A/N: Once again, thank you for the reviews and your loyal readership. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction loosely based on real people that I do not actually know. I've taken a lot of personal liberties with this story so, aside from the use of names and episode titles, all characterizations and events are purely fiction. I have no affiliation with Glee or anyone who works on Glee.
Bold As Love
Ch. 10 Half-Empty, Half-Full
Naya lay in her bed, sprawled out and lying on her belly. Her body felt like a lead pipe; heavy and immovable. She was barely awake. She kept her eyes closed, either out of sheer refusal to get up or the fact that it seemed like it would take a colossal amount of energy for her body to perform any type of function, or both.
She let out a heavy groan. Even something as simple as that seemed like it took too much energy. Her throat was really dry and it hurt.
Nevertheless, she sighed deeply, resolving to at least attempt to get out of bed. She rolled over onto her back and her arm sprawled out onto the space in the bed next to her. Her arm started fishing around over the empty space like she was searching for something that she expected to be there. She quickly sat up and opened her eyes, her head wobbling a bit and her hair in her face.
"Ugh," she groaned again. She scrunched her face and pinched her eyes shut as she brought her hand up to comfort the sharp pain shooting through to her forehead. "Too fast," she croaked out and fell back onto the bed.
She opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. Her vision was a little blurry.
How is it that I let myself drink way too much last night but I'm responsible enough to drunkenly remember to take out my contacts before I passed out?
She blinked her eyes rapidly and tried to muster up some energy for a second attempt at getting up. Then a wonderful smell hit her nose and she perked up with a smile.
Is that coffee? And…maybe cookies or something? Is Heather still here?
She had more motivation to get up now. She slowly sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, taking a moment to make sure she was steady. She had a headache and she felt like someone had torn a giant hole through the pit of her stomach with a screwdriver but she was fine. She ran her hands through her hair a few times and tied it back in a low side-ponytail that made her hair drape over her shoulder. Then she opened the drawer of her bedside table to pull out her black-framed glasses, slipping them on so she could see clearly.
Yawning violently, she sluggishly walked to her bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. It took her a moment to realize she only had her underwear and a t-shirt on so she slipped on a pair of blue striped pajama shorts before going downstairs.
Heather was whistling to the Looney Tunes theme playing on the TV as she ladled the pancake mix onto the pan. Once the batter was in the pan she grabbed a handful of chocolate chips.
"Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-That's all folks!" She imitated the famous Porky Pig line and at the ending note of the credits she threw the chocolate chips into the batter like Emeril Lagasse. A spot of batter flew up and landed on her cheek.
She heard a soft giggle from behind as Naya brushed her blonde hair to the side, so it was off her neck and shoulder and snaked one arm around Heather's waist and stomach, hugging her tight.
"It's impossible that you're this cute so early in the morning," Naya's voice came out raspy as she whispered in Heather's ear. She nipped and kissed at the back of Heather's neck, gently swaying her from side to side.
Heather smiled. "Well I've been up for a while." She turned around in Naya's arms.
"Good morning," Naya said softly and leaned in to nuzzle her nose against Heather's.
Heather brought her arms to rest over Naya's shoulders. "Well now it's a very good morning." She smiled and kissed her. "How are you feeling?" She tucked a loose strand of brown hair behind Naya's ear.
"Eh, a little groggy." Naya shrugged her shoulder with what little energy she had. "Remind me to smack Kevin over the head with a sledgehammer though cuz that's how my head feels right now," she joked.
"You know you didn't have to drink that much, right? Kevin wouldn't have cared either way."
Naya's forehead wrinkled and she hung her head, scolding herself.
She's right. I was an idiot for drinking that much.
She started shuffling her feet. "I know. I'm sorry. I guess Kev and I got carried away at some point."
"Oh yeah," Heather emphasized and nodded her head. "The two of you turned into a bit of a shitshow by the end of the night."
Naya winced with guilt.
Heather brought her finger under Naya's chin, lifting it up. "Nay, don't worry about it. Everyone has nights like that. Besides, you have me to make you yummy hangover pancakes in the morning." She kissed her again, bringing a small, appreciative smile to Naya's face.
Naya glanced over Heather's shoulder at the pan on the stove. "Another culinary mad scientist experiment? To be honest I dunno if my stomach can handle one of those this morning."
"No, nothing crazy. Just pancakes."
Naya brought her finger up and wiped the small spot of batter from Heather's cheek. She put her finger in her mouth, licking the batter off and smacking her lips, curiously taking in the flavor. "Peanut Butter?"
"With chocolate chips!" Heather proudly grinned.
Naya licked her lips some more. "Mmm, my favorite." She pressed a kiss to Heather. Then, in her peripheral vision, the half full pot of coffee on the counter caught her attention. "Oooh, and coffee too." She eagerly went to the counter and grabbed a mug hanging from one of the hooks on the wall.
Just as Naya reached for the handle of the coffee pot, Heather swatted at her hand. "Uh-uh. Water first."
Naya dropped her hand and meant to pout but she was still slow and groggy with her hangover so her expression came out as sort of a mope. Heather understood anyway.
Heather placed her hand on her hip and cocked it to the side. "Seriously, coffee's going to dehydrate you and that's the last thing you need after the mega-ton you drank last night."
Naya pouted some more and pushed the coffee mug to the side.
Right again.
She reached up to the cabinet for a glass as Heather went to flip the pancake in the pan. Naya sluggishly shuffled her way around the kitchen to fill her glass with water and get the aspirin bottle out of the small drawer of the island counter. She took two tablets and chugged her whole glass of water. She filled it a second time and chugged half the glass, letting out a sigh of relief when she was done.
Heather glanced back at her with a small smile.
The water really did help. At least Naya didn't feel so parched now. She remained silent for a moment, leaning her forearms on top of the island counter and staring blankly at the half full glass of water. She finally decided to drink the rest of it.
As Naya set her empty glass back down, Heather had walked up next to her and set a plate of Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip pancakes in front of her, pushing a filled mug of coffee next to it. "Feeling better now?"
Naya cleared her throat. "Much." At least her voice sounded somewhat normal. She looked down at the coffee and stack of pancakes. The top one had chocolate chips in the shape of a heart and whipped cream at the center of it and the coffee was already prepared the way Naya liked it. A smile crept across her face. "Why are you so good to me?"
Heather slipped her hand around Naya's waist. "Because you're cute and I like doing things for you like making you breakfast." She bounced her finger on the tip of Naya's nose.
Naya giggled as her smile became goofy and she scrunched her nose.
"And I like doing things that make you smile like that." Heather pecked her nose with a kiss and then nodded her head in the direction of the breakfast table. "Now sit down and eat up."
"Yes ma'am," Naya joked as she grabbed her plate and coffee. She loved when hints of Heather's demanding side came out. As she turned to go toward the table Heather playfully smacked at Naya's butt. Naya glanced back at her with her eyebrow raised and eyeing Heather over the rim of her glasses.
Heather shrugged back with her hands up. "Wasn't me," she joked with a sly smile.
Naya shook her head and laughed as she sat down at the round, booth-like breakfast table. A moment later, Heather scooted in next to her with a plate of her own non-chocolate chip Peanut Butter pancakes, two forks, a knife and a bottle of maple syrup. Naya eagerly grabbed the syrup bottle and poured some over her pancakes while Heather used her hands to rip her pancakes into pieces on her plate.
"Switch ya," Heather held the knife out to Naya and Naya handed the bottle to Heather.
Heather drowned her ripped up pancakes in syrup while Naya cut a few pieces of hers, forked a piece and shoved it in her mouth.
"Oh my Go'. Thes' are a'azing," Naya raised her hand to cover her mouth while she chewed.
Heather forked one of her pieces to eat and eyed Naya who continued to thoroughly enjoy eating her breakfast. "Glad you like it," she let out a light chuckle.
Naya practically inhaled half her pancakes before she felt like the food had started to absorb some of that hungover feeling in her stomach. She felt much better now and sipped on her coffee. Crossing her leg over her knee, she held her mug in her lap and ran her finger over the rim of it, staring down into the coffee.
Heather had her fork raised to eat another piece and paused with her mouth still open. She noticed Naya's apprehensiveness. She didn't know why Naya suddenly looked nervous, like she wanted to ask something but was too embarrassed about it, but it was too obvious not to address. "Full already?" Heather casually asked as she chomped down on her fork.
"No," Naya's voice was small and she was still running her finger over the rim of her mug. "So, um…how bad was I last night?"
"You were fine, Naya. Don't worry about it." Heather gave a relieved chuckle to laugh it off as she forked another piece.
Naya nudged the bridge of her glasses up and looked up at Heather. "No, seriously. I didn't do anything stupid, did I? Because to be honest I don't really remember much after dancing at the club."
"No, you didn't do anything stupid," Heather reassured her. "Although I thought it was funny when you tried to run away with the taco cart." She chomped down on another pancake bite.
"I did what?" Naya smacked her hand on the table in shock. "Are you serious?"
Heather laughed and shook her head up and down.
"Why did I steal a damn taco cart? When did we get tacos?"
"Well," Heather swallowed her food before explaining. "You and Kevin wanted some late-night drunchies and got in an argument about tacos versus burgers, which Kevin won." Heather tipped her fork down to emphasize the point. "But when Kevin's burger place was closed you went ape shit for the taco cart down the street. When the taco guy was taking too long in the vendor truck next to him you stole the cart and started pushing it down the street."
Naya's eyes went wide.
Heather started snickering and laughed harder. "The guy walked out like half a minute later and flipped out when he saw you running down the street with his cart."
Naya's eyes went wider still. "And no one tried to stop me?"
Heather was cracking up in her seat, re-telling the story. "Well Kevin and I were too busy rolling on the floor laughing."
Naya set her coffee on the table and propped her elbows up, placing her head in her hands.
"I guess you wanted the tacos all to yourself," Heather chuckled again.
Naya began shaking her head in her hands and talking fast. "Damnit, I'm such an idiot for drinking that much. And I'm sure that wasn't the only stupid thing I did. I probably made a bunch of inappropriate comments and I—" She popped her head up. "Oh God, how did we get home?"
"I drove your car home," Heather reassured her and placed her hand on Naya's knee.
"And then you had to deal with my drunk ass?" Naya whined and sunk her head into her hands again.
"Well I wasn't gonna leave you here by yourself. Who knows? You might've tried to go out and get that taco cart back," Heather joked.
As much of a pain it can be sometimes, to take care of people when they're three sheets to the wind, Heather actually didn't mind one bit. She wanted to be the one to take care of Naya.
Naya shook her head in her hands again, partly out of guilt and partly to comfort her mild headache. "I am so sorry you had to deal with that. I was probably a hot damn mess."
"Relax. The worst you did was when you tried to make some sort of sexual joke about Aliens and probing." Heather giggled. "It was bad. I don't think you even figured out a punch line for it."
"Aaaand there's the inappropriate comment." Naya swung her hand up in the air and let it smack down in her lap.
Heather decided she had joked enough about it and took on a tone of seriousness to reassure Naya. "You were fine. I promise." Heather ran her hand back and forth over Naya's knee and forked another bite to eat.
Naya huffed and sat back. She stared down at her fingers as she began inaudibly muttering to herself.
Heather placed her fork down on the plate and turned to face Naya. "See this is why I didn't want to say anything. You're just gonna beat yourself up about it."
As Heather turned back to her plate, Naya leaned her head back. She muttered a little louder under her breath. "Stupid. I was probably a horny little asshole when we got back too."
Heather had forked another bite but stopped short of her mouth again. "Naya, stop it. Everyone has crazy drunk nights. You're allowed to have some too and not feel bad about it. Cut yourself some slack."
Naya looked up at Heather with concerned and questioning eyes.
Heather sighed and set her fork down, turning sideways in her seat to face Naya. "Fine. What do you want to know?"
Naya looked down at her fidgeting hands again, trying to avoid Heather's gaze. "I didn't, like, tryyy…" she hesitantly drew out the word, "…anything with you while I was hammered out of my mind, did I?" She looked up at Heather, hoping she hadn't made a fool of herself the night before when her inhibitions had been gone.
Heather cleared her throat and sat up a little. "You did," she said, nodding forward.
Naya hung her head back again, looking up at the ceiling. "Way to go, asshole," she muttered to herself.
Heather had been reluctant to say anything because she knew the reaction it would solicit but, regardless, she wanted to be honest. Heather explained further to put Naya at ease. "You stopped, the second I told you you needed to sleep instead of make out with me." It was actually more of an attempt at drunken groping than making out but Heather thought she'd clean up the description a bit. "And then you felt so guilty about being so forward that you tried to put yourself in the doghouse and insisted that you sleep on the couch."
"You should've just let me sleep on the couch."
"Well lucky for me, you're easy to carry. So I just sort of picked you up and carried you upstairs."
Naya winced with guilt once again. "I'm so sorry you had to deal with that."
"You're kind of ridiculous, you know that?" Heather let out a small chuckle.
"It's embarrassing. No one wants a sloppy, drunk idiot trying to make out with them." Naya leaned forward on the table pushing her pancakes around with her fork. "I'm sorry. You didn't have to stay and deal with me being a horny little prick and then be so nice and make me pancakes in the morning and-"
"Would you stop apologizing?" Heather squeezed at Naya's knee and then ran her thumb back and forth on it. "I know it sounds weird but…I like taking care of you like that," Heather shrugged her shoulder. "Ya know, making sure you got to bed okay and then making you feel better in the morning."
"Please," Naya let her fork drop down on the plate and crossed her arms over her lap. "No one wants to take care of a drunken buffoon."
"Yeah, but I wasn't taking care of a drunken buffoon. I was taking care of you."
Heather's last words hit Naya's ears with a thud and her face softened as she took a moment to let them sink into her.
"Actually you were kind of cute about it," Heather's mouth started to form into a warm smile.
Naya shifted her eyes to Heather in a hard and doubtful glare. How could she possibly have been cute about wanting to make out while she was so drunkenly far gone and Heather was sober?
Heather shifted in her seat and scooted a little closer to Naya, speaking slowly and softly. "Well, you slurred your words a little but, you said that you were really happy…about us and the way things are going, and…that this isn't just some fling for you…" She cleared her throat and looked down at her hands. "…and that…" She had been holding her breath and let it out in a sigh, looking up into Naya's eyes. "…that I'm too special, and I mean too much to you for that, and you don't wanna do anything to ruin it."
Naya's face softened and her eyes became gentle once again.
"It was actually really sweet, the way you said it," Heather shyly shrugged.
Naya cupped both her hands around Heather's hand on her knee. Her eyes timidly shifted up and down from their hands to Heather's eyes."It's just cuz, ya know, we're taking things slow and all, and…and I don't want you to feel pressured about anything and…" she sighed with frustration. "I don't want to do something that's going to screw everything up and make you freak out again"
"You're not screwing things up," Heather earnestly talked over her but Naya continued to press forward with her line of thought.
"And I know you're still getting used to it and you're maybe still not all that comfortable with it yet, and—"
Naya abruptly stopped when Heather quickly held her hands up to cup Naya's cheeks and hold her attention in order to break her of yet another one of her self-critical tirades. She soothingly rubbed her thumbs over Naya's ears and looked deep into her big brown eyes. "You want this to work, right?"
Naya nodded 'yes' and pressed her forehead to Heather's.
"Then you gotta stop treating me like I'm a glass vase that you're about to drop and break. You are not what I'm uncomfortable with." Heather's voice was gentle but resolute as she spoke.
"I just…" Naya took in a shaky breath. "…Y-you matter to me…a lot." She sniffled and reached up to grab hold of Heather's hand. "And I know new relationships can be exciting and scary but I don't ever want you to feel scared with me or-or feel like you have to run away from me, like before."
Heather shut her eyes and squeezed Naya's hand as she let it fall to her lap, hating that she had ever made Naya feel unwanted. "I know I kinda wigged out before and even now, I mean, I'm still a little scared and…" Some of Heather's tension released into a soft giggle. "To be honest I feel like I don't have the first clue about what I'm doing half the time."
A sly smirk flashed over Naya's face as she arched her brow. "Oh trust me, you're doing everything right."
Heather chuckled softly and ran her thumb over Naya's hand as she took a moment to regain some clarity in what she wanted to say. "Look, obviously I get nervous…and I think it's mostly because, well, I didn't think I could care about you anymore than I already did but…I do." She looked up into Naya's eyes. "I really do. But, the point is," she scooted close to her, cupping her face again and speaking with confidence. "You don't have to walk on eggshells with me. It's everything else out there that makes me nervous. Not you."
With soft eyes Naya was held by Heather's gaze, taking in all her sincerity before she nodded her head with understanding.
Heather pressed a kiss to her and tucked another loose strand of brown hair behind her ear.
"How do you always know what to do and say to make me feel better?" Naya mumbled against Heather's lips.
"Because I know you. And aside from the fact that good food always makes you feel better," Heather glanced at the pancakes and with her finger swiped a bit of the whipped cream left on top. She pressed it onto the tip of Naya's nose and they both giggled. "Sometimes you need someone to remind you not to put so much pressure on yourself." She kissed the whipped cream off Naya's nose and licked her lips. "Mm, yummy."
Naya giggled and kissed her back. "I think it's your kisses that make me feel better," she whispered.
"That's cuz my kisses probably taste like whipped cream right now," Heather smiled.
Naya pressed another kiss to her and bounced her brows up in a playful manner. "Mm, yummy."
Naya leaned further into her and continued giving her small, soft kisses. With Heather distracted, Naya covertly reached over to swipe some of the whipped cream onto her finger. She streaked some across Heather's cheek.
"Hey!" Heather laughed out.
Naya licked and kissed the cream off Heather's cheek as Heather continued giggling. Heather swiped the last glob of whipped cream and streaked it across Naya's neck.
"Ah!" The cream was cold on Naya's neck and she let out a yelp that sounded more like a giggle. Heather lunged forward wrapping Naya in her arms, licking and kissing the whipped cream off her neck. Naya's giggling turned into a pleasing little moan as Heather continued down her neck.
Once the whipped cream was completely gone Heather pulled back. "I think we're gonna need more whipped cream."
Both girls smiled wide and then scrambled their way out of the booth of the table, ignoring the remains of their breakfast. Naya excitedly rushed over to the refrigerator and pulled out the aerosol Reddi Wip bottle. She turned around shaking the bottle and saw Heather leaning her hand against the island counter just gazing at her with her eyebrow raised and looking rather seductively captivated.
Naya looked down at herself, a little confused, and then pushed the bridge of her glasses further up her nose as she looked back up to Heather. "What?"
Heather bit down on her lip with a sly little smirk. "Your glasses."
Naya's eyes went wide, suddenly feeling embarrassed and she placed the bottle on the counter. "Oh my God, if we're doing this I am so putting my contacts in." She raced toward the stairs.
"No! Naya!" Heather whined and chased after her.
"No, I look like a dork!" Naya yelped as she bounded up the stairs with Heather just behind her.
Naya rounded the doorframe and swung into her room. She was two steps away from the bathroom when Heather came up behind her and wrapped her arm around Naya's waist, pulling her back. They stumbled backward and landed on Naya's bed with Heather hugging her close.
"You're a sexy dork," Heather whispered into her ear.
"No I'm not," Naya rolled to the side, off of Heather and laying flat on the bed.
Heather quickly reacted and threw her legs over to straddle her, threading her fingers through Naya's and pinning her hands down beside her head on the bed. "Correction. You're my sexy dork." Heather wiggled her hips and smirked.
"It's still dorky." Naya arched her brow.
Heather mirrored Naya and arched her brow back. "You're still sexy."
"Me wearing glasses is not sexy," Naya scoffed.
Heather bent down to whisper into Naya's ear. "But you don't wear them all the time, so when you do, they look sexy…as…fuck." Heather began sucking on Naya's ear.
"Mmm!" A desperate moan escaped Naya's mouth and she squeezed her fingers tight around Heather's hands as her hips rolled up into Heather's.
Heather kissed down Naya's neck and then moved back up to kiss her on the lips. "Now, can we just say I won this argument so I can go back to kissing the crap out of you," Heather whispered as she hovered just over Naya's mouth.
"I like the sound of that," Naya smiled and leaned up to kiss her. Heather's demanding side was out now and Naya found it to be absolutely irresistible.
The marimba ringtone of Naya's iPhone sounded and buzzed on her nightstand. They both ignored it as Naya pressed further into the kiss and ran her hands up Heather's arms and around the back of her neck. She tangled one hand in her blonde hair while Heather dragged her fingers down Naya's torso and to her waist. The marimba ringtone sounded a second time. And Heather pulled her head up.
"It's a text message. If they wanna talk to me they'll call," Naya argued.
Heather pursed her lips to the side. "Still, you should probably see who it is. What if it's something important?"
Naya contemplated it for a moment and then rolled her eyes up, giving in to Heather's logic. "Damnit! I swear, I'm going to bury our phones in the backyard next time."
Heather chuckled and got off of Naya. She sat on the edge of the bed as Naya reached over to the night stand for her phone. She quickly read her new text messages. There were two of them, from Derek. She narrowed her eyes and sat up, intrigued by the messages. Then she turned the phone around in her hand, holding the screen out so Heather could read them.
Derek: My office. 20 minutes. We need to talk
Derek: And if you're with Heather tell her to call Marcy
"Hmm, weird." Heather twisted her mouth in confusion. "Why would he assume I'm with you and then tell me to call my manager?"
"I dunno." Naya set the phone on the bed. "But Derek only does short texts like that if it's something urgent and he's kinda pissed about something."
Heather's face dropped as a realization flashed through her mind. "Oh no. It might be about last night."
Naya's eyes widened and she threw her arm up in the air. "Jesus, what other crazy shit did I do? Did I try to steal something else? Set something on fire?"
"No, no." Heather placed her hand on Naya's knee to calm her. "But…" She was hesitant to say it. "…we got papped on the way out of the club."
"Shit." Naya smacked her palm down on the bed.
"But, it wasn't anything bad. I mean it was just you, me, Kevin and Harry walking out to the car."
"Yeah but Derek always gets so fucking anal about pap photos." Naya picked up her phone and texted Derek back.
On my way
Heather made a funny pouting face as Naya stood from the bed. Naya scrunched her face and bent down to kiss her. "We are so finishing this later."
"I'll have the whipped cream ready," Heather teased and smacked at Naya's butt as she walked toward the bathroom.
Heather's mouth went into a wide grin as Naya glanced back and pretended to be shocked before continuing on to the bathroom so she could get ready to go meet Derek.
Naya's left leg, crossed over her right, kept a steady bouncing rhythm as she sat on the couch in Derek's office. She hadn't realized the amount of anticipation that had set in on the drive over until she was forced to sit still. The secretary had told her to wait in Derek's office and his assistant had brought in a fresh bottle of Fiji water for her, however "fresh" a bottle of water can be.
Derek's office was sleek and sophisticated, simple and organized, much to match his personality. Directly across from her was a large window, stretching from floor to ceiling with a high-rise view looking out at various city buildings with the hills behind them. In front of the window and facing opposite of it was a simple black swivel chair that sat behind a large desk with a glass top. On top of the desk was a short black leather file box with some papers in it and a Mac desktop with a swivel monitor. Just to the right on the wall hung two smartly framed Ivy League diplomas and in the corner was a tall stand with some sort of abstract looking sculpture that really just looked like a big, black blob with a hole in it. Naya had been in Derek's office more times than she could count and still didn't quite understand what the sculpture was supposed to be but it had always been there. In front of the desk were two square and contemporary white leather chairs for guests and clients. The wall opposite the window wasn't really a wall but a large frosted glass made to look like a wall. Even the door to the office was frosted glass. The couch Naya was sitting on was positioned against the glass wall and also white leather and contemporary to match the chairs. There was a glass top table made of a stainless steel frame in front of it, facing the desk and window. If Naya didn't know any better she could mistake Derek's office for an Apple store or possibly a surgeon's office.
Out of her peripheral vision and behind the frosted glass, Naya could see the dark color of Derek's suit coming down the hallway and pass behind her, stopping in front of his office door. The sound was somewhat muffled but she could hear Derek finishing up a phone call before he entered the office.
The glass door swung open and Derek entered the room walking tall and with purpose. He wore a tailored navy blue suit with a white collared shirt and an ice blue colored tie. He had an intense and powerful presence that could easily be read as intimidating. Naya had initially perceived him as such but quickly learned that he simply carried himself with an immense amount of pride and confidence. There was a formidable force about him but then again all of these were traits Naya also possessed. One of the reasons Naya had enjoyed working with Derek over the years was that instead of operating on the tension created between two formidable forces, they'd developed a working relationship based on the respect they each held for their shared traits. They were both good at what they did and they knew it. So most of the time they worked in a professional capacity that simply allowed each of them to do their respective jobs to the best of their abilities.
Naya stood up as Derek walked in the room.
He eyed the unopened bottle of Fiji water resting on top of the glass table. "Oh, look at that. Ted actually brought you water," he said sardonically as he crossed the room to stand behind his desk.
"Yeah," Naya crossed the room and leaned against the armrest of one of the white chairs in front of his desk. "New assistant? What happened to Maggie?"
"Some kind of family emergency back in Nebraska," He waved his hand with indifference. "I'm still testing the new guy out." He began clicking the mouse of his computer, intently staring at the screen and obviously searching for something.
"That's too bad. I liked her."
"Yeah, me too. She actually knew how to do her job. Ted on the other hand is one paper cut away from crying his eyes out and running home to mommy. Kid's gonna get eaten alive in this business if he keeps that up."
"Poor kid."
"Well, he's going to sink or learn to swim by the end of the week."
Derek was still standing behind his desk clicking the mouse and staring at his desktop computer. He hadn't looked up once. Whatever it was he wanted to talk to Naya about was holding the majority of his attention while they made small talk.
Naya placed her purse in the seat of one of the square leather chairs and stood up straight with her arms crossed. "Alright so enough chit chat. What's the big emergency?"
Derek looked up from his screen with his brow arched. "I take it you haven't seen this yet." He made one more click and then swiftly turned the monitor around so it faced Naya.
"No. What the hell?"
Naya stepped closer and leaned down to get a good look. On the monitor was a website page with two paparazzi photos side by side and a headliner that read, 'Glee Cheerleader's Wild Night Out.' The first picture had Kevin, Harry, Heather and Naya walking out of the club from the night before. Heather and Naya were the focus of the picture. They were holding hands as they waded through what looked like a swarm of paparazzi.
God, I really do look shit-hammered.
It wasn't until Naya glanced at the second photo that her eyes widened with surprise. She had to do a double take to make sure she was seeing it correctly. It was a closer photo taken from just outside the car with Heather and Naya sitting in the back seat. They were sitting close together. Naya might as well have been sitting in Heather's lap. Naya was still leaning closely into Heather and Heather had her face turned in toward Naya. From the angle of the photo it looked as if they were about to kiss or at the very least it was suggestive of them being incredibly intimate.
Naya forcibly stepped back and waved her arm toward the computer screen. "I don't even remember those photos being taken." She hadn't meant to say that and it slipped out without her thinking. She instantly rolled her eyes at herself.
Derek's eyebrows shot up. "Oh goodie. That makes me feel a whole lot better." He adjusted his stance and crossed his arms.
"Shit," Naya muttered under her breath as her hand reached up to cover over her eyes. She sat down in the chair in a huff.
"There's also a lovely article to go along with it if you'd like to do some light reading. Apparently you two were quite touchy on the dance floor, according to 'insiders' at the club."
Naya's arm smacked down on the armrest as she shot Derek a quick glare, unappreciative of his sarcasm adding insult to injury. She brought her hand to her head again for comfort as Derek sat down in his swivel chair.
With inquisitive eyes set on Naya, Derek sat back in his chair for a moment tapping his finger to his chin and contemplating his next choice of words. He leaned forward with his elbows on the edge of the desk and his hands clasped together. "Are you two dating?" He asked rather bluntly.
"What? Who?" Naya's eyes shot up and she felt her whole body tense up.
"You and the bouncer." Derek sarcastically shrugged. "Who do you think I'm talking about? You and Heather, are you two dating?"
Naya shifted in her seat. "Why-why would you ask that?"
"Oh, I don't know. Call it a hunch."
Naya waved her arm out, gesturing toward the monitor as her voice came out with defensive indignation. "Oh, C'mon! You know those tabloids like to start something out of nothing. I'm sure there were dozens of pictures taken but they chose that one because the angle makes it look like something it's not and it's nothing."
Derek stood up from his chair and walked around to the front of his desk, leaning against it so he was squarely in front of Naya. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, speaking softly but sternly. "Okay, Naya, I need you to be completely honest with me right now."
Naya usually was very honest with Derek. The more honest she was the better he could do his job. However, she remained silent and hesitant with her mouth agape trying to think of a way to avoid the conversation he was leading into, even though she knew it was a conversation that would inevitably happen.
He gave her a moment but it passed in silence, confirming his suspicions. "That's fine. I already know the answer anyway."
Naya was flabbergasted. "Wait, what? How?"
"It's my job to know," Derek said insistently. "And don't think I didn't know about you two skipping out early at that charity event."
Dumbfounded, Naya slumped back in her chair when a thought crossed her mind. "Wait, does Marcy know?"
"About the pap pictures? Yes. And I already spoke with her. I'm sure she'll be meeting with Heather today to discuss the same thing you and I need to discuss."
Naya felt like she'd had the wind knocked out of her. She'd never felt more caught off guard than she had in the past minute and she was still trying to process it.
Derek scrunched his face and brought his hand to his forehead, scratching it for a moment as his thoughts gathered and organized in his head. He took a deep breath and launched into his proposed plan. "Okay, here's how this is going to work. Any sort of public affection, other than 'friendly,' that you two might display goes out the window right now. Also, you need to keep your public outings together to a minimum unless it's a 'Glee' related function, in a group, or a generally unknown or non-descript place. But you especially need to avoid being seen together in highly public places where people can acutely observe you two and tweet about it or take a photo. Prime example?" He gestured toward the photos still up on the monitor. "The opening night of a highly anticipated and marketed club. Something like that is going to be on the 'No Go' list. The main thing here is we want to avoid photos. Also-"
"Wait!" Naya forcibly cut him off. "You're basically saying I can't go anywhere with my girlfriend. There's nothing wrong with it." She snapped at him.
Derek threw his hands up in front of his face in a defensive manner. "Whoa. I didn't say there was anything wrong with it. In fact I think you two would make a great couple."
"Then why all the rules? If I wanna go out with my girlfriend, I'm gonna go out with my girlfriend." Naya's voice remained grounded and commanding but her head was in a tailspin trying to take in all the new limits he had just proposed.
Derek became overwhelmingly solemn, speaking slowly and assertively. "Naya, you need to tread very carefully with this. This could potentially be a PR nightmare and there's only so much damage control I can do."
"Damage? What damage? It's two people dating." She disputed.
Derek knit his brows together, thinking carefully. "Do you remember what I asked you when we first started working together?"
Naya tried thinking back to that time. When she remembered she casually responded. "Yeah, you asked me where I saw myself with my career in ten years."
"And you said you wanted to be on your way to being a leading actress in Hollywood with at least one top-selling album under your belt."
Naya nodded and sat forward in her chair, intrigued and at the same time hesitant to see where he was going with this.
Derek continued to explain further. "Now Glee has been a great springboard for you. There's no denying that. You have an audience now. And your performance in this last episode that aired, particularly and ironically enough, your performance in the scene with you and Heather by the locker, it has people talking. It's creating a lot of good buzz for you. If the writers decide to delve deeper into this storyline and you keep pulling off performances like that then this could be a major opportunity for you. It can open up a lot of doors for your career."
"Okay, but what does that have to do with me dating Heather?" Naya knew where his line of reasoning was going now and she shook her head in an ill-fated attempt to push the thought of it away.
"C'mon Naya. You're smart. I know you can connect the dots. You're just avoiding it."
Naya stared down at the floor. After a moment she finally slumped all the way back in the chair in defeat. "Who I date shouldn't have any bearing on my career," she said disheartened.
"But in the world we live in, it does." Derek spoke gently to quell her low spirits but he was firm in his statement nonetheless. "The fact of the matter is you have a lot at stake here. You can't afford bad press or even rumors and God knows how the press would spin this if they ever got any type of confirmation."
Naya rolled her eyes. "Yeah, the whole egging rumor with Mark was a PR shitfest."
"And if you think that was a shitfest, a confirmation of your dating Heather would be even worse now, simply because A) she 's a girl, and B) you're starting to gain a wider audience." He was re-enforcing his point and his voice became much more stern. "Not only could public knowledge of this jeopardize your chances for future roles but you'd have the press on your ass about it. And it's not just the Hollywood press you'd have to worry about spinning it the wrong way. You're talking about the conservative homophobic religious right weighing their opinion in on it."
With renewed vigor fueled by irritation, Naya stood up from her chair and threw her hands in the air. "Why? Because it's against their beliefs? Those stodgy old men shouldn't care about my private life anyway and worry more about their own." She began pacing back and forth in front of the couch. Naya's irritation and resistance grew with each passing moment and Derek's voice became more assertive the more resistant Naya got.
"It's against their beliefs but more importantly all of their teenage daughters more than likely watch your show every week wishing they were in your shoes and call it a wild guess but I don't think most of middle America is going to approve of their daughters choosing a lesbian actress as a role model."
"Bi-sexual!"
"Either way, the general public will vilify you!"
Naya stopped and looked up trying to think of any way to counter his argument.
"…and Heather!" Derek added.
That was the nail in the coffin for Naya. She understood everything he was saying and they were all valid points that she continually wanted to fight, but she couldn't bear the thought of all of this negatively effecting Heather too, and on such a public scale. She sat down on the couch, once again defeated, and hung her head in her hands.
Derek took a moment to regain his composure. He looked at Naya with sympathy for the situation she now found herself in but he had a job to do. He had to advise her to make the best possible decision in service of her career.
He walked to the couch and sat down next to Naya, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees. The tone of his voice was much gentler than it had been a moment ago but just as insistent. "I know. It sucks but this is the reality we live in, Naya. Audiences are fickle. It's one thing to represent those stories on fictional television but the second people know that it's real, you're going to be dealt a whole new set of playing cards that are not going to work in your favor. I wish it wasn't that way but it is."
Naya sniffled and brought her head up, running her hand through her hair. "Do you seriously think all of that would happen if people knew that Heather and I were dating?"
"Listen, I can't predict the future. I can't guarantee if all of that would happen or not. Most of that is worst case scenario…But part of my job and part of the reason why you hired me is to foresee those kind of possibilities, and work to prevent them so that your career has as few bumps in the road as possible, so you can continue to work toward a successful career."
Dejected and frustrated, Naya sat back on the couch crossing her arms in her lap. "I hate this. Why is it such a big deal? I mean, I understand what you're saying but look at Ellen and Portia or Jane! It's not like I can't be successful if I'm dating a girl."
Derek shook his head back and forth before continuing his point. "But you don't want to be a talk show host or a comedienne. You want to be on the big screen, winning Oscars for being the leading actress in whatever epic drama Martin Scorsese is filming next and you want to have hit songs topping the charts."
Naya leaned forward again, pressing her palms to her forehead. She shut her eyes, thinking of the career she'd always dreamt of having.
Derek continued trying to be as gentle but also as firm as possible as he spoke. "If you want the best opportunity for that spotlight, the opportunities that you hired me to help you cultivate then you need to appeal to a wide audience. And I'm sorry but a young, lesbian audience is a niche market that just isn't going to cut it for the type of career you want."
With her head down, Naya tried as discreetly as possible to wipe a tear that had formed at the corner of her eye.
"I'm on your side here. I don't want your personal life to get screwed over. I want you to be happy. But more importantly I want you to be able to have the stellar career that you always envisioned yourself having. So please, let me do my job and help you balance the two."
Naya took a deep and audible breath as she nodded her head up and down.
"So you'll listen to me? Take my advice and follow it?"
Naya opened her eyes and stared into the ground, not wanting to deal with the reality presented to her.
"Naya?"
"Yes! Jesus! Okay." She popped her head up out of her hands and sat back on the couch again. "I don't like it but…I'll do it." Her voice was harsh.
Derek reached for the bottle of water on the table and held it out for her to take. She rolled her eyes and he gave her a warm smile as she swiped the bottle from his hand.
Naya's hand kept rapdily balling up into a fist and releasing as she walked through the parking garage to her car. She slammed the door shut as she sat down in the driver's seat. She didn't turn the car on right away and just sat there for a moment, staring forward out the windshield and thinking of all the new limits and instructions Derek had just given her in his office.
She hated being forced into a situation where it now became a priority for her to hide something. Derek had, in a sense, asked her to go to great lengths to keep up a lie, to construct a facade in order to effectively hide any trace of the feelings she had for someone she loved. And she had willingly agreed, all for the sake of her career.
Suddenly she burst into a fit of kicking and shoving at the floor of the car. Thud-thud-thud. She violently smacked at her steering wheel and then pressed her forehead down to it, pinching her eyes shut and drawing in a deep breath.
She gripped the bottom of the steering wheel and continued taking in deep, heavy breaths. Eventually she felt herself settling into a calm rhythm. Once she felt steady enough she began to speak aloud in a low voice with a mantra that she hoped to find comfort in at this moment.
"10% of life is what happens to you. 90% is how you react to it. The measure of how well you carry yourself through life is the attitude with which you approach it."
She repeated it to herself a few times, taking her time with the words, speaking slowly and steadily.
Hearing those words out loud was at least comforting, but it didn't solve her dilemma. She was still unclear about how to approach this particular scenario. Was the glass half-empty or was the glass half-full? She didn't know. Heather and her had finally reached a point where they were ready to explore the emotional depth they had for one another. But she also knew that she was at a tipping point with her career. She wasn't about to give up Heather but she wasn't about to give up the opportunity to kick-start the career she always wanted either.
I can do both. I can have both, right? I can do it. People do it all the time. It might be a more difficult balancing act to execute but I can balance the two. I can have it all, can't I?
She sat back in her seat with her head hitting the headrest and staring out the windshield again. She thought of those pictures from the article, the thing that started this whole mess. She thought that maybe if she were actually coherent walking out of that club instead of drunk off her ass she could've done something. She didn't know what she could've done but at least she would've had some sense about her instead of being such a mess.
But the truth was that it wasn't anyone's fault and Naya knew it. Sure the paparazzi could be annoying and invasive and they probably chose to run those pictures because it was more gossip worthy than the rest. But it wasn't Naya's fault that those pictures were taken and it wasn't Heather's fault either. It was just another night out at a club in an instance where Naya had one too many and Heather was just trying to take care of her.
Crap! Heather! She's not ready for anything that that article was insinuating. Not such a public display like that. I mean they were only speculating and it'll probably be forgotten by tomorrow but still, she's not ready for that. Hell, I'm not ready for that either.
Naya turned the engine of her car over and quickly backed out of the parking space. The engine roared as she sped out of the parking garage headed straight for Heather's house.
A/N: I just want to re-iterate that all events that do not take place within a recorded episode of Glee are purely fictional. Since this is set in the recent past, I'll be twisting reality for the purposes of this story, especially in regards to media-related events. So certain interactions with the media will take place in this story that did not actually happen. There is a purpose for it though.
I don't know when the next chapter will be up since I'll be driving cross-country all next week but I already have some of the next chapter written. I'll try to have it up as soon as I possibly can.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
P.S.- Reviews are awesome. Lol, I know I'm fishing but I just thought I'd put it out there. :)