Disclaimer: I own nothing. Enjoy guys!
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That Endless Summer
Chapter Twelve: Night of Memories.
"Come on baby we ain't gunna live forever
Let me show you all the things I wanna do
I know you wanna be together
And I wanna spent the night with you"
-Forever, The Veronicas.
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"Trust me," I said to Ric "What we need is for the girls to have a good, drunken night out. Then, as we carry them into the bedroom and put them gently to bed, they'll remember how much we love them and just how much they shouldn't feel threatened by two girls we just met." I finished, sitting back against the lounge.
The pain, the hurt, that had appeared on Maddie's face hours before was still fresh in my mind. Parker and Lily, they'd started a war and Ric and I couldn't help but retaliate. Before we knew it, paint balls were flying everywhere.
Suddenly, Maddie and Cassie were there, with darkened clothes and dirt smudged on their cheeks. And Maddie held up our white flag and said coldly, distantly "We win. Lets go." Cassie had gently taken her hand and led her down the pathway to the exit. They hadn't even spared a glare for Ric and I. It had been as if they'd shut down.
They'd stared out of their chosen windows while we'd driven back to the hotel. The look in their eyes reflecting the far off world they'd both run away to. When we'd returned to the room, Maddie had walked silently into the lounge room, grabbed the season three box set of the Gilmore Girl, and followed Cassie into she and Ric's room, shutting the door quietly behind her.
And that's where they'd been ever since.
"They took season three." Ric mulled from next to me. "Season three is the Jess season. And they really only watch that alone when…" He trailed off, not wanting to speak to words aloud.
"When they are seriously in a funk. Or in a mood. Or pissed as hell at us." I finished, as I groaned and put my head in my hands.
Everything was so messed up. Again. And it had never been this bad. I'd never not known how to right our wrongs… how to fix things. We'd all been so happy in school, so lost in our own naïve world, but since the summer had begun, since school ended, everything has begun to unravel, slowly, before our very eyes. Again.
And finally, we were left here. With the girls locked in a room, sobbing as Jess left Rory, the love of his life; and Ric and I alone on a couch, not knowing what to do.
Then, as if my prayers were answered, I heard the click of a lock, and a door slowly creak open. Ric and I both swivelled around to see Maddie and Cassie emerge from the room. Both looked dishevelled and teary eyed as they timidly walked over to Ric and I. Maddie came to stand in front of me, her bottom lip quivering, as she threw herself down on me and quite possibly tried to sink into my lap. Her head was buried into my chest as she cried, "Jess left her Luke. Even after he looked it up, he left. It wasn't fair. Because then she up and slept with Dean and ruined everything…" And the tears were pouring down her cheeks onto my shirt, she was crying so hard she couldn't say any more.
So I did what any super supportive boyfriend of a TV show couple obsessed girlfriend should (and would) do in this situation, I pulled her close and rubbed her back gently, until all that was left was a quiet sniffle here and there. She looked so small and vulnerable sitting in my arms, leaning into my chest. All I really wanted to do was protect her from the evils of the world. But, deep down, I knew she would hate me forever if I didn't let her make her own mistakes… let her live her own life.
"You alright?" I murmured into Maddie's ear, as she nodded sleepily against my chest.
"We're good, right Luke?" She said gently, snuggling into my chest. "I want us to be good."
And that's was all I really needed to hear. I looked down the see her sleeping form curled tight in my arms, and I realised that despite everything, we still had faith in one another. That was the most important thing.
I heard a noise, and looked up to see Ric sitting on the lounge, Cassie's head in his lap, as he stroked her hair, lulling her into sleep. He looked up and met my eyes, and smiled at me. Everything was okay for him too. I sighed, before cradling Maddie into my arms as I stood up, and walking into our bedroom.
Tomorrow was another day. A day that would involve a lot of making up, just to be sure that everything was okay with us.
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"You know how much we love you for this, right?" Cassie said to me as she took my hand and pulled me into the next shop.
"Yeah, yeah." I muttered as I adjusted the many bags I was carrying with my free hand. Funnily enough, it was also the majority of Cassie's shopping purchases. The things we do for these girls.
Luke and I had decided that, despite everything that had happened last night, we still needed to make it up to Maddie and Cassie. So shopping it was, which included a day full of lugging around bags, endless change room antics and Luke and I constantly pulling out our wallets to spoil our girlfriends.
But they were worth it. She was worth it.
"Ohhhh" I heard Cassie gush loudly, as Maddie squealed, "It's perfect."
They were never a good combination of words. Not in a clothing shop. Not for us – the ones who would eventually hand over the money.
Luke strolled over to me and rolled his eyes. "Looks like they've found something else" He said rather gravely, as I nodded sympathetically at him. "And in five, four, three…" He counted "two… one…" He said, as Maddie yelled "LUKE"
"Is it wrong that we know this much about them?" He asked me as we manoeuvred our way to the change room and mirrors.
"Only when it comes to shopping" I replied, as we found Cassie and Maddie admiring themselves in front of a large mirror.
Okay, so maybe shopping was a rather good idea, I thought as I caught Luke's eye and smirked at him. Maddie and Cassie had found their ultimate outfits. I honestly didn't normally check Maddie out, because its just… wrong. But I can appreciate a natural beauty when I saw one. And she and Cassie, they were natural beauties. And then they went and found… those clothes.
Maddie had found a lace black corset top, which did up on the front. It hugged her in all the right places, showing off her defined figure. The tiny black hot pants she'd pulled from the rack allowed her long, slim legs freedom. Any guy within a five kilometre radius would be a fool not to fall at her feet.
Cassie had chosen a short red dress. The top was cut like Maddie's corset top, and hugged her body to her hips. A line of buttons drew attention to her cleavage, and if you followed them down, you came to the short skirt part, with a bubble type hem. It left nothing to the imagination, and was, by far, the hottest article of clothing she'd tried on all day.
"That" I said to Cassie as I pulled her into me, "is defiantly a keeper" I finished muttering as I nuzzled into her neck.
"Down boy." She said laughing as she pulled away from me, and I began to pout. "Save it for tonight." She said, as she walked into the change room and shut the door.
I followed her and leant against the door. "What do you mean, 'save it for tonight'? What's going on tonight?"
"Nothing." She replied nonchalantly as she swung open the door.
"Yeah right." I said, as I took the dress from her and walked over to the counter, where Luke was currently paying for Maddie's outfit.
"Should we tell them?" Maddie asked Cassie, as I handed over my card for the sales girl to swipe.
"Tell us what?" Luke asked, as he added the bag to the pile of others he was carrying.
"Okay, so maybe we didn't just watch the Gilmore Girls." Cassie said shyly as took the bag with her dress in it. "Maybe, we did a little Coyote research." She continued, rather coyly.
"Coyote research?" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow. "We'd appreciate a detailed description please."
"Well…" Maddie said, sidling up to him "We found out about this, bar. That has Coyotes." She said, smiling sneakily at Cassie who grinned back.
"As in…" I said slowly "The Coyotes in Coyote Ugly?" I asked incredulously, my jaw dropping open as Maddie and Cass nodded.
"Where do we sign up?" Luke smirked finally, able to regain his voice before me.
"You mean…" I asked finally "You two, up, on a bar… dancing like they did?", still wrapping my head around the idea.
"Yep." Cassie said firmly, as if she were afraid I was going to get all possessive on her, and lock her in a room, never to see the sunlight again.
"I'm with Luke." I said finally, swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat. "Where do we sign up?"
And that set Maddie and Cassie off with squeals.
And I had to wonder what Luke and I had just gotten ourselves into.
"Trust us," Cassie said as she came over and flung her arms around my neck "You two are going to have the best night ever. And look after us when we're through being trashed and dancing on a bar." She said sneakily.
"Ah, and the real reason we're invited comes out." I said mockingly as I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek "We're just here for your protection."
Cassie contemplated it for a moment before giggling and saying, "Yeah, pretty much."
"Oh, you're going down for that." I said, attempting to tickle her as she ran out of my arms.
Things were definitely looking up.
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"This is going to be so much fun." Maddie said from behind me. She'd been dancing away all afternoon, and I had begun to become a little scared of the dance monster machine we'd created.
I finished applying my crimson lipstick, and with one final smack of my lips, I turned around to Maddie and asked "Well?" She stopped dancing momentarily to critically analyse my outfit, before breaking out into a huge grin and replying "Perfect" and pulling me into a hug.
"This is what the summer was supposed to be about." She said, as she pulled away and went to check her own make-up once more "The four of us going out partying, having a brilliant time, not having to worry about skanks by the name of Parker or Lily, or evil spawns of Satan by the names of Henry or Hilary." She said, rather angrily.
"Don't forget bogan guys who can't take a hint by the name of Josh and Kaden." I added as Maddie smirked slightly at me in the mirror.
"How could I possibly forget? Those guys must be the dumbest of their breed." She said, finally content with the make-up she'd applied. "Done." She said, smiling, as we exited the bathroom together, and walked into the living room to find Luke and Ric on the floor playing another car racing game on the PS2.
"It's like we never left." I mocked to Maddie, who grinned rather evilly before walking over in her heeled shoes, and pulling out the games power supply.
"Hey." Ric and Luke cried in unison, as they looked at their black screen.
"You promised us no play station." Maddie pouted, her hands on her hips, her bottom lip quivering. God that girl should be an actress. She sure knew how to work an audience.
It was only then, when Maddie was standing so provocatively in front of Luke, in that outfit, that it finally hit them where we were going… and how we were dressed.
Ric swivelled around and eyed me up and down, before grinning slightly. He pushed himself up from the floor and walked over to me. Pulling me close, he said to me suggestively "We wouldn't want that outfit to go to waste, would we?"
"You just want to show off." I said to him, raising an eyebrow. He nodded somewhat sheepishly, before grinning at me. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to show you off. I want everyone to know what I've got, and what they can't have, right?"
"Here, here." Luke said from the other side of the room, as Maddie began to beat him down. "It was a compliment, I swear." He said, as he pulled her fists away from his chest and jokingly began to pick her up and twirl her around.
"Its tragically sad, but we're like kinky old married couples." I said, as Maddie and Luke stopped to look at me.
"Okay." Maddie said, grabbing her purse and walking quickly towards the door "That's an image that a few quick drinks will get out of my head." She said, glaring evilly at me as she breezed past me.
"Oh honey, there are plenty of images where that one came from." I said, following her quickly. "How about… all the kinky things we'll get up to when we're old and bored."
"Shut up Cassie." She replied, as Ric and Luke began to laugh in the background.
"And when we're old and ancient friends, we'll compare what kind of positions we can still do." I continued mocking Maddie as her hands flew to her ears and she groaned.
"That image is going to need more than a few drinks you cruel, cruel woman." She said as we reached the car.
"Nah ah." I said to Ric as he pulled out the keys "We're walking this one."
"In these shoes?" Luke mocked, as Maddie wacked him in the chest again. "Yes. In these shoes. They are my comfortable heels." She replied, smirking at him as she grabbed my hand and pulled me down the walkway.
"You two are strange." Ric muttered, as I smiled at Maddie who grinned back at me, before yelling back to Ric and Luke "Yeah, but we've also dressed like, well, skanks. And I'm sure there are others that will appreciate what we have to offer." She said, smirking at them.
"Oh," Luke said, pulling her back to him "I never said I didn't appreciate it. Because I do. Very much so."
"Is that right?" Maddie replied teasingly, as her eyes lit up. "Ohh look, we're here." She said, pointing to a club across the road.
"You mean, it was only just around the corner?" Ric asked me, as I nodded back. "So that's why we walked, right? Five more minutes away, and we'd be driving." He added, looking at Luke.
"You know us so well." I smiled, kissing Ric's cheek before pulling him across the road to the line for the club.
"This is going to be so much fun." Maddie squealed excitedly.
"And she's hyped up without a touch of alcohol. Who said being sober wasn't fun?" Ric mocked, as Maddie poked her tongue out at him.
"Okay, this could get ugly." I said, as I looked between Maddie and Ric "So I proclaim that there will be no more mocking tonight. We are just here to have fun, to dance, and to get smashed off our heads."
"Here, here." Maddie replied, high fiving me.
"And we're in." Maddie screamed over the music as we showed the Security Guard our ID's.
The music vibrated through the floor, as we walked into a room that had bars attached to all four walls. As if that wasn't enough, in the centre of the room was a raised stage, which doubled as a dance floor. Bodies were moving in any free space. Melding into one another. Moving slowly, quickly, any which way, with the music which beat strongly around us. I smiled at Ric, who pulled me close to him and began to move gently. But I felt myself being ripped from his group.
"Nope, not time for that yet." Maddie yelled over the music "I see a spot on the bar opening up. Oh its on." She said crazily as she pulled me up on the bar.
She grabbed a tequila shot on the way up, and downed it quickly before smiling at me and beginning to move her body wildly around, her hips swaying from side to side, her arms moving up and down her body, her eyes closed.
Apparently she really wanted to be lost in the moment. And something about the way she looked free, and content, made me want to join her there. I smiled and waved at Ric and Luke, who had found some of the few available chairs in the place, and sat down in them. Far enough not to cramp Maddie and I, but close enough to save us from anything that could ruin our night.
They were always so thoughtful.
I leant down to grab a shot, and downed it as quickly as Maddie had done, before grabbing another two, one for me, one for Maddie. I stood up and passed it to her.
"To a great Summer" I yelled, making the toast over the pumping music "To great memories" She replied, smiling at me, as we clinked our glasses together and shot them down.
Something told me that tonight was going to be one we'd always remember.
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"Cassie." I said, slurring a little, as I threw my arms to my head and moved my hips seductively "Is it time for another shot yet?"
She looked at her wrist, and made a face as she replied, "I don't know. Maybe we should ask the boys?"
"After one more song." I replied, closing my eyes and letting the music overwhelm me "This is too much fun to stop just yet."
"Agreed." I heard Cassie reply. The music pumped louder through the air, and vibrated harder through the floor, up the bar and into my legs, which were glued to the bar top. A thin layer of sweat had formed over my body, a mixture of the constant movement, the heat that hung in the air, and the cramped room we were in. I didn't mind though, because as I heard the beats of the music, I began to be lost in a world where movement was everything. A world where I was consumed by one singular thought.
Dance.
My hips swayed continuously, my arms moved up and down my body, running over my hips, over my side, flowing up and down. I'd lost track of all things that could be measured. Time and space didn't exist any more. What did was the feeling of being alive. And I'd felt that ever since we'd arrived here.
Then it hit me like a tonne of bricks. There was a shriek in the background of the music, and I knew it could only belong to one person. My eyes snapped open, and I looked over to see Ric and Luke standing up and glaring at Henry and Hilary, who were accompanied by none other than Josh, Kaden, Parker and Lily.
I turned to face Cassie who had obviously heard the came poisonous noise that had snapped me out of my fantasy world.
"They wouldn't?" She asked, her eyes wide with fear, any high the alcohol had given us was gone.
"I think they just did." I replied, as I watched Lily grab Luke's hand and lead him towards the dance floor. Cass grabbed my hand as she caught sight of Ric and Parker moving, in what I thought, was a somewhat awkward manner. But as soon as Lily moved with Luke, I knew exactly what she was feeling. Dread, betrayal, and an utter need for revenge.
"How could they do this to us? Again!" She screamed over the music, as our eyes stayed glued to their moving forms, which edged closer and closer towards one another. Now they were in 'Danger Will Robinson, Danger!' zone, and I didn't like it one bit.
Then, I looked over and saw Henry and Hilary leaning back against a bar, smiling evilly at Cassie and I. And once again, I wondered how I could have possibly misjudged Henry and Hilary. It seemed they really were the evillest people alive.
I turned to tell Cass, but heard something behind us.
"Aww, waiting for us to come and dance?" A strangely familiar, and very annoying voice said from behind me. I turned to see Josh smiling at me, Kaden behind him grinning stupidly.
"My god. Can't you take a hint?" I groaned, as they both continued to smile at us. "We are not interested," I said slowly, spelling it out for them.
Nothing. They continued to grin. How thick headed could they possibly be?
I pushed past them to walk down off the bar, but Josh grabbed my hand and pulled me back against him.
"What, is ignoring people when they ask nicely for something another one of your specialities?" He asked, grinning evilly.
Pushing him off me, I slapped his face.
"Yeah, and that's one too. Now leave us the hell alone." I said angrily at him as his hands went to the cheek I'd slapped and rubbed it.
"Come on Kaden." He said, glaring at me "They aren't worth it."
"And finally, they get it." I replied joyfully to Cassie, who smirked at them as they walked away, their pride obviously deeply wounded.
"High five girlfriend." Cass said happily as she slapped my hand.
"Now, there are two more problems we need to deal with." I replied, narrowing my eyes and making my way to where the witches were attempting (pitifully) to charm their prey.
"Get off them." I screamed over the music, as they turned around abruptly and glared at us… apparently annoyed at us for ruining their fun.
"We're just dancing." Lily replied nonchalantly, attemping to move closer to Luke, who simply stepped away from her.
"Oh no, we're not getting into this. This is between you four." He said, believing it was the right thing to say.
"Excuse me Lucas Holden?" I snapped, hands on my hips, waiting for him to explain.
"Oh well I…. I thought…" He said, beginning to stutter.
"You did not just think." I screamed at him " She's been all over you since the minute you got here. And Parker's been all over Ric. And neither of you did anything to stop them."
"We were just dancing." Ric replied, joining in to save their cause.
"He did not just say that." Cassie muttered under her breath, her hands itching by her side.
"I think he just did." I said, stunned by the fact that neither Ric nor Luke thought they had been doing anything wrong.
"Look, you two were up on the bar," Parker said, stepping away from Ric and walking towards us "And Ric and Luke looked bored. Its not our fault they wanted to dance, but you two were too busy getting trashed to care." She said sweetly, looking at us like a lost puppy.
I felt Cassie's hand twitch again, and I knew this could not end happily. But right now I was too angry to care.
"Ever since you met them, you've been attempting to worm your way into their hearts. Don't you get it sister, they aren't taking the bait. So get a clue, and back off. Especially if you know what's good for you." I said, attempting to save Parker from what was about to be near fatal embarrassment.
No such luck.
"I don't think so." She said, shaking her head and smiling sweetly.
And that's when it happened. Cassie's hand was as quick as lightning, it was up against Parkers cheek in a second, and the slap echoed around the club. Then Parker was stumbling back onto the ground, her hands rubbing the instant red mark that had appeared. Lily of course flocked to her side, their 'holier than thou' innocent act staying strong.
But Cassie had broken out into a grin next to me.
"That felt really good." She said, as I nodded, grinning with her momentarily, before I felt my body get shoved to the ground.
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AN: Thanks to Jade for proofing. You're a legend. Okay, so I'm mean, but don't hate me. Everything will be sorted out eventually! I hope you continue to enjoy this story!