Part 4: Time and Tide
DAMIAN
"Bye babe...", Damian crooned.
"I'm not sleepy yeeet... hmmmm..", Jenna replied.
The lovers were both on Skype and the poor girl was barely awake.
"Aww c'mon wee lass, you already look langered and header, hey?"
Jenna pretended to be angry. "Damian Joseph McGinty Jr., are you slagging this dote?"
Damian laughed. "Just acting the maggot as usual."
"Alright, off to the scratcher, wee cub." Jenna yawned. "I love you, babe."
"Love you too. Night lassie."
Damian waited for Jenna to disconnect before he shuts down his laptop. Lately, Skype sessions with Jenna has been getting shorter and shorter. It must be the school work for his girlfriend.
Craving for something warm, he walked to the kitchen to heat a cup of milk. As he waited for the milk to warm in the microwave, Damian's eye wandered to the picture frame stuck on the fridge. It was given by a fan, and has a photo of Cameron, Damian and Hannah.
"Ting!", the microwave went. He grabbed his milk and looked back at the photo. Damian's gaze lingered on Hannah, and recalled Cameron's comment last week about his chemistry with Hannah.
For some reason, Damian assured himself.
"I love Jenna and I've never been happier in my entire life."
Saying it out loud he realized however, did not sound as convincing as he hoped it would be. A lot of thoughts are going through his head, and he suddenly felt cold despite the warm cup on his hand.
It was past 10pm, and he needed to talk to someone. Damian went down the hallway and checked if Cam was still awake, but from the sounds of his snore, it was obvious his buddy was in dreamland.
Hannah, he thought.
Damian grabbed his mobile and rang Hannah.
"Damian?", she answered from the other line.
"Hannah!", he greeted. "Fancy a chat?"
"Alright Ireland, what's wrong?"
"Well, I could not sleep."
"Well.. you could not sleep if you are still awake and up about right?"
"Hannah! I'm serious." Damian laughed softly. "What do I do?"
Hannah paused. "You could try counting leaping leprechauns..."
"Funny." He snickered. "Maybe I should try counting how much nose hair was left after you plucked them."
"That sounds like a good strategy."
"Gross though." He sipped his milk.
"Yeah." She fidgeted. "So what is up?"
"I dunno." He sighed.
"Uh-oh. Jenna problems?"
"Nah."
"Nah? Damian you sound like you'll be singing Are you Lonesome Tonight any minute now."
"Ha. Ha. Forget it. I think I'll try getting some sleep now." He stood up and drank the rest of his drink.
"Oh, okay."
Silence.
"Hannah?"
"Yeah?"
"Could you just stay on the phone till I fall asleep?"
"Oh okay." Hannah replied. "Sure, whatever."
Damian answered back softly. "I feel.. alone."
"Whoa Damo!" Hannah laughed. "What has gotten into you tonight? Maybe you should go sleep beside Cameron and ask for a hug!"
"Hannah!"
"Okay, okay, fine." She's still laughing.
"Just stay on the phone, will you?"
"Okay Damian. Go to sleep now."
Damian walked slowly to his room, turned off the lights and settled into his bed. He could hear Hannah still on the phone, distractedly humming a tune.
"Hannah?"
"Damian?"
"Don't you ever get tired of loving people?", Damian asked softly.
"What?" Hannah reacted.
"I mean, you told me you've never been in a relationship."
"Yeah."
"But it's as if you have been in a relationship so many times."
"I do not get what you mean, Damo."
"Well, you give so much love to people, and they love you back, yet you are not with someone. Doesn't that make you feel strange?"
"Sounds like I'm talking to Cameron, and not Damian.", Hannah chuckled in a low voice. "But seriously, maybe when I was younger, I did kinda resent my situation.. like you know, people just seeing me as a friend. But I decided to get over it and just let thing be."
"Like you got numb?"
"Numb is such a hopeless term, Dames. I'm not hopeless."
"No, you are not."
Silence again.
"Hannah?" Damian's eyes were stsrting to close.
"Yea?"
"Did you like someone on Glee Project?"
"Huh?"
Damian repeated the question. "Did you like someone on Glee Project?"
"Is it important?"
"You could tell me, you know." Damian replied. "We are friends, right?"
"Yea.. friends." Hannah whispered.
"So, did you?"
"Uhm..." Hannah paused for a bit.. "Yeah..."
"Who?", he asked.
"What?"
"Who?", Damian repeated. It feels like he was on a trance now.
"Damian, just go to sleep." Hannah started to hum again the tune she was doing earlier. At first it sounded familiar, until Damian realized it was Somewhere Beyond the Sea, the song that he dedicated to Hannah and Cameron during the Finale night. Hannah started to sing the song like a lullabye.
A few minutes passed.
"Hannah?" Damian was like drunk-sleepy now.
"Yes?"
"Aren't you gonna ask me that question too?", Damian asked ever so softly.
Silence. Hannah stopped humming.
"Well..." her voice asked quietly. "So, did you like someone on Glee Project?"
Silence again.
Damian took a deep breath. "Yea..."
"Who?"
Silence.
He whispered a name, like it was not meant to be heard and Damian was at the cross between reality and dreamland.
"Hannah...", he said oh so softly before he drifted off to sweet slumber.
HANNAH
"Hannah...", he said oh so softly before he drifted off to sweet slumber.
Silence.
Hannah gripped her mobile phone and just listened to Damian's even breathing. The lad fell asleep and the last word on his lips was her name. Was it the answer she thought it was? Or was it just the start of a sentence that he never got to finish? Or maybe he was going to ask something?
Crap, Hannah thought.
She hung up and walked towards the fridge. She took a look at the photos of the Glee Project contenders and her gaze fell on Damian's face. It's been five months since she met him, and it's been three months she's trying to let go of her feelings for Damian. They have become the best of friends, and she was comfortable with it. Hannah does not want to lose Damian. Yes, she felt really hurt when she learned last week that he got back together with Jenna, his ex-girlfriend.
You have no right to someone that was never yours to begin with, Hannah., she told herself. So much for "big love".
Hannah smiled at Damian's photo and touched his cheek. "Good night Damo.", she said.
DAMIAN
Damian woke up late in the morning to a loud laughter and a shout. "DAMOOOOO!" Someone jumped over him, and felt another join in.
"Ooooffff!", he protested. "Heeeeyy!" Damian twisted to see who was on top of him and saw Samuel and Bryce.
"Wake up!", Lindsay shouted from the doorway. "We're going on a spur-of-the-moment trip to..."
Cameron did a drumroll on the door.
"...Hermosa Beach!", Lindsay continued. "My brother offered his pad by the beach for some S'mores and company. We could catch Glee Project there tonight. What say you?"
"I say... I need coffee." Damian replied as he winced. "Please... please get off my back, guys."
The whole room erupted with laughter.
"Only if you say Yes!", Samuel called out.
"Yes!" he laughed.
The guys got up and filed out of the room while Lindsay remained in the doorway.
"Hey Ireland!", she called out.
"Hey Linds..." he replied as he yawned and sat up.
"You okay?"
"Huh?"
"Nothing." Lindsay sort of nodded her head. "We'll be going ahead to do the groceries and stuff, I left the addy at the counter. Hannah will pick you up around six in the evening, she still has errands to do so she's going late like you."
"That's great, I have lunch with Keith today."
"Alright, see ya."
Damian leaned back on his bed, rubbing his temples. He grabbed his mobile phone to check for messages from Jenna, and there was none. Hoo-boy. It's going to be a long day., he thought.
