hey kids! chapter 22 for ya…I did more Jeff here, but it's short and amusing, I promise. then there's Goldberg, who was done wonderfully by Cimmy. let us know how it is! hit the review button!
special thanks to the reviewers!
disclaimer: see previous chapter.
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Chapter 22: Calm Before the Storm
By NYgolfish54 and Cimmy
Jeff's POV
I'm woken up by Lex tapping on my face.
"Get up," she says to me, throwing a pair of my boxer shorts at my head as I lift it from the floor. As I predicted, I couldn't get Matt give me his bed ('hey, you invited her to stay') so I ended up sleeping on the floor.
"Alright, alright, I'm up. How'd you get in here?" I ask her. She doesn't have a key card to our room.
"I used my skills as a thief from the city streets to pick the lock and sneak in unnoticed!" she says.
"Do you know the flaw in your brilliant plan?" I ask her.
"What's the flaw in my brilliant plan?"
"It's a key card lock. It can't be picked."
"Damn. Alright, you've caught me. I knocked, and Matt opened the door. Is that a more satisfactory explanation?"
"Yes…where is Matt, by the way?" I say, smiling at her.
"He went in the shower just after I walked in. Why aren't you in your bed?" she asks heading over.
Oh no. "Lex, don't get mad-" I start, but it's too late. She's yanked the cover off the bed, and is looking down at Cecilia, who is still asleep, curled up into a little ball.
For a second, Lex looks absolutely revolted. Then her expression changes to an unreadable one. "Why is she in your bed?" she asks me. "Jeff, you didn't-!"
"No of course I didn't. Fred didn't open the door last night, Charlie and Adam were out, and she had no place else to go. Lex, don't be mad. Matt didn't want her to stay, it's my fault-"
"Relax, Jeff, I'm not mad," she says, and she really looks it. This is one of those times she's so hard to read. "But you can explain to Fred. I'm not taking any part in it," she says, covering Cecilia up again, and even tucking her in.
"So why are you here?" I ask her.
"We have to go get Robbie from the airport. You promised you'd come."
"Oh right," I say, pulling off my pajama shirt and putting on a clean one. "But you said we didn't have to leave until 9:30."
"It is 9:30." I glance at the clock, and she's right. It's 9:30.
"Oh," I say. "Hey, Lex, turn around for a second."
She grants my request, and I quickly put on clean boxers and jeans. "Ok, you can turn around again." She turns back, and she's smirking at me.
"Why are you smirking, you little Irish maniac?" I ask.
"No reason," she says turning around again. Then I realize it. She turned around and was facing directly at a mirror, which reflected what was going on behind her. She saw everything, and I mean everything.
"Lex, you little…!" I swipe at her, but she's already on her way out the door.
"Meet you in the car!" she yells at me as she leaves.
I follow her out of the room, and I can see her sprinting around the corner. I laugh. I have to. I won't be mad at her, not for long. But she's lucky she's Lex. If she was anyone else, I'd be forced to kill her.
***
Goldberg's POV
What a difference one night of sleep does to some people. Charlie is very cheerful when he comes out from the elevator. He even says hello to Adam. Adam is also upbeat, but he hasn't really been all that depressed during this week.
Connie seems tired, but happy. She's still skipping around, trying to get Portman to brighten up. He, on the other hand, looks like he was just run over by a steamroller. I guess he got a little too much to drink last night.
I'm quite satisfied too, actually. Okay, I didn't hook up with anyone during this week, like others did. It must be because my name isn't compatible with anyone else's. I mean, how adorable doesn't 'Averman and Anna' sound? Or 'Jeff and Julie'? Although, 'Dwayne and Sammie' doesn't have the same ring to it. I'm probably over-thinking this whole thing, aren't I?
Dwayne told me that he was thinking about asking Sammie out, after I caught him sneaking around in the lobby, following her around last night. The stalking ended when she went in to her room to sleep, and Dwayne knocked over a plant. I just had to ask what he was doing, and he was nice enough to tell, after I forced him.
"I need food!" Ken whines, with a happy grin on his face. Just to think how bad things were at this time yesterday. Now everyone's really ecstatic about the upcoming show, and I definitely feel the same way.
"We're getting food!" Connie says with a perky voice. "Yay!"
"Could someone slip that girl a tranquilizer of some sort?" Portman mutters and gives Fulton a sad look. "My head hurts."
"Tough. Don't drink so much next time. Jeez, you're worse then Psycho," Fulton points out, and we all snicker. They are entertaining, our Bashes. I have to say that they are more entertaining now when they're out in the open, then they were before. At least that's what I think.
Portman continues to whine frequently until Julie hits him over the head with a paper. That results in him wrestling her down on the floor, trying to tickle her to death. She's laughing hysterically, trying to break free.
"You two, could you stop it?" Charlie begs, even though he's grinning. "This is how battles begin."
"Yeah, I guess we should know that," I snort, making the others look regretful. Oops, I didn't mean to bring down the atmosphere like this.
Charlie clears his throat and waves at us, while climbing up on a chair. "We need to have a chat. How about we try to behave good these next couple of days? You know, to not look like we're total assholes. Lex and Jeff really tried hard to get us here, and I think we should show a bit more appreciation."
"Hey, some of us haven't been spending the week fighting all day long!" Julie pipes up. "I've had a good time."
"Yes, we know!" we all turn to her and say.
She blushes, trying to fight off Portman from her left side. "I didn't mean it like that!" she mumbles and hides behind Fulton.
"So, how about it, Ducks?" Charlie asks us, the leader he is. "Could we try to be a tad nicer to our hosts? That means; no more fist-fights, and no more screaming."
We all object, since none of us were part of the fighting yesterday. Come to think of it, Fred and Cecilia aren't even here yet. "Are you trying to make us feel guilty for something they started? And also, Lex and Anthony weren't all that innocent either!" Guy says, shaking his head.
"I know that," Charlie replies. "But you have to admit that our fighting couple has been the main source to all of this. Next time we go somewhere, we have to keep them in separate cages."
"There won't be a next time," Russ laughs. "Our reputation has already preceded us. We're like one of those rock bands that no one wants to invite anywhere, because they all know that we'd probably trash everything in sight."
"Do we get a bus to ride around in then?" Guy wonders out loud, and we all give him a funny look. Connie puts an arm around him and gives him a hug.
"It's lucky you're cute," she points out, and we laugh at them.
"Are we all clear on this?" Charlie continues, rolling his eyes. "What was my point?"
He likes giving us pop quizzes, to see if we're really following his orders or slacking off. "To be nicer!" we all exclaim. Adam grabs Charlie's arm and yanks him down from the chair, to avoid more speeches like this.
I'm beginning to see Ken's logic in the whole 'I need food' outburst. My stomach craves for one of those yummy omelets they served yesterday. I could sell all my friend for just one bite of that omelet. Heck, I'd give them up for free.
Just as Charlie begins to admonish us again, the non-Ducks show up. All but Jeff and Lex shows up from around the corner, and they don't seem too angry with us for what happened yesterday. Cecilia is surprisingly enough also with them, walking two steps behind Matt, next to Anthony. So, she changed party, huh? I wonder if we can get her to stay there?
"Oh, look, it's the feisty one," Portman complains. "My head hurts again."
"Shut up," Fulton mumbles. "You really don't get to have an opinion in the matter."
Cecilia also seems to be a lot more cheerful this morning. Compared to yesterday, she's unbelievably happy. Although she's still limping, so I guess she's in pain today as well. Her bruises are still very noticeable, taking up half her face. I can just imagine how her arms and legs must look like, if her face is that messed up.
"We were wondering where you guys were," Charlie howls at the band, and then he looks at Cecilia. "Where have you been?"
"Nowhere," she shrugs. Then she jumps out of the way when Matt takes one step closer to Sammie. I bet Cecilia's intimidated by him because he's always giving her those angry stares.
"Well, enough chit-chat," Ken interrupts. "What about breakfast?"
"If that's alright with you," Charlie grins widely, driving Ken insane. Cecilia pushes her way up to Adam and falls headlong into his arms. She's done that hundred of times to him, and every time he's almost close to dropping her.
"I've told you to stop doing that," he rolls his eyes at her. She just grins back and throws her arms around his neck. Yes, she's definitely back from being depressed. She's a lot more of a hazard when she's jumping around like this.
"So, we're all here?" Connie asks. "Except for Jeff and Lex. Where are they?"
"They went to pick up Robbie, Lex's brother," Anna says, joining Averman by the couch. "They'll be back later."
"Jeff too?" Julie shrieks loudly. Then she blushes again, while we walk by her towards the restaurant, patting her shoulder. She's very amusing when she has a crush on someone.
"Fred's not here!" Connie exclaims when she looks around. "We have to wait for him, right?"
"Why?" Ken mutters. "He knows where the restaurant is at. And, his watch has one of those radar thingies. He can spot us from a mile away."
"It's actually a tracking device," Cecilia speaks up. "Not that you needed that sort of information, maybe..."
Ken stares at her for a second. Then he opens his mouth. "Food!" he exclaims in her face, and she nods, pointing towards the table.
"What about Fred?" Connie whimpers, stomping her foot. "Why aren't we waiting for him?"
"What's the big deal?" Charlie sighs. "It's not like he's lost all alone in the woods. He'll get her when he's done sleeping off his hang-over."
We all go over to the table we've been occupying ever since we got here. Everyone's trying hard being polite and nice to the band members, and I think we're kind of freaking them out a little.
I get up to stand in line to get me some breakfast. We all let Ken go first; otherwise he would've stabbed us just to get to the sausages. Connie bounces up next to me, smiles sweetly and cuts in line. She only gets away with things like that because she's beautiful.
"So, why aren't you keeping track of Fred?" Charlie asks Cecilia behind me. As tempting as it is to hear her explanation, I'd rather not. "Didn't you stay with him in your room tonight?"
"No, he sort of disappeared after he and Portman went to get hammered," Cecilia explains and grabs a plate. "I assumed he passed out, and that's why he didn't open the door for me. I tried to get you, but you weren't in your room."
"Eh..." Charlie murmurs and looks away. "So, where did you crash then?"
"In our room," Matt moans. "Her boyfriend rejected her so much this time that she had to come to me for comfort. That's how bad things were."
"Oh, shut up," Cecilia mutters and glares at him. "I didn't come to you, I went to Jeff. The nice one. The one I like."
"I thought Anthony was the one you liked," Matt answers, gazing up into the ceiling. Then he smirks. "Right?"
I can't tell if they're being serious or not, because I rarely know what goes on in that girls head. She seems annoyed, and Matt seems irritated. "Did you sleep in their room tonight?" Charlie asks impatiently.
"Yes, and it was awful," Matt answers in her place. "All she did was going on and on about her loving boyfriend..."
"No, I didn't!" Cecilia exclaims, then she throws an apple at him. "Shut up."
I exchange a look with Charlie, not knowing what to do really. Matt grabs her arm and she almost looses her balance, so he catches her before she falls. I notice that the Ducks standing in line look up to see that she's alright, preparing to take her side in case the whole bickering thing turns out to be something serious.
"Ow! That almost hurt!" Cecilia shrieks and Matt laughs. Okay, so it's not serious. I take a deep breath of relief, and I go back to my search for the omelet. Even though Portman's pretending like it didn't bother him at all, he clearly reacted to the incident too, showing how much we really look after each other, even when it comes to Psycho. Man, that nickname is really catching on...
We all sit down, finally, and eat our food. No one's angry or upset, except for Ken who only managed to get eight sausages this time, before he was told to leave the buffet alone. The band seems surprised that we know how to behave, and even though Matt continues to tease Cecilia, she doesn't get an outburst of any sort at all. And she doesn't even know about the whole 'be nicer' program Charlie is running.
"So, when does the show start?" Averman asks, trying to fight off Connie from stealing his food. Anna looks up to answer, but Sammie beats her to it.
"At 6:00 pm, although we're not on until 7:30. But the other bands are supposed to be quite good too."
"Not too good, I hope," Chris says from the other side of the table. He shoves at Anthony, who's still busy gazing at Cecilia. It's so obvious, why doesn't anyone say anything? Or is it just obvious to me?
"Yeah, sure," Anthony answers automatically and pretends like he's been listening the whole time.
Chris rolls his eyes, there's a lot of that going around today, and shrugs at Sammie. She just giggles. I smile to myself, finding the whole situation a bit bizarre. "So," I say. "When do we have to be there?"
"I don't know, about an hour before it actually starts?" Anna suggests. "I don't know how many people there will be, so it's best to be precautious."
Portman starts to cough violently, and Fulton moans. "I told you to take smaller bites!" he says, throwing his hands into the air. "You're like a small baby."
Portman glares at him for a second, then he grabs his glass of water, but chokes on that too. "I'm not a baby," he explains while gasping for air.
I see that Matt does some gesture at Cecilia, and she waves him off. Must be some sort of inside joke or reference…although, only Matt is laughing.
We finish up, Cecilia leaves to find Fred, and Charlie leaves to find some aspirin for Portman. I decide to go with Russ and Julie, but I don't know where they're headed really. We bump into Cecilia again, and she decides to tag along to this unknown location. I guess she got bored with looking for Fred.
Somehow I feel like this day is going to be a lot better then the other days. We're going to a show, we get to party and have fun all night, plus there hasn't been one fight all morning. This just calls for a celebration, right? Obviously that's what the others think too, because we all end up by the pool, drinking those cool drinks. Charlie just howls 'no alcohol' eight times before he gives in. I think that's a record.
"When are Lex and Jeff coming back? They should be here too!" Julie exclaims and tries to catch one of the ice cubes on the bottom of her glass.
"Congrats, this time you included Lex in your sentence as well," Adam smiles and ducks as the ice cube comes flying towards him.
"There you are!" Connie suddenly bellows, getting up from her chair so fast that she almost shoves Guy into the pool. Fred comes strolling over to us over the lawn. "I said to wait for you, but they refused... Ack!" Before she has time to finish that line, Guy yanks her down into the chair again.
"That's okay, I wasn't all that hungry anyway. What happened to the 'no alcohol' policy?" Fred wants to know, sitting down next to Cecilia. "Hey."
"Hey!" she smiles. "They have tequila."
"Oh, great," Fred grins back and takes her glass to pour it all out in the grass. "No alcohol."
"Spoil-sport," she pouts. He wraps his arms around her, and she seems content with that. It surprises me that neither of them mentions what happened last night. What I understand, Fred slept by himself, so shouldn't he question where Cecilia slept? But no way am I going to bring that subject up!
We end up sitting there for a while, without mentioning any fights or even pastry. We just talk, drink and hang out, just as the whole point of this trip was. But somehow I get the feeling that this is just the calm before the storm. It usually is when it comes to us Ducks.