golden girl (b.t.c.)

chapter fifty-two

thursday, september 17
eliana yawned, clutching her coffee as she walked inside to the early morning rehearsal. she saw chaz at the head of the stage, and walked up to him. "why'd he call this so last minute?"
"no idea." chaz replied. "i heard whispers about a new cast member, but i don't really know for sure."
"mm." she nodded. "you seen ben?"
"he was running a little late this morning. josh said he went out with a friend after the show."
"oh." she frowned. ben hadn't said anything about that last night.
she brushed it off, and tossed her backpack down to the ground in front of the stage. when she turned back around, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
a tall, very muscular, very familiar looking guy was laughing with jeff as he came out of the wings.
"i think that's him." chaz said. "the new guy."
"god, please, no." she muttered.
"eliana, chaz!" jeff grinned as he came towards them. "i'd like you to meet our new delancey brother, declan frasier."
"nice to meet you." chaz shook his hand. "i'm the dance captain."
"and eliana here is our stunt coordinator." jeff nodded to her. declan swallowed. "we actually, um, know each other."
"yeah. hey." she half smiled.
"wonderful!" jeff said, obviously missing the cue. "we're going to get started with rehearsal, so declan, you're just going to watch with these two for our first couple run-throughs."
ben came running in to the theatre just in time for jeff to introduce the new kid.
"you're got to be fucking kidding me." he said under his breath. the guy phoebe had introduced him to on monday was standing right next to his girlfriend, and she was laughing at something he said.
"i forgot how funny you were." eliana said through giggles. declan grinned. "maybe you could remember over lunch." he said with a slight raise of his eyebrows.
eliana glanced at ben, who was towards the back of the cast as he'd come in late. she bit her lip, thinking. yeah, it'd be weird to go out with her ex-boyfriend, but ben did go hang out with someone without telling her.
"yeah, that sounds great." she smiled.
"what's been going on with you?" declan munched on a fry. "it's been a while since we talked."
"gymnastics went really well this season." she nodded. "i've got a good shot at rio."
he scoffed. "you'll be at rio. you killed it all year."
"thanks." eliana blushed. "i guess i only joined tour last week, so you and i are kind of in the same boat."
"mm, yeah, chaz said."
"what made you want to do theatre? you seemed like you were doing really well with gym."
"i just kinda lost the fire i used to have. dancing brought it back. i still love tumbling and all that, but dancing is just so much more expressive."
eliana nodded. "i get that. it can be easy to lose passion for gymnastics."
"everything just has to be so perfect all the time, you know? dance is just...i can mess up a little and not feel like i'm going to die." he laughed. "that sounds dramatic, but-"
"no, i know what you mean." she agreed. "ben and i dance together sometimes, and it just feels good."
"ben..." he thought for a minute. "blondie? the kid who looks like a string bean?"
eliana frowned. "i wouldn't say string bean."
declan shrugged. "i would. you guys are pretty good friends, then?"
"oh, um..." she looked down at her salad. "we, um, we're dating. he's my boyfriend."
declan looked up quickly. "oh, wow, i...i didn't think he was your type. he's-"
"not you." she finished. "yeah."
"yeah."
"he's amazing, though. honestly." she said.
"i'm sure." declan said shortly.
there was an awkward pause, and he cleared his throat. "i should, um, get going. i have to practice for rehearsal."
"right, yeah." she smiled. "see ya."