A/N: Well, here is the next chapter. I have one more already written which I hope to have up tomorrow. I hope you are enjoying the story, if you are still hanging in there with me. I'd love to hear what you think of my story, so feel free to review.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Two hours later, Chrissy was still worrying about not having told her parents about the party. However, when the door bell rang, she went to answer it and let her first guests in. Puck, Lauren, Quinn and Mercedes smiled at her as they walked in. Each of the girls was carrying a plate of food while Puck was carrying many bottles of soft drink. Quinn asked her where the kitchen was and Chrissy smiled as she pointed her in the right direction. She had just started to walk away from the door when there was another knock. This continued for the next ten minutes.
"We're late Finn, come on." Rachel said as she got out of the car.
"We're not the only ones. Look." He said, pointing to the car in front of them. Brittney was standing on the footpath talking to Artie through the window while another boy was pulling out his wheelchair. As Ciaran came to stand beside them, Finn heard him gasp and he turned to look at him. "Dude, what's wrong?"
"That's her." Ciaran replied softly.
"Her who?" Finn asked, looking confused.
"The girl, Tiffany. She's sitting in the front seat of that car."
"Her name isn't Tiffany, its CeCe. She's Brittney's sister." Rachel said as she walked away from the two boys, heading over to Brittney. "Hi Brit, Artie. You're looking great."
"Hi Rachel, thanks. Artie and I are going to a party."
"I know so are we." Rachel replied gently as she looked at CeCe. "How are you CeCe? How's college?"
"Hi Rachel, I'm going well thanks. I'm in my last semester at college."
"That's great. Hey, it's the weirdest thing CeCe, my cousin Ciaran met you a little while ago and he seems to think that your name is Tiffany."
"Well that's how I introduce myself these days. I never really liked my first name so when I started college, I started to go by my middle name."
"That explains it then. So, is the good looking guy with you?"
"Yeah, he's my fiancé, his name is Reid. Reid honey, say hello to Rachel. She's a friend of Brit's and her boyfriend Finn as well as her cousin Ciaran. Nice to see you again Ciaran."
All Ciaran could do was nod as Reid greeted everyone. Of course she was taken, but then seeing her again, he realised that it was a fleeting attraction, nothing more. He smiled at her and then headed for the house. Before he could knock, the door opened and Santana pushed passed him and jogged down the path. When she reached the car, she leant in and gave Tiffany a hug. He shook his head and walked inside. The music was pumping and the others were singing and dancing. There was lots of laughter as he looked around the room, trying to find Chrissy or Sienna. He wanted to let them know that he was here. He was hoping that things between him and Chrissy would be back to normal. He soon found the girls; they were standing in the kitchen with Kurt and Blaine. He laughed silently as he listened to Kurt telling the girls how long to heat up the food that he'd brought. Chrissy just smiled at him and nodded.
"You know what? I should probably do it myself."
"Kurt, the girls can do it." Blaine said.
"It's ok Blaine. Kurt can do it." Chrissy said laughingly as she and Sienna turned to leave. When she saw Ciaran standing in the doorway, Chrissy stopped moving and stared at him. He looked so handsome, just leaning on the doorframe with a soft smile playing across his lips and laughter twinkling in his eyes.
Ciaran watched as Chrissy laughed at the others but as soon as she saw him, the laughter died, so clearly whatever was wrong was still wrong. But he'd be damned if he knew what that was. He was just about to leave, not only the room but the party when Chrissy smiled and walked over to him. She wrapped her arms around him and thanked him for coming. When she stepped back, she was smiling, which eased his mind. Hopefully whatever was bothering her had been sorted out, he was glad. He'd missed her.
For the next few hours, everyone was having a great time and Chrissy was pleased to see that no-one had brought any alcohol. When the Wii was set up it brought out the competition between the boys and some of the girls. The funniest moment was when Finn and Ciaran went up against each other on 'Just Dance 3'. Everyone was laughing so hard as they all watched the two most awkward dancers of the group try to outdo each other. At the end of the song, both Ciaran and Finn were laughing just as hard as the rest of them.
Karofsky stood on the footpath and listened to the laughter coming from inside the house. He could see through one of the windows, could see Kurt to be precise. He stared at him, devouring him with his eyes. It wasn't until Blaine walked up to him and took his hand while giving him a quick kiss that Karofsky cursed and turned away, walking back to the car. Azimio looked up as he leant on the car.
"So, are we gonna have a little fun?" He asked, looking up at his friend.
"Yeah, let's go." Karofsky replied as he pushed away from the car, grabbing a bag from one of the guys in the back seat. Azimio and the other jocks joined him, all looking at the house. When Azimio nodded, they all proceeded to throw eggs at the windows, laughing loudly.
"What the hell?" Puck looked out of the window nearest him just as a couple of eggs smashed against it. "It's Azimio, Karofsky and the other morons from the football team."
Everyone ran outside to confront the idiots on the lawn.
"What the hell Karofsky? I thought we were done with all of this crap." Finn called out.
"Yeah, well you thought wrong." Dave replied, looking over at Kurt and Blaine, sneering at their joined hands. Kurt tightened his grip as he gaped at Dave. Clearly, he hadn't sorted out his issues. Just then, Jaimie brushed passed them and headed straight for a surprised Azimio.
"Are you ever going to grow up Royce?" Jaimie asked.
Azimio looked around nervously. "Don't call me that."
"Why not? It's your name after all. Mum named you after grandpa, Royce Azimio Rush."
"Shut up freak. What are you doing here anyway? I thought you and mum were in Denver."
"We've been home for a few months. Gran is sick. I thought dad might have told you. She'd really like to see you, as would mum."
"I don't know, dad…" he let the sentence trail off but Jaimie immediately spoke.
"Ah yes, how is dear old dad? Still a homophobic bigot?"
"Don't say that."
"What not? It's the truth after all. He finally threw me out after he realised that he couldn't beat the gay out of me. It's a good thing that mum has a beautiful heart and she stood by me. Moving to Denver was good for her as well. As soon as she got away from him she started to look better. He would have killed her eventually. His is a mean bastard and you seem to be heading in the same direction. Just leave Royce."
Just as Jaimie finished talking to Azimio, Chrissy marched straight up to Karofsky, grabbed his forearm and started to yell at him.
"Why don't you just leave us alone? What the hell have we ever done to you?"
Karofsky looked at her, slightly stunned, then down at her hand on his arm. He lifted his arm and tried to shake her hand off but she just gripped tighter so he gently pushed her away from him with his other hand. What he hadn't counted on was that she would step back onto some loose rocks and stumble, falling to the ground. Before he could react, the glee kids had run towards her.
"Chrissy!" Ciaran and Sienna cried out simultaneously as they led the group towards their friend. Ciaran reached her first and he knelt by her and took her hand in his, while he gently brushed her hair off her face and watched as she blinked a couple of times before turning her eyes towards him.
"Hi." He whispered, giving her a small smile.
"Hi." She replied.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, what happened though?"
"You fell, are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm sure; can you help me up please? I feel foolish just lying here."
Ciaran quickly stood up, gently taking her hands to help her up. When he'd seen her fall, his heart had leapt and he held his breath. Everything had happened so slowly, or so it seemed to him. He'd tried to reach her before she hit the ground but he couldn't seem to move quickly enough. When she was standing, supported by Sienna, he turned to the thug who had pushed her, his anger rising.
"What the hell man! You could have seriously hurt her. Do you not think?"
He started to walk over to him but he immediately felt hands on his shoulders holding him back. Turning his head he saw Rick and Mike behind him as Puck and Finn walked passed him towards Karofsky.
"That's it dude! Throwing slushies at the glee club and going after us guys is one thing but you should never touch our girls. Come near any of them again and it won't end well. Now get the hell away from here."
Karofsky looked at Puck and knew that he was serious. They wouldn't take any crap this year. He quickly glanced over at Kurt and Blaine, who were once again holding hands and sighed before turning to the other jocks and telling them that it was time to go. When he reached the car he realised that Azimio wasn't there.
"Yo Azimio, let's bail." He shouted, watching as Azimio turned from the boy he'd been talking to and walked back to the car.
Ciaran shrugged free from Rick and Mike and headed back to Chrissy. He wanted to make sure that she really was alright. He'd seen that Sienna had taken her into the house so he went inside to find them. He found them in the kitchen. Chrissy was sitting at the table while the rest of the girls were fussing over her.
"Seriously, I'm fine. You can all stop fussing. Please."
"Damn Karofsky." Santana mumbled, looking murderous.
"You can never be too careful." Quinn said. "You could have a concussion."
"Yeah, did you bump your head?" Tina asked. "Did you black out at all?"
Chrissy looked around at the girls and then looked back at Tina.
"Yes and no. I have a lump on my head but I didn't lose consciousness. However, I think that the party is over. I'm sorry everyone."
"You don't have to apologise for anything. We'll clean up inside and the guys can clean up outside." Rachel said with a smile. "It won't take us long."
With that, all the girls headed out of the kitchen and Ciaran entered. When the girls had left, Chrissy had raised a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes. Ciaran gently took her other hand in his, causing her to jump a little in fright. He apologised immediately and went to release her hand but she held it tightly, looking him straight in the eye.
"How's the head Chrissy? Are you feeling sick?" He asked her gently as he absently rubbed his thumb across her knuckles.
Chrissy didn't answer straight away as she was mesmerised by the touch of his hand and the gentle sound of his voice. It was only when he spoke her name a couple more times that she took her eyes off their joined hands and raised them to meet his.
"It's only a headache, I promise."
"What about the lump on your head?"
Chrissy raised her hand subconsciously to the lump and touch it gingerly. "Well I suppose that explains the headache." She said wryly.
Ciaran chuckled softly at her response as he leant down and softly kissed the top of her head. When he pulled away, he gently cupped her cheek.
"You are amazing Chrissy. Don't ever forget that." He said before releasing her cheek. As he left the kitchen to help with the clean up, he realised that he truly meant everything he'd said to her and that when she'd been hurt, he could no longer deny to himself that he had grown to care for her very deeply. Despite telling himself that he wouldn't get involved, that he wouldn't be here long enough, his heart clearly hadn't been listening. When he hadn't been looking, he'd fallen for his friend. Now he had to figure out what to do with his feelings.
