more than this.

“You can never go wrong with sleep,” Sleep was about the only time that her brain shut down anyway, it was actually nice to have an off switch for once. Bev chuckled, “My skin care routine won’t get done by itself I’ll have you know, I don’t wake up like this,”

“I get that.” Jarrah shrugged a little, knowing where she was coming from. He wasn’t the person to talk to about how he looked or how to look better, but he was big on self care these days. Somehow being away from all the things that made him spiral, had him feeling pretty positive about who he was these days. “Is washing your face when you wake up considered a skin care routine?”

“Junior, actually. I transferred for my last two years. And maybe grad school if it’s the right program but there’s still time to figure that out.” She smiled graciously as he let her know she hadn’t just embarrassed herself. “Really? I’d think this town would be so used to having you around that you wouldn’t have to deal with it much while you’re here.” She didn’t know a ton about Jarrah but she liked his music and she knew he was from Rosewood. It seemed odd that anyone in this town would care about the celebrities walking around when there seemed to be so many of them. “Don’t worry about it, I don’t take up much space and I’m imposing on you. What are you working on? I probably should since I’m taking up space, right? I’m not really hungry but a pot of coffee on an empty stomach isn’t a good thing either.” she laughed softly. "What’s good here?”

“You’re planning on doing your four years and then come back? I’m starting to feel like a slacker. What’s your major?” Jarrah laughed lightly, shrugging a little. He guessed people thought he was more approachable here since he was so into doing stuff for the community. “I mean, yeah, but I didn’t really live here until a year ago that I finally settled down, you know? So for the most part, I was still new until recently. They don’t give a fuck about me anymore, thankfully.” He admitted with a small shrug. “You’re not imposing. I’ve been sitting here working on the same song for three hours, trust me.” He picked up a couple of menus he’d set aside on one of the chairs when he’d originally sat down and gave one to her. “I like their croissants, they fill them with cream cheese and bacon and avocado. They’re amazing with some orange juice, but that’s just me because I can’t do caffeine.”

It took half a second for her to recognize who she was actually speaking to once he’d looked up. She controlled the surprise in her eyes after a moment and she smiled as she thanked him and sat in the seat across from him. “It’s okay, you got the gist of it. I’m new, I guess. I just moved here for school. You’re Jarrah Rahimi, right? Sorry if that’s weird but I feel like me pretending not to know who you are would be worse. I’m Suede.”

“Oh, nice. First year or what?” Jarrah had come back to Rosewood feeling like a complete stranger after all the tours and the craziness, but after a couple of years of only leaving the town for vacation that he felt like he knew every face in Rosewood by now. He chuckled at her words, still not used to the fact that people knew him. He didn’t think it ever would feel not weird, honestly. “That’s me. You’re good, Suede. It happens a lot here...like way more than anywhere else, actually.” He offered her a smile. “It’s nice to meet you. Are you gonna order anything? Here, let me just get my laptop out of the way. I’ve been working non-stop lately, sometimes I forget I have to do normal stuff like..eating.”

Suede wanted to take advantage of the nice weather outside while getting some work done but it seemed everyone else had the same idea. She spotted a table occupied with only one person and she made a beeline for them so no one could get there first. “Hey, there. I’m sorry to interrupt but this is the only free chair I could find out here, would you mind if I joined you?”

Jarrah had been so wrapped up in his music, earphones in his ears that he barely noticed the girl that was approaching him until she was right in front of him; apparently talking. “Uh, what? I’m sorry I was—” He gestured to the earphones he’d just took out and set them on the table. “But sure, feel free to sit here. I only got the last part of what you said.” He admitted gently. “You new in town or just visiting?”

Bev shrugged, she’d done a few photoshoots in her time for pageant purposes. Not as many as she imagined Jarrah had done though. “More time to sleep is a priority,” She said with a little grin “That and my morning routine is ridiculous,” Though did it technically count as morning when Bev had been rolling out of bed at like…well it was certainly after midday.

“Yeah, more sleep is always the answer.” Jarrah had been on a tight schedule lately, but normally, he was all over the place. Routine made it easier to remain on a good path, but once upon  a time, he was known for being irresponsible and not actually getting anything done. Honestly, just remembering it makes him feel bad about Penn and how much he had to work around that. “Can’t relate. I really do nothing in the mornings.”

“No, no I don’t. Unless they are very much earned and you earned every last compliment in the book for what you’ve done.” Colette let her best friend know, happy to be sharing this moment with him. “Really? Oh no, you’ve got the bug.” Colette teased him, but she got it. While her focus was currently music, while in Rosewood— Colette was the girl with her toes in the three major focuses. Acting had been great and at least, she missed her time on stage in that aspect. “But, I don’t want you behind the scenes for too long. Seriously, you have great talents that need to be shared… by you.” Colette poked at his chest, making sure he remembered that. “Please, I don’t need to audition. My accolades speak for themselves, fuck that.”

“I’ve heard about the bug and I never thought I’d get it, but yes, I got the stupid bug.” He chuckled lightly, nodding his head. being on stage felt like a second nature to him, but he’d been enjoying his producer roll quite a lot lately. Sure, at some point he’d go back to dropping music, but now he had more than one alternative when he just wasn’t feeling it. “Wow, my head is gonna get so big. Who knew you were all soft and shit, Coco? Who knew?” He grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it playfully, silently thanking her for the never ending support. She’d grew into one of his closest friends in the last few months and he appreciated it. “You might be onto something but a prestigious director like myself can’t just get sweet talked, I have a rep to maintain.”

“If there’s ever a time for a cut, it’s summer,” Bev agreed, “Thanks, you’d look good with it shaved,” Hey if Beverly was an expert on anything? It was hair.

“I’ve had it shaved a few times. But I’ve been feeling the longer hair for most of the year, it might be because I haven’t been doing any photoshoots or anything.” This was as close as time for himself that Jarrah felt he’d had in the past five years and surprisingly it involved working on projects that he never thought he would before. “It’s easier to have minimal hair when you’re working, it takes less time to get ready which also means more time to sleep.”

“When have you ever known me to bullshit you? Yeah, it was really fucking good.” Colette said, as her hands found themselves on his shoulders to shake him playfully. How dare he ask ‘Really?’ as if he wasn’t amazing at everything he did so it was no shock that he turned this out as amazingly as he had. “I remember,” She teased Jarrah, but it’d been for a reason. “It was incredible. I assume you’re going to be asked to put together more of these more often from here on out. And I fully expect a starring role at the next one.” Colette flicked her best friend’s nose, playfully. 

“I don’t know, you don’t give out compliments like that.” Jarrah teased lightly, sticking his tongue out at her playfully as she shook him. The more that Jarrah worked, the more that he realized how much he enjoyed this kind of job backstage compared to when he was on a stage. He loved singing and performing, but he felt like he could be more himself in this environment. “Hey...and I might be up for it, actually. Turns out that I really enjoy this whole thing. You know, like working with you on your album. I think I like doing that more than anything I’ve done in the past.” He smirked back at her, grabbing her hands playfully. “Well, you better audition, Coco.”

“Yo, I’m not even kidding,” Colette said, as she pulled Jarrah into a tight hug. “That was so fucking good. I’m not shocked that Day, Tally and you pulled that off, but y’all did the damn thing.” Colette told him, excitedly. Admittedly, there was some people she could have done without being casted in roles— for her own petty reasons butt even those people delivered in her eyes. “I’m so proud of you.” ( @jarrahimi​ )

“Really?” Not a lot of opinions mattered to Jarrah, but Colette definitely was among those that he cherished the most because they’d worked together a few times and he knew her expectations always were high. He laughed lightly as they hugged, definitely ecstatic abut how everyone felt about the musical so far. “I’ve had no life for the past weeks but I also have no regrets, seeing it all come to life the way it did was amazing.”

“Hey you and me both. I mean I try not to set the bar too high for myself but I think we all still crushed it. I mean Gen and Callista and Sage and Two-Bit and Emory and just..everyone was fucking phenomenal, man. How lucky are we that we have ALL that talent in this town.” He smiled as he clinked his soda glass against Jarrah’s, not totally interested in getting fucked up himself, especially since he hadn’t seen October yet. “You know what you need? You need to find that one person who makes the celebration better, know what I’m saying? Like for me its a few people, my best friends and my girlfriend. Who is it for you? Cause there’s gotta be someone, you can’t be crashing in bed alone tonight, Mr. Director.”

“You know what’s even crazier? Half of these people don’t even have a theater background, but tonight really shows how much work all of us put into it. It definitely paid off.” Jarrah couldn’t say that he had a favorite from the cast, but Austin reminded him a lot about himself, when Jarrah was joining the band, when he had all these dreams and didn’t let anything get him away from it. He wished he could still feel that way most days. He took a sip from the soda and chuckled, shaking his head a little bit. “I have...actually been single for a while. But I do have to run and give Penn and Colette huge hugs, they’ve been dealing with all my attitude for weeks now. They deserve a break and some love.” He joked lightly. 

Austin could feel himself blush despite himself as he hugged Jarrah back, feeling pretty proud that he had made him so proud. So far he had been pretty lucky as directors go and he had to admit that they put on a hell of a show. “Thank you, thank you, J. I’m proud of you too, all of us, really. I think we took it to the next level up there.” He pushed the shots away when he remembered that Jarrah didn’t drink and instead ordered them both a soda to drink. “Please tell me you’re having some fun. You deserve it.”

“i honestly will admit, I had great expectations for you guys and it was even better than I pictured it.” Jarrah admitted as he pulled back from the hug. He’d been so wrapped up on the show over the past few weeks that JArrah hadn’t even thought about drinking or using in a while. It seemed almost surreal, honestly. How much fun working with everyone was to him. “I’m honestly still sweating and I’ve been taking a lot of pictures with richer people. But I can’t say I’m having a good time. Thank you,” He gestured to his change of drink, honestly finding it really cool of him to do it just for his sake. 

Austin couldn’t deny the high he was on after the show and he hadn’t even smoked since before it. But they had absolutely killed it up there and Austin knew he had been good, brilliant even. “Come on and take a shot with me in celebration! I managed not to trip over myself or forget my lines. I call that a real success.” 

If there was one thing that Jarrah knew about theater before he decided to do Hadestown, it was how important opening night was. He was over the moon by the amount of support that the entire team had got this far and was obviously overly proud of how good the cast had done. From the people backstage, to the lead cast killing it on my lines. By the time the curtain closed, the director immediately made his way to Austin, who had shined very bright that night and without much of a warning hugged him tightly. “I would say that it’s way more than just that. You killed up there. Congratulations, dude, very proud of you.” 

“I’m so glad I had that hair cut,” Beverly said, patting her new bob. “Like it felt way too hot for August, the extra inches weren’t worth it.” That and her mama had a bitchfit which really was the goal here.

“I know, right? Summer really makes me want to just shave the whole thing off every year.” Jarrah laughed a little, his change of haircuts often was something that he was almost known for by now, really. So it didn’t even surprise anyone when he did it anymore; it was actually more surprising that he had it in a man bun these days, really. “It looks fresh.”