AN: 3649 words, my longest chapter so far! Sorry for the delay, my math, English, Social Studies and science teachers recently decided to pile on a lot of homework so I haven't had too mush time to write. For the record this chapter does have Bryce in it. I know that it's pretty early but I felt like bringing him back. Do however remember that this is a Charah story so I won't make him stick around for too long. Also I apologize if Bryce is out of character as I have never written Bryce before. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter, please review.
Disclaimer: I wish I owned Chuck.
Chapter 7
"Sarah," Bryce said.
"Bryce?" she just managed to get out.
"Bryce?" Chuck turned around, surprised to see the man he called his nemesis.
"Chuck?" Bryce asked, equally surprised.
"Chuck?" Sarah turned to him, how did he know Bryce?
"How do you know him?" Chuck asked her.
"How do you know him?" She asked in response.
"How do you guys know each other?" Bryce questioned.
"This is my ex-boyfriend!" Sarah told Chuck.
"This is my college roommate!" he replied.
"You guys still haven't answered my question yet," Bryce said, reminding them that he was still there.
"Shut up, Bryce," they said in unison.
"So, this is the guy who cheated on you?" Chuck said.
"This is the guy who got you expelled from Stanford?"
"I'm right here guys," Bryce reminded.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Chuck asked him.
"Chuck, man, I swear I'm not here to do anything to you," he said. "I'm here to see Sarah," he turned to her. "Look, Sarah if we could just talk for like ten minutes-"
"No Bryce, I don't want to talk to you. Now go away," she told her ex.
"Sarah, come on. Don't be like that-"
"She said go away Bryce," Chuck said firmly.
"Who's asking you, Chuck?" Bryce replied. "It's none of your business."
"Don't talk to him like that," Sarah said. "And I told you to go away so get moving, you douche bag."
"Come on Sarah, we can talk about this," Bryce insisted.
"No we can't, Bryce. It's over, it was over when you decided to cheat on me. Now go get lost."
"But-"
"We're done. We were done over a month ago, Bryce," she said finally.
"This, this isn't over, Sarah," he said walking away from the yogurt stand. "This isn't over."
When he was finally out of sight, Sarah let out an exasperated sigh. "Sorry about that," she turned to Chuck.
"Huh, no it's okay. You don't have to be sorry it really wasn't your fault," he told her as they reached the front of the line. The two of them placed their order. The yogurt girl gave them their orders and as they were about to pay she spoke up.
"It's on the house," she smiled.
"Really?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, I kind of overheard what was going on and I just broke up with my cheating boyfriend so I sympathize with you," she shrugged and glanced at Chuck as he handed Sarah her yogurt and shot her a small smile. "You've got a good one there," the yogurt girl said.
"What?"
"Your boyfriend,"she said pointing to Chuck.
"Oh, um, we're not dating, we're friends."
"Oh, that's too bad," she said. "You two look good together."
6:00PM
Sarah's Apartment
After lunch Chuck and Sarah had gone back to work. They didn't talk a huge amount on the whole Bryce incident and after bidding each other goodbye at the end of the day Sarah headed home to her apartment. Little did she know, there was someone waiting for her. As she stepped inside and turned on the light, she saw Bryce waiting for her.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Sarah said to him.
"I told you it wasn't over Sarah," Bryce stood up. "And it's not," he spoke confidently. Sarah rolled her eyes, he was still the same cocky, overconfident, douche, who she broke up with over a month ago. He would never change.
"There's nothing to say Bryce, so get the hell out of my apartment before I have you arrested for breaking and entering," she said sounding very calm.
"Come on Sarah," he said, getting closer to her. "I know you want me back," he said. Suddenly he tried to kiss her, but he was two slow. Sarah gripped his arm and twisted it behind his back, causing him to shriek out in pain.
"Ow! Shit!" he screamed as she slammed him into a wall and reluctantly let go.
"What the hell do you want Bryce?" she snarled.
"Look, come on Sarah. I was the only thing keeping you in DC, we can get back together and move back. Here in LA, besides your job, nothing's really keeping you here and you can go back to your old one in DC. I know you want me back," he said touching her arm. Clearly he hadn't learned his lesson.
"Listen, you arrogant bastard," Sarah said, slapping his hand off her arm. "I don't want you back. I'm happy here, so go back to DC or somewhere far away from me because I never want to see you again."
"What?" Bryce raised an eyebrow. "Is there someone else?" Sarah said nothing. "Huh," he half-laughed. "It's Chuck, isn't it?" Still no reply. "Son of a bitch, it is. Wow, wow, you are dating my college roommate, unbelievable," he said, now fully laughing. "Un-freaking-believable!"
What the hell? Sarah thought. Why is he laughing? "Get out, Bryce," she said.
"I will, just clarify one thing for me, Sarah. Was this just to get back at me?" he asked, smugly. "Dating my college roommate, wow. A plot to make me jealous so that I'd come running back to you and what? Beg you to take me back?"
"First off, Bryce, I don't want you back. You can rot in hell for all I care. The last thing I want is you for a boyfriend. And second, I didn't even know that you and Chuck were familiar with each other till today."
"Yeah right. Are you trying to tell me you just fell for some loser nerd who happened to be my former roommate? Get real Sarah."
Sarah was incredibly frustrated with Bryce. It was all she could do not to beat the living shit out of him and then throw him out the window. "Don't talk about him like that. You will never be half the man he is! And you know what? Convince yourself whatever you want, you're just mad because I'm already over you so you're making up crap like that to cover it up."
"Sarah," he said stepping closer to her again.
God, he never gets the message. Sarah thought. She knew that he was going to try kiss her so she slapped him in the face. Hard. Very, very hard. "Get out!"
Bryce held his hands up in a surrendering motion and started down the window, which he came from. "You'll regret saying that, Sarah," was all he said as he vanished from sight.
Sarah sighed and plopped down on a chair. She needed to change her locks. At that moment she realized something. She had denied that she was trying to get Bryce back (that was true) and she denied that she didn't know that he and Chuck were roommates (also true) but she never denied that she and Chuck were going out. She did to most people, to Carina and the yogurt girl from earlier but not to Bryce. Did that mean something? Did it mean she wanted a relationship with Chuck?
8:00pm
Echo Park
Chuck had just finished three hours straight of video games with Morgan. It was nice that they got some quality time together. They'd just finished one of their typical game nights together, like back in the days of the Buy More. Pizza, video games, soda, discussions about new games and sci-fi movies, Ellie and Awesome had a late night shift at the hospital. About an hour ago he'd gotten a text from Sarah telling him about Bryce. The guy just didn't know when to back off. As he left the bathroom and went into his bedroom he saw Bryce leaning against the wall next to the window.
"Hello, Chuck."
"What the- Bryce? Why are you doing here? What are you stalking me?"
"No, Chuck. I just came to tell you something about Sarah."
"I don't need to hear it," Chuck said glaring at the man who got him kicked out of Stanford. "It's probably just false information. Like when you told Flemming I cheated on the test and planted the answers under my bed!" There it was. The two years of pent up anger Chuck had at this man.
"Still hung up on Stanford eh?"
"St-still hung up on Stanford! You got me kicked out of my dream school, stole my girlfriend and made me spend two years in a nuthouse of a Buy More! You could say I'm a little bit hung up on it!"Chuck was usually calm, but seeing his nemesis again, he might as well have been a ticking time bomb.
"Well you seemed to have moved on from Jill haven't you?" Bryce raised his eyebrow.
"It's been two years," Chuck said, suddenly he narrowed his eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Come on, Chuck. You and Sarah? It's point blank obvious," Bryce said in a very know-it-all fashion.
"Bryce, there's nothing going on with me and Sarah. But she doesn't want you back so take a hint and get lost," Chuck had gained some self confidence, it wasn't something he'd ever had much of, or ever had at all but ever since he started working with Sarah it started developing.
"Just let me tell you something Chuck, and I'll be out of you hair."
Chuck was half-curious, so he decided to test it. "Just answer one thing for me. Why did you get me kicked out of Stanford? You were my friend. You knew that I had banked everything on it."
Bryce looked sideways, seeming slightly guilty and a little bit more human than douche at this moment. "Yeah, look about that..." he said trailing off.
"What about it Bryce?" Chuck's expression had softened a bit, but he was still trying to keep up his facade.
"I got the impression that Flemming was gonna try recruit you to the CIA," Bryce said. "So I saved you by getting you kicked out."
"Get real Bryce," Chuck deadpanned. "Flemming was a CIA agent. Sure, next you'll be telling me I downloaded government secrets into my head. What's the truth?"
Bryce didn't reply.
"Just get out, Bryce," Chuck shook his head.
"Can I at least tell you what I came to tell you?" Bryce asked. Chuck was sure it was rhetorical. "It's about Sarah."
Chuck was reluctant. "Answer my question first."
Bryce looked away again. "I'm sorry Chuck. I can't tell you."
"Don't tell me it's a matter of national security," Chuck rolled his eyes.
"Me and Jill, that wasn't planned. I didn't mean for it to turn into what it did. It just kind of happened," he tried to explain.
"Just kind of happened? Bryce, dandruff, just kind of happens! Not something like that."
Bryce was getting impatient of waiting. So he just spat out his lie. "Sarah's the reason our relationship failed!" he blurted.
"What?"
"Sarah kept pushing me away. Made me feel like I was nothing. " Bryce lied. "And she was overly secretive, wouldn't tell me squat. That's why we broke up."
"Funny, Sarah said you guys broke up because you cheated," Chuck said, disbelievingly.
Bryce paused. "Well it kind of drove me to cheating," he said.
"Just get out, Bryce," Chuck said. "I don't want to see you."
"She did it to me, she'll do it to you Chuck," Bryce replied. "I'm just trying to watch your back."
"Like you did at Stanford? Do me a favor Bryce, you owe me that much. Don't." Chuck replied.
Bryce shrugged and started to make his way down the window. "You'll be sorry for that, Chuck. Just wait, you'll wish you'd listened to me."
Chuck collapsed down on his bed. He thought about texting Sarah, but decided to tell her another time. I have got to get a lock for that window. he thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep.
Friday,
Banes and Co. IT Department
A week had passed since Bryce invaded, but after he'd left neither Chuck nor Sarah had heard from him since. They still hung out at lunch, but the conversations were kind of awkward after finding out that they had both been screwed by Bryce in different ways. Still, Chuck tried to make it normal again. He'd been working for a little under a month now and Goodwin had hardly spoken to him. Apparently that was a good sign. There was about an hour till he would head home as George passed Chuck's office.
"Hey, Chuck," he greeted, noticing his coworker deep in thought with a blank expression on his face, he added. "You okay?"
"Huh?" Chuck said snapping out of his trance. "Oh yeah, I'm fine."
"Oh," he replied, not entirely convinced. "You just seemed kind of, what's the word? Distant? I think."
"I'm okay."
"Alright, well I'm gonna head out."
"Isn't it kind of early?" Chuck asked.
"I spoke to Hughes about it. There's been a change in plans so my ex is bringing Kyle over today."
"Alright. Well, see you then," Chuck said.
"Yeah. Bye Chuck." He said and with that, he headed off.
Sales Department
Sarah sat at her desk staring at her computer. She was thinking about Chuck, right now she hated Bryce more than ever because now things felt slightly awkward with Chuck, not that he didn't try make her feel comfortable. It was just something she couldn't really control. Sarah sighed, she needed her mind on something else. And right now the fact that she was still waiting for sales figures wasn't helping.
"Walker," Carina greeted entering the cubicle. She dumped some papers on the desk. "I come bearing sales figures."
"Thanks," Sarah said. "I need to get my mind on something."
"You mean something other than Chuck?" Sarah just shot her a look."Fine. I don't suppose there's any point in asking if you want to come to Castle with me tonight. But just for the hell of it- Do you want to come to Castle tonight?"
"Actually, yeah," Sarah replied. "I could use a break."
Carina slightly widened her eyes. "There's an ulterior motive to this, Walker."
"No there isn't."
"Yes there is and I'm going to find out what it is," she said, turning around to leave. "Meet you, ground floor after work."
"Sounds like a plan."
10:30pm
Echo Park
Chuck had been relaxing once again. Morgan was doing something with Skip and some of the Buymorians. He'd asked Chuck to join but Chuck reckoned he'd be alright on his own and politely refused. His night again was pretty routine, video games, thinking about the day (Sarah in particular) Ellie and Awesome had gone away on a 'romantic getaway' for the weekend. Although Chuck was sometimes unsure of what Devon considered romantic. Either way he knew that the Captain would always take good care of his sister. Since there was no Ellie, he decided to order takeout.
He was on a Call of Duty marathon when his phone rang. It was Sarah.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Chuckie!" Sarah said giggly.
"Sarah?" he squinted. "Are you drunk?"
"I don't know about drunk. I'm just a little tipsy."
Chuck narrowed his eyes as he tried to hear her over the loud music in the background. "Where are you?"
"I'm at Castle. Carina's making out with a guy," she added.
"Do you want me to come pick you up?" he asked sincerely.
"Really? You'd do that? Aw, Chuck you are such a sweet guy," she giggled. This meant a lot to Chuck. Of course, it would have meant more if Sarah wasn't drunk or as she put it- 'a little tipsy.'
"Yeah," he replied. "Just give me a moment. I'll be there in ten minutes."
10:40pm
Outside Castle
Sarah was waiting for Chuck to arrive, the fresh air had sobered her up a little bit. Carina had gone home with a good looking guy with a nice suit and a Jaguar and she really didn't trust herself to drive. She really didn't have anyone else to call so she rang Chuck who came over without her even having to ask. She watched as Chuck pulled over in his car and got out to see her.
"Sorry, but I really didn't trust myself to drive," she managed to get out without giggling.
"Wish I could say I've never been there." He smiled and led her to his car. "Hop in."
Sarah slid into the passenger seat and suddenly found herself growing very tiered, it was probably just she had one drink too many and she just hoped that she didn't have a severe hangover in the morning.
"So, um...What happened?" Chuck asked as he pulled out of the parking space.
"I went for drinks with Carina," she said. "I had one too many," she said giggling again. But she felt her eyelids drooping down and let out a yawn.
"You okay? I mean, besides the being drunk part."
"I'm not drunk. I'm just a little tipsy and tiered."
They were already on the road when Chuck realized that he didn't know where Sarah lived. He turned to her.
"Hey, Sarah, where do you-" he stopped when he realized that she was asleep. He smiled, she looked so peaceful. He decided not to wake her but now he had to decide where to bring her. He could take her to a hotel and leave her a note, but if she had a full-on hangover, dealing with it alone would not be pretty. Carina had gone home with a guy and Chuck didn't know any of her other friends.
He decided just to bring her back to Echo Park. She could sleep in his room and he could sleep on the couch or in Ellie and Awesome's room. He carried her in and put her onto his bed and pulled the covers over her so that she could sleep. Chuck then closed the lights.
"Night, Sarah," he whispered as he closed the door and left the room.
AN: Soooo? What did you think? Sorry if Bryce is out of character, I've never written him before so if he's too douchey or not douchey enough please excuse me. Also, I know some of you will probably feel that Chuck is out of character because he was more confident. Just remember that Chuck was only working at the Buymore for two years, not the five like on the show. So he didn't have as much time to dwell on Stanford, Jill etcetera also he got a new job and met Sarah fairly early so he became more confident I guess. I also don't know what being drunk or tipsy is like so again, please excuse me.
Oh well, anyway, thanks for reading and please please review. Reviews make me really happy and the more you review, the faster I will try to write.
-00Awesome
