Chapter Text
When did my life become … this, Kristen wondered. She thought she was disguising her anxiety well enough, but in between takes, Rob would shoot her concerned looks. At that moment, she hated their easy connection—he could just sense whenever she was bothered, no matter how adamantly she denied it. Eventually, she’d feel like shit for letting him worry and seek his shoulder to lean on. He was only being a good co-star, a good buddy, but he was quickly becoming her best friend.
She pushed away thoughts of what occurred between them only five weeks before. Michael had been visiting the set, and after an initially sweet reunion, his presence began to sour her mood and the arguments followed. As much as she tried to make it work, being Rob’s friend and Michael’s girl seemed to be mutually exclusive desires. One would be hurt or jealous or worse, but after two weeks of being the dutiful girlfriend, she missed Rob.
As soon as Michael left for LA, she’d practically skipped to Rob’s place. He’d given her a hard time for ignoring him, but he couldn’t deny that he was eager for her company as well. The absence made them more affectionate, too affectionate. She wished she could blame it on alcohol. They’d only had soda. She wished she could say she was overwhelmed with feelings of love, but more than anything she was confused. She didn’t know what she wanted.
That was five weeks ago, and now she was late and more confused than ever.
“Since when do you stumble through lines?” Rob kicked at her shoe as they walked toward the trailers.
“I’m just not…” She finished the sentence with a shrug and hoped he’d leave it at that.
“I mean you were barely present—“
“What the fuck, Rob? You think right now is a good time to tell me what I’m doing wrong? I’m not in the mood to hear it!” She ran up the three steps to hide in her trailer until Catherine was ready for them, but his long legs were right behind her before she could slam the door.
He closed the door quietly before turning around to look her in the eyes. “Is this about… I mean, we haven’t really talked about what happened—“
“Nothing happened.” She immediately wanted to apologize, but she didn’t. Instead she forced herself to look at his face as punishment. His mouth hung open in shock for only a second before he nodded while searching her eyes, waiting for the truth.
It wasn’t until he turned around to leave that she allowed her mask of indifference to slip.