Story: Of Spitfires and Friendships
Pairing: T.J./Spinelli, lite Gretchen/Vince
Rating: Mid T
Summary: T.J. doesn't really know when his feelings for Spinelli changed, but he can't imagine living without her. Too bad she has yet to realize her own. Slight AU.
Disclaimer: I do not own Recess and am merely using the characters for my own entertainment.
"Excuse me! Have you seen Spinelli?" Gretchen yelled at two teens in a heated embrace. She could barely hear herself over the deafening music.
They both shook their head and she kept squeezing and shoving through the crowd, searching for the signature red baseball cap of T.J. Maybe he would know where she was. She found him sitting by the open bar, his cellphone in hand, a particularly annoyed look on his face.
"T.J! I finally found you! Where the heck is Spinelli?"
He shrugged, "I dunno. One minute, we were chatting by the bar, the next, she's gone."
"Well we need to get going! We have a history test tomorrow, and she can't fail this or she'll fail the class this semester!"
"Believe me, I tried to call her and find her, but she hasn't picked up her phone."
Gretchen rolled her eyes, "I'll be on my best behaviour, she says. I won't go crazy. Let's just go to the party, she says. I knew this would happen. I'm not sticking around all evening, T.J. I'm going home to study. Please see to it that she gets home safely. Oh, and do tell Vince we need to talk."
"About what?"
"Don't worry about it. I'll see you tomorrow, T.J."
He waved as she turned to leave and then looked around for his small Italian friend. He knew how she got at these parties. He just didn't want to see her get taken advantage of by someone while she was intoxicated. Because he knew she would come after them with a force, and they would cry. He had to prevent any needless pain from happening. He called her one last time deciding if she didn't pick up now, he would go looking for her, regardless of how awful it would be to find her in a bedroom with another guy.
Surprisingly, she picked up on the first ring, "Teej! My man! Where you at?!"
He didn't know how much she had to drink, but she was most definitely not sober. "Spinelli. We have to go now. Where are you?"
"No way dude! I'm having the time of my life!"
"You won't be tomorrow when you go to your history test with a raging hangover. C'mon. Where are you?"
"We're about to go skinny dipping! Cowabunga!"
"Skinny dipping? What-"
The pool.
He hung up and shoved by a bunch of people and raced to the outdoor pool. She may be intoxicated, but he couldn't let her embarrass herself. Or possibly have her life ruined by a picture.
He went past the screen door where there were a bunch of people jamming to the music and some cheering. He heard the splash of the pool and rushed over. Someone had already removed their clothes and hopped in the pool. He looked around until he found Spinelli trying to remove a stocking by the diving board. Her coordination was totally shot. Even he could tell from over there.
He walked over to her and pulled her up to her feet in one fell swoop. "C'mon Spin. Time to go home."
"What? Hell no! You go home! The party just started!" She made a face and belched, and he recoiled at the sheer amount of alcohol on her breath.
"Gee whiz... How much did you have to drink?"
She laughed, "What's it to ya?"
Sighing, he lifted her onto his shoulder, despite her fists hitting his back, "Put me down!"
People heard the commotion and turned to face them, grinning suggestively. Someone whooped and shouted 'Get a room!'
He ignored them and Spinelli's interesting threats of castration and continued to push past the crowd out of the party. "You may not like it now, but trust me, you'll thank me later."
She didn't respond, so he bumped her up a bit. A wayward snore burst from her lips and he rolled his eyes. Of course. This always happened. They'd go to a party with Spinelli, she'd drink to oblivion, he'd stop her from doing something stupid, and then she would fall asleep, leaving him to clean up the mess and take care of the aftermath.
He jolted her again, "You're a mess, you know that, Spin? You need to get your act together."
She giggled, half-asleep, "I love you, T.J. Love ya, man." And then socked him on the shoulder once before blubbering nonsense words in her sleepy state.
He rolled his eyes as he reached his car, "Yeah, yeah I know. Just don't barf in my car okay?"
The ride was fairly calm with Spinelli staying partly asleep for most of it, but at some point, she woke up and held her stomach in agony. "T.J. I'm not feeling so hot."
"Don't barf in my car! We're almost at your place. Just hold on."
"No!" She leaned back when her exclamation made her head spin. "I wanna go to your place. Take me to your place."
"It's right next door you know? It won't be too much trouble to bring you home." But he stopped insisting when he saw her fervently shaking her head, and then grabbing it when her head started pounding. He glanced at her, trying to figure out why she sincerely didn't want to go home. He parked in front of his house and as soon as the car stopped, she wasted no time in snatching his keys, hopping out and sprinting across the yard to his front door. No doubt she was going to puke.
T.J. locked up his car and followed her warily, heading up to his bathroom. Sure enough, he heard the sound of garbled retching and could hear the chunks hitting the water in his toilet bowl. As per routine, he bent down behind Spinelli and pulled her long black locks out of her face, holding them back and rubbing her back as she emptied herself in his toilet. When the last of the dry heaving was finally done, she wiped her mouth, breathing hard.
"Shit. I feel awful." her voice was hoarse and he filled a cup of water which she down gratefully.
"Well you should, Spin. You had a shit ton to drink." He helped her stand up and watched as she picked up the toothbrush she often left at his house and scrubbed her teeth. "You gonna tell me why you don't want to go home?"
"Can we talk tomorrow? I'm so damn tired. Can't I just go to sleep?"
He rolled his eyes, "And where exactly are you supposed to sleep?"
"In your bed, Detweiler." She laughed when his cheeks turned pink, "C'mon! We've been having sleepovers since we were kids. How is this any different?"
"We haven't had any sleepovers since we hit middle school. We're almost seniors now."
She shrugged. "You're my best friend, and I trust you. I need a t-shirt and some boxers. I don't want to sleep in these barfy clothes."
He left his bathroom and headed to his dresser to grab one of his old large tshirts and a pair of freshly washed boxers. "I don't know if they'll fit you. You are pretty-"
His words trailed off when he rounded the corner. Spinelli had taken it upon herself to remove her clothes and was currently standing in his bathroom running her hands through her hair in just her bra and underwear. He knew as she had grown older, she had definitely gotten more attractive, but she was always covering up her body with sweatshirts and other baggy clothes. He knew puberty had been good to her, but it was always such a surprise just to see how good. Her body, though short in stature more than made up for it with her curvaceous figure and ample bust. She had definitely inherited her mother's sexy Italian genes. Too bad she never showed them off.
She turned and gave T.J. a dirty look, "See something you like, Detweiler?"
He smirked, "Can't say that I don't."
She rolled her eyes but grinned and snatched his tshirt out of his hand, purposely getting close, just to see him bristle. She pulled it over her head and laughed when the shirt went down to her knees. "Looks like I won't be needing those boxers after all."
Then she walked past him and hopped into his bed, snuggling under the covers. "My head hurts. Night."
"Where am I supposed to sleep, Spinelli?"
"In your bed? Where else?" he heard her voice mumbling, "It's not a big deal."
It was a big deal. She may have thought nothing of it, but to him, sleeping in the same bed of his best friend turned crush was pretty big. He knew he wouldn't do anything to her, but his heart was still racing, especially when he picked up on her scent when he went under the covers. He had to be careful, otherwise, he would end up with a serious case of blue balls in the morning. And if she saw it, she would never let him live it down.
Chapter 1! Hope you enjoyed it :)