Disclaimer: We don't own Degrassi. Sadly.
~~~x-The Past Grips Tighter-x~~~
Between Vegas and Annie in a dress, I was having a pretty good day.
Annie smoothed her dress down, "I can't believe we just did that." she murmured to me, seeming at loss for words. I sat down on the bed in our hotel room, pulling her down onto my lap.
"What? Lied to your parents, or eloped?" I asked, smiling slightly. She gave me a pointed look, tugging on a piece of my unruly hair.
"Both." she said. "Not only do my parents think I'm on a church retreat, your parents think you're.. doing whatever it is you do. But, we just.." she paused, glancing around as if someone would hear her.
"We just eloped." she finished, almost in shock at her own words. I rolled my eyes, still riding on the high of Annie being legally mine.
"It was your idea." I told her, bouncing my knee a little. She smacked my chest, "Was not!" her arms wrapped around my neck, leaning down to kiss me. Just before our lips met the door to our room banged open.
"Hey, guys!" Mason shouted boisterously, ignoring our somewhat compromising position. He tugged a tall, pretty girl into the room. Mason, clearly drunk (judging from his hectic movements and glazed over eyes and the flask in his hand), shoved the girl forward.
"This is Lily. Isn't she gorgeous?" he crowed, throwing an arm around her neck and dropping a kiss onto her cheek.
Lily blushed, giving us a wave. She poked Mason's side, "We didn't mean to intrude, he just wanted me to meet you both." she said, blushing and rubbing her cheek.
Annie climbed off of my lap, walking over and prying Mason off of Lily. She shook the girls hand, asking, "How did you two meet?" "We met in a coffee shop!" Mason paused, "Did you know coffee shops don't sell alcoholic drinks?" he added as an afterthought. I raised my eyebrows.
Annie laughed, "That's um, lovely, Mason. But I think you've had enough." she extracted the flask from his hand, tossing it onto the dresser.
Mason frowned. "Married people are no fun. Let's go, Flower, these people are boring." with one last look at the flask, he dragged Lily out of the room.
I looked at Annie, confused. "Flower? What kind of nickname is Flower?" she shrugged her tiny shoulders and sat back down next to me.
I grabbed Annie and attempted to flip her on her back, but she turned and the 'flip' caused us both to land on the floor.
~~~x-x~~~
"CUT!" Simpson yelled. Clare had landed on top of me and she obviously wasn't happy about it.
"One scene! Imagine, if you didn't mess up, one god damn scene!" Clare yelled. She stood up and brushed off her dress. I stood up as well, shaking my hair out. Without thinking, I snapped,
"Imagine, if you ate a salad once in a while? My stomach feels like a boulder was dropped onto it."
Her face twisted into complete anger. She took a step toward me, and I honestly thought she was going to hit me. But she didn't.
Instead, her eyes filled with hurt and she walked away, toward her dressing room.
~~~x-x~~~
Imagine if you ate a salad once in a while?
Eli's voice kept repeating in my head. Just like hers did. Just like Julia's did.
Clare, maybe you should eat something healthier, like a salad. I mean, look at Jenna. KC left you for her. She's obviously better than you.
Her voice haunted me. I couldn't get rid of it. It was always in my head. Even when she died, it was still there. Still making me feel like a piece of dirty gum under her combat boots.
That's why I couldn't go a day without my love. My drug. The white powder.
Some call it Angel. Some call it Coke. Most people just call it illegal.
It's not something I planned to get addicted to. It just happened. I had read that it helped you lose weight.
You could be so much prettier, if you just lost a few pounds.
I reached my dressing room, slamming the door as I walked in. I sat down in my chair and looked into the mirror. The bags under my eyes were now completely noticeable. My cheek bones were visible as well. Julia would be proud.
Julia.
I had no idea what Eli had seen in her. She was horrible. If she thought she was better than you, she made it painfully clear.
She acted completely innocent in front of Eli. It was all an act. Just an act. Obviously, she was a better actress than I ever could be. I reached into my make up bag and pulled out that tiny bag filled with the stuff I loved most dearly.
~~~x-x~~~
"What happened to Clare?" the new girl, Fiona, asked. I shrugged my shoulders. "She has freak outs every once in a while. She'll be out soon." I said.
"But, I saw her walk into her dressing room, she had tears in her eyes." Clare crying? I hadn't seen Clare cry since Julia had died.
"She probably just something in her eye." I lied, thinking back to my last words to her. Fiona shrugged.
I decided to change the subject, "You did good on set for a first timer."
Fiona's face lit up. "Really? I was always such a huge fan of the show, and it's like a dream being on it!" she smiled widely. I laughed,
"Well, we enjoy having you. You're sensational." I said, referring to her ability to keep a straight face when 'drunk Mason' was around.
She blushed slightly, just as Adam popped up at her side, "Where's Clare?" he asked, searching for her.
"Her dressing room." Fiona answered while I remained silent. I fidgeted slightly. I honestly hadn't meant what I said to Clare, and I felt like an asshole. Clare was gorgeous, you could ask anyone. I owed her an apology.
As if on cue, Clare walked onto the set, fresh makeup, drops in her eyes, and straightened clothes. Only, there was something else..
Adam beat me to the punch, "Hey, Clare? What's on your nose?" he held a hand up to his own nose, gesturing. Clare gasped, covering her nose.
She laughed nervously through her hands, rubbing her nose, "It's probably just makeup the stylists' forgot to rub in." she said, avoiding our gazes. She rubbed her nose again, effectively wiping the white powder off from underneath her nose.
Fiona jumped in, "Oh my gosh, I know how that is! It's so embarrassing!" she flipped her hair and rolled her eyes. Clare smiled slightly.
"Yeah, um, can we just finish the scene? I'm kind of tired." she asked, directing her question at Simpson. He nodded from where he sat in his directors chair.
Clare and I got into place, and just before the camera darted rolling, I leaned closer to her, "You're lying." I murmured, "And I'm going to find out why." Clare fought to control the horrified look that was making its way onto her face.
I leaned back, slipping into James' character once again.
~~~x-The End-x~~~
Author's Note:
Sorry for the long wait! It's hard to do a story when you only talk over Twitter. We are so happy with the response we got from this story. And we love you all so much. Oh and my name got messed up in the last chapter. I used to be SeeYouLaterBrownieHater. Love you guys.
Charlotte. Emily. Emlotte. Gingers.