CHAPTER 13
December 24th, 2008, and Theo and Marley stood on Marley's front porch. It was far from unfamiliar territory for either of them, as Theo had been living with the Roses for over a year, and had been dating Marley for almost a year. However, this time, there was something different. Something that was causing Theo to shift from foot to foot with anxiousness.
It was Christmas Eve, not the first Theo had spent with the Rose family, though it definitely felt like it. That was because this was the first time he was meeting Marley's extended family, who were all inside the house, eagerly awaiting to be introduced to him, as they had heard so much about the boy living with Marley's family and dating their daughter, without them having ever met him. Cousins, grandparents, uncles, aunts, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, mom, dad,… the entire Rose clan were all in there. He would've met them the previous Christmas, as the Roses had a tradition of getting together every year for the holidays, but on top of everything else Theo had been going through at the time, it was probably for the best that he hadn't.
"Relax, Theo. They're going to love you." She reassured him, sensing his unease. Theo shook his head.
"I don't know. If I was your daddy, there wouldn't be a guy on earth good enough for my baby girl." Theo said.
"Well you are most definitely not my father. Thank God." Marley replied, looping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a kiss. They made out for several moments on the front porch, temporarily forgetting about what they were about to face the moment they stepped through the door. When they broke away, Marley's eyes lingered on what Theo was holding in his hands. "You really didn't have to bring a gift."
Theo shrugged, raising the bouquet of flowers and the bottle of wine that he was holding in his hands.
"Hey, it was how I was raised. You're invited over, you bring a gift. You show them respect, then you earn their trust."
"Texas charm." Marley smiled. Theo nodded.
"Better get used to it." He replied.
Theo glanced downwards for a moment, and began picking at the fabric of his large, woolley Christmas sweater. It was decorated with a cheesy picture of Frosty the Snowman wearing sunglasses, smoking weed and saying "Just Chillin'", and Marley had made him wear it.
"I feel like a jackass." Theo muttered quietly. "Remind me again, why am I wearing this?"
"It's a family tradition." Marley reminded him.
"And why aren't you wearing one then?" He asked. She wasn't, instead wearing a white dress adorned with flowers that made her look absolutely radiant.
"Mine's upstairs in my old bedroom." She told him. Theo raised an eyebrow, still slightly disbelieving of all of this, and Marley noticed, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Come on, babe. Your family probably had some dumb traditions, too."
Theo's face darkened slightly, and Marley blushed as she remembered who she was speaking to.
"Yeah, silly sweaters are the least of my family's issues. I haven't been home in a year and a half now." He responded. Marley nodded.
"Well that's not me. Family is everything to me." She told him. "You need to know the kind of life that you're signing up for: ugly sweaters, drunk uncles, it's messy."
"Yeah?" Theo murmured, a faint smile gracing his face as he listened to Marley talk about 'the life he was signing up for'. She was as all-in with their relationship as he was, despite them being merely 16, and it was moments like those that made him certain that he had met his soulmate.
"Yeah." Marley nodded. "So what do you say, cowboy? You up for all of that?"
"I think I'd make a pretty good drunk uncle someday." He replied.
"Yeah, you would." Marley giggled and nodded, before opening the door and entering the house.
Immediately, every eye in the room locked on them, and the loud hum of chatter descended into dead silence. As Theo glanced around the room, his heart dropped as he came to a realisation… he was the only one wearing a sweater! Everyone else was dressed in a shirt and tie, while he was looking like he had just finished a shift carolling at the mall. There were tens of people in the room, and Theo couldn't bring himself to make eye contact with any of them in humiliation, as they all regarded him in silence.
It was Marley's dad who spoke first, pushing his way to the front of the family so that he was facing the two teenagers, but it was Marley who he spoke to first.
"You got him to wear the sweater?" Mr. Rose asked his daughter in shock. That's when Theo realised…
"Hey, you set me up!" Theo exclaimed, glancing at his girlfriend. Marley's face broke out in a beaming, playful grin, winking at him.
"Sorry, babe." She laughed. "But like I said… tradition."
It was indeed tradition in the Rose family. Any time someone new was joining the family, they were initiated with the light-hearted prank, and it was upon Marley revealing to Theo as such that the entire family started laughing uproariously. It didn't matter who:
"Woooooow." Theo rolled his eyes, before turning towards Marley's family with a smile on his face. "For the record… you all look ridiculous. I look festive!"
"He's a keeper!" Marley's father laughed, draping an arm around Theo's shoulders and pulling him into the house as he addressed the rest of the family. "I told you he was a keeper!"
Theo jolted awake in a heap, ripped out of the flashback, feeling an agonizing pain wrack his entire body as he realized that it was just that: a flashback. Nothing more. Yet another day without Marley, and this felt like by far the hardest one yet. Saying everything he had out loud to Santana yesterday… it made it all feel so real. So permanent. Everything in his life had changed so drastically when he had arrived in Lima that a part of him had wished that this was all just a nightmare that he would soon wake up from. But saying it all out loud to Santana… it had been the emotional equivalent of pinching him to prove that he wasn't dreaming. This was the reality he was stuck with.
Woof! Woof! Woof!
Theo's eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the sudden sound, and his head slowly whipped around the trailer as he tried to locate its whereabouts. It didn't take him long to do so either. Standing in the doorway of his trailer was, to his great surprise, a dog! He had absolutely no clue how he had gotten there. With no collar, leash, and his fur looking like it had been through a war, he was almost certainly a stray with no owner. That didn't mean that he was welcome in Theo's trailer though. Especially not when he did what he did next: somehow, the dog managed to paw his way into Theo's fridge and extract the only bit of food he had left - a stale hotdog - and gobble it up greedily.
"Fuck off!" Theo grumbled, throwing a curled up ball of socks in the mutt's direction, trying to scare him away from his trailer and out of the door but to no avail. "Go away!"
As Theo shouted at the animal, still he did not move. Instead, he planted himself down on the trailer floor, lying down and rolling onto his back, wagging his tail in a gesture beckoning Theo to play with him. Theo didn't. He had no interest in a dog right now. In fact, that was just about the last thing he needed.
However, as Theo stood up and began to walk towards him, about to carry him and dump him outside, Theo stumbled and nearly tripped over something on the ground. It was one of the remaining liquor bottles that he kept in his trailer, still full of the delicious nectar. Still overwhelmed by the excruciating pain of his dream flashback, Theo didn't hesitate to pop open the bottle and raise it to his lips.
He drank, and drank, and drank. He downed the full bottle, and downed a second one that he had found in his trailer, without even bothering to slow down. He had an audience too, with the dog watching him with concern the entire time, trying to approach Theo several times to play, but being yelled at every time.
"Get the fuck away from me!" Theo snapped at the innocent animal, almost barking back at it as he tried to get him to go away, but unfortunately for him, the animal insisted on staying, staring at him with wide eyes the entire time. "Oh, don't look at me like that!"
It was almost like he could sense exactly what the animal was trying to convey. What he was doing right now… it was wrong. He had places to be, with school being at the very top of that list. But at that present moment, Theo couldn't bring himself to care as he continued to drown him further and further in the alcohol and despair...
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"Wow. Blaine! Sam! That was awesome, you guys! Great work!"
As the Glee club sat in the choir room that morning, everyone was present except one, and they were performing all of their introductory assignments. The assignment from Mr. Schue had been pretty clear: get to know your partner, and eventually perform a song that encapsulates your relationship with them, either in the form of a solo, or if you wanted to combine your performances with your partner in the form of a duet.
Naturally, most members of the New Directions had opted to perform a duet. There was only one thing they all enjoyed more than singing and dancing, and that was doing it with each other. All of the performances that morning had been incredible - light-hearted yet skillful shows of the New Directions' quality from all members of the club.
That said, there was still two groups left to perform: Mercedes and Finn, and Theo and Santana. There was no questioning which of the two groups was performing first, largely because half of Santana's group wasn't even there. Theo, that morning, was nowhere to be found. He had been AWOL for the past hour, with nobody having his number to contact him, and him not having told any of them that he had plans to miss rehearsal.
After everything that Theo had revealed about himself to her the previous night, as well as the fact that they had actually been getting along by the end of the night, Santana was definitely finding it a lot more challenging to properly condemn him for his absence. She was still frustrated, furious even. Him not showing up not meant that she couldn't perform, during a time when she knew every performance opportunity of hers would be crucial if she wanted to remove Rachel's monopoly over the club. But as angry as she was, a small part of Santana now couldn't help but be concerned. She had seen a glimpse, a mere glimpse, of the immense pain Theo was forced to house within him, and so in moments like these, her annoyance had been dampened by her concern for his well being.
THUD!
A faint thud suddenly rang around the room, coming from just outside the door. Not many people in the choir room had heard it, as they were all preparing for Mercedes and Finn's performance, assuming it was just some ruckus going on outside. But Santana heard it. She was one of few who did, and as her eyes flickered towards the small window in the middle of the door, she wasn't surprised to see who it was. She was surprised, however, at the state of him. He looked like he had the first night they had met, and that wasn't at all a good thing.
"Excuse me. Bathroom." Santana muttered quietly to Mr. Schue, before walking rapidly out the door of the choir room, slamming it behind her and instantly turning around to face Theo.
Her eyes, that had been burning with rage, almost started watering at the nauseating stench of booze that was being emitted by him. Santana didn't need a breathalyser either to know that most of what she was smelling had made it into his mouth too, as Theo was struggling to stand upright and was unable to focus on her.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Santana snapped quietly, wary of the Glee club inside and the other classrooms nearby, not wanting anyone to hear and venture out to investigate.
"Heyyyyy. Santana!" Theo drawled, trying to lean his arm on her for support, but quickly finding it shoved away by the Latina. "Long time, huh?!"
SLAP!
Before Theo could react, not for the first time in the nearly 4 days since he had met Santana, he found her hand connecting with his face with a wicked slap.
"Pull yourself together!" Santana demanded. "In case you've forgotten, we have a performance to do in that choir room right now! Go to the locker room, take a shower, and for the love of God, clean yourself up! You reek!"
After berating him for a few moments longer, Santana shoved Theo in the general direction of the locker room, the boy nearly falling over at the sudden shove and only just managing to regain his balance in time, drunkenly hobbing his way to the bathroom…
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"Ah right! Our last group is ready to perform!" Mr. Schue exclaimed eagerly, as the Glee club sat in the choir room, a now slightly more refreshed Theo amongst them. "We might've had to wait a little while, but better late than never!"
"Yeah, sorry about that." Theo murmured, late for the millionth time in only 4 days of classes in McKinley High.
"Not a problem, Theo. What are you and Santana going to be performing for us today?" Mr. Schue asked, as Theo and Santana took to the front of the room.
Theo glanced sideways at Santana at this comment. He knew exactly which song Santana had decided to pick for them to sing that day: Fuck You by Ceelo, as she had told him as much the previous afternoon while they had been "working" on their assignment. Little did he know though that all of that had changed with the dinner they had shared later that evening. Whether she liked it or not, Santana's blinding hatred for Theo was beginning to crumble.
"Oh, uh… we're singing…" Theo began, though he was swiftly cut off by his duet partner.
"Let it Be. The Beatles." Santana interrupted, glancing at Brad and the backup band as she did, before turning and briefly meeting Theo's gaze. It wasn't lost on him why Santana had made the sudden switch in song, and a new emotion filled Theo's eyes: appreciation, trust… he couldn't quite place it. This was Santana's olive branch, her way of reaching out to him and letting him know that their animosity towards each other didn't outweigh the fact that at the end of the day, if he needed someone in his corner, she would be there. And Theo couldn't even describe how much that meant to him.
"Awesome. Take it away, guys." Mr. Schue told them.
A/N: The following song is Let it Be by the Beatles. I always write out the lyrics for the songs sung in this story (and love the other stories who do), as I always find it fun to read through them. None of the songs chosen in Glee fanfictions by any author are chosen randomly. All of them are meaningful to the current storyline, and this one is no different. I'm sure all of you have heard the song before, but listen to it again anyways, as it's a great tune! I also believe they covered it on Glee, and Kevin McHale did it as his audition, as well as there being a really cool youtube video of Kevin and Jenna covering it as a duet. Anyways, back to the story…
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let it be
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it be
And when the broken-hearted people
Living in the world agree
There will be an answer
Let it be
For though they may be parted there is
Still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer
Let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Yeah, there will be an answer
Let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it be
And when the night is cloudy
There is still a light that shines on me
Shine until tomorrow
Let it be
I wake up to the sound of music
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
There will be an answer
Let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
There will be an answer
Let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it be
One might have thought that Theo and Santana's performance would be subpar. After all, their cover of the timeless Beatles classic was the very definition of 'winging it'. They hadn't done a second of practice together prior to the performance. They had never actually sung together at all, unlike any other combination of two students within the Glee club. And it wasn't like they were sleeping together, or even friends for that matter, to develop some kind of chemistry. It would be no surprise to anyone if, given all that, they sucked.
Not a chance.
Theo and Santana's performance was transcendent. They sang like they had been singing together their entire lives, harmonising with ease, overtaking the entire room with the perfect blend of power and technique in their voices. The emotion they were able to generate was second to none, largely due to the authenticity of what they were singing about. Broadway performers were able to put on a mask and sing about whatever was required, while acting as whoever was required. However, there was almost always something missing from performances like those, and that was true, genuine emotion like Theo and Santana had shown. Shockingly, their chemistry had been marvellous, despite their inexperience and negative feelings towards each other as people. Without saying a word or communicating in any way, they somehow knew when to sing louder, when to sing quieter, when to sing together, and when to sing individually. It was almost like a telepathic connection between them that had lasted the duration of the song.
Needless to say, the Glee club were amazed by the performance, but it had also put everyone else in the club on their toes. Although they weren't competing directly for anything with this assignment, the Glee club knew that every day between now and Sectionals would be an unofficial audition. And Theo and Santana… they had just laid down a marker.
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Theo was only 1 step out of the choir room when he was instantly met with a rather unpleasant surprise. Not for the first time since his arrival in McKinley High, Theo found himself dripping from head to toe in a freezing, sugary liquid. The slushie burrowed under his skin and allowed the cold to seep into his bones, his teeth chattering and hands trembling slightly.
A second later, Theo then found himself rather rudely shoved against a locker, where rather surprisingly, he then found himself face to face with a few of his familiar football teammates.
"We heard you joined Homo Explosion." Azimio remarked, glaring at Theo in disdain.
"Yeah, and so we just wanted to send you a message. We don't care who you are. We don't care if you play Football with us, or if you're the Quarterback. When you join them, you're one of them." Karofsky told him."So which is it going to be: Glee or Football?"
"God. You make that decision so difficult." Theo muttered quietly, picking a piece of frozen slushie out of his hair and flicking it at Karofsky, before pushing past him and walking to his next class in silence.
However, he didn't manage to make it to his classroom before he was met with yet another interruption. This time, thankfully, it wasn't the bullies, though it was someone who packed just as mean of a punch as them, if not even meaner at times.
"Hey! We need to talk!"
Theo internally groaned, knowing exactly the conversation that was about to come, as he turned around and stood opposite his Glee duet partner. He had raced out of the choir room to avoid talking to her after rehearsal, but apparently there was no escaping her that morning.
"What's up, Santana?" Theo murmured, trying his best to act like he didn't know what was going on. He wasn't fooling anyone though, least of all Santana.
"Really? What's up?" Santana laughed mirthlessly. "What the hell happened to you this morning?!"
"What do you mean?" Theo's poker face, that was usually quite superb, was abysmal at that moment. He knew exactly what Santana was questioning him about. He was just trying to avoid it at all costs.
"Don't play dumb! I'm not talking to Hudson here, am I?" She stated, before continuing in a slightly calmer tone of voice. It was almost impossibly difficult for her, but she knew that she needed to keep her frustration in check if she wanted to get anything more out of Theo than a stone wall. "What happened last night? What happened this morning? What's with the drinking?"
Theo stared at Santana for a few moments, a blank expression on his face.
"Troubles of the world caught up with me… climate change and all that." He commented, quietly and sarcastically. "What do you want me to say, Santana? We both know the answer."
Santana realised that he had a point. She didn't know what she wanted him to say, and she didn't know what she was supposed to say either. There was nothing more to be said that they both didn't already know. Theo was drowning under the overwhelming emotion of losing his wife. Santana was increasingly concerned about him. Those were the cards on the table, and so there was nothing more to say, leaving them in an awkward silence that only ended when Theo bid her goodbye, turned around and walked into his first class…
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"Congratulations, boys. You've all passed step 1. You've made the team."
The football team sat in Coach Beiste's locker room that afternoon after a long day at school, eager for their first practice of the McKinley High Football Season. The road to the State Championship had officially begun, and every single one of them was vying for an unprecedented back-to-back reign as a State Champion. Even Theo was a champion back in his old school in Texas, before everything had gone horribly wrong and his entire life had come crashing down around his ears.
"You might have made the team, but the hard work starts now. Like I told you boys before the tryout, I've accepted more players onto the roster this year, so there's going to be more competition than ever before. Who starts the first game of the season is fully dependent on the work you put in between now and then. We have plenty of new faces in this locker room, but even with the old ones, even with the veterans, everyone starts fresh on equal ground. I have no problems benching any of you for the entire season and making you the waterboy if I don't see you working hard enough. Now… pads on, hit the field!"
Everyone scrambled to put on their equipment and sprint out of the locker room, and Theo was once again the last person in the locker room. He was just about to step outside himself when he instead quickly pulled out the photo of Marley from his bag and gave it a quick kiss, feeling the iron grip around his heart tighten at the sight of his late wife. Closing his eyes and fighting off the overwhelming emotion, he put the picture back in his bag and jogged outside for practice…
Practice was… interesting, to say the least. Theo was definitely in for a rude awakening when it came to the treatment of those in the Glee club, even out on the football pitch. There was absolutely no element of 'put the feud aside' on Karofsky's side, who actively sought out to bully the Glee club members - fellow teammates of his - during practice. In Theo's old school, the football team was a cult, a brotherhood, something nobody in their right mind would ever be able to tear apart. But McKinley was certainly a different hunting ground altogether, and it took Theo a while to get used to it. As Quarterback, every time he held the ball in his hands, he was forced to prepare to get tackled harder than he ever would by any linebacker of another school, simply because of all of the pent up animosity between the Glee club and the rest of the Football team.
Finn, Puck, Sam and Mike - although they were used to the treatment by now - were more frustrated than the newest addition to their group. They were State Champions. If that didn't grant them immunity from being bullied for the length of one football practice, then chances are that nothing would. This was supposed to be their senior year. They shouldn't have to deal with that crap, and yet they were stuck for their third year of that treatment. Theo, on the other hand, simply took the abuse from the other members of the Football team without even a word. He was almost glad to, saying nothing more than quietly calling out commands and instructions to his teammates during a play.
After practice, the Glee guys decided to go to Finn's place to blow off some steam. After an incredibly frustrating football practice, they definitely needed it. Finn, Puck, Mike and Sam all stood up, but Theo rejected the invite. He still didn't feel like he deserved luxuries like friendship. So instead, he sat in the dark, now empty locker room and pulled out his flask.
He knew he shouldn't do it. He really knew he shouldn't. But it almost felt like his body was on autopilot by this point, as he raised the drink to his lips…