flyingmole: I hope they haven't already started kicking in!
ooo a jellybean: Well this next chapter might not fulfill all your expectations, but hopefully it will still be enjoyable!
XKaterinaNightingaleX: I know what you mean. I missed them too while I was writing all of this!
Amy90: Hopefully if you continue to read you'll see what happens. So many people have so many theories and predictions, but I think this chapter might be a little less predictable than the first three of the second part.
For everyone else that's reading, I hope you enjoy this, and PLEASE leave a review! I am open to all constructive criticism! Thanks, and enjoy!
19
I went back to them. Zach and Dave I mean. It was briefly, and I died almost as quickly as I had gotten there, but I still saw them. I was sure of it.
It was almost mid-August, which meant it had been a few weeks since I had first met Clay and Grayson, and I had flown into Toronto a week before shooting began in order to prepare. I was stressing out because, to be honest, I hadn't really stayed that much in contact with the two actors except for more table readings and costume fittings. (If you're wondering, the answer is yes. It was weird being put into clothes that I had once owned as an 18 year-old.)
Anyway, I was nervous as usual, and demanded that Carrie come to Toronto to my hotel room instantly to help me run away so I wouldn't have to do this job. She was simply not having it.
"You know, Elyse," She started in that tone of hers. "We have worked so hard for just one decent role, and you practically get handed the best one that will probably launch your career, and now you want to run away?"
Oh Boy. I certainly sparked something in her I had never even known existed. It was like Emily's clone.
"I really don't understand why people have to put so much effort into doing this one thing for you and you can't even just sit back and take it! You got the part, what more do you need?" She argued.
"Alright, alright-"
"Don't 'alright, alright' me, Elyse." She scolded. Jeez. "Go get some rest, wake up tomorrow in the morning, read your lines over and over, and you will nail it."
"Okay…"
"I'm serious!" She exclaimed. "Go get some sleep now!"
"Fine," I said. "Bye."
She was right. I needed rest. I had been up until two in the morning for countless nights in a row, worried sick about how everything was going to end up going. When was I going back to Zach and Dave? Don't get me wrong—Clay and Grayson were great, but I needed to go back. It had been too long already.
But, like Carrie mentioned, this was no time to be thinking about that. I had to sleep.
It was funny, because as I was dozing off, I could've sworn I heard a never-ending freight train pass by. This hotel wasn't even built by a train track.
I woke up standing in a dark room, with two occupied beds and one window that leaked in neon lights from a sign that stood outside. I saw two bodies breathing heavily—the one on the far end being much larger than the other. I smiled knowing it was Zach, and more importantly knowing I wasn't dreaming, because this felt real. This felt like how it did when I first got there.
As I made a step closer to them, however, someone from behind me pressed their hand over my mouth and a knife to my throat.
"What are you?" The vaguely familiar voice asked. "Some kind of demon lady?"
Just as I was about to use my elbows to knock the wind out of him, he slit my throat.
I gasped, clutching my throat, only to have to cover my eyes because of the harsh morning light. I looked around and found myself in a very strange and unfamiliar setting. I was in a bed but it was much nicer than the one I had at this hotel and it looked nothing like the one I had at home. Was I in another hotel room or something?
When I scanned the place I saw my things spread across, and some of my clothes in the closet. Unopened boxes were scattered all across the apartment. Really? I had been gone for maybe ten seconds and this much had changed?
A buzz at the front abruptly ended my train of thought. I asked who it was through the intercom and received a vague answer.
"Just me," The man's voice said.
Well that was enlightening.
I buzzed him in regardless and in no sooner than thirty seconds found Grayson standing in the doorway.
"Did you just wake up or something?" He asked.
I just stood there gawking at him.
"You need to get dressed," He told me. "Matt wanted to see us today remember?"
What was going on?
"Right," I said making my way to what I assumed to be my room. I left the door open just in case I had to talk to Grayson.
"So this is the new place, huh?" He asked. "It's pretty neat."
"Thanks." I replied.
"Are you okay?" He asked. "You seem a little out of it."
"Just tired." I assured him as I slipped into some jeans.
"Yesterday night was fun, wasn't it?" He asked cheekily.
I stopped. Oh God. Please no. Don't tell me that I and Grayson Shields… Well, I guess I could've done worse. No! That was still too gross! I mean it was one thing to daydream about someone you don't know… but now that I actually met him and spent a fair amount of time with him… the thought was too weird.
"I just talked to some other people who were there," He said. "They all told me that they had so much fun and they miss you."
Huge wave of relief.
I walked out of the room in a somewhat nice blouse paired with jeans. Apparently a new wardrobe was out of the question after I had purchased my new house.
"You look good," He told me. "Let's go."
"Where?" I asked as I shut the door behind myself.
"To the restaurant," Grayson said. "Matt said he wanted to speak to us."
"No I got that," I replied. "Why are you here? I could've gone by myself."
"You asked me to give you a ride last night at your little party thing, remember? You said your car was still in the shop." He said. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?"
"Yea," I assured him. "I'm swell."
Okay, so within the ten second time that I had gotten killed, I had bought a new home and a car, had a party for I don't know what reason, and asked Grayson Shields to give me a ride to some restaurant to meet with Matt for another unknown reason. Superb.
"Elyse!" Matt exclaimed upon seeing me. "Everyone misses you on set."
When did I go on set? I was gone for like ten seconds.
It was probably best to go along with whatever he was saying anyway.
"Yea, I miss them too." I told him half-heartedly.
"It was great having you with us," He said. "And I'm glad you two came together. I just gave Clay a call and he should be here any moment."
When Clay did come, he seemed so excited to see me and gave me a quick hug and kiss before taking a seat insisting that it had been too many days since we'd last hung out.
I didn't realize we ever hung out.
"What did you want to talk about?" I asked.
"You guys should order first," Matt insisted. "You must be hungry waiting for Clay for so long."
"Sorry," Clay said sheepishly.
"That's okay," I said. "These guys can order. I'm not that hungry."
"Come on Elyse," Grayson said. "You have to eat something. You look like an Ethiopian child or something."
What a terrible thing to joke about. I wasn't that scrawny, and plus, where was this newfound concern of his coming from anyway, huh?
"I'll get something to eat later," I said. "It's no big deal."
"So what were you saying Matt?" Clay asked, with his eyes scanning the menu.
"I just thought it would be a good time to sit down for brunch with the first season airing in a week." Matt told us. "It's been a while since we all sat down together, and I wanted to talk to you about the possibility of having Elyse continue with us beyond just the first episode of season two."
The first episode was about to air? That meant it was early September. That's great. I just missed nearly a whole month of my life in the span of about ten seconds.
"That's fantastic," Grayson said.
"The thing is we're only going to consider it after those episodes all air and we get some sort of response." Matt said. "We don't even know how well the show itself is going to catch on."
Oh, I had a whole four seasons and counting that told me it would definitely catch on.
"I just wanted to let you guys know, that the producers and writers and directors have all agreed that they really want to bring Cru Ella back," Matt said. "It's just a matter of when, and how, because at the point where we have her written down, she's left that universe and no one knows where to."
I had a pretty good idea of "where to".
"Well, hang on," Grayson said. "It's going to be another year until Elyse's last episode is going to air. We can't figure anything out earlier than that?"
"I'm afraid not." Matt regrettably told us.
A whole year? I just waited four years to go back for ten seconds! What kind of shitty system was this?
"I don't want you guys to be feeling too upset or too optimistic about this." He said. "I just want to let you guys in on a little bit of what we're deciding, and I want to let you know beforehand before some other show or movie steals our Elyse here."
Highly unlikely.
Matt filled us in on a little more and we ended this get-together with some small talk. He left earlier than the rest of us, and I kind of wanted to go home too and figure out what other major events I had missed out on (within the span of ten freaking seconds). The problem was Grayson was my only ride and him and Clay were already talking about doing something together for the day.
"I mean I was about to head to the gym," Clay said. "But I could always do that tomorrow."
Here came the beginning of Clays ridiculous muscle buildup. Seriously that guy got ginormous by season four.
"I didn't have any plans," Grayson added. "How about you Elyse?"
I shook my head.
"It's been so long since we hung out." Clay told me giving my arm a playful punch. "Now that we're all together we should do something."
"Sure," I said not really that enthused. "What do you guys want to do?"
"We're downtown," Grayson said. "We'll just walk around until we find something to do."
"Sounds good to me," Clay said with a shrug.
"I'm on board." I said. "But before I make any commitments I want to see if my car's ready or not."
Any excuse to go back to those luxurious bed sheets.
"Why don't you just call them?" Grayson suggested.
"I forgot their number." I said thinking quickly.
Clay and Grayson looked at each other and laughed.
"What?" I wanted to know.
"You gave me the number." Clay said.
"Yea, you gave it to me too." Grayson added.
Since when would I entrust anyone else with something so silly like a mechanic's phone number? Especially with these two. I only met them a month and a half ago.
"But my phone is dead so I can't help you." Clay said making a face.
"I got it." Grayson said pulling out his. "You know, when you said you were forgetful I didn't realize it was this bad." He joked. "Here you go," He set the phone to my ear.
I gave my name to the person who picked up and after hanging up I returned the phone to Grayson in disappointment.
"Not ready." I said.
"Bummer." Clay frowned. "And you just got that car too."
Truth was I was so curious to figure out what car it was I decided to invest in. Clearly it wasn't a very reliable one.
"Well now that that's over with, let's go." Grayson said getting up.
We followed him out the restaurant after they paid for their food, and we headed towards where most of the stores were. I made a face as we approached clothing outlets and high-end boutiques. This was a funny picture.
"I never made you guys for shoppers." I said.
"Relax," Grayson told me. "We're headed to a much more entertaining part of town."
"Jeez, man. You make it sound like we're taking her to a strip club or something." Clay joked.
"Come on, Elyse. You've lived in L.A. for how long now?" Grayson asked. "And you're not even familiar with the best bars in town."
"That's because I was stuck waitressing all day," I argued. "I didn't have time to go about the city."
"Yeah, yeah." He replied as we entered a dim bar.
We took our seats on the stools with me sitting in between both of them. They ordered drinks and turned to me. I just looked at them funny.
"Well?" Clay asked. "What do you want?"
"I don't know," I said. "A Coke."
"It's not that early." Grayson said. "Although I guess you didn't eat anything yet, and I'm sure that can't be any good for you. Don't be shy though. I'll pay for you."
"Seriously," I replied. "Come on, you guys know I don't drink."
They both began laughing.
"Okay, Cru Ella." Clay joked.
I gave him an offended look.
"I think we're getting a little bit too in character, Elyse." Grayson added.
"I don't drink!" I cried. "Have you guys ever seen me consume any alcohol beverage?" I pointed out.
They stopped and actually thought about it, and their joking demeanor quickly faded.
"Holy crap," Clay said. "You don't drink!"
"No. Really?" I folded my arms and smiled proudly.
"Well then what are we doing here?" Grayson asked standing up.
I looked over to see Clay doing the same.
"No, no!" I stopped them. "Just sit down. We can still sit here and talk and… other stuff… if you want."
"Yea, but this is a bar," Clay pointed out. "You don't even drink. What's the point?"
"Look," I started. "If you guys want to go somewhere else, we can go somewhere else. But I'm perfectly fine over here, so don't go on my account."
"Are you sure?" Grayson asked me dubiously.
"Yes." I insisted.
"Alright fine," He said taking his seat. "But you have to eat something."
"Yea, you can't just have a Coke for breakfast." Clay said also sitting down.
"I'll get a sandwich or something." I told them.
"And I'm paying." Grayson said.
"I never agreed to that," I said.
"Well you can agree to it now, so don't even think about taking out your wallet." He ordered.
There was no use fighting it. I could tell even by the look on Clays face. As uncomfortable as Grayson made me feel occasionally, he was turning out to be quite the sweetheart.
We stayed for hours, mainly talking, but near the end, we got caught up in some basketball game that came on. To be honest I had little idea of what was going on, and frankly, didn't care what team was winning, but it was rather entertaining to see a group of mainly men screaming and jumping and growing overall very excited over a game. It was especially entertaining to see Clay and Grayson get so riled up, and just listening to some of the colourful words that came out of their mouths was a whole other story.
We left when it was dark out, and even though I had eaten a sandwich only hours earlier they were hungry for some dinner, and I wasn't one to object. I was actually enjoying myself very much with these two.
We came upon some Mediterranean place, that looked like it did more than a little well for itself, and Grayson pulled out my seat for me, as we got ready to order. I can't even remember what about, but we were laughing for quite some time before Clay wrapped his long arm loosely around my neck and pulled me in to give a big kiss on my forehead. Very unexpected.
"I'm glad we did this, Elyse." He told me. "I was so upset I couldn't go to your party thing last night, and then Matt called and I knew we had to do something today."
"I'm having a ton of fun." I told him truthfully. It had been so long since I could actually say something like that and not lie.
"Yea, we should do this more often." Grayson added.
"I just can't wait for our road trip to Chicago." Clay said.
"To where?" I asked.
"Seriously, Elyse," Grayson said. "I'm starting to get really concerned. You've been forgetting about everything today. What's with you?"
I just looked at him.
"You know," Clay said. "The one we've been planning to go on for the past two weeks."
"Oh, right!" I cried having no idea what they were talking about.
"You have no idea what we're talking about." Grayson said. He turned to Clay. "She has no idea what we're talking about."
"You don't have to tell me that." Clay said shaking his head. "It's written all over her face."
It was starting to become kind of frustrating to me that these guys knew this much about me and I didn't have a single clue about them.
"Chicago." Grayson told me. "We were going to meet your relatives, book hotel rooms, go check out the city, and drive back. This was your plan!"
"Don't flake on us, Elyse!" Clay warned.
Meet my relatives? I had finally found some people in this universe that I actually kind of liked. Why would I suggest they meet my relatives?
I was able to slightly convince them that I actually did remember but I was positive that they were a little doubtful.
After moving to different topics and eating our food, we finally decided to call it a night and headed in opposite directions. I followed Grayson to his car, as he was my only ride home. We were walking down quietly when all of a sudden some drunk approached us.
"Hey honey," He said referring to me (I hope). "Is this your boyfriend?"
At this moment I kind of wished Grayson was just so he could kick his butt.
"Excuse us," Grayson said. "We're just trying to get home."
"Well," The drunk asked. "Is he? 'Cause you're pretty cute…" He started approaching me as I prepared myself in a defensive stance. I was so going to beat his ass.
"Look," Grayson said getting in the way. "I really think you should let us through."
I couldn't believe this. Dave was a much more aggressive person who would've sent this guy to the other end of town by now, and here Grayson was, trying to talk his way out of a fight.
"Is this your girl?" The man asked.
"Yea, she is." Grayson lied.
"Shame…" the man said staggering back and walking passed us.
Grayson took my hand as we hurried to the car.
"Are you okay?" He asked opening the door for me. I looked up at him and nodded.
"I can take care of myself." I assured him as he climbed in.
"Hey look," He said. "If there's anyone who knows that it's going to be me. I was just trying to avoid you opening up a can of whoop-ass, alright?"
I smiled.
"Fine, but you didn't have to lie to him." I said.
When Grayson asked, "Lie to him about what?" I started growing very concerned.
"You know about me and you." I said hoping I would get the reaction I wanted.
"Oh right!" He remembered. Phew. "Who cares? It got him off our backs right?"
"I guess so," I responded.
Grayson shifted in his seat uneasily and gripped his steering wheel as we pulled into the lot of my building. As I was about to get out he stopped me.
"Hey wait a second." He said.
I turned to him to see that he looked rather distraught with his sad eyes glistening in the moonlight.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing—" He said. "Nothing, it's just that I…" He paused and faced me.
Uh-oh. This had never happened to me, but I had heard enough stories from other girls to know what Grayson was going to say.
"I kind of wanted to talk to you about something." He told me.
"What something?" I asked, my heart pounding out of my chest.
Please no. Please God, don't let this be ruined.
He just looked at me directly in the eyes, and his were so intense I couldn't help but do the same. With our gaze locked it was like there was already some sort of communicating going on. It was like just with us staring at each other, I could hear him tell me how after spending so much time with me, he was starting to feel something else, and was of course wondering if I happened to feel the same way.
Damn those beautiful sea-green eyes.
He started to lean in to kiss me and just as he got close enough I immediately pulled back.
"What are you doing?" I said shifting my body away from his.
He turned away and slammed his head on the rim of the steering wheel.
"I'm being an idiot." He told me. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." He said scratching the back of his head.
"Uh… that's okay." Gosh, I was so bad at this.
He began to repeatedly slam his head on the steering wheel.
"Seriously," I told him. ""You're going to kill all of your brain cells if you keep doing that." I sighed. "It's just that I'm not really looking for any relationship right now."
"And now I've ruined things." He turned to me. "Can we pretend this never happened?"
"Yes."
"This won't ruin anything will it?" He asked.
"I don't want it to." I told him. "And as long as you don't either, I don't see why it has to."
"That sounds perfect." He said sounding relieved.
"I should get back." I told him.
"Right," He said focusing back on his steering wheel. "Sorry again."
"It never happened." I said as I slid out of the car. "Thanks for everything."
"No problem."
I slammed the door and he sped out of sight. I was such a jerk. I couldn't believe I embarrassed Grayson Shields. Maybe I could've talked to him about it the next day over the phone or in person if I saw him just to let him know that it was just some silly thing and it wasn't a big deal.
No. We had already agreed that were going to pretend that that never happened.
I walked into the building, and after finding my room, I changed into my bedclothes and dove into my bed. Earlier in the day I didn't actually mind the fact that I couldn't go back to Zach and Dave, and now I wanted it more than I ever had in the four years that I was stuck here.
As I closed my eyes I heard the freight train.
My eyes opened to the dark again. I was lying in a bed with someone. I looked down and saw Dave's arms wrapped around me just like when I had been held by him last. In front of my eyesight was Zach, sleeping soundly. I got out and made my way to the other end of the room where a lamp was and switched on the light. Immediately both brothers woke up, startled by the unexpected shine, and I slowly made my way towards them.
Dave looked at me and stood up out of the bed.
"Cru?"
OKAY bit of a small after thought: 1. I know that filming for shows doesn't usually work the way that I have it written down (for those of you who like it a little more technical). Unfortunately I had to change that around just so that it would flow better with my timeline for this story.
2. In no way do I imagine myself or any character dating Jensen Ackles (except for maybe in my happy dreams). I know he's married! I swear I'm not trying to create a home wrecker situation here! While they're supposed to look exactly alike, I don't know anything about the actors personally (sigh... I wish). This is kind of another reason why I wanted to change the names; so that I could kind of take it where ever I wanted to with out being limited by certain aspects.
Just wanted to clear some stuff up! (Remember to review)