I'm baaaack! This is part of the series of one-shots surrounding my old, newly rewritten band geek OCs.
After a long day of marching practice, Holly just wants to grab a smoothie and hang out with her friends. She really doesn't want to admit there's something wrong with her relationship, but all it takes is some (not-so-)gentle prodding from her best friend before something she can't continue to ignore is thrust out into the open. She hates how receptive he is, especially of her. She really does.
The final note of the last movement rang triumphantly across the practice field and Holly stood proudly at set, feeling the last vibrations echo through her mellophone, lips tingling and eyes locked on the drum major. The show finally seemed ready for the impending Area competition, and when the director called the band to rest and head out for the day, the entire block buzzed with excitement.
Holly stepped out of her final set at the 35 yard line and began pushing her way through sweaty band kids, carefully avoiding the instruments and flags in their hands, stopping briefly to retrieve her water jug from the scalding sidewalk. She ungracefully wiped away the sweat that had collected on her brow with her forearm as she continued meandering toward the door of the band hall, resolving to settle outside on the brick wall to wait for her friends to return from their lockers just inside the building. She brushed long, tight curls out of her eyes as she pondered the impending evening.
They had previously discussed walking over to the smoothie shop across the street in celebration of the three-day weekend ahead, and letting the rest of the evening carry as it may (which would probably - as usual - result in them hanging out by the dirty, manmade lake behind Patricia and Austin's house, taking over the jungle gym at the nearby elementary school playground, or diving into Holly's backyard pool in their practice clothes).
Holly figured she may as well invite Sommer, her bossy yet endearing perfectionist of a girlfriend. The girl in question, a talented dancer and captain of the band's color guard, had a rather particular preference in friends and the people she hung around with, and though she respected Holly's friends for their place in her girlfriend's life, she butted heads with them, and preferred to hang around her guard friends, instead. Holly knew, therefore, that Sommer would not want to come (and her friends would not exactly miss Sommer's absence), but she knew it was right to at least try to invite the girl.
"Hey pretty lady, u tossed some good flags out there! The gang's headed for smoothies in a few. U in? 3", Holly typed in a quick text, sighing firmly through her nose as she sent it off to Sommer.
"I hear you. My phone disappoints me on a daily basis," Holly raised an eyebrow as she turned, finding her best friend behind her, bronze skin glistening with sweat, peering through too-long dark bangs toward her phone. He quickly looked back up at her, careful not to invade her privacy. "It's 2016; why can't it read our thoughts by now?"
"Seriously," Holly chuckled dryly. "Not that you need a phone to tell you what others are thinking, Austin." Not many understood her friend and his quietness, but he was receptive, and never had trouble understanding others without a word.
"Well, yeah," he chided, "but not everybody has this amazing ability, like I do."
Holly laughed again at the playfully cocky smirk that spread across his lips. "Someone's got to deflate that ego of yours," she told him. "Did you see the others in the band hall?"
Austin tilted his head up and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. He had clearly not been paying attention to his surroundings, for once, as he gathered his things from his locker, probably assuming that the gang would find each other somehow, as they always did. "I didn't really notice," he answered slowly, with a shrug. "They'll be out sooner or later."
Holly's phone buzzed in her hand. "I think I will pass. Some of the girls are going out tonight, and I would like to shower beforehand. Have fun with your nerds!" She stared at the text for a moment before locking her phone and bumping the back of her head against the brick, staring off into the distance. She was unsurprised, really, but the rejection still rubbed her the wrong way. Even the casual nickname, "nerds", annoyed her. Sommer didn't often use such names as forms of endearment, like Holly did with her friends. It was slight, but Holly had noticed similar occurrences more frequently, lately. Sommer had little patience for Holly's friends these days, it seemed. Holly saw her girlfriend far less often as a result, and she couldn't help but worry that it was putting a strain on their relationship.
A moment passed before Austin spoke up again, and Holly nearly jumped out of her skin, nearly having forgotten he was there. "You know," he started, his voice low with concern, "especially with you, I don't need a telepathic phone to know that something's up."
Holly moved only her eyes toward him, reluctant to say anything. She glanced back forward and Austin sighed, stepping in front of her and crossing his arms in disappointment.
"I'm your best friend, you dork," he chided. He lifted one hand from his crossed arms and gently thwacked her shoulder with the backs of his fingers. "You know you can tell me anything. What's up?"
Holly sighed for what felt like the twelfth time in the last few minutes, letting out a brief noise of irritation. "It's just Sommer," she explained, dismissively waving her hand, and looking toward the ground. "No big deal."
Austin grimaced. "What did she do this time?" he asked, voice still lower and dripping with poorly concealed annoyance. The dancer's attitude had clearly not gone unnoticed past Austin, and Holly cursed her best friend for his receptive insight. She looked sheepishly up at him, wishing desperately to avoid the subject. Despite his sharp tone, the concern knitting his eyebrows softened her. Her shoulders slumped, and reluctantly, she gave in.
"I invited her to come with us, since, you know, she's my girlfriend, but she's going out with a few guard girls tonight," Holly explained, defeated, gesturing helplessly with her arms as she told the story. "I know she doesn't exactly mesh well with us, but she could have invited me to go with them." She knew her voice was tinged with hurt when she saw Austin wince. "I know their nights out are like sextuple dates. From what she said, it seems like there would even be time for me to get smoothies with y'all and still be able to shower and make it to hang out with them." Holly paused when she noticed Austin shift on his feet. He was looking at the ground now. She continued carefully, "I guess… she has just been doing this a lot lately. She's more reluctant to hang out with my friends, too, you know?"
Holly looked at Austin again, now staring pointedly just past her ear and wearing an annoyed expression, tinged with a melancholy she couldn't place. She ignored the nagging feeling that he wasn't telling her something, instead quickly laughing and adding, "Those guard girls must finally be getting to her, you know?"
Austin laughed halfheartedly. "Yeah. What's her deal, you know?" he asked, a false grin resting uncomfortably on his lips, the chuckle a little too forced, causing his face to wince with the effort of the lie of his nonchalant attitude.
Holly shifted awkwardly, looking from side to side, remembering with a start the 200 bandmates filing out of the doorway she and Austin occupied, hoping none were listening for a bit of juicy gossip to spread.
"I – I mean, I don't know, dude," Holly stuttered. With each word, Austin's grin tightened with what seemed like a year's worth of retorts. "I just, I me-"
"I don't know how you can put up with it," Austin interrupted, gently fuming, despite attempts to remain lighthearted. He had raised his head, and was suddenly staring directly into her chocolate eyes. She leaned back from the intensity of his gaze, finding she could go no further, thanks to the cursed brick wall at her back. "Sure she's nice sometimes, but she's mostly just a… well, a bitch."
Holly stared at her friend, stunned. Sure, she had heard him curse before, but he was always so quiet and supportive. He never spoke ill of others, unless they had personally offended him or one of his friends.
"I mean, it doesn't take an idiot to know that she hates us," he continued, barely containing his anger. "Me, especially – she thinks I'm such a… a nerd," he added, hurt seeping into his tone.
Holly raised an eyebrow and grimaced, suppressing a wince upon remembering Sommer's words in the text, referring to her friends as "nerds". She couldn't keep the accusing tone out of her voice as she asked, "Since when do you care when people call you a nerd, Austin?"
"It's not just that I'm a nerd," he added quickly, trying not to backtrack. "It's the way she looks at me, like some kind of untouchable, corrupting you, like I'm undoing her progress as she continues to try to-… to try to change you."
Holly followed Austin's gaze, which had shifted to his own hands, squeezed into tight fists at his sides. She briefly pondered his statement, surprised, though mostly at the fact that her surprise wasn't more overwhelming. Like something she wanted to ignore had clicked into place and shone its brilliant light directly into her eyes.
"Sh-she keeps trying to change you, trying to mold you into her Picture Perfect Girlfriend. I don't want you to change," he continued with a crack in his voice, looking back up at her. "None of us do, Holls."
"I-I mean, she isn't… perfect, but-" Holly began helplessly, but Austin cut her off again.
"She doesn't appreciate who you are," he said with finality.
Holly knit her fingers together, boring her eyes into her left pointer knuckle, almost white from the strain, before looking up at her friend again. She came to a resolution she didn't like but couldn't ignore, that maybe there was a problem with her and Sommer's relationship, storing it away for future pondering. Maybe she could bring it up with Austin again to truly talk though later, when they weren't expecting company in a matter of moments. When the tensions didn't have to run so high. Reluctantly, she moved to drop the subject, pushing down the heavy weight of sadness creeping up at her new revelation in favor of turning the conversation back to something lighthearted.
"She hasn't exactly been successful in changing me, Sax Man," she smirked as she used the old nickname, "so don't you worry too much." He gave a short laugh at her response, and her smile broadened, only to fade again as she mumbled, "Maybe that's why she's been so distant lately."
"Her little project failed, it seems," Austin answered darkly, offering an apologetic smile when Holly's face fell a little more. Her response, however, caught in her throat as she heard their friends beginning to approach from within the band hall.
"Whose project?" a low voice asked from Austin's side. "Did Patricia disappoint Mrs. Hooper again?"
Holly giggled as Hunter peered down at her quizzically through dark bangs shining with sweat, her laugh interrupted by a sharp "Hey!" as the boy's girlfriend appeared next to him with a punch to the arm. "I'm actually passing her class now, thank you very much," Patricia chided, brushing her choppy, brown bangs to the side.
Austin chuckled at his twin sister's offended reaction. "No, our mom tried out a new recipe last night," he told Hunter, with a stern look toward Patricia, begging her to play along. "It was terrible."
Patricia followed Austin's eyes, tinged with sadness, toward Holly, and back to her twin. She laughed quickly, not understanding, but determined to play along and keep her friends from asking questions about whatever could have happened between Austin and Holly.. "Hah, yeah," Patricia answered. "She really doesn't have much luck with Pinterest recipes. Bad times were had by all."
"Are you kidding?" came a high pitched voice from behind them. "I love Pinterest!" The four turned as Jessica bounded toward them, long black ponytail swinging behind her, as her boyfriend, Seth, followed quietly behind.
Patricia piped up, making idle chatter about the various crafts on her favorite Pinterest board that she wanted to try, as Hunter greeted Seth, launching into a discussion about the practice that had just passed. Without breaking their conversations, the six teenagers stepped off toward their destination, spurred by the unspoken need for smoothies. Holly hung back briefly, and Austin followed her lead, lingering toward the back of the group so as to not let the others overhear their conversation. The other two pairs happily chatted away in front of Austin and Holly.
"Thanks for not saying anything, back there," Holly told him with a blush. She would thank the stars for her skin tone, too dark to show redness at her cheeks, but she knew her friend could spot her invisible blush a mile away by intuition alone. "I don't want to worry them, or drag them into any drama."
Austin sighed gently at her words. "You know that all of us are here for you, right? And they aren't clueless, either," he scolded gently. "Just don't worry so much about making us uncomfortable. It's not gossip, it's not annoying." He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. Holly swore her heart skipped half of a beat. She cursed its inability to keep time.
He continued after a beat. "We all love you, you dork." Okay, it definitely skipped a full beat that time. "But I will keep this between us for now. You only have to bear your heart as much as you want. I respect that."
Holly's chest warmed with affection at her friend's comment, and the notion that she had an entire support system behind her, ready to catch her if she were to fall, or to defend her honor from anyone that challenged it. "Thanks, friend," she said, with a gentle bump of her shoulder against Austin's, a smile spreading across her cheeks.
"I mean, what if I did try it, though?" Jessica asked Patricia from in front of them, gesturing wildly and turning suddenly toward Holly. "Don't you think it would be cool to set up a giant canvas with paint-filled balloons and throw darts at them?"
Holly chucked at her energetic friend. "Like they did in The Princess Diaries?" she asked, mildly confused. "I've kind of always wanted to try that."
Jessica's eyes widened as she exaggeratedly pointed at Holly, turning to face Patricia. "Exactly. We should totally try that! Maybe even this weekend!"
The boys, having overheard Jessica's excited plans, laughed, and the six began weighing the possibilities of finding a space, supplies, and permission from their parents.
Holly turned to steal a sheepish glance at Austin, briefly remembering the intensity of their near-argument earlier, determined to make it right with a calm conversation over coffee, sooner rather than later. Austin caught her glance and winked, agreeing with her offer before she had a chance to say anything. They continued their journey with their four friends to the smoothie shop, chatting as though nothing had happened earlier. Holly refused to let the sadness seep into her smile and taint the weekend, though she knew that no matter what, she would be able to get through this confusing patch with the hands of her friends pulling her through. Enjoying the gentle stride with Austin at her side, she basked in the light her friends offered, following them into the shimmering weekend she knew she needed. Especially with the gentle hand of her best friend, everything would turn out all right.
Pretty soon, here, I will finally start posting the main story, the one I wrote so long ago! It will be multi-chapter, and I really don't know how long it will be. All I know is that it's set on the band's journey to the State Marching Contest, and it will be entirely self indulgent. I hope you like OC ships and mushy friendship, because that's what you're getting from me!
(Except when it comes to the two nerds that star in this particular oneshot. They get to suffer a bit. :3)
Leave a review, if you're into that! I really love hearing what people have to say~