A/N: This is the second chapter of the double-post reward for exceeding 500 reviews! This is going to be the last double-post for a while, cause, as I've stressed before, double-posts are stressful! But 500 reviews is such a milestone, so here it is. Anyways, this chapter probably won't make a lot of sense if you don't read the previous one, so go back and read it. AND REVIEW IT. And then come back here.
Marissa calls her parents and says she'll be out late—it's not something too uncommon, since she's always working on school projects or volunteering somewhere—and hops in Bryce's car. He even kicks somebody out of shotgun when she approaches his car, and when she modestly refuses the seat of honor, he sweeps her off her feet and deposits her in the leather seat.
He cranks the radio on and begins belting the lines of the song, and soon everybody in the car is dancing and singing along.
Boy, you got my heartbeat runnin' away,
Beating like a drum and it's coming your way.
Can't you hear that boom, badoom, boom, boom, badoom, boom, bass? Yeah that's that super bass.
It's like a mini party in a car. Marissa looks around in disbelief as a dark-skinned girl with a pixie cut begins to pop her body in time with each boom badoom. A heavyset African-American next to her with a colorful scarf wrapped around his shoulders begins to rap right along with the song, while on her other side, a skater-looking type with dark stubble arm-pumps to the beat.
McKynleigh, Alex, and Nick. That's all she gets before the next song and impromptu dance party starts. In the next break, she asks to anybody who will listen, "So how do you know Bryce?"
The fashionable one begins to reply, but then he squeals, "Ooo, I love this song!" and promptly ignores her.
McKynleigh leans forward instead. "Hey, I didn't catch your name..."
Marissa leans back. "I'm Marissa."
The strangest look passes over McKynleigh's face: wonder, shock, and maybe a bit of prejudice, but before Marissa can interpret it deeper than surface value, McKynleigh's wiped it off and replaced it with a clean smile. "Bryce and I messed around a bit when he first got here, but after a few months it was a mutual decision that we were better off as good friends. Alex and Nick are both pretty cool guys from Bryce's hometown, Westerville. Oh, I gotta sing this part."
McKynleigh briefly breaks off talking to Marissa to shout, pop, and lock to:
Last Friday night, yeah, we danced on tabletops, and we took too many shots, think we kissed but I forgot
Last Friday night, yeah, we maxed our credit cards, and got kicked out of the bar so we hit the boulevard
Last Friday night, we went streaking in the park, skinny dipping in the dark, then had a ménage à trois
Last Friday night, yeah, I think we broke the law, always say we're gonna stop
This Friday night, do it all again.
"Sorry about that," McKynleigh laughs as soon as she finishes. "But I break into song often."
The rest of the car ride is a lot of pumping dancing music. Bryce drives with his knee and sips from a bottle wrapped in a paper bag ("Lemonade," he grins, but when Marissa steals a sip and the carbonation fills her mouth with fizz, she tastes the undertone of alcohol.)
It's wild, Bryce has such a control over the situation and nobody in the back is freaking out, so Marissa keeps a lid on it and they pull into downtown Carmel without a hitch.
"You haven't had dinner yet?" Bryce exclaims as their group walk down the street. "Geez, I'm such a screw up. Never mind, I know this awesome burger place..." He checks her out briefly, "Or maybe a nicer place with salads or whatever? It's on me, babe."
Marissa shakes her head. "It's okay, a burger—"
"No way, girl," he interrupts. "We gotta get you something good." He places a casual arm around her shoulder and steers her away from the people following behind them. "Hey, you guys go on ahead," he declares. "We're gonna grab a bite to eat. Meet you at the park in half an hour?"
Alex looks suspicious; Nick shrugs like he could care less; but McKynleigh looks downright disapproving. Despite McKynleigh's previous assurance that she and Bryce are just friends, Marissa's afraid that she might have just stepped into something she didn't know about. "It's alright," Marissa lies, stepping away from Bryce's body. "I'm not really—"
Her stomach growls loudly, audible even as cars pass on the road behind them. Bryce raises a eyebrow. "Really, it's your stomach."
Marissa unconsciously glances at McKynleigh, who shrugs and turns to Alex. "A burger sounds nice," she says weakly, and Bryce is pulling her down the sidewalk the next moment. She shoots one last worried glance over her shoulder at McKynleigh and is not encouraged by the expression on her face—not jealousy, but plain dislike of the situation.
By the time Kurt pulls into McKinley High's parking lot, it's almost empty. There are only two extremely beat-up cars left. One of them Kurt recognizes as Hannah's; humorous memories come to mind of their duet practice a couple weeks earlier. Since then, they sit next to each other during Ohio History and share homework, but not much more—they're acquaintances at best.
At that moment, Hannah walks out of an exit in the back of the auditorium. A tall, lanky guy follows right behind her, guitar case slung over his shoulder. His entire posture is slumped over in dejection and defeat, and, as if to compensate, Hannah's attitude is twice as cheerful, though somber enough to not annoy the guy. Kurt recognizes him from somewhere. He can't remember, but he knows it's important—
Blaine. That guy is Blaine's roommate. Blaine. There are no words for Blaine. The moment the bright-eyed, dark-haired boy had sung Teenage Dream directly to him, Kurt knew he'd fallen in love. The guy was so strong, so eloquent, so perfect. Kurt suddenly finds an overwhelming desire to see his face again.
Kurt slaps himself mentally. No, that's really creepy, he rebukes himself. And stalkerish. What are you going to do, stalk Cameron to get access to his roommate, who might not even be available?
Maybe, another side of Kurt considers. Maybe he'll call Blaine, casually asking to hang out on a Friday night. He doesn't know how to get to Dalton Academy, but he can follow Hannah there.
The sudden want to hang out with another boy like him pushes his hand. Maybe it's because Kurt's been alone for so long that he yearns for company; maybe it's because of Karofsky's escalation in targeting him for bullying; maybe Kurt just wants a change of pace, spending a night out with potential friends instead of sitting at home alone. But Kurt needs a similarly-minded companion tonight, and so he dials the number into his phone as he follows Hannah out of the parking lot.
Alex turns to McKynleigh as they walk to the park. "How long do you think this one is going to last?" he asks eagerly.
McKynleigh is deep in thought. A head full of beautiful red tresses, drop dead gorgeous looks, a perfect body... this is probably the Marissa that Lindsay spoke of when referring to Damian's girlfriend. The girl who unintentionally broke Lindsay's heart just by getting to Damian first. And now Marissa's going to stomp all over Lindsay's self control by cheating on Damian with a sweet-talking guy who cycles through girlfriends once a month. Maybe once every two months, if the girl is special and different enough.
And Marissa is different: not in the way that she's unbelievably pretty, because Bryce has gone through that, but because she's not the usual type that Bryce has. Marissa isn't the flirty sweet girl that falls for Bryce's moves instantly and sticks as stubbornly as a leech, eventually sucking all the attention she can get out of him before he has to tear her off so he can breathe freely again. Marissa is a lot more reserved with a lot of layers that Bryce can have fun peeling off, getting down to her very core. It'll probably keep him occupied for a while.
But Marissa... she already has a boyfriend. A nice guy with a sweet accent at that, who's incredibly shy, won't push things if she doesn't want it. Damian's just so nice. Even if Marissa's bored or wants something different, Damian doesn't deserve what she's doing to him right now. And Lindsay doesn't deserve to hold herself back when she could be completely devoted to Damian, unlike Marissa who's taking side trip thrill rides with the wild guys. This is so messed up. Why is Marissa doing this to Damian and indirectly Lindsay?
"She's not his usual stuff," Nick comments. "He'll have fun with a change of pace."
"I'm not sure about her though," McKynleigh counters as the simple park into view: a wide grassy expanse with a simple play structure in the middle. "I've heard about her before. She's got history."
Alex's eyes sparkle. "Do tell."
"Wait," Nick cuts in. "First, without knowing any background information, predict how long she's going to last."
Alex has the uncanny ability to determine the length and strength of relationships among people he's spent a bit of time observing, even with only the most basic information, so McKynleigh holds her tongue.
"Welllll," Alex drawls. "She won't stand a chance once Emily gets through with her. I say three weeks at most."
"Well, here we are," Hannah grins, stopping in the back parking lot of Dalton Academy. "Back to sneaking into your dorms, pretending like you were never gone. We've been doing a lot of that recently, haven't we?"
Cameron sighs, running his hands down his face and dragging his eyelids down comically. His glasses hang from his V-neck shirt like a pair of clear sunglasses. "Not anymore," he exhales, then looks at her with red eyes. He looks completely different without his eyewear. In the darkness of evening, he looks pretty normal, actually. Like another teenager on the street, if you didn't look at the cardigan. Like any other teenage guy crazy about teenage girls. In fact, all the songs he's written by himself are about girls.
He probably pictures a particular girl in mind when he writes them.
And it's probably not Hannah that he thinks of when he writes his songs.
"Hannah?" Cameron's looking at her. He's turned sideways in the passenger seat so that his back is propped up against the door, facing her. "I just want to know. We've already established that it's not your fault."
Hannah's stomach drops. Please not now...
"Why did you lie?" Cameron continues, looking her straight in the eye. His eyes are intense, unshielded by his reflective glasses, even in the dimming light of the evening. They pierce her straight through and she can't breathe.
"Please, Cam," she whispers. "Not now."
Cameron cracks a small smile. "No, I'm on a communicative roll today. Might as well get all the bad gross stuff into the light right now while I'm feeling so great. Remember, I'm not blaming you... so tell me why you lied that day. About Damian and Marissa."
"Cam... I can't," Hannah murmurs, trying to keep her voice steady. "I just... I can't."
Cameron's eyes continue to bore holes in hers, and for the briefest instant, Hannah sees something turn sour in his pupils. Then it's gone and Cameron just looks disappointed. "Okay. Fine. I just thought that we didn't keep secrets from each other. Nothing to hide from each other, shedding light on things and all."
Her voice breaks this time, and she knows he's been through a lot today, but it doesn't mean that he can take it out on her. "Secrets, huh? This whole relationship thing that we're trying to fix—the one I didn't know about until last month—is a pretty big secret to keep from one of your best friends."
She realizes instantly, even before something breaks in Cameron's expression, that she just stepped over the line. Sure, maybe he'd pushed his toe over it first, but she'd landed the final blow that broke the camel's back. Cameron reaches behind himself and pulls the door handle, stepping backwards neatly and out of her car. "I'm sorry," he says stiffly, shouldering his guitar case. "I shouldn't have asked."
"No, Cameron..." Hannah calls, but he shuts the door. The window is still rolled down, though, and he just stands there. "Cam, I... I..."
His voice is softer when he speaks again, leaning down to stick his head in the open window. His glasses hang precariously from his shirt. "Thank you. So much. For tonight. For helping with Marissa. I'm... really, really blessed to have you as a friend." As he straightens up, his glasses slip from his shirt and fall through the window onto Hannah's car seat. He doesn't seem to notice and begins walking away. "Goodnight, Hannah."
"Cam!" she shouts, but he doesn't hear her. Or ignores her. Through the tears in her eyes, she picks up Cameron's black-framed glasses. "I... I love you."
Featured songs:
"Super Bass" by Nicki Minaj
"Last Friday Night" by Katy Perry
Author's Rant
Sadface for Hannah, both in this story and in the competition... I already miss her presence in the show. I will miss her laughter and her hilarious facial expressions. Damn. On a brighter note, all Glee Project characters have finally made appearances in this story! It only took 21 chapters...
So go to cameronmitchellmusic and check out his very first video "Let's Stay Together" to get a feel for the glasses-less Cameron =] Hey, maybe he should have sung that for Project GCAMBT. Nah, I stuck with my inspiration song.
Sheesh... to the nameless reviewer who said, "Why won't you update already?" Compiling thoughts to make sure it fits in the big picture, typing it down, choosing vocab and syntax, checking for grammar and inconsistences - this all takes time, especially when I writing two chapters for a double-post. No more double-post rewards from me, because those are too tiring. And honestly, I thought it would take longer for you guys to hit 500 reviews =]