Found Out

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except the plot & the girls. And Ryan. And Tormentor. Although the quote "Be a man. Rub some dirt in it!" comes from "She's the Man" and the rest of the story comes from "The Covenant," as you all know.

CHAPTER 25:

It was a few minutes after one when Corrie got back to her dorm room after coffee. She closed her door and leaned against it, using its support. With a sigh, she slid down into a sitting position, dissolving into tears.

She cried all the tears she had been holding back since her and John had stopped being friends. She cried for John, for what she had put him through, for what his mother put him through, for everything. She cried for herself, for her confusion, for her loss, and for what still could be between them. She just sat and cried.

After what felt like hours, she heard scuffling in Becky's room.

Must be back from her newspaper meeting.

Corrie wrapped an arm around her face, covering her mouth and stifling her sobs.

Becky heard her anyway.

Corrie didn't even have the will to move away from the door as Becky opened it slowly, calling her name worriedly. She just toppled over, causing Becky to squeak in surprise.

"Cor! Woah, are you okay?" She asked, kneeling beside her friend and closing the door behind her. Corrie stayed in her crumpled position on the floor, not moving, trying not to think. Thinking was bad. Thinking led to thoughts of John, and dread of what Betsy would say, and the confusing little voice nagging at the back of her head that kept wondering what Pogue was going to say when he heard she had been spending time with the guy who had had her shaking in fear only a few weeks ago.

"Cor, what's wrong?" Becky's voice cracked with concern. "Cor, talk to me! Are you alright? Probably a stupid question, seeing as you're laying there crying and all catatonic like Buffy in season five but nobody took Dawn from you unless – holy shit they took Betsy! Who took her what did they do with her – oh my God I bet they're raping her and are going to make her bear them a love child of darkness and then they'll kill her and raise her child to be the spawn of Satan and then it will come back and have some epic battle with our children- well, I guess your children, as I'm never having kids because they're gross and you have to take care of them and change diapers and you like that kind of thing and maybe, if we're lucky, you'll have Pogue's babies or maybe – WAIT! I bet John took her! Slimy, nasty little-" Becky continued ranting nervously, using words best not mentioned to describe John, fluttering around Corrie, tucking hair behind her ear and wiping the tears away as best she could. She jumped as Corrie sat herself up with supreme effort at the word "John" and wiped her tears away, covering her face with her hands. Becky kept talking, even more worried when she saw Corrie's shoulders shaking.

"Oh, Cor, it'll be okay! We can get her back! We just have to, you know, hire someone to whack 'im, or we could do it ourselves, but we'll need to go shopping first, because I don't have any black clothes, and everybody knows you can't go on a rescue mission or any mission really without wearing black so you blend into the night time, like ninjas..." Becky trailed off as Corrie finally took her hands from her face.

She was laughing.

"Becks, I love you." She chuckled. Because anybody else would have made her get up and tell them what was wrong. Only Becky would ever have reacted the way she did, the exact way Corrie needed her to. Betsy would have comforted her. Pogue would have comforted her. But Becks just being Becks was exactly what she needed.

"Um, okay?" Becky responded, rocking back on her heels, concern radiating out from her in waves. Her eyes were wide and worried behind her glasses, and her light brown hair fell haphazardly in her eyes, having fallen out of her loose ponytail. "What happened?" She asked tentatively.

"I... I went and saw John. Just for coffee." She confessed, still leaning against the door. Becky's eyes widened with shock and her expression froze like a deer in the headlights.

"Uh... why?" She asked, knowing the history of the two.

"Because I miss him. Becks, I've never, ever seen him so sorry." She reached out and shook Becky's arm lightly to emphasize her point.

"Just because... he's sorry doesn't mean... I mean, Cor, just 'cause he's sorry doesn't mean that he's changed." Becky pointed out gently, choosing her words carefully.

"I know. But I just... I can't let our relationship, our friendship end the way it did." She explained, a single tear trickling down her cheek. She wiped it away and gave Becky a weak smile. "I want my best friend back."

"I'm not sure if that's such a good idea. You remember last time, how much he hurt you..." Becky reminded her, slightly flustered.

"It won't be like that this time." Corrie vowed. "I won't let it get that far. I'm just looking for friendship, and I told John that. If he tries anything, we're through."

Nine hours after Becky's finding Corrie, the exhausted yet elated swim team piled out of the school bus at Spenser Academy, whooping and singing the alma mater. Betsy tripped down the stairs between Reid and Tyler, a satisfied smile on her face. Reid broke off from them, heading toward his and Tyler's dorm without a glance back, but Tyler walked her to her dorm, smiling and listening to her gush about the meet, occasionally commenting about a race or specific swimmer. As they got closer to her dorm, she quieted down, glancing at him nervously out of the corner of her eye.

They approached the door quietly, their long day finally catching up to them. Betsy dropped her bag in front of the door and stuck her key in with a sigh.

"Screw it." She muttered to herself and turned to face him, pulling his face down to meet hers in a kiss.

His swimming bag fell to the floor with a dull thunk, and she was in his arms. Somehow, the door behind her managed to get opened and they found themselves on her bed, still caught up in each other. With his eyes closed, Betsy couldn't see the ring of fire or the coal black color that meant Tyler was Using. She didn't notice their swimming bags appear inside her room, or hear her door closing, the lock clicking in place behind them.

In fact, the only thing she was conscious of in the world was Tyler Simms, his smell, the feel of his lips on hers, of his hands holding her just right, of the way their bodies seemed to fit together so well.

So she did notice it when he started vibrating.

"Wha...?" She asked, jumping. Tyler sighed and rolled off of her, glancing at the caller ID on his phone.

"Reid." He sighed again, the long, drawn out sigh of a brave little toaster off to meet his doom. "I have to take this. He probably lost his key again and needs me to let him in our room."

"That's, uh, okay. Maybe you should go tonight. You know, to go help him." She managed to get out shyly before sighing and returning to her normal, blunt self. "And I'm exhausted. As much as I would love to continue, I'm about dead tired."

"That's fine. I didn't want to go any farther tonight anyways." He admitted, blushing tomato red. "I, um, kinda wouldn't know what to do."

"Oh, thank God." She let out a sigh of relief. "Me either. I mean, I know the basic mechanics of it, but I just don't think I'd be very good at it. Not that you'd be bad! I guess we've both got stamina from swimming and the muscles for it, but, well, you know." She trailed off, embarrassed. Tyler's phone buzzed again, and he glared at it, seriously considering chucking it out the window. "Go ahead." She smiled up at him.

He pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead then one to her lips before grabbing his bag and heading out without a backward glance. If he had looked back at her, he would have stayed. And if he had stayed, he would have been willing to try...

Betsy chuckled as he shut the door behind him, already on his phone with a harsh "What!" A slow smile spread across her face, turning into an all-out grin as she remembered what had happened that day. Wait until she told Cor and Becks...

And in an instant, cold fear washed through her, banishing her happy, relaxed state. It was ten at night. Corrie wasn't home. Or if she was, she would have seen what had just occurred on her roommate's bed, which Betsy wasn't so sure she would be any better than Corrie being missing. Of course, her and Tyler's kiss at the natatorium earlier had been about as public as it could get...

With cheeks growing warm with embarrassment, she glanced around the room searching for any sign of her friend. Her seeking eyes fell on the note pad on her computer chair that read in Corrie's loopy cursive:

Becks & I went to Nicky's for some much-needed girl time. We'll be home before 1. Hope your meet went well! Tell me & Becks all about it during breakfast tomorrow? We have to have a long talk about some things. But no worries!

Love ya!

Cor & Becks

So they were both gone, at least for a while. Betsy heaved a sigh of relief, but jumped when her own cell phone vibrated. The name RYAN flashed across the tiny screen, and she groaned before flipping it open.

"Hey Ryan. What's up?" She asked, rubbing a hand across her eyes. She really wasn't joking when she said she was tired. After not swimming for a month then going to and competing in a day-long meet, she was pooped.

"Not much. Are you doing anything right now?" He asked, cutting right to the chase.

"Uh, just sleeping. I just got home from a swim meet and am completely e-e-exhausted." She yawned in his ear.

"Would you rather go to Nicky's?" He asked, trying to tempt her.

"I'm really tired." She hedged.

"Then we'll only go for a little while. C'mon. You owe me a dance." He pointed out.

"We'll have to do a rain check. I'm seriously exhausted."

"Come on. It's only ten. We'll just go for an hour."

"Ryan, no. I don't want to go. I'm sorry." She finally told him straight up.

"Fine." She could hear his glare over the phone. "But would your precious character in 'Sound Out' have turned me down? 'Cause I don't think Cordy would have, and I think maybe you should be a little more like the characters you write and less like this." He hung up on her.

Betsy blinked in shock. She had told Ryan about her writing and had given him the line to her page online ages ago, when she was still crazy for him, but for him to use her characters against her blew her mind. It was way below the belt, using her writing to judge her, to manipulate her.

Before she even knew what she was doing, Tyler's number was in her cell phone and it was ringing.

"Ye'llo?" He answered.

"Tyler? It's me. I, uh, oh, this is stupid. I shouldn't have called. Nevermind." She pulled the phone from her ear, aware of how ridiculous she was making herself look.

"What? Betsy, what's going on?" He asked, and, despite her hesitance, she put the phone back to her ear and told him.

"Ryan just called and said some stuff that kind of upset me." A tear welled up in her eye. She was being a baby – he didn't know saying that would bother her that much. She should just suck it up and tell Tyler to just ignore her and go home. "And I was wondering if, after you help Reid, you could come back? Just for a little while."

"Sure. Gimme five minutes." He promised and snapped his phone closed. Betsy listened to the silence on the other line, and another tear slid down her cheek.

She scrubbed her face furiously.

"Suck it up." She muttered to herself. "Be a man. Rub some dirt in it."

She slowly closed her phone and crawled in bed, still in her track pants and swimming t-shirt. She did take the time to take off her letterman and flip flops, dropping them haphazardly around the room, and made an effort to clean up, kicking a few stray bras (Why did Corrie need so many of those things? Seriously! Four bras lying around on the floor was excessive!) under the bed.

A few minutes late, Tyler was knocking on her door. She let him in, and he immediately pulled her into a hug.

"What did he say?" He asked, sitting her down on her bed.

"I don't want to talk about it... but I didn't want to be alone." She looked so small, all curled up at the head of her bed, talking in that tiny, hurt voice. He nodded and took off his coat and shoes before crawling on top of her rumpled bed with her. He took her into his arms, and she leaned into them, soaking up his comfort.

Becky and Corrie got home late that night, just before their one o'clock weekend curfew. Knowing Betsy probably be sleeping and completely worn out, Corrie twisted her key in the door almost silently, surprised to find light shining out around the cracks. She was even more surprised when she pushed the door open, revealing her best friend, head pillowed on Tyler Simms's shoulder, snuggled up in her bed, soft smiles on both their faces, eyes closed in slumber.

Corrie's mouth dropped open. It looked like she and the gang wouldn't have to work to get them together after all.

She silently backed out of the room, locking the door behind her, and knocked softly on Becky's door. Becky answered, a confused expression on her face, but Corrie brushed past her with a huge smile, dumping her bag on the empty bed in Becky's room.

"Becks, you're NEVER gonna believe what I just saw..."

R&R