Chapter Fourteen: Tell.Me.That.I'm.Dreaming

    AJ had been thinking a lot lately...about Brian not sleeping, about Nick being in denial about Julie...and, well, about Chin. No matter how much he tried to ignore his feelings for Chin, it was getting harder, and he hated feeling jealous. Jack had given her a ring...and he noticed it had replaced the one he had given her...only Jack's ring was displayed on her finger. What did that say? Had she just forgotten about the one he had given her? What did Jack do differently than he did? Jack had had Chin once...but AJ assumed he would never get his own chance. She didn't want to be hurt, and he wasn't going to do anything that might make her feel pain in the end...
     "Alex?"
     AJ snapped out of his thoughts and looked up. Chin was standing there, with a confused look on her face.
     "You okay? You've been awfully silent. Everyone else is running around the sets and-"
     "I'm just tired," he gave an excuse as he tried to relax in his folding chair. Chin pulled up one beside him. He immediately got up. Jack's ring glimmered in the light of a nearby stage lamp. "Um, my scene, I mean, our scene, is soon...I see you've already been to make up, so...I'd better go." He left quickly, not letting Chin respond.

     "Howard, you don't drink tea," Cathy stated, looking at his cup while the crew was getting his scene ready.
     "This isn't tea." He pulled the cup out of her grasp.
     "Lemme rephrase that - you don't drink watered-down coffee," she laughed.
     "That's all they had left. It's like 11PM right now," he yawned. "Why are you bothering me, anyway? You're supposed to help me with this scene!"
     "All I have to do is run a little bit in this stupid red dress - la di freaking DA. I don't need to save my energy, so I can pass the time buggin you!" she smiled, and pressed a finger on his nose.

     Brian tapped the window and gave everyone a goofy grin.
     "Brian!" everyone groaned for the hundredth time.
     "I'm sorry, I just can't get in the mood!" he whined.
     "Lemme try." AJ appeared out of nowhere.
     "Whoa, Age...where were you?" Brian grinned as AJ walked onto Brian's set.
     "Watching your sorry acting," AJ smiled.
     "Funny." Brian frowned, "What are you gonna do?"
     "Make you sad."
     "What? How?"

     "Where's the girl on Nick's set?" yelled one of the stage crew. Hannah turned to Julie.
     "You going or not?"
     "No, I can't..." Julie snuck back behind Hannah. "You go!" She shoved Hannah so hard that she flew completely in sight of the director.
     "You!" he yelled, pointing to Hannah. "Come here."
     Hannah turned to Julie to find that she had disappeared.
     "I'm gonna kill her," Hannah muttered as she walked over to the director.

     Chin stared up at the empty sky.
    "What's wrong with Alex?" she muttered. Chin had found herself on top of a building in the middle of no where. She didn't want to think anything bad was becoming of their friendship. She wouldn't know what to do if something bad were to happen. If anything bad were to happen, she thought silently. She felt as if their friendship was growing further and further apart...

     Brian moved his mouth to the song as his eyes were dead cold and staring emptily into space. Jenny was watching from afar and it scared her to see him like that, even if it was acting.
     "What did you say to him?" she asked, turning to AJ.
     "What he didn't want to hear..." AJ didn't move his glance from Brian.

     "Since you refuse in our video, I'm gonna record you right now on my own camera," Kevin zoomed in on me as I sat and watched the activities going on. I had just used some chapstick, and put it back in my pocket. I thought he was joking until I looked up, noticing the small video camera in his hand.
     "You FREAK!...Noooo!" I covered my face with my hands. "It's not like I refused to help when you needed me or something," I stated. "All the empty parts have been assigned, so there." I proceeded to pull my sweatshirt over my head.
     "You look really stubborn, " Kevin laughed, walking around me with his camcorder. "Should I call you the Nike Monk, my dear?" he grinned, noting the symbol on my sweatshirt.
     "Don't you have a scene to shoot!?" My sweatshirt muffled my wail.
     "Nope, already finished...I've got all the time in the world to catch a glimpse of your face," Kevin grinned. I gave an annoyed huff.

     While the crew was taping Nick, Hannah snuck out of her waiting spot, determined to find Julie. She found her friend hiding around the corner.
     "You DORK!" Hannah hissed. Julie whirled around, then gave an innocent smile. "You're supposed to do this scene with Nick-"
     "I can't-" Julie began.
     "Yes you can. They're calling for 'the girl' now...It's your turn to be shoved, and this time you're STAYING!" Hannah pushed Julie into the view of the assistant director. He didn't care which girl was doing the scene, as long as there was one; he directed a helpless Julie to her spot.

    Brian couldn't get AJ's words out of his head. They echoed over and over. AJ had filled Brian's head with a ton of bad images...images of Jenny. Of losing Jenny, in different ways...what if it had been her that was on the hospital bed?
     "Cut!" someone yelled, snapping Brian back to reality. He looked up and his first vision was Jenny smiling and giving him a 'thumbs up'. Brian sighed.
    Everything was okay.

     The director strolled around, waiting for the next set to be ready, thinking of what else to do when something caught his eye. A girl, one of the Boys' friends, was on the rooftop of a tall building, leaning over the edge. Her, the director thought. She'll be perfect.

     AJ turned the corner and ran smack into Hannah.
      "You okay?" He helped her get up.
     "Yeah, I'm fine." Hannah brushed dust off her pants.
     "Have you seen Chin any where?" AJ asked, looking around.
     "Nope, sorry. Why do you ask?"
     "She was supposed to help me out with my scene and no one has seen her..." AJ answered. I probably scared her away earlier, he thought to himself.
     "Well-" Hannah began but AJ cut her off.
     "That's okay. You can help me." AJ dragged Hannah off to his set.

     "Jenny, your turn!" Brian called her.
     "She's not ready!" Makeup yelled. "Please let me put lipstick on you..." Mary, the makeup artist begged to Jenny.
     "No way." Jenny shook her head and narrowed her eyes, and pursed her lips tightly.
     "I give up!" Mary sighed as Brian walked up.
     "Is my Jenny being difficult again?" he grinned as he took the lipstick from Mary. "I'll take it from here, Mary."
     "Thank you," Mary sighed, relieved, and walked away to work on the extras.
     "Lemme put this on you, Jenny...please? Everyone needs make-up for their shot! And you get your own scene!" Brian turned to Jenny with the best puppy dog eyes ever.
     "No..." Jenny closed her eyes so she couldn't see Brian.
     "No cheating. Come on, open those beautiful brown eyes of yours..." Brian placed a hand on Jenny's cheek. "Please?" Jenny slowly opened her eyes. Brian had stolen her heart again. He was being such an angel and it drove her crazy. She just wanted to wrap her arms around him...and she surprised both herself and Brian by doing so.
     "You are too good to me," Jenny whispered into Brian's ear, sending him shivers up and down his spine. He was left breathless. "So! What's with this makeup deal?" Jenny asked as she pulled away smiling. Brian forced himself to allow in air.
     "You ready?"
     "Do I trust you?"
     "Of course!"
     "Then I'm as ready as I'll ever be..." Jenny shut her eyes as Brian leaned forward to put lipstick on her.

     The camera moved closer to Chin as she stared out into the sky. She was so preoccupied, thinking about AJ, she didn't realize what was going on.
     "Perfect!" the director yelled and Chin's eyes shifted to what was going on beneath her.
     "Don't jump!" Cathy and I yelled, jokingly. Chin flashed us a weak smile.

     "AJ, I don't know about this..." Hannah mumbled as she was brought onto his set.
    "That's okay. All you have to do is walk onto the bus, all the way in, and then turn around. Okay?" AJ flashed her a smile.
     Why doesn't Chin like him? Hannah wondered. There's no way she can be so close to this maniac and not love him. No way...
     "Are you ready, Hannah?"
     "As I'll ever be," Hannah sighed, as she took her position in front of the doors of the bus.

~*~*~*~
(5AM, the next day)

    "That's a wrap for now, folks...see you all at 6PM," the director called out. Cathy collapsed in her folding chair beside me.
    "How many times can they make a person run in a freaking DRESS!?" she sighed.
    "I guess I'll stay happy that I'm not gonna be on TV," I laughed. Julie showed up beside us, and pulled up another chair next to Cathy.
    "Nick tripped a buncha times, then the fog wouldn't work, then the music got messed, and basically I get to be all made up again and shoot our scene tomorrow," Julie grimaced.
    "You mean today," Hannah corrected her, as she sat in a chair across from us.
    "Whatever..." Julie yawned. "I'm glad they didn't need us for Larger Than Life."
    "Stop complaining...I have to do my scene still...after all that trouble with makeup, the dude I'm supposed to be fighting with never showed...his plane got delayed or something. Lucky me," Jenny came and sat on my lap, swinging her legs up over Cathy and Julie, too tired and lazy to get a chair for herself. Hannah scooted her chair to the other side of me, and rested her head on my shoulder. I rested my head on top of hers, while Cathy rested hers on my other shoulder, followed Julie's head on her shoulder.
    "Hey, you guys," Kevin spoke up as he and the other four Boys immerged from the various sets.
    "Hey," we replied, half asleep.
    "Sorry you girls have to go through this...but thank you," Howie said.
    "You're..." Hannah started, but yawned.
    "...welcome," Julie finished, as she stretched.
    "C'mon, you guys, get up...we're in the same hotel and we're your ride to your beds," Nick stated. That woke us up a bit - we lightly laughed at him. "I didn't mean it like that-"
    "Whatever, Frack," Brian snickered. "Anyway, you guys just gonna sleep in these chairs all day?" The Boys looked at us.
    "We're quite comfortable, thankyouverymuch!" Cathy stated, her eyes closed.
    "Where's Chin..?" AJ finally spoke up, whispering. We were still half-asleep.
    "I dunno..." Cathy mumbled. I opened my eyes.
    "Yes...we...do," I realized, somewhat lethargically as I tried to become more conscious.
    "Where?" AJ asked.
    "Cathy...and I...saw her...on the top..." I began.
    "...of some building...just...standing there," Cathy muttered. I stretched, to the annoyance of Hannah, Cathy, and Jenny.
    "Let's go get her." I tried to stand up as Jenny gave an aggravated noise. "C'mon, you guys." I was too tired to yell.
    "Do you know what building it was?" Brian asked.
    "Not sure..." Cathy replied.
    "Um...we'll split up and look for her, okay?" Nick suggested, noticing the look on AJ's face.
    "Aye Aye, Cap'n." Hannah saluted drowsily, before following me. Cathy, Julie, and Jenny opted to stay with us, and the Boys left in the opposite direction.

(25 minutes later)
    "I've been up for almost 24 hours, and it's not for a sleepover. This is not healthy," I groaned, as we turned another corner.
    "These alleyways are freaking me out..." Jenny whispered, clutching my arm. Hannah was linked up with Cathy and Julie, right behind us.
    "Kat - was that it?" I pointed to familiar building. Cathy squinted - dawn was breaking.
    "Ummmmmm yeah...I think so."
    "Then up we go." I headed towards the stairs of the building.
    "No elevators?" Hannah whined.
    "Maybe we'll find one on the way down," Julie suggested.

(meanwhile, in the building)
    "Are you sure they're gonna use this one?"
    "What else are they gonna use? We're gonna ruin the stairs just incase they feel like exercising some more... so they have to take this to get back down," a second hissed.
    "It's the closest one, they won't go to the others," a third explained.
    "Are you sure they won't get hurt?" a fourth asked.
    "You nut. No, they won't, okay? We just have to scare them, remember?" the second replied.
    "But that's what you said last time..." a fifth commented.
    "Did they get hurt? No...Now shut up and help me! All of you!" the second whispered harshly. "They're gonna be here soon!"

(5 minutes later)
    "Chin, I'm sweating thanks to you...be happy we found you," Hannah complained to the silhouette when we reached the roof. "Chin?"
    "She's asleep," I said, as we walked closer to her.
    "CHIN!" Cathy woke her up.
    "What?" she answered, annoyed.
    "You scared the crap out of all of us!" Julie exclaimed.
    "What time is it?" Chin asked groggily.
    "It's gonna be 6AM soon. The shoot finished almost an hour ago...and we have to be back here by 6PM," Jenny informed her.
    "Sorry," she muttered, as she stretched.
    "C'mon, the guys are still searching for you." I helped her up.
    "There's an elevator!" Hannah pointed to the end of the roof.
    "Told you," Julie smiled, as we all piled into the contraption.
    "Wow, we walked up 3 floors...that was sooo much, huh, Hannah?" Jenny laughed as she punched the "ground floor" button.
    "Shut up...the stairs were rickety," Hannah frowned. "Besides, it's too early...late...early...to be working out, ok?"
    "This whole building is rickety...and old," Julie looked around the elevator.
    "At least the elevator wor-" Cathy began...then we heard a snap.
    For a split second, we were silent
    ...but that was before we fell.

(outside the building, at street level)
    "Damn, where are the girls?" AJ kicked a rock along the pavement.
    "Maybe they went to the hotel when they found Chin?" Howie suggested.
    "They wouldn't do that," Nick said.
    "We're prolly just going in circles...we'll find 'em sooner or later." Brian looked up at the sky,
    "Yeah, they could be in this building for all we kno-" Kevin stopped mid sentence as the five heard our screams. The looked at each other, then ran into the building. They heard a crash as soon as they entered. Howie pointed to the elevator shaft. The doors were a finger's width open. All five pried the doors open and found us, huddled together, hanging on to each other for dear life.
    "What the hell happened?" AJ exclaimed.
    "Are you guys okay?!" Brian asked - our faces were pale from shock.
    "The...the...the..." was all Cathy could say.
    "The elevator?" Nick said.
    "Fuh...fuh...fuh..." I stuttered.
    "Fell?!" Howie asked, incredulously. We still weren't looking at them, but we nodded slowly.
    "Three stories!?" Kevin did the math. The guys snapped out of their dumbfounded stage and rushed in to help us up. We slowly walked out of the building with each one of them supporting us. Chin had a death grip on Nick's arm. Jenny was crying into Brian's shoulder. I was shaking and AJ had his arm around me. Hannah was leaning heavily on Howie while Kevin supported a shivering Cathy and Julie, as we walked towards the site of the video shoot.

-->Chapter Fourteen: Tell.Me.That.I'm.Dreaming [CONTINUED]
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