Hello Readers!
First things first, I absolutely love you guys! You guys are so supportive and understanding of me and my writing and I appreciate you guys so much. I know it's been awhile since you've heard from me and it's because things have just gotten hectic for me with work and summer school and I just want to thank you guys for not pushing me and for just being overall supportive.
ANYWAYS enough of that stuff I hope you enjoy this little chapter! I will be trying my hardest to update more frequently once again since things have slowed down for me!
Also welcome new followers/favors/reviewers! I hope you continue to enjoy and follow the story!
A Black and White Film: A Titan's Documentary
Chapter Eight: California Dreamin'
Spirits were high in the locker room as the guys joke around, change, and shower. The day's practice was hard as usual, but it went by much smoother without all the fighting and segregation within the team. Laughing and prolonged 'oohs' could be heard as a bunch of jokes were being tossed between players. After a certain joke about Julius' mom's nasty back hair a lighthearted fight broke out between him and Blue who had made the joke.
"You mad cause she lookin' like a wolfman, bruh." Blue jokes as Julius is pulled away by a laughing Bertier. The playful banter catches the attention of the others as they look up from their business to watch. Alan who's sitting next to Ray, untying his shoes begins to laugh, but notices Ray just scoffs at the display.
"What?" He voices catching Ray's attention. He didn't really understand why Ray was so nasty towards some of the other players on the team. Yeah, they were black, but that didn't mean they weren't good players or people. Heck! He had to admit that most of the new guys, like Petey and Blue, were hilarious!
"What do you mean, what? Look at them!" Ray says spitefully as he turns to stare at Alan as if he were blind. Alan turns to look back at the group who were all laughing and playing around. He didn't see anything wrong with the scene, in fact he kind of wanted to join them.
"I don't see it," he responds unenthusiastically, not able to see Ray's point.
"It just isn't right. They're disgusting," Ray continues going back to untying his shoes. Alan stares at him expressionless, shaking his head at Ray's cruel nature. They were long time friends, but he was beginning to grow tired of Ray's attitude. He couldn't even begin to understand why his father would ever want him to be like Ray, Gerry he could understand, but not Ray.
Brushing it off he glances back towards the joking group of guys to see Louie was getting in on the fun as he gets Petey with a "yo' mama" joke.
It remains quiet between Ray and Alan until music could be heard playing throughout the locker room. Blue begins to sing along, and Louie joins to form a pitchy, but joyful duet. Alan feels a smile fighting it's way on his face as he watches the two sing together. The song was familiar to him and it takes him only seconds to recognize the song as the one Blue had been singing on the bus. The same song that he and Dahlia were able to dance too until Julius had rudely interrupted.
At the memory he begins to jokingly dance around in hopes of getting Ray to lighten up even if it was just a bit. A sharp elbow to the side gets Alan to freeze before he begins to dance closer to Ray, which earns himself a hard shove, but a sliver of a grin from Ray. This causes him to stop his dancing and laugh good-naturedly at his small accomplishment. It seems it took a lot to make Ray smile nowadays.
"How can you even dance to this?" Ray asks with an genuinely curious look on his face.
"Well, it's easy," Alan answers with a soft grin, "I just wiggle a little and let the music do the rest." He responds wiggling comically. This doesn't seem to sit well with Ray, as he shakes his head.
"It's like you're one of them," Ray practically spits out while turning away to continue changing. "What would your father say about that?" He snips which instantly brings Alan down a notch or two. What would his father think of all this?
Commotion suddenly catches their attention and they both stand to see the new guy kissing an enraged Gerry. Alan couldn't decide if he wanted to laugh, cringe, or perhaps a combination of the two at the situation. Once he catches a glimpse of Ray's face however, he lets out a long string of laughter.
"Ohs" were chorused throughout the locker rooms once again as the two begin to fight. Gerry was the throwing punches left and right, but the new guy just kept dodging the hits. Alan had to admit, as well as most of the guys there, that Sunshine was pretty quick on his feet. Gerry only seemed to get angrier as Sunshine maintains a condescending grin on his face, never throwing a hit back.
"Whoa! Bertier!" Julius calls out as he exited from the shower room to quickly pull Gerry away from their new teammate. It takes about five guys to finally hold him back.
"Bertier! Calm down!" Julius shouts trying to keep Gerry in place. "Doll would flip if she saw you doing this!" Julius speaks again recalling the fight between himself and Gerry beforehand. Thinking back on it now, he was impressed on how quickly Dahlia could put a halt to Gerry's rampage. At the mention of Dahlia, Gerry drifts off for a bit before calming completely down and staring at the new guy.
"You have no idea who you messed with, man!" Bertier shouts still constrained by a couple of guys.
Alan who now recovered from his laughing attack grew bored of the fight and was thinking back to what Ray previously said to him. It bothered him for the most part… Maybe he did belong with them though. Glancing back at Ray who still wore a scowl, he comes to the conclusion that being with Blue, Rev, and Petey would probably be a lot more fun. Even if his dad didn't approve of it. He shrugs it off concluding that it wouldn't be the first time he let his dad down.
"There's too much male bonding going on in here for me. I'm out," One of the colored teammates announce as he begins to walk out of the locker room. Alan was caught off guard as the guy quickly punches his chest while passing, "Ya dig?" He asks shooting a wink his way before exiting. Alan quickly catches his footing and grabs at his chest a bit, slightly put off.
After a bit more thought on his situation, a smile grows on his face as he came to a decision.
"What is going on here?" Julius asks once more as Gerry calms down enough to be released. They look at each other in silence, as Gerry tries to figure out how to word what exactly did just happen. He seems to be growing a tad bit red as well, but finally swallows some pride and gestures towards Sunshine.
"He- He kissed me, man!" He answers still slightly flustered by the whole event. It was silent and Julius simply stands there and blinks trying to comprehend what he just heard. Laughing then begins to take over the rest of the room as Julius just shakes his head and stares at Sunshine at a complete loss for words. Sunshine smiles and walks off as some of the guys quickly got out of his way.
"I change my mind. Maybe Dahlia should have been here to sort this out," Julius finally speaks not knowing how to respond to this.
Once that was over and done with Alan smiles and decides it was time to get everyone back into the mood. So, he mentally cheers himself on and steps up to Louie and Blue and begins to sing along with the song that was still playing. It took a bit of his dancing before the other guys smile and join him, silently accepting his offered hand in friendship. Had Dahlia seen this happen, she would have been euphoric. Ray however, who did see the whole thing go down, only shook his head feeling slightly betrayed.
The next day came and Dahlia was once again out on the field with her camera around her neck. This time however, she was dressed identical to the rest of the coaches with her red Titan's polo-styled shirt and black fitted pants that went to just below her knees.
"You look good in red," Sheryl points out as they wait for the guys to pick practice back up. Dahlia smiles at the small girl and thanks her graciously.
"Sheryl's right. I do believe you seem fit in Titan colors," Coach Yoast compliments as well causing Dahlia to smile his way too. She likes how kind Coach Yoast always was. She has yet to see the soft hearted man angry just yet and was impressed to say the least. The two coaches made a nice duo for the team, having the ability to even each other out. One was hard and ruled with an iron fist, while the other was soft and ruled with a nurturing nature.
"Well, I sure hope so, because I'm going to be wearing a lot more of it." She proudly states looking back out at the boys on the field.
"Ronnie Bass!" She hears Coach Boone shout out. She watches as said boy comes running his way. She never got to speak to him yesterday about how things went down in the locker room, but judging by how Gerry didn't seem to be picking on him anymore, she decides it was safe to say that things must have went well.
"I like that hair cut," he compliments, but not without shooting a smile Dahlia's way. She smiles back and gave Coach Boone a thumbs up before he went back to business.
"Get in there and show me what you got. Option left," he calls out causing Ronnie to nod and get into place. Dahlia picks up her camera in anticipation and could feel herself getting excited at how this was going to go.
"This outta' be good," Sheryl says to her as she brings up her camera and nods. Dahlia can't help but agree, with the potential he displayed yesterday there was no doubt he'd play terrifically.
"Set! Hut!" Ronnie commands as everyone shot off into their plays. Everything seemed to be going well until Ronnie went to pass the ball, and missed his target by a mile. Dahlia quickly drops her camera and laughs at Ronnie's expense.
"What on Earth was that!" Sheryl calls out making a scene like she usually did when something upset her. Her reaction only causes Dahlia to laugh even more. She could see that even Coach Boone was a little thrown off by this play as well.
"Decent thrower, huh? Guess Wonder Boy wasn't as good as he said," Dahlia ponders to herself as she chuckles recalling just how confident he made himself out to be yesterday. Coach Yoast glances from his fuming daughter to Dahlia and simply shakes his head at the two.
"Hard step," Coach Boone starts off, but seems to pause while doing some hand gestures to try and further explain the play to Ronnie. "Read the tackle. Got to see the pitch, all right?"
"Yessir," Ronnie responds softly.
"Now, you can throw it a mile, but you can't pitch it three yards," Boone states as Dahlia begins to make her way over to the two. She could see Ronnie growing more tense and nervous as Boone continues to drill him. Once Dahlia stood beside Coach Boone, she decides to put in her two-cents.
"May I make a suggestion?" She asks politely catching the attention of the two of them. Ronnie seems to relax slightly just at the sight of her and smiles while Coach Boone stares at her in thought. He decides that Dahlia seemed like the type to trust and she has never given him a reason not to.
"Well go on, let's hear it." He decides motioning for Dahlia who smiles at the privilege to continue voicing her thoughts.
"Well, why don't you ask Rev to help him?" She offers glancing back to Rev who was standing at the sides. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind helping Ronnie out." She concludes attempting to comfort the nervous new player. Coach thinks about this for a split second before smiling and clapping a hand over her shoulder with a grin.
"Rev!" He calls out receiving a "yes, sir?" from said person who runs up to stand next to Dahlia. He smiles at her and bumps her slightly receiving a friendly hip bump from her in return.
"Show him how," Coach states before walking away as Rev gave an affirmative, "Yessir!" once again. Ronnie and Rev stare at each other for a bit in silence before Dahlia breaks the awkward tension.
"Ronnie, this is Rev. He's one of the kindest guys I know on the team. He'll take good care of you," She tells Ronnie as she throws her arm around Rev good-naturedly. Rev chuckles at the little introduction and smiles as Dahlia goes to do the same to Ronnie.
"Rev, this is Ronnie. He's a little full of himself, but don't let that fool you." She jokes as Ronnie shoots her a slight glare. "He's new here and nervous, so I trust you can make him feel warm and welcomed. He's friendly and will get along with you all better than Gerry them did at first." She hints to Rev before walking away to follow Coach Boone.
"Is she always like that?" Ronnie asks as he smiles lightly at Rev, who returns it and simply nods.
"That's the Titan's Doll right there." He confirms before motioning for Ronnie to follow him. "Let's get that play down." Ronnie nods and follows. Rev decides that despite what happened in the locker room between the new guy and Bertier, if what Dahlia said was true, he'd be happy to help him out.
Meanwhile, Dahlia caught up with Coach Boone who side eyed her before patting her on the head. He had seen what she'd done to help the two get along and appreciated it greatly. He could tell that this little photographer was helping the team in a lot more ways than he anticipated and was glad that she was along for the ride.
Dinner made its way around the corner quickly and Dahlia was excited once she grabbed her plate spotting the small bowl of pudding on it. She looked up to decide where to sit, but was pulled along by no one other than Ronnie Bass. She had a strange feeling that they'd only become closer as time went by, and it probably had something to do with the fact that he hung with her whenever he had the chance.
"I suppose this means I'm joining you for dinner?" Dahlia asks with a sarcastic smile which was answered by a sweet smile in return.
"Who wouldn't want such beautiful company?" He asks causing Dahlia to feel slightly flattered, "I meant me." Ronnie finishes causing Dahlia to laugh and push him away as he broke out laughing himself. He'd never admit it to her, but he really did think anyone who would have her on their arm would be incredibly lucky.
"You know you'd have sat next to me anyways," Ronnie gloats as they sit down across from Rev. Dahlia was pleasantly surprised with this and smiles at Rev cheerfully. She was glad that Rev and Ronnie seemed to be getting along.
"Of course, because you just know me so well." Dahlia drawls out while pointing a spoon Ronnie's way. Rev glances between the two as Ronnie swats the spoon out of his face. Dahlia and Bass may have only met, but Rev knew they often joked and argued like siblings.
"Well, we're both from California, we're practically related," Ronnie jokes. Dahlia tries to keep a straight face at that statement, but Ronnie's constant elbowing got her to give in and smile at the lovable creature.
"Wait," Rev butts in a bit confused, "You're from California too?" He asks Dahlia in surprise. Dahlia turns to stare at Rev, but remembers that not many of the other players knew that she was from another state.
"Oh yeah! I nearly forgot no one else knew that but Gerry." She states softly before turning towards Rev again, "I'm originally from Los Angeles, California and only just recently moved here before intruding into your football tryouts," she explains to Rev as he listens intently. He was silent for awhile and Ronnie and Dahlia began to grow concerned.
"Rev?" Ronnie asks snapping Rev out of his thoughts.
"Oh! I'm sorry you two," He apologizes before trying to explain himself, "I just realized that's why you two are so different from the other… er… white folk here?" He tries saying without coming off as rude. Dahlia seemeds to catch his drift and simply nods in understanding, Ronnie on the other hand shrugs and begins to eat his food in a manner that told Dahlia just how much of a boy he was on the inside.
"Could you try getting some of that there food into your actual mouth?" She asks with a daunting smile on her face as she wipes some imaginary food off of her cheek, "You're raining on me and Rev here." This causes Rev to cough in attempts to hide his laughter and Ronnie to stop eating and flick some of his green beans at Dahlia who squeals in protest.
As the three continue to joke and talk amongst each other Dahlia suddenly feels a hand cover her eyes and someone taking something from her plate. She tries to pry the hand off, but all she could hear was Ronnie, Rev, and someone else laughing. At first she assumed it was Gerry, but she remembered seeing him sat down next to Julius prior to this.
"Wait! What are you taking!" She shouts fearing slightly for her food's sake as she pries the hand off. Once she could focus her vision she sees Alan quickly retreating away with her food. She glances at her plate and gasps when she saw just what was missing from it.
"No! Not my pudding! Alan!" She pouts, shouting at Alan who simply turns around to reveal he had, not just her own, but a couple of other bowls of pudding. She tries to give her puppy-dog eyes, but he quickly blocks his vision of her while backing away.
"Not going to work, Doll." He states teasingly while turning around to refrain from looking at the face that he knew he'd fall victim too if he stared too long, "I know how that game goes!"
"You suck Alan!" She huffs out as she realizes it really wouldn't work if he couldn't see her. She wasn't mad at him, in fact she would have laughed at all the pudding he had if she didn't want her own so dang much.
"Love you too." He jokes, shooting a wink her way before quickly turning around to hide his blush at his own statement. He sits at his table only to receive a couple of suggestive nudges from his new found buddies. Dahlia sits there slightly stunned by his statement as well. She knew she shouldn't think too much about it, but couldn't help herself. He was attractive and she was a teenage girl, what was she to do.
"Seems like someones got a crush," Ronnie sings teasingly before Dahlia flicks his forehead. Rev simply laughs at the display before continuing to eat his own food.
"You know having a crush isn't anything to be ashamed of," Rev chimes in causing Dahlia to turn her stare towards him.
"Don't start with me Rev, I'll flick your forehead too. Despite you being the kindest guy I know." She threatens light heartedly causing Rev to raise his hands in innocence.
"I'm just saying. Alan doesn't seem so bad" He spoke causing Dahlia to flush a tad darker.
"I'm not interested in romance right now," She whines quietly as she covers her face in slight embarrassment as the two guys continue to poke fun at her.
"Why? I'm sure you'd make a great wife," Rev compliments as Ronnie agrees, digging into his food again. Dahlia brushes off the compliment and uncovers her face to poke at the food on her plate.
"Don't look so down, Doll." Ronnie tries to cheer her up, but laughs when Dahlia juts her lip out further, intensify her sadness in protest. He rolls his eyes before placing his bowl of pudding on Dahlia's tray.
"You can have mines," Ronnie gives in causing Dahlia to gasp and quickly begin eating his pudding. "Yeah, you're welcome." He states sarcastically as Rev shakes his head and watches as Dahlia happily ate the pudding.
"You must really like pudding," Rev comments causing Dahlia to slow her pace.
"Yeah, it reminds me a lot of my mom," She responds a little lower than usual and the two guys take notice of that. It almost seemed weird to see Dahlia look even the smallest amount distressed. They had seen her happy, and even angry, but never upset.
"Well, then you can have mines as well," Rev offers pushing his pudding towards her. She smiles gratefully and accepts his offer.
"Thanks, Rev!" Her prior depression gone.
"You thank him, but not me?!" Ronnie guffaws causing Dahlia to wave him off.
"Hi Petey," Rev greets as said jokester plants himself next to him, Dahlia quickly notices that Petey seems anxious. Petey greets Rev before turning to look at Ronnie with a bright smile on his face, Dahlia who was eating her second bowl of pudding eyes them curiously.
"Hey, Sunshine." He seems to glance around nervously before continuing, "It's not like I care or nothin', but bein' your roommate and all, uh… you was just messin' with Bertier right? You— you was just messin with his mind, right? You're not really, uh…" He stutters out causing Dahlia to grow confused as he kept gesturing towards Ronnie. Who was Sunshine? And were Petey and Ronnie roommates? She chose to remain quiet and listen.
"What are you talking about, Petey?" Ronnie asks shrugging. This causes Petey to grow more fidgety.
"Look, man, it don't matter to me, you know. I— If, you know…" Petey goes on shrugging and doing hand gestures. Dahlia wants to chuckle, but refrains from doing so seeing as Petey was distressed enough without her making fun of him. She was still quite confused however the others seemed to know what was going on. She shoots a look towards Rev who still remains calm and silently asks him what was going on. He smiles and gestures towards Ronnie once again which only confuses her even more.
"I just gotta know." Petey finally gets out crossing his arms slightly. Dahlia concludes that this must have something to do with what happened in the locker room. She just didn't understand what Petey needed to know? It was just a peck on the cheek for goodness sake.
"If it don't matter. What's the big deal?" Ronnie asks as he tilts his head in slight confusion. Petey seems to freak a bit on the inside and looks at Dahlia for help.
"I gotta know." He spoke once again this time staring at Dahlia, "You know more about Mr. Sunny here than I do. Tell me! Is he… You know?" Dahlia only opens her mouth not entirely sure what Petey was getting at. She could conclude however that Sunshine was Ronnie, and something that Sunshine did, did not sit well with Petey. She looks to her side for help, but Ronnie only sits next to her with a smile.
"Know what, Petey?" She asks trying to clear things up.
"Yeah, know what?" Ronnie echoes causing Petey to flip out.
"You know what I gotta know!" Petey tries to say softly while standing up. His voice only got louder though as he points at Ronnie, "Don't mess with my mind!" The guy sitting on the other side of Ronnie leans over at this point.
"White coach been keeping Petey out in the sun too long." He warns him and Dahlia trying to explain Petey's outburst as he storms away. Rev only laughs at what had happened as Dahlia just turns to stare at the now dubbed, Sunshine.
"So, I'm guessing you're Sunshine?" She asks Ronnie receiving a cheeky smile her way. "I guess it matches. You have the golden locks, you're from California—"
"I've got a sunny personality, and a hundred watt smile." Sunshine continues her list causing her to sigh at his ego.
"What did you do to Gerry?" She asks bluntly. Sunshine gives her an innocent look, but she doesn't budge.
"I showed you what I was going to do," he stated as if it was nothing, but this causes Rev and a couple others around them to nearly spit their food out.
"You kissed her!" Rev asks almost as if he were reprimanding him. Some of the other guys were making remarks under their breaths like "lucky."
"Well, yeah. What's the big deal?" She asks nonchalantly. She didn't see why everyone was reacting so wildly about this.
"I don't know what you guys did back at California, but you don't just kiss each other casually on the lips here." Rev explains once he calms himself down some to address the situation with a level-head.
"What!" Dahlia exclaims in shock. That's why everyone was responding so dramatically about this?!
"Ronnie!" She scolds him, slapping him as he just laughs at the situation.
"No! He just kissed me on the cheek!" She defends causing the rest of the guys around her to visually relax some. Things seem to calm down for a bit before Dahlia thought about something else.
"If you thought he kissed me on the lips. Then that means…" Dahlia freezes for a second before she breaks down laughing finally understanding why Petey reacted the way he did.
"I see you understand what happened in the locker room now," Rev concludes as he continues to eat now at peace knowing that Sunshine didn't just kiss the only girl Titan here.
"You kissed Gerry on the lips!" Dahlia concludes as Ronnie nods casually, "Well… How was it?" She asks with just the smallest amount of interest, causing the guys around her to laugh a bit.
"Well… You were right, he didn't seem to enjoy it as much as I thought he would," He answers truthfully retelling Dahlia of how he did indeed throw fists at him in response.
"Are you ever going to tell Petey the truth?" She inquires scooping more pudding into her mouth. Sunshine thinks about it for a bit before shaking his head.
"Nah, he'll figure it out eventually." He remarks causing Dahlia to shake her head at him. Poor Petey never seemed to catch a break.
Anyways! Sorry it was a short chapter! I'm trying to get them out for you guys I swear!
Here are the results from last chapter's question!
Choice One - 12 | Choice Two - 6 | Choice Three - 2
It looks like Choice One is winning by a lot, so this story just may end up a Alan x OC story!
I hope I don't lose followers because of this because who knows? Maybe, I'll feel generous at the end and give the Rev supporters a treat anyways.
Also, I know some of you have been suggesting that Sunshine and Dahlia should be a pairing, but I have an idea for them. They will not end up together though! I'm so sorry.
