Hello again, people of fanfiction! As promised, I present to you the next chapter. I know several of you have asked me to up the amount of Breredith in my writing, this chapter is for you. Personally, I don't ship the Starkids, but since my reviewers are so super wonderful to me, I thought I'd give it a whirl just for you guys. This chapter is a bit more serious than past chapters, but is still very comedic. I'd LOVE to get some more reviews *cough* hint *cough* Even if it's just to tell me how my writing is faring (better, worse, staying just about the same?) Hugs and butterfly kisses, ravenclawdancer4999
"Shit," Meredith muttered, slumping down in her seat in an attempt to appear invisible. The Starkids had just ordered their dinner and had been laughing, talking, and joking around before Meredith spotted two people she had hoped to never lay eyes on again. The only person who took notice of her sudden mood swing was Holden, who had been sitting on her direct right.
"What is it, Mere?" he asked cautiously, "Is your stomach upset? Oh god, please don't tell me it's that time of the month, I don't think I can handle that-"
"Chill, Brian," she rolled her eyes, "That was last week."
"So that's why you threw a shoe at my head..." Holden said thoughtfully, "But if it's not that, then what is it? Meredith shifted uncomfortably in her seat so that her back faced the rest of the restaurant. She motioned for him to lean in closer and he obeyed.
"You see the tall guy in the back corner?" she asked, giving a small nod in the direction she was referring to, "The one with the blonde?" Holden looked over Meredith's left shoulder and immediately spotted the two.
"Ex-boyfriend?" he guessed.
"Worse," Meredith admitted, giving a small shudder, "Ex-bully, or should I say , ex-bullies. The girl is Tiffany Kato; captain of the cheer team in high school and world-class bitch. Rumor has it that she hooked up with the entire basketball team in less than a week."
"Why is it that all sluts are named Tiffany?" Brian remarked, having brief flashbacks of a certain production.
"Beats me," Meredith shook her head, "But the guy? Theo Martinez, also known as the asshole who made my life a living hell for four years. He called me all the usual stuff; nerd, ugly, freak of nature, theater geek, every goddamn day of high school."
"What a di-" Brian started, his eyes narrowing and his fists beginning to clench under the table. Due to his big brother instincts, Holden was fighting the urge to jump out of the booth and make him sorry he ever insulted Meredith; which would involve two black eyes and most likely a bloody nose, broken or otherwise. Before he could follow through, the aforementioned bully interrupted his train of thought.
"Hey, Meredith, is that you?" Theo called from across the restaurant, making his way over to her, "It's me, Theo Martinez. From high school?"
"Fuck," she cursed quietly, racking her brain until an idea struck her, "Brian, can you pretend to be my boyfriend for two minutes?" Holden looked back over at Theo, then into Meredith's pleading eyes.
"Okay, fi-" Before he could finish, Meredith had pressed herself up against him and began kiss him vigorously as Theo approached. All the Starkids looked on in shock, trying to process why their two friends were making out all of a sudden. Only when Tiffany and Theo were right in front of the table did Meredith pull away from Brian. Much to her pleasure, Theo's jaw dropped ever so slightly when she turned around.
"Hey, Theo," Meredith said sweetly, "I didn't see you there. Long time, no see right?"
"No kidding," Theo mumbled, still taken aback, "Wow, you look, great..." This earned Meredith a jealous glare from Tiffany, but she merely returned it with a charming smile.
"Um, not to be rude, " Jaime piped up from the back of the booth, "But who is he?"
"Oh, where are my manners?" Meredith apologized quickly, "Theo, these are my friends from U of M; more commonly known as Team Starkid. Everyone, this is Theo and Tiffany, we, ahem, went to high school together..."
"No way," Theo exclaimed, "You're Team Starkid? You guys were the stuff of legend in theater department over at UCLA!"
"Yes," Julia nodded curtly, sensing Meredith's resentment towards the two.
"We're actually in the middle of our second national tour, now that we've finished our fifth full length musical," Lauren added, putting extra emphasis on 'second' and 'fifth.'
"Sounds like you guys are really making a name for yourselves," Theo congratulated them, taking a sudden interest in the floor.
"What are you doing right now, Theo?" Dylan asked innocently.
"Oh, you know," he mumbled, "A few part-time jobs here and there, trying to make ends meet."
"Don't worry about it," Holden tried to assure him, "I've been there, things will work out eventually."
"And who is this strapping young man?" Tiffany asked in a sickly sweet tone, gesturing towards Holden, "By the looks of it, the two of you are more than friends."
"Oh, this is Brian," Meredith replied, throwing a very girlish giggle into her voice, "He's been my boyfriend for almost a year now." The Starkids gave her mixed looks of horror and disgust until she gave an almost imperceptible wink that told them otherwise.
"How sweet," Tiffany cooed, latching on to Theo's arm.
"Congrats, man," Theo shook Holden's hand, "Looks like you've got yourself quite a catch."
"You...too," Brian answered slowly, taking in Tiffany's overly bleached hair and ridiculously short skirt. He averted his eyes back to Meredith, who's dark brown tendrils fell in natural curls and was wearing shorts of a sensible length. His expression softened, meeting her warm, chocolate-colored eyes. "But you're right, I couldn't ask for more in a girl. Meredith's smart, funny, talented, and beautiful, not to mention an incredible kisser. I don't know what I did to deserve her, but I must being doing something right." Meredith felt the color rise in her cheeks, Brian wasn't one to compliment very easily, even if he was acting.
"Come on, Theo," Tiffany pouted, "We should go."
The ex-cheerleader was clearly put out by the fact that her former punching bag was now a perfect ten. Meredith had outgrown her ugly duckling phase and had tons of friends, a secure job with fame attached, and a cute boyfriend to boot. Theo reluctantly followed her out and when he looked back, Meredith was fiercely kissing Brian again. He felt a twinge of remorse in his chest, or was it jealousy?
Once they were positive Tiffany and Theo had left, the Brian and Meredith immediately pulled away.
"I said you could pretend we were in a relationship, I never said you could shove your tongue in my mouth uninvited!" Holden complained, pretended to wipe his tongue, "Now I'll have Meredith germs in there for the next week!"
"Hey, you think I wanted to put my tongue your mouth? You weren't my first choice either. Given the opportunity, I probably would have asked Walker instead..."
"WHAT?" Joe and Holden exclaimed.
"It's nothing personal, Brian, it's just that Walker has bigger muscles than you."
"I take offense to that," Holden pouted as Joe smirked at him from the other side of the table.
"I'm just yanking your chain guys, you know that." Meredith sighed, "But really Brian, thanks for helping me out, I really appreciate it."
"Hey, a family's got to watch out for each other right? No one is allowed to harass you except us." Holden grinned right back, but then became more serious, "But I did mean that, when I said I didn't know what I did to deserve someone like you, speaking in the friendship sense. I don't know what I did to deserve all of you, really."
"Awwwwww..." the Starkids chorused.
"We love you too, Holden," Rosenthal replied, giving him an incredibly bromantic hug.
"I bet you also meant it when you were naming off my fabulous qualities," Meredith raised an eyebrow, "Right?"
"Well, four out of five," Holden said solemnly, "You are pretty intelligent, somewhat funny, remotely talented, and reasonably attractive. But to be quite frank with you, you're a terrible kisser."
"That's a lie!" Meredith laughed, giving him another shove, "You know that you enjoyed it..."
"Whatever you say, babe," Holden smirked, giving her a cheeky wink.
"Call me babe one more time and I'll strangle you."
"Okay...babe..."
TROOOOOLLLLLLLL! ON FANFICTION! THOUGHT YOU OUGHT TO KNOW! I know what you're thinking, 'How dare she!' But seriously guys, you all were just ASKING for it. I thought I'd take a leaf out of the Starkids' book, particularly Brolden and Jaime Lyn, the trolling masters. So, hopefully you guys aren't too mad at me and still want to review? Even if it's just to scold me for being such a tease? Pretty please?