hey folks. how's it going? here's chapter 21. right here I am giving A BIG SHOUT OUT to the reviewers, because I feel bad for being so lazy and not listing them all at the bottom like I should. so to all the reviewers: A BIG SHOUT OUT! THANK YOU!
this chapter ended up really, really long, so please visit the bathroom before you start reading. review when you're done.
Cheers,
Kristine and Cimmy
disclaimer: The Ducks, as well as Disney World and everything in it, belong to the World Disney Company. Fred and Cecilia belong to Cimmy. Lex, Jeff, Matt, Anthony, Sammie, Anna, and Chris belong to NYgoldfish54.
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Chapter 21: Between Town and Tomorrow
By NYgoldfish54 and Cimmy
Matt's POV
Between the bad service at the restaurant where we had 'lunch', (which we were eating at 3:00) and a freak traffic accident, and Sammie forgetting her guitar, and Jeff losing the keys, we were only an hour and a half late for our own dress rehearsal. That's right, we were supposed to be here at 5:00, and it is 6:30 now.
Nobody's here, which is sort of a relief. It means nobody knows it was us that wrecked the drum set a few days ago. We're the second to last band performing this week. The other concerts have been going on all week; we've just been too busy to watch them. The Ducks aren't here either. They had wanted to come, but Lex had said 'Absolutely not…don't even think about bugging me, Portman,' and that was the end of it. They were the ones that broke the drum set last time anyway.
Sammie plugs in her guitar and says, "Hey, our show is tomorrow night!"
"Glad you realized, Sammie. We've only been telling you for…what? Two months now?" Chris says, helping Anthony lift a keyboard on to its stand.
"So I'm a little slow. Sue me," she says, now joining me by my drum set and helping me set up the symbols.
"Maybe you have a learning disability?" Jeff suggests, fiddling with the strap on his bass.
"I doubt it," I cut it, "she's pretty good at learning things like when Boy Meets World comes on and the most annoying commercial jingles on TV."
"Oh give her a break, Matt, you're not perfect either," says Anna from where she was setting up a microphone.
"Me? Not perfect?" I joke.
"Not even close to perfect," says Anthony, still doing something near his keyboards.
"Let's just do this, guys, ok?" snaps Lex.
"Don't PMS all over us, Lex," Jeff says. Then, seeing the look on her face, "Anything the matter?" he asks.
"Nerves, sorry, didn't mean to bite," she says, somewhat distractedly. Jeff seems satisfied with that answer, but I'm not. I don't see how he is. He's supposed to be her best friend.
"Nerves my ass, Lex," I say, without stopping to think. "You don't get nervous. You're still upset about that Fred guy. Don't be Lex, he's a stupid loser, and you're too good for him. You were stupid for getting in between those two psychos, and stupid for falling for such a loser."
"That's nice Matt. Why don't you just smack me next time?" she says, anger in her voice.
"I'm sorry, but it's true," boy, I really don't know when to shut up. I'm not even sure I meant what I said. I just want her to feel better, but those obviously weren't the right words.
"He's not stupid, and he's not a loser, and I'm not too good for anyone. I'm not even upset about him, Matt McDougal, I'm just nervous, so you can just bite me!" she yells and storms away toward the girls' dressing room. Anna glares at me, and goes after her. The others just look at me. Sammie shakes her head, Chris rolls his eyes, and Anthony looks annoyed…but Jeff looks absolutely furious.
"Matt, you idiot," Jeff says to me. "What did you have to go and say that for? She's still upset about him but she obviously doesn't want to admit it, or talk about! Why can't you just leave well enough alone? Why can't you just leave her alone?"
Jeff's tone is soft and calm, but his words are angry. It would have been better if he'd yelled. "I just wanted her to feel better, like it wasn't her fault," I say honestly.
"She knows it's not her fault," Anthony says quietly. "We talked earlier, she's just a bit hurt, and that's all."
"Oh," I say. I should have known she was talking to Anthony. I saw her doing it before, but it just didn't register until now.
"And now you've gotten her upset again. Fantastic. Why couldn't you just do as I did, and take her word for what she says? I know she's not nervous, but you don't see me bothering her about it, do you? She's put in a lot of effort in this trip for those kids back at the hotel. She's paid a lot of money and pulled a lot of strings, and nobody's giving anything back to her except arguments and fights and physical attacks. Now you're trying to make her feel better by calling her stupid for being interested in a loser, someone she obviously liked? Way to go, Matt, way to go," Jeff spits at me.
I don't know what to say, so I don't say anything. But I know he's right. And it was sometime during that speech that I realized why Jeff is Lex's best friend. He knows her, and reads her, and is good at dealing with her. It's something I work for but will never achieve the way Jeff has. I love Lex just as much as Jeff does; I'm just not as good at taking care of her. I do the best I can, which is pretty good; I'm just not as good as Jeff. That's why Lex and Jeff are best friends. They reach each other in ways nobody else can.
He's also right about how hard Lex has worked on this trip, and how she's really not getting anything in return from those damn Ducks. I mean, I know they're all good people and crap, but I wish they would show it better. Especially Fred and Cecilia. What the hell was Cecilia thinking, attacking Lex like that? And I know it was Cecilia who attacked first. Fulton told me later, but I didn't need to be told. Lex wouldn't go after Cecilia first. She's just not like that. Fred shouldn't have led Lex on and should have been good to Cecilia. It's so cruel of him to have set them both up like that. Then he chose Cecilia, in front of absolutely fucking everyone, and is now acting as though Lex should go on her merry way.
And now I've made things worse by running my mouth. I have a very strong desire to hit something. Chris and I would have hit Fred earlier, but Anna and Sammie told us not to. Otherwise, we probably would have pounded him into a bloody pulp. You can't make one of our girls cry and get away with it.
Lex comes back with Anna a few minutes later. She looks calm and controlled again. "I'm sorry, Matt," she says smiling at me.
"Me too," I say. "Shouldn't have run my mouth like that, Lex, I'm sorry."
"Forget it," she says, and we're both grinning at each other.
"Let's do this thing," Anna says finally, breaking the silence.
And so we go begin at 7:05. By the time we run through all our songs, it's about 10:45, and we're all a bit tired.
At the end of our last song, we all sit in a circle and drink some coke that Sammie brought.
I'm feeling the need to apologize to Lex again. I feel bad for making her feel bad.
"Lex, I'm really sorry about before," I start, but she cuts me off.
"Forget it, Matt, it's not really important. You're right about me falling for Fred. That was stupid of me. But you're wrong about Fred and Cecilia. They're not stupid, they're not losers, I'm not too good for them, and they're not psychos…well, maybe a little, Cecilia, yeah…" she trails off and gives me a guilty smirk, and we all chuckle a little.
There's a moment of silence, then-
"So Fulton and Portman are gay," Sammie announces to us.
"They're with each other?" Anna asks. Sammie nods.
"So they weren't kidding about that. Interesting," Chris says, pouring himself more coke. "I couldn't tell if they were or not. It was a tense situation, a weird moment. I thought they might have been doing it for comic relief."
"Chris has a point. How do you know?" Anna asks Sammie.
"Fulton told me. By accident, but he still told me."
"I don't know why we didn't guess," Jeff looks at Lex. "We knew them for a year."
"I guess it's cause they don't look gay," she says. "All those gay guys you see on TV and in the movies walk around in tight pants and pink shirts and have lisps and use stupid hand gestures and skip all the time. Some wear makeup and women's clothing. I can't see Portman and Fulton like that at all. They seem perfectly straight, except, apparently they're attracted to men."
"Personally, I think it's cool. As long as they're happy and consent, I mean, what can you do? Portman's a bit of a jerk, but Fulton's cool. What do you think about it?" Anthony asks, looking at me.
"Oh come on, I'm cool with gay people. It's not exactly an uncommon lifestyle in New York City."
"What about that time you beat up that gay kid at school?" Sammie asks me.
"That wasn't because he was gay," I defend myself, "that was because he tried to take my wallet!"
"Oh yeah, riiiight," Sammie smirks and looks doubtful.
"I've said that a hundred times. There were witnesses who swore it to the principal. It's why I wasn't suspended," I try to explain to her.
"Ok, Matt, whatever you say," she says to me.
"Hey! Principal Snyder believed me! You're my friend, you're supposed to believe me! Ya know, maybe Jeff's right. Maybe you do have a learning disability," I say to her, frustrated.
She cracks up, "Would you relax, Matt? I know it was cause he tried to take your wallet. I just said it to make you mad!"
"Seems to have worked," Anna says, looking me up and down.
"Hilarious, Sammie, thanks," I tell her. "What about you Jeff? What's going on with you and that Julie chick?"
"What do you mean, 'what's going on'? We're friends."
"Jeff, you and Lex are friends. You don't kiss Lex the way you were kissing Julie at the beach!" Anna says.
"You kissed Julie different than me?" Lex pretends to look hurt. "Well you can just go to hell, Jeff Delricci! Die!" and she tackles him on to the floor. Good thing his coke glass was empty. We're all laughing, including Lex and Jeff, who are lying on the floor.
"Have you been taking lessons from Cecilia or something?" he says grinning at her. She smiles back.
"Yes. It's a course called 'This Is How You DON'T Deal With Your Problems.' Cee came up with it herself. Very effective," Lex says, winking, as they get up off the floor and back on to chairs.
"Anyway," Chris says, rolling his eyes, "Jeff, if you're not dating Julie, why are you making out with her?"
"I dunno. We're just not dating. At least not at this exact second in time. But I do like her," Jeff says, looking rather annoyed that Chris brought the subject up again.
"You like her? No kidding, Jeff? I thought you only hooked up with girls you found unattractive," says Sammie, rolling her eyes.
"Eat a deathly poisonous plant, would you, Blackburn?" Jeff says, glaring angrily at Sammie. He can glare all he wants. He doesn't mean a word.
"Or here's a better one," Lex says, "why don't you date Dwayne, Sammie?"
"Dwayne? Why?" Sammie looks completely bewildered. It's sort of how I'm feeling. Why would she date Dwayne? I'm seriously not still interested in her, but why Dwayne? Isn't that the bloke walking around in the cowboy hat?
"Cause he likes you," Chris says.
"He told you that?" Sammie asks skeptically.
"Well, yes," Chris says. "I told him about your past relationships with Matt and that other guy because he asked if you were single."
"And you told him everything? Even about the one with…?" We all know who she's talking about. She doesn't need to finish her sentence and we don't need her to start crying.
"Yes," Chris says.
"Thanks, why don't you tell him my weight, address, social security number, and blood type, too?" Sammie says, feigning sweetness.
"Sorry Sammie, I guess I shouldn't have said anything," Chris looks a little guilty. "So how about it? Would you go out with Dwayne on a date?"
"I dunno. He was a gentleman…not especially good looking, but a gentleman, and a nice guy…yeah, I guess I would if he asked. It couldn't hurt to try anyway," Sammie says, after thinking for a moment.
The silence that follows is then interrupted by Anthony singing, "Anna and Averman, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-"
"KNOCK IT OFF ANTHONY!" Anna yells.
"Ok," Anthony says, shrinking away from her.
"Averman, huh?" Lex says. "He's funny."
"Yeah, and he's sweet. And good looking," Anna adds, dreamily.
"Well, I wouldn't go that far, Eukovich, but if you like him, ok," says Lex, looking quite repulsed by the fact Anna had put 'Averman' and 'good looking' in the same sentence.
"Catch a deadly disease, O'Leary," Anna says, with the same phony sweet voice Sammie had a few minutes ago.
"Who on the team do you think is pretty, Chris?" I ask, changing the subject.
"I dunno. None of these girls are really for me. But if I had to pick one, Connie, I guess."
"The continuously bouncing bubble, Mitchell? I didn't know you had a thing for airheads," Anthony grins.
"Quiet, Nicholson, at least I wasn't into that nut Cecilia," Chris shoots back. That seems to be a sensitive subject, and Chris shuts up. It just occurred to me that we all call each other by our last names from time to time. I don't know why, we just do it. Usually when we're faking being mad, disgusted, or threatening.
"Connie's not usually this bouncy. I think it's only cause we're here. Incase nobody noticed, she practically peed with joy when we got to the Magic Kingdom," says Lex, steering the topic from Fred and Cecilia.
"What about you Matt? Who do you think is pretty?" Jeff asks.
"Honestly? I guess Connie too. I wouldn't date her, but she's pretty," I answer honestly.
"Outside Fred, who do you think is good looking?" Sammie asks Lex.
"Hmm…tough one," says Jeff, rolling his eyes.
"Well obviously Charlie. Other than that? Probably Adam or Portman. But Portman's gay, so he's out," Lex says, glaring at Jeff.
"That reminds me," Jeff says, looking pointedly at Lex, "Adam and I mentioned to Charlie your crush on him."
"When you say 'mentioned' do you mean mentioned like it came up and then it was gone? Or do you mean 'mentioned' like you had a whole conversation on it?"
"Umm…well, it wasn't a conversation, exactly-"
"Delricci, you suck. Banks is going to have to die. You do realize that, right?"
"Yeah, that's why he had me tell the tale. He knew you wouldn't kill me."
"I'm so predictable like that. Damn. Oh well. What did Charlie say?"
"He said 'oh' and asked how he missed it, since it was six months long. Adam explained to him that he was a raging nut job from September through April, and that's how he missed it."
"Oh."
"Then he looked mad at himself," Jeff finishes, and Lex laughs.
"Guess what we did today!" Sammie says suddenly and excitedly, pointing wildly at herself and Anna.
"What?" the rest of us ask.
"We hit Luis with brooms!" Anna grins. Everyone bursts out laughing.
"Fabulous girls. Fred and Luis? You sure know how to reel those guys in," I joke.
"What do you think of the Ducks as a whole group?" Lex asks once the laughter dies away.
"Well," Sammie starts, "They're good. I just wish they weren't so obnoxious all the time."
"Same," says Chris shrugging.
"I like them, I think they're cool. They're just…so difficult to handle," Anna says.
"They compliment each other. Some make up for what the others lack. For the most part, they seem like good people and could be good friends."
Everyone looks at me. "So it's my turn?" I say, smiling.
"Yes, it's your turn," says Jeff.
"They're alright. They seem like decent people when it comes down to it, but they've all got their flaws. Like us, really, when you think about it. But overall, they're not bad. You two chose your friends well," I say to Lex and Jeff.
There's a silence again. Chris glances at his watch.
"Hey guys, it's 11:30, we'd better get going," he says to us. Wow, that late already? Jeez.
When we get back to the hotel, we head inside. I see Lex glance sadly in the direction of the fight she had earlier…where Fred hurt her, and probably embarrassed her.
That urge to hit something is back. Oh well, I'll ignore it and go to sleep. Or maybe, just maybe, I'll go find Fred.
***
Julie's POV
We got back to the hotel some time around 5.30; Charlie suggested that we should all meet up in the restaurant for some food. Since Connie had decided to stay in town with Guy, I had to walk to my room all by myself. Connie is probably going to have a romantic and cozy time with her boyfriend, and I have to go down to the boring restaurant and listen to Charlie whine about how we're not behaving properly.
Jeff left to go and rehearse with his band. Yeah, the other band members went too, but I mostly care about Jeff. No, I only care about Jeff. I like him. The others are teasing me endlessly about how in love we are, but only Connie was nice enough to ask me how I really felt about him. And I like him a lot.
Since I managed to buy quite a lot in the clothing shop, I have to put my bags away before there's going to be any food. Luckily, I had to take Connie's bags as well, making it even more impossible for me to show up in time. Not only does she have a lovely boyfriend to spend her free time with, she also possesses her very own personal carrier.
"Jules? Are you on your way? Charlie's looking for you," Adam announces through the door. "Is Fred with you?"
"Why?" Why would he be in my room? Hasn't he done enough damage in all the other rooms already? "I'm coming!" I shout back. Adam laughs from the other side of the door.
I look in the mirror. I really don't feel like going to the restaurant and eat. I wonder when Jeff comes back. Maybe we could go someplace together and eat. Maybe I could call him? He gave my his cell phone number when we were at the beach, so maybe I could call him and ask when the rehearsal is over.
Someone's knocking on my door, and since I'm still changing clothes, I refuse to open the door. "Who is it?" I demand to know. Since Connie is off bouncing around with Guy (not that sort of bouncing), the other girls are at rehearsal, and Cecilia seldom comes to see me, it just has to be one of the guys, right?
"Could you just open the door?" Fulton's voice is easy to recognize, and he sounds sort of bummed out. Plus he's gay now, so I guess I could let him in.
I quickly get dressed and go over to unlock the door. "I'm on my way down," I say. "What's up?"
"I need to talk to you," he explains and pushes me back into the room, closing the door behind him. I thought we've had enough drama for one vacation, but maybe I'm wrong.
"Charlie is calling for me, and I have to go so he won't send out Adam to get me again," I mutter. Why does he always have to send people to do his dirty work? Just because he's the captain, he thinks that everyone should obey him. All the time.
"I'll talk fast," Fulton smiles briefly and sits down on my bed. My God, this is going to take lots of time, isn't it? "I just needed to ask you something. How do you feel about Jeff?"
"Why? Don't tell me you feel something for him too!" I moan. "I have had enough of triangle dramas for one week. Just take him, he's yours. I'm not going to fight with you over him."
"No, that's not why I'm asking!" Fulton protests with a huge grin on his face. "That'd be kinda cool, though... No, I was just wondering if you like him."
"I guess," I say causally, while giving my attention to one of Connie's socks. I don't want him to see that I'm blushing. "Why?"
"He seems like a nice guy," Fulton establishes, driving me insane with his hints. What's his point?! "Look, if this feels awkward..."
"What is awkward?" I interrupt. "I don't have a problem with this."
"I mean, with the whole... me and Portman-thing," he explains. "Are you okay with this?"
"Yeah, why shouldn't I be?" I ask, throwing the disgusting sock back into Connie's bag. "You two are my friends. Nothing can come between us, especially not weird love interests."
"Jeff's not that weird," Fulton points out. I sit down next to him and put my hand on his knee.
"I meant Portman," I tease, and he throws a pillow into my head. "Okay, I surrender!" You don't pick fights with someone twice your size, even if the weapon is an innocent pillow.
"Good," he grins and tousles my hair around. "Now I forgot what I came here for. It surely wasn't for the insults about my boyfriend."
I admit that it's weird to hear him talk about Portman this way, but I'm also relieved that they told us the truth. The funny stares make so much more sense now. I never would've expected it, but I don't have a problem with it. It's only love, and love can never be a bad thing, right?
Fulton is just about to beat me with the pillow some more, when one of my shopping bags begin to buzz. What sort of shirt did I buy this time?
"Your clothes are vibrating," Fulton laughs. "On their own. You've trained them well."
I quickly slap his arm, before I go over to turn one of the bags upside down. At first I think it's my own cell that's buzzing, so I panic, thinking it's Jeff who's calling, but it's not. My next thought is that I took the wrong bag at the store, and now I have someone else's phone to look after.
Fulton picks up the small little technical fellow from the floor. "Cool, is this yours? It looks expensive," he says, making a whistling sound. "It's your Dad."
"No, it's not," I reply.
"Yes, it is," Fulton tries to convince me. "It says so on the display. Look!"
"Yeah, okay, it says the word 'Dad' on the display, but it's still not MY Dad who is calling!" I exclaim. "Gimme that!"
He's right, though. It's a very expensive gadget I have in my hand. I thought my cell-phone was supposed to be all luxurious and cool, but this one even beats the one I have! And it cost me a lot of money! Fine, I got it from my parents, but it was still expensive!
"Well, answer!" Fulton tells me. "It's beginning to get annoying. Or, wait until they hang up, and then call someone in Kenya or something!"
The phone stops buzzing and beeping, but not for long. Suddenly it begins with the same procedure again, so I decide to answer, even though it's not my phone. Maybe it's a trick, and I've won some competition or something? Yeah, that must be it! I giggle at my own insanity. "Hello?"
"Who's this?"
The voice sounds awfully familiar. "It's me, Julie," I say.
"Oh. Why do you have my phone? Could you bring it down with you?"
"Uh, yeah, but..."
"Never mind, I'll come by and get it," the voice moans, and I realize who it is I'm talking to.
"Fred?"
"Yeah?"
"Why do I have your cell phone?" I ask, rolling my eyes at Fulton. He just laughs back. I now understand how someone could've afforded buying a cell phone of this caliber. Fred is a rich and spoiled upper class brat, whose parents run one of the largest world wide companies. That makes for lots of fun gadgets to possess.
"How the hell should I know? Did anyone call?"
This time I moan. "I'm not your answering machine," I mutter. "But yeah, I think your Dad called."
Silence reigns for several seconds. Then he just hangs up on me. How rude! "He hung up!" I howl at Fulton.
"What did he say?"
"That he's coming up," I sigh. "He didn't used to be this annoying, did he? I remember when he was just this shy defenseman that never caused anyone any trouble. What happened?"
"Hormones," Fulton explains and goes over to the door. "He'll get over it by the time he reaches college. Or by the time college ends. Then you can have you adorable buddy back."
I grimace. Sure, Fred's nice and sweet, but he's definitely not the adorable type. Puppies are adorable. Fred is annoying. "It's time to leave, Fulton."
"I knew you were going to say that," he snickers and ducks when I throw another pillow at him. "I think I'll get going now."
He opens the door to escape, but instead of him leaving, Fred comes tumbling in. He almost falls over Fulton, and Fulton moves, which causes Fred hit the floor pretty hard. Why does everything have to happen in my room? Leave, so I can call Jeff!
"My cell phone, please," Fred stretches his hand out towards me from the floor. I hand it over and he starts to push the buttons. "My Dad called?"
Fulton gives him a suspicious look. "Fred?" he asks. "Could you say 'bad bumble-bees bicker' really fast three times?"
"No," Fred responds quietly. "But I can say 'sex laxar i en laxask'."
"What does sex has to do with this?" I shake my head. "You can't stay here, go to your room." I grab his arm to help him get to his feet, and he's slowly able to crawl back up. I exchange a look with Fulton. Fred's obviously been drinking again.
"We're going down to eat," Fulton says. "I think you should go to your room and sleep. And stay away from the mini-bar!"
"Hey, I'm not the only one who's been drinking!" Fred snorts, like that's supposed to save him out of trouble. "Portman was the one who allured me. I'm weak when it comes to group-pressure." After this announcement, which clearly takes up his last strength, he passes out on the floor. Yippie.
Fulton just moans loudly and leaves, probably to go see where Portman is. I'm stuck with Fred. Although not for very long, when I'm finally able to dump him off in his room, I leave to go and get some food. I realize that the time just fly by during my conversation with Fulton. When I get to the restaurant, no one but Charlie is there.
"Hey," I greet. "What happened to dinner?"
He laughs. "That was two hours ago. Where did you disappear?"
I look at my watch. Damn, he's right. It's close to 9:00 pm, and dinner was at 6:30. "Where's Jeff?" I automatically say, even though I know he's not back yet.
"You know, I really don't keep track on anyone else but you guys. And barely even that," Charlie mutters. I sit down next to him. Now when Connie has decided to camp in nutty-land over the week, I guess I could jump in has her understudy as the team-therapist. I notice that Charlie has broken his own 'no alcohol' rule, and I'm almost happy about that. It makes Fred's mistake seem less serious.
"What's wrong, Charlie?"
"We're being ungrateful," he mumbles and takes a sip of his drink. I decide to join him, so I get my own glass. "We should know better then this, shouldn't we?"
"You mean with the fights and screaming?" I assume. "That's not your fault, Charlie. You know how things can go wrong sometimes."
"I should've known better," Charlie continues. "And I really should've stopped the fight between Lex and Cecilia before it even started. I'm going to force her to apologize tomorrow. That's the least I should do."
"Who? Lex?"
"No, Cecilia, of course! And while I'm at it, I'm going to force Guy to stop throwing angry glimpses at Fred."
"Fred's drunk," I announce.
"Ha!" Charlie snorts. "Who's not drunk?"
This is obviously not the time to bring up my Jeff-question again. I decide to try and lighten up Charlie's mood instead. I can hang out with Jeff tomorrow, all day long! Sort of.
It's a bit after midnight when I finally arrive back to my room. It's quiet in the hallway, no one's fighting. I take a deep breath of relief and open my door. Connie's back, and she's sleeping with her clothes on by the foot of the bed. I check my cell-phone. No calls. Damn Jeff, where are you?
I crawl into bed and think about what Charlie's been saying. We really should show our appreciation more. I mean, so far it's been a great week, at least for me.
I pick up the pillow from the floor, where Fulton threw it the last time, and then I slowly fall asleep.
***
Jeff's POV
There's a silent knock on the door, and at first I fear that it is Lex, checking if we're asleep, which we are not. I suppose it's the excitement of tomorrow that's keeping us up late at night. Chris and Anthony are also in our room, and hopefully it's not one of the girls outside the door.
I'm too tired to move, so I gesture for Matt to open. He refuses, and so does Chris. We all look at Anthony, and he shakes his head. "Open yourself!"
"You're a guest, you can't just come in here and expect it to be free," I mumble, really too tired to speak any louder. "It could be for you."
"I don't live here. It could be your parents."
"Just open," Chris sighs and throws some popcorn at Anthony. Instead of throwing back, Anthony gets up and walks over to the door.
Now I'm beginning to get nervous. What if it really is anyone of our parents, or any of the girls? I need to come up with a good explanation, and I need to come up with one now. Anthony unlocks the door and then he doesn't do anything at all for a few seconds.
I gaze over to the door to see who it is, and it really IS one of the girls. Just not anyone to worry about…I hope. It's Cecilia.
"Oh, you are here?" she mumbles, looking at Anthony.
"Yeah, sort of," Anthony answers.
"I was just looking for Jeff. Is he here?"
What did I do? I see that Matt instantly puts on his most stern face, and I decide to go and talk to my visitor before she's being verbally attacked by Lex's fan club.
"Yes, he is," Anthony says, holding the door up for her. "Jeff, it's for you."
I roll my eyes, trying to not point out how obvious that is. "What's wrong?" I ask instead, directing my question to the tiny girl at the threshold. I've never realized how small she really is, until right now. No wonder Lex almost killed her off earlier.
"I need somewhere to sleep tonight, and I can't find Charlie. Or Adam," she says, giving Matt and Chris a quick look. "I thought you were..."
"Alone? Umm, Chris and Anthony are just here to watch some TV," I explain. "Did you loose your key card?"
"No, not exactly," she mumbles quietly. "I can't get into my room because Fred's there and he refuses to open up. I think he's not feeling all that well, so I need somewhere else to sleep." I notice that her eyes are all puffy, probably from crying. Before we came here I'd never seen her cry, and now she just keeps crying constantly. I would feel sorry for her, but she pretty much brought it on herself.
Matt gets up from the floor. "Why do you think we'll help you? Why do you even expect Jeff to help, for that matter?"
Cecilia shrugs and looks at me. "I don't know. I didn't have anywhere else to go. I really couldn't go to the girls now, could I?"
"No, you better stay away from them as much as possible," Matt suggests with a bitter tone. "Why are you still miserable? You have Fred to run to now, so why do you keep bothering us?"
"I'm sorry," she whispers. "I didn't mean to do all those things, I know I was wrong. It just hurt so much to know that he wasn't interested in me anymore. I didn't mean to cause trouble."
"Well, you did," Matt snorts. "And I think you should go find your own friends instead. I bet they can help you out."
This is getting out of hand, so I decide to join the conversation. "Give her a break, Matt. She's here to talk to me, not you." Cecilia gives me a new look, filled with gratitude and shame. I know she didn't do all those things on purpose, but Lex is my best friend and I have to be brutal and take Lex's side exclusively.
"You're taking her side?" Matt exclaims, clearly not seeing things the way I see them. "She punched Lex; how could you be nice to her?"
"She's my friend too," I explain, making Matt even more frustrated. "I've known her for a lot longer then you guys have. Why can't you see my side of this?"
"You're putting her ahead of Lex? How could you do that?" Matt asks angrily. Cecilia takes one step back, and I can see that Matt is the type of guy that scares her. She's been avoiding him ever since this whole mess got started, and I assume it's just because she's afraid he'll attack her or something. Of course, he would never do that. She's a defenseless, small girl who doesn't stand a chance to someone like Matt. He'd never even consider such a thing.
"Calm down!" Chris says, getting up from the floor. "There's no need to wake up the whole hotel."
"You can't stay here," Matt tells Cecilia.
"What happened?" I ask her. "Did you fight again?"
"No. Fred's just not opening up, and I don't have a key," Cecilia explains. "Maybe he's passed out or something, he was drinking a lot after dinner."
"I suggest you go and try to talk to him," I say. "That's the only solution I have. Matt's right, you can't stay here."
She doesn't move from the spot, even though we've clearly shown her that she should leave. Finally I sigh. "Cecilia..."
"I'm so sorry, Jeff. You know I will never do anything like that again. It just went out of hand. And I totally understand if you hate me right now, because everyone else seems to do that. I even understand if you want nothing to do with me anymore, once we get back home. I'm just so incredibly sorry." She gasps for air, and I start to feel bad for her.
"You're still my friend," I assure her, despite of the dirty looks Matt's throwing me. "You can stay here for a while, but not for long. Just until Charlie gets back."
Cecilia nods, and I move out of her way. "Just take your place anywhere. You want something to drink?" I ask. She climbs up on my bed and looks down on the popcorn and sodas we've placed on the floor. "You like tequila, right?"
"Yeah, but I'm not allowed to drink that," she explains. "Fred told me not to, and I'm staying sober until we get back home."
"Oh Lord," I smile. "How are you going to be able to pull that off?"
I take Matt's glass away from him and hand it to Cecilia. Matt seems to have a number of objections to share, but I cut him off by giving him a pointed look. "You can drink a little, a little is never bad," I tell Cecilia and she takes a sip. "Just as long as it doesn't get out of hand."
"I know what you mean," she mutters. Then she hands back the glass to me. "But I think I'll try to behave during these upcoming days. To prove to you people that I'm neither a raging alcoholic nor a violent psycho."
"Too late," Matt snorts. "I'm sorry, but I can't forgive you that easy. You're really not my favorite person right now."
"I know. But I'm really sorry. I'll probably spend the next three years in high-school, making up for what I did today. I'll carry Lex's books to every one of her classes. I'll even polish her shoes everyday before school."
"That's not really necessary," I grin. "But if you want to, you could carry my books. I have a bad shoulder."
"No, you don't!" she exclaims and smiles back. Now she's beginning to resemble that crazy girl I always have tons of fun with during the lessons we have together. As long as I don't picture her shoving Lex into the counter, I'll probably do fine forgiving her. Who else am I going to torture when we dissect a frog next semester?
Matt seems to warm up a bit, while I'm trying my best to show off some of her good sides. She does have a few, even if it might seem impossible right now. Anthony is staring at her, and it somewhat amuses me. Matt told me that Cecilia had been talking to him earlier today, and I think she made a huge impact on him. Just as long as he doesn't screw up tomorrow's show.
"Do you also think she deserves a second chance?" Matt suddenly asks Chris. He looks doubtful, but shrugs. "And why aren't you saying anything? Don't you have an opinion in the subject?" The last part was directed to Anthony, who's now squirming and looking uncomfortable.
"Anthony?"
"Well, I don't know," Anthony sighs. "She seems like a nice girl and all. And everyone needs a second chance, right?"
Cecilia's face lights up into a wide smile, and I'm trying hard not to laugh. Why can't she just realize that Anthony is making her feel so much better then Fred is? I'm only saying this because Anthony's a much closer friend to me then Fred, of course. But I won't say anything at all, because it's none of my business. Although, if Cecilia decides to be with Anthony, Fred would probably crawl back to Lex, and that would make Lex happy. So everyone wins that way.
"Oh, whatever," Matt mutters. "Ever heard of loyalty?"
Cecilia shifts her position and lies down on her stomach. Then she shoves at Matt a little. She must be affected by the alcohol a bit; otherwise she never would've dared to do that... "How can I make it up to you?"
"What? Well, try with going back in time and not hitting Lex," Matt growls. "Why did you have to come to our room anyway?"
"Jeff is the only one of you I really know," she points out.
"And, you were also trying to avoid Anthony," Matt snorts. "Like you have been doing all day, since your talking session earlier…which, by the way, is the only reason to why he's forgiving you so quickly. Can't you make up your mind and decide if you want to be with Fred or not?"
Anthony seems to share the opinion about her making up her mind, but he's keeping his mouth shut. Cecilia shrugs. "What do you care?"
"I don't. I just think you have a real jerk as a boyfriend," Matt says. "And you have the bruises to prove it with. That must really be sore by now, right?"
Cecilia grabs another drink and swipes it. She tries to turn her head away from us to avoid letting us see how black and blue she really is, even though it's pretty obvious anyway. "Yeah, well, it's my choice to be with him, and he's not usually like this," she answers, looking like she's in pain again, which she probably is. Lex's punches will probably hurt long after we're back home again.
"I just can't stand him," Matt growls, also downing another drink. I think it's time to interfere with their bickering.
"Oh, yeah? At least you haven't slept with him!" Cecilia shouts back.
Matt just rolls his eyes, and is about to bitch back when I speak up. "That's enough, you two. Matt, you have to be the reasonable one. She's just a baby."
"I'm not a baby," Cecilia pipes up and starts to climb off the bed. I laugh and grab her shirt to get her to stay.
"You are the youngest," I point out. "Get back here, and stop fighting. You don't have to leave."
"Don't deceive her like that," Matt snorts, and Cecilia tries to slide off the bed again. I hold her back, and she sighs. Then she reaches for more of the tequila. I knew that would get her to stay, she always drinks that whenever we go out somewhere.
I'm considering going over to knock on the door to her room, to see if Fred is there. Although, if it is like she says, and he's passed out on the bed, he probably won't care. Maybe I could go down to the lobby and ask someone to open the door for Cecilia, but I don't have the strength. I guess she could stay for a while longer, until Charlie comes back. Then she could sleep in their room.
Cecilia rolls over on her back and crawls into one of the blankets. The rest of us keep talking, even though we should go to bed. We have a big show tomorrow, and I just know that the girls won't like it if we fall asleep during the performance. Girls often have a problem with things like that.
"Maybe we should head back to our room," Chris says to Anthony. "If you're done drooling over the girl, of course."
"Shut up. She has a boyfriend."
"Yeah, we're all pretty much aware of that by now," Matt mutters. "Is she sleeping?"
Oh, no. What do I do with a sleeping, violent, tiny chick? The only thing I can do, I guess. I let her sleep in my bed, while forcing Matt to give me his bed. This plan obviously won't work because he's refusing a lot, so I'll probably end up sleeping on the floor…unless Anthony's willing to trade with me, of course. I bet he wouldn't have much against having to sleep next to Cecilia.