Action

Tate guided Cassie to an old building, they entered and walked to the third floor in silence. Chester opened the door and Cassie could see a room designed much differently than the rest of the building with all sorts of colored lights on a corner, a pair of huge speakers and cables, and a lot of paint on a table.

"Hey, blondie," greeted the boy while extending his hand in front of her.

"Nice to meet you," he said, showing some teeth, his lower eyelids contracted making eyes looked like two black lines on his face. He shook Cassie's hand energetically.

"So are you going to dance?"

She nodded.

"So cool!"

Chester's sudden glee made her jump back and she felt something warm working up her spine.

Tate could always tell her mood even from miles away. Gently, he placed his hand between her shoulders, while wishing his arm was around her waist as he held her tight. It was all she needed to feel more relaxed, just knowing he was there.

"Everything will be okay," he whispered into her ear.

"I can handle it," she replied, now determined to push through her fears.

She pulled away from his delicate touch to confront the blue-haired boy.

"Hello, you must be Philip?" she said,

Philip ruffled his dyed locks, colored specifically for the day's shoot.

"Philip, she's Cassie, Cassie he is Philip also known as Lip."

"I can introduce myself, Tate, thank you," Cassie hissed, trying to be more professional and self-reliant.

Philip looked at them both, opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but closed it quickly before saying something else.

"Have you met Mac's uncle and his assistant, they have some wonderful ideas for the shoot!"

Lip turned around and started walking with Cassie, Tate trailing behind them. Mac's uncle was an older man with glasses and a plaid shirt, his white beard covering most of his mouth.

"You must be Cassandra! I'm Jonathan Wells, the director."

"It's Cascadia and hello."

Cassie extended her hand to shake it but Jon just grabbed her by her shoulder and pushed her to his assistant. A tall girl with red hair and freckles in her early twenties, she held a pink notebook in her hand which matched her pink floral dress, she also had and a tripod balanced on her back.

"Lauren, my assistant and Mac's sister... my lovely niece."

"A pleasure to meet you," Cassie said.

"Let's start working!"

Jonathan raised his chubby hands into the air and laughed.

"Where can I go change my clothes?" Cassie asked Lauren.

"Let me show you the dressing room."

The redhead smiled. Cassie followed Lauren to a little white room with a mirror, a chair, and a room divider. Cassie let her bag fall on the floor and took out her red dancing leotard-- one of the best and most beautiful suits she'd ever worn and went behind the room divider.

She could hear Lauren sitting on the chair, who asked, "Are you going out with Tate Hayes or nah?"

Cassie was so surprised by the question she almost fell over trying to take off her shoes.

"I-- No. We are not."

"He is a bit of a bad boy, he got my brother in trouble too many times."

Cassie nodded but didn't respond.

"You shouldn't be with him."

"I'm sorry? Who are you to tell me who I should be with?" Cassie hissed.

"Aha! So you like him. Oh my god you love him!"

"Whoa there."

Cassie could almost feel the palpable giddy glee oozing from the other girl.

"This is so exciting, and I mean, really. Tate needs someone to care for him. He has been quite weird lately. And then you appear! I'm sure you can keep him safe and sound because sometimes he goes out and we don't hear from him for days."

"Easy girl!. I'm-- We are not dating or anything." Cassie cleared her throat. "We are just friends."

"Ha! tell that to your face when you look at him."

Cassie came out putting her hair up in a bun. Lauren gasped. "You look so good but," she paused, "you are not wearing any makeup," Lauren chided, realizing makeup was a must for the shoot.

Cassie shrugged, "I'm not good at it... I think I will go with a natural look this time."

"No no no no, Jon will go crazy if you don't wear make up... he likes fancy things."

"Fancy?" she challenged, "with that red plaid shirt, glasses and white beard?"

"You are making him sound like he is a woodsman version of Harry Potter dressed in a Santa costume."

Cassie laughed, "Sorry."

"We all think that though so no problem, little one."

Without noticing, Lauren was already applying blush to Cassie's skin. In a matter of minutes, Lauren's face was all gussied up. Cassie turned to the mirror and was shocked for a second, her lips had the same colour as her dress and the dark eyelids made her azure eyes even deeper.

"Amazing, huh?" Lauren said with a cosmetics brush on her hand. "Now go, everyone is waiting for you."

"Thank you," Cassie whispered, surprised that she would feel that way about something as crass as makeup.

She walked slowly through the clutter of camera equipment to the set. Philip and Mac where the first to turn around, one with a guitar and the other holding a bass, they looked at Cassie as if she was from another planet. Chester stopped playing with his drumsticks, "Looking good eh, blondie!" he teased.

Then Tate turned around and it was a whole different story.

He raised an eyebrow. Her heart stopped as she saw Tate walking towards her. Lauren pushed Cassie from behind and then whispered, "Go girl!" Cassie swallowed hard and stepped forward.

She expected Tate to say something about her appearance, but he only looked her up and down shamelessly and smirked. Tate grabbed her hand and led her to Jonathan.

"Marvelous! Fantastic! Cassie, go right over there," he directed, pointing the way.

Jonathan showed her the place where she would be dancing. It was a big room painted black with small led lights hanging from the ceiling that reminded Cassie of Christmas. The room was full of posters with their band name, Within Inferno, and their logo, a flame inside a triangle. At the other side of the room there was a platform with various microphones and a set of drums.

"You have to thank Lauren for the decorations."

"Damn, Lauren!" exclaimed Chester.

"Good job eh," said Lip.

Mac patted his sister's back and smiled, Cassie noticed they pretty much looked like twins with their similar red hair and hazel eyes. Lauren was slightly shorter than Mac but the girl was still a head taller than Cassie.

"Go to your positions... I'll bring the camera."

The whole band went to their spots, including Tate. He stood in front of the microphone and grabbed his guitar. Cassie didn't want Tate to look at her so she turned her back to him and started practicing a bit before Jonathan returned with Lauren and the camera.

When they came back to adjust the equipment, Cassie glanced at Tate who smiled from the other side of the room.

"Okay Cassie, you just start dancing when I say action and don't stop until we pause the song, okay? You guys just pretend you are plying. Ready?"

Cassie took a deep breath.

"Action!"

➳

How am I supposed to pretend I'm playing the guitar and singing when she is right in front of me dancing?

➳

I feel his eyes on me when I dance. And I love it.

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Dedicated to the super awesome vellichor cause I mean look at that band poster at the side, come on, it's fabulous. Thank you my dear ♥