Author's Notes: Hey guys! I bet you didn't think the next chapter would come so soon. I know I didn't! I do question a few things but it came out shockingly easy. As I've said before, the reason for my uncertainty is that this is the first time I've ever written for Bridgette. And in addition to that, she's in a very trying state of mind.
So, please keep that in mind as you read the third chapter of "A TDA Love Triangle with Betty, Cody, and Gwenny": A Cookie from Cody
(Bridgette's POV)
…165…166…167…168, 169…170…17-
Oh, good grief! Haven't I cried enough today!? I must be out of tears to shed by now?
…172…173…
No!
…174…
God…why am I so pathetic!? I've been crying in this storage room for over an hour!
…175…
But I still can't believe this. After all we've been through…how could he do this to me!?
…176…177…
What happened to the sweetheart who said I pitched a tent like a guy!-ok, bad example.
You know what I mean; he was considerate, sweet, and gentle…actually caring about me. But then…then…
…178, 179, 180…181…182, 183…
I thought I had found the best guy in the world…maybe the kind I'd want spend the rest of my life with.
He turned out to be just like all of the others! Every guy I've ever been with! Why me, why do I always pick the wrong guys!?
…184…
I know I must sound so mopey and self-absorbed but seriously, every guy's been a creep! Starting with Jacob in the seventh grade to Geoff an hour ago…they've all been the same. All of them, all six of them, have just wanted me in bed or to tongue wrestle with me!
…185…
Is that all that guys can see in me?
…186, 187…
Is that all I can be to a guy? Am I just a blonde babe to make out with and then throw away like a piece of trash? Can't there just one guy in my life whose not a selfish creep!?
I felt so silly, but I actually looked around. I thought someone like that would appear.
No one came…no guy came, no knight in shining armor. I was just as alone as before.
I was crying even more…I had nearly lost count at one point. But I didn't…
…221…
I must be the only girl who can actually count their tears. The only girl lame enough to!
…222…
In my pathetic wallowing, I didn't hear the slight creaking of the door for a few seconds.
When the sound actually reached my ears, I looked up. And I saw…nothing but blurs! My eyes were so teary from crying that who it was before me was an amorphous blob.
"Bridgette?" Somebody asked me.
I'm not proud to admit it but I didn't react as I should have to the shocking presence. Instead of simply asking who he was or what he was doing there, I jumped up frightened! In my fright, I had accidently sent the person falling to the floor with a loud crash. Without realizing it, I had crashed my head into the person's chin and sent them flying.
"Remind me to never try and sneak up on you…" The person said in a joking manner.
Wincing at the painful sound, I started to automatically apologize to him as I often do. It wasn't until I was roughly half way through my thirtieth rapid-fire apology (I've become capable of dishing them out very quickly thanks to many instances of needing to do so) that I had wiped the tears from my eyes enough to see who it was and realize his identity.
I saw Cody getting off of the floor, rubbing his chin and then dusting his clothes off.
I couldn't believe my eyes. Why would Cody be here? And so late at night no less?
After all, I don't think I've ever said a single word to the guy, the first season or now. If I were Gwen crying, I could see Cody popping up out of nowhere. But for little old me?
I just looked at him for a few moments, trying to make my voice level when I spoke. It wasn't enough as, despite my best efforts, my crackled as I asked, "Co-Cody?"
"The one and only!" He answered coolly, or at least what he likely imagined as coolly. "The Codemeister himself!"
Despite my despair, his over-the-top zeal and goofy smile got a chuckle out of me.
Cody smiled a little bit more. But then his face changed, becoming more serious.
Not sure why this was, I asked him, with a voice cracking more than I wanted it to be, "Wh-what are you doing here? Its nearly midnight."
"Well, I was trying to sleep and I got hungry so I went to see if there were any cookies left." Cody says before producing a single chocolate chip cookie, as if he needed to prove that. After that, he took a seat next to me on the wooden crate and stared at his moss-green shoes. "I was coming back to my room when I heard you crying…what's wrong?"
"Oh…" That was all I could say at first, I had just realized that he was seating next to me. I started wiping my eyes again, fearing that some fresh tears had started forming. Struggling to keep my voice level I add, "It's nothing Cody, really. It's just that…that…"
I couldn't keep it in anymore…I had to tell somebody, even someone who I'd never talked to before!
I felt the tears resurfacing but was unable to stop them as I said, "Oh Cody, why are men such jerks?"
Then a whole new wave of tears began falling. I felt so pathetic for not being able to stop. And that only increased when I saw Cody fidgeting, likely clueless about what do to.
What right did I have to make Cody feel uneasy because of something he had no part of?
I mean, Cody and I literally never spoke until now…when I'm crying my eyes out.
But I couldn't stop. I tried to talk but all that left my lips were incoherent ramblings.
After a few long, awkward moments of me cry hysterically, I felt something on my back. The shock and warmth of the object was enough to get me to stop rambling like a wreck. Looking to my side, I saw Cody with his hand on my upper back, gently patting it. He still looked so unsure if this was the right thing to do but he did it anyway. I was grateful.
"Jeez. I'm really sorry, Bridgette." Cody sincerely said leaving his hand on my back as my shoulders shook with grief. His voice was light and chocked with sympathy for me.
By the time I had stopped crying, tear number 250-something had fallen to the floor. I was actually somewhat grateful to not know the exact number.
"Bridgette, please, tell me what happened?" Cody says, his voice a little firmer this time.
I sighed. I was tried of bottling this up. I had to tell something the truth…the whole truth.
"O-ok. Yo-you know how Geoff being acting lately?" I ask, my voice still cracking.
He nodded his head. I got the impression he was beginning to realize what was wrong. If only that was all that was wrong!
"We-well, you see, when, when not on-camera…Geoff's even worse. At first I thought it was just some stress from the adjusting to becoming a host of the Aftermath show. But it didn't stop; he started more and more to remind me of Chris. I tried to be understanding and forgiving but after his behavior during yesterday's aftermath…I was at my wit's end. I tried to talk to him about it. But he got so angry…I've never seen anyone so angry!"
Despite myself, I nearly shouted out that last part, I was so terrified when that happened. I mean, listen to me, I sound like the stereotypical battered housewife, for goodness sake!
"H-he…he started saying horrible things about me. He said I was a doormat, who let anything slide because I was too spineless to do anything about it. He called me a harlot, a whore! He said that all I cared about was making out…and yet I wasn't ready to have sex yet! By that point, I had lost it and started shouting more than I ever had before in my life. After hours of arguing, it happened…Ge-Geoff…Geoff broke up with me!"
Now with my hands covering my face and tears slipping through my fingers, I couldn't stop as I continued to finally say out loud the thoughts that had been tormenting me.
"After all of the crap that Geoff did, after everything he made me endure…he broke up with me! I feel so used, so cheap! Here was the guy who I thought at one point I might spend the rest of my life with and now we was calling me a doormat, a harlot, a whore! I put all of my trust, my love, my everything into him…and in the end he was just a fiend!
"I am so blind, so stupid! I should have seen the warning signs. Remember what he did to Harold during TDI? He bullied him, helped made his life miserable…all for a sick laugh! Despite even knowing that, I still went out with the guy…I went out with a sick bully!
"And I still have to act like nothing happened! The producer heard about our fight and reminded me of the terms of our contract. If I act any differently towards Geoff during the aftermaths, they could sue my mother for me validating the terms of agreement! She's a single woman with a teenage girl, Cody! She couldn't pay what they'd ask for! So when the next aftermath comes I'm going to have to pretend that to be friendly with the guy who shattered my heart into a million pieces or else my mom will suffer for it!
"You're the only person I've told Cody. Aside from the producer, you're the only person who knows that Geoff and I broke up. I-I…I don't know what do to. I feel so helpless, so trapped. And you know the worst part…I might deserve this! After all, while bigger in scale, the same basic thing has happened with all of the guys who I've hooked up with. I think their so wonderful but then they turn out to be snakes in the grass that wound me! Maybe this is all I deserve, maybe I'm suffering for the sins of a past life or something? Maybe I…"
I suddenly stopped my rambling. I felt something wrap itself around me…it was warm. Opening my eyes, they were once again blotted by tears. I couldn't see easily. Even so, I could make out a vague outline, the outline of somebody holding me in a tight hug.
"Pl-please don't say things like that, Bridgette. No body deserves that, especially not you. From what I saw during TDI, there's no way any past life of yours could be that sinful. Even if your only now seeing Geoff's true colors, its not your fault. It's his, all his alone. Please…don't, don't cry. There's nothing more horrible to me than a girl that's crying." Cody says, his voice nearly as worked up and saddened as mine.
I was truly surprised by this turn of events. While I didn't think Cody was a bad guy, based off of what Gwen had told me he was just a horn-dog. She didn't say anything about how caring he could be. But I didn't think about that, I just accepted the hug.
After a few minutes, he released me and started to sit crossed legged on the crate.
"Hold my hands?" Cody asked as he opened and presented his own to me.
I could help but raise an eyebrow. "Are you trying to flirt with me, Cody?"
"No, I'm serious. Hold my hands. I've done this with a few girls after their break ups. Now, hold my hands, please?" Cody says, being shockingly serious and firm for him.
I was tempted to protest more but decided not to, I was willing to try anything by now. I raised my arms, clasped his hands, and felt my fingers become intertwined with his. I also noticed that I was now sitting in front of him on the crate, our knees nearly touching.
He closes his eyes; still holding my hands, before saying, "Now, please close your eyes."
I do so, despite my growing confusion over what Cody has planned.
"Repeat after me." Cody told me. "This'll work, I promise."
I couldn't see how but I nodded all the same, despite me knowing that he couldn't see it.
"Geoff is a big jerk." Cody said with his voice in monotone.
"Geoff is a big jerk!" I spit out, not realizing until afterward how venomous they were.
"He was a fool to break up with me." Cody says, just as without emotion as before.
"He was a fool to break up with me!" I say, still spiteful but not nearly as much as before.
"In time, he will see what a colossal mistake he made."
"In time, he will see what a colossal mistake he made." I say with the wrath now missing.
"I am better off without him."
"I am better off without him." I nodded slowly.
"I am a wonderful, smart, beautiful person."
"I am a wonderful, smart, beautiful person." I repeat, finding the words to be truer.
"I am the kind of girl who any guy would be grateful to be with."
"I am the kind of girl who any guy would be grateful to be with." I repeat, happier.
"If Geoff can't see that, then it's his loss."
"If Geoff can't see that, then it's his loss." I repeat, feeling much more confidant.
"Out there is a guy for me, one who is sweet, cares about me and wants me to be happy."
"Out there is a guy for me…" I start to say. But then, for some reason, I stop for a second. Finding my lips in a smile, I continued to repeat Cody's words with, "…one who is sweet, cares about me and wants me to be happy."
Um…maybe he's closer than I would have thought?
Cody and me remained that way for a few minutes, with our fingers intertwined and me repeating things he said to booster my confidence. I was shocked by how much better I felt. After a deep breath, Cody removed his fingers from mine and told me to open my eyes. I do so. Everything is exactly the same as it was when I was crying my eyes out. Except now, I wasn't crying my eyes out, and my vision wasn't made blurry by my tears. Seeing things with my vision fine, I look at Cody as if I was seeing him for the first time.
He grinned at me, showing that funny gap in between his front teeth. He must have noticed my smile as he returned it in kind and asked, "Are you feeling any better?"
"Y-yes…yes I am." I was shockingly myself as I said it but I was. I did feel better! Finding my smile growing I added, "Thank you so much Cody."
"I'm glad, Bridgette." Cody says with that gap-toothed smile as he stands up. "I guess my work here is done. I'm sure you'd like to be alone now so I'll…"
"But you can't leave yet," I say sadly. "You haven't gotten your reward yet."
"What rewa—"
His question was cut off as my lips found themselves on his cheek! I couldn't help myself. Despite never having talked to me once before, he had done so much to help me. I held the kiss for a few seconds, wanting to convey how much his efforts mattered to me.
Taking my lips off of his cheek, I kept my eyes closed as I remained next to it and said, "That reward. I own you one, Cody."
When my lips left his cheek, it took all of my restraint to not start laughing hysterically. Cody, the guy who acted like he was a savvy ladies' man, was the brightest shade of red! Not only that, but it seemed like he had been paralyzed…I had to check to make sure he was still breathing.
I couldn't help but smile at the adorableness of it all. But as I thought about it, that changed. The joy that I initially felt at seeing that changed to horror filled guilt.
Stupid, stupid Bridgette!
You just really met the guy like five minutes ago and your already kissing him!?
And what made it worse…I was likely the first girl he wasn't related to who kissed him.
It was a bad habit of mine. In my hometown, kissing can be and often is very platonic. But that doesn't mean it's the case everywhere and I shouldn't assume that it's the norm.
Just because I've kissed some of my guy friends, some on the lips no less, doesn't mean that everyone does. And from the reaction he was having, Cody was someone who didn't.
I hadn't felt this guilty about something for a very long time…and I get guilty easily!
For seemed like forever, I was trapped in guilt, immobilized just as much as Cody.
Thankfully for my guilt, Cody seemed to be able to move again as he weakly stuttered, "I-I th-tha-think you pa-paid m-me ba-back in fu-fa-full."
"Thanks again Cody but I'm so sorry! I'm so use to kissing my friends that it sometimes doesn't register that others don't do it with their platonic friends. I hate that about myself, I'm such a horrible person for doing that!" I say rapidly, trying to explain myself.
"I don't mean to break it to you Bridgette but getting kisses from beautiful blondes isn't exactly on the top of the list of things that a horrible person would do." Cody says, as I got the impression that the shock of the previous spectacle of me kissing his cheek had loosened every bolt in his brain and brought him into the state of a blank slate.
For a moment, nothing in the world seemed to move, a pin dropping could have loosened a big bang into creating another universe into the silence. Then came the slightest sound, it was quick and quiet at first, but it gradually turned into a tirade of infectious laughter that spread from me to him.
For me, the laughter was especially strong; it was my first since the break up with Geoff.
Struggling through the last bits of my laughter, I say to Cody, "I guess that's true."
"By the way, you said kissing was common place in your town…where do you live? Maybe I can convince my parents to move there?" Cody asks with a gap-toothed smirk.
I tried to fight it at first but I burst into a second fit of laughter, feeling better than before.
After laughing for a second time, Cody and me talked until well after midnight.
It seemed like he wanted to continue but he started yawning more frequently. With him having done enough for me already and feeling a bit guilty about making him stay awake, I tell him that its ok for him to go to bed. After some initial protest, he agreed with me.
He got up and started to walk out but then he stopped and turned back around. He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out the chocolate chip cookie he showed me earlier. After doing so, he broke it in half and placed one of the halves in my hands.
I can't help but look up at him confused. He started to avoid my gaze and shuffle his feet. With his voice sounding bashful he said, "After what you've been through, you deserve a treat. And they say chocolate is the best thing for a broken heart…expect a new lover."
I would have hugged him but after kissing his cheek he looked embarrassed enough as it is. Instead I gave him a grateful smile as I said, "Thanks Cody, I really do appreciate it."
Taking a bite out of it and chewing, I couldn't help but realize I was still smiling.
Swallowing the sweet and gooey chocolate, I had a spur of the moment thought.
"Cody, if you don't mind of course, could I maybe hang out with you sometime?"
For some reason it didn't sit well with me to ask him. Hadn't he done enough for me? The last thing I wanted to be was a burden to such a nice guy.
Cody looked shocked at the question, for a second. Then his teal eyes became so warm as he said, "Of course Bridgette. One of the perks of not competing is that I have a lot of free time. And there are few ways better of spending it than with a great girl like you."
After reassuring me that almost any time was good with him and telling me a few places where I'd be most likely to find him, Cody left with a content smile on his face.
And just like that…I was alone again, exactly as I was before Cody got knocked down.
But I wasn't crying anymore.
The pain of the break up with Geoff was still there, still stinging me but it was…smaller.
Looking down at my hands, I saw the half of the cookie, minus one bite, that he gave me. I remembered how sweet it tasted, how the chocolate seemed to melt in my mouth. More than that, I remembered the guy who gave it to me, the guy unknown to me until now.
Taking another bite, finishing what was left of the sweet treat from the sweeter guy, two ideas came to me. While savoring the warm, thick chocolate, they dominated my mind.
While my faith in guys has been shaken, there might be a guy in my life who isn't a selfish creep after all.
I might not have ever interacted with Cody before this point…but I would be doing a lot more of it from now on.
And there you have it; Bridgette and Cody have interacted for the first time and he has planted similar seeds with her as he did in the previous chapter with Gwen.
I truly hope I was able to portray Bridgette as well as I did Cody and Gwen. Please let me know what you think, ok?
Let me clarify a few things that may have popped into your heads while reading this.
One, I truly don't hate Geoff. He's certainly likeable enough (for the most part) and his heart-to-heart with Gwen on Boney Island in "Trial by Tri-Armed Triathlon" still remains in my top 5 (maybe top 3) of all time greatest Total Drama moments. However, within the past year or so, I've realized something. While I have few objective problems with it, I've become less of a fan of Bridgette being with Geoff. The main reason for that boils down to one thing: Bridgette should be with a better guy than Geoff. Bridgette as become one of my favorite Total Drama characters and because of that I feel that she deserves someone with a brain who doesn't let fame get to his head so easily. In fact now that I think about it, I've developed an opinion somewhat similar to that of the Kobold Necromancer's, I like Geoff/Bridgette just fine but there are other guys who I think would make a far better and appealing boyfriend for Bridgette. After reading some great fan-fictions, I've come to be more favoring to her being with: Cody, Harold, Noah, or Ezekiel. Plus, his sudden turn into a jerk makes behavior like this far more plausible than it would be otherwise.
Two, the scene that establishes the bond between Bridgette and Cody has a much stronger impact on them than the one with Gwen. Yes, it is. While not my original intention, this actually does make sense. Just hear me out. Unlike Gwen, Cody's never interacted with Bridgette. So for his scene with her to have anywhere near the same impact on him, it had to be with her far more emotional raw and vulnerable than Gwen was. Also unlike Gwen, Bridgette's break up happened literally within the hour. So, as one could easily imagine, she's more of an obvious wreck over it. And finally, as later chapters will show, the scene between Cody and Gwen will have an impact just as strong even though its not as obvious right after it happened.
I'm not sure when the next chapter will come but at the moment I think it will be another Gwen chapter.
Whether that's the case or not, until next time please: read, review, alert, favor, and spread the word!