Author Note: Hey guys (and girls) I have been slacking on my fan fiction's recently, mainly because life has become quite hectic and the ideas are just not flowing like they used to be. I'm hoping that with editing a few older stories that I love and my reader's enjoy, might spark some new ideas to come to mind so I can add some new stuff to this site, it feels like forever ago I posted a new fic. I hope you enjoy this story, even with it's minor changes, I am trying to keep it as close to the original as possible, but fixing grammar, punctuation, sentence structure etc.
Thnx for the continued support & you can still review if you wish, or not that's fine too! xx oo
B.
Growing Pains
- Present Day -
There was three hours remaining in the graveyard shift on a Friday Night in the vibrant and lively city of Las Vegas. The summer heat always brought out the drunks, the crazies and also the tourists which in turn made for quite a busy evening at LVPD. Each of them, used to pulling doubles and sometimes triple shifts in order to get enough for Captain Jim Brass to make an arrest but tonight, none of them were thinking about arrests or even the evidence they were collecting. No, the heat was too great and the end of shift seemed so far away that they had all made arrangements to go for breakfast, a usual team tradition, and unwind for once before returning to their prison of glass walls and sterile floors for another shift.
There was about ten minutes left in shift and the group had slowly connived in the break room, plopping their exhausted bums down on the ratted couch, or resting their arms on the table, rubbing their bloodshot eyes with their fingers and counting down the seconds until they could leave. Catherine Willows, the eldest female on the graveyard shift was flipping mindlessly through the Cosmopolitan magazine, twirling a strand of blonde curl through her fingers, having a hard time focusing on the images in front of her. Gil Grissom, the head Supervisor for this crack team was sitting at the table, his left leg propped up on his right knee with his reading glasses down the bridge of his nose. He was concentrating on the "advanced" crossword puzzle from the newspaper. Catherine still believed was genius level and he always did them in pen.
Sara Sidle, the younger, brunette had just entered the break room, neither of her older colleagues looking up from their medial tasks as she bee lined it to the small bar fridge in the corner. She bent over, the muscles in her back shooting with pain from being hunched over a glass door she just spent the last six hours piecing together like a jig saw puzzle. She sighed, unable to find anything edible that was not one of her supervisors "experiments" he tended to leave in the fridge without fair warning. Warrick Brown, sat on the other end of the couch that Catherine was curled up, still flipping through her magazine, his eyes squinting at the small screen to his phone, scrolling through text messages or game scores, either way, his mind was somewhere else then work.
Finally, Nick Stoke, had his legs up on the opposite end of the table Grissom was sitting at, flipping through the channels to the small TV that was mounted in the corner over the couch trying to find something to watch that was either funny or interesting, which was a difficult task at almost six in the morning. He finally came the teen show "Save By the Bell", a teen sitcom that was the stereotypical 80's high school. It was a prom episode where one of the main characters got stood up by her date. The thoughts of prom and high school brought a smile to Nick's lips, thinking of the group of them back in high school and the interesting course of events that happened in just a few short months.
"Hey, do any of you guys remember back to high school, senior year? What a few months huh?" Nick asked turning around in his chair as his smile fell. No one was paying any attention to the words coming out of his mouth.
"I give up!" Sara stated, slamming the fridge door which caught the rest of the teams attention. "This fridge literally had no food in it, except for Grissom's experiments." She sighed, plopping down in the chair beside Nick, folding her arms and pouting. "I would eat one if a) I were that desperate and b) my boss wouldn't suspend me."
A smile to creep across Catherine's face as she threw her magazine on the small coffee table in front of her with a flick of the wrist. "Did you say something Nicky?" She asked, choosing to ignore Sara's temper tantrum and looked over at the TV.
"Senior year, I'm sure that year sticks in all our heads as the most memorable of high school." Nick repeated, his smile returning now that at least one person was paying attention.
"Oh high school, such a long time ago. I do remember quite vividly in fact, that Catherine and I were cheerleaders," Sara said watching as Gil perked his interest in this conversation now that it had to do with his crush jumping up and down in a short skirt and low cut top.
"Oh yeah that's right! The Vegas Lions, hear us roar! We won almost every game we ever played…before senior year, what happened to you guys?" Catherine pumped her left fist in the air with a smile, "Thank God I never let Lindsey try out for the squad, she is already a handful without me having to worry about people ogling my daughter."
"It was the homework's fault we went down hill Cat, I swear" Nick said trying to defend himself as he shot a glance at Warrick who was still into his phone, "Back me up here Brown." He said searching for some friendly support.
"Sure it was Nick, you guys had all the same classes as Cat and I," Sara said rolling her eyes.
"Didn't you both have crushes on football players." Warrick piped up, putting away his phone, "Actually, if my memory serves me correctly, I believe one of them works in our very own DNA lab." He taunted, watching Sara's fact go red with embarrassment. "Still got the magic touch Sidle."
"Don't you even start Warrick," Catherine butted in, defending her friend. "There were plenty of girls, including multiple cheerleaders, you had your filthy paws all over senior year." Warrick was about to say something, but instead clamped his mouth shut.
"Cat, don't act so innocent, does the name Jeff Peterson ring any bells?" Nick said, sitting up his chair, really enjoying where this conversation was heading at the end of shift.
Her smile widened as Gil swore he watched the blue hue of her eyes glaze over with the memory of Jeff Peterson. Even he remembered Jeff. The star Quarterback with silky brown hair, emerald eyes and also the resident asshole. There was no denying that Jeff and Catherine were the most attractive couple to strut down the halls of Horseshoe Valley but, he treated all women, Catherine included, like dirt. If there was one thing Gil wished he could have done back then it was to stand up the creep and expose him for the bastard he was. Graduation day could not come fast enough for Gil to put as much distance as possible between him and everyone from high school, besides the people currently in the break room.
"Do you know what became of that kid? I haven't seen him since Graduation." Warrick asked bringing Gil back to the conversation continuing around him.
"You know, now that I think of it, I swear I saw him flipping burgers at the McDonald's a few days ago." Nick replied and Catherine giggled.
"He sure was cute but was a complete bonehead, must have been all that dirt he ate out in the football field, right Griss?" Catherine replied eying her boss as all eyes fell on the older man in the room.
He glared at Catherine, knowing that this was her way of getting him involved in their trip down memory lane but, high school was one of the few times in his life Gil never wanted to revisit or relive again. When he had only one year left of high school his mother and father had finalized their divorce and they moved to Vegas. He was the new kid, the geeky kid and wanted to be a ghost but, that was far from what happened his senior year. Even though it was only a few short months Gil felt like a brand new person who had accomplished a lot of firsts. The first time he had any real friends, first time he saw a football game, first time he met and fell in love, first time in a strip club, at a rave and finally, the first time he had ever felt human and apart of a group.
"I see you're back in the real world with us once again," Catherine smirked, her blue eyes soft and inviting as Grissom gave her a playful smirk.
"Do you have any memorable times from your one year at Horseshoe Valley?" Warrick asked perking his nose to the new aroma in the break room; coffee.
Grissom's mind was screaming out multiple memories, he wanted to say when he saw Catherine dressed in her short and cute cheer leading uniform or, when he accidentally bumped into her in the hall, helping her with her books. Instead, he kept his mouth shut, averted his eyes back to his crossword and hoped his cheeks were not as red as he felt they were.
"Grissom?" Catherine questioned waving her hand in the air to try and catch his attention, "Hello, earth to Grissom,"
"Um, no I-I don't have any real memorable moments about high school. I mean, everything I did was memorable" Grissom stuttered, wishing he could escape this but, he knew it was safer for him to sit tight then to try and leave. He glanced down at the table away from Catherine's beautiful smile and back at his unfinished crossword puzzle sprawled out on the table, feeling her lips and eyes burning his skin.
"He's lying," Greg piped up pouring himself a cup of coffee. Everyone turned their head towards the new voice in the silent room except Gil, who cringed at the young lab rats voice.
"What do you mean he's lying?" Sara asked joining Greg at the counter to pour herself a cup as well.
"I mean, he's not telling the truth, duh."
"I know what lying means smart ass, I meant, what is he lying about."
"Ouch! That hurt" Greg whined as he rubbed his shoulder where Sara had just sucker punched him.
"A big football jock like you should be able to withstand a punch from a cheerleader" Catherine stated stifling a laugh as she looked over at her boss watching him shift uncomfortably in his chair, almost as if he was afraid that Greg was going to reveal one of his secrets.
"Before you come after me all I have to say are two words," Greg stated sipping his coffee while slowly making his way towards the break room door.
"And what two words would those be?" Warrick asked.
"Pink Flamingo's" Greg then dashed out of the room and back towards his lab before anyone was even able to get up from their chair.
"Pink Flamingo's…" Nick repeated and turned to look over to Catherine and Sara seeing the anger seething under their skin at the mention of those two harmless words. He then darted his eyes towards Grissom and saw his flushed cheeks and smiled; Greg had just let a big secret out of the bag.
- Fifteen Years Prior -
This was it, the final leg of high school. Only a few short months stood between the end of an era and the beginning of adulthood. The graduating class of 98' was going to go out in style there was no doubt about that. With the school year winding down, many had their minds set on three things; summer, prom and parties. Horseshoe Valley High was your typical, all American high school overflowing with clicks of all kinds. Las Vegas was always known as and will forever be, a party town. Kids that had connections to either Daddy's penthouse suite in a hotel he owns or know the alphabet streets like the back of their hands, there was always a place for you at Horseshoe, even for the new kid, Gilbert Grissom.
The loud, obnoxious red bell rang signalling the end of another class. Catherine and Sara left their Spanish class, following a herd of students who were tired and bored with learning a language that they would barely need to use. Unless they move to Texas or California that is. In a matter of seconds the deserted hallways were once again crowded with teenagers, dodging and weaving their way from one class to another, almost like herding cattle on a ranch. Sara was whispering something in her best friend's ear that made both of them erupt into a fit of giggles. The seventeen and eighteen-year-old girls had been best friends since Grade 2 at Olympic Queen elementary. Both were tall, lean and beautiful, sharing almost every interest with each other including what they had both applied to college to become; a criminologist.
The girls had the advantage of not many people wanting to pursue a career as a criminologist for the mere fact that not many people knew exactly what a Criminologist was. The idea of solving crime, feeling good about your job and also, engaging in science made this job sound like a dream come true. Plus, with less competition to get into the program, the easier it will become when they are ready to leave school once and for all and join the real working world. Both of them had always wanted to pursue a career in science ever since they both turned 10 years old and each of their birthday's bought the other their very own chemistry set. Of course they almost blew up Catherine's kitchen, and burned down Sara's garage but, some of the greatest scientists learn from their mistakes, no matter how young or old you are.
"Hey Sara, do we have cheer leading practice after school tonight?" Catherine asked, pressing her shoulder against her locker and sighing, hoping for the day to end. She twirled the dial on her locker knowing the combination she has had for the past four years by heart and snapped open the metal door.
"Yeah we do, God I hope use sweating our asses off is going to pay off tonight. Do you think these guys will actually win this up coming game?" Sara said, leaning against the other locker, her head lopped to one side and her brown eyes deep with fatigue. Catherine reached in, grabbed her Chemistry book and slammed the door shut once more giving a weak smile.
"God I hope so, I mean we always won before, except for this year. I think we need to have a little chat with our team before Sunday" Catherine replied with a wink as they headed back on down the hall towards their favourite class of the day.
Sara gave her friend the evil eye, "I think you should do a little more talking and a little less smooching with Jeff Cat, he is our star quarterback after all." She said as Catherine playfully punched her in the arm, making them both falter in their steps and drop their books and binders on the floor.
Their loose notes scattered all over the dirty tiles as the hoard of high school students, heading in both directions, did nothing to avoid stepping on them, covering the white papers with muddy shoe prints and old, stale gum. Sara sighed, bending down, hoping her short skirt did not expose too much of her bottom, and began collecting her binder, book and papers.
"Good one Cat" She huffed as Catherine joined her on the floor, crawling on her hands and knees to collect the remaining stragglers.
"What are you complaining about, I dropped my books as well," She stated when her hand grazed that of another, on the top of her bright pink binder.
"Here let me help you" a male voice stated as Catherine looked up from her binder, seeing that his hand had moved away, she followed his arms up to his piercing blue eyes.
Catherine remained on all fours, her eyes transfixed on this mysterious stranger as he held her binder loosely in his hands "Thanks…" She muttered, standing up and smoothing out the creases in her plaid mini skirt.
"N-No problem," He said, his eyes moved from Catherine's back to the floor as his hand that was holding the binder began to shake with nerves. "M-my names Gil Grissom, I'm new here,"
Catherine remained speechless, seeing his piercing blue eyes twinkle and his baby face complexion reddening with embarrassment. Catherine smiled, her eyes following every curve of this young, handsome god before her. She then turned her head towards Sara scowling at her best friend who was trying to hold back a laugh thinking this whole scene was comical; Catherine Willows bewitched by the new kid.
"I'm Sara and this mime here is Catherine, we're heading towards our chem class. Where are you going?" Sara replied, knowing that if they stood their any longer in silence time would stand still.
Gil had never laid eyes on such a beautiful creature as Catherine before. He loved her long, flowing blonde hair, piercing blue green eyes and pouty lips. She had the smile of an angel and the body of a goddess in which the white tank top and short mini skirt accented her bodily advantages. Catherine was like one of the ladies he dreamed about meeting, a lady that if he was afraid if he met, he would be at a loss of words. Just like now. It took him a moment to realize Catherine's equally attractive friend Sara that she had asked him a question that he should respond too before he appears to be dumb, deaf and mute.
"I'm, oh I'm," Gil stuttered as he pulled out a crumpled up ball of paper that was his schedule. "My next class, is ah, is Biology, Room 306." He finally spat out, the schedule shaking in his trembling hands. He could feel the warm paper begin to cling to his perpetrating hands and could feel how flushed his cheeks were.
"Cool! Bio is one of our favourite classes right Cath?" Sara stated giving the mute girl beside her a small nudge in the shoulder, hoping to grab her attention.
"Huh, oh yeah Bio is one of my favourite classes." Catherine muttered, twirling a piece of hair in around her finger, "Except, we have it in the morning." Catherine whispered, turning her eyes away and feeling the fire spread across her cheeks.
The final bell rang, vibrating throughout the hallway. That five minutes felt like an eternity, and now, they were all going to be late for class.
"Shit! That was the bell, now we're going to be late," Sara pulled on Catherine's arm to point her towards their classroom. "Bye Gil, I think I speak for both of us when I say we hope to see you at the football game this weekend!" She called down the hall, dragging her friend behind her.
Catherine smiled and turned, jogging down the hall and turning the corner, leaving Gil standing in the once again empty halls of Horseshoe Valley High.
Gil smiled, clutching his binder tight to his chest and walking down the hall, hoping he was going in the right direction. "I wouldn't miss any chance to see you again Catherine." He muttered under his breath, once again focusing on finding his classroom.
- Present Day -
"Oh my God, I am going to murder that little rat! I cannot believe Greg just brought that up!" Sara screeched, slamming her coffee cup down on the counter with authority. "He knows how much Catherine has been trying to erase that out of her life."
"You should hunt him down and cause cruel and unusual punishment Sidle." Nick replied with a snicker.
"Don't do that," Catherine muttered from the couch as all eyes fell on her, She looked up at Sara and smirked, "Greg might actually enjoy it." She retorted, getting up off the couch and sauntering over to the table.
Everyone watched her as she reached across Grissom, her eyes falling upon her boss, seeing the intensity in his own blue hue, anticipating what was going to happen. She picked up a red apple from the weave basket in the middle of the table, tossing it playfully from one hand to the other as she circled the break room, her mind lost in thought, wondering what to do to get back at the young Greg. It was apparent to everyone in the room that Catherine was pissed, she was seething with anger and rightfully so, Greg had no right bringing up anything, especially something as delicate as The Pink Flamingo's. Everyone in that room knew what The Pink Flamingo's was referring too and it was not a happy subject for any of them.
"Cath? What are you thinking about?" Nick asked, his eyes never leaving the older blonde.
In the spur of the moment, without a single word, Catherine, gripped the apple and threw it as hard as a pitcher would throw a curve ball at an unsuspecting batter towards the glass door to the break room. Instead of bouncing off the glass the apple splattered, creating applesauce and cracked the glass. Everyone jumped and the technicians in the adjoining labs turned to stare at the pissed off criminalist in the break room. Catherine could feel the tears brimming in her eyes, her vision beginning to blur as she grabbed the handle to the door and stormed out of the break room. She stomped down the hallway towards the women's washroom, her cheeks flaring red and Sara could make out the clear streak that was coating her skin.
"I-I'll go check on her, you guys can clean up the apple sauce and maybe call maintenance about getting that window replaced before Ecklie had a heart attack." Sara said, leaving the break room and jogging down the hall in the direction Catherine had gone.
Grissom turned and looked at Nick and Warrick, then shifted his eyes to the mess of apple smear dribbling down the pane of cracked glass. Both Nick and Warrick knew what their boss was implying shaking their heads no, but Gil was not going to hear of it.
"Man Griss, why do we have to clean it up? You should make Sanders do it! He was the one who started all of this." Nick moaned getting down on his hands and knees to be eye level with the apple mush as a towel was thrown in his face.
"I agree, but do you see that little creep around here because I sure the hell don't." Grissom grumbled, furious with the irrational and immature actions of both Catherine and Greg.
"Griss, no offense but you really have to tell Cath how you feel." Warrick said, joining his friend on the floor, slopping up applesauce. "I mean, getting mad at us about the apple fiasco or Sanders is not going to get you and her any closer."
Silence ensued as Nick looked up from the floor and noticed his boss was no longer in the room, "Great job Rick, now you've pissed off the boss." He sighed, grimacing at the apple as he tossed it in the near by trash can.
- Meanwhile -
Catherine busted through the swing door of the women's bathroom, stalking past Mandy, the fingerprint tech who was adjusting her hair in the mirror, her heels clicking against the tiled floor as she went to the furthest stall. She slammed the metal door shut behind her, making Mandy jump at the counter when she heard the lock snap. Mandy, usually quite and conservative girl, was about to go and see if her colleague was okay when Sara came barging through the washroom. Sara smiled at Mandy, who pointed down the hall to the far stall and quietly slipped out of the women's washroom.
"Cat?" Sara whispered as she looked at her co-worker put her heeled feet up on the toilet seat so they wouldn't be noticeable under the stall door. "I already know you are in here, Mandy gave you up." She snickered hoping that would lift her spirits.
"Go away," Catherine muttered, her voice sounding squeaky, like that of a per-pubescent teen girl.
Sara huffed, standing in front of the last stall door, she leaned against the cool brick wall, slowly sliding her body down until she was sitting on the disgusting tile floor, staring at the puke green stall door in front of her. "Ecklie is going to have your neck for that window you broke you know,"
Catherine grunted, her make up splotchy and her cheeks inflamed. She could see Sara's black slacks on the floor in front of her, knowing her best friend was not going to budge from that spot until she made an appearance. "Get Sanders to pay for it, it's his fault it happened anyways."
"Agreed, but you were the one that threw the apple in the end love,"
"I still cannot believe that I just did that! What am I twelve." Catherine muttered, lowering her feet down from the toilet seat she was sitting on and grabbing some toilet paper to dab her eyes.
"The apple? Or getting upset?" Sara asked with a smirk which she hopped Catherine was able to see through the metal door between them.
Catherine stood, unlocking the door as it swung open a smirk on her lips as she tried to dab the make up off her cheeks, "Both, but really the getting upset part is worse. I have worked how many cases at strip clubs, including The Pink Flamingo's and never have I gotten this upset over the mere mention of the name."
"Well, I didn't want to bring anything up, but since Greg went and kinda let the cat out of the bag, we are approaching a very um, touchy time of the year." Sara said as they approached the vanity, leaning against the towel dispenser as she watched Catherine freshen up as best she could.
Catherine ran the cold water, wetting a paper towel and proceeded to scrub the make-up that was on her face, loving how refreshing the water felt against her heated skin. She was not cluing into what Sara was eluding to with her cryptic tone and sentence. It was June, hottest month on record in Vegas, there was no ones birthday's to celebrate or anniversaries to remember. What the hell was her friend talking about. Catherine looked at Sara through the mirror and could see the frown on her lips and the darkness that rounded her eyes.
"Sara? What are you talking about?" She asked, tossing the used paper towel in the trash and running her fingers through her flattened blonde curls.
"Well, this is around the time we actually got our jobs at The Pink Flamingo's so many years ago, when stuff sorta began to fall apart, between you and I." Sara explained, gripping Catherine's shoulder, "I know it was a long time ago, but maybe that is why Greg's outburst effected you on such an, emotional level."
Catherine turned off the taps, wiping her hands on the paper towel, her eyes never leaving Sara. How could she have forgotten about their falling out, about all the bad that went along with the good in their senior year at Horseshoe Valley High. The Pink Flamingo's was just the tip of the iceberg for some of the things that began to take place in the last few months of their high school lives. She turned back from the counter and wrapped her arms around Sara, hugging her close, close enough to smell the strawberries in her hair from the shampoo she used in the morning. She then looked at Sara and smiled, her blue eyes brightening once more.
"I remember Sara, and I have a plan on getting Sander's back for dampening the mood, care to partake in a bit of revenge?" Catherine said with a snicker, knowing her best friend was always up for playing a prank on their resident lab rat.
- Fifteen Years Prior -
Gil had finally made it to his class and by looking down at his watch he was only a mere ten minutes late, which was pretty good all things considered. He pushed open the wooden door as the class looked up from their papers all at once, as if robotic drones and stared intently at Gil. The teacher who was a young blonde looked away from the chalkboard at at Gil standing in the doorway, unsure of what to do. She smiled, and her appearance reminded Gil of Catherine, so much that in fact he could feel his cheeks blushing once more with embarrassment. He hated being the centre of attention and right now, he was the most interesting specimen in this biology class.
"Can I help you?" The young teacher stated as she approached Gil, seeing the schedule in this out stretched hand. She grabbed the paper and looked at the name, "Class, I would like to introduce our new student, Gilbert Grissom. Please make him feel comfortable and welcome Gilbert to Grade 13 biology."
Gil quickly nodded as he skirted around tables full of students to the one in the back that looked to have an open spot. He could hear the young girls at the front left table giggling and pointing at the new kid but right now Gil didn't care, all he wanted was for the teacher to resume her lesson and for him to once again blend in with the crowd. He was a little skeptical to be seated with three jocks, all wearing football jersey's in a royal blue with white lettering on them. Jocks were usually a safe bet to be picked on when being the new kid, but doing a preliminary scan of the room proved their to be no other seat available he had no choice. He slid into the empty seat, plopping his books down on the table and trying to stay focused on the biology lesson being given. It was proving difficult since mere thought of football made his heat jump a beat at the memory of Catherine.
"Hey new kid," the brown haired guy to Gil's right said, nudging him in the shoulder.
"H-hi" Gil whispered giving the three men a nervous smile.
"I'm Nick Stokes and this tough guy is Warrick Brown" he said, pointing towards the tall black guy, "And this is Greg Sanders, he's sarcastic, so don't take what he says too seriously,"
Gil smiled at Nick's last comment, seeing that Greg was a little hurt by Nick's description of him. He began to relax, seeing that these three boys were not like the typical, run of the mill jock Gil had made sure to steer clear of his last four years of high school. The teacher was still talking about DNA, a subject Gil was already well versed in through reading in his spare time so, he did not find himself missing too important of a lecture at the moment.
"We want you to be in our group Gilbert, you're going to need people like us to get you all the beautiful women and, into the hottest parties." Greg proposed seeing Gil's eyes light up at him saying 'beautiful women'.
"For starters you should go to the football game that's happening this weekend." Warrick piped up, his blue eyes twinkling in the florescent light of the classroom. "You can chill in the stands and watch our smokin' cheerleaders, especially Catherine Willows and Sara Sidle, god they are beautiful creatures."
Gil could feel his cheeks beginning to redden at the mention of Catherine's name. He tried to copy out the diagram the teacher had on the black board, but his hand was trembling too much.
"You could also watch the game, but the girls are probable more exciting." Nick said and saw the blush appear on Grissom's face. "You're turning all red on us Gilbert, did you have something on your mind?"
"N-nothing, but you can call me Gil, no one has called me Gilbert since I was five." Gil replied, closing his eyes hoping that images of DNA strands would fill his brain but instead it was Catherine's smile and her perfect body jumping around with pompoms.
"You fancy one of the cheerleaders don't you?" Greg pried.
"Fancy? What are we in Victorian times?" Nick said scoffing at Greg.
Grissom kept his mouth shut but knew his cheeks were only getting redder as time ticked on. Was he that transparent? He was always considered a ghost in the halls of the school but, he never knew his emotions would be so apparent to everyone around him especially, when he finally interacted with a member of the opposite sex. There was no point in trying to fake it, it was clearly obvious he was pining over someone, and science, who he always claimed to be 'his lady' was not a sufficient distraction today. Catherine was on his mind and quite frankly, he never wanted her to leave it.
"You do! Which one?" Nick squawked desperately wanting the new kid to dish the goods.
"Is it Sara? Because you know I love Sara, and she loves me." Greg stated becoming territorial, puffing out his chest as if he was a male bird.
"How can she love you, if she doesn't even know you like her?" Warrick questioned while Nick and even Grissom couldn't help but muffle a laugh. "Is it Catherine?" He then asked as the whole table went silent in anticipation once more.
Grissom abruptly stopped laughing, again breaking eye contact from the guys around him. He was not sure if he should say anything, they were on the football team after all, they could tell Catherine that the geeky new kid has a puppy dog crush on her and they could all laugh about it around a football practice or something. That would not only be embarrassing for himself but, would also blow any possibility of a chance with Catherine in the near or far future. On the flip side, they all did say they were his 'friend' and friends don't go behind one another's back and ruin chances with girls, do they? There was a bro code about this or something wasn't there? Gil had never really had any friends growing up, except for his insects, but, he had read in a book that "your true friends don't tell other people your secrets", or something like that.
"Yes," Gil sighed and looked from one guy to the next, "It's Catherine" He confessed watching all of their mouths hang open and eyes wide.
"Dude, it's your first day at this school and you've already met one of the hottest girls for miles! Awesome!" Nick stated slapping Gil on the back, "I mean she's hotter than the Nevada desert, and much more appetizing on the eyes."
"How did you meet her?" Greg asked skeptical. No one could be that lucky, even in Las Vegas.
"Well, I helped pick up her books that she dropped on the floor, that's all."
"You just happened to run into her in the middle of the hallway? Dude, not even people that gamble every day in the casino's here get that good of odds." Warrick commented and smiled, hoping to lighten the mood. Gil returned one and then caught the evil eye from the teacher at the front of the class.
"Excuse me gentlemen" the Biology teacher said as the boys stopped, their eyes casted down to their unopened books, "Gilbert, I know this your first day but do you mind paying attention, as for you Mr. Brown, Mr. Stokes and Mr. Sanders, I believe your candid behaviour is wearing off on the new kid."
All four of them began to blush and apologized not only to teacher but also the rest of the class who seemed to all be staring at them with irritated looks on their faces. With the exception being the table of girls at the front, giggling at the guys in the back. All of them bowed their heads in embarrassment and looked down flipping open their text books and following along. The Biology teacher smiled and resumed her lecture on DNA.
-\-
The final bell of the day rang throughout the halls of Horseshoe Valley high as Sara and Catherine, made their way back to their lockers, grabbed their book bags and pushed their way through the crowds to go back out into the sweltering Nevada heat. Catherine kept scanning the crowds of people in hopes that she would be able to catch a glimpse of the new kid Gil and ask him to the football game, but their was no such luck. Once outside the ladies began their 10 minute walk to Sara's house, where they would get ready for the football practice that was to take place at 4pm, giving them enough time to walk back over to the school. The whole way to Sara's Catherine's mind was distracted with thoughts of Gil, which was not good for the plain fact that she already had a boyfriend. Sara was going on and on about how unfair their chemistry teacher was being with these group assignments in the following week that Catherine was treating her rant as white noise.
"Hello, earth to Catherine?" Sara stated, waving her hand in front of Catherine's face to snap her out of her funk.
Catherine shook her head and smiled at Sara who was unlocking the front door to her house, "Sorry, I was distracted, What did you say?" She asked innocently, adding a smile for good measure.
"Nothing, just wanted to get your head out of the clouds, what were you thinking about anyways?"
"Our routine, just going over it in my head before practice."
Sara rolled her eyes as she pushed open her front door and tossed her book bag on the floor, Catherine doing the same. "Yeah, sure, it was Gil wasn't it? You were thinking about the geeky boy who helped you with your books!" Sara teased with a snicker as Catherine playfully punched her in the shoulder, "I'm right! Catherine Willows has a crush, stop the presses!" Sara yelled throughout the empty house and dashed up the stairs towards her room, Catherine right on her heels.
"Shut up Sarbear! I do NOT have a crush, he was being nice in helping me with my books and I never got a chance to say thank-you properly," Catherine lied with a heavy sigh, knowing that her transparent lie was not going to fool her best friend.
"Catherine and Gil sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Sara sand while jumping up and down on her bed, Catherine's face went beat red with embarrassment as she shot a pillow at her friends face, smacking her in the mouth to stop her from singing. It only prolonged the inevitable, "First come's love then come's marriage then come's a baby in a baby carriage!" She finished before erupting into a fit of laughter as Catherine snatched her cheer leading uniform and stalked off into the bathroom, slamming the door shut.
Sara winched as she sat down on her bed, flipping through her endless mound of CD's to find the perfect one for them to get ready too. "I'm Sorry Kit Kat, here I will play you a song to cheer you up." Sara called as she put her 'Rock Stead', No Doubt CD in and cranked the volume, Gwen Stefani's sing-song voice filled the room.
Catherine heard her favourite song to get herself ready too vibrate through the walls as she smiled, standing up from the toilet seat she was perched on and began to undress, swinging her hips in time in the beat. After she was dressed in her cheer leading uniform, her blonde hair pinned back away from her face and cold water splashed on her reddened cheeks she was singing along, hearing Sara doing the same on the other side of the door. Catherine gave herself a once over from top to bottom, smiling, hoping that Gil was going to be up in the stands if not while they were at practice, at least at the football game this weekend. She would do anything to see that boyish smile once more.
TBC