FIc: Aimless (10/?)
Category: Fanfiction
Title: Aimless (10/?)
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters/Pairing: Rory/Eleven, Amy, various OCs
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Implications of M/F sex, M/F relationship, brief mentions of teenage drinking, AU, un-betaed for Americanisms
Spoilers: Possible mentions of all early Series 5 episodes
Word Count: 2,669
Chapter Summary: No Amy = awkward Rory = life really sucks.
A/N:Oh goodness, so many things to apologize for! First off, so sorry for the long wait. Real life caught up with me and I had just way too much on my plate at once, so fic got shoved to the back corner of my mind for a while.
Second, endless, endless apologies for the numerous mistakes in British slang, the British school system, etc., in the last chapter. I promise I'll go back and fix all my mistakes once the story's complete! Please don't be too frustrated with me. I didn't realize there were so many differences. I'd assumed there were many more similarities than there actually are. I hope it didn't restrict your enjoyment of the previous chapter too much. Thank you to those who pointed out the mistakes.
Chapter 9
In the morning, Rory takes off without waiting for Amy. He doesn’t see her while he rides his bike to school, he doesn’t run into her once he’s there, and at lunch, she takes one look at him, and then turns and walks in a different direction. As much as it hurts to see his best (only) friend walk away, he refuses to let her know that.
He tries to tell himself it’ll all blow over. He tries to tell himself that in a few days, things will be back to normal. But he doesn’t really believe it.
He’s sitting outside in the sun, shading a ragged tie on a man with ridiculous hair, when he feels a tap on his shoulder and an American accented voice asks, quietly, “Anybody sitting here?”
He looks up to see the new girl looking down at him. Her name, as he’d eventually learned in English the previous day, is Catherine Wilkerson. She’s pretty, and all of the popular kids like her, and Rory has the sinking feeling that she’s been sent to do someone’s dirty work.
“Look,” he says, and tries not to sound like too much of a loser, “if Renee Lister sent you over here, you can tell her she can fu-”
Catherine blushes slightly. “Uh, no. She didn’t. I just, um. I went to sit with them today, but they weren’t at the table they were at yesterday, so…”
He blinks at her. “It’s Wednesday. They eat inside on Wednesdays.”
“Oh.” She frowns, a tiny crease popping up between her eyebrows as they push together. “I didn’t know that. They didn’t tell me.”
“That doesn’t really surprise me,” he says, quirking a small smile at her. “You can sit if you want to. If you’re not afraid of getting your reputation a little dirty.”
She laughs, but sits anyway, setting her backpack at her feet. “I think I’ll take my chances. I can always plead ignorance, right?” Her eyes sparkle happily at him.
He hesitates, because that almost makes it sound like she’s going to turn on him, like she knows what a loser he is, and she’s just using him for brief companionship, then running off the moment she spots her other friends. A moment later, her eyes widen, and her mouth opens in a tiny little ‘o’. “Oh god, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t always think before I speak. I’m sorry.”
“It’s no big deal,” he says, because she seems genuinely apologetic, and who is he to refuse anyone who’s willing to be nice to him right now?
“I’m Catherine.” She holds out one small, well-manicured hand for him to shake.
“Rory,” he responds, taking her hand in a firm grip.
She smiles at him when she pulls her hand away. “Nice to meet you, Rory.”
---
It turns out that Catherine can somehow juggle being friends with Rory and being popular, because she’s sitting with Jeremy and Jason and Renee the next day, but none of them seem upset about the fact that she sat with Rory the day before, and she keeps shooting him glances as she eats, then looking away quickly. After school, he runs into her while he’s about to head home on his bike, spotting her sitting on the bench in front of the main stairs, braiding her hair.
On a sudden impulse, he switches directions and approaches the bench. “Catherine!” he calls.
She turns, looking surprised to see him coming, and then smiles. “Hi!” She quickly lifts her backpack off the bench and sets it on the ground by her feet, a clear invitation for him to sit.
“Waiting for someone?” he guesses.
“My mom,” she answers as she nimbly wraps a hair tie around the base of the new braid. “She’s running a little late. Should be here soon, but, you know.” She shrugs and tosses the braid over her shoulder.
“I’ll wait with you,” he decides, taking her invitation to sit. “So, how’s your first week going?”
“I’ve had worse first weeks. This is actually pretty good.” At his confused look, she explains, “We move a lot for my mom’s job. She’s a professional photographer for a calendar company.”
Rory raises an eyebrow. “I don’t know how many great shots you’re gonna get in Leadworth. There’s literally nothing out here.”
Catherine shrugs and looks fondly away at the empty street, which runs about a mile east from school to the actual town. “I think it’s nice.”
“You’re crazy,” Rory says with a small shake of his head. As he does, his eye catches on a bright red car paused just at the entrance of the only parking lot the school has. Amy is looking at him sadly from inside, and their eyes meet for just the briefest of moments before Rory has to turn away and force himself to listen to what Catherine’s saying. A moment later, he hears the engine of the car as it turns away and heads to town. He pretends not to notice.
---
“Rory Williams?”
Rory freezes, hearing his name from the slightly ajar girls’ bathroom, and backtracks a few steps, unable to help himself. He glances around quickly and then ducks behind a set of lockers.
“What’s wrong with that?” comes Catherine’s voice from inside the bathroom. “You said I could invite anyone to sit with us, so I told you who I wanted to!”
“You cannot do that,” Renee Lister says, sounding furious. “You’re going to ruin everything you’ve built up for yourself. People will never respect you again.”
“They seem to like what’s-her-name well enough.”
“Amy? That’s just because she and Jeremy are like, a day away from dating. He’s so into her it’s not even funny. But that’s not the point! We’re talking about you and your stupid crush-”
“It’s not a crush!” Catherine squeals indignantly. “I just think you guys aren’t very fair to him. He’s sweet, and funny, and I like him!”
“Yeah, you like him all right,” mutters Renee darkly.
“Shut up! You know what I mean! Just give him a chance. For me. Please?”
Their voices start drifting toward the door, so Rory quickly slips off. His heart is rapidly pounding in his chest as he rushes through the halls. He makes it through his next two classes in a daze, only half paying attention to the teachers as they talk about whatever it is that they’re talking about. If it’s true - if Catherine does like him - then what is he going to do? How is he supposed to handle this? It makes his hands get clammy with a combination of… God, he doesn’t even know. He has no clue how he’s supposed to feel right now - well, that’s not true. He knows how he’s supposed to feel. He’s supposed to feel excited and deliriously, annoyingly happy. But he has no idea what it is that he’s feeling right now.
At lunch, he sits at his usual table and glances up every thirty seconds, not sure whether he actually wants to see Catherine or not. Once, when he looks up, his gaze collides roughly with Amy’s as she steps out through the doors of the building to the open courtyard. For a brief second, they stare at each other, and then he jerks his head down and feels his cheeks heat up.
He jumps with surprise when a hand lands on his shoulder. He’s half-expecting it to be Adam or Jason - he’s certainly not expecting it to be Catherine.
“Hi!” He quickly pulls his backpack off the bench next to him. “You wanna sit?”
“Um, actually.” She pushes a lock of hair behind her ear and glances down shyly. “I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come sit with me, instead?”
He frowns. “Wouldn’t I be sitting with you here?”
“I meant…” She bites her bottom lip and tosses her head over her shoulder. His gaze slides past her to the table she’s gestured to - the table with Jeremy Jefferson and Renee Lister and Jason Myers and…
Oh.
And Amy Pond. Sitting next to Jeremy. Close to Jeremy. Very close to Jeremy.
He swallows hard. It’s one thing to invite open antagonism from Jeremy and Renee and Jason, but with Amy there, too?
“I know it’s not your usual crowd,” Catherine says, sounding practically desperate, “but… I’d really like it if you sat with me. Please? I think if you just gave them a chance, they’d like you.”
He hesitates. He really, really doesn’t want to, but what other choice does he have? It’s either that or possibly alienating his only friend at the moment, and he is not going to risk that.
He takes a deep breath, and then nods once, slowly. “Yeah, okay. I’ll come.”
“Thank you!” She looks absolutely delighted, and she helps him gather his stuff into his backpack and then waits next to him while he pulls it over his shoulders and gathers his lunch up into his arms. Then he smiles at her and she asks, “Shall we?” and holds out her hand towards him.
He can’t help briefly tensing up, his eyes flicking down to her hand and then up to her face, and it takes him a good five seconds before he can finally bring himself to take it. Her skin is soft and her fingers are small in his. She gives him a smile that should melt his heart, but doesn’t.
He swallows and offers her the best approximation that he can give in return.
When they walk up, Renee Lister is watching them with a frown on her face, but she slides over so that they have room to sit down. “I guess you guys know Rory already,” Catherine says by way of introduction. She glances up at him unsurely as he slowly settles himself next to her.
Amy’s eyes flick up from her food and fix on Rory, but he pretends not to see. Instead he offers a weak smile at the people around him. A couple smile in return. Jeremy Jefferson is studying him from his place on the other side of the table, next to Amy, his eyes narrowed slightly and a small crease in his forehead. Rory turns his head away quickly, just in time to notice that he and Catherine are still holding hands.
He feels the blush creep back up and, unsuccessfully, tries to push it back down. Somehow, he has a feeling that this is not going to end well.
---
He shouldn’t be surprised. The rumor mill in this town is worse than anywhere else in the whole damn country, so when Dad gets home and asks him, almost casually, during their microwave dinner, “So I heard there’s a girl?” he doesn’t know why it shocks him.
“Ran into Renee Lister’s mom on my way home,” Dad says by way of explanation.
Rory looks down at his rather ambiguous pasta, pokes at it with his fork. “There’s… kind of a girl,” he confirms with a shrug. He’s kind of iffy on whether or not it’s true. For one thing, he could have just completely misread her intentions. Maybe she was being completely truthful in the bathroom with Renee, when she said she didn’t like him. And for another thing, he… Well, he doesn’t really want to admit it, but he almost isn’t completely sure that he actually wants it to be true.
Dad studies him for a few long moments, and Rory tries to pretend that he can’t feel his gaze on him.
Finally, he speaks. “When do I get to meet her?”
Rory tenses, his fingers clenching tighter around his fork. “Um.” Panic flutters through his heart.
Dad rolls his eyes. “Oh, relax, it doesn’t have to be right away. I’m just wondering.” He pauses. “Where’s Amy been lately?”
Rory closes his eyes. “Can we talk about something else? Please?”
For a couple quiet seconds, Dad just stares at him, and then nods. “Just… Rory. If you two are fighting, or something, then… I want you to know that friends like Amy only come around once in a lifetime. It might just be best to make up and move on. Forgive and forget.”
“Sometimes you can’t do that, Dad,” Rory mumbles, and keeps his eyes fixed resolutely on the table in front of him. There’s no more discussion about it after that.
---
“Party at my place on Friday,” Renee announces the next week.
“Again?” Jeremy raises an eyebrow, his arm around Amy’s shoulders. “You just had one.”
Renee shrugs. “Who am I to let an empty house go to waste?”
The others laugh, and they quickly divide up the tasks of verbal invitations, set up and clean-up, and finally, obtaining of food and (much to Rory’s anxiety) liquor. Renee claims she’ll be able to take care of that last one, but Jeremy waves her away and flashes a clearly fake ID at them all and, with a smirk, says, “I’ll get it.”
Rory says nothing, just ducks his head and tears at the crust of his sandwich with his free hand. The other is resting in his lap, with Catherine’s fingers intertwined in his own. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Amy shift uncomfortably. Aloud, she says, “Isn’t it kind of dangerous to have alcohol? I mean, they nearly called 999 last time, it got so loud.”
Renee waves it away with a flutter of one perfectly manicured hand. “We’ll just keep it down this time. Nobody’ll even know we were there.”
Amy doesn’t question it, but Rory still feels anxiety tugging at his stomach. It’s clear from the way that Catherine’s talking (using ‘we’ instead of ‘I’, with a meaningful glance over at Rory) that he’s expected to be there as well. Dad would kill him if he found out that he was a party with alcohol, and he knows for a fact Amy’s aunt would go after her, too.
When it’s time to return to class, he throws his mostly uneaten lunch in the trash and walks Catherine to class, feeling obligated somehow. He has an uncomfortable feeling that she thinks they’re dating - which isn’t really an issue, exactly, it’s just… He’s not sure he’s ready for that kind of thing. Yes, he knows most of the other boys his age have had girlfriends already, have been shagging them for years, but… He can’t quite explain it.
He stops outside Catherine’s math class, and she miles dazzlingly up at him - or, he supposes it’s dazzling, judging by the angry, jealous looks he gets from the other boys passing them in the hall. Her teeth are rather white, he notices. It’s probably just his worry about the alcohol that’s messing with him. He’ll be fine soon.
“Look, um.” Catherine pauses, bites her bottom lip, like she’s not sure if she wants to say whatever’s about to come out of her mouth. “I’ve been talking with Renee a lot, and, um, it seems like the other girls have already…” She hesitates again and glances around them, as if to reassure herself that no one’s listening. “Well, you know. Just, um, could you be ready, on Friday? Bring, you know… what we’ll need?”
She looks desperate, and Rory stares at her for a long time, completely oblivious. He has no idea what she’s talking about.
“Sure?” he says, and if it comes out more as a question than he intended, well… Not much he can do about it now.
“Thank you so much,” she breathes, her eyes lighting up with relief. She grabs both his hands and leans up on her toes to give him a swift kiss. It takes him completely by surprise, and he jerks away maybe a touch too quickly. She doesn’t seem to notice, though, just gives him the flash of a smile as she turns away.
The late bell’s already rung by the time Rory can make his feet move again.
Chapter 11
Title: Aimless (10/?)
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters/Pairing: Rory/Eleven, Amy, various OCs
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Implications of M/F sex, M/F relationship, brief mentions of teenage drinking, AU, un-betaed for Americanisms
Spoilers: Possible mentions of all early Series 5 episodes
Word Count: 2,669
Chapter Summary: No Amy = awkward Rory = life really sucks.
A/N:Oh goodness, so many things to apologize for! First off, so sorry for the long wait. Real life caught up with me and I had just way too much on my plate at once, so fic got shoved to the back corner of my mind for a while.
Second, endless, endless apologies for the numerous mistakes in British slang, the British school system, etc., in the last chapter. I promise I'll go back and fix all my mistakes once the story's complete! Please don't be too frustrated with me. I didn't realize there were so many differences. I'd assumed there were many more similarities than there actually are. I hope it didn't restrict your enjoyment of the previous chapter too much. Thank you to those who pointed out the mistakes.
Chapter 9
In the morning, Rory takes off without waiting for Amy. He doesn’t see her while he rides his bike to school, he doesn’t run into her once he’s there, and at lunch, she takes one look at him, and then turns and walks in a different direction. As much as it hurts to see his best (only) friend walk away, he refuses to let her know that.
He tries to tell himself it’ll all blow over. He tries to tell himself that in a few days, things will be back to normal. But he doesn’t really believe it.
He’s sitting outside in the sun, shading a ragged tie on a man with ridiculous hair, when he feels a tap on his shoulder and an American accented voice asks, quietly, “Anybody sitting here?”
He looks up to see the new girl looking down at him. Her name, as he’d eventually learned in English the previous day, is Catherine Wilkerson. She’s pretty, and all of the popular kids like her, and Rory has the sinking feeling that she’s been sent to do someone’s dirty work.
“Look,” he says, and tries not to sound like too much of a loser, “if Renee Lister sent you over here, you can tell her she can fu-”
Catherine blushes slightly. “Uh, no. She didn’t. I just, um. I went to sit with them today, but they weren’t at the table they were at yesterday, so…”
He blinks at her. “It’s Wednesday. They eat inside on Wednesdays.”
“Oh.” She frowns, a tiny crease popping up between her eyebrows as they push together. “I didn’t know that. They didn’t tell me.”
“That doesn’t really surprise me,” he says, quirking a small smile at her. “You can sit if you want to. If you’re not afraid of getting your reputation a little dirty.”
She laughs, but sits anyway, setting her backpack at her feet. “I think I’ll take my chances. I can always plead ignorance, right?” Her eyes sparkle happily at him.
He hesitates, because that almost makes it sound like she’s going to turn on him, like she knows what a loser he is, and she’s just using him for brief companionship, then running off the moment she spots her other friends. A moment later, her eyes widen, and her mouth opens in a tiny little ‘o’. “Oh god, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t always think before I speak. I’m sorry.”
“It’s no big deal,” he says, because she seems genuinely apologetic, and who is he to refuse anyone who’s willing to be nice to him right now?
“I’m Catherine.” She holds out one small, well-manicured hand for him to shake.
“Rory,” he responds, taking her hand in a firm grip.
She smiles at him when she pulls her hand away. “Nice to meet you, Rory.”
---
It turns out that Catherine can somehow juggle being friends with Rory and being popular, because she’s sitting with Jeremy and Jason and Renee the next day, but none of them seem upset about the fact that she sat with Rory the day before, and she keeps shooting him glances as she eats, then looking away quickly. After school, he runs into her while he’s about to head home on his bike, spotting her sitting on the bench in front of the main stairs, braiding her hair.
On a sudden impulse, he switches directions and approaches the bench. “Catherine!” he calls.
She turns, looking surprised to see him coming, and then smiles. “Hi!” She quickly lifts her backpack off the bench and sets it on the ground by her feet, a clear invitation for him to sit.
“Waiting for someone?” he guesses.
“My mom,” she answers as she nimbly wraps a hair tie around the base of the new braid. “She’s running a little late. Should be here soon, but, you know.” She shrugs and tosses the braid over her shoulder.
“I’ll wait with you,” he decides, taking her invitation to sit. “So, how’s your first week going?”
“I’ve had worse first weeks. This is actually pretty good.” At his confused look, she explains, “We move a lot for my mom’s job. She’s a professional photographer for a calendar company.”
Rory raises an eyebrow. “I don’t know how many great shots you’re gonna get in Leadworth. There’s literally nothing out here.”
Catherine shrugs and looks fondly away at the empty street, which runs about a mile east from school to the actual town. “I think it’s nice.”
“You’re crazy,” Rory says with a small shake of his head. As he does, his eye catches on a bright red car paused just at the entrance of the only parking lot the school has. Amy is looking at him sadly from inside, and their eyes meet for just the briefest of moments before Rory has to turn away and force himself to listen to what Catherine’s saying. A moment later, he hears the engine of the car as it turns away and heads to town. He pretends not to notice.
---
“Rory Williams?”
Rory freezes, hearing his name from the slightly ajar girls’ bathroom, and backtracks a few steps, unable to help himself. He glances around quickly and then ducks behind a set of lockers.
“What’s wrong with that?” comes Catherine’s voice from inside the bathroom. “You said I could invite anyone to sit with us, so I told you who I wanted to!”
“You cannot do that,” Renee Lister says, sounding furious. “You’re going to ruin everything you’ve built up for yourself. People will never respect you again.”
“They seem to like what’s-her-name well enough.”
“Amy? That’s just because she and Jeremy are like, a day away from dating. He’s so into her it’s not even funny. But that’s not the point! We’re talking about you and your stupid crush-”
“It’s not a crush!” Catherine squeals indignantly. “I just think you guys aren’t very fair to him. He’s sweet, and funny, and I like him!”
“Yeah, you like him all right,” mutters Renee darkly.
“Shut up! You know what I mean! Just give him a chance. For me. Please?”
Their voices start drifting toward the door, so Rory quickly slips off. His heart is rapidly pounding in his chest as he rushes through the halls. He makes it through his next two classes in a daze, only half paying attention to the teachers as they talk about whatever it is that they’re talking about. If it’s true - if Catherine does like him - then what is he going to do? How is he supposed to handle this? It makes his hands get clammy with a combination of… God, he doesn’t even know. He has no clue how he’s supposed to feel right now - well, that’s not true. He knows how he’s supposed to feel. He’s supposed to feel excited and deliriously, annoyingly happy. But he has no idea what it is that he’s feeling right now.
At lunch, he sits at his usual table and glances up every thirty seconds, not sure whether he actually wants to see Catherine or not. Once, when he looks up, his gaze collides roughly with Amy’s as she steps out through the doors of the building to the open courtyard. For a brief second, they stare at each other, and then he jerks his head down and feels his cheeks heat up.
He jumps with surprise when a hand lands on his shoulder. He’s half-expecting it to be Adam or Jason - he’s certainly not expecting it to be Catherine.
“Hi!” He quickly pulls his backpack off the bench next to him. “You wanna sit?”
“Um, actually.” She pushes a lock of hair behind her ear and glances down shyly. “I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come sit with me, instead?”
He frowns. “Wouldn’t I be sitting with you here?”
“I meant…” She bites her bottom lip and tosses her head over her shoulder. His gaze slides past her to the table she’s gestured to - the table with Jeremy Jefferson and Renee Lister and Jason Myers and…
Oh.
And Amy Pond. Sitting next to Jeremy. Close to Jeremy. Very close to Jeremy.
He swallows hard. It’s one thing to invite open antagonism from Jeremy and Renee and Jason, but with Amy there, too?
“I know it’s not your usual crowd,” Catherine says, sounding practically desperate, “but… I’d really like it if you sat with me. Please? I think if you just gave them a chance, they’d like you.”
He hesitates. He really, really doesn’t want to, but what other choice does he have? It’s either that or possibly alienating his only friend at the moment, and he is not going to risk that.
He takes a deep breath, and then nods once, slowly. “Yeah, okay. I’ll come.”
“Thank you!” She looks absolutely delighted, and she helps him gather his stuff into his backpack and then waits next to him while he pulls it over his shoulders and gathers his lunch up into his arms. Then he smiles at her and she asks, “Shall we?” and holds out her hand towards him.
He can’t help briefly tensing up, his eyes flicking down to her hand and then up to her face, and it takes him a good five seconds before he can finally bring himself to take it. Her skin is soft and her fingers are small in his. She gives him a smile that should melt his heart, but doesn’t.
He swallows and offers her the best approximation that he can give in return.
When they walk up, Renee Lister is watching them with a frown on her face, but she slides over so that they have room to sit down. “I guess you guys know Rory already,” Catherine says by way of introduction. She glances up at him unsurely as he slowly settles himself next to her.
Amy’s eyes flick up from her food and fix on Rory, but he pretends not to see. Instead he offers a weak smile at the people around him. A couple smile in return. Jeremy Jefferson is studying him from his place on the other side of the table, next to Amy, his eyes narrowed slightly and a small crease in his forehead. Rory turns his head away quickly, just in time to notice that he and Catherine are still holding hands.
He feels the blush creep back up and, unsuccessfully, tries to push it back down. Somehow, he has a feeling that this is not going to end well.
---
He shouldn’t be surprised. The rumor mill in this town is worse than anywhere else in the whole damn country, so when Dad gets home and asks him, almost casually, during their microwave dinner, “So I heard there’s a girl?” he doesn’t know why it shocks him.
“Ran into Renee Lister’s mom on my way home,” Dad says by way of explanation.
Rory looks down at his rather ambiguous pasta, pokes at it with his fork. “There’s… kind of a girl,” he confirms with a shrug. He’s kind of iffy on whether or not it’s true. For one thing, he could have just completely misread her intentions. Maybe she was being completely truthful in the bathroom with Renee, when she said she didn’t like him. And for another thing, he… Well, he doesn’t really want to admit it, but he almost isn’t completely sure that he actually wants it to be true.
Dad studies him for a few long moments, and Rory tries to pretend that he can’t feel his gaze on him.
Finally, he speaks. “When do I get to meet her?”
Rory tenses, his fingers clenching tighter around his fork. “Um.” Panic flutters through his heart.
Dad rolls his eyes. “Oh, relax, it doesn’t have to be right away. I’m just wondering.” He pauses. “Where’s Amy been lately?”
Rory closes his eyes. “Can we talk about something else? Please?”
For a couple quiet seconds, Dad just stares at him, and then nods. “Just… Rory. If you two are fighting, or something, then… I want you to know that friends like Amy only come around once in a lifetime. It might just be best to make up and move on. Forgive and forget.”
“Sometimes you can’t do that, Dad,” Rory mumbles, and keeps his eyes fixed resolutely on the table in front of him. There’s no more discussion about it after that.
---
“Party at my place on Friday,” Renee announces the next week.
“Again?” Jeremy raises an eyebrow, his arm around Amy’s shoulders. “You just had one.”
Renee shrugs. “Who am I to let an empty house go to waste?”
The others laugh, and they quickly divide up the tasks of verbal invitations, set up and clean-up, and finally, obtaining of food and (much to Rory’s anxiety) liquor. Renee claims she’ll be able to take care of that last one, but Jeremy waves her away and flashes a clearly fake ID at them all and, with a smirk, says, “I’ll get it.”
Rory says nothing, just ducks his head and tears at the crust of his sandwich with his free hand. The other is resting in his lap, with Catherine’s fingers intertwined in his own. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Amy shift uncomfortably. Aloud, she says, “Isn’t it kind of dangerous to have alcohol? I mean, they nearly called 999 last time, it got so loud.”
Renee waves it away with a flutter of one perfectly manicured hand. “We’ll just keep it down this time. Nobody’ll even know we were there.”
Amy doesn’t question it, but Rory still feels anxiety tugging at his stomach. It’s clear from the way that Catherine’s talking (using ‘we’ instead of ‘I’, with a meaningful glance over at Rory) that he’s expected to be there as well. Dad would kill him if he found out that he was a party with alcohol, and he knows for a fact Amy’s aunt would go after her, too.
When it’s time to return to class, he throws his mostly uneaten lunch in the trash and walks Catherine to class, feeling obligated somehow. He has an uncomfortable feeling that she thinks they’re dating - which isn’t really an issue, exactly, it’s just… He’s not sure he’s ready for that kind of thing. Yes, he knows most of the other boys his age have had girlfriends already, have been shagging them for years, but… He can’t quite explain it.
He stops outside Catherine’s math class, and she miles dazzlingly up at him - or, he supposes it’s dazzling, judging by the angry, jealous looks he gets from the other boys passing them in the hall. Her teeth are rather white, he notices. It’s probably just his worry about the alcohol that’s messing with him. He’ll be fine soon.
“Look, um.” Catherine pauses, bites her bottom lip, like she’s not sure if she wants to say whatever’s about to come out of her mouth. “I’ve been talking with Renee a lot, and, um, it seems like the other girls have already…” She hesitates again and glances around them, as if to reassure herself that no one’s listening. “Well, you know. Just, um, could you be ready, on Friday? Bring, you know… what we’ll need?”
She looks desperate, and Rory stares at her for a long time, completely oblivious. He has no idea what she’s talking about.
“Sure?” he says, and if it comes out more as a question than he intended, well… Not much he can do about it now.
“Thank you so much,” she breathes, her eyes lighting up with relief. She grabs both his hands and leans up on her toes to give him a swift kiss. It takes him completely by surprise, and he jerks away maybe a touch too quickly. She doesn’t seem to notice, though, just gives him the flash of a smile as she turns away.
The late bell’s already rung by the time Rory can make his feet move again.
Chapter 11