“I’ll kiss it later,” she said back in Carly’s ear. Suddenly, this little injury didn’t seem like such an awful thing. Her ankle throbbed like crazy through the remainder of rehearsal, especially when she put too much weight on it, but she chose instead to focus on Lauren and their scenes together. Today, more than ever before, their onstage chemistry seemed to come clawing out of the dialogue. Ethan, when she encountered him, seemed on cloud nine about the show’s progress. It seemed like he couldn’t stop grinning, which made her feel satisfied with the work she’d done. They hadn’t even been in front of an audience yet, and Carly was already so fulfilled by this process.

“How’s your foot?” Lauren asked, as they stood in the wings, waiting for the designers to be ready to move forward to the next cue.

“I’ll be okay.”

Lauren didn’t seem convinced. “You don’t have to be a badass. For someone so expressive, this is the time you choose to be stoic?” She tucked a strand of hair behind Carly’s ear. “Tell me where it hurts.”

Carly melted then and there. She also dropped some of her pretense, because Lauren was becoming her safe place to fall. “I don’t think I’m officially injured, but I do think it’s going to hurt for a day or two. My ankle especially. I turned it weird. I’m thinking it’s probably a mild sprain.”

“Carly,” Lauren said in the most sympathetic voice, “you need to take it easy, okay? I’m going to let Trip know you’ll be at half.”

She put her hand on Lauren’s forearm to stop her progress. “No, I don’t want to be any trouble. I’m kind of known for it, remember? Let’s just get through today and relax with some pizza and beer after.”

“We will definitely do those things, but in the meantime, you need to take care of that foot. I have your back, okay? This is a legitimate concern.” She took Carly by the chin and didn’t seem to care who saw. “You’re going to be okay.”

Lauren left Carly in the wings, overwhelmed at how wonderful it felt to be looked out for, taken care of, by someone whose only intention was just that. Lauren was legitimately worried about her.

The behavior continued for the rest of the day. Lauren arranged to have Carly sit whenever the designers got into a discussion that didn’t require the actors to stand. In fact, she ordered Carly to do so several times during their ten of twelve. She checked in on her with little questioning looks and offered her an arm for assistance whenever they exited the stage together.