During Rehearsals
Martin kept asking Janelle to portray Lauren mais during the rehearsal. She tried the best she could, but she couldn't get into it on the first day. He got a bit frustrated por accident and Janelle got scared. For a 21-year-old, she acted mais like a child when the father would get angry. She, out of instinct, ran out of the studio and tried to find a hiding spot. She felt something coming, another reason why she ran out. Michael looked at Martin and shot him a look.
"What?" Martin asked, looking at Michael.
"Did you really have to scare her half to death por getting frustrated?" Michael asked, replying to Martin's question. "This is her first dia on the set. Let her speak her lines the best she can before doing this." Michael had remembered what Janelle told him about seeing people get frustrated. She said that they reminded her of her father when her mother would do something wrong.
He sighed. "Alright, Mike."
"Okay. Now, I'm gonna go look for her."
Michael ran out of the studio and started looking for Janelle. He looked in every possible place around the studio…except behind the crates. He went over to the crates and heard bumping and decided to check. He looked behind it and saw that Janelle was undergoing a seizure.
"Oh my God!!" He quickly got beside her and took off his jacket. He folded it up and put it under her head, making sure she didn't hit it on the ground.
Wesley came over and saw them and was in shock. "Mike, what's going on?!" He asked.
Michael turned to see him standing right there. "Wesley, can you get a cup of water and a wet towel, please?!" He begged in a worried tone.
"I'll be right back!" He said and ran off to get a wet towel and some water.
Michael did all he could to get Janelle to stop thrashing around. Every time she calmed down, she would wind up thrashing again. Michael kept his hands on her and tried to calm her down. "Janelle...calm down...please." He whispered.
Wesley then came back. "I got the water and the wet towel."
Michael looked at him. "Thank heavens."
"And I also brought a fan."
"Good. She'll need it."
He gave Michael the towel and the water and he got on the other side and fanned Janelle. Michael put the water down and started wiping Janelle's forehead and placed it on her. It took her about 5 minutes, but she eventually calmed down. Once she was fully calm, Michael rolled her carefully onto her back and Wesley gave him the fan.
"I gotta get back to the set. I'll tell Martin that you and Janelle will be there soon."
"Alright Wesley. Thank you."
He nodded and soon left to head back to the studio. Michael petted her head and lifted her head onto his lap carefully. He turned the little fã on and continued to fã her, making sure she cooled down.
'My God...this is the scariest moment I ever witnessed...' He thought, wiping some sweat off of her face with the towel.
She opened her eyes after about 3 minutos and saw Michael right seguinte to her. She looked with her eyes and saw that she was on his lap and blushed a little. Michael looked down and saw that she was conscious.
"Are you alright, Janelle? You really gave me a scare."
She nodded a little. "Y-Yeah...I'm alright. Sorry f-for the scare..." She looked around. "Where's some water? I'm thirsty..." She said softly.
"Oh, right." He picked up the cup and helped her sit up. "Here. Let me help you." He held onto her and helped her drink the water.
Once she swallowed the water, she sighed. "Thank you so much, Michael. However can I repay you?"
"Oh you don't have to repay me. I'm always happy to help."
"But I should! How about this...I treat you to jantar tonight."
"You don't have to, Janelle."
"But I want to. It's the least I can do for you because you helped me. Please...let me do this for you."
"Well..."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you have anything planned for tonight?"
"Actually, I don't have anything planned tonight."
"Then please?" She made the cachorro, filhote de cachorro eyes at him.
He bit his lip and gave in, giggling. "Oh alright."
She giggled and sat up all the way and Michael helped her up.
"Whoa!"
She wobbled and almost fell. Luckily for her, Michael caught her just in time before she fell. (Me: That moment right there that they had...was a Kodak moment XD.) He had her in his arms and she was extremely close to his face. They looked each other in the eyes and they both got lost.
"You have the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen." He said.
She blushed a little. "T-Thanks...your eyes are so beautiful, Michael. I had never seen deep brown eyes like yours before."
She felt his heated breath coming closer to her lips. Just as they were about to kiss...Wesley came back.
"Mike, Janelle! We need to continue rehearsals now! Come on!"
'Damn it! So close!' Michael thought and turned to Wesley. "We'll be right there!"
Wesley nodded and started heading back with Janelle and Michael following behind him.
'Damn you, Wes...you just had to interrupt. I was just about to kiss her!'
Michael giggled at his thought and Janelle turned to him with an eyebrow raised.
"What's with the giggling?" She asked.
Michael turned to her and blushed a little. "It's nothing, Janelle. Don't worry about it."
"If you say so." She looked ahead.
Michael sighed in his mind. 'Phew! That was a close one!'
They entered the studio and started rehearsing again, after Martin apologized for getting frustrated with Janelle.
After Rehearsal
Janelle grabbed her bag and the skit and read over her lines. She, being the shy Lauren from Korea, started atuação out in a solo manner. She didn't pay attention to anything or anyone around her...until she bumped into Michael. They both fell on their butts.
"Ouch!" They said at the same time.
They looked at each other and laughed because they had just gotten on the same page when it came to talking at the same time. Michael got up and held out his hand to her.
"Here, let me help you up." He said, giggling.
She giggled and took his hand and he helped her up. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." She said.
"Hey, it's alright. I do the same."
They giggled and knew that they had a whole lot in common. Janelle looked at her watch and saw that it was a quarter after 5.
"Oh man, I gotta go pick up Coraline from Sally's house."
"How about I come with you? Since we stay at the same hotel anyway."
She looked at him and nodded. "That sounds wonderful. I don't like walking alone."
"Hey, neither do I."
They giggled yet again. Another thing they had in common with each other. Then they headed out of the studio, side por side, talking about everything: nature, music, children; just about everything that came to their minds. Michael even brought up Coraline.
"Why does she wear a mask?"
Janelle looked down a bit. "For protection. The press already know so much about me..."
"What do they know?"
She let a tear fall down her cheek. "At 16...3 months before I had turned 17......I was raped por my friend's older brother. She didn't know it at all."
"You didn't tell her?"
"How could I tell her?! The only thing I told her was that I needed to go início that minuto after he raped me. And I found out...about 2 weeks later...that I was pregnant. After that, I never went out in public. Aunt Liz wouldn't let me go out like that the whole 9 months I was pregnant...only to the hospital and back to the house. I had quit my job to finish college because at that point, being and knowing what a parent should do was mais important than money."
Michael was in shock. "Does she..."
"She looks nothing like him...people still wonder who she looks like. Aunt Liz said..." She looked at him. "She said that Coraline looked a lot like you."
"So...her black curly hair and her brown eyes?"
She nodded. "Natural black hair and she was born with brown eyes. Her and her small nose..." She giggled. "God, I amor her nose. The doctors still wonder how she got that nose."
"I wonder that myself." He giggled. He looked at her and saw another tear fall down her cheek. He put his arm around her and rubbed her arm and her shoulder. "So she grew up without a father...that's one thing I would not want a child to suffer without. Them not knowing what it's like to grow up without a father or a father-figure. I don't even want my own children to grow up without knowing what a mother's amor is like."
They walked up to Sally's door and she turned to Michael and gave him a hug. "Thank you for listening, though. I really appreciate it."
He hugged her back and ran his hand up and down her back. "Not a problem. You can always talk to me."
Sally opened the door and saw them hugging and giggled a little. "Should I come back when you two aren't being lovey dovey?" She asked, joking around.
Janelle and Michael pulled away from the hug and blushed. "Is Coraline ready to go?"
Soon, Coraline ran up to the door and saw Janelle. "Mommy!" She said, running outside with her stuff and hugging her legs. Janelle hugged her back and picked her up and kissed her head. She looked seguinte to Janelle and saw Michael and smiled widely. "Michael!!!!!" She nearly jumped from her mom's arms to get to Michael.
He giggled and grabbed her from Janelle and hugged her and she hugged him back. It made Janelle smile at how Coraline and Michael were so close. Janelle turned to Sally.
"Thank you for watching her, Sal. It really means a lot to me."
She smiled. "Not a problem, Jan. Feel free to bring her por anytime you rehearse."
"I will. Later!"
"Bye!"
They waved and she soon headed out with Michael and Coraline back to the hotel. Janelle brought up the topic of where to take him to dinner. Coraline was shocked.
"Are we gonna go out to dinner, mommy?" She asked.
"Mommy's treating Michael to jantar tonight, so yes we are. Remember when you were 3, and Aunt Liz had to help me because I had a seizure?"
"Yeah...that was scary."
"I know it was. Well, I had another one today. Michael helped me, so I'm gonna treat him to dinner."
"Do I get to come?"
She giggled a little. "Michael?"
He smiled a little. "Hey, bring her along. For me, it's fun to have children around."
Coraline cheered and it made them both giggle. She was always gonna be happy and she wouldn't forget this night.
Back At The Hotel
Once they got back to the hotel, they headed down the hallway to the back two suites. Janelle opened the door to her suite and Coraline ran inside to change. Michael giggled and so did she.
"Thanks, Michael." She said. "I don't think Coraline could be happier than this."
He smiled a little. "It's no trouble at all." He said. He glanced at her hand and saw a ring on her ring finger and thought, 'Oh crud...I almost kissed her...I bet she's engaged or something.' He had to ask, just to clear his thoughts. "What's the ring for? Are you engaged or married or promised to someone?"
She looked at the ring and giggled a little. "No, I swear to God I'm not engaged, married, or promised to someone."
"Then what's it for? Whose is it?"
She took it off and let him have a closer look at it. "It was my mother's ring. She gave it to me before she died when I was 10."
He took it carefully in his hand and looked at it. "Wow...it's beautiful. You must miss her a lot." He handed it back to her.
She took it and slid it back on her ring finger. "I do miss her dearly. I grew up without a father who really loved me. Howard, my father, didn't want to take care of me after she passed away, so he had Liz take care of me from that point on."
"That's not right...a father should never abandon his daughter."
She scoffed. "Tell that to the idiot who raped me. He was the father, but she looks nothing like him. And I mean nothing like him. She doesn't have any of his features."
"I wish I could do something for you two, though."
"Don't worry about it. Anyway, we should go freshen up since I gotta treat you to jantar tonight."
"Right." He giggled and opened his door.
"I'll come por to see if you're ready once I'm ready with Coraline, alright?"
He looked at her and nodded. "Alright." He smiled. "See you then."
Then they both headed into their suites to get ready for that night. Janelle kept thinking to herself about him.
'He's cute. Wait! What am I thinking?! Am I...' She looked up. 'Am I falling for him?' She thought.
In Michael's Suite
Michael leaned up against the door of the suite and put his hand over his heart. "Oh my God...my coração is racing like crazy! And I almost kissed her...my God...she's so beautiful, though. She's nothing like the other girls I've met. She's at the same level as Diana Ross!" He muttered to himself.
He walked over to his wardrobe and looked through it to find some clothes to wear to jantar that night. He figured he'd chuveiro to clean himself off at least. Once he got his clothes, he headed into the bathroom and turned the water on. He got to thinking.
'Don't tell me...am I really falling for her?' He thought. 'God, if I am...I better not mover so fast with this.'
He undressed himself and got into the chuveiro and started to clean himself off. (Me: Him trying not to smell so much like rehearsal lol.)
In Janelle's Suite
Janelle just finished changing into her professional attire and helped Coraline into her dress and styled her hair. She looked up at the ceiling and sighed.
'God, if I am falling for Michael...let's not mover so fast to where he'd be Coraline's father within a couple weeks. Keep me and Michael at the friendly stage, please, God?' She thought.
Once she finished styling her hair, she moved onto her own. She basically just pulled half of it up and put a black and red ribbon in it and curled it a little. She didn't even put on much makeup, either. She only put on a little foundation, a little bit of eyeliner at the topo, início of her eyelid, a little underneath and some lip gloss. She didn't want to doll herself up extremely just to get attention. She would get enough of that even if she didn't wear any makeup...only because the press would find her and do a lying denunciar on her. She looked at the time and saw that they had roughly 30 minutos until 7 and that was the time they'd go out to dinner. Janelle reached into her suitcase and took out Coraline's formal mask and put it on her.
"It's almost time to take Michael out to dinner. Remember your manners, Coraline." She said.
Coraline nodded. "I'll remember, mommy." She said with a smile.
Janelle smiled and they sat down on the cama and watched some TV to kill the 30 minutos they had left until they took Michael out to dinner.