A/N: So, one of the things that I've loved about writing this one is that I really got a firm grasp on Anne, who was always a little slippery. This comes through in this chapter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Chapter 9: Cheating
Carmen, Cal and Anne sat quietly in the living room of the house in Malibu that Cal was now renting.
"It's nice," Carmen nodded. She was surprised that she and Cal hadn't been able to shake Anne. Maybe Trina had told her something?
"It's kinda big," Anne frowned. "I mean, it would be just you, right?"
"See apparently in places that aren't New York," Cal said, "people live in houses with yards and extra rooms."
"Well, that's just stupid," Anne said, "but at least you're living at the beach." Cal laughed and looked at Carmen.
"Hi," Marissa walked in. Anne raised her eyebrows at her brother. "Oh, um, sorry."
"Marissa," Cal said, "this is Anne and Carmen. Guys, this is Marissa, she's on the show with me."
"Hi," Anne said, "I'm sorry you have to spend so much time with my brother." Marissa smiled. Carmen was staring at her.
"Um, yeah," Marissa said, "we have fun."
"I bet you do," Anne said, crossing her legs and leaning forward. "Hey, I have an idea!"
"Oh God," Cal groaned under his breath.
"One of our dad's clients, Shawn Miller," Anne said, "is playing at this club tonight, and Daddy said we could go, wouldn't it be so fun, for me and Carmen to get to know Marissa?"
"That would be fun!" Carmen nodded at Anne who smiled. They were, of course, at cross purposes, Anne kind of just wanted Cal to be the one squirming for once and Carmen really wanted to find out what was going on between Marissa and Cal, just so that she could stop feeling guilty.
"Yay!" Anne smiled and stood up. "Marissa, has Cal offered to take you to our mom's LA boutique yet?"
"Um no," Marissa said and shook her head. Cal mouthed, "I'm sorry," to her.
"Great, I'm better to show you around anyway," she stood up. "Do you drive?"
"Um, yeah," Marissa said.
"Awesome, I don't," Anne said. "Let's go." She bounced out. "Come on, scoot!"
"She's very determined," Cal said, "she won't give up until you go with her." Marissa laughed.
"Alright," Marissa said, "it was nice to meet you Carmen."
"You too," Carmen nodded. "Thanks for looking out for him."
"It's no problem," Marissa laughed and walked out with Anne. Cal looked at Carmen, who smiled at him. He sat down with her and kissed her.
"I missed you," he said. She smiled.
"I missed you too," she said. "Do you want to show me your room?" He smiled and they stood up and walked upstairs. "King size bed is nice." He laughed and they kissed and fell back.
"Beats the dorms right?" He whispered and kissed her neck. They started undressing each other. "Hey," he said, "are you sure that you want to do this, now?"
"Cal," she laughed. "Of course, we've been talking about this for months." He nodded and they kept kissing. "Why do you ask?"
"I don't know," he said, "you seem weird." She looked at him.
"Weird, how?" She asked.
"I don't know, just weird," he said.
"Do you want to do this?" She asked. He sighed. "Oh," she pulled back.
"Carm," he said, "of course, I want to, it's just that we haven't seen each other in months, a lot's happened."
"You're with her, aren't you?" She asked. He looked at her. "Marissa? You're with her."
"What? No!" He said. "We work together, we're friends. It gets kind of lonely out here, it's nice to have someone to hang out with."
"Oh," she said quietly. "I thought that,"
"You thought that I was cheating on you," he said. She nodded. "Who is it?"
"Cal, don't," she said softly. He looked at her. "Danny Farley," he closed his eyes. "Cal, I'm sorry, it just sort of happened, I miss you so much and," he nodded.
"It's fine," he said. "I get it," she hugged him.
"I was going to wait," she whispered. "Really, until the end of the week."
"Why?" He said. "What was the point?"
"I didn't want to ruin Thanksgiving," she said, "and I still wanted," she looked at him. "I still wanted you to be my first." They kissed again.
"Does anyone know?" He said.
"Trina caught us," she said. He looked at her.
"She didn't," he started.
"I asked her not to," Carmen said, "I didn't want you to hear it from someone else." He nodded. "I'm so sorry Cal! I should have talked to you first, but,"
"Carmen it's OK," he said softly, "really, it is. Something sort of, almost happened with Marissa too, so I'm not." She looked at him. "She wouldn't let it."
"My, isn't she noble," Carmen mumbled. He laughed. "I can probably still catch a plane home. My parents will be happy that I changed my mind." He kissed her on the forehead.
"I'll call a car for you," he said softly. She smiled.
"Wow," Marissa said looking around the luxury boutique on Rodeo Drive. Anne smiled.
"I like the New York one better," Anne said, "it's in SoHo in this converted publishing house, and all the people that work there are like struggling painters and writers and stuff."
"Really?" Marissa said. Anne nodded. "That's so cool."
"Don't every tell anyone I said this but Mom is pretty cool," Anne laughed. "The only reason this one isn't like that is that is because she doesn't care much about the west coast. I bet it'll get totally overhauled now that Cal's living out here and her attention shifts." Marissa nodded.
"What was it like?" She asked. "Growing up?"
"Remarkably normal," Anne laughed, "I mean, we had more money and access than a lot of people, but I mean, a lot of the people we hung out with before high school, their families were like nuts, their parents were never around. Mom just had an unconventional job, everything else was pretty normal." She stopped. "What about you?"
"How did I grow up?" Marissa laughed. "My dad is an accountant for a studio, and my mom was a junior agent, she worked for Josh." Anne nodded. "When I was three, a director who saw me and my dad together said that I had potential, so I signed with mom's old boss." She shrugged.
"Hm," Anne said and a sales girl walked over. "Hi."
"I'm really sorry, we have to ask, if you're not going to buy anything," she looked at the two teenage girls. Anne grinned. She loved this part.
"Hi," Anne said, Marissa looked scared. "My name is Anne Callins, my mother, Tammy Duncan, this is her store?" The girl swallowed. "Mom wants me to pick out a few things to wear to Thanksgiving dinner, with Jaime Bloom and Josh Parker, you know who they are right?" The girl nodded. "Also my friend and I are going to a club tonight and we want to look fantastic. Marissa, you're what a four?"
"Two," Marissa managed to whisper.
"Ugh, I hate you," Anne said, "she's a two, I'm a six. I'm thinking something from the spring collection for her. You like knits, don't you?" She pointed to Marissa.
"Sure," she said. The sales girl nodded and walked away. "Wow, doesn't quite cover it."
"It's more fun at Barney's," Anne shrugged and plopped on a couch. "My brother likes you." Marissa looked at her. "He does."
"I like him," she said softly. "But I don't go after boys who have girlfriends." Anne nodded.
"My ex whatever, Hunter," Anne said, "he and I used to hook up, even though I had a boyfriend. It was a stupid decision. That's cool that you won't do it." Marissa nodded. "Cal needs a lot of looking after," Marissa looked at her, "we used to take care of each other, Dad says it's the reason that God made us twins."
"I'll do my best," Marissa nodded. Anne smiled at her. The sales girl came over.
"I brought," she started.
"The Butterfly dress," Anne said, the girl stared at her. "No, this is Marissa Walker, she's going to be co starring with my brother on a hit TV show starting in January, and tonight, when we all go out together she's going to wear the butterfly dress. OK?" The girl nodded and walked away.
"I like shopping with you," Marissa said. Anne laughed.
"Hey," Kevin said walking into Bella's dorm room where she was packing. "Are you sure about this thing tonight?"
"Staying at your parents so I can save fifty dollars on my flight home by taking off in the middle of the night?" Bella laughed. "Yeah, pretty sure. Why? What's up?"
"Nothing," he said. "I just wonder if we shouldn't just stay here," he said.
"Kevin," she looked at him. "Your mother got me a kick ass job that very well might get me into law school." He nodded. "In return all that she asked was that I have dinner at your house. So I'm going to do that OK?"
"OK," he nodded. "You're cranky today."
"It's nothing," she muttered and threw some things into her bag. He looked at her.
"No, it's not," he sighed, "what's up?" She looked at him.
"Kevin," she said, "it is nothing, OK? I knew what I was signing up for when Gordon went to Notre Dame and not seeing him in the fall is part of that."
"You two fought about it again," he said. She closed her eyes.
"It's not important," she said, "it was just a stupid fight."
"One you seem to keep having," Kevin pointed out. "He told me he wanted to transfer to Maryland."
"Yeah," she whispered.
"He also told me," he said softly. "That you told him not to." She nodded. "Why?"
"Because I won't be that girl," she said. He looked at her. "I won't, I won't be the reason he," she looked at him. "He'll regret it. And I won't be that regret."
"Sure," he nodded. "That's the only reason."
"Of course," she said. He nodded. "And I mean, I love Gordon, but he's, well, I mean, we're distracting. I don't want to be distracted. Georgetown, the Page job, it's important, more important than me and Gordon, and if he's here, I'll neglect him and," she closed her eyes. "We wouldn't survive it." Kevin looked at her, and pushed her hair off of her face. "Kevin," she whispered.
"I want you," he said, "Bella, I love you. I have for months," she pulled away.
"This is insane!" She said. He looked at her. "I'm with Gordon, he's your best friend, Kevin and,"
"I know that," he said, "but come on! Are you really getting what you need from that relationship right now?" She swallowed. "Believe me, I know, I spent a lot of time and energy trying to make something that should have stopped working keeping working." She looked at him and swallowed as he put his arms around her. "I can give you what you need. I won't distract you, I swear, but I'll support you," she looked up at him. "You told me once that you felt like you needed me in your life."
"I didn't mean it that way," she said. He smiled and cupped her face.
"I think you did," he said softly. "If you need me, let me in." She looked up at him. "All the way in." He kissed her and then they fell back onto the bed. She whimpered softly as he started grinding against her. "Come on baby," he whispered in her ear and then kissed her neck. "Come on."
"Kevin," she whispered, "I'm wearing a skirt, help yourself." He grinned and she kissed him while he pulled her panties off.
"Condoms?" he whispered. She looked at him.
"Don't need them," she said. He nodded and she pushed his shirt off. "Kevin," she whispered. "Oh God," she groaned, he took her top off and they kept kissing. "Kevin," she whimpered.
"Keep saying my name," he groaned, "it's working for me." She groaned, and he spread her legs and entered her.
"That's it," she moaned, "oh God! Kevin, that's it!" She grabbed his shoulders.
"I told you, Bella," he whispered, "I'll give you what you need."
"Conway," one of the seniors on the team walked into his room. "You doing OK?"
"Yeah," Gordon nodded. He sat down.
"You're transferring to Maryland?" He asked. Gordon sighed. "Coach mentioned it. Said I should talk to you."
"I'm thinking about transferring," Gordon said. "Just thinking." He nodded. "Look, my girlfriend's at Georgetown, and I'd actually play there."
"Give it another year and you'll play here too," he said. "You're good, and the only reason you aren't second string now is because Plackard is a senior and he's a dick and if he lost the spot to a freshman, he'd make everyone's life hell." Gordon smiled. "Dude, you're really good, and you have a real shot here. I met your girl when she was up here, and she's definitely special, but this is your time, and it's hers too. Don't blow it." Gordon looked at him.
"You have no idea how special she is," Gordon said. He smiled and stood up. "And I feel like I'm losing her."
"Then you lose her," he said, "you probably would have anyway." Gordon nodded. He hadn't thought about it that way
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