Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 31st cycle. Now cycle 32!

Hear that little bird twitter! Been thinking about doing this for a couple days, then this morning decided to just go for it. If you go there, find 'gleekathon' and there I'll be. There's also a video explaining everything... Yep... ;) Check it out!

"Show them what you've got"
Artie/Lucy (OC)
Lucy Series #5 (sequel to 'Presenting Lucy Collins')

They had left school together, deciding to forget the bus and just go to Lucy's house on their own. The travel gave them the chance to talk. They planned to start discussing the assignment, but it became that she caught him up on her side of the day, and he told her about his concerns over whether she'd show up to audition, since they had not seen one another.

He'd imagined her, if she did actually show up, completely stressed out. But she told a different story. She'd gone to bed, still thinking about his last messages to her, thinking about his encouragements, and it allowed her to go to bed with a rested head. The next morning, that morning, she woke up ready, in the zone. If she could just get to that room at the end of the day, then she'd be okay. She wasn't even really paying attention to her classes; she couldn't. The closer time came, she wasn't even sure if she felt nervous or excited… All she knew was that she was ready for something to happen. She couldn't call or text or see him, not until it was time, or she might have lost it.

But now it was done, she had auditioned, she had gained her spot in the club… she was one of them. "It's weird though, I mean I feel like I know all of them, I've been there, and I've seen all of them… but they don't know me." He nodded. "I feel like a stalker… or a groupie," she frowned.

"You can stalk me any time you want," he gestured and she stared at him like she was considering this. "I can roll faster than you can run," he went on daring.

"Don't tempt me," she smirked, moving behind so she could push and he could relax his arms.

"Look, we just need to give it time. Let them get to know you and they'll be fine," he shrugged. "Believe me, they're going to love you," he carried on, and maybe it was a good thing she couldn't see his face or she might have seen the smile on his face saying 'I know I do.'

"Should I bake cookies?" she joked.

"You bake?" he looked back at her. She paused, then conceded.

"Okay, let me rephrase that: should I stay clear of the kitchen, while my mother bakes cookies?" she asked, and he chuckled.

"Depends who you ask, but you might do better with some of them with a bouquet of breadsticks…"

"Well I do have an in on that one…" she shrugged as they approached her house and she let him in. "My parents are out with Stella right now, so it's just us," she looked back at him and he smiled.

"Guess we should make trouble," he nodded to her.

"Right," she nodded back slowly, paused… "So Glee Club assignment?"

"Yeah, let's do that," he agreed and they went to the living room.

"It's so weird, I've seen you guys do so many of these, now I get to do one," she brought him something to drink.

"There's no real big mystery to it," he shrugged. "We pick a song, we practice it, we perform it… someone makes a comment… then we start over."

"I see. Okay, so this assignment… the eighties?" she asked, and he nodded. "You came to the right girl," she grinned. She started thinking, looking on her laptop, folding her legs under herself.

"Did you get to talk to the guys on the band?" he asked.

"Yeah, they were great," she smiled, still sounding relieved. "I shouldn't have worried," she looked back to the screen rather them to say 'you were right.' She kept scrolling. "We don't… have to put on costumes, do we?"

"We don't have to, but we can if we want to," he explained.

"Should we?" she looked to him. He tilted his head. "Too soon?"

"I'd say yes," he finally nodded.

"Okay, no costumes then," she got back to looking. "I don't really have to dance, do I? I'd really like it if that wasn't one of the first things they know about me…" she pointed out.

"No dancing," he agreed. "So has that narrowed it down?"

"Just barely," she confirmed. "Whenever I cross one off, I just think of three more…" she frowned, squinting at the screen.

"Yeah, it can get that way at first," he revealed.

"I've just never been good with choices," she explained. "For future reference, never drop me in a video store and ask me to pick something… If it's a music store, we may never leave…"

"I'll try and remember that." She didn't say anything, but he saw her smile to herself and that was enough. "Take your time, there's no rush, and I'm not just saying that to score some of your mom's cooking," he spoke 'seriously.'

"She's making lasagne tonight."

"Take your time; choices are important." He got another smile. Eventually the tactic became for her to pick from smaller sets and just stop admitting new options. "If it helps at all, you know you get to sing more than one song in Glee Club."

"Really, because with some of you it's hard to tell. Some of you can't even seem to finish one song," she pointed out.

"Fair enough," he nodded. "But you've already done that, so you're good." Judging from how her hand conveniently reached up to sit on her cheek, he guessed he was seeing her smile to herself for the third time, and she was aware he could see her… Now he was the one smiling.

When they finally got a song, the rest of the Collins family had returned and the smell of food was bringing out prime decision making from both of them: she decided on a song, and he decided she was absolutely brilliant.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!