Down For The Count

Wait For It

Paisley's POV

Chris' pleads to please be civil had very much fallen on deaf ears.

Anthony was currently in the girls' dressing room, icing his swollen knuckle.

"You guys should've let me keep going. I could've taken him." Anthony mumbled, Jasmine cleaning up the small bleeding wound on his face as he too had taken a blow.

My anxiety was through the roof and beyond. I'm the reason for all of this. This is my fault. Why couldn't I have just not been so stupid? This wouldn't have happened if I had just remembered where I was supposed to go, or...or if I just wasn't so sensitive.

This is all my fault.

"Why would you do that." Jasmine sighed, shaking her head. "We've been over this before. Violence is not the answer."

"Violence is always the answer." Anthony corrected, earning a groan from Jasmine.

"I'm serious, Anthony. I get that you're just looking out for Paisley, but you can't go hitting people. Come on, back me up here." Jasmine turned to Renée, obviously hoping that she too would scold Anthony.

But Renée only shook her head. "I would've tackled that man on sight. He's very lucky I wasn't here."

Anthony fist-bumped Renée with his good hand, and Jasmine groaned again. But before she could say anything, Lin walked in, holding a stack of papers and looking visibly distressed.

"A civil conversation. You couldn't have just come over and had a conversation? Was it really necessary to just walk up to the man and punch him?" Lin asked.

He looked very angry, and I felt my stomach twist.

"It was extremely necessary." Anthony said confidently, earning a sigh from Lin.

"This is...this is days worth of paperwork to fill out, both of us. And god forbid the paperwork we'll have to go through if a lawsuit is filed."

He was so stressed out. Everyone was.

My stomach was extremely uneasy. I felt sick that this had happened. That I had done this and created such a big problem.

"He shouldn't get to file a lawsuit. He's the one that hurt her!" Anthony exclaimed, motioning over to me. "Look at her, she looks so scared."

"Yeah, I wonder why." Jasmine said, holding up the bloody cloth that she had been using to clean Anthony's wound.

"Did I...did I scare her?" Anthony panicked, looking over at me. "P...did I scare you?"

I had no clue what to say, and the fact that everyone's eyes were on me made me even more uneasy.

I was so in my head that I didn't even notice Phillipa walk over to me. She took my hands in hers, looking down at them.

"Your hands are shaking." She said quietly.

Again, I hesitated, not quite knowing what to say, and Anthony groaned.

"Oh my god, I did scare her. That means I'm just as bad as him. Oh god, I shouldn't have-"

"No." I spoke up quietly, shaking my head and stopping Anthony's speech. "Just...cold."

Which was a big lie. I was extremely nervous.

But it's not that Anthony scared me. I just...feel awful that I put him in such a bad situation. I feel awful that Lin has to do so much paperwork and the whole theatre probably hates me and...and...

"I have a jacket in my dressing room. You could go get that." Lin suggested, not quite looking as angry as he was earlier. He could definitely tell that I was nervous, and I was very grateful that he was giving me an out.