No Never Yes||Prinxiety||

Enemies Aren't So Bad-Virgil

"School was rough but now? It's not. Cause now there's him"

I had to admit Roman caught me off-guard when he pulled me close to him. I was just beginning to tolerate him as a person and now this? I was thinking about all kinds of things I definitely should not have been thinking about this boy when he pulled me into the auditorium. I couldn't help notice how warm his hands were. I was terminally cold, and it's why I always wore hoodies.

We stepped into full view of the cast, which consisted of about 20 people, not including tech. Drama club never had a real pull in the school but the kids seemed nice enough and definitely ride-or-die type people. They were eyeing us oddly but then I remembered I was still holding hands with Roman. We dropped each other's hands at the same time, staring in opposite directions. Miss Kleinman just smiled.

"Wonderful! Roman, I was going to let you take the lead today, it's just a getting-to-know-each-other day." She looked at Roman like he was supposed to understand what that meant. He did, unfortunately. He clasped his hands together and projected his voice out to the whole room, which made me flinch.

"Well, first of all, congratulations to all of you for making the cast! Most of us already know each other but since we have some new freshman and such, I figure we should all get a feel of each other's energy!" Roman smiled warmly over everyone as they followed along. I was absolutely lost. Theatre kids were weird.

"We have a ton of instruments backstage. Pick one you can play and sing! I want to see what you all could do! Just a fun little activity." My breathing slowed to a stop. Yeah, I had expected this, but not so soon. I thought there would have been time to prepare before I had to... My eyes misted over. No, not now, not when he's right there! I tried to calm down, but Roman had turned his gaze and was now looking right at me.

"Virge? You okay?" His voice was tense with concern. I didn't even flinch at my shortened name, I kind of liked it. Like I was always on the verge of tears. What a mood. But I couldn't let him see me break down over anything. I silently shook my head and ran backstage into the dressing room. I heard Roman yell my name and then, "Patton! Logan!" but I had slammed the door behind me and sat on the dressing room table, my head in my hands. God, it wasn't even that big of a deal. I just needed to get a grip.

Roman opened the door and ran over to me, his two friends close behind. I looked at him and he seemed surprised to see my tear-stained face. "Virgil, what happened? Did I do something?"

I shook my head and tried to speak but all that came out was a strangled noise. Roman was standing in front of me, his hands on top of mine, and I didn't have the strength to fight back. Logan stood to the side, probably trying to figure out what to do. Patton, to my shock, suddenly took charge. "It's a panic attack. Roman, move away from him."

Roman didn't even have time to react when Patton shoved him out of the way and took his place, but not touching me. "Virgil, buddy, listen to me. Inhale for 4 seconds," I did as he told me and he did the actions too so I didn't feel as stupid. "Hold it in for 7 seconds and then breathe out for 8 seconds. Is it okay if I touch you?" I nodded. Patton put his hand on my shoulder and kept breathing with me.

We did this a few times and I felt my heart rate returning to normal and my breathing stabilized. I looked at Patton and he gave me a kindly smile. "Feeling better?" I couldn't help but give him a hug.  He returned it and said, "You'll be alright kiddo." Maybe these guys didn't completely suck.

After a beat, I let go. I wiped my face and looked at Roman. He looked so relieved I was okay. Patton spoke again. "Do you play an instrument?" He asked in a quiet voice.

"Ukulele," I stammered out, fully aware of how stupid I sounded. "Blame my weird middle school phase. Thought I was going to be the next Grace VanderWaal. But I'm still going to look so stupid doing this."

"Then I'll look stupid with you." Roman suddenly straightened his posture as his eyes widened.

"Logan, let's go find that ukulele." Patton grabbed Logan's arm and left with him.

As soon as they left the room, I stood up and tried to act as if nothing had happened. Better than addressing what the hell just happened. "What are you talking about?" I looked at Roman.

"I'll do something dumb too, so you won't feel as bad," I was about to protest when he said the fateful words. "I'll do Sexy from Mean Girls! That'll be great!"

I stifled a laugh. If he was serious, I was not about to deny myself the greatest entertainment ever. Patton charged back in, ukulele in hand. He gave it to me with a shoulder pat. "Roman, you're up first!"

Roman extended his hand to me and when I hesitantly took it, he dragged me back to the front of the house. "I bet you won't feel so ridiculous after this." I clutched the ukulele closer to my chest as he jumped onto the stage and began to sing.

This beautiful animatic not done by me is essentially what Roman did for reference. I'm begging you to watch it, it's a masterpiece.

I started to smile, then chuckle. But as the song went on, I truly laughed and cackled as Roman pranced around the stage. Everyone was practically howling with laughter as he sashayed, bowed, and kicked his legs out. I hadn't smiled so hard in years. The song finished out and people cheered as he took his bows. I think I was the loudest of them all.

He took a seat next to me, evidently pleased by my reaction. "I'm guessing you enjoyed that?"

"I'm going to carry the image of you singing 'This is modern feminism talking, I expect to run the world in shoes I cannot walk in' for the rest of my days." I chuckled again, hiding my smile behind my hand.

"Sounds like a date, J.D-elightful." I couldn't help but really appreciate how he wasn't checking on me every second to make sure I was okay. He had seen my worst and not cared. It was nice, not being coddled.

The next few acts came and went, and soon it was my turn. Roman nudged me and I walked on stage, sat down on a stool, and positioned my hands on the small instrument. "Um, this song is called 'Asthma Attack' and yeah that's it." I looked at Roman one last time and closed my eyes, singing the song.

Highly recommend it, it's so good. Here's the song if you want to know how it sounds!

I sang until the song was over and all was silent. I opened my eyes cautiously and saw everyone in pure shock, their mouths slightly open. Roman's face gave me some excitement. His jaw had dropped and he smiled so widely. He began to clap, and everyone enthusiastically followed after him. I turned red and hurried off-stage as people kept cheering. I sat back down and Roman whispered into my ear conspiratorially. "You've been holding out on me, haven't you?"

I caught the inside of my lip between my teeth and stared straight ahead. "Have to keep you guessing, Princey. I can't have you finding out all my secrets. But, I'm a much better performer than I look." I turned my head to the side to face him and our noses were almost touching.

"Then I think you'll really enjoy this next activity." he gave me a lop-sided smile and turned away. We watched the rest of the acts in comfortable silence and our hands were almost touching.