Found Out
Nothing belongs to me except the plot & the girls
The next morning was difficult for Pogue. His alarm clock went off at the usual 4:30, forcing him to drag himself out of bed in time for morning practice, which he went to grudgingly, hoping two hours of straight Butterfly would wear him out to the point where thinking becomes impossible. Unfortunately, Coach chose today to work on starts and turns, giving the tired swimmers ample down time.
After showering and getting dressed, the troubled teen made his way into the main cafeteria for a quick breakfast, ignoring Caleb and Sarah's invitation to run into town for a quick bite.
He was just settling in over his meal of runny eggs and dry toast when he happened to glance up and see a familiar brunette standing in the coffee line with her short friend, muffling a yawn. The corners of his mouth lifted as he took in her short shorts and big, comfy hoodie. Nothing could be more Corrie.
Almost instantly, she turned around, a bored look on her face as Betsy ordered herself a caramel macchiato, some Pumpkin Spice drink for Becky, and a Chai tea for Corrie. Corrie's tired eyes scanned the room on their own accord, trying not to think about a certain long haired guy who had starred in her dreams all night.
However, this attempt at non-thinking was interrupted and immediately abandoned as she spotted said guy, their eyes locking in a surprisingly intimate manner from across the crowded room. Without a word to Betsy she drifted over to him, pulling a chair out at his empty table and sinking into it with a tired groan at his gesture to join him.
"Morning." Pogue grunted out as he began shoveling food into his mouth, trying to keep up with his swimmer metabolism. She watched him eat, her mouth pulled up in a tiny smile.
"Hi." She smiled with her eyes. "You're going to choke if you don't slow down, Romeo."
And just like that, they were back in Art 1 three years earlier. He smiled at the nickname.
The memory of the day she had given it to him swam to the surface of both of their minds and they smiled in unison.
Flashback:
"Pogo stick!" Reid screamed at the top of his lungs, startling the entire art room into silence. He pulled his head out of the door to join the rest of his body loitering in the hallway on the way to lunch, hand outstretched. Caleb slapped down a five in his palm, muttering something to the effect of "Didn't think you'd actually do it."
Pogue blushed a deep crimson and Tyler rolled his eyes, also turning a faint shade of pink at the nickname. Corrie raised an eyebrow delicately in question as Becky chuckled next to her.
"Nickname. Very stupid." Pogue offered, embarrassed.
"Sounds like there's a story there." Corrie taunted, smiling. Pogue smiled back, amazed at how cute she looked with a pottery wheel between her knees and clay smudged on her cheek.
"Pogo stick? Reid came up with it and you can't guess the connotation?" Tyler asked quietly with a small smirk.
"Is that a penis metaphor?" Becky asked bluntly, having spent too much time around Betsy lately.
"Becks!" Corrie colored slightly, realizing her assumption that Pogue was just a pogo stick enthusiast was ever so slightly wrong.
The boys just looked at them, half embarrassed, half amused by their naïveté.
Later, after class:
"So…" Corrie said as Pogue walked her to her locker, leaning up against it before twirling in the combination and grabbing next period's books. He leaned in towards her, supporting his weight with an arm above her head as their lips almost met, faces centimeters apart.
"So what, Cor?"
"You're dazzling me." He leaned back, giving her some space to regain her thoughts.
"I don't like your nickname."
"And you think I do? Reid just calls me that to piss me off sometimes."
"What if I gave you a nickname?"
"What would it be?" He asked, smiling at her childish enthusiasm. She was so damn cute
"Romeo." His hand came up to lightly brush her cheek, brushing off the dried clay.
"Soft, what light through yonder window breaks. It is the east, and Juliet is the sun." He quoted softly as their bodies grew closer.
"'Tis but thy name that is my enemy." She whispered, eyes locked onto his. He leaned in, ever so slightly, lips brushing hers before she turned her head slightly so that they descended upon her jaw.
"Oh, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?" He asked with a groan as she maneuvered out of his arms. He backed up and away from her locker, realizing what she had the moment before their kiss, which was that they were already three minutes late to their next period class.
"What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?" She asked as she crouched to retrieve a book (did it matter which one? Pogue Parry had just almost kissed her!!!). He reached over her shoulder and pulled out the fake red rose she kept in her locker as decoration.
"Love goes toward love, like schoolboys from their books. But love from love, toward school with heavy looks." He quoted, trailing the silky petals down her spine through the thin white fabric of her shirt. He watched her shiver and stand, a slight blush adorning her face.
"We're late." She stated, breaking with the Shakespeare theme.
"Yeah, I know." He admitted as he carelessly tossed the rose back into her locker and wrapped an arm around her neck, gently towing her toward their next class. He Used to close her locker and put her rose back where it belonged, oblivious to how her sharp eyes caught the movement and narrowed in thought.
(End Flashback)
"Does he still call you that?" She asked, fiddling with the drawstrings of her hoodie.
"Sometimes, when he's running low on drama or whores." He answered, understanding completely. Corrie chuckled and was pleased to hear a small rumble of laughter from him.
"Morning practice this morning?"
"How could you tell?" He asked, running a hand through his wet hair self-consciously.
"Wet hair's sort of a dead give away." At his look she continued. "I mean on a day in Ipswich when it's not raining like there's no tomorrow. Like, you know, today for instance. And the fact that you're here."
"I go to school here." He said playfully, in a slow, clear voice, as if she were mentally handicapped.
"Not this early in the morning. Unless you moved into the dorms?" She asked, hope sparkling in her eyes.
"Still in the apartment. Sorry, Cor."
"Ah, hem." Both teens jumped a little to see a fair skinned brunette who looked strikingly like Corrie standing at the table with three steaming cups of Starbucks goodness. "Honey, I just wanted to drop this with you. I'm gonna take Becks's and mine up to the room. Want me to grab your books for first period?" Betsy asked, a 'I'm-living-vicariously-through-you" smile plastered on her face as she carefully set Corrie's tea down in front of her.
"Hun, I'm in my Sofees. I can't exactly go to class like this." Corrie quipped, telling Betsy through her eyes to knock it off with the maniacal grinning. "I'll be up in a few."
"Okay, babe." Betsy winked and gave Pogue a smile as she made her way back to her dorm room.
"Hun? Babe? Have you gone over to the other side?" Pogue asked playfully.
"Oh, yeah. Betsy's my lesbian lover and we have lesbo sex at every possible moment. In fact, we had lesbian shower sex this morning before coming down here." Corry drawled sarcastically. Pogue's face showed his shock at her words. "Romeo, she's my best friend. We share a dorm. Jeez, are you gullible."
"You're more sarcastic than you used to be." He commented, watching for her reaction.
"That happens some times when…" She trailed off, averting her eyes and taking a sip of tea. "So, what've you been up to since last night?" She asked brightly. Well, as brightly as anybody can at 6:40 in the morning.
"Nothin'. Couldn't sleep." She studied his face, took in the dark bags under his eyes and the subconscious slump of his shoulders.
"Me either." She confessed, rubbing a hand across her face in an effort to wake herself up.
"Aren't you cold in those?" He asked, gesturing to her bare legs and short shorts.
"Are you complaining?" She challenged.
"Never."
They sat in companionable silence for a few more moments before a high-pitched voice brought them out of their thoughts.
"MOM, I will pick out my own dress. And no, I will not wear heels! Because, heels are a man's invention designed to make a woman's butt look smaller…and to make it harder for her to run away!"
"Sorry." Corry apologized before flipping open her phone and raising it to her ear.
"Cor, you're gonna be late if you don't leave lover-boy soon. You've got time for an 8 minute shower if you leave now. Your uniform's all ready. Run, babe!" Betsy's voice suggested quickly before the line went dead and Corry scrambled up from the hard plastic chair.
"I've gotta-"
"Go. I heard her." He offered her a sexy half-smile. "See you later?"
"Sure, sure." She muttered as she grabbed her hot tea and started her mad dash for the showers, the only rational thought in her mind the question of what he'd though when he'd heard Betsy mutter 'Lover-boy.'
