Flames of Love
Disclaimer: Don't own Shake it Up.
A/N:
Chapter 44 (Rockin' the Blues)
The day finally arrived, just days into the start of the new school year, Rocky's dad had come home. Cece could tell it was making her miserable, she wasn't enjoying her classes nearly as much because of it. She was slumped over in her desk and rolling her eyes at the typical first week stupidity of the students who mocked and laughed at the teacher. She was seated to Cece's right. "And here, I thought being sophomores would enable some ounce of maturity. I guess I was wrong." Rocky's eyes narrowed as she glared at a couple of the students in the class. Cece glanced back and lifted her shoulders.
"They're just getting over summer, Rocky. Cut them some slack." Rocky rolled her eyes and groaned, dropping her arm onto the desk. Cece gave her the benefit of the doubt, as she clearly heard yelling from the Blue family last night. Curtis Blue apparently brought home a woman with him that was staying at the motel. Again, Marcie not believing in divorce, never bothered to divorce him and took the abuse. From what she understood, Curtis only did this because Marcie refused to sleep with him anymore. However, it drove her insane to the point that she was vicious towards her own children. "I know you're exhausted, but try not to think about the family stuff if you can." Rocky shot her a look and she flinched, she didn't feel like incurring Rocky's wrath at the moment, but she wanted to at least try and get her thoughts elsewhere.
"It's kind of impossible now. Ty's already begun his fight for custody and Dad's trying to come up with some stupid plan to stop Ty. I don't know why he thinks Ty's going to lose in the first place, but since he's here, maybe he has some doubts." The bell rang and Rocky quickly stood up. Cece rolled her eyes and grabbed her backpack from the ground, rushing out the door with her friend. She was more than eager to get out of there. The two made it towards their lockers and Cece thought up the perfect ruse to get Rocky's mind off her family.
"That math class was boring, wasn't it?" It was English, but knowing Rocky's tenacity, she knew the girl would try to correct her. Rocky looked at her with an arched eyebrow and put her hands to her hips. She shook her head in disbelief and cleared her throat.
"It was English, and you know it." Cece lifted her shoulders and opened up her locker, smiling as she pushed her English book inside. She propped it up against the side of the locker where Gunther's picture rested. While Rocky wasn't looking, she quickly kissed her fingertips and moved them to the image. "Anyway, I'm just tired of all the crap going on right now. Ty's got a stable job, he's got a great place, and all I have to do is tell the judge-"
"Rocky!" Cece froze as Curtis's voice boomed in her ears. She and Rocky both spun around as Rocky's father came waltzing around the corner, carrying a lunch bag in his hands. This was bad, what was he doing at the school? Even though she disliked the man, she wanted to at least act cordial to him.
"Hey Mr. Blue!" Curtis smiled at her and hugged her with one arm. Rocky stared at the man in desperation and quickly ran her fingers through her ponytail.
"Hey Cece, no detentions?"
"Not yet." It had been a long time since she had detention really, at least not since her relationship with Frankie. That whole thing wiped her out completely, to the point that she made that necessary turnaround in her life. She pushed herself from Mr. Blue and walked to the side as Rocky rose to meet her father.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
"You forgot your lunch," Curtis said while holding up the lunch bag. Rocky shook her head and lifted her own sack up. The man laughed and spread out his arms. "All right you caught me, I just wanted a hug." Cece stifled the urge to vomit as Rocky hugged her father. She couldn't stand how fake this man was, just as fake as her own dad. Though her father lived in a fairytale universe where he pretended that she actually gave a damn. She tapped her chin and smirked to herself. That wasn't her father, oh no, that was Rocky's father. Her dad was actually somewhat intelligent. He knew she hated his guts, which was one reason he never messed with her or Flynn. Curtis here, now this was a man who honestly believed he'd get whatever he wanted and more. In Cece's mind, she didn't know which father was worse, by moral standards both were filth. One lived a lifestyle of drunkenness and negligence, while the other cheated on his wife because she wouldn't sleep with him or leave him, rubbed it in her face every time, and thought he could demand things of his children and have them react appropriately out of fear. No, she had no clue who was worse.
"Aw," she feigned her enjoyment of the moment and smiled at the two. Curtis wrapped his arm around Rocky's shoulder and grinned at her.
"Hey, I was gone for too long, you know how many hugs I missed out on?" She bounced her eyebrows and glanced away as he turned back to his daughter. "So, after school, you get to join me to the science museum! They have a new digestive exibit!" Rocky started to grimace while Cece tried to picture what this would be like. "Entrance to the intestines." Disgusted, she started to turn away. It was so like Curtis, still trying to force the medical career on both his children. She never really knew Rocky to be all that excited about the field of medicine.
There was a brief moment of discussion where she tried to mention Shake it Up, not remembering that Rocky still hadn't told the overbearing father about her dancing. Eventually Ty walked by and Curtis ran after him, in which Ty glared at his sister for pointing him out. It was amusing to see the man flag him down, but so, so sad at the same time.
After school, and the rehearsal dance, Cece rested in the new pizza restaurant with Gunther and Tinka. They were watching Deuce and Flynn talking to the manager about the new advice dummy he bought. It wasn't all that interesting to her, but the twins seemed to take interest in it. "Let's move onto another subject, shall we?" Tinka suggested upon seeing Cece's nonchalance. "I heard Rocky's dad's in town."
"Yep. He is." Cece sipped her soda and narrowed her eyes. She did not want to be at her apartment right then, which was why she requested the two of them to join her at the pizza place. There might be a fight and she didn't want to have to hear it permeate through the walls. Even Ty had to be at the apartment, due to the father's demanding. "I believe Mr. Blue is trying to talk Ty out of the whole custody thing, but in a few days Rocky's going before the judge at her request and will give her preference on the living arrangement." Neither Rocky nor Ty had told the family that Rocky was of the appropriate age where she could tell the court where she wanted to be. It might surely be a shock to the Blue family.
"I almost feel bad for Rocky. She's going through a lot of stress."
"Yep." Cece turned her eyes to Gunther, who was shaking his head. She knew his thoughts on the matter, and even Deuce's uncle 'suggested' a hit be placed upon Curtis Blue's head. She turned her eyes over to Deuce and Flynn, who were banging on the display case for The Great Wazoo. Much to her amusement, the wizard's head fell right off. She lifted her lips from the straw and called out to Deuce. "And that's why you don't hit the dummy." Deuce began shuddering while Flynn laughed. Gunther raised his eyebrows and ran his hand through his hair.
"Someone tell me how I did not see that coming. It's such an old thing." Cece nodded and looked to Flynn with a subtle smile, she was happy that he didn't have to stay in the apartment while Rocky's parents were constantly fighting.
"You know what, I should thank your parents again for taking custody of Flynn. At least he gets to sleep peacefully at night. I would hate to think he'd be up all night listening to that family going on and on." Yet, the cops hadn't been called on them? What? Were the neighbors all sleeping with earplugs or something? That man's voice sounded like it could shake the foundation of the building! She even dreamt she was in the middle of an earthquake during one night!
"We'll let them know." Gunther smiled subtly and Tinka quickly nodded her head. Cece was thankful for their company, she was actually beginning to relax. This was very important to her, especially with so much stress in her life. Someone needed to throw life a bone, and fast.
Saturday's show came up the next day, and Cece waited patiently for Rocky to arrive. Once again it had been a sleepless night. She was just applying makeup to some small areas to make herself appear fuller and awake. Her hair, she had to smooth down and fluff up the ends a bit, but altogether she didn't think she looked good at all. Things were getting to the point that she wanted to call the cops on that family. She leaned back against the makeup desk and griped the edges with her hands, sighing in desperation. "What will we do about that guy?"
"You look beautiful." Her eyes flicked over to the handsome blonde haired prince walking in her direction. He really thought she looked beautiful? This was the image of a failed attempt at sleep. She scoffed and rolled her eyes. Right now he wasn't on the top of her list of people she wanted to see, they'd had a major fight recently and she was still trying to cool off. What was he doing here anyway? He wasn't dancing today. "I've been talking a bit with Gary lately..."
"Please. I could barely sleep last night. I don't think I got any more than one or two hours of sleep. I look like I just got hit by a garbage truck." He shrugged and stopped inches from her. She felt the rush of heat from his body as he pulled his hand behind his back, revealing a bouquet of roses. Her cheeks grew red and she slowly shook her head. What the hell was this? "You brought me flowers?" She took the roses and smiled as she brought them to her nose, they smelled sweet and fresh.
"Yes. Also you're still beautiful." Her lips curled upwards and her eyes followed his hand up to the side of her face. A feeling of bliss struck her, and in that moment, she did feel like the most beautiful girl there. "Sorry you couldn't get any sleep last night. Maybe you should rent a hotel for a few days?" She raised an eyebrow and chuckled at him. She didn't have the money for a hotel, was he kidding? She appreciated his suggestion, though.
"I would, but I have no money." Gunther leaned back and ran his finger along his chin.
"Well, you could stay with us until the whole situation with the Blues are over. Dad would probably have me on the couch and give you the bed, but it works." She closed her eyes and breathed out very slowly. God, she loved this man. She'd have to think about the offer though, it might bother Tinka a bit.
"What about Tinka?" She set the roses on the countertop and exhaled slowly, trying not to think about the argument they had. It was more over his not being able to tell her he wanted more independence, but she didn't want to discuss it now. There was way too much stress going on.
He waved his hand in the air. "She could use another girl in the house besides Mom." She laughed and spun back around to the mirror, grabbing some more makeup. Gunther put his hands on her shoulders as she applied some powder to her cheeks. "Love, I think you have enough makeup. You look fine without all of that stuff."
"I'd rather not go out there looking like a zombie. Now please, leave me to my masterpiece." He laughed and reached over, kissing her cheek.
"All right. I love you, good luck on the dance floor today." She thanked him and watched his departing figure in the mirror. He wasn't dancing today, she'd almost forgotten about that. Tinka was also not there today, she wasn't feeling well and stayed home to sleep. Ah sleep, how envious she was of those who got that luxury in the past few days.
It was a few minutes before Rocky showed up, wearing a choir uniform over her dress. Cece raised an eyebrow and watched her remove the gown. "I'm guessing you didn't tell your dad about Shake it Up."
"Please." Rocky rolled her eyes and moved her fingers to the crevice in her forehead. "Would you tell him with all this stress? I don't need the extra stress…So I told him I had an emergency choir practice." Annoyed, Cece turned back to the mirror. As she grabbed the lipstick canister and began applying her lipstick, she noticed Rocky glance over at Gunther for a few seconds. She turned back and Rocky groaned. "Twin number one is here, where's twin number two at?" Cece lifted her shoulders and set down the lipstick.
"I don't know. Show's starting, let's go." Rocky bounded towards the stage and Cece walked, still trying to shake off her exhaustion. Although, she was elated and put in a better mood thanks to her boyfriend telling her how beautiful she was, even though she was certain she looked horrible.
On the dance floor, she was practically stumbling most of the time, struggling to maintain her balance. Even Gary was taking notice, so the cameraman was focusing mainly on Rocky. She wasn't certain how long they'd been going for, but at some point of time, she noticed Curtis walking in. Her eyes grew large, and heart racing. The adrenaline crashed through her veins and she was preparing herself to run, because Lord knows a storm just came crashing into the studio.
Rocky gasped as the man started walking onto the stage, arms crossed and eyes narrow. He grabbed her wrist and pointed a finger. "Rochelle you are coming home right now, no daughter of mine is dancing on a TV show!" Cece smacked her forehead and groaned as the cameras started flashing, they were back on air. "Come on."
"Dad, we're on air," Rocky motioned to the camera and Curtis slowly glared at it. He smirked subtly and Cece watched, intrigued with what he was about to do.
"All right…" He pointed a finger at the camera and bounced his eyebrows. "Ty, if you care about your sister, you'll stop this custody nonsense or she will not be permitted to dance on the show again!"
"What?" Cece cupped a hand over her mouth and started snickering as Curtis pulled Rocky away. Rocky glared at her and screamed out. "Cece! What the hell!" Her eyes shot open and she cleared her throat, she should have known better to laugh, but Curtis was just plain dumb.
"I'll explain later, Rocky! I'm sorry, I wasn't laughing at you!"
"You better!" Cece bit her fingernail and stared over at the camera, chuckling to herself. Curtis had just made a fatal mistake. Not only did Ty watch Shake it Up, but so did the lawyers and the judge working the custody case. What he just did is what many people would consider, in something as serious as a custody fight, to be an egregious act. He just screwed himself over, even if Rocky was going to tell the judge she wanted to be with Ty.
Ah the custody arc begins, let me know what you thought of the events in the chapter!
