3.

I knocked on Lola’s dressing room door and opened it once she allowed me. “You wanna go grab some pizza with the group?” I asked her like I had done so many times before already. I was prepared to get rejected by her again, like she had done so many times already but to my surprise she agreed. I could see that she didn’t really want to go, that she just said yes because she wanted to be polite, but I accepted it as a legitimate yes. “It’s rare for you to come with us” Shelly mentioned and visibly uncomfortable Lola smiled and nodded. I smiled at her, trying to make her feel better, but she didn’t see it. It stayed quiet for a while, and I was happy that the pizza place wasn’t too far away. The three of us walked to the table where the others already were waiting for us. “Slowpoke! We already ordered” James said to us and I smiled. You couldn’t expect James to wait for his food. I filled my glass with water that was already standing on the table and jumped in a conversation that the two next to me where having. “Lola, what do you like to do?” Shelly’s question obviously took Lola by surprise and she started couching because of the water that she was drinking just before. I wanted to help her but I didn’t dare touch her back, nor was I sitting close enough to touch it. “I like to read” she answered with her head still red. “That’s it?” Megan asked and we made place for the giant pizza’s that were put on the table. “Reading, drawing, listening to music, watching tv, I don’t really like to leave the house.” She added after thinking for a while. She took a slice of pizza while Megan obviously disappointed muttered that it was a boring answer. Lola didn’t answer. As if she would care what Megan would think about her, I thought. Just when everyone started to talk to each other again something distracted the group again; Kevin, sitting next to Lola, had grabbed the girls hand and looked at it with amazement. “How did you get that scar?” he asked, not realizing what he was doing. Lola, however, jumped up and pulled her hand away from him. Realizing everyone was looking at her a slight blush formed on her cheeks. “Sorry” she whispered “I just really don’t like to be touched.” She sat back down but everyone kept looking at her. Trying to get the conversations started again I focused on James, talking about cars and all the other things that easily distracted him. Thankfully, soon the others followed my example.

Once everyone was distracted I focused on Lola again. I bent towards her and saw her leaning the other way. She took a deep breath and sat up straight again so I could talk to her. “I thought you had slowly gotten over it?” I whispered “You’re fine when I touch you on set.” Lola seemed to zone out for a little while before answering me. “I know what to expect on set, plus I know you, that doesn’t mean I can handle it when I don’t expect it.” I sat back straight again while thinking about her words. She might not have realized it, but the fact that she said she knew me and thus sort of trusted me meant a lot to me.