"What's happening?" Sam asked when the apartment was suddenly flooded with vaguely familiar faces, interrupting both her relaxation and "That's a Drag" marathon.
"Sorry about this." A skinny, pretty girl that reminded Sam of Shelby Marks, replied as she sat down on the far left of the couch, away from the blonde that was still in her PJs.
"Wait, hold on, what are you doing in-. . ."
An african-american boy with dreads and carrying a keyboard took the middle seat, stretching the piano across all three of it's occupants.
"What is this doing here?" Sam asked as her confusion began to grow.
"It's for my project." A red head popped out from behind the couch looking at her classmate's set up.
"Cat? I thought you were going to practice at some other chick's house."
Cat smiled at her childishly. "Yeah, it was suppose to be at Tori's house but her crazy sister started a fire so we had to find somewhere else."
"And you volunteered our apartment?" Sam asked. "Our small, two person apartment?"
Cat nodded without hesitation. "Pretty much." Then, with an innocent smile, booty bumped her to one end of the couch. "Now make some room. I wanna sit. Sam, these are my friends from Hollywood Arts. That's Tori and this is Andre."
"Hi." Tori waved cheerfully.
"Sup." Andre just nodded.
"Uhhh." Sam dumbly stared at the two before everything that happened and everything that was said registered in her frozen mind. "One sec."
She grabbed Cat's wrist before dragging the smaller girl to their room. "Ouch, Sam. . . wait. . ." Cat protested. It fell on deaf ears as Sam slammed the bedroom door behind her.
"Dude, why would you just invite people here without giving me at least a warning? What if I had something planned today?"
"Well, that would be a change."
"What?"
"Nothing."
Sam sighed, turning away to grumble quietly to herself. "Arghh, my whole day's ruined."
Cat skipped behind Sam before tapping the girl on the shoulder.
"What?"
"Why don't you help us?"
"Why would I wanna help with a class project at a school I'm not even enrolled in?"
"Because it's fun."
"Group projects aren't fun."
"When it's with my friends it is."
Sam rolled her eyes.
Cat frowned. "Please?" She gripped Sam's arm loosely before pouting. "Just try it."
To her credit, Sam lasted a good five seconds before breaking down with a groan. "Fine. What are you guys doing anyway?"
"A country themed musical!"
"Nope!" Sam interrupted. "I hate country music. I'm not doing it."
"Sam . . ."
"Nope, nope. No no no no." Sam replied, walking out of the room and into the kitchen for some root beer.
Cat followed shortly after with a frown. "Alright, fine. You can just sit there and watch or something."
"Will do." The blonde replied taking a sip out of her glass bottle.
"Yo, Cat come on. We're deciding who gets to sing the big number." Andre beaconed.
"Oh yay, I want it." Cat cheered, all disappointment dissolved.
"You know you can't sing country very well." Tori attempted to sound gentle but it only managed to rile Cat up more.
"Yes, I can."
Sam, who was paying only cursory attention, thought it would be fun to argue. "No, you can't."
"Oh yes, I can."
"Oh no, you can't"
"Can"
"Can't"
"Can."
"Can."
"Can't."
"I know." Sam smirked.
"Stop tricking me!" Cat yelled.
Sam laughed while the other two guests chuckled a bit too.
"Alright, guys come on. Let's be serious. We need someone to sing the lead." Tori stated.
"Why not you Tori?"
"I'm not good at country singing either." She answered. "I tried to listen to them and it was just so hard. I couldn't find any good ones."
"I guess we should just give the part to Cat." Andre concluded.
"Yay!" The redhead cheered throwing a look at Sam that said 'triumph'. She then spun to look at Andre again. "Play the music, man!"
Andre rolled his eyes. "Alright."
Cat stood in front of the two bouncing with excitement until she forced herself to calm down causing Sam raised a brow at her roommates sudden change in demeanor. Cat nodded at Andre who started with two distinct chords, alternating back and forth.
Sam thought it sounded pretty good but not really the style associated with country. However, she didn't say anything and just turned to Cat who began to tap her food to the beat.
With a deep inhale, Cat began to sing.
You walked in
Caught my attention
I've never seen
A man with so much dimension
There was a slight slosh of liquid in the background as Sam's mouth opened, the root bear blooping on the counter before dripping off onto the floor.
Sure, she'd heard Cat sing before, hum mostly, but those times had been for fun and games with no real concern for how she sounded. This was different, anyone could tell even without hearing her now deeper, richer voice.
It's the way you walk
The way you talk
The way you make me feel inside
It's in your smile
It's in your eyes
I don't wanna wait for tonight
Her eyes were closed and concentrated for once, brows furrowed on her forehead, with not a sign of her airy, vapid personality.
So I'm daydreamin'
With my chin in the palm of my hands
About you
You
And only you
Not to mention her body movements seemed to act out what her song was saying. Hugging herself and sexually leaning forward at the verses, then waving her hands above her head like her thoughts, or daydreams, were driving her insane.
Got me
Daydreaming, with my chin in the palm of my hands
About you
You
And only you
Cat's eye opened and made contact with Sam's. The blonde's breath hitched as Cat smiled.
For you oh oh oh
For you oh oh oh
For you oh oh oh
For you oh oh
It was like looking at an angel at work.
Sam's thoughts halted. Oh no, she did not just think of that embarrassingly, corny line. Her face flushed as she ripped her eyes away from Cat.
She was about to take another swig of root beer when she realized that it was all over the front of her shirt. She pushed the glass bottle away. Maybe she had too much.
She grabbed a paper towel and began to dry off some places on her shirt before realizing that Cat had stopped singing.
"Why'd you make her stop? She was doing great." Andre asked, looking more than a little disappointed.
"She was, but it sounded. . . kind of off." Tori responded. "Cat, we're doing country, not jazz."
"Well, it's all I got." Cat responded quietly. "How do you do country anyways?"
The two looked away, mumbling I-have-no-clues and I-wouldn't-know causing Sam to snort quietly.
"Sam, what happened to your shirt?" Cat asked.
"Don't worry 'bout it." She responded at Cat. "And I'm curious. Who actually found a country lover give some input on this." They exchanged glances. "Didn't any of you think to ask someone who actually enjoys country?"
"Well, there is one girl. . ." Andre trailed off, his eyes suddenly dilating. "Nuh-uh. No way. Never again."
Sam made a face. "What's up with him?"
Tori turned to look at her. "Hollywood Arts is an . . . eventful place."
Sam sighed. "I might know somebody."
Like zombies shot with adrenaline, the students ran to the phone in a flock. "You do?" Tori asked, wide eyed."
"Call them! Call them!"
"Alright calm down!" Pulling out her phone and putting it on speed dial, she waited for the irritatingly familiar voice.
"Hey, this is Melanie."
"Sup sis."
"Sam?"
"How do you feel about country?"
"Umm . . . I love it. You know that."
"Oh, yay!" Cat cheered before yanking the phone out of Sam's grip. "Hello? Melanie?"
"Cat?"
"Tell me how to sing country." The red head yelled.
The person on the other line stuttered uncertainly. "O-oh, um . . you like country?"
"Nope. I hate it." She innocently answered. "But I have this project and I need to learn how to sing country."
"Oh . . . well then why don't you just ask Sam. She has an amazing singing voi-."
"Bye Melanie." Sam screamed startling the group before viciously pounding the end button on her phone.
Tori looked up slowly. "What was that she said?"
Sam rolled her eyes. "Nothing." She tried desperately to sound casual. "My sister's just being weird."
"I think that she said you could sing." Tori continued, a brow raised mischievously. "Amazing singing voice is what I think she said."
"Umm. . ." Sam searched for the word but her brain didn't seem to work. Mostly because Cat had been staring at her with a furrowed brow.
"Amazing singing voice?" Cat asked, confused. "You could sing and you didn't tell me?"
Sam backed away as Cat stepped forward. "Umm. . ."
"How can you keep this from me?" She started.
"It's not what you think." Sam tried but was promptly interrupted.
"I thought we could share everything. Didn't you trust me?"
"Are they still talking about singing?" Andre asked.
Sam ignored him. "Of course, I trust you."
"Uh-huh." Cat replied, a tinge of disbelief in her voice. "Prove it."
"What?" Sam asked.
Cat leaned forward. "Prove. It." She emphasized with poking Sam's chest with each word.
Sam's body sagged. "No, I'm not gonna. . ."
"No trust!" Cat yelled.
"Alright, fine!" She sighed before grabbing her phone again. "What do you want me to sing?"
"Well, what do you know how to sing?" Andre asked while standing the keyboard vertical to the floor.
Sam shrugged. "I don't know. I hate country. That's Melanie's thing."
"Do you remember one of the songs she liked?" Tori asked helpfully.
Sam thought for a moment before groaning. "There's one song that she just wouldn't stop listening to when she came over one week."
"Oh, I remember that song." Cat stated. "I didn't know that was country."
"It's more modern country."
"Oh . . ." Cat tilted her head. "Well then I kinda liked it."
Sam looked at them disbelievingly. "Didn't you guys look up modern country music?"
They looked away causing Sam to roll her eyes.
"Whatever."
"Are you going to sing something or not?" Cat asked impatiently.
"Hold on, it's loading."
In a matter of seconds, the small pear phone began to blare out a happy fiddle rift with some more stringed instrumentation in the background.
Sam glanced at the screen when the words began to scroll upward.
You just keep tuggin, pushin, pullin
On my little heartstrings
Got me all tied up in knots
Anytime I see your face
Oh, it brings out
It brings out the girl in me
Through the unusually high pitch her voice tendedSam could hear the nervousness in her own voice as it quavered but she ignored it. Instead, focusing on hitting all the notes in the song.
Don't know just how ya did it
But ya got me real good
Hook, line and sinker
Like I knew you could
But you don't even notice
Boy I wish you would
She could feel herself finally getting the swing of things, comfortable enough that she didn't even need to look at lyrics on the pear phone but she stole another glance just to make sure that she was remembering right.
She was and a high note was now on the way.
I can't help myself
I can't help but smile
Every time I see your face
She wasn't entirely sure if she got the high note but she thought it was close enough.
And we've never met
I bet you don't know my name
She inhaled, ready for the high note this time.
Am I outta my mind
I think that I might be goin' crazy
She was positive she nailed it that time.
Cause my heart is yours to have and hold or break
How'd you get to be so close
When you're so far away
The video stopped abruptly and Sam glanced at the screen again. "Wi fi's down."
The group stood gapping at the other teen.
Sam frowned. "What?"
Tori stepped up looking a little starstruck. "Wow, that was amazing. Who taught you how to sing like that?"
"Sing like what?"
"Dang girl, those are some nice pipes." Andre commented appraisingly.
"Thanks." Sam smiled at the two before turning to look at her roommate.
Cat was just standing and staring, her mouth agape and, strangely, breathing heavily. "I think I just started to really love country."
This fic came to me after listening to Jennette McCurdy's song So Close and Homeless Heart several hundred times, then listening to Daydreamin' by Arianna Grande several million times.
They have such awesome voices, I wonder if they'll consider doing a duet together.