Title: In Our Sleep, We Speak
Chapter: 1 out of 1
Rating: T - slightl language, nothing huge.
Character(s): Cory, Dianna - RPF.
Words: 4,194
Summary: Dianna is having trouble sleeping and Cory is trying to help.
Notes: If RPS isn't your thing, it's not for you. Just my take - obviously NOT the truth. Enjoy! And tell me what you think!
In Our Sleep, We Speak
It was when the outside of her hand hit his face for the third time in one night that Cory drew the line.
She was such a quiet girl – she kept to herself and everything – and even the first few minutes when she was just falling asleep, she was so peaceful. But after that, it was pretty much every man (in this case, Cory) for himself. Arms flying, her small body turning so violently that it shook the bed, her legs kicking and jerking at the most random of times. She was, as Cory liked to say, a bed-thrasher.
Their whirlwind tour was finally winding down – at least for the first leg. They had one more week in the US before they jetted off to the UK. Everyone was feeling the exhaustion setting in. Chord had gotten a little sick earlier in the tour, but he had recovered pretty much within a day. Now, everyone was feeling a little bit lethargic, understandably. They had over 40 tour dates, usually a show every night – sometimes two shows a day, and, on top of that, they were travelling from city to city in between. People would complain of aches and pains, of soreness in their throat, but no one had it as bad as Cory. At least everyone else could say they got a full night of sleep (or half, if they were so inclined to party every once in a while).
He was laying on his edge of his hotel bed, staring up at the stucco ceiling, understanding for the first time why people would bother doing anything to the ceiling when decorating. He had no idea what time it was – last time he checked his phone, it was 3:34 am – but he had no idea how much time had passed since then. He turned his head slightly to look at Dianna, who had miraculously wrapped herself twice in the bed sheet and was now on her stomach, her head lying on her outstretched arm. Her other arm was perched near her face, moving up and down as she groaned slightly. The leg closest to Cory was bent, drawn up her leg so her toe landed near her knee, ready to fling out and strike. That scenario was a little too probable in Cory's mind, considering the way she was now shifting in her sleep, so with as little noise he could make, he lifted the covers off and slipped out of bed.
It had all started earlier that year, in late February. Cory had literally done nothing that entire Saturday besides play video games. He had gotten up after a full night's sleep pretty early in the morning, at least for a Saturday, and had started on Call of Duty. Before his roommates even woke up he was pretty much wired in – all he could hear was one of them muttering, "We need to find you a girl, man," before drinking his coffee, laughing as he walked away. Sure, he was almost 30, but he was still a guy and Saturdays were pretty much his only day that he could devote to his video games. You never grow out of it. He took breaks for meals (and for his hands) and it was only when his roommate reminded him of carpal tunnel syndrome that he quit for the night, silently muttering that there had been no actual link between video gaming and carpal tunnel anyways.
He had been so into his games that he had hardly noticed that it had begun raining. Only when he got back to his room and heard the rain pellets smash against his window did he realize it was. He vaguely heard the doorbell ring as he was changing, but didn't think too much of it until he heard one of his roommates yelling his name. Pulling a shirt over his head, he wandered out of his room and passed him on the stairs. He said, "I was kind of joking about the girl thing, but, hey, props to you for getting on that so quickly," smirking as he walked away. All Cory could wonder was, 'Who was coming at this hour and in the rain?'
At first, he couldn't tell if it was the rain or her tears, but when she saw him and immediately embraced him, pressing her cheek against his chest, he knew they were tears. For a few minutes, that's how they stood – Cory holding Dianna closely as she sobbed. Then she pulled away and he held onto her hands as he led her into his living room to sit down. It was then that everything came out – Cory didn't even have to ask.
Cory had had a good number of girlfriends in his lifetime, but as he sat there listening to Dianna say something about Alex and how they had broken up, he realized that deciphering what girls were saying when they were upset was pretty damn difficult. If they're crying or even tearing up, it's pretty much impossible. Perhaps she had mentioned why they had broken up or something, but Cory had missed it.
He just really wanted to punch Alex's face in. He had met the guy on set earlier that season when Dianna had brought him by. He had hated using the word, because it made him seem, like 50, but the kid was a punk. Cory was bad when he was 20, but he doubted he was as bad as Alex. He didn't really see him much after that, but the first impression stuck. Cory knew, however, how much Dianna liked him and he made her smile, for whatever reason, so he gave him the benefit of the doubt. But now, he just wanted to sucker punch him.
By the time he caught up in the conversation, Dianna had calmed down a bit. She mentioned that she had left in a hurry and knew that Lea was in New York that weekend and that Cory was the first person she wanted to see anyway. That made him smile a bit. His heart might have fluttered a tiny bit too.
Dianna had dried her tears a bit on her sleeve and sniffed a bit to battle her congestion. She stood up and said, "I guess I should be going. I just wanted to talk to someone." She motioned to leave.
Cory's not sure what possessed him to say what he did next, but it was probably a combination of sympathy and friendship and the knowledge that she probably didn't have anywhere specific to go that night (she was living with Alex at the time), with a tinge of attraction thrown in there. Just a smidge.
"Di, come on. You should stay here tonight."
His mind was reeling from the second the words escaped his lips. All he could thing was, 'Bad idea, Cory, especially after what happened last year. In fact, terrible idea when you consider last year. Great job, genius.' All he could do at that time, though, was return her smile.
"Your shirt is ginormous on me, Cory," Dianna, said, giggling as she came out of his bathroom wearing an old shirt he was lending her. Cory looked over and laughed as well – the shirt came well down to her knees.
"Well, I am like three times your size, Di. Well, here it is and you already know where the bathroom is, and if, you know, you need a toothbrush or, really, anything, just let me know," Cory said as he moved to leave the room.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"To the living room – I already got some blankets out and we have a few pillows out there, so…"
"Seriously? No, if anyone is sleeping on a couch, it's me," Dianna said defiantly.
"Di, it's fine, trust me."
"You wouldn't fit on a couch! I'm couch-sized, ready-made!"
"I'm not letting you sleep on a couch."
"Well, we can at least share this bed. Come on, it's huge," Dianna said, sitting on the edge she was closest to. Cory, not foreseeing a quicker end to this, tacitly agreed, and he sat on his side of the bed.
After they were both settled in, Cory reached over and turned off the bedside light. 'She was right,' he thought. 'I can barely feel that she's here.'
"Hey Cory," Dianna said softly, almost whispering in case he had fallen asleep. Cory fell from his side onto his back and turned his head to Dianna, who was facing him. "Thanks."
He smiled in return, even though she probably couldn't see it in the dark. He closed his eyes, hoping to fall asleep. It wasn't even a few minutes before he felt a rustle in the bed as Dianna shifted a bit. He wasn't used to sharing a bed – at least not for a while now – so the movement startled him a bit. He closed his eyes again, waking slightly as he felt a rustle from the other side of the bed. It wasn't until he felt her small palm lay across her chest and her leg brush up against his that he realized when she was doing.
'Yeah, awesome idea, Cory,' was all he could think as Dianna rested her head delicately on her shoulder and began to breathe deeply into her sleep.
'Maybe if she brought her hotel key, I could get some sleep in her bed.'
Cory smiled at his late-night/early-morning brilliance as he attempted to tip-toe over to where she had left her jacket when she had come in. The floor creaked a bit with the first step and he could hear Dianna groan a bit and roll over. He was trying his best not to wake her.
He didn't know what possessed him to open the door every evening when she came by during the tour. She'd come by with snacks, sometimes a movie, but sometimes nothing. They'd sit on his bed, chat and snack away, before they settled into either side of the bed, like asking to stay was a long forgone question. He enjoyed the company, to be honest – most of the other cast members went out if they could and it was nice to keep company.
And he liked Dianna – he always had. Besides Lea, Dianna had been the one he had hung around with the most when they had shot the first season. When he first met her, it was her first day on set. She had struck him as beautiful from the beginning. She was shy and more reserved – like him in many ways. He could tell she was nervous – the rest of them had been around for some time shooting the pilot and she had just been thrown in the mix. He tried his best to make her feel welcome, and it was all worth it to see her smile at him as she left for the day.
As they shot the rest of the front end of the first season, he grew closer to Dianna. He loved making people laugh and Dianna had seriously the most beautiful laugh. It was delicate and lyrical. They shared their taste in music and often shared songs. She was also incredibly sweet – he was so surprised at how much she differed from Quinn in that regard. And damn, she was beautiful.
He knew that the other cast members knew. Just the other day, at breakfast, Kevin had been smiling when he turned to Dianna and asked,
"How'd you sleep, Dianna?" She nodded and smiled, indicating a deep sleep. He then turned and smiled again at Cory.
"And how about you, Cory? Did you sleep as well as Dianna?" With that, he, Jenna and Heather would dissolve into a fit of laughs and the others would be smiling knowingly at them. He didn't feel like he had to explain anything (and he wasn't sure how Dianna felt about divulging her situation), and he knew, in the end, they were just giving him a hard time and having fun with it – nothing more serious.
He really needed the sleep though, but he cared far too much for Dianna to not let her get her sleep. He'd try getting up and sleep elsewhere, but it was like she knew he was gone. She'd wake up and, in her tired stupor, move her head around looking for him with squinted eyes. He'd simply remark that he was going to the bathroom or some other canned excuse. She settle back in, but he knew she wouldn't fall asleep until he was back in his side of the bed. In his mind, she came first, no question - though he was starting to wonder if the reason she had been sleeping there had worn off.
She had started coming back after that Saturday. They both managed to avoid talking much about that night afterwards. She got dressed promptly the next morning and left before anyone else in the house had woken up. Her presence, however, was not missed by Cory's roommates. When he stumbled out of his room for coffee the next morning, one applauded him on having the 'quietest sex ever', which earned him a ribbing by Cory. But then Cory just shrugged it off – it's not like it would ever happen again.
A false assumption, it would turn out. Just a couple weeks later, he found himself with Dianna at his door as night fell. They hadn't been shooting any of their scenes together that day, so he had hardly had the chance to talk to her. But this reappearance on his doorstep caused Cory to wonder.
"Is everything okay with you, Di?"
"I guess. I mean….it's stupid," she remarked, with a sigh.
"You can tell me, Dianna." 'Damn, dude, you're heading for trouble here.
"It's just that – I don't know why, but I haven't been able to sleep at all the past few weeks. Since that Saturday, in fact."
"Like, trouble falling asleep or not sleeping at all?"
"Barely. By the time I fall asleep, it's close to 7 in the morning and I have to get up in an hour anyways." Cory had noticed. She had been lethargic, even falling asleep and taking naps at work the past few days, which was unusual for her. He knew she was taking this break-up hard and was concerned.
"Any reason why?"
"Scared, maybe? I don't know. I guess I just need some comfort, that's all. I can't be alone in my bed – I just can't. The thought of being alone there, it just keeps me up. Being here with you, that night, I slept so well knowing you…someone was right there." Cory had trouble resisting that shrug and that slight smile she was giving him.
He should have been hesitant, after what had happened last year, and since they were having more scenes together now and everything else that was racing in his mind, but he couldn't help himself.
They stayed on their own respective sides of the bed after the first night – Cory knew otherwise, it would be trouble. Besides, he found, it was for his own good, what with Dianna thrashing about and whatnot. Sometimes he'd end up pulling a blanket (from the death grip of her hands, usually) and slept on the floor next to the bed. Dianna would always feel bad in the morning when she saw him on the floor, but he was apparently believable when he'd claim that he'd roll of the bed.
He could see her getting better – she was perkier and happier since she was resting well. So what if he was losing a bit of sleep here and there – he could nap in the afternoons and between takes. As long as Dianna was better, he didn't care about how much sleep he lost.
However, now that they were on tour, Cory could feel the lack of sleep catching up to him. He didn't want to hurt Dianna's feelings – he knew that if she knew he wasn't sleeping (a fact that he kept very well concealed from her), she wouldn't come over and then she'd back to her sleepless, restless nights. That was the last thing he wanted. But he really couldn't sleep with her thrashing about. It just wasn't working.
He managed to ease his way over to the jacket she had laid on chair when she had come in. He checked the pockets for a hotel card key, so maybe he could grab a few hours and come back before she even realized he was gone.
Behind him, he could hear Dianna's legs kicking. He dug into every pocket, searching.
No such luck.
"You looked so handsome tonight, Mistah Monteith."
Dianna was a small girl – she was probably tipsy halfway through her first glass of wine that night. By the time that Glee's award had come around, she was pretty drunk. She was a giggly drunk, Cory had come to find, as well as a little bit clingy. After helping her slightly to walk up to the stage to accept their show's Golden Globe, she had insisted on holding his hand as they walked into the backstage area. When they sat down for their interview, she leaned into him, allowing him to encircle her waist with his arm.
He didn't really drink – it wasn't his thing. And he felt slightly bad in the position that he was in – like he was almost taking advantage of her when she wasn't entirely in her right mind. But when she was biting his ear a little and kissing his neck, he wasn't going to deny that he was turned on. And if she wanted it, what was the harm? It was a time to celebrate - which is how they ended up back at his place.
He had led her to his room and after closing the door behind them, he turned to her. He could still smell a tinge of alcohol on her breath as she leaned in to kiss his cheek softly, and then the other cheek, before slowly pressing her lips to his. It was a bit of a messy kiss, but Cory reciprocated, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer. She bit on his lip a little, at which he shivered a little. Dianna moved her arms from around his neck to push at the shoulders of his jacket, which, after removing his arms temporarily from her waist, he let fall to the ground.
As she moved her lips to his neck, peppering the area with kisses, Cory's guilt began to surge. He pulled away.
"We shouldn't be doing this, Di." She kept kissing him.
"And why is that?" She asked slyly between kisses, as if he had said it in jest.
"Seriously, Di – we can't be doing this." He moved his hands to push a bit at her hips to move her away. Now she just stared at him – she was still a bit tipsy and shocked at what had just happened.
"Why the hell not?"
"Because…." Cory probably should have had a million reasons why, but all he could see were her deep red lips and how much he just wanted to kiss them again. Dianna put her hands on her hips, growing a bit impatient waiting for an answer. "Because you're still a little drunk and I'm sober and I don't want to do something that you'd regret."
"Don't worry, Cory – I know what I want. I know you do too." She was right, honestly, but that wasn't the point.
"We work together, Di. Won't it be weird?"
"Oh, don't act like people who have worked together have never gotten together before," she snapped back.
"I know, but…it's just that…" He was fingering this line – he knew he shouldn't cross it, but seeing her standing there, so beautiful and wanting him – it was hard to resist.
"Just what, Cory?" But before he could answer, he saw Dianna's head buck forward a bit as she brought a hand to her mouth. She pushed him aside and ran for his bathroom door. Seconds later, he could hear her retching.
She came out a few minutes later and lay beside him in his bed, both on top of the covers. He was in his tie, shirt, dress pants and socks still, his feet crossed over one another; she was still in her flowing, gray gown and her hair up. They didn't say anything for a few minutes. Then Dianna spoke:
"I don't understand you sometimes, Cory." She paused, as though waiting for a response, but then continued anyway. "I could have sworn you were into me, all this time. At least that was the vibe I was getting. I guess I was wrong about reading the signs, the body language. I have to say, you've got some willpower though, for a guy: having a girl ready to sleep with you, no questions asked, and you turn her down. It's got to be a first…"
She went on for a bit before Cory turned his head, reached over and laid a kiss on her lips to silence her. She was shocked and turned to look at him.
"Maybe someday, Di. But not tonight." It killed him to say it, but he had to. He paused for a second. "Do you want to stay here tonight?"
She nodded. He could see some tears welling up in her eyes.
They woke up the next morning entangled in one another – she was pulled close to his chest with his arm wrapped around her back and their legs mixed with one another.
Cory always struggled with girls in this way. He had these amazing friends – they had the same interests as him, they were funny, they were intelligent, they were compassionate. It seemed like the makings of a beautiful relationship, beyond friendship. He had just seen the demise of a one such relationship just months before, with an actress from Vancouver.
Sometimes, in hindsight, he was glad things didn't work out with the girls. Once they had started dating, the girls had become whiny and clingy: he could barely stand them, even as friends. And when it didn't work out, they didn't keep in touch. Their friendship dissolved.
But with Dianna – he didn't want that to happen. She meant too much to him as a friend – who else was going to freak out about Radiohead with him or laugh at his stupid jokes or teach him the choreography in the back when he was falling behind or let him tease her about tripping over her own feet?
He didn't know how to convey that to Dianna, but he guessed that she got the message. After their encounter on the night of the Golden Globes, they kept their friendly distance. They hadn't grown apart, necessarily, but it put a small rift there. He tried dating other girls, not wanting to mention Taylor to Dianna as to avoid an adverse reaction. When they came back from summer hiatus, she had Alex. It pained him, but he felt it was best that they could both move on.
When she showed up on his doorstep crying the following February, he could see that line between friendship and a relationship arise again – the line he had been so hesitant to cross just a year ago. He knew asking her to stay was a bad idea. He was only human, though, and having a beautiful girl that you're attracted to sleeping in your bed, just a foot away, was not helping his situation, even if she made you lose sleep with her wild thrashing.
He knew, deep down, that's why he kept letting her come – he liked her being there. He liked that she felt comfortable with him. He liked that she was calm when she slept in his arms. Those feelings for her – those feelings that he had tried to suppress – were coming to the surface in spectacular fashion.
Which is why, standing in his dark hotel room, exhausted from the lack of sleep and tired of pushing away those feelings of what he really wanted, Cory slipped back into his bed. Dianna on her back and had flung her hand in his general direction. He grabbed her wrist lightly, causing her to moan a "Hmm?" in her sleep and roll on her side to face him. He inched closer and closer, careful to avoid her legs as they kicked down at the sheets. Finally her face was in line with his, as he laid his head on her outstretched arm. He brought his body closer so they were lying parallel, facing each other.
Cory slowly pressed his lips to hers. With contact, Dianna drew back, with her eyes still closed, and licked her lips slightly. He could feel her breath slowing a bit and her legs stopped twitching. She was finally resting and not restless, and Cory could finally close his eyes to fall asleep.
But not before he saw a small smiled broach her lips in her now peaceful slumber in his embrace.
A/N: Please Read and Review! :)