Disclaimer: I don't own anything 'In A Heartbeat' related whatsoever. I only own the story, and the characters that I made up. Any products, location, lyrics, or other stuff that are familiar to you are not mine as well.

West Side Story

Not the Only One

After a late night movie marathon, he got out of bed reluctantly. From the look of things, it was probably still dawn. Seeing that his roommates were still asleep, he crept slowly out of the room. It was still dark outside, and no one seemed to be around to greet him. He opted to look around the house and get reacquainted with it. After fifteen minutes, he decided to go outside and take a long walk on the beach. If he was lucky enough, he might be able to see the sun rise, a spectacle he rarely had a chance to experience, especially on the beach. During his stroll on his way back, he came across an unwelcome passerby.

"Well, well, well, if isn't Hank Beecham… the trusted sidekick of our friend Tyler."

"What do you want, Tonya?"

"What's the matter, Hank? Do you hate me or something?"

"For a lack of a better word, yes, I do."

"How could you say such a thing?"

"You are pathetic."

"Can't we all just get along for Tyler's sake?"

"What do you want from him?"

"I don't think it concerns you what I want from dear old Tyler."

"Stay away from him!"

"I don't think you have a say in anything that I do. Tyler is a big boy. He doesn't need you to look out for him."

"Whatever it is that you have in mind, I'm warning you again, leave him alone. He's happy where he is right now. The last thing that he needs is to be tangled in your web of lies and deceit."

"I'll be the judge of that," she said as she reached to touch his face. "I'll see you later, Hanky boy."

Hank watched her as she left, wiping his face as though to remove the poison from her touch. When she was out of his sight, Hank started to curse and say anything that popped into his mind.

"Are you all right?"

"Marianne?" he turned around. "What are you doing here?"

"I should ask you the same question."

"I couldn't sleep anymore, so I decided to take a walk."

"What was that all about?"

"You saw that, huh?"

"What does she want?"

"Tyler Connell."

"Tyler? He's with Val."

"I don't think it matters to her."

"I'm sure Tyler won't do anything to hurt Val."

"Maybe not intentionally."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that he might fall for her traps again."

"Traps? Now you're really losing me."

"It's a long story, but I know how she works, and it's not pretty."

"Would you stop worrying about her? You're letting her get to you."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Sorry? You didn't even do anything."

Hank smiled and looked back at the horizon. A small glimmer of light was starting to show.

"Look! The sun is about to rise."

"I know. I wanted to see it. That's why I came down here."

"Like I said before, 'great minds think alike.'"

"Well, if that's so, do you know what I'm thinking right now?"

"I think I can guess," Hank replied as he leaned over to kiss her.

The scene looked like a page out of a love story. Two couples in an embrace, as their silhouettes became vivid with the sunrise in the background. Unfortunately, their moment was short-lived.

"Summer loving had me a blast… Summer loving happened so fast…"

"Jamie!" Hank said. "Don't you think you've had enough of Grease from last night, already?"

"Tell me more, tell me more… Did you get very far?" Jamie continued with a devilish grin on his face.

"I'm going to kill you!"

"Not if I can help it!" he yelled as he ran away from him.

"Not again," Marianne said. "It's an ongoing cycle of cat and mouse."

"What's going on down there?"

"It's alright, Mr. Connell. They're just playing around."

"Don't make too much noise. We don't want any complaints from the neighbors."

"I'll tell them."

Hank and Jamie walked back towards her while Jamie stayed as far as possible from Hank.

"What was that all about?" asked Hank.

"He said that you two should stop making a racket and let these other poor people sleep."

"Poor people?" said Jamie.

"You know what I mean."

"Hey guys… and girl," Tyler called out. "What are you doing out here?"

"Marianne and I were in the middle of something until Jamie came bursting in with his rendition of Summer Nights."

"Val and I got the Sound of Music last night. What's next, Jamie? A musical piece from the Broadway version of the Lion King?"

"Hakuna Matata!"

"I better go back inside. The girls may be looking for me."

"We'll be in later," said Hank as she left. "And Jamie, I'm not through with you yet."

"Can't we all just get along?"

Hank paused and looked at Tyler.

"What did I say?"

"Nothing. It just reminded me of something earlier."

"What happened?" asked Jamie.

"I ran into Tonya."

"Tonya?" asked Tyler.

"Look, Tyler, you have to stay away from her. She's bad news."

"Hank, I think you're overreacting. We're just friends now."

"You sure seemed awfully cozy together," said Jamie.

"We weren't even doing anything. We were just talking. Why does everyone assume that something was going on?"

"Well, what did happen yesterday?" asked Hank.

"I was just shocked and surprised to see her. It's been a long time."

"Are you sure nothing else? No chemistry? No nothing?"

"Hank, nothing went on. I mean, I did feel something when I saw her. We dated a while back and I was…" he paused to look at Jamie. "… In love with her."

"In love?" said Jamie. "You were only a freshman then."

"Maybe not in love, but I liked her a lot. I had a crush on her since forever, and that summer, she felt the same way about me."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Hank said.

"I know what happened, but it was in the past."

Jamie just steered clear and listened to whatever each of them had to say. He had no clue what happened, and if he just kept quiet, they might spit it out and reward his curiosity.

"You know what, Tyler? People are right. You're too nice for your own good."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that you need to see the facts right in front of you instead of wallowing in your own denial about certain things."

Tyler declined to reply. He just stared at Hank. After a short while, he finally spoke up.

"I don't care what you think. All I know is that nothing is wrong and nothing is going on between Tonya and I. She's a nice person. The past is the past."

"You just proved my point. You're denying it right now."

"What is your problem?"

"I'm just trying to look out for you."

"You know what? Just drop it, okay? I don't need you to look out for me. I can take care of myself."

"Fine."

"I'll see you two in the house."

When Tyler left, Hank dropped his head as though he was just rejected from a job.

"Wow," Jamie spoke up. "I didn't know jocks were capable of being deep and emotional."

Hank looked up and if looks could kill, Jamie would have been dead by the minute.

"I think I'm going to go in now, too."

After Jamie left, Hank sat on the ground. 'I know what she's capable of doing, Tyler,' he thought. 'Why won't you just listen to me? Why can't you see it?"

"Hank!" she called out from behind him. "Breakfast is ready!"

"I'm coming."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After breakfast, nothing much was happening around the house: Mr. Connell left to get something, Jamie and Caitie are watching TV, Val and Marianne were talking, and Tyler and Hank were still not talking to each other.

"What's going on?" Val asked. "Did they have a fight or something?"

"Who knows?" she lied. "Talk about mood swings. They seemed fine earlier this morning outside."

"Do you know what happened?"

"Well, when Hank was taking a walk this morning, he ran into…"

Marianne stopped herself when she realized that Val wouldn't be too excited to know about Tonya. She was probably the last person that Val wanted to talk about.

"He ran into whom?"

"He ran into… into a dog. Yeah, he ran into a dog," she immediately covered.

"A dog? What does that have to do anything?"

"Well, I don't really know, but the dog was female."

"A female dog? Why would they fight over that?"

"Because Hank got mad at the dog, and when he told Tyler about it, Tyler might have defended the dog, and now they're not talking."

"Ah, I see… Good one, Marianne."

"What?"

"That story you made up about the dog was very creative, but I don't think that's the reason."

"I guess not."

Earlier before breakfast, Hank confided in Marianne about what happened and made her promise not to tell anyone, especially Val. Jamie knows what happened, but he's sensible enough to say a word about it to Caitie, who would in turn most likely tell Val.

"Hey kids!" Mr. Connell greeted when he entered the room. "I have something for you."

"Where?" asked Tyler.

"They're still in the car. Hopefully, they'll be of good use to you."

"What are they?" asked Jamie.

"Rollerblades!"

"All right!" the guys immediately said.

"How do you know our sizes?" asked Caitie.

"You have shoes, don't you?"

"Well, what if we don't know how to use them?" she asked again.

"I'm sure one of these fellas would be glad to teach you."

"That goes for me, too," Val added.

"Marianne?" said Mr. Connell.

"You don't have to worry about me. I've been rollerblading since I was a kid."

"Great! Can you guys help me down here? Hank? Tyler?"

"We're coming," they said.

After they left, Val turned to Jamie to see if he knows anything.

"Jamie, what is going on with them?"

"Hank and Tyler?"

"They're not talking to each other."

"Must be a lover's quarrel," he said as he laughed at his own joke.

"Not funny, Jamie."

Jamie stole a glance at Marianne and noticed that she's been signaling him to not tell what he knows. Without being too obvious, Jamie continued his conversation with Val.

"Yes, it was."

"Jamie!"

"Okay, fine, if you must know, well, I don't know anything."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive."

"Positive about what?" asked Hank as he came in.

"About not knowing what's going on between you and Tyler."

"Nothing's going on," added Tyler. "What made you think that?"

"You two weren't talking," said Val.

"We were trying to time how long we couldn't talk to each other," said Hank.

"For the lack of anything better to do," added Tyler.

"If you say so," she said.

"What do you guys plan to do now?" Mr. Connell asked.

"I guess the only thing to do is to try these on," said Tyler.

"Great!" Val and Caitie said unenthusiastically.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While outside, the three couples split up. Hank and Marianne are obviously having the time of their life. Jamie and Tyler on the other hand were left to pose as instructors to the two amateurs.

"I can't do this," Val said shakily as she tried to balance.

"Come on, it's easy," encouraged Tyler. "You can do this. You're a cheerleader. You have good balance."

"But in cheerleading, we don't have wheels under our feet!"

"Good point!" he smiled. "Come on, just try. Take my hand."

"I'm trying, but you keep backing up away from me."

"Sorry," he said as he slowed down his space.

After a few more minutes, Val was starting to get the hang of things.

"This is actually pretty easy."

"I told you so. Now, can you stay upright without me holding your hand."

"I think I can manage."

When Tyler let go of her hand, Val seemed to stumble forward.

"Whoa, are you all right?"

"You look so cute when you worry," Val said as she skated past him. "I was just kidding."

"Very funny."

Meanwhile, Jamie and Caitie were having a different kind of progress.

"Jamie! I'm going to kill you!"

"I'm only trying to help."

"How can you help me when you're over ten feet away? Are you that stupid?"

"Insults will get you nowhere."

"Well, I'm getting nowhere even before that."

Caitie stumbled again, but thanks to her knee and elbow pads, not much damage was done. Jamie only looked at her and smiled.

"What are you smiling about?"

"You just remind me of little Bambi learning how to walk."

"I'm glad my suffering and embarrassment comes as an amusement to you."

"What? It was a compliment."

"Since when did looking like a fawn become a compliment?"

"That's not what I meant. What I'm trying to say is that you look cute and adorable."

"Adorable? Jamie, do me a favor and don't get all cutesy-wutesy on me. It doesn't suit you."

"I'm not trying to be."

"Then stop taking words from Val's vocabulary."

"I'm not even… okay, I'll stop."

"Good. Now can you come over here and help me. And this time, don't stay no more farther than three feet away from me."

"Got it," Jamie said. "Now all you have to do is try to keep your feet…"

Farther ahead, Hank and Marianne were racing against each other.

"I'm going to beat you," Marianne said as she sped fast ahead of him.

"It's only because I'm letting you win."

"Why Hank? Afraid to lose to a girl when you're trying?"

"If I was trying, I would've beaten you already."

"Actions speak louder than words…"

"Is that a challenge?"

"What do you think?"

Marianne hurried on forward as Hank tried to catch up with her. Marianne turned her head back to check up on Hank, but she ended up bumping into an individual. Hank immediately came to her side, but the person was already checking up on her.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine. You?"

"Nothing seems to be broken."

"I'm really sorry."

"I'm not," he said as he winked at her.

"What happened?" inquired Hank as he helped her up.

"Nothing," Marianne replied. "We just bumped into each other. No injuries whatsoever, except for this major headache."

"Are you okay?" asked Hank.

"Couldn't be more perfect. I was just taking a walk, but I didn't expect an angel to fall into my lap."

Marianne blushed. 'Is this guy serious?' he thought. 'Who talks like that nowadays? Even Tyler doesn't do that.'

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Marshall R. Faulk."

"Like the football player," Hank said.

"Yeah, only his middle name is William. He's my cousin."

"Oh."

"My dad's first name is Marshall," said Marianne.

"What a coincidence! Maybe it's fate."

'Are you kidding me?' Hank said to himself. 'You're talking to my girlfriend here.'

"I guess so," Marianne said. "Maybe we'll see you around."

"Maybe next time you'll be by yourself."

"I don't think my boyfriend here would like that."

Marshall turned to Hank and developed a smirk on his face.

"He's your boyfriend? I'm sorry, I didn't know. It just didn't seem right."

Hank fought the urge to jump on and beat the crap out of him. The reason being that he didn't want to upset Marianne, and from Marshall's much bigger height and muscles, he didn't want to end up in a cast.

"We better go, Hank."

"See you around…" Hank said before whispering to himself, "…loser."

After Marshall was out of sight, they saw their friends not to far ahead. Marianne left Hank to go to the rest of the group. Jamie sensed that something was wrong and approached him.

"What's wrong?" asked Jamie.

"It looks like Tyler is not the only one being chased after."

"What are you talking about?"

"Someone wants Marianne. All I can say now is that you better watch out. You and Caitie may be next."

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I hope you liked it! Please review : ) I'll update as soon as possible. Thanks for reading. I'll be back! ~ Scarlet182