Building Bridges
Title: Building Bridges
Summary: Set before Hide and Be Sneaky. With Heather determined to make everyone as miserable as possible Noah finds solace in sneaking into the boathouse to read. Only one day, after getting into an argument with Geoff and Duncan, he finds himself locked in there. But, he has some lovely company.
Disclaimer: I own the Lord of the Rings trilogy; that is; books, DVDs and extended editions.
Pairings: Main: Noah/Bridgette/Geoff, Side: Tyler/Eva, Duncan/Leshawna, Mentioned: DJ/Heather, Gwen/Harold, Slight: Cody/Lindsey
Warnings: The usual!
Winter-Rae: Right, so jimthegamer got most of the answers right in my little quiz in my fic, 'Blondes Never Survive in Horror Movies.' So he requested insight to how Noah and Bridgette actually hooked up. Here be that story, enjoy!
Building Bridges
"Dude," Tyler whispered to Duncan, "Heather looks like she's on a war path man."
The punk followed the talentless jock's gaze and nodded in agreement. Then, the two of them literally jumped out of the way of the queen bee as she stalked towards the washrooms; the items for a shower in hand. They exchanged looks and opted to return to the guy's cabin. Upon entering they were greeted by Cody and Geoff.
"Morning bros," Geoff said, "What's up?"
"You guys look like you seen a ghost," Cody added.
"Not a ghost, but something even more dark and evil," Tyler replied. Duncan rolled his eyes.
"Heather, she looks pretty ticked off," he reported.
"Wonder why," Cody mused, "She has been causing just as much mayhem for all of us as of late, if not a little more."
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
The other four turned to Noah, the sarcastic and cynical bookworm. He was on his bunk, reading a book, as usual.
"What does that mean?" Geoff asked.
"Heather's mad party boy," Noah replied, "Because a certain person thought it was best to vote off DJ in the last round. DJ was the only one who could help make Heather more tolerable to be around. But oh no, dumbass over there just had to mess it up."
Noah eye up Duncan was he said this. The punk crossed his arms over his chest, not looking in the slightest bit guilty, even though they all knew he was.
It wasn't that Duncan didn't like DJ. He was a good guy, and a decent friend. The reason he decided to get rid of DJ was that the brickhouse wouldn't vote with them to get rid of Heather, so he had to go. Duncan wasn't likely to forget that Heather had a hand in getting LeShawna voted off the first time around, thankfully she came back half way through, but Duncan was very good at holding grudges. Not that the others were aware of him and LeShawna being together.
"Whatever man," he said, "It had to happen."
Noah shrugged.
"Oh I'm not worried," he said, "I doubt Heather will come after me. I have nothing to lose."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tyler asked, "You could still get voted off."
"Oh Heather is far more devious then that," the bookworm said, "She's going to go after the attached people. Meaning ones with significant others. You guys voted off her soon-to-be boyfriend and now she's going to go after you."
The guys all exchanged looks. The only one who was officially hooked up was Tyler. Duncan was secretly seeing LeShawna but only the two of them knew that. Cody was crushing big time on Lindsey while Geoff was chasing after Bridgette.
"So what," Duncan said, "What can she do?"
Noah shrugged.
"I don't know, all I do know is that I wouldn't want to be the girls right about now."
"Who put pineapple juice in my damn body lotion!"
"Oh my gosh! Someone put brown hair dye in my leave in conditioner! Brown is not my colour."
"Where the hell are my weights!"
Those were the many cries that went up that morning after Heather had left to go and have her shower.
"Oh I am gonna kill her!" LeShawna raged. She paused however when she saw the look on Bridgette's face.
"Bridgette? Hon? What's the matter?"
The surfer girl held up her surf board, or at least what was left of it. It had been broken in two.
"Oh no!" Lindsey gasped, "Brenda, your surfboard!"
"My dad gave me this!" Bridgette said, holding back her tears, "Who would do something like this!"
"You really need to ask?" Eva said to her, "Sorry about your bored Blondie. Don't worry, I'm gonna break her fingers one at a time."
Bridgette sniffed.
"It's ruined," she said, "I can't believe this. I've had this board for ten years!"
"Oh that white girl is so going down!" LeShawna snapped.
"Down where?" Lindsey asked. The other girls just shook their heads.
At breakfast the guys saw how dismayed the girls, save for Heather, looked.
"What happened ladies?" Cody asked.
"Heather dyed my hair!" Lindsey wailed, removing the hat she had been wearing "It's brown now! I look terrible!"
"Aww, you're still beautiful Lindsey."
The blonde sniffled but offered a small smile to Cody who grinned.
"You're looking mighty blotchy LeShawna," Duncan mused, teasing in his voice. The voluptuous teen frowned.
"Heather put pineapple juice in my body lotion."
"Ouch."
"No kidding."
"What's up beautiful?" Tyler asked Eva. The strong teen growled.
"That skank did something with my weights; I have a strict workout I keep too, without those weights I'll lose muscle mass!"
"Hmm, I can help you look for them after if you want."
"Thanks Tyler."
"She do something to you too Bridgette?" Geoff asked. The surfer girl nodded but said nothing more than that. She then left the mess hall, saying something about going back to the cabin. The guys all felt somewhat guilty for this, not only had Noah been right but it seemed that Heather was not worried in the least if she got voted off. She was actually smirking at them from the other table.
"She must be some kinda crazy if she thinks I'm not gonna get her back," LeShawna growled.
"I wouldn't," Noah warned them.
"What do you know nerd?" Geoff said, "Take a hike."
Noah frowned and got too his feet.
"Fine, clearly my above average intelligence it far to intimidating for you," he mused. Upon seeing Geoff's clueless expression he frowned.
"Again, point proven."
Noah then stepped out of the mess hall with the plan to go to the boathouse to read. But then he changed his mind and started to make his way to the cabins. While he walked he wondered what Heather had done to Bridgette.
While he wasn't about to yell at the queen bee over it, for fear that she might do something to him. He wasn't ashamed to admit that Heather scared the crap out of him. However, Noah had never been one to like seeing girls cry, so seeing Bridgette hurt did annoy him. Being the youngest of nine siblings with six of them being girls he had come to hate the people that made them cry.
His oldest sister, Natasha, had been divorced from her cheating husband and had been heartbroken. Noah, in retaliation, hacked into the guy's personal accounts and froze them as revenge. Natasha had found out about it and had him fix it, she wasn't the revenge type.
The second oldest sister, Nadine, had broken her arm in a skiing accident. Noah never left her side and even let her squeeze his hand while the bone was re-set. Now that nearly drove him to tears as she nearly broke his hand.
One of his other sisters, Noelle, once had her bike stolen. He went with her to get it, not wanting too of course since he knew he would just be a punching bag. But seeing Noelle smile after he did get the bike back was worth it. She also got him some ice for his black eye.
Nikita, his twin sister was born with a disability that made her perceive pain differently than others did. Soft touches could cause extreme pain while firmer ones brought comfort. He was the first one to pick up on it as they got older and always was there to provide firm hugs when she was upset.
His older twin sisters, Natalie and Nicole, were sort of like Katie and Sadie and thus had been through many breakups where he was the one they cried too. Noah, if he was tutoring said douchebags, would make them fail their next test.
Yes, Noah could be truly protective when he wanted to be. So his curiosity for what had happened to Bridgette drew him to the girl's cabin. He could hear Bridgette sobbing so he felt awkward when he knocked. He waited patiently for Bridgette to clean herself up before she answered the door.
"What?" she asked, somewhat shortly.
"What did Heather do?" he asked. She frowned.
"Do you have a sarcastic remark you're dying to use on me or something?" she asked. Noah shrugged.
"You'll never know until you answer me."
"You're a jerk, and if you must know, she broke my surfboard."
Noah arched an eyebrow.
"Okay then, I'll leave you alone now."
Bridgette was surprised as he turned and started to walk away.
"Wait a minute? That's it?"
"What do you want from me?" he asked as he headed towards the boathouse, his ever-present book under his arm, "Were you expecting a sarcastic remark?"
"Well...yeah...kinda."
"Let's see...nope, I got nothing."
With that said he continued on his way, leaving Bridgette to frown after him.
Duncan and Geoff had seen Noah go to the girl's cabin; this right away annoyed the both of them. Geoff didn't like Noah flirting, or trying to flirt with Bridgette and Duncan, being a somewhat loyal friend, he was determined to make sure his buddies hooked up. So while Geoff went to talk to Bridgette, Duncan followed after Noah.
The bookworm was in the boathouse, sitting on the floor, reading his book.
"Oh joy," Noah said when he noticed him, "To what do I owe the pleasure convict?"
"You're gonna stop talking to Bridgette," Duncan replied simply. Noah scoffed.
"Why?" he asked, "Am I worthy to be considered competition? Now that's a compliment I must say, if I was even interested."
Duncan laughed.
"You aren't competition," he said, "But you could be interference. Besides, what makes you think she'd go for a scrawny loser like you?"
"Nothing at all," Noah replied through gritted teeth. He was determined not to let Duncan get the better of him in this situation. While Noah did admire Bridgette he wasn't exactly looking for a relationship.
"Anyway," the punk mused, "Think about what I said. You know I could make your time here very miserable."
"Dumb threats from a dumb criminal," Noah muttered sarcastically, "But fine, I'll be good."
"Was Noah bugging you Bridge?" Geoff asked.
"No," she replied. She was sitting on her bunk looking at her surfboard, trying to see if there was any way for her to fix it. Heather had certainly done a number on it. She'd have to bring it back to the repair guy she knew back home and even then she wasn't sure what could be done about it.
"Next round we'll vote Heather off," Geoff said to her, "You have my word."
Bridgette nodded.
"Yeah sure."
She didn't seem to enthusiastic about the idea though.
"And until then I still have two more days to put up with her."
The following day Chris had arranged a little side contest for them. Basically they had to pick someone and tell Chris five things they had learned about them.
"This is the stupidest challenge you have ever come up with Chris," Heather said, "I could care less about any of these losers."
"Winners get a nice spa treatment as well as a nice meal," Chris said. The teens exchanged looks. Eva quickly grabbed Tyler's arm.
"His favourite colour is green, he's an only child, his worst subject in school is math, he's had his appendix out and he's got a birthmark on his low back."
"How you know the last two things are beyond me," Noah muttered. Tyler grinned at his tough girlfriend and rhymed off the five things he knew about her; she loved Bach, grinded her teeth when she slept, played the piano, could bench press 260 and was ambidextrous.
"Okay then," Chris said, "Anyone else want to step up?"
Most of the others were silent. Chris smirked.
"Noah, you and Bridgette, let's see what you've learned."
Noah cursed Chris in that moment. This was going to get him beat up by Duncan and Geoff no doubt. What the heck did he know about Bridgette anyway?
"You wanna go first?" Bridgette asked him. He shook his head.
"Be my guest, we're not winning this thing anyway."
Bridgette studied him for a moment, biting her lip, she really knew next to nothing about Noah and she was sure that saying he was sarcastic wouldn't count.
"Reading is his favourite hobby," she ventured. Noah snickered and nodded. Chris rolled his eyes.
"Like we didn't know that."
"He has over 50 books in his collection," she guessed. Chris looked at Noah and the bookworm nodded.
"Branch out a bit will ya?" the host said to Bridgette. She frowned at him and then glanced at Noah apologetically.
"I don't know anything else," she said. Noah shrugged.
"It's not like I broadcast my life story to anyone," he mused, "Anyway, I'm guessing that surfing is your favourite hobby."
She smiled and nodded.
"I'll venture that your favourite colour is blue."
"Nice guess dork," Duncan jeered.
"Well he's right," the surfer girl said.
"Good for me, not like I know anything else," Noah said.
"Okay, you two are out," Chris said, "Cody and Heather?"
"Nope," Cody said, "I don't really care to know even five things about her."
"Like I care what the tech geek thinks about me," the queen bee snapped. Chris glanced at Lindsey.
"You and Geoff."
"Which one is Geoff?"
Chris smacked his forehead.
"Forget it, Duncan and LeShawna. You two fight enough you must know something about each other."
LeShawna shrugged.
"He's got three older brothers, both of his parents are cops, he's a pyro, he hates the colour pink and thinks Volkswagens are the stupidest cars ever invented."
Duncan snickered.
"Her favourite colour is purple; she's allergic to pineapples, is lactose intolerant, hates spiders and doesn't know how to whistle."
"Impressive," Chris said, "Okay, you four get a nice meal and spa treatment. The rest of you, sucks to be you."
The fact that Duncan and LeShawna knew so much about each other surprised Noah greatly. Something told him that maybe all the times LeShawna ran after the punk as if she wanted to kill him weren't so dangerous after all.
So while the four went to get their reward Noah took to wandering the camp, feeling very bored. He was even too bored to read, something that was odd for even him.
'I need something to do,' he mused. He saw Bridgette leave the girl's cabin to go swimming when suddenly an idea crossed his mind. The cabin would be empty now.
'I must be losing my mind,' he thought to himself, 'Either that or I have a death wish I just don't know about.'
He snuck into the cabin, found the item that would make his idea a reality and then high tailed it to the boathouse, hoping the supplies he needed would be there.
It was a couple hours later when Bridgette finally finished her swim. She was just finishing drying off her hair when she heard shouting coming from outside. She looked out of the window and saw that Duncan and Geoff were hassling Noah. She frowned; it was nothing new to see as those two always bullied Noah and even Harold when he had still been on the island.
Bridgette had always liked Harold. He was a very nice guy and very helpful. Unfortunately, she never really got up the courage to stand up for him when the other two picked on him and she still felt guilty about it.
'That's it,' she thought, 'I've had enough of them and their bullying.'
She stalked out of the girl's cabin and made a beeline for Duncan, Geoff and Noah.
"What did I tell you?" Duncan snapped, "Put it back."
"I will when I'm finished," Noah replied shortly, "Geoff can even take the credit if he wants, I don't care."
"Hey!" Bridgette said, coming between them.
"Hey babe," Geoff greeted.
"Oh don't you call me that," she said, "I have a name. Why do you guys keep bothering Noah?"
"Because he's ticking me off," Duncan replied, "Back off Blondie."
Bridgette stood her ground.
"No, you back off," she told him, "I'm sick of you two and the bullying you do. You did the same thing to Harold; I'm surprised Gwen didn't kick your butts for doing that. So knock it off."
She then turned and took Noah's hand.
"We're going for a walk," she announced.
"No thanks," Noah said, pulling away from her. Bridgette looked at him in shock. She just tried to help him out and he was acting like he didn't care. Duncan scoffed.
"So much for being helpful eh surfer girl."
Before she could reply Duncan grabbed Noah and hauled him over to the boathouse, shoving him inside and locking the door.
"Maybe I'll let you out tomorrow," he called through it, ignoring Noah's annoyed shouts. He then walked away with Geoff following after him and Bridgette staring on helplessly. She hurried to the boathouse door and tried to open it, but was disappointed to see that it was a padlock, without the key there was no way she could get it open.
"Noah," she called, "Are you okay?"
"Just peachy," came his annoyed response, "You just had to interfere, I was handling the situation perfectly fine."
"Right," Bridgette said as she jiggled the lock, "Duncan looked about ready to beat the snot out of you and I seriously doubt you're much of a fighter."
"Well you'd be correct," he replied, kicking the door and wincing, "Are you going to help me out of here or what?"
"I'm trying."
Bridgette ran around the boathouse and found that there was a window open with a ladder underneath it.
'Perfect,' she thought to herself. She climbed up to the window and stuck her head in.
"Hello."
Noah looked up at her and smirked.
"Now why didn't I think of that?"
"If you can pile some stuff up I can help you out of here."
He nodded and started to look for boxes to use.
"So why do you hide out in here all the time anyway?" Bridgette asked. Noah shrugged as he struggled with the wooden box he was currently pushing towards the window
"It's quiet, and I can get a lot of reading in. Reading is the only thing I can do at home that my siblings know not to bother me."
"How many siblings do you have?"
"There are nine of them counting me."
"Holy crap," she said in amazement.
"My parents are kinda old fashioned."
Bridgette nodded.
"So what were Duncan and Geoff yelling at you about anyway?"
Noah frowned.
"Apparently I over stepped boundaries."
"Oh?"
The bookworm shook his head and placed another box on top of the first one.
"They told me that it 'wasn't cool' to hit on another guy's girl."
Bridgette suddenly laughed.
"What's so funny?" he demanded looking up at her, "I could flirt if I wanted too."
"You don't seem the type," she said, "Sorry, who were you hitting on? Eva?"
"God no, she'd snap me in half and besides she's dating Tyler and Tyler has been very decent to me," he replied, "I wasn't even directly 'hitting' on this girl, I just took something that needed to be fixed. Geoff and Duncan found out and insisted I back off."
Bridgette cocked her head to the side. She felt bad for Noah. Here he was trying to do a nice thing, something totally out of his character, and he was being punished for it. She made a mental note to discuss this with the two boys after they finished getting Noah out of here.
"What were you trying to fix?" she asked. Noah swallowed and flushed.
"Umm, well...nothing, never mind."
"Are you blushing Mr. Cynical?" she teased.
"No!"
"I think you are, tell me, come on! I swear I won't tell any of the girls."
Noah frowned.
"Fine, just don't go telling everyone it was me."
Bridgette held up her right hand.
"You have my word Noah."
Noah nodded. He then crossed over to the back of the boathouse and brought out a rather large and flat object wrapped in a blanket. He pulled off the blanket and Bridgette gasped.
"My board!"
She quickly crawled through the window and lowered herself onto the boxes he had been piling up. She hurried over to him and placed her hands on the board. She could see the crack where it had been broken, but Noah appeared to use a strong adhesive to put it together and he even sanded it down and re-painted it. She could tell that he put a lot of work into it.
Bridgette was truly touched. She looked at him and gave him a smile that made him blush.
"How did you do this?" she asked him.
"Found most of the stuff in here, my trying to fix it probably made it worse" he muttered, looking down at his feet, "Hopefully you know someone better at this stuff then me. It was a pain to do too, I got glue on my favourite shoes and paint in my eye but..."
He was cut off as Bridgette threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He awkwardly hugged her back.
"It's not a big deal," he muttered. She held him at arm's length and he saw tears in her eyes.
"No," she said, "It is a very big deal. My dad gave me that board before he passed away."
Noah opened his mouth to speak but couldn't find any words. She laughed.
"Silent? I think that's a first for you."
"I just can't believe Heather would do something like that to something so special," he muttered, "That's low, even for her."
"Well she did read Gwen's diary on live TV."
He nodded.
"Touché."
Bridgette looked at her board again and then back at Noah.
"I had no idea you could be so nice."
"I was bored anyway and needed something to do besides reading," he replied, "Just don't tell anyone."
She smiled, lent in and kissed his cheek. Noah felt his face heat up so he picked a spot on the wall and concentrated on it.
"It'll be our little secret," she said.
"Where are Blondie and the bookworm?" Eva asked at dinnertime.
"No idea," LeShawna said, "I haven't seen them all day."
Upon hearing Duncan snicker, she glared at him.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing."
"Liar."
He scoffed.
"I locked him in the boathouse and she was trying to help him out."
"Don't you have anything better to do then cause mischief?" LeShawna asked, holding her hand out for the key. Duncan growled, but rather then hand it to her he decided that he would let the nerd out himself.
The group all walked down to the boathouse and Duncan unlocked the door. When he opened it though his jaw dropped and he stammered in shock.
"What is it?" Geoff asked, stepping next to him, his jaw dropped as well. Eva rolled her eyes and pulled the two out of the way. When she saw what was going on she just laughed.
"Oh nice one Blondie," she said. The others crowded around the door and saw a very flushed Bridgette and an embarrassed looking Noah. Judging by the ruffled hair and askew clothing they could only guess that they had been making out.
"Nothing happened," Noah said.
"Right, and I'm the tooth fairy," Eva replied. Heather barged into the boathouse and glared at the new couple.
"You can't date her!" the queen bee snapped at him.
"Why not?"
"She's on the other team and because I said so!"
"You don't own me Heather," he said, "I can socialize with whoever I want."
"Oh we'll see about that! I'll make sure you go home next!"
Heather then stalked off leaving the others behind. Bridgette looked approvingly at Noah.
"Nice one," she said. He shrugged.
"Someone had to put her in her place."
Bridgette then picked up her board and left the boathouse.
"Did you fix that thing while you were in there, or just make out with him?" LeShawna asked her. Bridgette glanced at Noah and he shrugged, not really caring if she told them or not.
"Nope," she said, "Someone really special fixed it for me though."
As she and the girls left Noah glanced at Duncan and Geoff, the two were still clearly in shock at the events that had transcended.
"Well boys," he said, "Looks like she had a thing for the scrawny loser after all, who would have thought it."
Winter-Rae: I actually knew a little boy who had something similar to Noah's 'twin sister Nikita' he was the sweetest thing. And that my friends, is how Noah and Bridgette hooked up before the events in 'Blondes Never Survive in Horror Movies.' Obviously it was Heather and Geoff voted off in the next two challenges before the horror movie one but I'm to lazy to write it out. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it, thanks for reading. Cheers!