Chapter 12: Date Night
Notes: We're now in December, I would have happily skipped to this chapter instead of doing chapter 11, but sadly I couldn't fit in the small plot points I wanted to cover and reasonably skip forward a month. So that's why you had to read a dirge chapter between. I also have a great fear about this particular chapter. When Averman/Luis was first challenged, this was the only plot point that my brain offered. This has been eleven chapters in the making. Watch it fall flat on its face.
Luis surveyed the Shoebox proudly. In a fit of festive spirits, he and Averman had braved the mall again and bought a ton of tinsel and lights to decorate their dorm room with. They had found a tiny Christmas tree, about twelve inches in height, which had pride of place on the window ledge, beside it were two Christmas presents, both bigger than the tree. One was a plant from the Bash Brothers, or they assumed it was a plant, given that it was tightly bound and gagged with newspaper and duct tape, and Fulton had advised, "Don't open it for a couple of months." The other was a brick with a red bow around it, from Goldberg, naturally. The secondary rule about Christmas gifts for the Ducks, was that if buying outside the Secret Santa or for anyone but a roommate, it should merely be a token gift. This was the first year that either Luis or Averman had received such gifts.
Averman smiled at Luis. "Just when I think this room can't get any more ugly, I find that there are actually vast levels of ugly, and there are plenty more to explore."
"It does look horrible, doesn't it?" Luis said. Given that they weren't girls, no colour scheme had been used at all, tinsel, wreaths and garlands of all colours flooded the room, clashing terribly with the mustard yellow walls. Everything was held firmly in place with scotch tape.
"This place looks tackier than a Spice Girls video. We should celebrate," Averman replied. "We should invite some people over."
"And where exactly would they sit or stand?" Luis asked. What little space there had been pre-decoration was now taken up with discarded bags and boxes.
"We've had both of the Bash Brothers in here at the same time. That's three regular-sized people," Averman pointed out.
The door swung open, the handle crashing into the wall and splitting the poster hiding the hole, and Annie fell through it, breathless with excitement.
"Ah, our first guest," Luis said.
"I'm going to do it!" She said animatedly. "I'm going to ask Aisha out! I just thought I'd tell you!" And with that she vanished once more.
Averman and Luis regarded each other with concern. "Aisha?" Averman asked. "As in your stalker?"
"Maybe she's only stalking me because she likes Annie and wants to know her friends better." Luis suggested hopefully.
There was a few moments silence as they analysed this happy delusion.
Then they ran for the door.
Monday
Annie is nowhere to be found. Luis and Averman worry about her, as neither has seen her since Saturday. They both fear the outcome of Annie asking Aisha on a date.
Charlie initiates a new training regime, it involves getting up an hour earlier. Averman suggests that they "vote him off the island". Adam seconds the motion, but is ruled as biased because of his living situation. No-one else dares second the vote.
Later that day, Portman loses patience with his plant and hurls it out the window.
On her way to Luis' dorm, Aisha is attacked by a suicidal plant falling three stories. She looks up to see where it came from and sees a Ducks Jersey through the window. By keeping a careful count of windows, she finds herself outside Portman's dorm room. She returns the plant to him (oblivious to his dismay), and casually says "So, you must know Luis?"
In a fit of pique that Adam seconded the motion to "vote him off", Charlie steals all of Adam's possessions and refuses to give them back until Adam meets his terms. Adam threatens to get the Dean involved. Charlie threatens to burn said possessions if that happens. Adam declares that he hates Charlie.
Tuesday
Aisha "bumps into" Luis before practice and instigates a conversation. It is rather stilted to begin with so Luis tries to bring it round to Annie. Aisha responds, thinking that Luis wants her to get to know his friends. Luis is happy that Aisha seems interested in Annie, and makes a mental note to tell Averman that all is well between them.
Luis is ten minutes late to practice, thanks to this, causing Charlie to yell for twenty minutes. Connie seconds Averman's suggestion to vote Charlie off.
Before practice stars, Adam nervously stands up and informs Coach Wilson that he'd like to share something with the team. He proceeds to sing Dancing Queen complete with Abba-esque dance, much to the amusement of the team. Adam has a new mantra that helps him get through this, it goes: In times such as these, what would Freddy Krueger do?
Luis is baffled by Portman asking him if his girlfriend caught up with him yesterday.
Charlie grudgingly returns Adam's belongings.
Wednesday
Annie boldly asks Aisha on a double date with Luis and Averman. Aisha misunderstands, and accepts happily.
Terri bounces up to Annie and tells her that she's really pleased that Annie's helping Aisha get Luis, but bounces off again before Annie can clarify what "get Luis" means.
Adam decides it's time to retaliate. He raids the laundry for the scariest underwear he can find and pegs this and all of Charlie's underwear to a piece of rope and strings it from their room to the flagpole. He makes sure that every single piece is labelled "If lost please return to Charles Joseph Conway, Block D, Room 9". Adam notes that it's a blustery day, then vanishes to somewhere safe.
Charlie is irritated by a vast amount of people knocking on his door to return very scary underwear, most of which he has never seen before in his life. And slightly mortified when several girls do the same. When he finds out what has happened, he calls Bombay and asks "How long a sentence would a murderer get if that person was under severe stress and was pushed to his limits?"
Guy complains that all of his underwear has vanished from the laundry room.
Thursday
Guy complains that all of his underwear has been returned, but now has Charlie's name in it. Guy and Charlie plot to kill Adam. They use a cunning plan of beating the crap out of him in the locker room, and are caught by Coach Wilson. They are put on detention until the New Year.
Luis once more attends Averman's improv session. They have an odd number for the blind game, Averman insists that, instead of watching, he participate. Luis makes a complete fool of himself and has more fun than he's had in a long time. He also wonders why it felt so nice to touch Averman's face.
While walking back to their dorms, Averman starts a tentative sentence with "You know, maybe…" but is interrupted by Annie, who informs them that they must volunteer to accompany her on a date with Aisha, to make it more casual. Luis spends ten minutes explaining the definition of "volunteer" to Annie.
She takes this as an affirmation that they will attend.
Adam calls Bombay and asks the same question as Charlie the previous day. Bombay advises him not to do anything rash. Adam coolly informs him that he wants a second opinion. He calls his brother Danny and asks him to be his legal representation "should anything happen."
Friday
Date night…
Luis was feeling distinctly on edge, for reasons unknown to himself. He seemed to have an excess amount of energy that even the most extensive hockey practice could not shake. He had been hyperactive all day, zoning out in class, unable to focus on anything and building forts out of his folders, pens and pencils instead of working, and he had positively irritated Averman at lunch by repeatedly poking him with a fork.
He supposed it was nerves about Annie's date. He had seen Aisha in the halls, and found it a little easier to talk to her knowing that she was on a date with Annie later today. Apparently Annie was the same way, her poor cheerleaders were exhausted from the gruelling practice she had put them through. Aisha also seemed nervous and giggly, but he found it far more tolerable now it was directed elsewhere.
Ironically, the only person who seemed remotely calm was Averman, the one person guaranteed to be hyperactive at any given time during the day.
"What is up with you?" Averman asked, eyeing him with concern.
Luis realised he was building a modern art sculpture with their Christmas tree, a folder, Averman's spare glasses and some of the underwear that hadn't yet found its way back to either Charlie or Guy.
"I'm fine." He forced himself to stop and put everything back.
"Are you on drugs?"
"I'm high on life, can't you tell?"
"It's becoming more and more apparent." Averman returned his glasses to the night table, and then physically stopped Luis' movement by holding his wrists. "You're being… well, kind of me today, what's up?"
"I have no idea," Luis said honestly. "Maybe I'm going mad."
Averman looked pleased by this idea. "Well, that's ok, I suppose."
"I should have bought you flowers," Luis decided. "Since we're on a date and all."
Averman paused for a moment, an odd expression on his face. "Or maybe we should both buy the girls flowers, I'm not sure how this whole moral support thing works. But you can buy me flowers if you want." He glanced at the clock. "We should go. Preferably before you start another sculpture."
He released Luis' wrists, and Luis was suddenly aware of the absence. He realised that he hadn't had a hug in the longest time. He almost wished something bad would happen so someone would hug him.
Averman paused at the door, "Are you coming, or would you rather just stare at the wall all night. I'll be fine all by myself on a date with two lesbians, it's the average man's dream."
"Sorry." Luis got up and followed him down the hall, noticing how sharp Averman looked. In a fit of paranoia, he had raided Luis' wardrobe, and was wearing one of Luis' shirts with his own trousers. His curly hair had been unsuccessfully tamed, and Luis thought the bits that were still wildly curly made it look all the more appealing.
"What are you staring at?" Averman asked. "Has my hair gone crackers again?"
"Yes, but it looks good," Luis said.
"Wow," Averman said flatly. "A compliment to go with our date."
They walked the rest of the way to Annie's dorm in silence, where they found Annie and Aisha chatting in rather girlish tones and giggling an awful lot. Luis found himself very relieved that Aisha had realised she liked Annie best, and that his partner for the evening was remotely sane.
"Luis will be terrible company tonight," Averman announced. "He's been a space cadet all day. I think he's been using the old substances again."
"Well, that's flattering. It means that he's been thinking about the date all day," Aisha decided with a grin.
Luis gave her a rather baffled grin in return.
The foursome walked down to the bus stop, after first showing their passes to the Grinch manning the office and signing themselves out of the school campus.
They boarded the bus and took the back seat, where Luis found himself sitting between Aisha and Averman. Annie and Aisha chatted about cheerleading, occasionally trying to get Luis to join the conversation. Luis' attention was elsewhere; he realised that Averman was not calm, but despondent. This worried Luis greatly, given that last time this happened Averman had ignored him for a week and he still didn't know the cause.
"Are you ok?" Luis asked.
"I'm fine," Averman replied automatically. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You seem down."
"Not down, just tired." Averman gave him a fake grin. "Am I being a bad date?"
"Terrible," Luis replied.
"Well, give me time to warm up to the idea, I don't do dating."
Luis grinned, suddenly realising that what Averman had said was true. From their conversations about dating, it was fairly clear that Averman didn't date. He had yet to find someone he had a 'spark' with. Maybe being here with Luis wasn't a great way to start, it must be pretty bad for your first date to actually be a fake date to appease your roommate's crazy best friend. "I'll go easy on you."
"That would be nice," Averman replied faintly.
Inside the movie theatre Luis was once more sitting between Aisha and Averman. Aisha seemed to be making a conscious effort to talk to him, which annoyed him slightly. It was nice that Aisha was trying so hard, but really she should be making Annie feel like the centre of attention on their first date and deal with her friends on the next. And besides, he wanted to talk to Averman.
Aisha was squeamish, so that ruled out any form of horror, Averman vetoed any form of explosive action film "especially when buildings are getting blown up every two seconds – I have a headache and the surround sound will not help", so they decided on Pirates of the Caribbean, a film they had all seen, but seemed to satisfy everyone all round.
Luis was especially pleased because he wouldn't have to pay too much attention to the film and could whisper to Averman throughout.
Aisha also seemed pleased. "Orli is so hot in this movie."
The other three regarded her with interest to the point of causing her to stare at the floor in embarrassment, at which point Averman added, "Amen to that," and consequently found himself to be the subject of the inquisitive looks. He seemed glad that the trailers finished at that point, and the movie began.
Averman sank into a moody silence, and Luis was left with no alternative but to watch the movie. Usually, when watching a movie with Averman, his roommate was apt to tell him trivia that nobody else seemed aware of, things like alternate endings, deleted scenes – having Averman around was like having a feature DVD that would answer questions without wasting twenty minutes of your time on flashy menus. Luis was quite disappointed by Averman's silence.
However, about halfway through the movie, he found himself in a situation that completely took his mind off Averman's new-found stoicism. Aisha's hand found his. He gave her a baffled look, and she smiled hopefully at him and moved a little closer.
Luis panicked silently for a full two minutes before muttering, "Excuse me," grabbing Averman and making a swift exit to the foyer, apologising to the people he stood on as he went.
"What?" Averman asked, when they were finally in a place where they could talk without upsetting the movie-goers. "We're going to miss the 'Why is the rum gone?' line." He mourned.
"I think Aisha's got the wrong idea about the pairings on this date!" Luis said.
Averman snorted. "She hit on you?"
"She was holding my hand."
Luis' indignant tone only furthered Averman's amusement. "See! She was stalking you." Then he suddenly sobered. "Poor Annie."
Luis nodded. "And it puts me in an awkward position, Aisha's a nice girl – I'm sure, otherwise Annie wouldn't like her – and I suppose it wasn't clear who was supposed to be dating who. She's going to feel a real moron when she finds out. Then again, so is Annie."
"Do you like Aisha?" Averman asked.
"Not like that. I don't even know the girl," Luis replied. "What should I do? Just whisper to her that she's hitting on someone else's date?"
"I could get insanely jealous, if that would help," Averman offered. "Or I could swap seats with you. I think she'll take that as a hint, and then when the movie finishes we can have a word with–" he glanced over Luis' shoulder, "–Annie."
"Is there any particular reason that you two vanished at the speed of light?" Annie enquired.
Luis looked at Averman. Averman shrugged. Luis sighed. "Annie," Luis began, and Averman patted his shoulder encouragingly.
"Yes?"
"Did you make it clear who was dating who on this double date?" Luis asked quickly, deciding that the question would sound much better if it came out in a rush, rather than irritate Annie with much pussy-footing around.
Annie paused. "Did I need to?"
"One does think apparently so," Averman replied.
"Why?" Annie asked. "The whole school knows you two are together."
"The whole school also 'knows' you're straight, Annie," Luis pointed out. "The whole school really can't be trusted on such issues."
"And also, we're not dating," Averman clarified. "We're here for moral support."
"You're not? But your friend Goldberg told me all about your date where he cooked and you two…" she tailed off, realising that Luis and Averman's love life – or lack thereof – was not the point. "Aisha's straight?"
"Am I not supposed to be?" came a fourth voice. They turned to see Aisha walking towards them. She stared at Annie. "You're not straight?" then she focused on Averman and Luis. "Any of you?"
"Luis is," Averman volunteered quietly.
"Wait. You're not?" Luis turned to Averman.
"Been meaning to tell you," he said quietly. "Never seemed like a good time."
"For the record, I'm straight!" The guy at the ticket booth announced.
"Shut up!" the troubled foursome chorused.
"Well," Annie said, her voice hard. "That settles it, Luis and Aisha, why don't you two finish watching the movie? Averman and I will take a taxi back to school." She then glared at the guy in the ticket booth. "Or Aisha can finish her date with him, if she wants."
"So you are straight?" Aisha asked Luis.
Her hopeful tone was too much for Annie, who rolled her eyes and stormed off.
"You," Luis said to Averman, "stay here. I'll be right back." As he left the cinema, he heard Averman say "Nice one," to Aisha.
"Annie, wait." Luis broke into a run to catch up with her. She glanced at him, then came to a stop.
"What? Do you need words of wisdom to deal with Averman's newfound gayness?" she snapped angrily.
"Why are you angry with me?" Luis asked. "I'm sorry for the confusion, but it's nobody's fault."
"I'm angry at you because you're a lousy friend." Annie announced. "I've barely seen you all year because you've been caught up in your new friendship with Averman – and I feel really sorry for him too because the minute you find someone to date you're going to vanish on him too and break his heart."
"I've been around," Luis defended himself. "I'm sorry I've not been around as much as usual, but I've been there for you – and whenever I've looked for you, you've been out. Presumably with Aisha."
"Who – as it turns out – doesn't give a stuff about me, she just wanted to be in your circle of friends."
"That's bull, Annie," Luis snapped back. "You're head cheerleader, you're funny, you're popular, most girls in this school want to be you. You can't fake four months of friendship with someone because you're crushing on their friend. She is your friend."
Annie slumped against a wall. "A friend. Great."
Luis moved closer and put his arm around her. She resisted for a moment, then put her arms around him. As he rested his head on her shoulder, he remembered earlier that he had almost wished for something bad to happen, just so he could hug someone. He made a mental note to never make wishes like that again, because the payoff of this hug did not cancel out how bad he felt for Annie.
"This sucks," she muttered.
"I know," Luis agreed.
She pulled away and sighed. "Let's go find the others and get back to school."
"Ok." As they began to walk back towards the cinema, one of Annie's earlier comments registered in Luis' mind. "What did you mean about breaking Averman's heart?"
"What do you think I meant?" she replied tiredly, then pushed the door open and walked into the foyer, effectively cutting off further questions in this vein.
They found Averman alone, surrounded by their coats that he had obviously collected from the cinema while Annie and Luis were talking. "Aisha went. Once she realised the blunder she had made, she scarpered," he explained, glancing at Annie. "And for the record, it was embarrassment that made her vanish, not disgust."
"I'm going to get a bus back to school," Annie decided, picking up her coat.
"Ok, let's do that." Averman handed Luis his jacket, then put his own on.
"No, you two stay. I want to be by myself."
"Annie…" Luis began.
"No, seriously. There's chocolate in my dorm room, and Terri just bought a load of videos, I'm sure Beaches or Pretty Woman is in there somewhere. I'd rather be by myself. I'll see you guys later." She gave them each a quick kiss on the cheek. "Have fun."
They both watched her leave, then Averman turned to Luis. "So now what?"
Luis thought about the question, he thought about Averman's revelation, and Annie's words.
"Now I take you on a proper date."
Notes: I'm so sorry about the delay in updating. I've had a few problems that has made even working on edits just "too much hassle". I know I promised an update before Christmas – I also promised to finish Christmas Carol by then, but never delivered – I'm sorry. Thanks to my ex I've not had it in me to write cuteness, and I really didn't want to write about an abusive alcoholic. I've only got limited net access at the moment, but hopefully I'll be able to finish this story soon. Although I'm also in the process of moving house, so thank you for your patience. Hopefully the fluff should come easily to me now, because with the help of several old friends a one new one, I'm a fèicing happy bunny, pretty much 24-7. I will not abandon this fic.
Thanks to:
Carla: Still beta'ing hard for me, keeping me sane, putting up with my fangirlish tendencies and listening to me alternately babble happily about the cause of my happiness, and get in a raging strop about my stupid ex. Best friends, who could live without 'em?
lycanthrope: Thank you for not hating me for the lack of reply to your email. Two months is a long time. I'm sorry. Now you're a member of LJ, you have access to all the posts I made private, maybe they'll explain my absence? And I love Animal Farm, I'm actually reading that at the moment. It's one of my favourite books.
Kristine: I really hope you like this chapter, I've been building up to it since I first fell for the idea of Luis/Averman slash.
mrsbinx1013: Glad you're enjoying this, I have a thing against plants, they always die on me. This fic is payback.
Sphinx: Aren't I a tease? Chapter 12 and still no kiss. But definite feelings, I hope!
Quimbalicious: I still don't think they'll get the message! You rock my stoob, kiddo. STATION!
KShyne99: You're a Sims nerd too? Ooh, bonus. I've got a second computer that I use for the game only, I'm tragically addicted. I have dyed all of my favourite objects purple, that's how sad I am!
Melissa: They so need to kiss. Soon, very soon, I promise.
Meme: I would have killed Faith in the Sims game, much as I love her, it was the first death I caused on there, but I know Carla hates Buffy, so Buffy had to go instead.
Sloane Miette: Thanks for the feedback. Sorry it's taken so long to update.
Terra: Ok, so I didn't deliver on the mistletoe and kisses like I promised, I keep forgetting how little time I can pack into one chapter, and how many more chapters there are to come. I swear I'm getting there!
Elf Toshiba: Dude, you're gonna have to fight Luis and Averman for the brick now. Still no kissing, but we'll get there… eventually.
Beckers Loves Portman: How did your maths final go, after blowing off studying to read this fic? I'm very flattered you did that, by the way.
Pixie: I'm slowly getting to the end. Two or three chapters to go and that's it. There will be kissing, I promise!
Schiz: Glad you're enjoying. I hate the evil bookstore owner for making Les cry too. Death to evil people like that.
Tara: Sorry about the wait, but here's the chapter.