Categories > Celebrities > Panic! At The Disco > We're Both On Borderline Obsession
Are You Through With Me Yet, Or Can We Compromise?
8 reviewsAlice battles with herself: should she be friends with him again? Well, she can't avoid him if...(yes, we all knew it was coming.)
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A/N: Jeez, I am one mega-slow-poke. I take all the blame for not updating sooner...but it's now spring break! So I can finally (sort of) relax (besides the projects and permit/driver's ed I'll be getting next wk...ew.) I will probably update more frequently now for the next 7 days. The ending of this chapter kind of came to me spontaneously...so tell me what you think the voice is going to do. :D
Also, due to Alice making a film, I will be adding many...many...(okay maybe not that many but you get the dealio) new characters. If you'd like to leave me your name or character profile (of either yourself or a made-up) I'd be happy to insert your character somewhere in my story once we get that part of the story under way.
I am copping many lyrics and stuff from other places (like in this one, Kelly Clarkson) so I give all my credit to them and stuff...and I already know PATD doesn't belong to me. So...yeah. (Thanks Lifey for reminding me aha.) Geets, you're awesome, keeping updating...(and to everyone who hasn't read Geets and Lifey's stories, go check 'em out, they're fantastic.) So I think that's enough A/N for now...I'll talk/ respond to you guys later! (Btw, I answer all of your guys' replies, so check back to see if I responded lol.) xoxo-nat
Chapter Eight:
Are You Through With Me Yet, Or Can We Compromise?
Ring....Ring... "I swear to god that if that's Derek again, I'm gonna tell him to fuck off elsewhere..." Alice murmured to herself angrily as she heard the home phone ring again. Since she was still sitting next to the phone, she closed her eyes, sighed, and precariously picked up the phone again. Remember, nice tone of voice to whoever it is...
"What?" Alice asked exhaustedly. Nice tone of voice has officially flown out the window. There was an awkward silence, and Alice started to wonder if it was a prank call again. The family that lived down the street from her had weird kids, and they just loved to piss her off whenever they could.
"Um...hi Alice...it's Brendon..." Brendon said weakly. He had never been in such a position before; where someone hated his guts. Well, at this point, it just feels like she'd rather not talk to me. Brendon thought as his heart pounded wildly against his ribcage. Alice sighed, and rubbed her forehead anxiously. Did she really feel like talking at that moment? She was just informed that Brendon was going to play Brendon. Or Tommy. They were both, in essence, the same character.
"Do you want me to talk to you some other time?" Brendon asked a bit more confidently this time. Now he was making Alice the weak one of the conversation. Not wanting to make that kind of impression on Brendon after just seeing him again, Alice went against that. "No, no, it's okay...My er...cookies just burned again. Apparently I can't bake for toffee." She lied...again. Just repeating the same old lie like she did to Derek previously made her life easier. In some ways.
"Oh, okay. Well I just wanted you to know that I was going to play Tommy-"
"I know. Derek just informed me about it a couple moments ago."
"Oh." Brendon said again. The conversation was growing rather stagnant and awkward, but Brendon figured if she had just figured out that he was going to play Tommy, then she wasn't going to offer much of a conversation. Serves you right, Urie, you're the one who called her in the first place...
"Oh," Brendon repeated again slowly. "But...um...this is really embarrassing, but I haven't actually read your book. I was wondering that...well...before I went to go pick up a copy today from the nearest bookstore, could you give me a brief overview of my character or something?"
Oh, god. This was going to be hilarious. On an outside point of view, Alice would laugh. However, since she was the one in her own place, she couldn't laugh. How the hell was she supposed to tell Brendon what his character was like? She couldn't just say, "Oh, yeah, your character? Your character is you. Does that make everything a bit easier to understand, hmm?" No, she couldn't just say that. That was way too blunt, way too stupid-sounding, and way too...
"Yeah. Sure. Your character is you." Oh fuck, I didn't JUST say that!
"My character...is me?" Brendon asked half-hesitatingly. In a way, it made sense. He did feel that weird sensation at the bottom of his stomach when they were both asked to do the improvisation the day before. He knew something was up, but...this? How would he ever know...?
"So if my character is me...is Gina you?" Brendon inquired finally. Alice would've found the conversation completely amusing and totally stupid (on Brendon's part of course) but she was still in shock of him being cast that she couldn't bother poking fun at the guy.
"Yeah. Gina's me. Our whole relationship was the book...I guess you could say."
"Who knows this? That this book is...us?"
"Only Liz. My publicist and editor. She was at your audition yesterday. With the yellow purse." Alice said.
"Oh. Okay. Right...Well, um, Alice-" GOD! Word vomit! (Well, actually, more like verbal diarrhea because he couldn't speak). "-I just wanted to know..."
By this time, Alice froze. The last time he went mumbling like that was when he was falling hard and fast for her. She was trying to avoid this at all costs, but the improvisation really didn't help the day before, and-
"Do you want to be friends again?"
WHAT? Alice's eyes bulged to the point of where it could pop. "Um...give me a moment, will you?" She asked Brendon weakly. Brendon mumbled some profanities, but eventually ended up saying 'ok'. Alice put the phone down on the couch, and ran into her room, closed the door behind her, and screamed as loud as she could into her pillow. She screamed out of relief. Out of pain and love. But mostly, out of...confusion. He threw her off completely! If he kept pulling the rug out from under her feet, how the hell was she supposed to get a hold of herself and finally decide if she wanted him or not?
When Alice had somewhat regained her composure, she walked back out and grabbed the phone from the couch. "Hello?"
"Yeah."
"Sorry about that," Alice apologized shyly.
"No, it's okay. But I just wanted to know if you had an answer..."
"I'd love to. I'd love to be your friend again, Brendon. Sorry...I don't know what was I thinking when...well...Let's just be friends again. It'll be easier to handle on set when we start filming."
Is that all she cares about? It's all about her fucking movie, isn't it? It's all business and talk and...Shit. I can't do this. But I have to. I have to if I wanted her as a 'friend' or more than that...later on...
"Right. Of...of course." Brendon said, surprise still lingering in his voice. Alice sighed with relief. Well, it was awkward, but a definite start.
"Okay. Well. Are you going to auditions tomorrow?"
"Yeah. I have to. We're auditioning girls for your part."
"Look...Even though I told you about what this story is really about, I don't want this getting out...I mean...I don't care if Jon, Spencer, or Ryan knows about this, but anyone else-especially the paparazzi-I don't want them knowing this book is about us. Was about us, I mean. So...you should probably say Gina instead of 'my part'." Alice said cautiously.
"Oh, yeah, right...no. Yeah. I get what you mean." Brendon said immediately. Alice nearly giggled at the state Brendon was probably in: shocked and without words.
"Shit, I gotta go." Alice murmured into the phone quickly as she heard the door slam. It was Sarah. And there was no way in hell she was actually going to tell her that she was actually talking to Brendon!
"Oh, before you go, there's a kind of mini celebration over at that cupcake place in Beverly Hills. Be there are 8 pm! They're letting us in that late-well, the band and Bonnie and Derek and Liz and stuff-so yeah. Derek just told me to tell you before I said bye."
"Okay. Okay. I'll be there. Bye." Be there? Bye? What?! Alice didn't even know what she was agreeing to these days...
Sarah came into view, and dangled Alice's keys in front of her face. "Hey." Alice murmured, and snatched the keys out of her friend's hands. Sarah lifted her hands up in a kind of 'whoa, ok' gesture. "Hey, I'm back..." Sarah replied, and stepped away to go into the kitchen. Alice sighed, and followed her friend. "You got food?" She asked rather meekly.
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I ate it too..." She said sarcastically, and held up a whole plastic bag full of take-out Chinese. Alice clapped with joy, and went to get plates for the kung pao chicken and flat noodles with gravy. "Did you get the bok choy too?" She asked hopefully. Sarah chuckled, and replied yes. Once the two sat down to eat, Sarah took a couple bites before she asked the question Alice hoped she wouldn't have asked:
"So who were you on the phone with? Your mum?" She asked curiously. Alice sometimes wished her friend didn't ask such innocent questions. It made her feel guilty and it always ended up with Alice telling Sarah the truth, about who she was talking to on the phone...
"No...Derek called."
"Mm...Derek, the director."
"Very good, Sarah. You can comprehend things. Would you like a bone?" Alice mocked severely. Sarah raised her hands up again. "Are you PMSing or what?" She asked, unnerved.
"I don't know...I bet I am." Alice said angrily, and let her utensils drop to her plate before she rubbed her temples furiously. Sarah looked at Alice calculatively. "Brendon was cast as Tommy, wasn't he?"
"..."
"He was." Sarah concluded. Alice nodded. She said she was okay terms with the guy, but...
"So there should be a celebration tonight or something, right?" Sarah asked suspiciously.
"Yeah, that cupcake place down in Beverly Hills. Eight pm, or something. You wanna come?" Alice asked, and turned her gaze to her friend. Sarah smiled wryly. Despite the fact that Alice could be obstinate and very moody sometimes, she would never pass up a chance to help her out in the awkward situations she might encounter...And she obviously would that night, considering Brendon would be there.
"Brendon's gonna be there." Sarah said slowly, almost contemplatively.
"Yup. It's like his 'coming out' party, except for this movie...and not a music gig thing or anything..." Alice said off-handedly and shoveled some food into her mouth.
"Ew, that's disgusting Alice, get a napkin...and if Brendon's gonna be there...Are you guys...?"
"No, we're not going out, but we're on speaking terms now. We've decided to be friends. If that's okay with you." Alice stated, slightly annoyed her friend told her that she was disgusting.
"Oh, come on, Alice, you know that's not what I meant...and it's your choice. Brendon's a part of your life, not mine..."
"How about that one time where you set me up with Brendon? You know, if that never happened, maybe this wouldn't have occurred again. We probably would've stopped seeing each other then and not...not bringing this shit back again..."
"Alice, for crying out loud, just LISTEN to yourself!" Sarah cried out, knocking her chair back as she stood up immediately. Alice was astounded by her friend's outbreak. What the hell was she bitching on about?
"...You keep on giving me this and that about the past...get over it. I'm sick and tired of listening to your crap, and I'm pretty sure Mel and Lily are too. You haven't seen them around much now, have you?" Sarah retorted, looking at Alice right in the face. Alice looked like she was about to cry. Sarah kind of regretted saying something so hurtful, but it was the truth. Alice just kept hiding away into the past, thinking of what happened, and not what will and could possibly happened. How she turned out that way, Sarah would never know. Her parents were sweet and helpful, and she had a normal family life when she was a kid, so how in the hell did she turn up so insecure?
"I can't stop...It's not like I want to do this. Do you think I seriously want this?...Sometimes I wish I was a completely different person, you know? Just forget everything bad that ever happened...Some people can go through this and say 'I don't regret anything I've ever done in my life' but that's hard for me to admit, as a person. And if you think I'm gonna back up now and change all of a sudden, it isn't going to happen, Sarah. Because it's hard for people to change ways..."
"You probably can't stop now, Alice. But what I'm asking you now is to /try/. Give yourself a chance to forget. Give yourself a chance to look into the future and think of something positive, for a try. That's why I'm here...I can help you with that. But you have to willingly try, you know. Nothing comes easy." Sarah finished off quietly. The two sat in an awkward silence for the rest of their dinner.
*
Brendon laughed heartily as he passed a cupcake to Ryan. A good joke, good party, and fun people were all the equivalent to good fun. He watched Ryan chomp down cupcake after cupcake. "Dude...are you really that hungry?" Brendon asked, off to the side. Ryan bit back with a retort of, "Don't I always eat this much?" And before Brendon could ask another question, Jon elbowed him in the ribs.
"He has no girlfriend." Jon reminded him gently. Brendon, who was going to say something, promptly closed his mouth shut. In a way, he felt bad that Ryan lost his girlfriend all of a sudden...It definitely sucked, in fact, but Brendon never...well, let's put it this way:
He didn't hate Keltie. But it was worse than dislike that he felt towards her. Ryan continued to mope and gorge himself with cupcakes, as he chatted away to Derek about filming schedules conflicting with the bands' recording schedules. Brendon walked through groups of people to sit down at a booth with Spencer. Jon remained (loyally) next to his girlfriend and with Ryan and Derek, too.
Brendon was in a mild political debate with Spencer, when Spencer stopped talking suddenly. "What?" Brendon asked, a bit ticked off that Spencer wasn't answering to his best dis, by far, to George W. Bush.
"Alice's here." Spencer said softly, and turned around to look at Brendon's facial expression. Brendon went silent for a moment, then he swiftly turned his head around to scan the room. "Where? Where is she?" Spencer laughed, and pointed. Brendon saw her, clad in jeans, 3 inch high heels, and a crisp turquoise blazer. A very Victorian-looking shirt adorned her skinnier body from when he last last saw her...(meaning before the audition, when they broke up...)
She removed her worn-down scarf, a light-turquoise plaid one. Then she removed her jacket and placed it on a jacket rack on the side. Sarah was with her too, and she was looking a lot better than she did all those years ago; in fact, Brendon nearly didn't recognize her. She was wearing skinny jeans and high heels to match too, her hair up in an elegant French twist. Her baby doll shirt fitted her perfectly, and he thought he felt Spencer shift in anxiety next to him. He could've laughed, but he was too focused on Alice.
"Alice!" Brendon waved her over. Alice looked in his direction, looked at him confusedly for a moment, then, as if to finally register the new 'terms' they were on, walked over to him. But before she got to him, Liz seemed to reach her first. (While Brendon threw his arms up into the air out of frustration.) So Sarah walked on over to Brendon and Spencer first. "Hey, you two. How are you guys?" She asked politely as Brendon scooted over to let her sit on a chair.
"I'm good," Brendon said a little distractedly. Spencer nodded, and mumbled something along the lines of 'mm-hm'. He seemed quite nervous with Sarah in their presence...And just as Brendon turned around to start talking to Sarah:
"Hey you guys...So where's Derek?" Alice asked, trying to stay as calm as possible. Brendon had to turn back around to face Alice. And he was still oh-so-awed by her.
"Hi Alice..." Brendon nearly said in a whisper. Alice, as if to just notice him again, looked down. "Brendon, I-"
"Alice!" Derek clapped her on the back. Alice fell forwards a little ways, but managed to re-stabilize herself. Brendon was shocked by Derek's sudden appearance and ended up jumping an inch or two off of his chair. Damn it! Just when I was going to talk to her again!.. "Are you excited that we've gotten our lead role?" Derek asked merrily. He obviously was drinking quite a bit, but not over the top.
"Yeah," Alice smiled faintly. She seemed out of it. Brendon cocked his head to the side a bit. Was she tired, or did she just not want to be there at all? He didn't see Sarah and her talking when they entered through the door.
I guess the moral support kind of backfired... Sarah thought to herself as she watched Alice and Derek talk animatedly. Well, it was more of Derek doing the actual talking; all Alice had to do was nod thrice every moment or so, and Derek would continue on. After five minutes of this, Brendon seemed to get frustrated, and excused himself to the bathroom. Sarah studied Alice's eyes-she could see them looking at Brendon in the corner of her eyes-and then Alice excused herself too. Spencer tapped Sarah on the back. Dammit, I'm concentrating right now! Sarah thought angrily now, but asked Spencer anyways, "What?"
"Er...I was wondering...do you er...tapdance?"
What the fuck?
"No, Spencer, I don't. I work in China." Sarah said rather blatantly. But it was too late; Alice and Brendon were out of sight, probably near the bathroom area. Derek was now turning around to...oh no...
"Hello, are you Alice's friend?"
"Yeah, I'm Sarah. And you're Derek?" Sarah tried to ask as pleasantly as possible. Inside her head, though she was thinking: Fuck. Now I'm stuck with this guy... She grimaced throughout his whole entire speech of how he 'found' Brendon and how Alice and Brendon did a 'great' job of having 'chemistry' in the audition room...whoa, wait!
"What? What chemistry?" Sarah perked up at last; Spencer had left her, and she suddenly became distracted with what Derek had to say for once. She stopped looking for Alice and Brendon.
*
"I'm lookin' for attention, not another lesson...hey hey hey hey...Just walk away..." Alice hummed inside her head as she made her way to the bathroom. She was hoping to see someone, but not really-
"So you got bored too?"
Alice gasped, and turned around. There was Brendon, again. He seriously scared her! She clutched at her chest, and let out a small laugh out of relief. "Gosh, Brendon...you have to stop scaring me like that..." She said a bit nervously.
"Yeah, well. What can I say? Natural talent."
"I'm sure you don't take pride in it." Alice said.
"Ouch. That stings badly, Bolton." Brendon said in a distorted voice. He clutched at his heart now, and teetered on the ball of his feet as he crashed onto the wall next to him-but alas, the wall was actually the men's bathroom door-and the door swung open, as a man crashed into Brendon. Unfortunately, it was an old man, and he was knocked to the ground. Alice laughed and gasped all at the same time, but Brendon was in a deep crimson, apologizing deeply for what he did to the poor man. The man huffily got up and scolded Brendon about being 'careless of the old and wise' and hobbled off.
Alice was still laughing at all of this until Brendon gave her a glare. "Fine, fine...be that way." Alice said, and crossed her arms. Then Brendon started laughing. Before you knew it, two adults were leaning against each other for support in the dimly-lit hallway, due to the giddiness both of them felt from the occurrence with the old man earlier.
"Bitch!" A small teenaged voice came from the end of the hallway. The voice disappeared, left the cupcake shop, and headed for the nearest press or paparazzi place she knew.
Also, due to Alice making a film, I will be adding many...many...(okay maybe not that many but you get the dealio) new characters. If you'd like to leave me your name or character profile (of either yourself or a made-up) I'd be happy to insert your character somewhere in my story once we get that part of the story under way.
I am copping many lyrics and stuff from other places (like in this one, Kelly Clarkson) so I give all my credit to them and stuff...and I already know PATD doesn't belong to me. So...yeah. (Thanks Lifey for reminding me aha.) Geets, you're awesome, keeping updating...(and to everyone who hasn't read Geets and Lifey's stories, go check 'em out, they're fantastic.) So I think that's enough A/N for now...I'll talk/ respond to you guys later! (Btw, I answer all of your guys' replies, so check back to see if I responded lol.) xoxo-nat
Chapter Eight:
Are You Through With Me Yet, Or Can We Compromise?
Ring....Ring... "I swear to god that if that's Derek again, I'm gonna tell him to fuck off elsewhere..." Alice murmured to herself angrily as she heard the home phone ring again. Since she was still sitting next to the phone, she closed her eyes, sighed, and precariously picked up the phone again. Remember, nice tone of voice to whoever it is...
"What?" Alice asked exhaustedly. Nice tone of voice has officially flown out the window. There was an awkward silence, and Alice started to wonder if it was a prank call again. The family that lived down the street from her had weird kids, and they just loved to piss her off whenever they could.
"Um...hi Alice...it's Brendon..." Brendon said weakly. He had never been in such a position before; where someone hated his guts. Well, at this point, it just feels like she'd rather not talk to me. Brendon thought as his heart pounded wildly against his ribcage. Alice sighed, and rubbed her forehead anxiously. Did she really feel like talking at that moment? She was just informed that Brendon was going to play Brendon. Or Tommy. They were both, in essence, the same character.
"Do you want me to talk to you some other time?" Brendon asked a bit more confidently this time. Now he was making Alice the weak one of the conversation. Not wanting to make that kind of impression on Brendon after just seeing him again, Alice went against that. "No, no, it's okay...My er...cookies just burned again. Apparently I can't bake for toffee." She lied...again. Just repeating the same old lie like she did to Derek previously made her life easier. In some ways.
"Oh, okay. Well I just wanted you to know that I was going to play Tommy-"
"I know. Derek just informed me about it a couple moments ago."
"Oh." Brendon said again. The conversation was growing rather stagnant and awkward, but Brendon figured if she had just figured out that he was going to play Tommy, then she wasn't going to offer much of a conversation. Serves you right, Urie, you're the one who called her in the first place...
"Oh," Brendon repeated again slowly. "But...um...this is really embarrassing, but I haven't actually read your book. I was wondering that...well...before I went to go pick up a copy today from the nearest bookstore, could you give me a brief overview of my character or something?"
Oh, god. This was going to be hilarious. On an outside point of view, Alice would laugh. However, since she was the one in her own place, she couldn't laugh. How the hell was she supposed to tell Brendon what his character was like? She couldn't just say, "Oh, yeah, your character? Your character is you. Does that make everything a bit easier to understand, hmm?" No, she couldn't just say that. That was way too blunt, way too stupid-sounding, and way too...
"Yeah. Sure. Your character is you." Oh fuck, I didn't JUST say that!
"My character...is me?" Brendon asked half-hesitatingly. In a way, it made sense. He did feel that weird sensation at the bottom of his stomach when they were both asked to do the improvisation the day before. He knew something was up, but...this? How would he ever know...?
"So if my character is me...is Gina you?" Brendon inquired finally. Alice would've found the conversation completely amusing and totally stupid (on Brendon's part of course) but she was still in shock of him being cast that she couldn't bother poking fun at the guy.
"Yeah. Gina's me. Our whole relationship was the book...I guess you could say."
"Who knows this? That this book is...us?"
"Only Liz. My publicist and editor. She was at your audition yesterday. With the yellow purse." Alice said.
"Oh. Okay. Right...Well, um, Alice-" GOD! Word vomit! (Well, actually, more like verbal diarrhea because he couldn't speak). "-I just wanted to know..."
By this time, Alice froze. The last time he went mumbling like that was when he was falling hard and fast for her. She was trying to avoid this at all costs, but the improvisation really didn't help the day before, and-
"Do you want to be friends again?"
WHAT? Alice's eyes bulged to the point of where it could pop. "Um...give me a moment, will you?" She asked Brendon weakly. Brendon mumbled some profanities, but eventually ended up saying 'ok'. Alice put the phone down on the couch, and ran into her room, closed the door behind her, and screamed as loud as she could into her pillow. She screamed out of relief. Out of pain and love. But mostly, out of...confusion. He threw her off completely! If he kept pulling the rug out from under her feet, how the hell was she supposed to get a hold of herself and finally decide if she wanted him or not?
When Alice had somewhat regained her composure, she walked back out and grabbed the phone from the couch. "Hello?"
"Yeah."
"Sorry about that," Alice apologized shyly.
"No, it's okay. But I just wanted to know if you had an answer..."
"I'd love to. I'd love to be your friend again, Brendon. Sorry...I don't know what was I thinking when...well...Let's just be friends again. It'll be easier to handle on set when we start filming."
Is that all she cares about? It's all about her fucking movie, isn't it? It's all business and talk and...Shit. I can't do this. But I have to. I have to if I wanted her as a 'friend' or more than that...later on...
"Right. Of...of course." Brendon said, surprise still lingering in his voice. Alice sighed with relief. Well, it was awkward, but a definite start.
"Okay. Well. Are you going to auditions tomorrow?"
"Yeah. I have to. We're auditioning girls for your part."
"Look...Even though I told you about what this story is really about, I don't want this getting out...I mean...I don't care if Jon, Spencer, or Ryan knows about this, but anyone else-especially the paparazzi-I don't want them knowing this book is about us. Was about us, I mean. So...you should probably say Gina instead of 'my part'." Alice said cautiously.
"Oh, yeah, right...no. Yeah. I get what you mean." Brendon said immediately. Alice nearly giggled at the state Brendon was probably in: shocked and without words.
"Shit, I gotta go." Alice murmured into the phone quickly as she heard the door slam. It was Sarah. And there was no way in hell she was actually going to tell her that she was actually talking to Brendon!
"Oh, before you go, there's a kind of mini celebration over at that cupcake place in Beverly Hills. Be there are 8 pm! They're letting us in that late-well, the band and Bonnie and Derek and Liz and stuff-so yeah. Derek just told me to tell you before I said bye."
"Okay. Okay. I'll be there. Bye." Be there? Bye? What?! Alice didn't even know what she was agreeing to these days...
Sarah came into view, and dangled Alice's keys in front of her face. "Hey." Alice murmured, and snatched the keys out of her friend's hands. Sarah lifted her hands up in a kind of 'whoa, ok' gesture. "Hey, I'm back..." Sarah replied, and stepped away to go into the kitchen. Alice sighed, and followed her friend. "You got food?" She asked rather meekly.
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I ate it too..." She said sarcastically, and held up a whole plastic bag full of take-out Chinese. Alice clapped with joy, and went to get plates for the kung pao chicken and flat noodles with gravy. "Did you get the bok choy too?" She asked hopefully. Sarah chuckled, and replied yes. Once the two sat down to eat, Sarah took a couple bites before she asked the question Alice hoped she wouldn't have asked:
"So who were you on the phone with? Your mum?" She asked curiously. Alice sometimes wished her friend didn't ask such innocent questions. It made her feel guilty and it always ended up with Alice telling Sarah the truth, about who she was talking to on the phone...
"No...Derek called."
"Mm...Derek, the director."
"Very good, Sarah. You can comprehend things. Would you like a bone?" Alice mocked severely. Sarah raised her hands up again. "Are you PMSing or what?" She asked, unnerved.
"I don't know...I bet I am." Alice said angrily, and let her utensils drop to her plate before she rubbed her temples furiously. Sarah looked at Alice calculatively. "Brendon was cast as Tommy, wasn't he?"
"..."
"He was." Sarah concluded. Alice nodded. She said she was okay terms with the guy, but...
"So there should be a celebration tonight or something, right?" Sarah asked suspiciously.
"Yeah, that cupcake place down in Beverly Hills. Eight pm, or something. You wanna come?" Alice asked, and turned her gaze to her friend. Sarah smiled wryly. Despite the fact that Alice could be obstinate and very moody sometimes, she would never pass up a chance to help her out in the awkward situations she might encounter...And she obviously would that night, considering Brendon would be there.
"Brendon's gonna be there." Sarah said slowly, almost contemplatively.
"Yup. It's like his 'coming out' party, except for this movie...and not a music gig thing or anything..." Alice said off-handedly and shoveled some food into her mouth.
"Ew, that's disgusting Alice, get a napkin...and if Brendon's gonna be there...Are you guys...?"
"No, we're not going out, but we're on speaking terms now. We've decided to be friends. If that's okay with you." Alice stated, slightly annoyed her friend told her that she was disgusting.
"Oh, come on, Alice, you know that's not what I meant...and it's your choice. Brendon's a part of your life, not mine..."
"How about that one time where you set me up with Brendon? You know, if that never happened, maybe this wouldn't have occurred again. We probably would've stopped seeing each other then and not...not bringing this shit back again..."
"Alice, for crying out loud, just LISTEN to yourself!" Sarah cried out, knocking her chair back as she stood up immediately. Alice was astounded by her friend's outbreak. What the hell was she bitching on about?
"...You keep on giving me this and that about the past...get over it. I'm sick and tired of listening to your crap, and I'm pretty sure Mel and Lily are too. You haven't seen them around much now, have you?" Sarah retorted, looking at Alice right in the face. Alice looked like she was about to cry. Sarah kind of regretted saying something so hurtful, but it was the truth. Alice just kept hiding away into the past, thinking of what happened, and not what will and could possibly happened. How she turned out that way, Sarah would never know. Her parents were sweet and helpful, and she had a normal family life when she was a kid, so how in the hell did she turn up so insecure?
"I can't stop...It's not like I want to do this. Do you think I seriously want this?...Sometimes I wish I was a completely different person, you know? Just forget everything bad that ever happened...Some people can go through this and say 'I don't regret anything I've ever done in my life' but that's hard for me to admit, as a person. And if you think I'm gonna back up now and change all of a sudden, it isn't going to happen, Sarah. Because it's hard for people to change ways..."
"You probably can't stop now, Alice. But what I'm asking you now is to /try/. Give yourself a chance to forget. Give yourself a chance to look into the future and think of something positive, for a try. That's why I'm here...I can help you with that. But you have to willingly try, you know. Nothing comes easy." Sarah finished off quietly. The two sat in an awkward silence for the rest of their dinner.
*
Brendon laughed heartily as he passed a cupcake to Ryan. A good joke, good party, and fun people were all the equivalent to good fun. He watched Ryan chomp down cupcake after cupcake. "Dude...are you really that hungry?" Brendon asked, off to the side. Ryan bit back with a retort of, "Don't I always eat this much?" And before Brendon could ask another question, Jon elbowed him in the ribs.
"He has no girlfriend." Jon reminded him gently. Brendon, who was going to say something, promptly closed his mouth shut. In a way, he felt bad that Ryan lost his girlfriend all of a sudden...It definitely sucked, in fact, but Brendon never...well, let's put it this way:
He didn't hate Keltie. But it was worse than dislike that he felt towards her. Ryan continued to mope and gorge himself with cupcakes, as he chatted away to Derek about filming schedules conflicting with the bands' recording schedules. Brendon walked through groups of people to sit down at a booth with Spencer. Jon remained (loyally) next to his girlfriend and with Ryan and Derek, too.
Brendon was in a mild political debate with Spencer, when Spencer stopped talking suddenly. "What?" Brendon asked, a bit ticked off that Spencer wasn't answering to his best dis, by far, to George W. Bush.
"Alice's here." Spencer said softly, and turned around to look at Brendon's facial expression. Brendon went silent for a moment, then he swiftly turned his head around to scan the room. "Where? Where is she?" Spencer laughed, and pointed. Brendon saw her, clad in jeans, 3 inch high heels, and a crisp turquoise blazer. A very Victorian-looking shirt adorned her skinnier body from when he last last saw her...(meaning before the audition, when they broke up...)
She removed her worn-down scarf, a light-turquoise plaid one. Then she removed her jacket and placed it on a jacket rack on the side. Sarah was with her too, and she was looking a lot better than she did all those years ago; in fact, Brendon nearly didn't recognize her. She was wearing skinny jeans and high heels to match too, her hair up in an elegant French twist. Her baby doll shirt fitted her perfectly, and he thought he felt Spencer shift in anxiety next to him. He could've laughed, but he was too focused on Alice.
"Alice!" Brendon waved her over. Alice looked in his direction, looked at him confusedly for a moment, then, as if to finally register the new 'terms' they were on, walked over to him. But before she got to him, Liz seemed to reach her first. (While Brendon threw his arms up into the air out of frustration.) So Sarah walked on over to Brendon and Spencer first. "Hey, you two. How are you guys?" She asked politely as Brendon scooted over to let her sit on a chair.
"I'm good," Brendon said a little distractedly. Spencer nodded, and mumbled something along the lines of 'mm-hm'. He seemed quite nervous with Sarah in their presence...And just as Brendon turned around to start talking to Sarah:
"Hey you guys...So where's Derek?" Alice asked, trying to stay as calm as possible. Brendon had to turn back around to face Alice. And he was still oh-so-awed by her.
"Hi Alice..." Brendon nearly said in a whisper. Alice, as if to just notice him again, looked down. "Brendon, I-"
"Alice!" Derek clapped her on the back. Alice fell forwards a little ways, but managed to re-stabilize herself. Brendon was shocked by Derek's sudden appearance and ended up jumping an inch or two off of his chair. Damn it! Just when I was going to talk to her again!.. "Are you excited that we've gotten our lead role?" Derek asked merrily. He obviously was drinking quite a bit, but not over the top.
"Yeah," Alice smiled faintly. She seemed out of it. Brendon cocked his head to the side a bit. Was she tired, or did she just not want to be there at all? He didn't see Sarah and her talking when they entered through the door.
I guess the moral support kind of backfired... Sarah thought to herself as she watched Alice and Derek talk animatedly. Well, it was more of Derek doing the actual talking; all Alice had to do was nod thrice every moment or so, and Derek would continue on. After five minutes of this, Brendon seemed to get frustrated, and excused himself to the bathroom. Sarah studied Alice's eyes-she could see them looking at Brendon in the corner of her eyes-and then Alice excused herself too. Spencer tapped Sarah on the back. Dammit, I'm concentrating right now! Sarah thought angrily now, but asked Spencer anyways, "What?"
"Er...I was wondering...do you er...tapdance?"
What the fuck?
"No, Spencer, I don't. I work in China." Sarah said rather blatantly. But it was too late; Alice and Brendon were out of sight, probably near the bathroom area. Derek was now turning around to...oh no...
"Hello, are you Alice's friend?"
"Yeah, I'm Sarah. And you're Derek?" Sarah tried to ask as pleasantly as possible. Inside her head, though she was thinking: Fuck. Now I'm stuck with this guy... She grimaced throughout his whole entire speech of how he 'found' Brendon and how Alice and Brendon did a 'great' job of having 'chemistry' in the audition room...whoa, wait!
"What? What chemistry?" Sarah perked up at last; Spencer had left her, and she suddenly became distracted with what Derek had to say for once. She stopped looking for Alice and Brendon.
*
"I'm lookin' for attention, not another lesson...hey hey hey hey...Just walk away..." Alice hummed inside her head as she made her way to the bathroom. She was hoping to see someone, but not really-
"So you got bored too?"
Alice gasped, and turned around. There was Brendon, again. He seriously scared her! She clutched at her chest, and let out a small laugh out of relief. "Gosh, Brendon...you have to stop scaring me like that..." She said a bit nervously.
"Yeah, well. What can I say? Natural talent."
"I'm sure you don't take pride in it." Alice said.
"Ouch. That stings badly, Bolton." Brendon said in a distorted voice. He clutched at his heart now, and teetered on the ball of his feet as he crashed onto the wall next to him-but alas, the wall was actually the men's bathroom door-and the door swung open, as a man crashed into Brendon. Unfortunately, it was an old man, and he was knocked to the ground. Alice laughed and gasped all at the same time, but Brendon was in a deep crimson, apologizing deeply for what he did to the poor man. The man huffily got up and scolded Brendon about being 'careless of the old and wise' and hobbled off.
Alice was still laughing at all of this until Brendon gave her a glare. "Fine, fine...be that way." Alice said, and crossed her arms. Then Brendon started laughing. Before you knew it, two adults were leaning against each other for support in the dimly-lit hallway, due to the giddiness both of them felt from the occurrence with the old man earlier.
"Bitch!" A small teenaged voice came from the end of the hallway. The voice disappeared, left the cupcake shop, and headed for the nearest press or paparazzi place she knew.
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