Dear Devoted readers and casual story scanners alike,
Due to the fact that I start finals testing in exactly a week and should have started studying back in chapter 6, this may or may not be my last update for a while. Now, this all depends on how busy I am this weekend and the 4 test-free days following it. Just know that though I may not have anything up for a while—possibly a week—I have not given up on this story and I am completely devoted to concluding it both for you lovely people and myself. And with that, I ask you to enjoy.
She couldn't believe that just minutes ago, she had felt threatened by this girl. She couldn't believe that Connor had encouraged her to do this. She really couldn't believe how someone could think they sounded good enough to be in glee…and then sound like that.
By the time Catherine had finished her song, Lori had a feeling of ecstasy in her that she knew was wrong, but couldn't help. The entire performance had been a train wreck: even though it was absolutely painful to watch, she couldn't pull her eyes away. Halfway through, she had heard a small noise next to her, and when she glanced over, Kurt face was bright red, his nostrils flaring, his eye twitching, his jaw clenched. It was so obvious that he was trying to keep a straight face that it almost made Lori laugh just to look at him.
Finally, the song ended. Brad lifted his hands carefully from the keys, closed the lid, and dropped his head to it, his shoulders silently shaking. Everyone but Mr. Shue and Catherine noticed. Everyone but Mr. Shue and Catherine were absolutely silent.
"That…" Mr. Shue cleared his throat. "That was, uh…"
Catherine was shaking, and it looked like she was going to faint. Mr. Shue's expression was somewhere between wounded and pitying.
"That was good," he finally said. It was like simply saying the words caused him pain. "Wel—" he choked. "Welcome to glee club."
Immediately, she ran over to the corner and fell into Connor's lap, planting a big kiss on his lips. A monster inside of Lori raged with that little display. She hated it.
"Any takers for the first official performance of the year?" Mr. Shue sighed, rubbing his temples.
Lori and Rachel both stood up, but the fact that Lori was on a taller riser—and Kurt was shooting Rachel looks from behind her—made Rachel sit back down without a fuss.
Lori took a step down from her seat before stopping short and turning around.
"'Tear Drops on My Guitar' or 'Picture to Burn'?" she whispered in Kurt's ear.
"Second choice. Definitely. It's angrier. Now go do it!"
Kurt watched as she stood in front of the piano. Once again, an expression like she had remembered something spread across her face. Suddenly, she pointed at Puck and motioned for him to come up. She whispered something into his ear too, which produced an evil looking smile. He grabbed his guitar and nudged Brad.
"State the obvious; I didn't get my perfect fantasy, I realize you love yourself more than you could ever love me…"
Her eyes locked on Connor's, the monster in Lori roared. Where all the pent up passion had come from, she had no idea, all she knew is that she needed to get something out in the open, and singing it was the best way she knew how.
Connor almost looked scared. He had released Catherine's hand, and his eyes were wide. Was he realizing what had happened? Was he realizing how he had made Lori feel?
"…I'm just sitting here planning my revenge! There's nothing stopping me from going out with all of your best friends…!"
Her mind shot to Wes, David and Blaine. Girlfriend, girlfriend…boyfriend, she thought. Oh well.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kurt. Smiling widely, arms crossed, he also shot dirty looks towards Connor now and then.
"…Just another picture to burn…!"
And as the music slowed a little, Lori hoisted herself to sit on top of the piano, her feet swinging off the side, and crossed her legs. Without the cast, she would imagine that this would have been very provocative…kinda. She set her head in her hands and batted her eyelashes.
"…And if you're missing me, you better keep it to yourself, because coming back around here," she winked and blew Connor a playful kiss. "Could be bad for your health…"
For the final chorus of the song, she jumped off of the piano landing delicately on her good leg, and practically screamed the last few lines.
"…Baby, burn!"
She bowed low, panting, as the whole room exploded into cheers. Kurt stood up, clapping frantically and Lori blushed.
"Fantastic!" Mr. Shue cheered. "See that, Connor, Catherine? That is exactly true New Directions performance looks like!"
She sat back down next to Kurt, who was beaming with something like pride, and glimpsed at Connor's corner. His face was expressionless, but he was looking down, twiddling his thumbs; Catherine's arm was linked in his as she bit her nails.
Mission accomplished.
GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE~GLEE
That evening she sat in her living room, her cat curled up by her side, sipping hot chocolate and flipping through the dwindling Christmas specials still left on TV from the week before. She had hurried out of the choir room that day without stopping to talk to anyone, and thinking about glee club gave her an odd rush of emotions ranging from pissed to heartbroken to empowered. Then the doorbell rang.
Her mom had worked late that night, so she hauled herself off of the couch and marched over to the door. Through the peephole, she saw a vague and snowy figure standing on her front porch. The only distinguishable feature was a mop of red hair, damp from snow.
"What do you want, Connor?" she screamed through the door.
"Please open up! I don't want the whole neighborhood to hear what I've got to say…just you." He sounded upset.
Good, she thought.
She slid in the chain and opened the door as far as it would go, hearing Connor knock his head on it as he tried to let himself in.
"Well," she said, talking to the hand he had managed to squeeze through. "Talk."
"Lori—!"
"Just talk!"
"Fine…" he paused, and as Lori heard him sigh, she could only picture the look on his face. "Lori, would you have counted what we've been doing as dating?"
The directness of the question took her back.
"That depends. Would you count the way we've been acting like as being people who would be dating?"
"What?" The confusion hung thick in his question.
"It would only have counted as dating if you were my boyfriend, right?"
"I guess so."
"So, were we dating?"
There was a long pause, and she heard him lean on the door and slide to sit on the porch.
"Or," Lori began. "Should the question be, 'Were we dating…before?'?"
"If this is the way you're trying to ask me about Catherine…she dumped me," Connor said flatly.
Even as mad as she was at Connor, she couldn't help but feel for her friend.
"She said I lied about her being my first girlfriend and that to her it sounded like I was cheating on you with her."
"Well," Lori swallowed hard. "Were you?" She took a deep breath. "Were you lying to her?"
"I…I think so."
Something within Lori made her feel lightheaded and warm, even as the wind from outside blew snowflakes through the cracked door.
"So we return to our original question: were we dating?" Connor sounded beaten, weak.
"I think we must have been."
"Which means that we were…?"
"Yeah. I-I think so," Lori cut him off.
"And now that Catherine's gone, are we still…?"
"Uh-hu." She felt very sure of her answer. It felt good to say.
More cold, windy silence.
"Can I come in now?" Connor's voice was feeble.
"Sure." Lori slowly unhooked the chain from the door and swung it inward, revealing Connor—looking less put together than she had ever seen him—brushing snow off his pants. "C'mon in."
He took a seat on the ottoman in front of the TV and Lori sat back down on the couch.
"So…what now?" Connor asked, his voice tinged with excitement.
"I guess we just keep doing what we were doing. Things don't have to change, you know. We can just go to the Bean, and text each other all day long, and go to the movies and stuff…yeah." She smiled. "Things don't have to change."
"Sounds good to me," Connor said, shifting over to the couch next to Lori. "In fact, that sounds great. You wouldn't believe the crap Catherine was making me do." He rolled his eyes. "I had to ask permission to go out with friends, or she'd start yelling about me cheating. Can you imagine?" He threw his hands up.
"I promise I won't make you do that." She laughed. "And you don't have to worry about me. All my other guy friends are gay."
Connor Chuckled and casually threw an arm around Lori's shoulder. "I've been going to an all-boys' school for my entire life. I don't know any other girls!"
They sat on the couch, laughing about their pathetically small group of friends for a moment before Lori spoke.
"I've missed this." She sighed and put her head on Connor's shoulder. "Even just as friends…I missed being able to talk to you."
"I only lost my phone for a week…and you have Kurt."
"Yeah, but you're different. It's nice to have variety."
"I think he'd be insulted," Connor chuckled.
"I think he could get over it."
For Lori, it sometimes seemed that silence said more than any conversation could.
"What are you thinking about?" Connor asked, suddenly noticing the contemplating expression on Lori's face.
"Well, I love you as a friend," she said casually, staring into space. "And I'm trying to decide whether I love you as a boyfriend."
He suddenly went very stiff.
"Well, um…" He cleared his throat. "I…I love you as a friend, too. And honestly, I don't think that anything is different."
"I guess you're right."
More silence.
"I love this," Lori said.
"I love this, too."
"I hate this," Connor then abruptly said.
"What?" Lori sat bolt upright, staring at him.
"I have to go. I told my mom that I'd just be a minute." He hung his head.
"When do you have a free period?" Lori asked, smiling.
"Third. Why?"
"Meet me in the auditorium."
They walked to the door, Connor's arm still around Lori's shoulder. When he opened it, a terrible blast of wind blew in.
"I'll see you tomorrow," she said. "Third period, aud—"
But she was stopped short when he gave her a fleeting kiss on the lips.
"Third period, auditorium. See you then." And with a giddy smile, he closed the door behind him. Frozen, Lori stared at the door, her lips parted in a little half smile. She looked at the clock in the kitchen: 8:00pm…
"Hello?" Mr. Hummel answered the phone.
"Hello, Mr. Hummel, it's Lori. Is Kurt there? It's kind of an emergency."
I know, terrible ending and its sooooooo short! I do hope you enjoyed this chapter, though. It is with a heavy heart that I tell you that this story is coming to a close. At the most there may be three more chapters. Please, that does not mean you are allowed to stop reviewing! The more reviews, the better! I love all of my readers and I hope you like Clonnori as much as I do. PLEASE REVIEW, IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY!