#welp this bad boy took me 10 months and it's only 3 pages

[plifpliff]

it's not great but I had to do it.

It was a primal need : call me the hunter/gatherer/shitty-stories-about-OCs-writer

[monotonemanday]

Star Crossed Entertainers - Part 3 Zen x OC

Enter Lovely Zen and another OC! More cute and less angst! But don’t you worry. The Angst will be back! PS. I was about 5 pages in and I got kicked out of my work and wasn’t backing it up to anything. So Lord help me, I screamed and did my best to get it back from memory because I was so happy with what I had. It’s past 10:30pm as I start over and I have to work 6am to 7:30 pm. RIP me.

“Did you hear me?!”

Yes. No. Well not really.

She was busy. Texting. Not only was she texting but she was texting a boy. Besides she didn’t need to hear exactly what was being said to know she was getting safety instructions yelled at her.

“Yeeessss! I’m ignoring you! I’ll do whatever I want. Don’t forget to bring back a husband tonight, Cinderella!”

She was the ultimate button pusher and she could practically hear her roommates eye balls hit the floor from rolling out of her skull.

Bzzzzzztt ~ Him? No. Group text.

“Hey, Kaeli! We’ll be outside your apartment in 10!”

“Ok! Thanks again for the ride! Shouldn’t be a problem after today.”

“Did anyone bring extra ballet flats I forgot mine?“

“You’re always forget-” Enough of that. Kaeli closed the group chat.

10 minutes. She didn’t want to get a ride from these girls, she barely knew them. But her options were limited. She got off the couch and made her way down the hallway to her bedroom. Clothes. Everywhere. Mountains. Did she have carpet or hardwood floors? She couldn't remember. It had been so long since she’d seen it. Eh, screw it. The roommate had done laundry so there was bound to be something clean on the dryer. She turned her back on her tornado of a room and went back down the hallway stopping to take a quick peak in the other bedroom. Spotless. Classic roommate. It looked like an Ikea show room.

She made her way past the kitchen, past the lounge, past the guest bath and to the laundry room. Folded stacks of laundry. She had done none of it. She grabs and goes. She throws her tank top god knows where. She’ll pick it up later. She won’t. She slips on the plain white tee she grabbed. It fit her perfectly. Clung to her just right. Not too tight and not too baggy. However she pulled at the collar. T-shirt collars were always too tight. That’s what happens when you have a larger chest region. Next the hoodie. It was chilly and she could always take it off if she warmed up during practice. She was already wearing black leggings so no need to change pants. She slipped the hoodie on over her head with ease. Too much ease. She couldn’t find her way out of it. Help. It’s dark in here. She finally popped her head out of the proper hole and walked to the full length mirror by the front door. What was going on?

Welp. Definitely not her hoodie. She was drowning in it. She stood on her tip toes, crossed her arms and made the grumpiest expression she could. “Did you hear me?!” She yelled in a very mocking tone. “Hahahaha I sounded just like Sammy!” She was too much. She was practically cackling at the impression of her roommate. She began to climb her way out of the hoodie. It was like making her way through the amazon. But hey that's what you get when someone is an outstanding 6 foot tall and you yourself are an impressive 4 foot 11 inches.

BEEP BEEP!

Crap they’re here. Kaeli zipped through the apartment, grabbing her own pink hoodie, her cellphone and her bag she hadn’t unpacked from last practice. She walks out the door and beings to put the key in the knob to lock up. Wait. She rummages through her bag. Nice. A full water bottle complete with lots of ice. She definitely didn’t put it there. Thanks Sammy. She locked the door and hurried down the four lfights of stairs to the lobby. Once outside she saw the car with three other passengers waving at her. Ugh. She waved back and checked her phone. Still no text from him. She gets in the passenger seat and says hello to the other girls in the car. She pulls her seatbelt across her body and is en route to rehearsal. All the way listening to the most obnoxious singing along to pop songs she had ever heard. 8 minutes later they arrived and she hadn’t thrown herself out of the car. Proud of you, Kaeli.

That time already?! Time to get going. No more distractions. Down on the ground, toes planted, hands placed the perfect width apart. In front of the mirror, he looked up and was met with the most beautiful crimson eyes. Wow, whose are those? Oh, Mine. Zen gave himself a wink. Aright, push up time. It had to be. He was already shirtless but he wasn’t glistening. Problem. 35 would do it. Can’t get too swoll before rehearsal. Standing up and stretching his arms above his head, Zen made his way to his dresser. What to wear? He rummaged through his third drawer and pulled out a pair of black jogger sweats. They were loose at the thighs but you could still tell he was toned and they were tight at the ankles. That went well with his white high top converse. A shirt. As much as he didn’t want to cover up his sculpted bod he couldn’t have all the girls at rehearsal going rabid. He settled on a sleeveless hoodie. Grey. He had to show off his biceps. After all he had just got done pumping more iron in them.

Making his way to the bathroom he grabbed his tooth brush and began with up and down brushing. Quick. Then small circles. Brisk. He bit down on the toothbrush and held it in his mouth. He needed his hands. He took the hair tie off of his wrist and tied back his long white hair. Then he grabbed a hair tie off the counter and replaced the one he had just taken off his wrist. Gotta be stocked up. He finished brushing and spit out. Looking at the clock on the wall he realized he was 10 minutes late. No walking today, have to take the bike. Putting his phone in his pocket he grabbed his bike helmet and tucked it under his left arm and swung his backpack over his right shoulder. 

Outside he locked his door and made his way to his bike. He fixed the straps of his back pack on both shoulders and slipped his helmet on. He took his phone out. Time to grab some fish shaped buns? No. Damn, she probably would have liked one. Shit. He unlocked his phone and typed out a text. “Hey man, sorry again that I can’t make it tonight. Hope it’s a blast.” Sent. Jumin Han. He tosses his right leg over his bike, and like a bat out of hell he’s off to the theatre.

The theatre was filled with chatter. No one was getting ready to do anything that resembled rehearsing. Their extremely sarcastic and very loud stage manager wasn’t there to rally the troops. They liked her. She was a hard ass and she was fun and made practice entertaining. But She could really crack the whip. The assistant stage manager would be running rehearsal. Lee. Poor guy. Lee couldn’t get a fish to drink water. Kaeli saw the frazzled assistant in the wings of the stage. It’s not that he wasn’t a good manager. He was actually quite efficient! He just was not commanding and couldn’t gain any respect whatsoever. It was frustrating but what could be done. The stage manager was getting hot corporate booty their rent money. Kaeli sat next to her bag at the edge of the stage. One leg hanging down and the other bent toward her chest as she double knotted the laces on her sneaker. She resigned herself to studying her script while trying to block at all the chatter. Which for some reason, was getting much louder. Enter the white knight.

“Hey, Lee! Sorry I’m late! I don’t see Sam. Just you tonight, guy?”

“Zen! Don’t worry about it. You’re our leading man! Yeah, Sam won’t be here tonight. I’m running rehearsal. Well, I’m trying too...” Poor dude. Zen had never seen someone look so defeated. Well except for when Yoosung was telling that story about how he tried to ask out that girl but there was a mix up and she went out with one of his LOLOL buddies instead.

Zen gave Lee a pat on the back. “Don’t worry, let me get settled in and then I’ll help you get up and running.” So no Sam but did that mean? No, she said she’d be here. Scanning, scanning, scanning. Bingo. The two girls had just joined the theatre company a couple of months ago. He really liked Sam. She was funny and tough. He didn’t know a whole lot about her but they became quick pals. Then there was Kaeli. He stared down the stage at her. Her blonde hair hung in front of her face as she stared at the script in her lap. Her hair just made it past her shoulders. Her legs were crossed at the ankles and she was swinging them back and forth. Swoon. She was tiny like a pixie and had the right curves to compliment her small body. Zen always played the leading man but Kaeli never played the leading lady. She was type cast because of her size and her looks. Children, fairies, small animals, little old ladies. He would kill for a chance to be in a romance scene with her. Peter Pan? No. Peter gets down with Wendy not Tinker Bell. Thumbelina? Perfect! Wait, no. I’d have to be just as tiny as her.

“Zen!” He had been caught. He snapped back to reality and saw Kaeli waving at him like an excited puppy. Her bright blue eyes sparkled and popped against her porcelain skin. She smiled from ear to ear which really brought out the dimples on her cheeks. Release the beast.

Kaeli stood up and made her way toward Zen and his feet started to move on his own accord. They met center stage.

“Hey, cutie! Sorry I didn’t text you back. I was running late!”

“Oh don’t worry. I wasn’t hurt too bad.” She stuck out her bottom lip to pout and stared up at him with big round puppy dog eyes. It quickly turned into a cheeky wink and a smirk passed her lips.

Stop. That. You minx.

“I could never hurt you, Kay! It would be like plucking the wings off of a pixie.” Nice, Zen.

No. Not nice. Kaeli hated when people solely focused on her size. Her whole life was just one big “...Yeah! I get it!” But when Zen commented on it, well mama don’t know how to act. Climb him like a ladder.

The pair was staring at each other, giggling and smiling ear to ear. Then she felt it. The heat of every set of eyes that belonged to a female cast member. She tensed up. Her eyes shot to the floor, she held her hands behind her back and she kicked the floor back and forth. Normally she didn’t care about jealous bitches girls but zen had a career and a reputation. Plus she didn’t want to be hated by any potential “friends” that were in the cast. She had to work here after all. She cleared her throat and Zen understood.

“Well, since Sam’s not here I better go help Lee before he gets steam rolled.” Zen had his arm behind him shyly rubbing the back of his neck.

“Let’s practice hard tonight, Yeah?”

Kaeli nodded and smiled at the gorgeous musical actor. As he turned and walked away she sighed. No one would have even cared or noticed that she was talking to him if Sammy was here keeping them busy.

Zen had helped Lee kick off practice and they were running through act one of the show. Zen was sitting next to Lee and the director off stage and his eyes kept falling on Kaeli. She was so focused and her movements were beautiful but hey wait. She seemed really uncomfortable. Oh. There was a quick break while the dance captain was going over some problem areas and Zen made his way on stage. He walked up to the small blonde and took his hair tie off of his wrist. He handed it to her.

“You know I’m sure your golden locks of hair would be beautiful blowing in the wind but I don’t think they are doing you a lot of good, flying around while your dancing.” Smooth Operator.

Kaeli took the hair tie and begin to put her hair up in a messy bun. “Don’t think your words got to me Casanova.” She laid her hand on his bicep. “I just really need this hair tie if I’m going to put out the same effort as you tonight.”

After that the game was afoot. Both the leading man and the chorus girl were putting forth maximum effort all the while making silly gestures and goofy faces at each other from wherever they were on stage. Giggling, winking, booty shaking. A couple of goobers. 

Everyone stopped for a quick break and Kaeli took her sweatshirt off. She had definitely warmed up. Zen does a body good. As she was taking a lap around the stage she noticed that some of the male cast members were staring at her, whispering and making lude gestures. She looked down. Shit. Her bra was bright pink and could be seen 100% through her t-shirt.

Zen heard the commotion and immediately grasped the situation. Wolves. Before Kaeli could even make her way to her hoodie it appeared in front of her eyes. There was Zen, again acting as a white knight. She put her hoodie on and the men boo’d Zen for ruining their show. It put a damper on the rest of the rehearsal.

Once practice was over Kaeli gathered her things and noticed the theatre was more empty than she would have liked for it to be. Those dumb asses. They forgot they were giving her a ride home as well.

She flung her bag over her shoulder and started dragging her feet. She didn’t bring enough money for a cab. Sammy didn’t want her to and she didn’t want to either, but it looked like she was taking the bus. 

Nope. Not while Zen lived and breathed the same air is her. He thrust his motorcycle helmet toward her.

“Here little, lady. I’ll be taking you home.”

Kaeli didn’t argue. She followed Zen to his bike. He put the helmet on her head and adjusted the strap tight under her chin. The ride was silent but neither of them had ever felt so comfortable. When they arrived at Kaeli’s apartment building Zen helped her take the helmet off and lifted her off the bike. He set her down gently and turned to get back on his bike. 

“I guess I’ll see you next rehearsal, my little pixie.” He smiled. Oh god that smile.

“You definitely will. Oh and Zen? Do me a favor and don’t tell Sam that I went for a ride on your motorcycle.” The pair chuckled and Zen sped off shortly after. Kaeli made her way back up to the apartment.

Scrolling through her phone on the couch, hours had passed. It was way past midnight at this point but Kaeli couldn’t sleep. She heard the jingling of keys and someone unlocking the front door. Silence. Her roommate wasn’t calling out to see if she was awake or giving any of her usual charming greetings. Something was wrong. Kaeli see’s the look on Samantha’s face. She’s grumpy or sad. Or probably both. Best Friend powers activate.

“Cinderelly cinderellyyy!!! It’s past midnight! Did you dance with the prince? Are you missing a glass slipper? Let me see those big feet!”

Samantha laughed softly. “Shut up ya dingus.”

“Sammy I missed you at rehearsal today!”

“Oh yeah? How’d it go? How’d Lee do?”

Kaeli went on to tell Samantha all about rehersal, what they got done, what they had trouble with and how much fun she had with Zen.

She was just about to maybe bring up the fact that Zen brought her home on a death machine motorcycle when Samantha’s cell phone rang. Phew, good. But also, bad.

Samantha took the phone call in her bedroom and Kaeli waited patiently.

Samantha entered the room seeming as normal as ever. “Well I’m going to head to bed. I had a pretty long night. I love ya! Sleep in tomorrow. But hey, I’m gonna need you to keep low, hang out under the radar for a little bit okay?”

“Is something wrong?” Kaeli’s bright blue eyes met Samantha’s deep blue ones.

“Possibly. But don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”

She always did.