Fanfic: One and Only, Ch. 4
Heather showered as quickly as her tired body would allow. After nights and mornings like this on top of being in peak season for Glee and Heather’s dancing to keep herself from having a meltdown through it all, her body was exhausted. She got out of the shower and settled on wearing sweats and a jersey tee, after all she was just going to set and would be changing straight into costume.
She walked towards the kitchen hoping to see Naya there, but knowing that she wouldn’t. After last night she knew her best friend would be gone. Heather would have to find her down on set, push aside her own feelings, and pretend that nothing was wrong and nothing happened for the sake of their friendship and more importantly, the sake of their jobs. A storyline between her and Naya’s characters was finally being developed and as a result they had to pretend to be in love in almost every scene they were in together. The pretending to be in love with Naya part wasn’t hard for Heather, it came naturally. After all, she was in love with her; the hard part came when the director yelled “cut” and Heather had to pretend not to be. That was the true test of her acting abilities.
Heather saw her roommate sitting on the couch staring into the cup in her hand. Heather couldn’t read her expression, something that didn’t happen very often.
“Everything okay Ash?” Heather asked worried.
“What?” Ashley asked torn from her thoughts by the voice of her roommate. She looked up to see Heather’s face. A small smile was there but the rest of her face betrayed her; it was slightly sunken in and her eyes displayed her exhaustion and emotional turmoil.
“I asked if everything is okay.” Heather said trying to muster the last bit of concern she had to show her friend.
“Oh.Yeah, just thinking about stuff.” Ashley replied. She wasn’t exactly lying, she had been thinking about stuff. She just didn’t want to reveal in depth what it was she was thinking about.
Heather could see that her roommate was lying but was in no mood to push her. She’ll tell me if she needs to talk about something, she thought to herself walking into the kitchen. Each step was heavy, she needed coffee. She opened the cabinet and pulled out a mug.
“There’s already a cup for you in the microwave.” Ashley informed Heather.
“Oh.” Heather replied, slightly surprised. “Did you?” She asked, already knowing the answer but wanting to hear it from her friend anyways.
“No, Naya did. Before she-”
“Got it.” Heather cut in before her roommate could finish the sentence. Heather knew, even if she wouldn’t admit it to herself, that when Naya left like this it was because she was avoiding her. The thoughts alone were hard enough, she didn’t know if she could bear hearing it out loud.
She grabbed the cup of coffee out of the microwave. It was still hot. Naya must’ve left just as I was getting dressed. Heather thought to herself. She thought to ask her roommate but regardless of whether she was right in her assumptions or not, the answer was still going to hurt. She hated that she couldn’t face her best friend after nights like this. It’d often take hours for them to even be able to look at each other and days before their friendship returned to normal. Well, what had become their new normal since they started sleeping together.
Heather sat down on the couch crossing her legs, facing her roommate. She turned on the TV and flipped through channels until she landed on Saved by the Bell. It was her favorite TV show and a morning ritual of her and Ashley’s. She sipped on her coffee and stared at the TV screen hoping to get lost in the drama of the characters in the show rather than dwell on her own. A joke one of the characters made reminded her of Naya and again her thoughts quickly shifted back to the girl.
“You guys need to talk.” Ashley said interrupting the thoughts of her zoned out roommate. She had watched the blonde’s face change as her thoughts, Ashley guessed, shifted from the coffee made by Naya to Saved by the Bell and then back to Naya.
“Huh?” Heather said shocked by her roommate’s words. She had been lost in her thoughts but not so far that she hadn’t heard Ashley’s suggestion.
“You heard me, you need to talk to her. And please don't pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.” Ashley responded confidently but with care in her voice.
Heather’s first instinct was to deny what her friend was implying but she was tired of holding it in and Ashley was looking at her with soft, knowing eyes. “I love her Ash.” Heather said immediately feeling wetness on her cheeks.
“I know.” Ashley said, her heart breaking at her best friend’s tears. She moved closer to the other girl and rested her hand on her knee. Heather’s hand immediately reached down, seeking the much needed comfort from her best friend.
“Heather, look at me.” Ashley said, lifting her friend’s chin with her free hand. She wiped away the tears streaming down the blonde’s cheek. “You need to tell her. You need to tell her before it breaks you, before it destroys your relationship.”
“I-I can’t.” Heather stammers between tears. “It will ruin everything. Sometimes I feel like it already has.”
“The cup of coffee in your hand tells me otherwise.” Ashley countered. “Just sit her down and talk to her. She’s your best friend and you love her. You owe it to her to talk about everything that has been going on between you two. And if I were you, I’d do it before your mom comes in this weekend. You two are a mess around each other and you really don’t want your mom asking questions about this do you?”
“Oh my God.” Heather’s eyes shot up, a look of terror on her face. “Shit, shit, shit. I need to talk to Naya like right now. If my mom finds out, oh God.”
She jumped up from the couch panicked but still graceful, not spilling the coffee in her hand. She put the cup on the coffee table and began to nervously pace back and forth.
“I can’t. She can’t. I just.” Heather’s freak out escalated at thoughts of her mom finding out what was going on between her and Naya. “She’d tell Taylor and then -” Heather froze and her face completely paled at the thought of her mom telling her boyfriend. And then I’d be single and I could actually feel this way about Naya. She thought to herself. She panicked again at the relief she felt at the thought.
“No no no no no. It can’t be like this.” Heather said springing back into action. She had to get to set and she had to find Naya. She had to talk to her.
Ashley watched her roommate freak out with a slightly amused grin on her face. Gay panic, she had seen it several times with other friends in her life. It had always turned out okay for them and she knew it would be okay for Heather, if Heather could ever learn to accept herself. Heather and Naya were the perfect couple, everyone around them knew it, the two just refused to accept it or talk about it. But judging by Heather’s ramblings during her freak out, that was about to change.
Heather didn’t even bother to finish her coffee. She was running on adrenaline from panic and nerves and something that nipped at the back of her mind that felt like excitement, though she wasn’t sure what about this situation could possibly excite her. She supposed it would be nice to finally know what was going on between her and her best friend. She grabbed her keys and her purse and pulled on the first pair of shoes she could find. She was out the door without as much as a thank you or see you later to Ashley but she did hear her roommate call good luck after her.
Ashley sighed, relaxing back into the couch a small proud grin on her face. Her work as best friend and roommate had been accomplished. She’d planted the seed in Naya’s head and she knew that if Heather approached the Latina, she’d talk. After her conversation with Ashley this morning Heather had left out of their apartment in a hurry to go find the smaller girl, her mission was to talk about their relationship. Ashley was fairly confident that things would end well between the two girls, and that she’d finally have an easy, peaceful and happy home once again. Her phone vibrated on the coffee table, she picked it up expecting the text message to be from Heather. Her heart stopped and the grin disappeared from her face as she read the actual message.
“Hey Ash! Could you pick me and Taylor up from the airport and drive us to set. We want to surprise Heather. She doesn’t know I’m coming this early and she doesn’t know that Taylor is flying in for the weekend. We get in at 9am. Thanks love! - Mama Morris”
She walked towards the kitchen hoping to see Naya there, but knowing that she wouldn’t. After last night she knew her best friend would be gone. Heather would have to find her down on set, push aside her own feelings, and pretend that nothing was wrong and nothing happened for the sake of their friendship and more importantly, the sake of their jobs. A storyline between her and Naya’s characters was finally being developed and as a result they had to pretend to be in love in almost every scene they were in together. The pretending to be in love with Naya part wasn’t hard for Heather, it came naturally. After all, she was in love with her; the hard part came when the director yelled “cut” and Heather had to pretend not to be. That was the true test of her acting abilities.
Heather saw her roommate sitting on the couch staring into the cup in her hand. Heather couldn’t read her expression, something that didn’t happen very often.
“Everything okay Ash?” Heather asked worried.
“What?” Ashley asked torn from her thoughts by the voice of her roommate. She looked up to see Heather’s face. A small smile was there but the rest of her face betrayed her; it was slightly sunken in and her eyes displayed her exhaustion and emotional turmoil.
“I asked if everything is okay.” Heather said trying to muster the last bit of concern she had to show her friend.
“Oh.Yeah, just thinking about stuff.” Ashley replied. She wasn’t exactly lying, she had been thinking about stuff. She just didn’t want to reveal in depth what it was she was thinking about.
Heather could see that her roommate was lying but was in no mood to push her. She’ll tell me if she needs to talk about something, she thought to herself walking into the kitchen. Each step was heavy, she needed coffee. She opened the cabinet and pulled out a mug.
“There’s already a cup for you in the microwave.” Ashley informed Heather.
“Oh.” Heather replied, slightly surprised. “Did you?” She asked, already knowing the answer but wanting to hear it from her friend anyways.
“No, Naya did. Before she-”
“Got it.” Heather cut in before her roommate could finish the sentence. Heather knew, even if she wouldn’t admit it to herself, that when Naya left like this it was because she was avoiding her. The thoughts alone were hard enough, she didn’t know if she could bear hearing it out loud.
She grabbed the cup of coffee out of the microwave. It was still hot. Naya must’ve left just as I was getting dressed. Heather thought to herself. She thought to ask her roommate but regardless of whether she was right in her assumptions or not, the answer was still going to hurt. She hated that she couldn’t face her best friend after nights like this. It’d often take hours for them to even be able to look at each other and days before their friendship returned to normal. Well, what had become their new normal since they started sleeping together.
Heather sat down on the couch crossing her legs, facing her roommate. She turned on the TV and flipped through channels until she landed on Saved by the Bell. It was her favorite TV show and a morning ritual of her and Ashley’s. She sipped on her coffee and stared at the TV screen hoping to get lost in the drama of the characters in the show rather than dwell on her own. A joke one of the characters made reminded her of Naya and again her thoughts quickly shifted back to the girl.
“You guys need to talk.” Ashley said interrupting the thoughts of her zoned out roommate. She had watched the blonde’s face change as her thoughts, Ashley guessed, shifted from the coffee made by Naya to Saved by the Bell and then back to Naya.
“Huh?” Heather said shocked by her roommate’s words. She had been lost in her thoughts but not so far that she hadn’t heard Ashley’s suggestion.
“You heard me, you need to talk to her. And please don't pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.” Ashley responded confidently but with care in her voice.
Heather’s first instinct was to deny what her friend was implying but she was tired of holding it in and Ashley was looking at her with soft, knowing eyes. “I love her Ash.” Heather said immediately feeling wetness on her cheeks.
“I know.” Ashley said, her heart breaking at her best friend’s tears. She moved closer to the other girl and rested her hand on her knee. Heather’s hand immediately reached down, seeking the much needed comfort from her best friend.
“Heather, look at me.” Ashley said, lifting her friend’s chin with her free hand. She wiped away the tears streaming down the blonde’s cheek. “You need to tell her. You need to tell her before it breaks you, before it destroys your relationship.”
“I-I can’t.” Heather stammers between tears. “It will ruin everything. Sometimes I feel like it already has.”
“The cup of coffee in your hand tells me otherwise.” Ashley countered. “Just sit her down and talk to her. She’s your best friend and you love her. You owe it to her to talk about everything that has been going on between you two. And if I were you, I’d do it before your mom comes in this weekend. You two are a mess around each other and you really don’t want your mom asking questions about this do you?”
“Oh my God.” Heather’s eyes shot up, a look of terror on her face. “Shit, shit, shit. I need to talk to Naya like right now. If my mom finds out, oh God.”
She jumped up from the couch panicked but still graceful, not spilling the coffee in her hand. She put the cup on the coffee table and began to nervously pace back and forth.
“I can’t. She can’t. I just.” Heather’s freak out escalated at thoughts of her mom finding out what was going on between her and Naya. “She’d tell Taylor and then -” Heather froze and her face completely paled at the thought of her mom telling her boyfriend. And then I’d be single and I could actually feel this way about Naya. She thought to herself. She panicked again at the relief she felt at the thought.
“No no no no no. It can’t be like this.” Heather said springing back into action. She had to get to set and she had to find Naya. She had to talk to her.
Ashley watched her roommate freak out with a slightly amused grin on her face. Gay panic, she had seen it several times with other friends in her life. It had always turned out okay for them and she knew it would be okay for Heather, if Heather could ever learn to accept herself. Heather and Naya were the perfect couple, everyone around them knew it, the two just refused to accept it or talk about it. But judging by Heather’s ramblings during her freak out, that was about to change.
Heather didn’t even bother to finish her coffee. She was running on adrenaline from panic and nerves and something that nipped at the back of her mind that felt like excitement, though she wasn’t sure what about this situation could possibly excite her. She supposed it would be nice to finally know what was going on between her and her best friend. She grabbed her keys and her purse and pulled on the first pair of shoes she could find. She was out the door without as much as a thank you or see you later to Ashley but she did hear her roommate call good luck after her.
Ashley sighed, relaxing back into the couch a small proud grin on her face. Her work as best friend and roommate had been accomplished. She’d planted the seed in Naya’s head and she knew that if Heather approached the Latina, she’d talk. After her conversation with Ashley this morning Heather had left out of their apartment in a hurry to go find the smaller girl, her mission was to talk about their relationship. Ashley was fairly confident that things would end well between the two girls, and that she’d finally have an easy, peaceful and happy home once again. Her phone vibrated on the coffee table, she picked it up expecting the text message to be from Heather. Her heart stopped and the grin disappeared from her face as she read the actual message.
“Hey Ash! Could you pick me and Taylor up from the airport and drive us to set. We want to surprise Heather. She doesn’t know I’m coming this early and she doesn’t know that Taylor is flying in for the weekend. We get in at 9am. Thanks love! - Mama Morris”