[PAST/DANI] Table Read

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

Jake headed inside for his first official day of work, and the cast's first day working together at the table read. Jake had auditioned with a small handful of girls for the lead, but he had a feeling it had gone to that girl Dani Cooper. Jake wasn't in denial, if she got the part he could admit it was because she was truly Alex Russo. But Jake had also worked with Disney Channel for a few years; he knew what these girls were like. Self absorbed, entitled, demanding. They were young and they had a huge brand behind them. The world was their oyster. Jake could only pray she wasn't quite as annoying as Natalia Richmond. Jake loved acting but he knew he eventually wanted it to be a way to transition to directing. He didn't need a nuisance along the way.

As Jake walked the length of the hall to the conference room for the table read, he got close enough to hear smalls pieces of conversation, one voice saying, "Ugh. Well, let's just hope the part of Justin didn't go to Jake Russo." Jake stopped outside the door. Why, didn't he read the part well? Of course he did, he was made for this part. There was no competition there. Jake entered the room, confirming that the part did indeed go to Dani Cooper, and it was from her mouth that he'd heard that little jab. "Sorry sweetheart, I try not to steal the show too much."

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Dani was staring down at her phone, trying to figure out what the hell her grandmother was talking about. The woman had just learned how to start texting, and it was a process of trying to figure out what the hell she was even trying to get across. But if she had to guess, it was something about how Dani had skipped breakfast this morning. She frowned a little, going toward the yogurt she had grabbed when she came in and brought the spoon lazily to her lips. Her attention was brought to the producers when they started to talk about Justin Russo. "Ugh. Well, let's just hope the part of Justin didn't go to Jake Russo." she said grumpily, setting the spoon back into her yogurt. But immediately she heard the voice that had already set her into irritable mode before she turned her shoulder She rolled her eyes at his comment about stealing the show, debating whether she should argue with him now or not.

She was so annoyed with his entrance into the room, that by the time she opened her mouth to make a smart ass comment back to him, it clicked. "Wait, HE is my romantic interest?" she said, gesturing her thumb toward him like it was the most disgusting thing in the world while looking at the producers. "See... the thing is, you both just fit the roles so perfectly," she said anxiously, looking between the two of them. Dani scoffed, folding her arms before she turned to look at Jake. "Buy some mints," she said in annoyance to the fact that she was going to have to share a lot of intimate space with him before she started moving toward her seat.

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

By the time Dani had realized they would be playing romantic interests, Jake had sat down and gotten his things organized. Highlighter, pencil, pen, water bottle. They weren't kidding when they said they fit the roles perfectly, Justin was just the right amount of clever and particular to be a good match for Jake. Also, he sounded like a handsome guy, and so was Jake, so that was just perfect. Dani made some comment about getting breath mints, and Jake just glanced back at her and puckered his lips at her. "Alright, so let's get started. Dani, go ahead whenever you're ready on page five." Jake muttered to himself, "Some of us had breakfast before we came to work." He really didn't have anything against her until he found out she apparently didn't want to work with him.

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Dani held the spoon between her lips tightly. Yeah, she brought breakfast. But she was also trying to get out of the house so that she could avoid talking to her father who had been trying to get ahold of her from the prison. She'd lied and said that she had to be there earlier so that her grandmother would just bring her and drop the topic of talking to her father on the phone. She looked over at him, smug, cocky, just an over all asshole. Was he rude to her because this was her first legitimate acting job? He just thought that she couldn't handle it or something? Because sure maybe it was just a Disney show, but she had landed a starring role on her first shot. She looked over at him as he took a drink of his water before reaching over and squeezing the bottle in the middle so that water would go on his face. " Some of us took a shower before we came in," she said, looking in his direction as she pointedly placed another bite of yogurt in her mouth.

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

For the record, Jake did shower this morning, he was an impeccably clean person and he took his personal hygiene very seriously. But as he felt himself being sprayed in the face with water, he nodded, "Very mature." Fair enough, fair enough. it definitely made him like her less, but someone here needed to act like an adult if they were going to work together. "Okay, I understand this is your first rodeo, but if we could all try to be professionals..." he trailed off as one of the writers handed him a napkin to wipe his face. "Dani, let's um, let Jake clean up for a minute. Maybe we go over the theme song, would you care to indulge us on how that has evolved?" "She's singing the theme song?" Jake said, eyeing the writers, "What is this, Hannah Montana?" Jake visibly rolled his eyes, it was so typical. Dani would get all the fame and attention. Well that was fine, let her flounce around like the vapid disney princess she probably was and Jake would absorb whatever knowledge he could that would help him in his future career.

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Dani smiled with satisfaction at what appeared to be annoyance on Jake's face. She looked over at the people talking to her, asking about the theme song. But of course Jake had a comment to make. She rolled her eyes quickly. "We'll be lucky if it is. That's the most successful Disney show like... ever. So great comparison, genius" she said huffily, before looking back at the actual adults in the room. " I had actually written some things down. I was thinking if this theme song became popular, and young girls were singing it ... then it should be a song of empowerment, and not about the SHOW itself, but maybe about how they can believe in themselves. Instead of you know.... me..." she said, looking around at the adults awkwardly. " Um.. hang on," she said, leaning down to look through her messy bag to take out a notebook. She flipped through pages quickly until she got to the page that had the lyrics to Who Says scrawled upon it and placed it slightly to her left. Just as she was about to say something, one of the writers interrupted her. " Dani, I'm.. I'm sorry, we were just going to have you record a song as a remake. Have you been into the studio yet?" they asked. Oh. Dani felt herself deflate a bit, relaxing in her seat. "No I.... sorry, Yeah I can do that," she nodded, biting the edge of her lip in slight disappointment before tapping her pencil against the papers. "Jake, did you get a chance to look at some of the notes before you came in on the script? You'd expressed interest in directing and we want you to know that we're going to support that," they said, giving him a smile. Oh. Okay. So he got professional development and she got to... sing someone else's song? Dani took in a deep breath and puffed her cheeks out as she looked down at the lyrics she had apparently wasted her time on.

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

Yeah obviously Hannah Montana was successful, but they weren't doing that show. "In order to be successful, we need to differentiate ourselves, be something fresh and new..." he said, as if it were obvious, flipping through some of the notes he had written in the margins of his script. Jake couldn't care less about the theme song to be honest, if Dani was singing it, whatever. That was Disney's way, so he butted out when she started talking about he lyrics. A theme song should be catchy, related to the show, and something you immediately relate to it. If you hear it from another room in the house, you'll know the show is on. he couldn't, however, pretend he didn't hear the disappointment in her voice over having to sing something else. She was going to have to just do the cookie cutter thing, but clearly she was free thinking. Not so vapid after all. Jake glanced at her notebook anyways, noting that the lyrics didn't suck or anything; it just didn't work for a theme song. "Don't sweat it, I'm sure it will make your album when they give you a solo career," he said dryly. Jake looked up after being questioned about the script, "Yes, thank you. I did see the notes, I have some notes here of my own as well. There were a few open ended lines, I had some ideas about some episodes down the road." "Great, we can look over some of those later this afternoon." If anything, Jake wanted the crew to know he took his role seriously as far as his involvement in the show's development.

Basically nearing the end of the table read, it seemed clear to everyone that Dani and Jake would probably butt heads until the show got cancelled. "The starting of a new show is nerve wracking, and stressful. All of us here are fully on board, we want this to be a success we want it to make sense. We want everyone involved to be proud of the work being done here. But playing opposite of each other... you're both brilliant in your respective roles-" "But you fight like cats and dogs. You need to try and get along." The writers were right, of course, but how was Jake supposed to be around this girl who was so unrefined? "I mean if I didn't know any better, I'd think you two were siblings, the way you have been bickering for the last two hours." The silence in the room was palpable. mainly because the writers were trying to figure out how to make things work with the two young actors, and also a little because Jake and Dani weren't making things any easier. "Wait... siblings. That could work." "Yes, yes, I see that, that is interesting." Jake raised his eyebrows, "What, like Alex and Justin are siblings in the show?" Jake paused, giving it thought. It could work. He was curious to see how the writers changed things up. "Hmm. I think we need to reconvene at a later time, but the pair of you are free to go I think." Jake gathered his things, "Thanks guys," and shook each of their hands. "Jake, I'll have my assistant contact you to go over your notes." "Sounds good, I'll see you soon then." He brushed past Dani, sure she was on her way out behind him.

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Okay, so they had been doing the show for a while now. It was the beginning of the third season and there had been a ton of development. She'd been working on an album that she wanted to release soon. Jake had even been getting a ton of work done in the director department, and surprisingly...writing. But as she sat in her dressing room, going through the files upon files of paperwork that had been slid under her door her mind was just bogged with information about court dates. Her father was trying to appeal the verdict and was... asking her to be a character witness? Was he serious? She made a face, looking through the written testimony that she had provided for the court so many years ago. Every vivid detail that they had asked her to write down as just a child. Her breath caught slightly. It wasn't that she had a hard time talking about it. Well, that wasn't true. She still had a hard time talking about it. But more than anything it just frustrated her that he felt he should be free, that he hadn't done anything wrong. She shut the folder, stacking them on top of one another before trying to get them to form a perfect, tidy stack.

After leaving her dressing room she stopped to get a bottle of cucumber water. She looked through all of the bottles, realizing that all that was left was regular. " God... DAMNIT, Jake!" she yelled out in frustration. Maybe it was a little thing. And honestly, after this long, she knew that Jake didn't mean to grab the wrong water bottles all the time. He was just usually so invested in whatever conversation he was having that he just grabbed one. And maybe it was a diva moment to be freaking out about water, but maybe she was just fucking stressed. Maybe she just wanted one thing to be where it was supposed to be. Maybe she didn't want someone to take something else from her. Dani walked over toward him, her hands in fists at her side. " Are you that selfish!?" she asked, reaching across from him to grab the water that was beside him. She never ate from the food available to them. This was literally all she ever asked for. "How can you be so rude, ALL of the time, Jake?'"

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

Jake spent a lot of time doing what he called lurking around, but truthfully he spent a lot of time hanging around the writers and producers wanting to be involved in the show development. Jake had been working really hard on writing an episode for Wizards, but honestly it had been hard to focus. Dani had been unbearably snotty to him recently and while he would so much rather chalk it up to being that time of the month, he knew better. he also had accidentally had some court papers slid under the door in his trailer that were obviously meant for Dani. As soon as he knew what they were he should have just closed the folder and gotten them to the right place, but he was beyond curious. And she was more than annoying most days, so snooping a bit was just deserved right? The more he read the more he knew he should look away, but it was like watching a car accident; you couldn't look away. Jake had no idea any of these court things were going on, nor did he have any idea the relationship with her father had been this twisted. In the world he grew up in, people like Dani's father ended up at the bottom of rivers. He legitimately had ached for her after reading those papers, maybe feeling a little more clued in to her background and why she was the way she was. It was sick, really.

As much as he wanted to forget what was in that folder after sliding it under the door of her trailer, he couldn't shake those dates from his mind. He had even woken up wondering if she was going to be more on edge. He couldn't of course tell her he knew; it was far too private. But he also couldn't bring himself to be rude to someone dealing with that type of situation. Yeah she was annoying and self entitled, but over the last couple of years it had just become their dynamic. Much as they bickered back and forth, he respected her. Jake had grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and was working on his script when he heard the hurricane moving in his general direction. he was used to her sarcastic quips but she was genuinely having a fit. Jake glanced at her, unable to decipher what on earth she thought he had been so rude about until she grabbed the water bottle from in front of him. Ah. The cucumber water. He honestly hadn't thought much about it, he had just grabbed a water. But to be this upset over it? "Sorry, I just grabbed one, I wasn't paying attention. It's not even opened. You can have it," he said calmly, gesturing to it in her hand with his pen. He paused, expecting her to yell at him again and added another apology for good measure, "Really, it wasn't intentional, I'm sorry."

[Dani Marie Cooper]

When Dani and Jake had started the show Wizards of Waverly Place it had been a place of tension and turmoil. But things over the last year they had….calmed? He wasn’t as irritating. He seemed to not be trying to get under her skin. They just did this sort of dance with one another. They weren’t friends, but they stayed out of each others way. She watched him across the studio, noticing that he was talking to their on screen dad before she turned the corner and started to leave to make her way to the trailer. When she got in, she put a straw in her diet coke, deciding to go over and look through some of her music. She wasn’t needed on set for a little bit. It was just rehearsal today. They always did live recordings. When there was a knock at her door, she looked over her shoulder. But before she could make her way over, the young set assistant was already making his way in. Tom. “Hey,” he said, putting his hands in his front pockets. “…Hey” she said, giving a quick smile. “Was I supposed to be on set? Maybe I read the sheet wrong,” she added, biting the edge of her lip. “No, actually. I uh… I needed to talk to you. And I knew we had time alone for a while…” he said making a couple of steps toward her. “Everything okay?” she asked, taking a slight step back. “Come on, don’t deny that you haven’t been giving me looks, Daniella,” he said. But before she could even respond she felt his lips coming way too quickly against her face, just forcing themselves unnaturally. “ Get OFF of me!” she shouted, pushing her hands against his chest to push him away.

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

Was Jake trying to be friends with Dani? No. Did he think she was a brat? Yes. Did he respect her as an actress and colleague? Absolutely. Did he also think she was gorgeous? Obviously she was. But it took a lot more than beauty to win over Jake and he and Dani gave each other their space when they weren't on set or bickering about something completely stupid. Even recently they hadn't really been arguing and that may have been a little to do with the whole court ordeal with her dad. He even thought Dani might have noticed Jake not egging on her little blow ups. He was strangely possessive of her. he wasn't itching to go hang out with her but he sure as hell wasn't gonna let anyone else treat her like crap. That was only okay when he did it, because most of the time he didn't mean a lick of it. he just liked pushing her buttons. Jake wasn't needed on set at the moment as they were taking a union break for the crew, and much as he liked talking to his on screen dad, Jake had a work out he needed to get in. It helped his anger a little, though he still had the disposition of a cranky old man. Jake headed for his trailer, thinking about how great it was going to be to punch something. Even if he wanted to, Jake couldn't ignore the sound of Dani yelling from her dressing room for someone to get off her. Without thinking Jake changed direction and headed her way, barging into the room and grabbed whatever human being was forcefully coming at her, yanking the guy back by his shirt collar. "Bad idea, man," Jake said before his fist hit Tom's face and then literally grabbed him and threw him into the hallway were the opposite wall forcefully stopped his momentum. Whew, that felt good. He was just thinking how nice it would be to hit something. A stupid fucking set assistant would do. "Piece of shit," Jake muttered, picking the guy up and shoving him down the hallway further, "Get out of my sight, before I have you fired. I might do that anyways. I hope you know how to flip burgers." Jake watched him stumble off holding his face and then turned to Dani, pausing in her doorway. She already had one unwanted guest, no need for two. "You okay?"

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Dani was pushing her hands against Tom to try and get him away. But with her small frame she felt pretty ineffectual. Jake came barreling in like a full forced tornado. Except instead of causing chaos, he was ripping Tom away from her and then handling the situation in a way that she had to honestly say she had never really seen with Jake. Dani held onto the side of her vanity, trying to catch her breath from the excitement of what had just happened. She looked over at him, still brooding in the doorway. Was she okay? Thanks to him. She took a couple of more moments, bringing her hand up to push hair away from her face. "Um.." she started, debating whether or not to say thank you. But instead she moved away from the vanity, closing the gap between herself and Jake. She let out a deep breath, wrapping her arms tightly around his frame as she held her body closely against his. "Thank you so much," she said, closing her eyes as tightly as she could, holding him with everything she had.

Months later and Dani had come to grips with the fact that Jake Russo.... was a good man. He was kind to their "little brother" on set. He helped people out if he saw fit. He worked hard. He was responsible. He was..... obviously handsome. In the way that she absolutely took notice of how he was dressing on set. His shirts were becoming tighter, and his outfits seemed to be more...adult? Handsome. Rugged. Just the way he was standing there right now... Dani didn't realize she had chomped down on the sucker in her mouth, watching Jake across the way. But he caught her eyes. He caught her staring. And honestly, hadn't that happened more than once over the last few months? He'd definitely caught her. Except this time... it didn't seem like he was necessarily looking away. Dani stood there, frozen in a moment, as she kept her eyes locked on his, her smile slowly growing. "Dani?" the producer questioned. "Dani." they said more firmly, causing Dani to blink and look away from Jake. "This is Lance Renner... he's going to be playing your boyfriend Mason," they said, gesturing to Lance. "Oh!" Dani said, dropping her arm that was crossed over her stomach. "Lovely to meet you,"[/i] she said, offering her hand out. "And you are lovely to meet..." he said, reaching out for her hand before kissing it. "Perhaps you can show me around set? Maybe have some tea?" he said, flashing a smile in her direction.

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

If Jake wasn't mistaken, things had really turned around between himself and Dani. Not in a completely positive way, just in a... new way. He had begun to catch her staring at him. At first he was confused but after their awkward encounter that time the fucktard set assistant Tom had the balls to lay his hands on her, things started to click. She stared at him when he was working out. She stared at his arms. And even now she never really looked away even when he caught her. Jake had begun to think she had miraculously developed a crush on him... which he wasn't opposed to. They had always been on the frenemy side of things, but if they hadn't gotten off on the wrong foot? Jake was beginning to wonder if he should maybe ask he out. He was definitely attracted to her and at this rate, they seemed to have put their differences aside. Aside from the little arguments, she really was a nice person. If he weren't looking for a reason to dislike her he would even say she was genuine, passionate, kind. The feeling building in his gut was unmistakable. Did Jake like her? He was beginning to see that clearly, he was into her. Maybe there was more to his protective nature toward her. Jake watched her, watching him, almost thinking he saw her begin to smile, when she was interrupted. Oh, right. The new kid. Jake had met him briefly, he was British or something. He seemed alright. So far. Jake was a harsh judge. Before Jake's eyes, lance was introducing himself to Dani, kissing her ass- well, her hand. But he may as well be kissing her ass. Jake rolled his eyes at the exchange, seeing Dani easily charmed by the faux foreigner. And to think Jake was thinking he would ask her out. A British guy enters the arena and Jake was probably second choice. Whatever. Jake got up from where he was sitting and left for his trailer, annoyed to be ousted from something he hadn't even given a chance yet.

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Dating Lance was sort of what you would expect a fairy tale was with a rough around the edges prince. He had his own problems that he needed to work on, but he really did try to play the role perfectly of 'boyfriend'. But still.. Dani couldn't ignore her feelings. And what pissed her off the most is that she knew, she just KNEW that Jake felt them, too. And while things had seemed like they were starting to cool off with them, like they could get along... it all came to a stop. Things started heating up with them, in terms of feelings, and then the moment she started dating Lance that hot temperature brought them to a boil. Back at each others throats. She leaned back in her chair, biting the cap on her pen as she watched him across set. Lance was off in makeup for some werewolf scene, which honestly meant he would be ocupado for a few hours. She watched as Jake went to his trailer, immediately tapping her pen against the table. She got up, pushing herself back from the table to make her way to him as quickly as she could. "Dani i need you t-" someone started off, "Not right now, Becky," Dani said in irritation as she followed Jake's footsteps.

As he started to shut the door to his trailer, she threw her hands up, pushing the door open enough to let her small frame slide through. " Will you just GIVE IT UP, ALREADY?" she said in annoyance, raising her eyebrows as she looked at him. Dani took a breath, leaning out the door to make sure no one saw her step in before she slammed the door and locked it. She turned to look at him, crossing her arms and hardened her expression. "Look.. I'm gonna be blunt here. Because you've been walking around with your head up your ass and acting like a complete jackass," she said, bringing her hands up to her side. "We were in a really good place. I thought that we even were..." she started but then sighed, shaking her head. " I feel it.... when you look at me, Jake. I feel it." she moved away from the door, putting her hand on his chest over his heart. "Why can't you just look at me? If you care about me at all, how can you turn away from me so much? When we are in the same room, and I catch you staring at me.. I can feel that you hate me, and that you don't. Do you realize how insufferable you are? Just ADMIT IT!" she said yelling at him. There was a small moment of silence, her trying to catch her breath. She closed her hand around the fabric of his shirt where her hand was lying on his chest, and pulled him close to her. Dani held her hand onto the back of his neck as she kissed him.

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

What really pissed Jake off was how completely snotty Dani was being around him, when she was the one dating the British invasion. She had made her choice, loud and clear. Jake wasn't her first choice. The fact that he even thought he was at once point was a joke. He was the closest thing around that was her age. He could feel her trying to make eye contact with him sometimes, just trying to get him to acknowledge her, but Jake just couldn't. It pissed him off. He wanted her and she picked someone else. Dani was barging into his trailer, yelling at him. Jake's first thought was, "Good god, what's your problem now?" Jake sighed, turning around to see her close the door behind herself and lock it. Apparently it was serious. "You sound like a goddamn chihuahua." Jake was holding a water bottle he'd just empty his protein shake from, becoming increasingly more irritated. He was hearing what she was saying, but thinking, how's is that my problem? You chose him. It wasn't Jake's fault she got sucked into that British charm. Jake knew she was moving closer but he looked away. He didn't want to look at her. She was asking him to talk about his feelings, and it wasn't the right time anymore. How could she just come in here and put her hands on him? As if being around her weren't hard enough. "ADMIT WHAT?" Jake said angrily, throwing his water bottle into the sink forcefully where it clanged around. "That I like you and you chose someone else, and I'm pissed off?!" The silence between them was charged with an electricity that could only be the result of years of unattended feelings. Before Jake could respond with anything more civil, Dani had pulled him in by his shirt and kissed him, not something he had been expecting. But for the love of god, it seemed to be the answer. There was no calmness that washed over him; Whatever anger and frustration he'd had toward the situation had evolved into a hunger, like a thirst he needed to quench. Jake was a passionate person, his feelings were all consuming most of the time. He may have been butt hurt for the past few months, but he was getting what he wanted now, so he just thought, fuck it. Jake had set aside his feelings enough, he wanted what he wanted, and he didn't care. Jake wrapped his arm around her lower back, his other hand finding it's place tucked into her hair as he pulled her against himself, moving so as to press her back to the counter. Jake was done putting his feelings aside, and he wasn't exactly known for being reserved when it came to moments like this. He kissed her deeply, moving to kiss her neck and then paused, breathing in the scent of her perfume. He was friends with Lance. Great friends, best friends. Other than him dating Dani, Jake had actually taken a real liking to Lance as a best friend. Jake didn't bother to move away from her, still holding her close against himself, but muttered, "Shit." It wasn't Dani, he'd just admitted he like her. But Jake felt a sinking feeling in his stomach when he considered that fact that he;d just been kissing his best friend's girl.