….
Outside in the hallway, Tom and Zendaya stood in stunned silence.
Tom was staring at his script like it might vanish if he blinked. Zendaya held hers against her chest, breathing carefully like she was afraid sudden movement might wake her from a dream.
"Did that just–" Tom started.
"Yeah." Zendaya finished.
"We actually–"
"Yeah."
Tom's face split into the widest grin she'd ever seen. "Oh my god."
"I know."
"Oh my GOD."
"I know!"
Then Tom did a little jump - not planned, or controlled, just pure kinetic joy that had to escape his body somehow. He spun in a circle, nearly dropped his script, caught it against his chest, and let out a laugh that echoed down the hallway.
Zendaya started laughing too, the professional composure she had been maintaining completely shattering. "I think I am also... kind of just starting to process all this."
"I need to tell someone. I need to—" Tom pulled out his phone, then froze. "Wait, can I tell people? Are we allowed to tell people? Is this confidential?"
"I have no idea, never done this before."
"Same! This is—" Tom stopped mid-sentence, staring at his phone screen. His expression shifted from joy to complete confusion. "What the..."
"What?"
"My Instagram—" He scrolled rapidly, eyes widening. "I have like... sixty new followers? In the last twenty minutes?"
Zendaya pulled out her own phone, checked, and her eyebrows shot up. "I have seventy-three. What is happening?"
Tom kept scrolling, his confusion deepening into something closer to panic. "This doesn't make sense. I never get this many–" He looked up at Zendaya with genuine concern. "Maybe my account got hacked?"
Zendaya burst out laughing, not a polite chuckle, but a real, full-body laugh that made her have to lean against the wall for support.
"It's not funny!" Tom protested, though he was smiling despite his worry. "I am serious! What if someone's in my account posting weird stuff? What if they are pretending to be me and saying things I didn't say?"
"Tom—" Zendaya tried to speak through her laughter. "I don't think—"
"I should change my password. Right now. Before they—"
"Tom!" Zendaya managed to get his attention, still grinning. "If your account was hacked, why would the hacker just... add followers? That's the weirdest hack strategy I have ever heard."
Tom paused, considering this. "Okay, that's... actually a fair point."
"Look at the actual notifications. Where are the followers coming from?"
They both checked their phones more carefully this time, scrolling through the follower list instead of just the count.
"They all have profile pictures." Tom muttered. "...and listen, they look like real accounts, not bots. And some of them have comments on their profiles about... wait." He clicked on one. "This person's bio says they are fans of Regal's films."
Zendaya was checking the same thing. "Mine too. A lot of them mention Regal or LIE Studios or—" She stopped. "Oh."
"What?"
She held up her phone, showing him a post that had been tagged with both their handles.
It was from an entertainment news account with a decent following - the kind that broke casting rumors and production updates.
BREAKING: Regal Seraphsail's next project revealed! Directing a love story titled 'I Want to Eat Your Pancreas.' Lead roles cast with newcomers @tomholland2013 and @zendaya.
The post was thirty minutes old.
It had over two thousand likes.
Tom's jaw dropped. "He announced it? Already?"
"Apparently."
"But we just - we literally just got cast ten minutes ago!"
Zendaya scrolled through the comments, which were flooding in rapidly. "Look, people seem to be really excited..."
Tom read over her shoulder. "'Finally a romance from Regal!' 'Who are these actors I've never heard of?' 'The title is so weird but I trust Regal's vision.' 'New actors means fresh chemistry!'"
"Some of these are kind of harsh." Zendaya noted, showing him another comment: "'Never heard of them. Hope they don't ruin it.'"
"Wow. Okay. That's–" Tom felt his excitement dim slightly. "That's a lot of pressure."
"Yeah."
They stood there scrolling through reactions - some supportive, skeptical, all of them intense in their own way.
"Is this normal?" Tom asked quietly. "This much attention before we have even done anything?"
"I don't think anything about working with Regal Seraphsail is normal." Zendaya replied.
Tom's phone buzzed with a text. He glanced down.
Unknown Number: This is Samantha. Don't engage with any press or social media about the casting until we brief you on publicity protocol. Congratulations again.
"Oh great." Tom muttered. "I wasn't planning to engage with anyone, but now I'm paranoid I will accidentally engage with someone."
Zendaya's phone buzzed with what was presumably the same message. "How do you accidentally engage?"
"I don't know! But if there's a way to mess it up, I will probably find it!"
She laughed again - he was discovering that making her laugh felt like a small victory.
"We should probably exchange numbers." Zendaya said. "Actual numbers, not just Instagram handles that apparently the entire internet now knows."
"Right! Yes! Good idea!" Tom fumbled with his phone, nearly dropped it, caught it, then had to unlock it three times because his hands were still shaking with leftover adrenaline and new anxiety about being announced to thousands of people.
"You okay there?" Zendaya asked, amused.
"Completely fine! Just…. my hands forgot how to work. Totally normal. Happens all the time."
They exchanged numbers, which involved Tom somehow managing to spell Zendaya's name as "Zendaya" in his contacts on the first try, then second-guessing himself and changing it to "Zendya" then panicking and asking her to spell it.
"It's Z-E-N-D-A-Y-A." She said patiently.
"Right! I had it right the first time! Why did I change it?" Tom was typing frantically. "I'm normally good with names, I swear. I am just…. there's a lot happening right now."
"It's okay. You're allowed to be overwhelmed."
"I am going to add a note to your contact. 'Scene partner. DO NOT MISSPELL HER NAME AGAIN.'"
Zendaya looked at his screen. "You're actually typing that?"
"Yes! Future me will thank present me for the reminder!"
"You're kind of ridiculous."
"I am very aware."
The elevator dinged. Samantha appeared. "Tom, your mother's here to pick you up. She's waiting in the lobby."
"Oh! Right!" Tom shoved his phone in his pocket, nearly dropped his script, caught it, then looked at Zendaya. "I will see you at rehearsals?"
"See you at rehearsals." she confirmed.
"Okay! Great! This is…. yeah!" He started toward the elevator, then turned back. "Also your contact is saved correctly now! Just so you know! In case that matters!"
"That definitely matters." Zendaya said, trying not to laugh.
"Right! Okay! Bye!"
He practically bounced into the elevator, still radiating energy even as the doors closed.
Zendaya stood in the hallway with Samantha, shaking her head with a smile.
"He's very enthusiastic." Samantha observed.
"That's one word for it." Zendaya agreed.
Zendaya looked down at the script in her hands, then at her phone where notifications were still trickling in. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
Zendaya hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "The ending in this script. Is that really how it ends?"
Samantha's expression didn't change, but something flickered in her eyes – acknowledgment, maybe, or respect for the question.
"What makes you think it isn't?" she asked.
"The audition scenes felt heavier than they should if everything works out. Like there's weight underneath that a happy ending wouldn't need."
Smart kid, Samantha thought. Very perceptive.
"Read what Regal gave you." she said carefully. "That's the version you need to understand for now."
Zendaya studied her for a moment, clearly understanding there was subtext she wasn't being told.
"Okay." she said finally. "I trust him."
"You should."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me. I just schedule things. Thank yourself for earning it."
After Zendaya left, Samantha returned to Regal's office.
He was reviewing something on his laptop, but looked up when she entered.
"They are both gone?" he asked.
"Both gone, excitedly so… and already dealing with social media attention."
"The announcement went well?"
"Depends on your definition of 'well.' People are interested, some are skeptical about unknown actors. Tom thought his Instagram got hacked."
Regal smiled. "That sounds exactly like something he would think."
"Zendaya's already suspicious about the ending."
"I expected that. She's perceptive."
"Are you sure about keeping it from them? Especially Tom?"
"Especially Tom." Regal confirmed. "I want him to play the character with certain hopefulness. And this might be the easiest way to bring it on screen."
"And Zendaya?"
"She will figure it out eventually. But by then she will understand why we did it this way."
Samantha made a note on her tablet. "First rehearsal is scheduled for two weeks from now. Should I prepare anything specific?"
….
Later That Evening | Tom's House.
"I still can't believe it's real. Like, my brain knows it happened but my brain also thinks maybe I imagined the whole thing."
"It's real, sweetheart. You earned this."
Tom pulled back, grinning so wide his face hurt. "And there's this girl, Zendaya, she's playing Sakura, and she's really talented and we're supposed to build chemistry before filming and Regal announced it already and I have like a hundred new Instagram followers and I might have almost told her my account was hacked because I am an idiot—"
His mother laughed, the kind of laugh that said she'd heard this level of excitement before and knew exactly how to handle it. "Come on. Let's celebrate properly. Dinner wherever you want."
"That Thai place? With the pad thai I like?"
"Of course."
"Can I invite someone?"
She raised an eyebrow. "The girl from the movie?"
"What? No! I meant like… my friends. From school. Not—" Tom's face went red. "We just met today, properly. That would be weird. Right? That would be too soon?"
"That would be very soon." his mother agreed, amused.
"Right. Yeah. Friends from school. That's what I meant."
As they headed out to the car, Tom pulled out his phone to text his friends, then paused.
Looked at his contacts.
Found Zendaya's name (spelled correctly, with the note he'd added to himself).
He stared at the blank message field for a long moment.
What do you even say? 'Hey, we're going to be spending months together creating art, hope you're ready for me to be weird the entire time?'
Too much. Way too much.
Keep it simple.
[Tom: Hey! It's Tom. Still can't believe today actually happened. See you at rehearsals!]
He hit send before he could overthink it, then immediately started overthinking it.
Was the exclamation point too much? Should he have used a period? Did "see you at rehearsals" sound too casual or too formal? Was—
His phone buzzed.
[Zendaya: Still processing everything too. Also still getting follower notifications which is kind of surreal. Can't wait to get started though. Congratulations, scene partner! 🎉]
Tom grinned at the screen so hard his cheeks hurt.
Scene partner.
He had a scene partner.
He was cast in a Regal Seraphsail film as the male lead.
And somewhere in Los Angeles, Zendaya was probably having the exact same surreal experience, processing the exact same impossible reality.
"You're smiling at your phone." his mother observed from the driver's seat.
"I'm allowed to smile at my phone."
"I didn't say you weren't. Just noticing."
"It's from Zendaya. The girl playing Sakura. She's nice."
"I'm sure she is."
"Not like that! She's just… we're scene partners. That's all. Professional scene partners building professional chemistry for professional reasons."
"Of course."
"Mum."
"I didn't say anything."
"You're thinking things."
"I'm thinking you got cast in a major film and I'm very proud of you."
Tom decided to accept that and not push further.
He looked back at his phone, typed out a response:
[Tom: Same! And thanks for not judging me when I thought my account was hacked 😅]
Three dots appeared. She was typing.
[Zendaya: That was genuinely the funniest thing I've heard all week. I'm never letting you forget that.]
Tom laughed out loud.
[Tom: Great. Looking forward to months of you reminding me I don't understand how Instagram works.]
[Zendaya: That's what scene partners are for.]
[Tom: Pretty sure that's not what scene partners are for.]
[Zendaya: Building chemistry through mutual teasing. It's a method.]
[Tom: Is it though?]
[Tom: It is now.]
Tom was still grinning when they pulled into the restaurant parking lot.
His mother turned off the car but didn't get out immediately. "Tom."
"Yeah?"
"This is going to change things. You know that, right? The attention, the pressure, people watching everything you do."
"I know."
"Are you ready for it?"
Tom thought about the script in his bag. About Elliot's journey from isolation to connection. About playing someone learning to truly live for the first time.
"I don't know if anyone's ever really ready," he said honestly. "But I want to try anyway."
She smiled and squeezed his shoulder. "Then let's go celebrate you trying."
Tom pocketed his phone and followed his mother inside, still smiling, still processing, still completely overwhelmed by how much his life had just changed in a single afternoon.
But underneath the anxiety and excitement and surreal disbelief, there was something else:
Certainty.
This was right. This role, this film, this partnership he was building with someone he'd just met but somehow already trusted.
Whatever came next - the pressure, the attention, the emotional weight of the story - he was ready to face it.
Or at least, ready to try.
And really, that was all anyone could ask for.
.
….
[To be continued…]
★─────⇌•★•⇋─────★
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