Found Out

A/N

Nothing belongs to me except John, the plot, & the girls

This story is going to be dedicated to my best friend, Corrie, as my birthday AND CHRISTMAS gift to her.

You guys, I suck for not updating, but I've been working on this for a while and I wanted it to be good. Thanks to all of you who have reviewed and set this on story alert - it's because of you guys that I'm posting! Aren't you glad I didn't stop this at a one-shot?

Anyway, Merry Christmas (or w/e)! Happy Holidays!


"Jeez, Romeo! Thanks for the warning!" Corrie exclaimed at they turned the corner of Tyler and Reid's building, headed for Corrie's room. She pulled away slightly, and he let her go.

"Oh yeah, like you gave me any warning! You're lucky I was eavesdropping or else we'd still be there, reveling in the awkward silence!" He shot back, smiling slightly. She was cute when she was worked up.

"You're right. Thank you for having nothing better to listen to at 5 in the- what was John doing up and wandering around the dorms at 5 in the morning?" Corrie asked rhetorically.

"He isn't usually?"

"He was always more of a night person…"

"Do you speak from experience, or…" Pogue trailed off suggestively, half disgusted and half curious. Well, mostly disgusted. Kind of curious.

"Yes. I screwed his brains out then left him in the middle of the night and he hasn't recovered." She deadpanned, watching his eyes widen. "God, how are you this gullible being friends with Garwin?" She asked, incredulous.

"What?"

"I have never, and will never sleep with John Tormentor." She glared at him. "I already told you, we were friends. He went out with Betsy off and on for two years, took a couple of months to recover from breaking up with her, then started stalking me. That's all."

"Betsy. Tormentor dated Betsy?" Pogue asked, expecting a punch line. "As in Betsy Swann? As in Swim Team co-captain?"

"Yeah… as in my best friend, roomie, and number one dance partner at Nicky's."

"Wait, that was her at Nicky's? That was Betsy?" Pogue asked, comprehension dawning over his face.

"You didn't recognize her? You see her every day in the pool!"

"Not with clothes on! And, you know, hair!" He took a moment to absorb the revelation. "She dated Tormentor?"

"Yeah. For two years, off and on." Corrie sobered, rubbing her arms, shivering through her pajamas and glad that her building was in sight. The cold and this conversation topic would be over soon.

"No. I don't believe it. Betsy? As in captain? As in the girl who may have the most energy and… another word that means happy that I've ever seen? Dated John?"

"Yes. Neither she nor I like to talk about it." Corrie sped up, trying not to revisit painful memories.

"You're serious." Pogue asked, still trying to wrap his brain around the concept that someone as chipper and peppy as Betsy could date someone as broody and, well, weird as John.

"Yes, Pogue! I am serious!" She clenched her teeth.

"Why?" Pogue asked, mystified, but keeping pace effortlessly.

"He was different then. Sweet." She muttered something under her breath that Pogue almost didn't catch.

"What?" He asked, watching her face shrewdly. She came to a complete stop with a sigh.

"He was different before we broke him." And with that she started walking again, leaving Pogue standing in the cold, trying to decipher what she had said. He caught up in a second, as they finally reached her building, a confused look marring his perfect features.

"You… 'broke him?'" He asked, aware of her discomfort yet unable to stop asking. He had to know.

"We broke him. She broke his heart and he never recovered, but I broke the rest of him. I told him no." Her eyes flashed and her voice took on an edge. "That's it."

"Alright, alright." Pogue held his hands up innocently, finally gaining control over his mouth and backing off.

Corrie let out a sigh and relaxed from the defensive position she had subconsciously fallen into and leaned against the brick building.

"I'm being a bitch, aren't I." Her voice sounded tired, completely exhausted. "I'm so sorry. You've been so great today, and I'm being a huge bitch. I don't mean to be. I just-" She rubbed a hand over her face tiredly before letting her hand fall to her side, "I'm just worried."

"Hey, it's me." He brought her chin up with his index finger. "You don't have to be sorry."

The intimate gesture was interrupted almost immediately by the door next to them opening as a pretty blonde girl stepped daintily out of the building, hands full with a giant bag of Starbucks bagels. She came to an abrupt stop as she spotted the couple.

"Pogue." She pushed back the sleeves of Caleb's bulky letterman jacket, looking at them rather than at the couple and trying (unsuccessfully) to hide her shock.

"Sarah… how've you been?" Pogue asked awkwardly, taking a step away from Corrie and dropping his hand to the pouch of his hoodie.

"I'm…I'm fine." Sarah nodded her head a few times, relieving the tension by offering him a small smile. "Um, Kate called me last night."

Corrie watched Pogue's face as Sarah spoke. He looked like he had just been kicked in the face at his girlfriend's name. At his look, Corrie immediately started tuning Sarah out. Guilt flowed through her, flooding her veins. Here she was with Pogue, letting him carry her, having him kiss her, when he actually has a girlfriend.

She was so busy feeling guilty, she didn't even hear Sarah suggest to Pogue that he could drop by and pick up his stuff whenever he was ready.

She did notice when they both stopped speaking, though, and returned to the conversation to see Sarah shooting Pogue a look and letting her eyes dart to Corrie.

"Oh, uh, Sarah. This is Corrie. Corrie, Sarah. Caleb's girlfriend." Pogue introduced them.

"We have Lit together." Corrie pointed out, remembering seeing the girl's face from the other side of the room during lecture.

"Yeah. Professor Hayne, fourth period." Sarah gave her a soft smile, which Corrie returned. "But I am, as Pogu-ie pointed out, Caleb's girlfriend. And I am, unfortunately, late with his breakfast. It was nice meeting you, Corrie." Sarah excused herself quickly before shooting Pogue a look and darting off toward the pool, leaving the couple alone. They avoided looking in each other's eyes in the short, awkward silence that followed Sarah's departure. Corrie broke it, sliding her ID card through the scanner and pulling open the door.

"Hey, Romeo, thanks. I can take it from here."

"At least let me walk you to your room." Pogue asked, looking morose.

"Are you alright? You look a little…"

"Yeah… just stuff with Kate…"

"Are she and Sarah friends?" Corrie asked carefully as he held open the door for her.

"Roommates. Sarah and Caleb, me and…" He trailed off, sounding unusually glum.

"You know, you don't have to walk me up if it'll upset Kate." She said timidly as she led him up to her and Betsy's room. She felt him stiffen at her question.

"Kate…knows." She heard the strain in his voice and dropped the issue, instead opting to unlock her door, not realizing the deeper meaning to his words.

"Here we are…" Corrie trailed off after a short silence as she opened the door. "Do you…want to come in?"

"Nah, I'll just wait out here a while. Chat up some girls next door." He attempted humor, and she appreciated it.

"Come on in." She stepped in, kicking Betsy's stray bras under the bed. He scanned the room, taking in all the Corrie-isms, like the Chinese symbols on the walls and the stuffed dinosaur he'd given her for some reason or other. He studied the collages of pictures (mostly of Corry, Betsy, and Becky) and the corkboard covered in girly thumb tacks, sketches, and newspaper articles. He couldn't help but smile as he took in the obvious Betsy-isms, like the stacks of books, precariously piled on a messy desk with a keyboard and monitor resting amid papers, swimming goggles, lotions, and half-full water bottles. The girl made the kid from "Signs" look normal with the whole half-full water thing.

"By the way, thanks for going with it back there." Corrie said quietly, staring at her bed and drawing designs on the black comforter with her finger. She suppressed a shiver at the thought of John staring at her.

"No problem. She'll probably say something to Caleb, though…" He trailed off in thought, imagining Sarah sharing what she had seen with Caleb as he and the guys ate Pogue's share of the bagels. His stomach grumbled in protest.

"Are you-" He started asking at the same time Corrie opened her mouth. "I-"

"Go ahead." Pogue, ever the gentleman.

"I meant with John."

"Not complaining." He remembered the momentary taste of her lips. "You'll tell me if he ever does anything you don't like and I'll take care of you – it, I'll take care of it- alright?"

"Pogue, you don't have to–" For the second time that morning, she made the mistake of looking him in the eye.

"Yeah, I do." He reached out to her, cupping her neck in his palm, leaning in, the memory of how she tasted the only thing present in his mind.

That is, until the annoying beep of Corrie's 5:30 AM alarm going off made both of them jump about a foot in the air. She pulled away softly, finally breaking eye contact with him by turning and focusing on turning off the alarm, then on finding her uniform.

She felt him sink down on her bed, but was caught completely by surprise when she heard a soft snore (and believe you me, she was used to hearing snoring, what with rooming with Betsy). She glanced over and couldn't help smiling at his innocence in sleep. Poor guy was completely worn out. She reached out and tucked a piece of hair behind his ear, feeling an unfamiliar stirring in the pit of her stomach. She pulled her comforter over him as he shivered, pressing a soft kiss to his temple.

She shook her head to clear it and grabbed her uniform, making her way to the bathroom to change as Pogue slept soundly on her bed.

Unfortunately for Pogue, she temporarily forgot about her, Becky, and Betsy's morning practice day tradition.

"CORRIE! GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF BED!" Becky's scream came clearly through the wooden door, drowning out the sound of her key turning in the lock. Pogue shot up in bed, eyes glazed over with a ring of fire that was quickly extinguished as Becky burst in, still in the pair of old sweat pants and a "Spenser Soccer" t-shirt she had slept it. "COR, GET- oh." She blinked at Pogue and his mussed hair until her attention was drawn to Corrie coming out of the bathroom, buttoning up her white dress shirt. "WOAH!"

"Oh, Becks…" Corrie closed her eyes in dread as she realized what they must look like. Becky stared at them a few extra seconds with a goofy grin on her face before bolting, slamming the door behind her.

"Wha-?" Pogue asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"It's a morning practice tradition. On the days Betsy isn't here to wake me up and make sure I get out of bed, Becky comes over and gets me going."

"Can I get you going today?" The innuendo slipped out before he even realized it. I've been spending too much time around Reid Pogue decided, expecting another awkward silence.

She surprised him when she laughed.

"That's what she said!" She crowed, chuckling. He chuckled too, stretching as he got up from the bed.

"Let me take you to breakfast. To make up for ruining your tradition." He suggested, hearing his stomach growl again.

"How about this: I buy you breakfast for saving me from two men I really didn't want to talk to." She suggested, pulling on one of her knee-high regulation dress socks.

"Uh, what?" He asked, mesmerized by the unintentional sensuality she exuded as she pulled on another sock. She smiled at his response.

"I'm hungry, you're obviously hungry. Let's go to breakfast. We'll work out details later." She pulled on her shoes, looking at him expectantly. "Don't you need your uniform?"

"We can stop by my place after breakfast." He would just Use to get it from his pool locker. No big deal.

"Isn't your uniform in your locker at the pool?" She asked, as if she had read his mind.

"I have another set of school clothes at home." He lied smoothly. His other set of school clothes were at Caleb's, which was only a few miles from the school and had been more of a home to him than the apartment ever would be. "Come on."

"Okay. Just let me tell Becks where we're going, so she doesn't worry." She slipped out of the room, pulling on her letterman jacket, and into the one next door.

Pogue heard a few excited squeals and the slamming of a door before she returned, her face flushed crimson.

"Okay. Let's go." She said, rushed. At his look, she elaborated. "She's very…" Corrie trailed off.

"Worried?" Corrie flushed again. She hadn't even brought up Betsy and her accident.

"No. Excited." He gave her a blank look. "After John, I didn't have any guy friends. And I've missed that. The having guy friends. She's happy to see me happy." She explained, stuffing her phone into a purse and wrapping a scarf around her neck. "Ready?"

"Yeah." He held the door open for her and waited as she locked it before guiding her down to the parking lot outside the pool.

She almost missed when he tossed his extra helmet to her.

"You're joking." She said flatly, looking from the helmet to Pogue to the Ducati to the snow surrounding them.

"C'mon, Cor. Don't you trust me?" His eyes burned into hers.

"That's not fair, using Aladdin against me." She pointed out. "You know it's my favorite Disney movie of all time."

"Come on, Cor. Just put the helmet on, wrap your arms around my sexy body, and we're half way to waffle land."

"B-but won't you be cold?" She asked nervously.

"Nope. We'll grab my jacket at Caleb's."

"Caleb's? I thought we were going to breakfast."

"My stuff's at Caleb's." He sat down on the seat, helmet in his lap. "What can I do to convince you?"

"Um…" She trailed off, uncomfortable with the thought of riding on a motorcycle in the middle of winter, much less wrapped around Pogue Parry, who, she had realized in the last hour, she may be falling in like with and who also was in, if rumor was to be trusted, a pretty serious relationship with New York heiress Kate Tunney.

"What if we took Tyler's Hummer?" He suggested, shrugging to show his indifference.

"Yeah. Can we? Would it be okay?" She admitted, making a mental reminder to never tell Betsy about turning down a ride on the Ducati.

"Sure. Anything." Pogue promised, taking both helmets and stowing them in the seat before Using to make Tyler's keys appear in his hoodie pocket. "Let's go."


Sorry it's short. Please review anyway.