Sam Pauly

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A/N: This is like a "3 times they almost kissed and the 1 time they actually did" one shot. I haven't written one before, so this is my first time!!! Hope you like it :)

I first met Sam in the audition room. I was reading for Glinda since the casting directors were testing various Glindas with Sam, who was obviously their Elphaba. I saw Sam's "Wizard and I" and almost immediately began to panic. I'd need to step up my game if I was going to co-star with her.

They wanted us to sing "What is this Feeling" to test our chemistry and see how we'd mesh together. I was honestly freaking out. Not that I'd ever tell her this since it'd be awkward, but I'd been a huge fan of her since her SIX days as Katherine Howard. So while I was trying to briefly work through the song with her before we'd present it, I was having a difficult time concentrating since all I could think of was how I thought she was really cute and how I desperately wanted to kiss her.

We presented for the casting directors. At the end of the number, we finished with her pretending to scare me and me screaming. She shouted right in my face, leaving only a couple inches between us. I could've sworn she almost leaned in before we were brought out of our little moment by the casting panel clapping for us. They told us we'd done a good job before dismissing me and letting me know that they'd get back to me on the part. I thanked them and left pretty quickly after that.

***********

A few weeks later, I was about to start my first rehearsal for Wicked. I'd been over the moon that I managed to score the role of Glinda. As I entered the building, I ran into Sam, who'd been absolutely wonderful to me when she found out I got the part, DM'ing me on Instagram, giving me her phone number, and sometimes inviting me to hang out with the rest of the cast. In fact, I was already pretty close with most of them despite having only found out I landed the role around a week ago.

"Hey, Ava!" Sam greeted, pulling me into a short hug.

"Hi!"

"Ready for your first rehearsal?"

"Yeah... Little nervous, but it's gonna be great!" I wasn't too sure of just who I was trying to convince.

"You know it!"

The moment rehearsal started, the real grinding began. Thankfully, I wasn't the only new cast member since the person playing Fiyero had changed as well, but still, aside from the two of us, everyone else knew the show forwards, backwards, and upside down. The dance captain started with the big dance numbers. I didn't have too much dancing to do, especially compared to the ensemble who were seriously on another level, but it was still quite a bit of choreography to learn.

After a couple hours, we got a short break, which I could not have been more relieved by the timing of. I grabbed my water bottle and left the room to go into the hallway for fresher air. "You okay?" Sam asked, laughing as she took in my tired appearance. We slipped into a random room together.

I panted lightly. "Yeah. Never been much of a dancer, though. I'm an adequate mover, and that's where my skills end." She laughed.

"Well, good luck. I think you're on your own with this one."

I flipped her off. As I drank from my water bottle, Sam continued to talk.

"You like it so far though, right?"

I swallowed before answering. "Well, duh! I mean, I'm in Wicked. That's like every actor's dream show, isn't it?" Sam laughed.

"Touche, touche."

I turned to her as I felt her gaze on me. She had this look in her eyes like she was trying to decide whether or not to make some huge decision.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

          

She reached her hand up to my cheek and began to lean in. I gasped softly as I realized what was happening, letting my eyes flutter shut as I leaned in too. We were a hair away from each other when we heard the dance captain yell to come back. We instantly jumped apart from each other.

"I-I guess we'd better go," I said, pushing hair that was definitely not in my face away from my face.

"Yeah," Sam agreed, twisting her fingers. "Wouldn't want to get... yelled at." We both rushed out of the room back to where we'd been rehearsing, not daring to look at each other the whole time.

***********

Somehow, three weeks flew by, and it was the night of my first show. I would've been lying if I'd said I wasn't nervous. Actually, nervous was an understatement. I was downright terrified. I went into Sam's dressing room where she was getting greened.

"Hi," I breathed.

"Hey!" she said. "You okay?" I nodded.

"Yeah. How's the greening going?" I tried to get her to start talking to distract me from the giant pit in my stomach.

"It's... faster than usual. It takes so long, and it's kind of a pain to get off, but life could be a lot worse." I smiled. "They're gonna love you, by the way. The audience? You'll be their favorite. You'll get the biggest standing ovation. Just watch."

I laughed. "I don't know about that. I've seen the love they give you..." Sam rolled her eyes.

"Please. Trust me, I'm right."

"Okay, okay. I'll take your word for it." She smirked.

"You'll see. I'm right." I just laughed.

We sat in her room talking for a bit, trying to make the greening process feel like it was going by faster than it really was. Suddenly, I realized that I only had forty-five minutes to get my makeup done, throw on my wig, and get into the gown before getting into the bubble. "I gotta go!" I exclaimed, getting up from my spot on the floor and running over to my dressing room, just across the hall.

I did the makeup to the best of my ability and prayed that it was good enough that no one in the audience would scream when they saw my face before rushing down to be helped with getting dressed and into the bubble because while that gown was gorgeous, it was also an absolute pain to get on. Before I knew it, the show had started and I was floating above the audience while singing a hopefully also floating melody. The rest of the first act was a blur, and I couldn't remember any of what had happened even just ten minutes after the fact. I remembered Sam's battle cry at the end of "Defying Gravity," and that was about it.

During intermission, I changed into my next costume quickly before immediately heading over to Sam's room.

"Okay, one act down, one more to go!" I cheered. Sam smiled.

"That's the spirit!" She finished touching up her makeup before turning her full attention to me. "You've been amazing tonight so far, by the way."

"Thank you," I said. "Touch wood that it holds." She smiled.

"It will. You could probably do this show with your eyes closed." She paused a moment and thought over her words. "Actually, don't because that would definitely increase your chances of being crushed by a moving set piece." I laughed.

"Not sure if I want that to happen."

"Yeah, but seriously. You're doing amazing."

"Thanks." We sat in a strangely awkward silence. "Hey, Ava, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Yeah? What's up?"

Sam seemed to suddenly get extremely nervous. I stepped closer to her and took her hands with mine to try to help her calm down and relax. She looked down slightly at me as I tilted my head up just a little to see her. We leaned in extremely slowly and just as our lips were about to meet, we heard the intercom tell us that we were at places. We both backed away from each other, startled by the sudden announcement. Sam looked frustrated and like she wanted to punch something.

"Ready for Act 2?" I asked, trying to move past the awkwardness. Sam shook her head like she was trying to shake a feeling.

"Yeah. Always."

**********

"Hey, wanna have a movie night at my place?" Sam asked. It was finally our day off after a 15-show week for the Tony's. It didn't make a whole lot of sense since we weren't even performing or a new show, but we still had to deal with the 15-show grind for bonding and commiseration purposes, I guess. On the one hand, I wanted to sleep, but on the other, Sam.

"Sure!" I said. "After the show?"

"Sounds like a plan."

So the moment the show was over, I rushed up to my dressing room, wiped off my makeup, threw my costume off, threw my street clothes on, and ran out to briefly stage-door (brief in this case means somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour). Once Sam and I were both done greeting everybody, we took the subway to her apartment.

"Hi, Gene. Nick," I greeted.

"Ava. You guys doing a movie night?" Sam's sister asked. I nodded. "What movie?"

"We haven't decided yet."

"Okay. Well, just use protection."

"What? To watch a movie?"

Sam blushed, put one hand on my back and quickly ushered me out of the room. "Ignore her."

"I heard that!" Gene yelled. Sam just flipped her off.

We flopped down onto her bed, and Sam pulled up Netflix on her computer. "What are we feeling like?" she asked.

"Whatever you feel like."

"Harry Potter?"

"Sure."

Sam turned on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on MAX, setting the computer on our legs as she scooted closer to me. She leaned on my shoulder as we watched Dumbledore leave a note and a baby at the Dursleys' house.

Half-way through the movie, Sam suddenly turned toward me, a determined look in her eye. "Ava?" she started.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Can I kiss you?"

"I- yes."

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

She leaned closer to me, and I reached my hand up to cup her cheek as our lips finally met. I was convinced I finally knew what heaven felt like. We had to have stayed like that for a solid couple minutes, those Broadway lungs definitely coming in handy with making sure we didn't suffocate from a lack of oxygen.

"Ava?" Sam said again. "I like you. Like, a lot."

"I like you, too," I said, a goofy smile on my face.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to me as she leaned her head back down on my shoulder and we continued to watch the movie.

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