Disclaimer: The song used in this chapter belongs to the Disney Channel, I think.
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Chapter 7
Ren watched as the teacher walked down the row of chairs with an almost sinister look on the woman's face. It wasn't anything unusual, the teacher always seemed sinister right before handing out their tests. The woman's little speech about how they should all study more, how no one really understood the subject, how this class was just a disappointment had been going on for almost five minutes now. They always came before the handing out of graded tests at the end of the class period and Ren just ignored it. She had other things to worry about.
Faith had told her this morning that without a decent grade on this test she wasn't allowed to go to the party. And the party was Ren's only chance to tell the girl how she felt, the only time she'd be brave enough to make any kind of move. She really wished she'd helped Faith with Chemistry that day instead of brooding about Buffy insulting her. Seeing the girl turn around and weakly smile at her she gave a reassuring smile back and watched as the teacher finally picked up the stack of tests.
To say that her stomach wasn't doing somersaults would've been lying. She wasn't even too worried about her own test, she understood all the material and even if she were to fail, which was highly unlikely, she'd still get an A in the class. No concerns on her part, but she wasn't watching out for herself. Her eyes were watching Faith, watching the teacher pass the girl by at least a dozen times, her stomach doing a 360 every time that happened. Eventually a test landed on her own desk, along with the teacher mumbling "Great, like always", but she really didn't care too much. A quick glance down confirmed her suspicions, an A and again, nothing to worry about.
But then the teacher stopped at Faith's desk, handing her a test, but it was getting too loud in the classroom for Ren to hear what the teacher was saying. And as the woman walked away, the brunette girl's back was facing her. Suddenly the bell rang, almost making her jerk in surprise, and students jumped up right and left. Ren watched as Faith stood up, then turned around with an unreadable expression on her face and took a step towards her. Within a few seconds a wide grin spread across the taller girl's face and she laughed.
"I got an A! Someone really messed up and I ain't gonna tell no one they did!"
Ren's eyes widened and she immediately wrapped her arms around her friend, knowing that now she'd finally get her chance. As she let go, Faith was waving her test in the air, still grinning like a complete idiot and Ren couldn't help but laugh. Now she just had to find it in her to plain out tell Faith that she liked her…and hope to have Faith like her back.
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The place was swarming with bodies, teenagers standing around sipping drinks, some making very awkward attempts at flirting, others trying to show off. She'd barely stepped into the large house when she received a pat on the back from a friend, who vanished as quickly as he'd appeared, leaving her no chance to ask where the band was at. Figuring that it couldn't hurt to just walk around and take a look into every room, the girl pushed past the group of kids standing in the entrance hall and walked into the nearest room.
She realized she'd entered the kitchen as heaps of snack food and drinks came before her eyes, along with the couple of kids that couldn't stay away from the food and seemed to permanently have set up camp there. Weaving around the kids and counters she made her way into another hallway, stuffed with teenagers making out that hadn't made it to one of the bedrooms in time or something. Groaning, the brunette left the hallway and finally found herself in a large room that was probably the living area.
Faith dodged two guys running towards the hallway and looked around carefully. Most of the kids seemed to be in here, which could only mean that this was where any kinds of music would be. She walked around the back that wasn't as crowded and spotted a semi-stage at the front of the room. On that stage she could make out Louis, fiddling with some computer equipment stuff, and the two boys and girl she'd seen him hang around with at school standing around him with. Then to the back of the stage there were two other guys, one sitting at his drums looking like he was about to fall asleep and another with a bass strapped to him, not seeming to happy either. Not that Faith really cared for them at all, she was still searching for Ren.
And then she finally did see her, sitting on one of the speakers off to the side, holding a microphone in one hand and brushing some hair out of her face with the other. Faith took a step forward, her view of the girl blocked by some basketball player's head, and she stepped around the guy to be able to see. But as soon as she did, the brunette regretted the move. From her newly acquired position in the room she could not only see Ren, smiling brightly and laughing at something, but also the cute boy standing next to the stage talking to her. Faith recognized him instantly, Bobby Deaver, the guy almost every girl in her grade was fawning over; not to mention that Louis had told her Ren had practically been in love with the guy since the 8th grade. Bobby had his left hand strategically placed on the speaker Ren was sitting on, leaning his body against it and looked up at the brunette with brown puppy dog eyes. He was saying something completely brainless probably, but the brunette girl laughed and touched his arm slightly with her free hand.
Faith didn't even move a muscle; how could she, she was practically frozen into place. All day, no even yesterday after leaving school, had she been waiting to go to this stupid party and not because it was a party, but because she'd be able to see Ren. Apparently the other girl had found someone else to hang around with, though and Faith couldn't help but feel slightly hurt. And slightly was probably an understatement. She knew that the look on her fallen face was probably easier to read than a 1st grader's English book, but Faith didn't care.
Realizing that standing around looking like someone had stolen her favorite toy wasn't an option, Faith decided to leave. She wasn't going to stay around and watch Ren flirt with some cute guy, who would never like her for who she really was. Scoffing at her own stupidity for even coming, the girl turned around and walked away from the crowd.
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Ren smiled again for what seemed like the hundredth time and suppressed a groan. Bobby Deaver was flirting with her and she couldn't get herself to care. Just a year ago she probably would've sold her soul to Louis to get just five minutes of this, but now…it just wasn't the same. But she wasn't someone to be rude and so left herself no choice but to go along with this little charade, at least until Louis could get the stupid computer to work and they'd finally get to start playing. She snapped out of her thoughts as Bobby laughed, probably having made another bad joke, and laughed fakely, then touched his arm lightly with her empty hand just like in the movies.
But the boy kept going and Ren let her eyes graze the rows of kids standing in the room talking to each other. Maybe Bobby would get the hint somehow and decide to leave, it wasn't like he couldn't find some other girl to flirt with. The boy was asking her a question and she was just about to redirect her attention to him at least momentarily, when her eyes caught onto something. Ren's heart leaped just a little as she spotted Faith, but it sunk even faster when she saw the look on the older girl's face. The brunette's face was fallen, her expression showing nothing but hurt, defeat and sadness. And before Ren had a chance to question either herself or possibly the girl why she was wearing that expression, Faith turned around and was slowly advancing towards the exit.
Ren panicked, this couldn't be happening. She'd gotten Faith to come here, gotten herself to want to tell the girl how she felt…and now Faith was about to walk out of the room. Knowing there wasn't anything else she could possibly do, Ren stood up abruptly, clutching the microphone in her hand tightly. She saw Bobby giving her a questioning look, but she couldn't've care less and took a step towards the middle of the stage. Throwing a quick glance at the others on the stage, she raised the microphone to her face and closed her eyes before she started singing.
"Stop…Don't Go,
There's something you got to know…"
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"Stop…Don't Go,
There's something you got to know…"
Faith stopped dead in her tracks upon hearing Ren's voice, amplified by the speakers and she slowly turned around. The brunette girl was standing in the middle of the stage, microphone clutched tightly in her hands and opened her eyes slowly. The other kids on the stage were looking at each other in confusion, but quickly scrambled for their instruments.
"Can't you see,
the hold you have on me…"
Looking at the girl on the stage, Faith held her breath as they locked eyes and Ren smiled softly, but nervously at her. Meanwhile the other band members had gotten a hold of their instruments and started playing along with the next verse.
"That look, your smile,
oh it drives me wild,
and I don't know how to escape it…"
Faith walked further inside the room, her eyes never leaving the other girl's and her senses not even acknowledging the other people around her. She was too busy listening and watching to notice anything else, really.
"When you walk into the room,
my heart's beating wild and crazy,
I can't speak when I look at you,
My tongue gets tied and my mind is hazy…"
A gentle smiled played around her lips as she stopped, not wanting to get too close to have everyone notice her staring like a brainwashed zombie from 'Night of The Living Dead'. And she didn't want to risk bumping into anyone, since Faith didn't have the willpower to look anywhere but those two brown eyes. Not that she really wanted to look anywhere else at the moment.
"My heart's beating wild and crazy,
I can't speak when I look at you,
My tongue gets tied and my mind is hazy."
Faith could only blink in amazement as the song ended and watch as Ren handed her mike to the other girl on the stage. The younger brunette stepped off the stage and walked over to her, their eyes never breaking contact.
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She was nervous, way beyond nervous actually. This was the part where she had planned on telling Faith how she felt, and it was nowhere near easy. Ren wiped her hands on the back of her pants, hoping that she wasn't exuding nervousness like a Junior High student about to be kissed for the first time. Smiling, she stepped up to Faith, their eyes hadn't broken contact since she'd first started singing and that at least gave her some hope. If Faith hadn't cared she would've probably walked away, no matter what Ren had done.
The shorter girl stopped in front of the brunette and searched for the right words to open the conversation with. Faith was practically staring at her in amazement and it made her even more nervous. Silence surrounded them for what seemed like minutes, but was really only a few seconds. Although they could hear the band playing in the background and the teens on the dance-floor talking or whatever they did to make noise, the two girls didn't actually acknowledge it. Faith was the first one to speak.
"Wow…that was…amazing," she breathed, still finding it hard to believe how great the other girl had sounded.
Ren looked down at her feet, finally breaking the eye contact, and pushed her hands into the back-pockets of her tight pants. She nodded gently and smiled as she looked back up, deciding that it was now or never.
"Can we uh…go outside?" she mumbled, feeling her voice almost give out, but she managed to get the sentence out nevertheless.
"Yeah, sure," Faith answered softly and they walked out of the room side by side.
As soon as they stepped out the door onto the front yard, the cold evening air surrounding them, Ren felt her heart speed up and her stomach protesting violently. Faith led them across the immaculate lawn out into the dark street. Either there were no streetlights or they weren't working, but the only dim illumination came from the big houses lining the street and that actually made Ren relax for some reason. They stepped onto the sidewalk and Faith sat down on the curb, patting the spot beside her until Ren joined her and they sat in silence again for a few seconds.
Cars were parked all along the sidewalk, most of them probably kids attending the party, and they could hear a faint whisper of the music from inside out where they were sitting. But it was quiet besides that, most kids were either inside the house or in the backyard swimming pool and no one was very likely to bother them out here. Ren was looking down at her feet, trying to gather the courage to finally say what was on her mind. Sneaking a quick glance up at the other brunette she decided to just go ahead and say it.
"Well…I…I'm glad you didn't leave," she started quietly, looking back up at Faith and down at her feet again, knowing that the other girl was watching her now, "I…wanted you…to hear the whole song…" Closing her eyes Ren wondered why this was so hard. She'd gotten out at least half of what she meant to say, how much harder could it get?
"…because…cause it's how…how I feel about…you." Her voice started cracking at the end of the sentence and Ren took a deep breath, before looking up and meeting Faith's eyes with every last ounce of courage in her body, "I…really like you, Faith."
She'd finally said it, let Faith know how she felt and couldn't help but hope that the other girl would tell her she felt the same way. She was almost expecting it, but the silence was like a tight band squeezing her heart and taking her breath away. Faith was still looking at her, but her expression was unreadable and after what seemed like hours of staring at each other, Ren just couldn't keep looking at the girl. She lowered her head, squeezing her eyes shut to stop the tears from falling and held her breath. If she started crying now in front of Faith the situation would be even worse. What had she expected, she knew about Buffy and Faith and that Faith probably still loved the blonde. Ren couldn't believe she'd gotten her hopes up like this, had set herself up like that. Faith was probably trying not to laugh right now and thinking of a way to turn her down more or less nicely. This just wasn't fair, she didn't want it to hurt like this and…
Before Ren had a chance to fall deeper into the confines of her mind, she felt warm fingers touch her skin, lifting her chin up gently and she was forced to look into Faith's eyes once again. What she saw in the other girl's eyes now surprised her, but she had no chance to assess what was going on. The fingers cupping her cheek moved along her face and behind her neck and Ren didn't even register what was going on until she felt two soft lips tenderly brush against hers. And when the realization finally sunk in that Faith was really kissing her, Ren leaned into the touch, responding to the kiss and she knew that she was in heaven.
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"…I still can't believe she did that, I mean that must've been totally embarrassing."
They were walking down the dark street, her discussing some very embarrassing scene of a friend of hers the other day at school, him watching her with a smile on his lips. It hadn't taken very long to convince her go to this party and he was glad to have at least one friend that wasn't a brainless idiot.
Buffy glanced over at the dark-haired boy and smiled softly. She was definitely glad he'd asked to come to this party, there was nothing worse than having nothing to do on a Saturday night. But of course being the people they were, popular and recognized, they had to make a fashionably late entrance, not that anything was really wrong with that. Except for the fact that there'd been almost no parking space; they'd finally found a free spot a few feet down the road and earned themselves a few minute walk towards the house in return for their late entrance.
"So, did you hear from Josh yet? He said he wanted to talk to you about next…"
Donnie looked at her as she stopped in the middle of her sentence, wondering why she wasn't continuing and then saw her face. The blonde girl had not only stopped speaking, but also stopped dead in her tracks, her head turned towards the sidewalk, eyes opened wide and mouth just about hanging open. He followed her gaze and couldn't help but widen his eyes as well. In the middle of the sidewalk, barely illuminated by the lights from the house, were his sister and that girl that lived with Buffy…kissing. Before he had a chance to croak out anything, Buffy did it for him.
"Faith."
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"Faith."
The brunette girl jerked her head away upon hearing her name and stared confused into the now angry face of her ex-girlfriend. She could feel Ren next to her, moving away just a few inches and Faith had no doubt it was because of the look on the blonde's face. Buffy slowly walked over to them, almost as if trying to make them nervous by having them wonder what was awaiting them.
"I can't believe you would go this far!" Buffy's voice finally catapulted her out of her thoughts, thoughts about how she could possibly diffuse this situation with the least amount of damage dealt.
"Huh?" Faith looked up at the blonde, not exactly knowing what the girl was talking about, then glanced behind her ex-girlfriend to see Donnie standing a little farther off, looking very much dumbfounded.
"That you would go this far just to get revenge on me! What the hell is wrong with you…I said I was fucking sorry! Do you have to go and kiss someone else just to get back at me Faith?!"
The yelling finally snapped her out of it and the brunette narrowed her eyes, trying to find a way to negate the statement without sounding like a complete idiot. After all what Buffy was saying wasn't totally true, but if she just denied everything, well Bill Clinton had tried that too and see where it'd gotten him.
"You know that's not true," she finally responded, congratulating herself for the worst answer she could've probably given.
"Yeah? Tell me you didn't want to get revenge on me Faith. Look at me and tell me that!"
Closing her eyes, the brunette looked away. What was the point in denying it? Of course she'd thought about it, getting back, payback's a bitch and all. But she wasn't really that person anymore, years ago she would've slept with the first available person just to get revenge, but now…Faith had known she could never do it and opted to just not even think about it anymore. But she still had wanted to get revenge at some point in time.
"Faith…what…what's this all about?" Ren asked softly, her voice holding only confusion and hurt and Faith suppressed a groan. This situation was just perfect, it probably couldn't get any worse than this.
"Yeah Faith…what's this all about?" Buffy interjected, her voice nowhere near soft or hurt. The blonde was angry, probably way beyond pissed, judging by the way she was glaring at the two brunettes.
"I…I…uh…," Faith tried, knowing there wasn't actually any coherent sentence formed in her mind, but Buffy interrupted her before she could continue making a fool out of herself.
"God, I just can't believe you'd try to get back at me like this…with HER nonetheless. You told me we were getting back together Faith," the blonde yelled, her voice getting softer at the end of the sentence as if she expected the brunette to finally have an answer.
But before Faith could say anything to save herself, she felt Ren move beside her and turned her head towards the other girl. The younger brunette had tears in her eyes and stood up slowly, her gaze locked with Faith's. Ren crossed her arms, closed her eyes tightly, tears spilling down her cheeks and walked away from the blonde and brunette girl. Faith shot up, taking a few steps to catch up with the girl and grabbed her arm gently to stop her from leaving.
"Ren…," she spoke so softly she herself had trouble hearing it, but the shorter girl yanked her arm away and walked up to her brother, ignoring Faith completely.
"Donnie…can you take me home? Please?"
The boy nodded, staring at Faith with an expression that was probably meant to threaten her but didn't phase her at all, then ushered his sister away. Faith swallowed the lump in her throat, forcing the tears back down, because this just wasn't the time to cry. She moved to follow the brunette girl, but Buffy's almost triumphant voice stopped her and she turned to face the blonde.
"Maybe next time you should think about the repercussions before trying to get back at me, Faith."
Faith stared at Buffy, at the glint in the blonde's eyes, and decided that there was only one thing to do and one thing only. Narrowing her eyes she glared back at the older girl.
"Not everything is about you, Buffy," she spat, then turned around and followed the direction Ren had vanished to, ignoring the surprised look on the blonde's face.
To be continued...