Samuel pushed a dredlock from the side of his face and looked over at the pretty, dark-haired young woman sitting next to him in the cab.
"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" he asked, "It's okay to change your mind."
Emily sighed. "Each of the five times you've asked me I've said yes. Why do you think the answer would be different a few minutes later?"
"We're almost there now," he said. "I'm having second thoughts so maybe you are too. I don't want you to feel obligated because we flew you out here."
"No," she said with a shrug of her shoulders, "no second thoughts. And the flight sucked. It wouldn't obligate me at all. "
Samuel sighed and looked out his window, his foot nervously beating on the floor of the vehicle.
"You're not a pimp, Sam," Emily said reassuringly. "You're a good friend and I'm….willing. The only problem we have is if he doesn't want me," she said a little shakily.
Samuel looked over at her again. "Hmph, then we have no problem," he said.
The cabdriver parked across from the heavily landscaped apartment complex and Emily jumped out. "Bring on the Irish," she said brightly.
Sam instructed the driver, "Wait for her," adding under his breath, "one of the coolest chicks around".
He announced himself at the gate and walked with her to their friend's apartment.
Emily hadn't seen Damian in months and had no idea how he would react to her but she covered her nerves and turned on her flirtatious charm.
"Hey, Irish," she said, greeting him with a kiss on the cheek.
"Emily."
Damian was clearly stunned. But months of acting class had taught Samuel to read people's faces. Past the surprise, he saw what else his Glee cast mate was feeling as he watched Emily sashay into his apartment.
Nope, Sam said again to himself, no problem.
He took the armchair in the living room, leaving the sofa for the other two.
"So," Damian began, "what are you doing here with this guy?"
Emily hadn't expected him to look so haggard. "Are you alright?" she asked, instinctively raising her hand to his face.
Damian felt the shock of her touch. "I'm okay. I've just been busy."
"Well I heard all the way in New York that you haven't been taking care of yourself, she said sassily. "You're not sleeping well or eating regularly and whatever you're doing for fun clearly isn't relieving your tension."
"O-kay," he said. The last thing in the world he expected was a lecture from Emily Vasquez.
She hesitated, forgetting, in his presence, what she'd planned to say next. "Could I have some water?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah," he said, glad to be able to do something assuredly, since his mind was reeling. "Anything else….Sam?"
"Yeah, thanks," he said, watching Emily.
He leaned toward her while Damian was in the kitchen. "You can still ch…"
Emily shot him a look that silenced him and he raised his hands in resignation.
Damian returned with water bottles and sat down again, slightly closer to the girl.
She took a couple of swallows from the bottle before continuing.
"You have to understand, Damian, that our whole weird little Glee Project family needs for you and Samuel to really kill it on the show. It makes us all look better and increases the chances of Ryan using us on that show or one of the other ones he's working on. I don't mean to put any more pressure on you, I just want you to understand that we…I want you to do really well and I'd like to help, if I can."
Samuel got up from the chair and began to move nervously around the room. Emily drank some more water. Damian sat befuddled but unable to take his eyes off of her.
She spoke again, this time more seriously. "You've been really smart not to get involved with anyone here. You're too busy for a girlfriend and you don't need anyone else making demands on you, but…"
She looked at him directly, "When was the last time you really felt sexy?"
Damian was taken aback by the question and responded almost defensively, "why?"
Emily began to speak rapidly now, her nervousness and discomfort becoming apparent. "You've been adorable as Rory but at some point, they're going to want to see that side of you, not just flirtatious but passionate. I've always thought you were cute so…" She stopped speaking.
Damian's heart began to beat faster. No way, he said to himself. Don't even think she's here for you. Not possible. God, I'd forgotten how beautiful she is.
Emily watched his face and body language and thought, I can't do it. He's going to say no and I don't want to hear it.
Rising from the couch, she said, "So I just wanted you to know that we're all rooting for you and want you to take care of yourself, okay?" (Oh great, Em, she said to herself, why don't you just break out in his song.) "Let's go, Samuel."
"No, wait!" said Damian, jumping up also, anxious to stop them. "Sam, you're not leaving here with her until I know what the Hell is going on!"
Sam turned back, disgusted. "You're not stupid, man. You know what's going on. You didn't have to make it so hard. Bryce and I decided you needed to get laid. Undressing every girl you see on the street with your eyes might be a European thing but it's going to get you cold-cocked by somebody's boyfriend and it's gotten worse lately. We thought about just taking you somewhere to hook up but you're kind of public now and you don't need that story in the press. Plus, there was always Cameron to think about," he said, alluding to Damian's roommate and another former contestant, whose views on sex and morality were known to all of them.
Samuel glanced at his watch before continuing. "Celibacy works for him but we could tell you're ready to explode. So the best option was someone who knows you and what you're going through," he said rolling his eyes, "and was still willing to take your sorry ass. I've been in touch with Emily the last couple of months and she seemed an obvious choice if she'd go along with it—hard to resist for anyone and I knew you had a thing for her anyway. I slept in the bed next to yours for weeks. You didn't talk in your sleep exactly but, I knew."
"I thought about it for a while," she said hurriedly. "You're so far away from your family and friends and as much as everyone here likes you, they all expect something from you. I don't so I could just be nice to a hot young guy so, why not?"
She looked at him again. "You are so tense, worse than I had imagined from what Samuel told me. You need…relief and a little romance wouldn't hurt. I care about you but not like someone I want to spend my life with and not like a little brother-more like a fourth or fifth cousin so this would be okay."
Damian shook his head in confusion. If she had just come to him or called him, he would have been thrilled but knowing Samuel was involved…and Bryce and who knew who else.
He looked at Sam coldly, "And how long have you been planning this?"
Samuel returned the look. "Yeah, it took some planning. Sue us! We had to figure out a time when you weren't working and when Emily was available and when we could get Cameron out of here 'cause I don't think he'd go along with this idea either. So we came up with the date, we flew her out here, booked a hotel and Bryce got studio time for him and Cameron, which will end soon," he added, looking at his watch again. "I didn't think you'd take this long deciding. What's your problem, dude? Look at her."
Damian put his head in his hands and moved farther away from them. "I don't want…" he began.
Sam put his arm around Emily, as if he could protect her from the blow of Damian's next words.
"Yeah, we get it. You don't want. Fine. Come on Emily."
"No," Damian said, now nearly desperate to keep them there until he could say what he was thinking.
He locked his gaze on Emily. "I don't want to use you."
And they all remembered Emily's admission from the show about being exploited by sleazy music producers.
She looked at him, breaking the promise she'd made to herself not to stare into the wells of his blue eyes.
"You're not like that, hon," she said. "I've had plenty of time to change my mind and I haven't, until a few minutes ago when I thought you were going to reject me. I've actually been looking forward to this, but only if you were the charming, fun, borderline raunchy guy I remember, not this sullen…thing," she said sweeping her hand in front of her, as if she could erase the unappealing parts of the younger man standing across the room.
From the corner of her eye, she saw that Samuel was motioning for her to leave.
"So now you know what the Hell is going on," she said. "And I'm about to leave with Sam, unless you ask me to stay."
For the first time since this unbelievable conversation began, Damian allowed himself to look at Emily-petite and voluptuous, with glossy hair and lips that made him feel…hungry…and he began to imagine.
I can have this? he said to himself. She wants to be with me? And all I have to do is say yes? Well, say it, you arse, speak!
He looked up at Sam, who was still glaring at him. "Sorry, mate."
"Please stay," he said, focusing once more on Emily.
She nodded with a small smile and took a few steps toward him.
Staring at her, Damian dismissed Samuel with "I'll see you in a couple of days."
"Okay," said Sam, moving awkwardly toward the door. "Yeah, a couple of days. Well, 'bye Emily."
Closing the door behind him, he let out a low, protracted whistle. "I am a good friend," he said. Walking toward the entrance of the complex, he sent a text to Bryce, "It's on." He waved to the cabdriver and ambled down the street.
Inside the apartment, Emily closed the distance between herself and Damian for a long, soft kiss.
"You need to pack," she said, "but you shouldn't need much. Samuel left the meter running on a cab for us."
"Nice of him," said Damian, running his finger along Emily's jaw line.
"We've been trying to tell you we're running out of time. What if Cameron should walk in now and wonder why I'm here? I'd have to say I just dropped in to say hello and I'll be going now and actually leave."
That spurred him into action. He threw some things in a bag, sprinkled food in the fish bowl, and left his apartment with his arm around the girl featured in some of his most explicit dreams.