and recording, we're finally done. I'm surprised when I step outside and it's dark; it doesn't feel that long since I arrived that morning.

However, I'm tired, and so is my voice. I make a cup of tea when I'm back home and spend the rest of the evening hanging out in my apartment.

~~~~~
this chapter is a long one, too. it's one of my favorites
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