A/N: Review and the sooner you'll see what happens next, mwuahaha. Nah, would like to know what you think of the story so far, is all. If flamers out there feel the need to flame, do that. I could not care less. You suck and frankly, that is your problem, not mine. HA.

Chapter 5

"Delia", impatient voice called through the locked bedroom door, accompanied by a loud and equally impatient knock. It was the 7th time Delia heard it and also, the 7th time she coldly ignored it too. Why couldn't the other girl just take the gentle hint and nicely put, fuck off? But no. The blonde-haired girl sighed rolling her eyes, but didn't give up and knocked again. She had made plans for the night and Delia sure as hell would not ruin them! "You can't not go out forever, girl, you're gonna have to face the sucker sooner or later."

Oh really? Watch me. "Later, then. I'll be out after a month", snorted Delia, sitting on her bed and quite obviously, sulking. The picture of Bright's amused smile as the irritated girl had stormed out of his car yesterday night was still fresh on her mind and she wasn't going to live through that embarrassment ever again. She hadn't spoken him a single word during the ride to home, hadn't even thanked him for the lift. Of course not. He had forced her to get into the car! What was there to thank for? Bright was an ass and she had every intention not to see him ever again. She wouldn't give a situation like that a chance to occur: Delia had decided to stay far away from Bright and pretend that yesterday was only a bad, bad, bad dream. Something that had never happened, or at least, wasn't to be taken seriously.

Gods how she wished that was the case. Delia had called the club earlier, but Jack had only said that her services weren't needed for a few days or so and that she could come back next week. Her services weren't needed! He hadn't said why, but Delia didn't even need to ask – because of what had happened yesterday, of course. Few days and people would hopefully forget. They had to. As she had repeatedly said to Bright, she really did need the money the job brought. Bad publicity was something Mac didn't like; girls disobeying his rules were always fired as an example and as far as Delia understood, Jack had thought Bright was her… you know. And if Jack thought it was so, then Mac probably thought so too and they wouldn't give her a chance to explain. Wasn't their style… but then, if Mac had wanted to fire her, Jack would've told it to her already.

Either way, Delia wasn't going to quit her job any time soon unless they threw her out themselves. Well, she needed the money, as said, and… of course, she wouldn't quit because she wasn't going to do something Bright had told her to do! She'd find a way to make him forget the deal; even if she needed to play as dirty as Bright had to make it happen. It was weird how much she was ready to risk to get what she wanted; even the thought of telling her father had crossed her mind too, but that one she had abandoned as an impossible equation. All she had to do was imagine what her father would say, how disappointed he would be and she knew it wasn't worth it. Bright wasn't worth it.

"Come on, D."

Hearing her friend, Jillian, use the nickname her workmates had given, and the one Bright had used to get under her skin, made Delia feel like someone had kicked her in the tummy. For the shortest time, the air was somewhere out of reach and she had to gasp for breath. She didn't want to hear anyone call her that anymore. Why? Bright had made it sound so… disgusting, somehow. Pathetic and despicable. "Don't call me that, Jill."

"What, you prefer Dana then?" Jill asked, aggravated. She had been waiting for an hour already and was getting more and more annoyed by every second. At that point, Delia remembered why she hadn't wanted to tell the girl about her job in the first place. When her friend got annoyed, she had the nasty habit to take it out on people around her with such ways that most of the time, they all just wanted to smack her. Of course, maybe Delia had deserved that one particular shot, but still.

During times like this, she truly missed Ariel who was the kindest and sweetest person she had ever met and who always knew how to make her feel a bit better. But being pregnant and in a happy relationship, she rarely left the safety of their little flat anymore and Delia had been forced to find other people with whom to party. Jillian was one of those.

Delia wasn't sure how was it possible for one become friends with someone who she had never really liked that much, but it had happened. Jillian had just been there and step by step they had started to spend more and more time together, partying, having fun, creating chaos. Just like they had done when they had been teenagers. Now Delia remembered again why it was that she had slowly let their so called friendship fade when she had been no more than 14 years old. She had been better judge of character back then, hadn't she?

"Come on, Delia, they're waiting for us. You got time off, why not use it? I mean, your brother ain't coming till tomorrow, right? And I doubt you're gonna run into that one asshole at Joe's party. You know they're always private." Jill, she had always been good with talking people around, changing their minds. Manipulating. It was the way she spoke. When she wanted something, she knew what had to be done to make it happen. Delia knew this, but didn't care.

She got up and walked to the door, unlocked it and pushed it open to let the relieved girl enter her room. Maybe Jill was right. Maybe she really should go out and have fun, forget Bright and his stupid threats even if it was just for one night. It was a private party, as Jill had said, and there was no chance in hell she'd meet him there, right?

"Fine, I'm coming", she said finally, sighing. What other options did she really have? She could stay in her room, behind the locked door and mope, but knowing Jill she wouldn't give up until the next morning. Probably not even then. Yeah, things always had to go her way.

"Good", the other girl replied, "thank God I didn't have to bitch-slap some sense to you."

---

When the girls arrived to the party few moments later, Delia couldn't help but think it had been a very bad idea from the beginning and that she should've gone with her original plan. Yep, she should've stayed home and pouted. Weird how she had seemed to grow out of stuff she had once loved to do.

As always, the house was filled with drunken people, loud music and couples sucking each others insides out but only this time, it annoyed her. Normally she felt completely comfortable wearing Jillian's denim mini-skirt and green strapless top that revealed more than it covered, but now she felt awkward. If it had been last week, she would've been feeling the mood. She would've, in fact, been one of those girls dancing on the table with a bottle of beer in their hands and no doubt, would she have made a complete fool out of herself once more.

It was all Bright's fault. No matter how she tried to walk away from the subject, she always ended up crashing against it. It was Bright that had killed her mood by making it seem he was above her. Better than her. So what if he had managed to get himself a real life outside the mini-sized area called Everwood? So what if he had a decent job and money with what to do whatever he liked to do? Just because he lived his life to the fullest, didn't mean everyone could. Some people had responsibilities. Mistakes to correct.

Why did she feel guilty?

"Delia, please", Jilliian's pleading voice shouted to her ear, "get that look off your face. Forget him, ok?"

Delia only cast a biting glance to her friend's direction, before morphing the glare something softer. "I wasn't thinking of him", she replied hastily and continued screening through the crowd, hoping that Jillian hadn't noticed the lie. Jillian being herself, she didn't. The fake smile that Delia had drawn on her lips a split second ago seemed to convince her and without continuing that particular subject, the girl grabbed Delia's arm.

"Okay then", she spoke with the usual cheerful, but suggestive tone, "let's go see if we see anyone do-able."

For the first time, Delia didn't like the idea, but followed Jillian nevertheless with the same fake smile still decorating her face. What was the worse thing that could happen? Seriously? If she was lucky, she'd get a beer during the much-needed tour around the house and get drunk.

And the best part was, for a short period of time at least, she could forget.

It was 3m and Bright couldn't sleep. So instead of even trying to sleep, which he knew would not help, he was sitting in the living-room, drinking a glass of milk like he always did when everything wasn't all peachy. It was somewhat normal for him - not to be able to sleep, that is, but usually he knew why the insomnia was bothering him. The amount of work he had to do to keep his clients happy was the main cause really, but now that Kathy McGillian, his partner in crime had promised to take care of the minor issues, he had no reason to worry. There was no such issue he could not solve by simply using his cell-phone… so what was it?

He had tried to sleep. He had, honestly. But when the image of Delia Brown in her… work outfit… smiling sexily, gesturing him to approach had flashed through his head, he had woke up gasping for air. It was ridiculous when you thought of it. It wasn't like Delia was the first half-naked female he had seen and yet, she had seemed to have the kind of effect on him that no one ever had. He had felt something, something else than bitter lust. What the hell was up with that one?

Somehow he had never believed the word sexy would apply to the youngest Brown sibling, and it felt absolutely weird to realize how wrong one could be. How wrong he could be.

Suddenly he was startled by his sister's voice coming from behind him. "So, are you ever going to tell what happened last night?"

He didn't bother glancing over his shoulder for Amy was already walking closer and sat down on the sofa next to her brother. Now he gave a hesitating glance over to her direction, but the demanding look on her face made him look away.

"What? Nothing happened." Fine, something had happened… but nothing important. Right?

"HA", Amy shot. "Don't try that on me. Your friends specifically told me you found some nice brunette and took of with her."

He groaned. Only so natural for his friends and sister to gossip on the phone about him and his life, huh? He wasn't sure when Amy had become such a good deal with his old friends as she obviously had, but he suspected it was somewhere during the time he had moved to New York and left his old life behind him. "Oh yeah? What else did those suckers tell you?"

Amy sighed and rolled her eyes, defeated. "Nothing. Wouldn't even tell me where you were. Should I be worried?"

To that he chuckled. At least those old dogs knew what to tell and what not. In the end, Amy was his little sister and didn't need to know about all the sins that the boys threw on his face. "Not more than usually."

Amy wasn't sure how to take in Bright's words. When they had been younger, Bright had been a real pain in the ass. A guy that always fell in troubles way no matter what he did. And whenever that happened, he had tried to fish his way out of the situation by using his charm and perfect smile. After what had happened with Colin… He never blamed others, but never took the blame on his own shoulders either. It was so much easier to stay in-between it all and let adults and teachers alike make their own assumptions. But Amy knew he had grown. Grown to be more mature… so maybe that was why what she had been told both amused and worried her. Mainly worried.

Had the old Bright Abbott come back the minute he had come to Everwood? "So is it true?

Bright didn't really need advanced math to figure out what she meant. A wild guess was all he needed. "That I found a brunette and took of with her?" He asked, a bit amused. Well, it was amusing she still felt the need to baby sit after him even though he was supposed to be the big brother.

Amy, however, didn't seem to be that amused. He didn't get why, though. She had had such a great sense of humor once. What had happened to her? In labour, had she not only pushed a baby out of her body, but all that was left of her humor, too? Then again, he wasn't really amused either. There was nothing amusing in Delia in her underwear… and that was the exact picture that swept past his mind every other second.

"Yeah."

"Part of it", he replied truthfully, "But I don't want to talk about it."

Amy wasn't ready to drop the subject, of course. "But-"

"Amy, I'm serious", he interrupted her. If it was any other girl he had encountered, he could've told. Even though it sort of freaked him out having his friends chatting about his life with Amy, he had always told her everything. But this time it wasn't his secret he would have been telling. It was Delia's.

"Fine", the girl sighed, not arguing more. If Bright had decided not to share that particular piece of information with her, there was nothing she could've done to change his mind.

"So tell me sis, has life been treating you any better here?"

What it tried to be, was a smooth change of subject, but what they both knew it to be was a lame one. Still, she didn't mention it. "Yeah. If you're worried whether I've gone back to the old routes, don't worry, I haven't. I got over Ephram a long time ago."

Ah, there it was again. A picture of Delia in front of his eyes. He shook it off by simply saying: "Funny you should mention him… He called me earlier, told he's coming to town."

Maybe it was a bit evil of him to tell it to Amy like this, but then, it would've been more evil of him to let Amy find out by bumping into him and Madison in the store or something. So, no, of course it wasn't just a perfect way to distract her mind from things he didn't want her thinking about. "Town town? Everwood town?"

"Everwood", he confirmed. The look in Amy's eyes was unreadable, but Bright was somewhat sure his words had had some sort of hidden reaction. Amy had not got over Ephram no matter how often she said she had. God, he only wished she'd find a good, decent guy and forget Ephram for good. While he felt sorry for his little sister, he was happy for his friend and at some level, that made it very difficult situation for him. Still… The way Amy had kept toying with the boy after they had met… well, Ephram deserved to be happy. And he was happy with Madison. If Amy had any intentions whatsoever to go and poke their relationship, she would not get away with it.

"It must be a virus", Amy spoke sounding as normal as ever. "Coming home and all." Her voice didn't even so much as tremble. Boy, she was such a good actress, wasn't she? Or maybe, Bright thought, she has gotten over Ephram and I'm just not giving her the credit she deserves?

"Wouldn't call it that", he said, breaking out from this thoughts, "Anyway. You know what Amy, you think you could borrow your car? I don't feel like taking dad's again…"

Amy's eyebrow rose. "Why?" What on Earth was Bright going to do with her car this time of night?

"Why borrow or why not take his?"

Amy rolled her eyes. Bright and his humor. A deadly combination. "Why borrow?"

"I dunno", he replied shrugging. "Wanna get out for a little while. I'll take a ride around the town, clear up my head and come back." It was the truth. Maybe driving around a bit would help him sort his thoughts and he could actually go back to bed without thinking about her.

Amy, who naturally knew nothing about his new problem, assumed it was the old problem bothering him. The look on his face was a clear sign of female-issues, she had learnt to recognize it. "That Nicki bitch you mentioned still giving you hard time?"

It took awhile before he could bring himself to answer. "Yeah, she's the one." It was a pure lie of course, but a much easier way out of her interrogation than the truth. Besides, maybe it was Nicki's fault. It was because of her sudden burst he had figured that coming to Everwood might not be such a bad idea. He had been wrong, hadn't he?

---

15 minutes later, Bright was already sitting in Amy's car fully clothed and driving around the empty streets. Being Everwood, it seemed there wasn't a single soul out there at this time of night, just some drunken youngsters running around the streets doing stupid stuff… the thought brought a smile to his lips almost instantly. Sometimes he even missed his youth. The days, or rather, nights he walked around the little town with his friends, doing insane stuff and simply, enjoyed his life. Enjoyed being the black sheep of the family, the one with no future. Funny how things had their own way of turning around to be something completely unexpected.

Speaking of which, it was then that something unexpected caught Bright's eyes.

It was so dark he hardly saw what was going on, but it seemed like… Yep, there was a girl lying on the ground but she wasn't alone. There was someone hunched over her, a hand… inside her shirt? With the second look, Bright realized the girl wasn't moving at all. What the hell? Was there some idiot groping an unconscious girl that in a condition like that, couldn't do anything about it? Boyfriend or not, that was kind of rude, wasn't it?

The car stopped right away and only a second later Bright was already walking towards the figures in the dark.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

The young boy hadn't noticed the car and was startled by the loud yell. "None of your business", he replied hastily, hand still inside the girl's shirt. He was obviously annoyed by the sudden interruption. Hell, Bright couldn't have cared less. He was annoyed too, ok? He had been an asshole all his life, but this was something even he couldn't think of doing. What had happened to the good old days?

"Get the fuck away from the girl", Bright spoke with demanding, but yet calm voice. "Did you fail to notice she's out of this world?"

The boy was hardly older than 20, but he seemed to have an attitude to fill the lack of years. He was probably the type to meet a trouble no matter where he went. "You get the fuck away. She's my girl, this has nothing to do with you."

If there was something Bright couldn't deal with, it was young punks such as this one trying to prove the world how cool and strong they were. Bright stepped closer. "Go. Now. Last warning."

The boy didn't take his warning all that good, but got up to his feet. As if Bright hadn't seen it coming -even a blind man would've- he suddenly stormed towards Bright, only ending up with a cut lip as Bright's fist made a contact with it. The boy fell down on the ground on his ass, holding his bleeding lip and mumbling the famous words: "Son of a bitch!"

"Yeah, so I've heard", Bright noted, grabbed the boy by the sleeve and pushed him away from the girl. "You go home and sleep your head sober."

Perhaps the youngster decided the half-conscious girl wasn't worth the trouble after all, because he only gave a rude finger gesture to which Bright laughed, turned around and calmly walked away.

When there was no sign of the boy anymore, Bright turned around to examine the state of the girl on the ground. Only when he kneeled down and brushed messy locks of brown hair off her face, he realized just who it was that he had saved from a horny youngster.

"Shit… What the hell am I to do with you?"

Who else, but passed out Delia Brown?

A/N: I know, not much Delia/Bright interaction in this one… you'll have it in the next one, I tell you.