a/n The pact is my theory of how that many attractive kids could be isolated for so long and form no romantic attachments. I imagine the agreement being made after Emily's elimination
Damian reluctantly opened his eyes as the cab stopped in front of his apartment building. He had been reliving his weekend, thinking of Emily-dressed and undressed, vulnerable then sassy, tantalizing yet frustratingly resistant.
He'd been formulating plans that would bring her back to Los Angeles. He figured he could allow two weeks for her return, before he would have to fly to New York and camp on her doorstep, if necessary. He was determined to finally refute whatever reason she had for thinking she wasn't right for him, or vice versa.
"Therapy, my ass," he said as he approached his door, thinking of how Emily had classified their time together. "That girl doesn't know it yet but she has a lot of therapy and dates and more than weekends with me ahead of her. No one gives me so much then takes it away."
With that he opened his door and saw his roommate Cameron at his keyboard. "Hey, bro," Cameron asked, "how was the fishing?"
"Uh, yeah," Damian answered, "give me a few minutes. We'll talk about it."
"A simple 'they weren't biting' would do," Cameron called as Damian shut his bedroom door.
He moved to his bedside table where his Cowboy Woody doll sat. He placed the hula dancer figurine that Emily had given him next to it. "Meet Little Emily," he said to the doll. "She's not as hot as my Emily but she can change your life."
He stretched out on his bed and imagined her next to him. Out of curiosity and a desire to see her again, he got his laptop and found The Glee Project website.
In the bonus video section, he found the clip she had mentioned where he had been staring rather intently at her, except that the camera didn't show them both in the same shot so the only way to know was to follow his sight line, compared to the position of the rest of the contestants/friends in the dorm room. It helped that the clip returned to Emily and her cleavage more than once. "The editor must have liked the view too," said Damian.
He next found the video of the conversation in the dorm room during Episode Four where he had mentioned that he had thought she was the best singer among the girls. Samuel then commented that she would have been so good for that current Danceability challenge. "Mmmm, Emily doing the booty pop," Damian nearly growled to himself, thinking that he'd have to request that the next time he saw her. "No way I can wait two weeks."
Still not satisfied, he reviewed portions of the first three episodes of the show before her untimely elimination.
"You've learned a lot about what a leprechaun can do, Darlin'," he said to the screen, as he watched the section where Emily had critiqued his dancing.
He continued his Emily montage with the mentors' discussion before the announcement of the last chance performers, where she had admitted her bravado and flirtatiousness were to mask her insecurities. He watched her performance and her response to Ryan Murphy's words that he understood her and her mechanism for self-protection. His lips involuntarily puckered in response to the air kiss she threw the judges on her exit.
Just then he heard familiar voices in the living room. He took some bills from his reserve cash and went in to talk to Samuel and Bryce.
Cameron was in the kitchen getting refreshments.
"Well, fancy the two of you showing up here," Damian said with a little hostility, still not comfortable with their part in arranging the tryst with Emily.
"You need to drop the attitude," Bryce said. "We don't want a blow-by-blow account, excuse the expression. We just want to know that everything and everyone is okay or maybe even great."
"Sorry," Damian answered in a nicer tone. "Better than great."
He handed the money to Samuel. "This should cover everything," he said shortly.
Samuel shook his head. "Nah, it's too much. You're just reimbursing, not paying for anything," he said, eyeing Damian meaningfully.
Damian nodded in agreement.
"Here, Bryce," Sam said, handing him a portion of the money," that's for your expenses." He gave the remainder back to Damian. "The rest we'll just consider a wash between two tv stars."
"Right," Damian agreed, glad to have that concluded.
Cameron returned with a tray at that moment. "What's going on?" he asked.
Damian was anxious to get this part out of the way also. "Obviously Samuel and I didn't go fishing," he began. "I spent the weekend with Emily Vasquez." On the sofa, Sam and Bryce shared a high five.
"It was incredible," Damian continued. "She's unbelievable. I want her to feel welcome here. I know it'll take some getting used to for you. We can be…intense. But she's impossible not to love so I know she'll win you over. I'm sorry that we lied to you and I don't want to do that again. As long as you can accept this, everything should be fine."
He held out his hand for Cameron to shake in agreement but the older boy just looked down on it coldly then turned that look on each of the three in the room.
"Do you mean," he began in a low, measured tone, "that you went away with someone we all like just for sex? And you two were involved," he continued, looking in the direction of the sofa. "And what was all that talk about money? You've turned her into a…"
"Don't say it," Cameron, Damian warned. "You can rant as much as you want at us but watch what you say about Emily."
"Why, because now you're worried about her honor?" Cameron's voice rose with his anger.
His words hit Damian like a slap in the face. He respected Cameron's opinion. Had he dishonored Emily? He had allowed her to set the pace in the beginning, responding to her, rather than initiating. But the strength of his reaction might have been overwhelming. Maybe that's why she had held back emotionally and put up her guard when he had tried to talk to her about continuing a relationship.
Also he had to face the fact that he hadn't been up front with her. Emily had been there, believing he had been abstinent for so long that it was affecting him mentally and physically. It actually hadn't been that long but his desire for her had been so immediate and strong, he hadn't clarified that when she'd arrived with Samuel and offered herself as a….He sat down and dropped his head ashamedly.
He looked up at his best friend almost pleadingly. "You gotta help me, Cameron. How do I make this right? I want her so much. I want to be good for her."
Cameron softened a little, seeing Damian's distress. "We're not supposed to get what we want, just what we've earned. What have you done to deserve something good to come out of this? You acted selfishly and recklessly. You didn't think about anyone else.
On that point Damian would defend himself. "That's not true," he said, "I was very considerate of Emily the whole time."
"I'm not talking about that and I don't want to hear about it," interrupted Cameron. "I'm talking about other people who would be affected by what you've done."
"Who?" Damian asked.
"Aside from your brushing off lying to me," Cameron said, "what about Hannah?"
Damian looked confused. "What does she have to do with it?"
Cameron gave him a disgusted look. "You're not so clueless that you don't know she still loves you, are you? Or do you just not care?"
"But she said she got over that crush a long time ago."
"Yeah, that's what she said. How was she supposed to get over it?" Cameron continued. "You didn't stop seeing her because you enjoyed her company. Is she seeing anyone else? Are you any less cute than you were?" he asked with a sneer.
"She's visiting Lindsay right now and hoped to see you. This is really going to hurt her," he said, pacing around the room. "Lindsay will side with her. Matheus will be stuck in the middle..."
He stopped his pacing and looked down at Damian. "Man, how could you forget about the pact?"
"Wait a minute, Cameron," said Samuel. "The pact was for the run of the competition to keep us from complicating things with hookups."
Cameron nodded. "Yeah and it's worked pretty well since the competition too so that we've all been able to root for each other and work on each other's projects. Who knows how that will change. It's all a mess just so you could have what you wanted," he said eyeing the younger man accusingly.
"You might be right about that," Damian said. "I know you're right that something as great as having Emily needs to be earned. I'll do whatever I can to make things okay for everyone, but I'll settle for making it good for her because that's what matters to me most."
Cameron went to his room, still muttering about selfishness and "taking advantage".
"He might know what he's talking about on your being selfish but don't listen to him about your taking advantage of Emily," said Bryce. "You tell a woman today she can't make her own decisions about her body and her sex life, and you'll never see her naked again."
Damian gave him a dark look, which Bryce answered with a withering one.
"Give it a rest, Damian," he said. "You saw Emily naked, you touched her naked. And with everything we did to make it happen, there better have been a hell of a lot more. You're worried about being selfish, think about Samuel and me. You'll never tell us anything about probably the hottest time you'll ever have so we can only imagine what she was like through your innocent boy mindset. You better not screw this up," he admonished as he stood up and headed for the door.
Damian stared after his friend. "Wow" was all he could think to say at the moment.
Samuel stood and said "Yeah, sometimes we don't know who our actions will affect, huh? Listen, I feel bad about Hannah too. I'm going to tell her about my involvement in this tomorrow morning and you can talk to her a little later."
"Yeah, I'm going to need some time to think of what to say to her," Damian said, opening the door for Samuel.
Bryce was standing outside the door waiting for Sam.
"Hey, Bryce," said Damian, "we went through a whole box of condoms and she got off at least twice for every one of 'em, plus some extra times."
Bryce put his hand to his heart and staggered back a little as if he'd been struck.
"She said I was motivational," continued Damian. "She screamed m' name…lots" he said to the retreating figures.
"Die in Hell, McGinty," Bryce called back, still sauntering away.
"Cute strawberry birthmark in a place you'll never see," Damian added, enjoying twisting the knife now.
Samuel and Bryce both turned and flipped him off, as he stood in the doorway, wearing a huge smile.
He closed and locked the door and turned out lights, heading toward his bedroom suite for his long-forfeited shower.
As he pulled his sweater over his head, he got a whiff of something familiar.
Sniffing the sweater, he found the scent of Emily and her perfume, spicy and sweet, in the fibers. He also found a couple of long black hairs. Grinning, he remembered how it felt when she had pulled the sweater over her head and run her nose and lips across his chest, absorbing his scent. The strands must have pulled out then.
Holding the sweater, he wondered what an unsentimental guy like himself does when something random takes on meaning and specialness. Rather than tossing it in the laundry, he hung it on his closet door, a la Brokeback Mountain, and placed Emily's hairs across it. Then, humming Need You Now, he moved to his bathroom.