Part of Her World. (Chapter 1)
It was pouring. Rain in California wasn't necessarily rare. After all, it was practically a coastal region. Rainy days came and went. Today…today was different though. This was one of those kind of rains that people have in romantic movies, or something, where the man realizes he loves the woman, and they conveniently find themselves out in the middle of it, kissing each other like they were the last two people on the planet. Yeah, one of those.
"Looks like a nasty one," said the tall, muscular Canadian. Cory didn't necessarily like having his identity reduced to his nationality, but he was okay with it considering his otherwise normal features. His dark, cocoa-brown hair and his chocolate-brown eyes were enough to melt a person if he needed them to. He was a charmer, but it was purely natural, as well as genuine. He was really as nice as he was portrayed on television. Lea jumped a little. His presence was hard to miss, but he had a way about being stealthy. Sometimes, he would jump out of random places on set while she was walking by. She acted like she hated it, but it always made her smile once he disappeared again. It made him smile, too.
She cleared her throat, her tiny fingers wrapped tightly around her Starbucks cup. Black coffee with rice milk. She ordered the same thing every day, piping hot. Even Cory knew her order. "It is," she said, with an almost dazed expression. She actually didn't mind this weather. Perfect cuddle weather. "I kind of like it, though," she added after a moment. She wrinkled her nose adorably at him. "It's good relaxing weather! I can pop in a movie and cuddle on the couch." Cory watched her for a moment. Since he was from Canada, he was a bit more used to snow. It sounded cliché, but it was the truth. Being a northerner, it made sense. "Yeah," he said, scratching under his eye awkwardly. He didn't really care about cuddling so much, at least not now. His main reason, of course, was because he couldn't cuddle with her.
"Can I ask you something?" he blurted out. She was used to it by now, though. He seemed to have a way about doing that…talking when it sometimes wasn't necessary. She enjoyed that, though. "What's that?" she said as she put the cup up to her face. Her voice echoed in it. "You think they'll keep us together?" His words nearly stopped her in her tracks. Us? she thought. But, she was thinking far too literally. "Finn and Rachel have too much invested at this point…" He began on a tangent. She took a small breath of relief, affectionately patting his arm. "I think we stand a good chance," she said with a sideways grin. "You know Ryan loves us," she admitted. It was a widely known thing among the fans; Ryan loved Finchel, and, if Finchel existed in the real world, well…they'd probably love him, too. His eyebrows wrinkled. He was able to tell when she was nervous, or surprised. She got a little creased right next to her eyebrows. He noticed a lot of little things about her, but that was the most noticeable. "What'd you think I meant?" he asked with a laugh. She shook her head immediately. It was dangerous to let her guard down like that, and she wasn't giving him reason to question her further. "Nothing, I'm just a little tired," she admitted. It was the truth. As much as she enjoyed her ritualistic cups of coffee, on days like this, she enjoyed sleep the most.
"Maybe you should-" HONK! His thoughts were interrupted by the blast of Theo's car horn. Theo wasn't a bad guy. In fact, they actually got along rather well. But he was still jealous of him. Cory wasn't the type to let that kind of thing show, though. Her happiness came before his, and if she was happy with Theo…it was out of his control. "I think your ride wants you," he said, his head ducking. She smiled from ear to ear. She gave him a playful nudge on the arm. He could be adorable when he got like that; puppy-dog eyes and bashful. "Don't look so down! You get to see me at five a.m., tomorrow!" she exclaimed. She was always so unusually excited with the that. He liked sleep, but waking up in the early-morning hours and seeing her smile always cheered him up. "We have some rehearsal tomorrow before we shoot…" She was talking a mile a minute. He blankly watched her. She did that a lot…talk fast. It sounded insensitive, but he sometimes missed on what she said. She was just excited, he thought. He found it rather cute, actually, how she could do that…be so excited at such an odd hour. He waited until she was done, an appropriate amount of time. "Mmm, mhm. Yeah," he said finally. "I already sneaked a peek." Honk! Theo's horn blasted again. Lea grinned a little, turning back to him. "Sorry," she said. "He must have reservations somewhere…" She trailed off. She leaned up, hugging his neck. It was a good thing her legs were so strong, or it might have proven far more difficult. With that, she pattered off to his car, tightening the jacket around herself. He waved at the door; he hated this part. The end of the day. She would go home and cuddle, as she planned. She would probably play with her cats and continue to work on her Save the Horses! campaign, too. He would go home and play his drums for a little while. It was one of the few, if not only thing that could distract him from her. He strolled out to his car, slid in and began the drive back to his apartment. Time for the night to begin.