"And CUT!" the director yells, ending the scene.
"Everyone take ten, Ross, Laura, can I talk to you two for a minute?" he asks.
We walk over to him.
"Ok, I didn't want to call you guys out on this, but now your on-stage chemistry is a little off too, is there something wrong with you two? You just haven't been connecting very well lately."
I look at Ross from the corner of my eye.
"No sir, there's nothing wrong." I say quietly.
"Are you sure?" he asks again.
"We're sure." Ross answers this time.
"Ok, well, take ten I guess."
We go to our separate dressing rooms.
After I freshened up I go to Ross's room and knock on the door quietly.
"Come in!" I hear Ross call.
So I open the door.
"We need to talk!" I exclaim before he can say anything.
"About what?" he asks.
"What's wrong with you? You've been acting so strange ever since we filmed campers and complications, and chapters and choices, the director's not wrong Ross; something has been off between us lately."
"I don't know." Ross replies shortly.
"You don't know, or you don't want to talk about it?" I ask.
He raises his palms in defeat.
"There's nothing wrong with us ok!" he replies.
I scoff.
"I beg to differ! You don't talk to me anymore, outside of when we're filming, and even when we're filming I can tell your hearts not in it anymore."
There's a moment of silence.
"Come on Ross, spill it."
"I've just been thinking ok."
"Ok, see now we're getting somewhere! Thinking about what?"
He bites his lip and averts his gaze.
He says something quietly, but it's a mumble.
"What?" I ask.
"I've been thinking about you ok!"
I lower an eyebrow.
"Thinking about me? What?" I ask again, really confused.
"Ok, I've been thinking about you and me…what are we?" he asks.
"Uh, the last time I checked we were really good friends, but now I'm starting to have second guesses." I reply.
"Me too." He replies.
"So what are you saying? You don't want to be friends anymore, what changed?" I ask a little hurt.
"NO! It's not that I don't want to be your friend." He replies quickly.
"Ross quit playing this game and TELL me, what's going on."
I see him bite his lip again.
He sighs.
"Ok, here's the thing, after filming chapters and choices, I realized something." He says.
"What?" I ask.
"I like you Laura, I mean, I REALLY like you." He replies.
I looked into his eyes searching for anything that would tell me he was lying, or playing a really sick game, but his eyes were sincere.
"I like you too Ross." I reply with a smile.
"Where does that leave us?" he asks.
"I-I don't know, do we want to go down that road?" I ask.
"I'd like to try." He replies.
"Uh that is, if you want to." He adds.
"I want to, I do, but, what if we wreck this, wonderful friendship we have, I don't want to lose that, but I won't know what could have been if we don't try. So if you're ready to take that risk, then so am I." I reply.
He smiles at me, and before either one of us realizes what we're doing, our lips meet, and I hope he can feel the sparks too.
"I'm sorry I've been acting so-"
"Don't worry about it." I interrupt.
We smile at each other.
"All cast members please return to the set." The intercom buzzes.
"Come on, let's go!" I say.
We take each other's hands and make our way to the set.
….
"CUT! And that's a wrap!" the director calls.
As me and Ross are about to leave, the director calls us over.
"I don't know what you two did over that ten minute break, but whatever it was, it really helped, your guys' chemistry was better than ever during that last take." He compliments
Me and Ross just wink at each other.