A/N: I'm back! I had a pretty horrific case of writer's block, but I think I'm over it for the time being (big thanks to Angela for her help getting me through it). Just to ease your worried minds, I have absolutely no intention of abandoning this story. I will finish it, I promise. Just keep in mind that I am a college student with lots of papers and tests and homework and whatnot. Also, if you get bored waiting for the next installment, I've got some other stories up in this fandom that can help keep you occupied. You can find those on my author page or the BC main page. Anyway, hopefully I'll catch a break in my schedule and get more done for this story soon. Thanks for reading. : )
Also, you may need to refresh yourself on what's happened in previous chapters. I know it's a serial piece, but I want it to fit together as a whole, so I treat it as such. Just because I know you won't do it yourself: Brian, Claire and Bender went out for pizza during school, and Bender drove Claire's dad's car. Andy went over to Allison's house the night before. Andy is still fighting with his best friend, John.
Chapter Fifty: The Art of Lying
Bender pulled into the parking lot of Pete's A Pizza and found a spot near the front of the building. Brian walked into the restaurant, but Claire cut off Bender before he could even reach the sidewalk. "Keys," she said, holding out her hand.
Bender looked down at her hand, unimpressed. "What about 'em?"
Claire rolled her eyes. "Give them to me. I'm not letting you drive back."
Bender lifted an eyebrow and took a step forward. "You… aren't gonna let me?"
Claire paused uncertainly as he got closer. "I'm driving," she said firmly.
Bender nodded understandingly and stopped when he was only a couple of feet away. "Why don't you just let me hang onto them for a while and we'll decide later."
"No! I want them now!"
Bender shrugged. "Alright, but you're gonna have to come get them."
Claire set her mouth in a firm line and stepped forward, reaching out for the keys. Bender smirked and stuffed the keys into his underwear.
"Take them out!" Claire hit Bender on the shoulder. "That's disgusting!"
Bender shrugged and grinned. "You want 'em out so bad, you do it. I certainly don't mind."
Neither of them said anything, just glared at one another. Well, Claire was glaring; Bender couldn't keep the smirk off of his face. After a moment, she turned around and started walking back towards the restaurant. Bender grinned and removed the keys from his underwear, putting them into his jacket pocket.
As soon as the bell rang dismissing her from her fourth period class, Allison jumped from her seat and made a beeline for the door. Her teacher had handed out some ridiculous worksheet, as if they were in elementary school or something, but Allison hadn't even started it. Instead, she'd spent the entire period making a knot bracelet out of some colored string she'd found buried at the bottom of her bag.
When she got to her locker, she plucked out her gum, which she'd been chewing since second period, and stuck it on her locker door. She was digging around in her bag for a fresh piece when she felt someone come up behind her.
"Hey."
Allison turned to see Andy standing a couple of feet away, gym bag slung over one shoulder. "Hi," she said, smiling despite her best attempts not to. "How are you?"
Andy shrugged, and Allison suddenly realized how tired he looked. "What's wrong?" she asked.
He shook his head angrily. "Nothing. I'm fine."
Allison knew he was lying, but she also knew that his bad mood probably had something to do with his fight with John, so she didn't press the issue. Instead, she nodded, and they stood there for a moment in silence, neither of them sure what to do or say. She wanted to reach out and touch him, to place her cold, pale hand against his flushed, angry cheek and lean forward to kiss him. She wanted to, but she didn't.
"I have to get to class," he said.
Allison nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat.
Andy shifted nervously from one foot to another. "I'll call you later."
She nodded again, forcing herself to say something. "Okay."
Andy stood there watching her for a minute, then stepped forward. When they were only inches apart, he leaned in and kissed her. Allison's stomach fluttered pleasantly, and she kissed him back, her emotions flooding with equal parts fear and desire. She didn't know how long they stood there kissing--though it probably wasn't more than a few seconds--but when Andy pulled away, Allison couldn't help but feel more than a little bit disappointed.
"I have to get to class," he said again, softer this time since she was only a few inches away.
Allison's response was the same as the time before. She nodded, unable to speak.
Andy swallowed visibly. "But I will call you later," he promised.
Again, Allison could only nod.
He shot her a soft smile, then stepped backwards, nearly knocking someone over with his gym bag. Allison suddenly realized that everyone in the hallway was watching them. No, gawking at them.
Andy didn't seem to notice. He nodded briefly, then started walking down the hall, disappearing immediately into the crowd. Allison watched him leave, then turned back to her locker, unwilling to let a couple dozen nosy high school students ruin her moment.
Brian took another bite of his pepperoni pizza and wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. "This is really good pizza," he said, looking up at Claire, who was using a fork and knife to cut her pizza into tiny bites. "Have you ever eaten here before?"
Claire looked up. "No, I don't really eat pizza that much."
"Yeah, me neither." Brian glanced at his watch for about the eightieth time since they'd arrived at the restaurant. "So, do you think they're wondering where we are?"
"Who?"
"Well, you know, like our teachers and stuff."
Claire shrugged. "Maybe."
"Because I've never skipped class before. Do they give you detention for that?"
Claire shrugged again. Bender didn't even look like he was paying attention.
"I mean, it would be really bad if I got another detention, you know, after that last one, but it's kind of fun being here since we're not supposed to be off campus because I've never been off campus during school hours. Well, except for field trips and stuff." He took another bite of his pizza, then looked down at his watch and started talking again as he chewed. "It's fifth period now, and I'm supposed to be in gym. I'd probably still be getting dressed, though, so no one has noticed that I'm gone yet. But if he notices, is he going to tell the principal right away or is he just going to think I'm sick? Because then the office will look at the records and see that I was there in the morning, but not during gym and then they'll know I was skipping and give me a detention maybe." He swallowed the pizza in his mouth and looked back up at Claire and Bender, who were eating in silence. "But this is kinda fun, huh?"
Claire smiled sweetly, but didn't say anything. Bender was just staring at him with a bored expression on his face.
Brian wiped his mouth with a napkin. "So, what class do-"
Suddenly, Claire jumped in her seat, her knee hitting the underside of the table and sending Brian's root beer tumbling over. Brian grabbed a handful of napkins and began soaking up the mess, then glanced over at Claire, concerned. "Are you okay?"
Claire looked at Bender, eyes blazing with anger. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said, gritting her teeth.
Bender lifted his eyebrows and looked over at Brian. "Some people are so clumsy."
Claire opened her mouth to say something, but Bender beat her to the punch. "So, how'd you break your arm?" he asked Brian.
Brian paused, setting the wet napkins aside. "Well, uh…" He glanced over at Claire, who smiled knowingly. "Well, you see, there was this kitten. I mean, it was our kitten. Snowball. It's my sister's cat, you know? It got stuck in the tree outside of our house and my sister, she was, like, crying and stuff, and she wanted me to get the cat, so I climbed the tree and, um, you know, got the cat and all, but then when I jumped down, I, uh, I landed funny on my arm and I broke it."
Bender just stared at him. "You were saving a kitten," he echoed.
Brian shifted nervously in his seat. "Uh, yeah."
"From a tree."
Brian nodded quickly. "Yeah, it was, um, it was a maple tree."
"And that's how you broke your arm."
"Yeah."
Bender sat back in his seat and shook his head sadly. "Brian, Brian, Brian…"
Brian panicked. "What?"
Bender just kept shaking his head. "I have so much to teach you."
Brian frowned. "About what?"
"Lying."
Brian's eyes widened. "What? I'm not lying! I really…I mean, my sister was really upset and crying and I couldn't just stand there, you know?"
Bender nodded understandingly. "It's okay. I get it. It's a good line."
Brian started shaking his head again. "It's not a line, I swear."
"Every guy's done it," Bender assured him.
Brian paused. "Really?"
Bender nodded and looked over at Claire. "Girls love shit like that, don't they, Claire?"
Claire just glared at him. "No," she said coldly.
Bender frowned doubtfully. "Come on. Bravery, heroism, sensitivity. It turns you on, doesn't it?"
Claire flushed deeply. "No, it doesn't," she said firmly.
But Bender was unfazed. "So, let me get this straight. If I saved your cat from a tree, you wouldn't even have sex with me as a thank you?"
Claire reached out and slapped Bender on the shoulder. "That's disgusting!"
Bender lifted an eyebrow. "It's a simple courtesy. You of all people should know that."
Brian, who could tell that Claire was about to explode with anger, jumped in before the situation became violent. "Well, I, uh, I didn't do it so I could get girls to, you know…to sleep with me or whatever," he said, his face warm with embarrassment.
Bender was still watching Claire with an amused expression on his face as she glared at him. "No, no, of course not," he responded distractedly.
"I didn't."
Bender stared at Claire for another moment before he smirked and looked away, refocusing his attention on Brian. "Whatever. It's a good story, but you're still gonna have to work on presentation."
Brian narrowed his eyes. "What?"
Bender let his arm settle across the back of the booth, right behind Claire's head. "You've got a good story, and it seems like you've memorized all the facts, but no one's gonna believe you if your delivery is off.
Brian frowned. "Delivery?"
"No one's gonna buy your story if you don't know how to sell it."
Brian frowned. "I don't get it."
Bender shrugged and picked up another slice of pizza. "You've gotta believe your own story. If everyone believes that you believe it, then they'll believe it, too."
Brian considered this for a moment. "Okay, so how do I do that?"
Bender took another bite of pizza and chewed thoughtfully. "You've just got to be able to stand your ground. You can't give them a reason to doubt what you're telling them."
Brian nodded slowly. "Yeah, okay." He took a deep breath. "I can do that."
Bender nodded and glanced over at Claire, who was listening to the conversation as she finished her pizza. He watched her eat for a minute before speaking.
"Hey, Claire?"
She looked up, waiting for him to continue.
"What if it was a bunny rabbit?"
Claire didn't say anything, just glared at him. Half a second later, Bender yelled out, jumping away from her and slamming his knee into the bottom of the table, this time causing his own drink to tumble over. "OW!"
As Bender tended to his wounded foot and Claire pulled out a file to work on her nails, Brian made a mental note to never date a girl that wore high heels.
A/N: I really appreciate everyone who has given me feedback about this story and I'm so glad that you're enjoying it. I don't know when I'll have the next one out, but it probably won't be until my finals are over in a couple of weeks. So, be patient and, uh, check out my other stories. : )
Oh, and please review!
