It's been a week since Ben kissed me and I have my first rehearsal this afternoon. Which means I get to see him! I've had no other contact with Ben except stalking his Instagram, debating if I should follow or like anything. I didn't . But I should've. I hope I don't say or do anything stupid.I got ready for rehearsal, put my hair up, grabbed my water bottle and script and headed to my car. I plugged the aux in and blasted Newsies, singing along. I noticed that Ben left the Star Wars tissues and grabbed one during 'Santa Fe'. While crying,singing and looking like a mess I saw a familiar face at red light. Oh no.
Can you guess who it was? It was...... drum role please.......

BENJAMIN TYLER COOK!
What a great way to start my day. I mean I was gonna see him anyway but now he's seen my cry 3 times. How humiliating!  I think Mother Nature felt bad for me because it was pouring. Thelight turned green and I drove away. Obviously I drove the speed limit. What if he looked and saw me crying?
I pulled into the parking lot and went to find a bathroom. I looked in the mirror and fixed my makeup. After I freshened up, I walked into the room with a smile on my face. I was greeted by friendly faces. And Ben's.
((For this particular tour cast I'm gonna go with the people I researched on Wikipedia along with a few others. Oh and Stephanie will be playing Sniper and understudying Katherine in this scenario))
"Hey everyone, my name is Lilly Brown and I'm playing Katherine." I added a small wave at the end. I got to meet so many wonderful people while simultaneously avoiding Ben. But I couldn't avoid him for too long. First we did a run through if everything and then Jeff wanted to sing through everything and then focus on the bigger numbers for the rest of the week. I cried during Santa Fe. Like I always do.
Before we began 'Watch What Happens' Jeff pulled me aside. "Don't get hurt."
"I'll try." I replied.
This time, I didn't fall. Luckily.
I watched Ben's face pretty much the whole time. He was worried when I went back to the type writer, then relieved and then proud. I finished the number and sat back down waiting for Dan to finish off act one. Ben made his way over to me and tapped my shoulder.
"Hi."
Damnit, now I have to talk to him.
I shouldn't of kissed her. She's probably really pissed.
But I shouldn't act like this. I mean it's not that I don't like him, I just maybe possibly might have a boyfriend.........

We've been married since second grade.

Did you get scared?
I'm kidding about the boyfriend, but I have been happily married since second grade. Anyway, back to the boy sitting next to me.
"Hello Benjamin."
"I'm really sorry about what happened last w-"
I cut him off.
"No need to apologize, it's not like it was a bad kiss or anything." Did I just say that out loud?
Oh no. I blushed really hard. Dan still hasn't started singing, hurry up Dan, so I can avoid the rest of this conversation!
Finally, Dan starts singing before Ben can speak again. This is exasperating! But thank you Dan for getting my silent plea. It was time for 'Something to believe in'. That's another number I'm nervous about.
"Dan, I'm scared!"
"Don't be, you'll be great!"
A little reassurance never hurt anybody, right?
"Dan, Lilly, for this number just do what you'd like for now and we'll block it later. Start with the dialogue."
Everything with going great. So far. I'm just gonna skip to right before this kiss and then continue. :)
"And if I was a boy you'd be looking at me through one swollen eye!" I shouted.
"Oh yeah!" Dan started, "Give it your best shot!"
A few seconds of silence, and then we kissed. I heard the rest of the cast cheering. I tried not to laugh.
I pulled away and he tried to kiss me again, as the script says.
"I need to know you didn't cave for the money."
"N-no, I spoke the truth." Damn Dan was an amazing Jack.
"You win a fight when you got the other fellow down, eatin' pavement!
All right, you heard your father, no matter how many days we strike, he ain't never givin' up. I don't....
I don't know what else we can do."
"Ohhhh but I do!"
"Come on" Holy crap. This man can really act.
"Really, Jack, really? Only you can have a good idea? Or is it because I'm a girl?"
"Oh I-" I cut him off with "This would be a good time to shut up." And I put a finger to his lips.
"Being boss doesn't mean you have to come up with the all the answers, just the brains to recognize the right one when you hear it." I pretended to hold up a folded sheet of paper.
"I'm listening."
"Good for you. The strike was your idea. The rally was Davey's. And now my plan will take us to the finish line." I pretended to unfold the imaginary sheet of paper. I also pretended to wave it in front of his face.
"Deal with it." I was holding in excitement as Dan read the invisible page.
"The children's crusade."
"For the sake of all the kids in every sweatshop, factory and slaughterhouse in New York, I beg you, join us."
"This...."
"With those words, the strike stopped being just about the newsies. You challenged our whole generation to stand up and demand a place at the table.
"Children's Crusade...."
"Think, Jack, if we publish this," I moved closer to Dan, "my words, (I gasped here) with one of your drawings, and if every worker under 21 read it and stayed home from work, or better yet, they came to Newsies Square! A general citywide strike! Even my father couldn't ignore that." I did a small happy dance before being interrupted by Dan.
"We have one small problem.... We've got now way to print it!"
"Come on, there has to one printing press he doesn't control."
A little bit of silence.
"Oh no."
"What?"
Dan laughed, "I know where there's a printing press no one would ever think we'd use."
"Well, then, why are we still standing here?"
"Hey, Hey. Wait! Stop!"
And well I think you know the rest of scene so why explain it?
During the scene and song, I noticed a strange expression on Ben's face. Was it jealousy? After Dan and I kissed I noticed a particularly angry face.
Once we finished I was feeling really proud of myself.
"We did it!" I gave Dan a high five.
"And you thought you were gonna screw up." He teased.
"To be honest, I do mess up a lot. I'm very clumsy." I smiled.
"Great job you two!" Jeff walked over to us.
" I can tell you two have natural chemistry."
"Thank you?"
"Lilly, that's a good thing."
"Ohhh... got it."
We finished the dining through and afterward. We were all pitching tricks to the choreographer. It was really fun! All the boys were pressuring me to do something but I passed politely.
I had a blast getting to know everyone but soon it was over. :(
As I was heading to my car, something fell out of my binder. I grabbed it before it blew away, got soaking wet, and saw that it was a phone number.
I got to my car and I threw my script and music in that passengers seat.
I typed in the number, hit the call button, while getting into the car and during that I heard some call my name.
"Lilly!"
Shit
I was so close to getting in the car!
Luckily his phone rang before I had to talk to him. I held the phone back to my ear and waited for the person to answer.
"Hello?"
"Is this by any chance Miss Lilly Brown?"
"Why yes it is! Is this Benjamin Cook?"
I hung up.
"How come you avoided me today?"He said with a frown.
"Wellllllll, I Mean I wanted to talk to you but I was afraid I would say something stupid and when I did talk to you,  I said something stupid!"
"I didn't think it was stupid, I thought it was kinda cute!"
Oh shit.
Awwwwwww
"Am I foolish? Or could this actually go somewhere? I mean, Are you just leading me on?"
I shouldn't of said that.
And then he kissed me. Again. In the pouring rain.
How romantic!
"Need a ride?" I offered.
"Always."

Did you like it? This my longest chapter yet! Hope you like it!
Love you all!💕
~Perri