AN: Hello everyone. Welcome to the next chapter of this story. I hope you are all well and have had a good week. I'd like to start by saying a huge thank you to those of you who took the time and trouble to review the last chapter; Challenge King, Subject87, ArtisticAngel6 and Agent-M – your feedback is always very welcome.
For those of you in need of some more Teddie-love, One Horse Shay has started a story about them (iGuess We're Roomies) over in the Victorious section. Between you and me I can't wait to see his take on my OTP – I'd recommend checking it out and keeping an eye on it.
Until then, please enjoy the next chapter of Freddie Goes To Hollywood.
"I think my mom is having an affair with dad's partner at work."
It was what I had come to suspect over the events of recent weeks but actually voicing it to somebody else (even my Freddie) made it hit me like a fist in the gut. Speaking of my boy, his eyes still held the love and warmth they always did, making me feel safe no matter what was going on at the time – be it the goons that wanted a piece of me, that memorable night when we first gave ourselves to one another or even this one; I knew from his eyes that I could tell him anything and everything that I needed to and that he would be there for me no matter what.
I began telling him about my suspicions; he knew Gary by sight, of course, as he'd been one of the cops who had seen him in hospital and had been on hand when I had made my statement about the incident that put him in there. I talked about how they had spoken fondly about one another and were texting and e-mailing one another throughout my tribulations with the crazy girl, Fawn, who tried to drive me out of school (and then tried to abduct my sister and I on the way home; fortunately she was unaware that Trina is an accomplished martial artist – and not someone you want to piss off when she's sick). Thinking back I almost feel sorry for that girl…
The next big alarm bell sounded a week or two ago during Sikowitz's "Live Without Technology" challenge. While I was trying to do so (and Freddie, the self-proclaimed King of the Geeks, winced at the idea when I explained it to him; the hardest part of the whole exercise was that he hadn't been able to text or video-chat with me, at least we had the landline so we could keep in contact on a night during those few days of absolute technologyless torture… seriously I got withdrawal symptoms so bad that I made Cat look sane, even with her antics involving a rubber dog chew shaped like a phone) my mom really didn't help matters by continually e-mailing and texting on her pearphone – and it was Gary she was in contact with. Being a love-struck, giggly schoolgirl myself it was easy for me to recognise the same traits in her; and it scares the hell out of me.
"Do you think your dad has noticed the changes?" Freddie asked cautiously, keeping his voice soft and low.
"I don't think so," I whispered in reply. I assumed the question he was really asking, in as tactful a way as possible, was 'does my dad know mom is cheating on him?' "If he knew what was going on I don't think he'd still be here, and I think Gary would be in hospital."
He nodded before drawing me into a hug and rubbing idle circles on my back. He said nothing, perhaps having no words of comfort, eschewing bland claims that 'everything would be alright' and just letting me know, in as tangible a way as possible, that he would be there for me, whatever else turned to chizz. I was grateful for his presence and we traded a few gentle kisses; the passion we'd shared earlier in the night wasn't needed just now and it was nice just to enjoy the feeling of being close to him.
I lay there holding him; he fell asleep long before I did, doubtless tired from his evening shift at work and without the full weight of my home life to disturb his slumbers, but I awoke the next morning to an otherwise empty bed. I looked at the clock and groaned; 9:30, he had already been at work for half-an-hour.
"Hi sister," drawled Trina as I staggered downstairs to the living area and through into the kitchen in my dishevelled state. "You were sleeping and Freddie didn't want to disturb you so I took him to work this morning," she declared with some pride in her voice.
"Thanks Treen," I smiled at her, wondering suddenly exactly how much she knew (or suspected) about what mom was up to. Unfortunately my parents were both around at the moment (mom was making breakfast for herself, nobody else – which was another change; she'd usually make something for me while doing her own. Dad, meanwhile, was watching TV). "Have you had breakfast?" I asked my sister; she confirmed that she had so I fixed myself something quick while she sat with our dad.
Having eaten I decided that I really needed to talk to Trina about the situation so I casually walked up behind her (by now she was sat between mom and dad on the couches) and gave her a sharp poke to the back of her neck. As expected she spun around with an annoyed "Ow, Tori!"
"Whatcha gonna do about it?" I taunted.
"I'll show you what I'm gonna do," she growled, standing and walking between the couches towards me. I began to retreat one step at a time as she pursued me until I reached the half-landing. As she reached the step below me I grabbed her wrist and began to run upstairs; caught off-guard and off-balance my sister could do nothing but be dragged along to my destination – my bedroom.
"What's all this about?" she whined as I closed the door behind us.
"I wanted to talk to you and not attract our parents' suspicion," I explained. "Right now they just think we're fighting again, which is fine by me."
"I'm confused," she complained.
Rather than some snippy comment I just sat on my bed and motioned to my desk chair. She took the hint and sat there, eyeing me curiously as she did.
"Have you noticed anything… odd about mom recently?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean… she's been less interested in how we're doing – "
"She's never been interested in how I am," my sister muttered bitterly.
"And she's been texting dad's partner a lot and e-mailing him," I persisted.
"She has?" Trina was surprised at the news. "Why would she do that?"
"I think…" I took a deep breath, "I think she might be cheating on dad."
My sister's reaction was one of stunned silence. In truth it was nice to see her silenced; I just wish the circumstances were different.
We sat in silence for a few moments while Trina processed my words and thought back on recent events, trying to discern whether she could see any changes in mom's behaviour that would lead her to the same conclusions as I. Finally she stood up, walked over to my bed, sat next to me and pulled me into a hug. The two of us sat there for a long time, just hugging one another, each wondering and worrying about what might happen to our lives if our worst fears were founded.
"What do we do?" she asked in a scared whisper.
"Definitely nothing until we're certain," I argued. She nodded. "If we are, we confront mom. There's nothing to be gained from us telling dad."
With nothing else productive to do I spent the rest of the morning with my schoolwork and learning lines for the small productions I had lined up between now and Spring Break. Freddie texted me over lunch to see how I was. I smiled at his sweetness and sent a reassuring reply. As the end of his shift approached I said goodbye to my family and headed out to my car, driving into Los Angeles to collect my boy.
"Hey," he greeted me as he slid into the car next to me. I needed to be close to him so I pulled him into a deep French kiss, one that he was happy to indulge in.
"You either missed me a lot or you're still worried," he said softly.
I smiled at his attempted joke. "Both," I commented, giving him another quick kiss. "Where do you want to go for dinner tonight?"
"Somewhere local," he urged wearily, "it's been a busy shift. I just want to eat and get an early night."
"An early night sounds good," I whispered with a flirtatious smile and I ran my hand up and down his thigh, causing him to grin in response as he settled back into the passenger seat and closed his eyes.
I drove us to Baby Blues, knowing that Freddie had developed a taste for ribs, and we ate while talking. I tried to keep the conversation on his shift and on what was happening in his life; I really didn't want to talk anymore about the potential crisis in my own home life. He seemed to understand and we avoided the elephant in the room while instead talking a little more about plans for the forthcoming Spring Break.
"So Carly and Sam are definitely coming down?" I asked.
"So they say. Believe it or not Carly's having to buy both tickets."
I laughed; obviously I only really knew Sam from the few days we'd interacted over Thanksgiving and Christmas but from Freddie's stories it didn't surprise me that she'd be relying, once again, on the "Bank of Carly".
"What do you want to do while they're down here?"
"Well," he said thoughtfully, "they've never really seen LA; we didn't get to see too much when we crashed Kenan's party," I bowed my head a little, even after all this time and with the huge benefit I'd gotten as a result (Freddie) the memory of finding out what Steven had done still grated with me a little. "The only other time they've been down was Thanksgiving when they saw UCLA and hung out with you guys at the mall. Oh and of course Carly saw the inside of the hospital a few weeks ago."
I winced at that other painful memory and squeezed my boy's hand as I reflected again on what could… would have happened had he not protected me the way he did. I knew he didn't want me to dwell on it or carry on thanking him so I simply lifted his hand and kissed it before turning back to my entrée while he continued to think aloud about possible plans for the week. Venice Beach was an obvious one as were a number of the sights from Downtown LA. We'll see what plans the others have and figure something out… unless you're all going back to Yerba?" he concluded with a teasing smile.
"I am never going back there," I told him vehemently.
After Freddie paid the check we left the restaurant and made the short trip back across Hollywood. Trina met us at the door when we arrived at home; she pulled me inside, Freddie followed in mild confusion (I hadn't told him about my conversation with my sister earlier in the day).
She pulled me to one side. "I'll be upstairs," Freddie called awkwardly. My sister waved him off as I smiled awkwardly in his direction. Mom and dad looked at us with identical confused expressions; with sadness I noted that she was still sat apart from him. I felt it was non-verbally confirming my suspicions. I glanced at Trina and saw that she too was eyeing them with sadness.
"We need to do something about this," she declared in a low voice pointing between our parents.
"Like what?"
"I don't know… find out what really is going on, if anything, and if it is then we put a stop to it!"
I nodded resolutely; I had no idea what Trina had in mind but I agreed that we had to do something if there was a danger of our family falling apart. One problem struck me though…
"How? We can't exactly walk up to her and ask, 'say mom, are you cheating on dad with Gary?' can we?"
"I'll think of something," she pledged.
I nodded. "I'll think as well… in the meantime though, I have a tired boyfriend that I want to see before he falls asleep on me." I raised my voice as I turned towards the stairs and called "Goodnight guys!" to my family.
"Goodnight sweetie," my parents mumbled, not taking their eyes from the TV screen. I gave them one last cautious look, and a supportive smile to my older sister, before heading upstairs to see my man.
"Hey," I called from the doorway, seeing him laid under the covers with his eyes closed.
"Hey," his voice was weary and he opened his eyes groggily and focussed on me, smiling as he did.
I made my way softly over to my desk and grabbed my robe from the back of the chair before heading to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Having done so I headed back to my room, slid off the robe (which instantly garnered my boy's attention) and slid into bed next to him.
"Trina's going to come up with a plan to find out for certain what's happening between mom and Gary," I explained. His eyes switched from lustful to sympathetic as if a switch had just been flicked. He nodded and draped an arm gently over my midriff, urging me into a cuddling hug.
No words were needed between us as we lay there together with him planting gentle kisses on my cheek and my neck; he reprised his role as my rock, comforting me and wordlessly trying to convince me that everything, somehow, would work itself out.
