IC Time: October 20, 2007
Location: Robertson Residence:Garage/Carly's Bedroom
Synopsis: Risking it all for the safety of a friend, Ree tosses Carly a career curve ball.
Submitted by: Carly
Ree has remained mum on the subject of Afton, all day long. It's been maddening. English, chemistry, math, lunch, study period…in all of them, the teen has adamantly refused to tell Carly what was up with her texts of the previous night. She did say she'd tell as soon as they had some privacy though, and suggested Carly's place for that privacy. So here they are, running inside to escape the rain. "God! I keep saying I want to move somewhere with *no* rain, why did I let Chi talk me out of moving to San Francisco?" Avery grumps as she begins to shed backpack and jacket.
Carly strides into the garage and tosses her belongs on the old couch before opening the fridge to grab herself a drink. She motions to the selection and raises an eyebrow to Ree, "You want anything?" The girl has been alternately on cloud nine and in the deepest doldrums all day. Right now, she's in the doldrums, due to being reminded that Ree had some HUGE news to tell her about her beloved agent. "So… what's up?"
"Maybe a Coke? Thanks, Carly." Avery arranges her stuff beside the couch before perching on the arm of it, on hand plucking restlessly at the hum of her skirt. It's a sign of anxiety that the girl hasn't realized she's making. "Um…so…when did you see this agent guy last night? His name's Afton, right? Tall, dark hair, kind of intense eyes?"
Grabbing a diet coke and passing it to her friend, Carly then closes the fridge and moves to sit on her song writing stool near the soundboard. She sighs in a dreamy sort of fashion as Ree describes the man and smiles a little, blushing faintly in her cheeks. "Yeah… and you forgot completely and utterly, devastatingly gorgeous." She pops the tab on her can and takes a long swing before setting it down next to her. "I saw him just before dinner time, he came over to… get this… Tell me I got a /singing/ part in Cabaret! I don't know how he did it! I didn't even audition for that part but somehow I got LuLu in Two Ladies!" The young blonde squeals and wriggles excitedly on her seat, obviously unable to contain her excitement.
"Yeah." Observations of Afton's relative gorgeousosity draw a lukewarm response from Avery, a faint smile that doesn't quite touch her eyes. Even the good news about Carly's new role in a real stage show is soured by knowing the vampire's involvement with it. An attempt is made, however, to share the girl's enthusiasm. "Geez, Cars! That's awesome! LuLu, really? You're going to be incredible." And that's about as much as Ree can manage before she too has to sigh. In a less happy way. "So, um. Chi and I went up to Port Angeles last night, right? And I think we saw your Afton guy."
Her right eyebrow quirks in curiosity and then Carly just stares at her friend for a moment before her lips quiver and then turn into a sad frown. "You don't sound very happy for me, you sound just like Mom and Dad. So where did you see Afton?" she utters quietly, the room so quiet you can hear the fizz of the bubbles popping in the can. Apparently her friend thinks as highly of Afton as she does of the other girls' boyfriend, the cheater.
"We…we were goofing around, you know? He pulled me into this alley, over on the nice side of town. We were going to make out," Avery begins the story quietly, which works in the near silent room. The can she's holding is turned slowly around in her hands but not sipped from; most of the girl's attention is focused on the blonde seated across from her. "But there were already some people there. A girl, about your age, blonde. Pretty. And…and this Afton guy. Chi's seen him before. She…they were talking, Cars, and it wasn't about nice stuff. He was…making her stay there with him."
"What do you mean? That's insane Ree, Afton wouldn't do that… in an alley? No way! He's got all sorts of money, he's classy, it couldn't have been him. No way! Chia Pet is insane." Carly suddenly becomes defensive and angry, it was bad enough that he was married but to be in an alley with someone that fits her own description? "What the H-E-double hockey sticks were you doing making out in an alley anyway? There's /garbage/ in there!" The blonde is pratically vibrating she's so upset.
Ree sets the can aside and stands up to go towards her friend, her expression set in very unhappy lines. The defensiveness and anger don't scare her off although it's doing a damned fine job of making Avery look as if she's in pain. "It was the nice side of town, like I said. We didn't think anything of it, you know? It was just fun. But…but when we heard them talking we *froze*, Car…she was saying she wanted to go but he kept saying that if she wanted to make it big, she wouldn't, she'd…well." Once she's near enough to reach out and put her hand on the blonde's shoulder, Ree hesitates. "Then Chi pulled me out of there. I knew I had to tell you. I'm so sorry, Carly."
Carly shrinks away from her friend's touch, feeling so completely and utterly betrayed by the entire world. "It's because Chia Pet doesn't like me, isn't it? He's still mad about the waffle place, when I got in his face after he threatened Afton." Carly places the blame squarely on the shoulders of the meddling Brazilian, she called him on his two timing ways and he stabbed her right in the heart. "Afton wouldn't /do/ that! No way! Especially not in an alley!" She shakes her head violently, trying to blinks back her tears.
"No!" Avery huffs a bit when her story is seized as an opportunity to badmouth her oh so incredible boyfriend, but it only takes a second for her to get that under control again. Her expression reorganizes itself into sympathetic lines. "Look, I know it's hard to hear. But…but Chi isn't like that, Carly. He wanted to go back and tear the guy's head off because he thought Afton might try to do the exact same thing to you that he was doing to that girl. Take advantage of you, you know. I wouldn't let him. We just want you to be safe. You *know* how people in the business can be with young talent." That…sounds exactly like something she might have read off of the internet. Ree did her research before charging into this battle.
The girl looks physically ill, sitting on her stool, hugging herself, and rocking the pain away. "Afton's not like that," she protests, the tears brimming her eyes and threatening to spill down her cheeks. "My Dad met him, my Dad said he was okay… No, it's totally not true." She feels dirty, vulnerable, so unclean. She starts to tremble and hugs herself even tighter, closing her eyes and hanging her head in order shield herself from Ree's gaze. "He bought me… all that stuff. I wore it in public…"
Ree's eyes narrow in a wince, as if the other girl's pain were sinking right into her own body and making it ache. Another attempt is made to step in close and curl her arms around Carly, wanting to offer comfort. "I'm sorry, Carly. God, I'm so so sorry. It's better…it's better to know now, right? Your Dad couldn't know. And you…it isn't your fault, okay? It isn't your fault at *all*."
Going stony silent, Carly simply nods and hugs herself a little tighter, her fingers practically digging into her skin. "He isn't like that, Ree, he's married… He loves his wife, I could tell. He couldn't do that to her." Carly's arguments are turning feeble at best, relying on her own faith in humanity and goodness to make the horrible story go away. "You could tell when he talked about her. It couldn't have been him, Ree. You had to have seen another guy that looked like him."
Ree's sigh ruffles the blonde's hair as she draws back from that attempt at offering comfort. "How do you mistake someone who looks like he does for someone else, Carly? Please believe me…why would I be telling you this, except to keep you safe? You're my *friend*. I…I don't want anything to happen to you, you're too awesome. Who'm I going to text with if some guy messes with you?" Cue the sad eyes.
Carly looks up at her friend, her top of her nose is a little red along with her eyes. She is trying her best to hold everything together, but the strain it's causing is almost tangible. "I feel so dirty, Ree… You never saw what I did, what he bought me." She is trying to make sense of everything in her head, but her thoughts are so jumbled the coherent ones are eluding her. All she can do to keep her focus is stare blankly at Ree. "He got me that part, that kind of stuff never happens to girls our age. He said I was talented."
"You *are* talented." Ree stands firm on that point, refusing to budge about it. Nevermind she's never actually heard Carly perform. "Car, you've got it all. The looks, the voice, you can move…I haven't seen you dance but I can *tell*. You look like the girls on MTV, you know? You're going to make it so big some day, you have no idea." The brunette sinks to her knees in front of her friend, keeping that steady eye-contact. "Creeps like him…they know telling the truth is the *best* way to get a girl to believe them. They tell you what you already know, right? Then they promise the whole world and think you'll be so grateful…"
Sliding off the stool, Carly simply nods to Ree and plods upstairs, leaving her mostly full can of diet coke on the table. The slow climb is nearly agonizing, as though she is trying to walk through wet cement, or knee deep mud. Eventually though, she does make it to her room and to her bed, where she collapses into it in a heap. It hasn't been made, which is unusual for the girl, and by the print in the blankets it seems as though there may have been more than one occupant in it. Carly curls up on her side and grabs the quilt that was in a heap on one side of the bed and shoves her face into it, breathing in deeply. The closet door is cracked and partially open and the light in the room reveals a small shine on the floor.
It's a good sign that Ree hasn't been ordered to leave? She's frozen for a moment, watching Carly walk away from her, but then she climbs to her feet and moves to follow at a faster pace, easily catching up to the other girl. Once upstairs however, she hesitates again. It wouldn't be stretching to say that, in looking around, her expression is somewhat wary. Whatever the girl might have expected to be lurking up here is not evident. "Carly?" Ree moves hesitantly towards the bed. "Car, is there anything I can do?"
Carly is breathing deeply into the quilt, looking like she's torn between serenity and devastation. "No…" she utters quietly, "Just stay here? Don't leave me alone, please?" Hugging the blanket to herself seems to be making the blonde feel better, and she even manages to eye her friend at the top of the stairs and give her a weak smile. "I guess I should just put my happy face on and be happy for the stuff I have that makes me happy… right? I mean, I still have the part, if I do my best there's going to be a guy from Hollywood at the show, that's what Afton said. If I'm good enough, I'll get noticed even without him, right?"
"I won't leave," Avery promises. "Let me, um, text my mom, let her know I'm here for a bit, okay?" Her phone is produced from a rear pocket and opened up to allow buttons to be punched. Once that's done, she sets it down on the beside table before crawling in beside the blonde. A girl hug is offered but not pushed on the teen. "I think if you're sad, you should let yourself feel sad. I mean, it doesn't change the fact that you *are* good enough to get noticed, right? But…but be sad he lied to you, okay? And stay away from him. For me? Guys like that are smooth talkers, you know?"
(fade)
