Disclaimer: I do not know any of the person's mentioned in this story, nor does this story represent real happenings or feelings. This piece of work is purely fiction and does not reflect on the person's spoken about.
Give Up The Bark & Bite.
Chapter 1.
Things had been strained of late. In fact, if Naya was being perfectly honest, she could no longer differentiate between comfortable and awkward. If she was going to over-analyze her current predicament like she often did, she would begin by saying it had all started at the inception of season three. Heather wasn't happy, or rather her ridiculous excuse for a boyfriend Taylor wasn't happy. When she had first met the mysterious boy that had stolen Heather's heart, she immediately disliked him. Why? Naya couldn't really explain in words that didn't seem drowned in hatefulness and resentment. Maybe it was the fact that he dictated Heather's happiness or maybe it was the simplicity that she was with him, and not somebody else.
She was currently sitting in her trailer, which was an absolute bombsite and reading an old issue of Women's Health Magazine. Heather had bounced into her trailer one day, a copy under her arm and a smile beaming upon her face. Of course Naya had only taking particular interest in the girl and her smile, discarding the Magazine and allowing for mess to clutter it from sight. Now however, she had been attempting to clean when she came across it. The interview Heather had done seemed fun. That was until Naya read one tiny sentence that made her heart knot and sick gather at the top of her throat. She felt like her sofa had been pulled out from under her and she was now falling from a hundred story building. If things were awkward now, they were soon to be ice cold, Naya thought as she literally threw the magazine across the trailer and watched in horror as her door opened, Dianna standing in the threshold.
"Whoa, angry girl" she immediately sensed Naya's hostility as she let out a chuckle and folded her arms in a childish manner. "What's up?" she saw the blond tentatively ask.
"Nothing, there was a spider and I freaked out" Naya lied. Dianna could tell that her friend was being less than honest but she didn't question it, rather decided to pick up the Magazine. Upon seeing which issue it was, it all immediately clicked
"Heavy huh?" she commented, Naya shaking her head.
"It's borderline ridiculous," she admitted "how much is he willing for her to give up before he finally see's that he's the problem?" it was a fair question. One that had been widely debated by the entire Glee cast.
"Look I don't know Nay," Dianna shrugged and sat herself down next to Naya "all I can say is don't take it to heart, Heather wouldn't have been saying that to deliberately hurt any of us." Deep down she knew the blonde was right, but a part of her just wanted a reason to finally be angry at Heather.
"She may not have meant to, but she sure as hell hurt me" Naya stood up and walked over to her miniature kitchen, putting on the kettle and beginning to fix herself a cup of tea.
"Sit down idiot" she felt Dianna leading her back to the sofa before she'd even realized the petite blonde had moved.
"I just need to keep myself busy Di, I'm so angry" a soothing hand rubbed the small of her back before she was forced to take a seat.
"I know Nay, but seriously, you make terrible tea when you're angry" Naya frowned.
"I do what?" she spoke with a tone of confusion and surprise.
"Remember after our fight scene? And you said you'd make us some tea to calm down the nerves, but you were still angry that I'd actually thrown you into the lockers" she did recall this moment in time.
"But you said thank you for the tea and drank it?" Naya waited for Dianna's response.
"Yeah, well, lets just say there was a reason why that plant beside the coffee table died a week later" Naya rolled her eyes and grabbed a nearby pillow, hugging it to her chest.
"I just don't know anymore" she sighed, her eyes heavy as she listened to the sounds of Dianna bustling around.
Dianna had witnessed first hand the emotional toll that Heather had taken on Naya. Don't get her wrong, the girl was strong but Heather had been slowly chipping away at her defenses until there was literally nothing left to do or say. They were at a standstill, neither particularly knowing what to do or how to act. Naya hadn't out-rightly given Heather an ultimatum, but in the way she had been treating her lately, it was more or less contextualized. A choice had to be made and unfortunately, Dianna didn't see that choice working in Naya's, nor the Glee cast's favor.
"Here's your tea" she spoke softly, breaking Naya from the light slumber she had fallen into. She was exhausted, and hardly wanted her cup of tea anymore, but still she took it from Dianna's hands and had a sip.
"Thank you" she mumbled, before placing it on the coffee table and staring off vacantly.
"When's your next scene scheduled?" Dianna wondered, thinking back over the timetable they'd been given at the beginning of the week. There was no group numbers on today so she was wondering why Naya was even here.
"I'm just waiting for Chris and Darren to wrap up, but apparently their taking a while because Chris keeps making weird faces during his number" Dianna laughed at her friends blunt tone.
"Nice, where'd you hear that one from?" she wondered, the joke far to good not to give credit where credit's due.
"Lea" she responded, grabbing Dianna's hand and pulling her down onto the sofa.
"What's up buttercup?" she vaguely heard Dianna say but she didn't care. Naya just proceeded to position her where she wanted her and nestled her head in the crook of her neck. "Tired hey?" Naya felt a small hand running delicate patterns upon her forearms.
"Mhmm" she didn't feel the need to verbalize her answer. It was obvious, was it not?
"I think the boys were planning some kind of drinks and poker night on Thursday, do you wanna maybe come?" Naya considered it for a moment. Considered the offer, considered the company and definitely considered the drinks part of the invite, but she thought she'd have to pass. Chord was back on set these days, and Mark was still acting kind of weird. Actually, they were both acting weird, it was beginning to make her feel even more uncomfortable than she already felt. She was fed up with the set of Glee at the moment, not to mention Matt Morrison was being an absolute wanker of late. She could hardly deal with his constant mood swings. "You there Nay?" Dianna asked, squeezing the girls bicep.
"Uh yeah, and I think I'll pass" she spoke while her eyes were still kept closed.
"Hey, it might be fun Nay? Come on, you hardly ever come to any of these nights anymore, one of them will eventually do you some good" she coaxed her friend. Dianna knew how to play her, after all they'd bonded over the first season of Glee. With their characters always in close vicinity of one another, it was easy to communicate and become close friends.
"Alright, whatever," she groaned, repositioning herself on the sofa so her head was now in Dianna's lap "now will you let me get some sleep?"
"Sure" the blonde replied sarcasitcally, pulling out her phone and beginning to tweet.
It wasn't long until Dianna herself curled up on the couch, being mindful of Naya before falling to sleep. When she was shaken awake an hour later, it felt as though only a minutes had elapsed. She opened her eyes slowly, Amber and Kevin standing over her. Her eyes were still adjusting to the light before she realized that they weren't the only people in the trailer, Ryan Murphy was standing in the threshold of the door. Shit. Dianna quickly glanced to the sleeping Naya still in her lap and carefully awoke her. She groaned and snuggled closer into her but the blonde refused to let her go back to sleep. Finally Naya sat up, unhappy and not realizing she had an audience when she turned on Dianna and glared in her direction.
"What the hell?" she questioned, angry and evidently still tired.
"My words exactly" Ryan made his presence known as he moved inside the trailer, scaring the living hell out of Naya. She looked from Dianna to Amber and Kevin, before letting her eyes fall upon Ryan. Shit! What was the time? "You were supposed to be on set almost forty five minutes ago" he told her, glancing down at his watch.
"I'm sorry, I must've fallen asleep" that was the biggest understatement of the year, and it was coming from her own mouth Naya thought. Why pretend she wasn't tired when clearly she was to damned exhausted to keep her eyes open, even now during this potentially job threatening exchange?
"It's not good enough Naya, half the cast has been waiting for you to arrive, we had to send Amber and Kevin looking for you when nobody could reach you on your cell" she rolled her eyes as soon as he mentioned her mobile.
"Yeah, it kind of died of battery this morning" she admitted sheepishly, scratching her head of black hair.
"Well come on then, what are you waiting for? Get over to the set now!" he shouted, his irritation getting the better of him. In fact, Naya was surprised he hadn't raised his voice earlier.
She reached for her cheerio's jacket and raced from her trailer as soon as was humanly possible. Amber and Kevin stood by, sharing a unison look of confusion before looking to Dianna. She just shrugged, got off the sofa and tip toed out of Naya's crowded trailer. There was no way in hell she was going to let herself get into trouble for something she was not responsible for. She could hardly leave Naya when she had gone to sleep in her lap. Naya however, was rushing between buildings and warehouses before reaching her destination. She slowed to walk, knowing perfectly well that no filming would begin until Ryan had arrived on set, but even then she needed the extra time to compose herself before entering the set. Behind that door would no doubt be Heather, standing there, incredibly strong hands on those perfect goddamn hips. Naya couldn't do it. She wasn't equipped to lie, nor was she to pretend, they were both traits she hated in other but now embodied regarding Heather. In retrospect, she had slowly began to hate herself, and it was all the blonde dancers fault.
Gathering her breath and clenching her fists, trying to muster every ounce of strength she had hidden within her small and fragile body, she clasped the door handle and twisted it. Light flooded onto set as she stepped through the threshold, hearing the familiar sounds of her cast mates chatting about nothing in particular. Three sets of eyes found her upon entering. Lea's, who was searching for something that Naya wasn't sure she held. Cory's, who seemed bemused but somehow apologetic, for what she didn't know but figured she soon would and Heather's. Heather's eyes contained a brightness that was unfounded, especially considering she hadn't exactly checked her appearance before leaving the trailer. Either way, those eyes made her feel slightly nervous as she approached. Heather had stood up from where she'd been sitting, greeting Naya's arrival but before she could hug her like she usually did, Lea imposed herself between the two of them and hugged Naya, whispering something in her ear.
"I love you Nay" she closed her eyes and swallowed hard, knowing that Dianna had thought ahead of time. The small brunette squeezed her tightly before pulling away.
"Alright!" Ryan's voice boomed across the stage as all eyes fell on him "showtime, Naya get on stage" he ordered, Naya using all her strength not to blatantly roll her eyes. She hadn't even rehearsed her lines "Cory, do you wanna follow her?" he did exactly as Ryan had suggested.
"You okay?" he asked under his breath as Naya bit her lip.
"Depends, how well do you know this shot sequence?" Cory gave her a perplexed look before his eyes widened in alarm.
"You don't know your lines, do you?" Naya looked at her co-star and gave a quick shake of her head "we're dead" he quickly announced. Alarm bells rang out in her head as she stared at Cory. This was not good.
"Let's take it from the top" he directed, Naya looking to Cory and Cory looking to Naya. "Action!" was shouted and before either of them could breath a single word, Naya burst out into laughter at their ridiculous predicament. "Cut! Jesus Christ Naya, get it together, this is a professional space!" he shouted angrily as she wheezed for air. Her arse was about three millimeters away from getting kicked off of Glee and for the life of her, she couldn't stop laughing.
"Uh Ryan, the reason Naya's laughing is I kinda don't know my lines..." Cory trailed off, Lea looking at her co-star in surprise. That wasn't the case, she thought back to when they'd been practicing. He knew them perfectly.
"You're kidding, right?" Ryan made his way over to the stage, Naya now coughing in hysterics in the background.
"Well, no?" Cory wasn't sure how to answer, so he resorted to his dorky charm.
"This has got to be some goddamn joke!" Ryan seethed in frustration "go and get Amber, Kevin, Jenna and Harry would you? And quit wasting my time!" Cory quickly fumbled for Naya's hand, grabbing her arm instead and pulling her from the stage and out of the warehouse.
"Would you stop laughing?" Cory turned to Naya, who was still chuckling. She looked up at her co-stars serious face and couldn't help what happened next; more laughter.
"I'm sorry" she tried to calm her giggles, apologizing.
"Yeah well, so am I because now not only are we going to be having a late night, but an early morning" he sighed as the two fell into step.
"Thank you Teeny" Naya lifted his arm and draped her own across his chest "I really appreciate what you did."
"That's okay," he immediately responded "we know what Ryan's rants can do on the best of days, you didn't need it today" he stopped walking and pulled her into a hug.
"God, you're so tall!" she exclaimed, laughing a little as she kissed him on the cheek and pulled away, smiling.
"You're particularly affectionate today" he observed as she shrugged.
"It happens," she replied giddily "I'll go and get P and Bee" Cory nodded and wandered off in search of Harry and Jenna.
It was only a shot in the dark guess that Amber and Kevin were still in her trailer. They had a habit of making themselves at home when she wasn't there. This was probably, in huge part, to the fact that Kevin was a neat freak and Amber was the exact opposite. Neither would hang out in the others, and well, Naya's was the in between. Telling them the whole situation, she received a hearty laugh from both of her cast mates before the three trekked back down to set. Cory was yet to return and Ryan was in heated discussion with Brad, who seemed to be just going through the motions and barely paying attention. Naya smiled at this before wandering over to Lea. She was on her own, which was strange since Heather had been here before she'd left, but she didn't even bother to question the blonde's disappearance. It would just draw unwanted attention to the fact that she was hopelessly confused about everything, especially today.
Naya somewhat listened to what her cast mates where talking about, but wasn't particularly paying close attention. She was still tired and just wanted Cory to return so that they could practice lines. Ryan would have her head if she hadn't learned her lines properly before the next scene was wrapped. Right now, it kind of seemed like Naya could care less. It was one thing to love her job the way that she did, but it was another to work alongside somebody who treated it as though it was merely an option. Stupidly Naya thought she knew how Glee felt, after all it would appear she was somewhat of an option too, but she didn't want that to reflect on her work, or her dedication for that matter. It was a gigantic slap in the face, reading what Heather had spoken to the journalist with such conviction. It almost felt as though everything she had done on the show, and all her character had worked toward meant fat load of nothing.
Naya shook her head and sighed, she needed to stop over analyzing the whole situation. All that article meant was that it confirmed all she had been fearing for a long time now. She had absolutely no chance in hell with Heather Morris.