STILL THE ONE

Chapter 14 - I'm A Little Bit Scared

Am I asking all these questions for nothing?
I'm wondering if anyone's there, yeah
And I really need to make a confession
I hate to say that I'm a little bit scared, yeah

They had one more week of intense rehearsal, and the first few days were a disaster. On Shawn's side, he had a cold and he could barely sing. He was on vocal rest most of the time, which made it difficult to rehearse, but they used playback of his voice and practiced the instruments, lighting and logistics. One of Camila's dancers hurt her ankle and couldn't rehearse. She sat, with her crutches, and watched so she would know any changes they made. One of the huge set pieces she had been waiting for that had been plagued by delays finally arrived and it was completely wrong. In the end, they had to abandon the idea altogether, there was no time to get it fixed. She was devastated, she had set her heart on it. Their heightened stress saw them bickering at rehearsal, their duets were a mess because Shawn couldn't sing, and they were both stressed out and annoyed. On the third day, Camila called him a fuckwit for no reason, burst into tears and stormed off the stage. He stood there shaking with emotion, he didn't know if he was angry or upset or worried about Camila, and of course due to keeping their relationship a secret, he couldn't show it. He decided in this case, he would make an exception. He took a deep breath and followed her, catching up with her just after she'd left the rehearsal space.

"Mila," he whispered, not being able to talk. She stopped and turned around.

"I'm so sorry, I was such a bitch," her eyes were so sad, and he took her in his arms, stroking her hair. "I'm worried about you, about your throat, and when I mentioned it to one of the guys in the band he thought I was concerned about the show, and well I am, but I was worried about you and whether you were OK. I haven't been able to spend time with you this week, since Brian is staying with you, and Mama has arrived, and I miss you."

"I miss you too," he whispered in her ear. "I don't see us getting a moment to ourselves before or during tour, we're always surrounded by people, we're going to have to get used to it."

"There's always closets," she sniffed.

"And bathrooms," he whispered.

"And we do have our own hotel rooms," they had made sure.

"It will be like a British comedy, sneaking in and out of each other's rooms late at night," he said softly.

She hugged him tight, resting her head on his chest, then lifted her face to him and he kissed her slowly and softly. The door behind them opened with a loud click and they sprang apart. It was Cez, who was tour manager on this tour.

"You two kids OK?" he asked. "Kissed and made up?"

It was just an expression but in this case extremely accurate and they both blushed and Cez laughed. "It's OK guys, I was only joking, I just don't want any more of the bickering. Come in and try your two songs one last time and then we'll call it a night. We have tomorrow, then you guys go and do your music video while we get everything finalised and packed up to go."

They nodded and he continued on to his destination, totally unaware of what was really going on.

"What are you doing tonight?" she asked hopefully. Her mother was meeting an old friend that night for dinner, and Camila had told her she'd be glad of an early night. "Mama is going out."

His eyes darkened. "I might be able to get away for an hour, maybe two?" Any time was good. That night, Camila lay on her mother's bed watching her Mom get ready like she used to do when she was a little girl and her parents were going out with friends.

"What time will you be back?" she asked casually.

"Well, you know Eva, she will keep me out late. Will you be OK?"