Disclaimer: I do not know any of the person's mentioned in this story, nor does this story represent real happenings or feelings. This piece of work is purely fiction and does not reflect on the person's spoken about.
A/N: Hey guys, so lets be honest, I couldn't wait to update again because this was such an interesting/fun chapter to write. Plus I have finished school and thus find a lot of time on my hands to update regularly. Lucky for you :) So remember to review, thanks for the compliments about my last chapter and I hope you enjoy! - Chels
Chapter 4. The Longest Yard
"Hemo! And Naya!" Dianna exclaimed brightly as they walked from the cast car-park. Naya groaned and shot the blonde a glare underneath her sunglasses. If looks could kill, hers certainly would have.
"Morning NayNay, and Heather Morris, what's happening?" Amber shone them a 1000 watt smile. Naya tried to do the same but it only came out like an unwelcome growl. She heard Heather apologize to their cast-mate as they continued to walk.
"Naya, up top" Mark held up his palm for a high-five, to which Heather responded and slapped his hand. "Didn't realize your name was Naya, Heath" fuck you Mark, Naya's conscious screamed inside her mind. He knew the tell-tale signs of Naya Rivera having been on the piss, and he was totally being an asshole.
"Can we make it our point to try and avoid any more cast members?" Naya requested as Heather turned to her, laughed and then raised an eyebrow.
"Wait, your serious?" the blonde watched as her friend sighed hopelessly "Nay, we're on set, exactly how easy do you think that's going to be?" she just rolled her eyes, shrugged and began walking again.
"Alright, just the ones that will persist to annoy the living shit out of me" Naya narrowed it down just in time to see Lea sitting out the front of her trailer. There was no way she was confronting Lea, not before being forced in the same room with her at least. "Your trailer, now!" Naya ordered, her voice demanding as Heather caught sight of Lea and laughed.
"Okay" she obliged, pulling the brunette into her trailer and shutting the door. Upon turning around, Naya was already horizontal on the sofa and burying her head into the pillow. "Nay, you have to stay awake" she observed, walking over to the mirror and evaluating her appearance.
"Hemo, I don't think I can do this today" she finally admitted, her pride being shoved aside. Whilst Naya was the last person on this earth to get hangovers, she was possibly the first person that would die of sleep deprivation, and right now, she was running on less than one.
"No offense Nay, but I would have more sympathy if you hadn't of done this to yourself" the blonde started to undress.
The fact that Heather was guilt tripping her for being so irresponsible kind of irked Naya, after all the only reason she had been so reckless was the girl in standing front of her. Running away from her and the stupid feelings she seemed to stir in Naya. Little did the brunette know that those feelings weren't as easily out run as she might have first thought. They lingered and proceeded to mock her the entire night. The more alcohol she consumed, the more it seemed to blunt the sheer force of these feelings. She was hopelessly and quite possibly irrevocably in love with her best friend.
Naya found herself staring up at the ceiling. At this moment in time it was the safest place for her gaze to be directed, especially with a half dressed Heather in her vicinity. She liked the idea of being able to sneak glances at the blondes exquisite body, however it probably wouldn't be her wisest move. Naya had made it a somewhat hobby to stare at Heather without the dancers knowledge, and that had lead for an on-going joke on set. One which involved Naya being portrayed as a hormonal teen that couldn't quite keep it in her pants long enough not to stare hungrily at her friend. When in reality her eyes just naturally sought out Heather.
"Man I do not feel well" Kevin barged into Heather's trailer, causing the blonde to cover up and shriek.
"What the fuck Kevin, knock first!" she hit him when passing by to find her Cheerio's shirt. Kevin just shrugged and let his gaze fall on Naya.
"You have got to be kidding me? Get up Naya!" he shouted in particular outrage. Naya didn't respond, but rather continued to stare hopelessly at the roof and ponder her thoughts.
"What is your problem now Kev?" she found herself asking automatically. Her tone was void of any sort of emotion, indicating this was something of a regular occurrence. Not the alcohol induced workdays, but the dramatics of one Kevin McHale.
"Um, other than the fact that I was close to turning off my TV and innocently going to bed about six hours ago, until you wandered in my apartment and decided to have an all-night bender, I'm not entirely sure" he wasn't making any sense, Naya thought to herself as she choose to ignore the long winded sentence. Chances are he probably hadn't made any sense to a sober Heather either.
"Right, so you hold me responsible for your current state?" she questioned, getting the facts straight before she would literally obliterate his stupidity.
"Let me see? Yes!" his temper was obvious but Naya didn't mind. She knew how to deal with Kevin.
"Well I'll let you in on one thing okay? I didn't open your front door, didn't let myself in, didn't force drinks down your throat, didn't force you to dance and I certainly am not to blame for your current situation, Understood?" a pathetic whimper could be heard from near the trailers door. Naya had completely and utterly torn her friend to shreds, and he was now a shriveling mess on the floor.
"Jesus Kevin, can you get out of my trailer?" Heather stared at him as though he was some sort of nuisance, which he totally was, Naya thought.
"F-f-fine" he sobbed, picking himself up off the floor and leaving the two girls alone again.
Naya couldn't help but let out a laugh. It kind of was her fault he was in this position, and while she may have been telling the truth about all of those things previously, she did have a way of peer pressuring, and Kevin had succumbed last night. Once Heather was done she and Naya made their way over to the brunette's trailer, where she found her spare Cheerio's uniform, thank lord, and then the two went to hair and makeup. Lea was also there, which Naya was dreading but she was far too busy speaking to Dianna and Chris to even notice her arrival, so she more or less hid in the corner and waited for her stylist.
She'd tried to keep the sunglasses on but eventually they came off and her eyes stung. Not only were they noticeably bloodshot, she could hardly keep them open. Ryan was totally going to know something was up. Sighing, Naya just lolled her head back and let the usual routine ensue. It wasn't long until they were done and the entire cast was being summoned to the Glee Choir room. When Naya arrived, Heather having gone back to her trailer to get something, she slyly slipped her sunglasses back on and entered the room. Most of her friends were waiting, which meant she automatically received a disapproving look from Ryan but she chose to ignore it. If it was the last thing Naya was going to do today, it was to engage with her boss. Brad Falchuk was lingering around set as well today, which meant that if Ryan was going to be singling her out, he would be doing it on his best behavior. Either way she just wished he would bury whatever beef he had with the brunette and just move on, but this was wishful thinking; on both their parts.
As soon as Darren and Mark arrived, as well as Heather, they were ready to begin filming. Naya was simply praying for the end and her prayers began when Ryan ordered for her to take those 'ridiculous' glasses off. He was such a jackass. She did as he said because she was avoiding an argument, but it certainly didn't mean she was happy with the decision.
"Okay, and Kev, you just need to move over to your right a little, no, your right" Ryan looked at him as though her was stupid when his wheelchair had started left. Naya felt for Bee, she really did. The poor thing looked far worse than her, in fact he kind of looked semi drunk yet hungover at the same time. It was awful. At least she was still riding the waves of drunkenness whilst being incredibly tired.
"And action" Ryan called out, Brad waving his arms about behind camera as Lea sung at the front of the room, Matthew standing beside her. The camera then panned the entire cast before stopping on Naya. Of course it had to bloody stop on her. "Cut! Naya, what in the world are you doing?" Ryan made a disgusted face, although to Naya it just looked like he was confused and constipated at the same time.
"Watching Rachel perform" she simply retorted.
"And what should you be doing?" he asked, his eyes widening as though she may just be the dumbest person on this earth.
"Ah, watching Rachel perform?" was this a trick question? Either way she thought she'd answered adequately enough both times. But by the way Ryan was shooting her a ludicrous look, it meant apparently not.
"No, Naya, your not supposed to be gawking at your fellow Glee club member with bulging eyes and drool foaming at the side of your mouth, your supposed to be harmonizing in the background" oh fuck, he'd been right. She was supposed to be doing that. "Can you do that for me Naya? Or is the idea of opening and closing your mouth in time with a tune a little to complex for your brain to comprehend?" Naya found herself nodding her head in compliance as Heather frowned.
"Whoa, your really out of line Ryan" she spoke with confidence, her words splitting the stunned silence like a knife.
"Excuse me?" he asked, not in the rude sort of way but more in the taken aback manner.
"You heard me, more than three quarters of that sentence was unnecessary, and I'm fairly sure not only is it mean, and bullying, it's also harassment in the workplace" Naya and majority of the cast turned to face the blonde, who seemed to be seething with anger.
"It's what Heather?" he looked perplexed, and just utterly confused, as though the rug had been pulled out from under him. Naya turned to her best friend, awaiting her response.
"It's unprofessional," she spat with bitterness and resentment "you can't always just single out Naya and treat her like the work she is producing isn't good enough, it's not fair" Naya found herself gulping loudly and a wayward hand making its way over to Heather's. The blonde clasped it and squeezed tightly, acknowledging her gesture.
"Everybody take five yeah?" Brad opted as he interjected and clapped his hands together awkwardly. Immediately Naya was standing up and dragging Heather outside.
They were in the hallway of William McKinley High and the brunette didn't have one positive thing to say to her friend, other than the pestering thought in the back of her mind that she might just lose her job. Either way it didn't seem to phase Naya much today, all it did however, was stir up an insane amount of feelings which were all directed toward Heather. The blonde looked in her direction, gorgeous blue eyes boring into her dark brown. Gazes met each other and not a singular word was exchanged between the pair before they both knew and understood what the other was thinking. Naya pulled her into a warm embrace, somewhat burying her pounding head into her friends blonde head of hair. If ever she needed Heather, today was most certainly the day fit for the tall blonde to become her knight in shining armor.
Naya was acutely aware of her cast-mates voices all around her, but none were directed at the pair so there they stood, arms wrapped tightly around one another. If Naya thought long and hard about it, Ryan actually had been extremely out of line, and it somewhat bothered her because now the entire cast, if they couldn't already, would now see it. She had to wonder if she had done something wrong, or if her acting was literally as bad as he made it out to be. He couldn't exactly attack her if there was technically nothing there to attack, so Naya figured she mustn't be doing a bang up job of the extra airtime she'd gotten this season.
Eventually Heather pulled away from her friend and offered a warm smile in consolation. Naya smiled back, relinquishing all the strength she'd formally had over the blonde and handing it to her in hearts. It was then that she had remembered the poker night Dianna had mentioned yesterday. The brunette hadn't particularly being paying to much interest, but she now wondered if there game was tonight. If so, there was probably no way she would make it now but in the off chance she slept off her lack of sobriety, it was always an option.
"Hey girls," Brad approached them, Naya being pulled from her thoughts and immediately searching for her best friends hand. Finding it, she squeezed tightly and waited for their director to speak. "I spoke to Ryan, look Heath, as much as you were in the right, speaking up at that particular moment probably wasn't your brightest moment" he admitted sheepishly, placing an awkward hand at the back of his neck and rubbing it.
"I only did what I thought was necessary, he was blatantly attacking Naya and frankly its getting old" Heather was right, it was happening much to frequently and it was breaking down Naya's self-esteem.
"I know, okay," Brad nodded in an understanding manner "a few others, Ian included have noticed and have been meaning to find the right time to pull him aside and discuss it."
"Well no offense, but meaning to and actually doing so are two different things. Meanwhile Naya keeps getting the brunt of his shitty mood swings and unnecessary artistic remarks" she watched her director sigh. It was a lose / lose situation for him. Either way he would try and put it, Heather would bite back, standing firm that Ryan had gotten what he deserved.
"Alright, I can see that we're not going to agree one hundred percent on this but at least respect the fact that the man is technically your boss" Naya glanced at her best friend, knowing what Brad had just said wouldn't sit well with her. She had turned just in time to see the blonde roll her eyes.
"Fine" she replied like it was asking far too much of her to even acknowledge that small fact.
"Great!" he exclaimed, smiling at the two "now are we ready to return in there and finish up that scene?" Heather looked to Naya, who in turn just shrugged. What choice did they have?
As soon as they walked back into the Glee Choir room, there was an evident amount of tension in the air. In fact it rivaled that of the months directly after Naya and Mark had broken up. With him and all his gallivanting about with numerous women, it was hard for the cast not to take sides. It was kind of like the first season Mash Off, boys against girls. The guys had argued that he wasn't used to all the female attention, and what had Naya expected? Well first off, she'd expected him to keep his dick in his pants, but knowing Mark since their break up and the first half of season one, she could safely say that was a terrible expectation to have had of the man. He wouldn't know monogamy if it hit him square in his perfectly tanned package.
Naya however just chose to ignore Ryan, as she had done Mark and did her work perfectly so he couldn't draw any sort of attention her way. It also helped that all the while she concentrated, her efforts were unraveled with a certain hand that was either clasped in hers or resting comfortingly on her knee. At one stage Heather had moved their chairs closer so that she could place a protective arm around her, but Ryan had cottoned on and told her to move back and in his words, certainly not mine 'stop being all over Naya like a dolphin on heat'. It was supposed to be some inside joke, especially since dolphin's are only gay sharks, according to Brittany, but Naya hadn't found it funny. If anything she had just found it inappropriate, not to mention it had caused for the girl to pull away from her all together.
Needless to say it was a long hours work after that statement had littered the air. Naya was literally about to pass out from exhaustion when they wrapped the scene. She instantly made her way over to Kevin and jumped in his lap on the wheelchair. Somehow it had escaped the crews notice that he had nodded off, and Naya watched as he jolted awake at the unfamiliar weight in his lap. She just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, less than impressed.
"Woman why you be in my chair?" he asked, his eyes extremely bloodshot and face a pale white.
"Because you be taking me to the cafeteria," she demanded, Kevin staring at her as though she had lost a brain cell, or 200 "seriously you lazy sleeper-er or whatever, slumbee?" Kevin raised an eyebrow, at loss for what his friend was trying to say or insinuate. "You fell asleep while I had to literally peg my eyes open so they wouldn't fall shut in a scene" she glared in his direction, Kevin releasing a chuckle as he recognized what she'd been trying to say.
"Oh right," he gave her a cheesy grin and began to wheel his wheelchair from the Choir room "you literally pegged your eyes open?" he looked at her, bemused as Naya slapped him in the back of the head. "Ouch, what the hell was that for?" he tried to rub his head and soothe it from the dull pain he'd been subjected to.
"Being a sarcastic jackass" she simply answered as they caught up to Dianna and Mark.
"Well hello, if it isn't Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller" Dianna greeted, her eyes falling upon Naya and Kevin as Mark let out a chuckle.
"Nice one!" he clapped her on the back, laughing loudly.
"Only one flaw with that call..." Kevin shrugged, Dianna shooting him a skeptical look. Even Naya had to agree that her call was genius. "We don't touch the smack" they all giggled at his reference to drugs.
"So you admit to being under the influence?" the gorgeous blonde questioned, her incredible green eyes penetrating Naya's.
"I think 'under the weather' would be a much more accurate term" she nodded as Dianna shook her head.
"You crazy kids" they entered the lunchroom and immediately Naya felt her stomach grumble from the lack of attention it had been paid. Other than the alcohol she had consumed by the bucket load last night, she hadn't even had dinner.
"Safe to say I am starving right now" her eyes fell on the variety of food availible.
"Yeah" was all Kevin could say in return as she stood from his wheelchair and began to gather an assortment of food. Once happy with her selection, she made her way over to a table where Lea, Cory, Dianna and Chord were seated. Naya didn't particularly like the fact that yet another one of her exes was present at the table, but Chord was great and they got along brilliantly after everything had happened.
Sitting herself down next to the blonde, he smiled and pulled her in under one of his enormous arms. She couldn't help but feel a little comforted at this, letting him do so while she began to pile food into her mouth. The conversation continued as though she hadn't arrived but before long it had been exhausted and all eyes fell upon her. Naya was quite literally shoveling her lunch into her mouth, at a pace that was not healthy regarding digestion. Not to mention she was making an absolute pig of herself, and having four sets of eyes watching her inquisitively didn't sit well with Naya. Soon she found herself dropping her fork and giving them all a stern look.
"What?" she exclaimed, her cast-mates shrugging and muttering different excuses in unison. "Seriously, what is up with you lot?" Naya pressed, sensing they were avoiding something.
"Nothing, really" Cory assured her, although she didn't buy it for a second.
"So exactly how much did you drink last night?" Lea asked, Dianna slapping her friends arm as Naya sent a furious glare in the blondes direction.
"Wait, you were drinking last night?" Chord looked taken aback as he looked her up and down.
"Don't judge me Pansyholic" the whole table went silent as Naya let loose one of her 'Santana' calls.
"And what exactly does that mean?" he wondered, not particularly knowing if he wanted a firm answer.
"It means you get tipsy off a glass of bubbly, lightweight" Chord's cheeks blushed bright red as Cory and Lea laughed. "Uh, you can't talk Miss '3 standard drinks and ima call it a night'" Lea's laugh instantly stopped as Dianna shook her head at the ridiculousness of this conversation.
"It's not a competition guys" she observed, Naya letting out an obnoxiously loud groan.
"Oh please, we all know if it was, I'd win" she shrugged. Most of them at the table would have to agree, if anybody could hold their liquor, it was Naya Rivera.
"That statement I highly disagree with" Mark leaned over into the conversation from another table, warranting a glare from Naya.
"As if! I could drink the tits off you any day of the week, which I did for the entire of our relationship" there was a hush across both her table and Mark's, which had Harry, Amber, Kevin and Heather surrounding him.
"Ha, and how was it that you did that?" Mark questioned, giving her possibly the sleaziest of looks she had ever received.
"Managed to refuse you sex each and every time your sloppy, drunken hands came into contact with me" there was a howl of laughter as the entire two tables erupted into hysterics. It was visible from Mark's expression that she'd hit a nerve.
"Erm, well..." he tried to regain the attention of his cast-mates "I can distinctly remember some of our best sex was as a result of you riding me in a drunken haze, proclaiming I was in fact a sex god" his outrageous proclamations had Chris, Darren and Jenna wandering over to see what all the commotion was about.
"No honey, that would have been what you moaned when I left you cold turkey to go wanky in the bathroom. All by your widdle swelf" Naya spoke in a babies voice, only to further patronize Mark as he shook his head and shrugged.
"You may know what to say Rivera, but we all know that if this was serious, not only would you be written off before I've down my fifth shot, you'd totally be in bed with me" again a hush settled over the table. Naya was not having a bar of his disgusting insinuations that their time together, had been that of mind blowing relations and some sort sexual awakening. If anything it served to steer her further away from men, and preferably toward Heather. The blonde was watching her carefully, waiting to see how she'd reply. Naya only so much as glanced in her direction before placing all attention squarely on Mark.
"It's on, like Donkey Kong" was all she had to say for herself, cheers coming from the table again as she stood up and sent him a wink before leaving the cafeteria and heading for her Trailer. Naya was positively fucked.