Lainey gets a surprise visitor during lunch.
~.~
The morning comes and goes.
Her last student has left for lunch hour, and she finds herself all alone with her thoughts. For the most part, she's been able to distract herself from thinking about the men in her life by forcing a smile and joking with her students during her classes. However, the sinking feeling in her stomach has fatefully returned, and she knows she's only prolonging the inevitable. She just wishes Barry could be there in person, so she could deliver the news face to face instead of over the phone.
"Hey, brought you some lunch!" She hears CB declare as he enters her classroom.
She looks up from the quizzes she gave her second period class and sets the red pen in her hand down on top of them. He's so sweet for buying her lunch, but she's not really that hungry. She puts on a happy face anyway.
"Some cheesesteaks from Geno's." He plops the takeout bag as well as two sodas down in front of her on the desk. "Weasel turned me onto them last month, and boy, am I tired of vegan food. Paloma wasn't into meat at all."
"Well, Geno's does have the best cheesesteaks in Philly," she says as he pulls up a chair to sit across from her. "But Pat's…"
"Has the fries, am I right?" He winks at her.
She laughs. "Right."
They begin eating, but an awkward silence falls over them. She stares down at her food, avoiding meeting his eyes. She can't help but wonder what he's thinking. He knows something's up with her, and she knows he's about to ask about it again. She just hopes she has the strength to tell him and that the truth doesn't let him down.
"So… I think I know what's been bothering you," he breaks the silence between them.
"You do?" She's surprised. She sits up straight in her chair, gulping down her small bite of cheesesteak.
"Yes… you're worried about Paloma coming back," he says and reaches over to grab her right hand. "Well… to be completely honest with you, she came over to my apartment last night."
"What?" Her heart plunges inside her chest, and she snatches back her hand.
She immediately panics, but technically she has no right to be upset. She hasn't broken up with her boyfriend yet.
"No, no, no." He takes her hand again. He runs his thumb back and forth across her knuckles. "It's nothing like that. She just wanted to apologize for her behavior yesterday afternoon."
"Oh?" Her worries immediately dissipate, and she perks up slightly.
"Yeah, it was nice actually. She said she realizes how much you mean to me and if you make me happy, then she's happy for us."
"I make you happy?" She glances down at their hands entwined together. The feel of his hand in hers is soothing yet thrilling at the same time.
"Lainey… you know you do."
He smiles wider than she's ever seen him. It's almost a sin at how handsome he looks right now. It makes her blush.
"In fact, yesterday, when we kissed... you made me the happiest I've ever been in my life."
"You make me happy too," she admits shyly.
He leans over the desk and gives her a sweet peck on the lips. She winces at the pungent smell of his breath.
"Sorry, I know. Onion breath," he says in his dorky voice, chuckling, and takes a sip of his soda. "So… how did things go with Barry?"
"Uh… well… uh…" She stammers out, her anxiety skyrocketing through the roof.
She's soon interrupted by the intercom. She takes a brief sigh in relief.
"Attention, William Pennnnnn!" John Glascott's voice resounds over the PA system. "Sorry to interrupt your lunch, but we have a request from one of our alumni…"
"Oh, great. Wonder what it is this time?" CB shakes his head, taking another bite of his food.
"Would Miss Lainey Lewis please report to the main office? You have a visitor…"
Her eyes instantly widen with trepidation, her heart hammering inside her ribcage.
"And I would also like to add that I'm not being coerced into this in any form, fashion, or Smother." Glascott's voice has taken on a sarcastic tone. He laughs nervously. "Enjoy the rest of your lunch."
The connection ends.
"Are you expecting someone?" CB turns back to her, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"No, but I have a sneaky suspicion who it might be." She grits her teeth as she speaks.
She stands up and begins to head down the hall to the office, her nerves rattling at the way to her bones. He follows in step behind her.
As she nears the office, she halts her footsteps, her legs almost failing her.
Her suspicions are confirmed.
Standing in the lobby right in the center of the William Penn seal is Barry Norman Goldberg. Her boyfriend. Her first love. He's wearing a black dress jacket over his usual orange Flyers t-shirt and… he's holding a small red velvet box in his right hand.
The panic sets in again, and her eyes dart around the large crowd beginning to form inside the lobby. It seems the whole school's curious as to what's going on.
Barry knows she hates when he surprises her like this, and of all the days to choose to propose to her… the day after she realized she was in love with someone else.
"I'm sorry, Lainey." Glascott suddenly appears beside her and whispers in her ear, "Beverly threatened to expose to the whole school that I used to dress up like Prince - or I guess I should say 'The Artist Formerly Known As Prince' - on the weekends back in the 80s if I didn't go along with it… and I've tried really hard since I became principal to keep that secret under wraps."
"It's okay, John," she says dismissively, rolling her eyes.
Barry smiles and takes a knee in front of her. She soon finds it increasingly difficult to breathe. She thinks she might even pass out, which might be a godsend at the moment.
"Lainey Lewis… I know we've been through some tough times over the past eleven years or so and everyone keeps telling us it won't last, but we've proved them wrong time and time again…"
She bites her lip and glances back at CB. He frowns and deflects his eyes to the floor. Her heart shatters into a million pieces, and she knows his heart's breaking too having to witness this.
"Will you make me the happiest man on the planet and be my wife?" Barry opens the red box and holds it up to her with nothing but love and adoration on his face. "And I'm wearing my lucky Flyers shirt, so you can't say no."
She peers down at the ring, sucking in a breath. The princess cut diamond in the middle has to be at least several karats, and it sparkles brilliantly under the fluorescent lights. She's never seen such a massive rock in her life. But she knows in her heart, she can't go through with it. She knows the man standing behind her is the one she wants to spend the rest of her life with, not Barry.
"Come on, Lainey," Barry employs her when she doesn't answer him right away, gritting his teeth, but still trying to smile. "Everyone's watching."
She's overwhelmed and flustered, not sure if she can even form the words to tell him no. She looks behind her once more, only to see CB walking back toward his classroom shaking his head. She motions to chase after him, but can't force her legs to move.
"Lainey?" Barry grabs hold of her shoulder. "What's going on?"
She turns to face him. "I'm sorry, Barry, but…"
She peers out amongst the crowd and spies Wilma, her dear friend who knows all about her and CB's little secret. Wilma gives her a firm nod as if to tell her she's got this. It's all the encouragement she needs.
"I c-can't marry you. I'm so sorry."
Her voice cracks as she speaks her final apology, the tears streaming down her cheeks. She runs straight for the main entrance, pushing past several students in her path, and never looks back.
~.~
"Thought I might find you here," she hears Barry's voice behind her. "You always used to come here when you'd cut class in high school."
She's sitting cross-legged under the bleachers, tearing apart tall pieces of grass with her fingers. He sits down beside her and stares at the football field through the gaps in the metal stairs.
"That's not all I used to do here." She smiles through the tears that just won't seem to stop.
"That's true," he says, reaching over to grab her hand. "What's the matter, Lainey? Don't you want to marry me?"
A nervous knot rolls over in her stomach, and she pushes his hand away.
"There's… um, someone else," she manages to say despite the hurt in her heart.
"WHAT?" He stands up, throwing his hands into the air. He starts to pace back and forth in front of her. "Aw, man, Geoff told me something like this would happen! Well, I guess when you have a smoking hot girlfriend who lives five-hundred miles away, you can't expect her to be..."
"Barry, calm down." She pats the ground beside her and gestures for him to sit. "Can we please discuss this as adults? You have no idea how hard this is for me right now."
"Well, it's hard for me too." He plops down beside her and places his head in his hands. He's quiet for a few seconds.
"So, who is he? Someone I know?" he finally asks, looking at her through tear-stained eyes. "Don't tell me it's Coach!"
"Oh, hell, no," she scoffs, slightly grossed-out that he would even suggest she's involved with Rick. She stares down at her hands, not wanting to see the hurtful expression on his face as she continues, "It's, um… CB."
"I knew something was going on between you two!" He screams at her, furious. "I even overheard him tell Coach at Christmas that he was trying to break us up, that he was trying to get that Beanie Baby for you so he could prove that he was the one for you and not me!"
"He… he did?" Her heart sinks in her chest.
CB wouldn't have tried to break them up. Would he? He's always been supportive of her relationship with Barry.
"But…" Barry sighs. He seems rather calm now, and it scares her a little. "He decided not to in the end. He told Coach that he understood why you loved me and that it was time he moved on. Pretty big of him, I thought."
"Really? I had no idea." She smiles, her initial anger at his confession beginning to vanish. "You knew this whole time?"
He nods.
"I could tell he cared a lot about you, Lainey - that he loved you. I could see it in the way he looked at you and I was jealous that he got to see you every day and I didn't." He rests his hand on top of hers in her lap.
"Oh, and sorry to have to tell you this, but… CB was the one who got you that Beanie Baby, not me." He takes a deep breath, forcing the breath from his lungs. "Whew, that's been weighing on me for a while. Feels good to finally get it off my chest, though."
"It's okay." She laughs, turning her palm up to meet his. "I actually figured that one out all on my own."
"And then he made it look like I was the one who gave it to you… if that's not love, I don't know what is."
The tears begin to leak from her green eyes again. CB has to be the most wonderful, amazing person, besides Barry, she's ever met. He cared so much for her that he put aside his own selfish wants and let her be with the one she loved.
"And if CB's the one you want to be with, then I won't try to stop you."
"That's rather adult of you, Care Bear," she says, proud of how mature he's being. She looks up at him with sorrowful eyes. "Do you hate me?"
"Lainey, I could never hate you." He wraps his arm around her, pulling her in for a side-hug, and she places her head on his right shoulder. "No matter how many times you break my heart."
She sighs, the moisture seeping from her eyes, as she mourns her first love. They stay like that for several minutes, the final moments of their time as a couple, the silent goodbye passing back and forth between them.
After some time, she walks arm-in-arm with him to his car, his mother's old station wagon. They share one final glance, and she waves, bidding farewell to her past.
After watching the car fade from view, she turns only to find CB standing there behind her. The man she hopes is her future.
She anxiously chews on her bottom lip, hoping he still feels the same way.
His arms open wide, and without hesitation, she runs straight to him, bursting into tears. He embraces her, holding her tightly to his chest, and presses a soothing kiss to the side of her head.
~.~
Ugh, this was tough to write and I wrote it the day after CB started dating Paloma, so it was extra tough. But alas, we're getting the Season 2 finale, which is entitled "Clueless," so it might be the one we've been waiting for! So excited! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'm planning on continuing this fic in the coming days leading up to the finale! ~ Dazzy xxoo