Fic: 40 Days & 40 Nights, Pairing: Bleighton, Rating: PG-13
Title: 40 Days & 40 Nights
Author: Annamollyisdead
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don’t own anybody
Summary: Leighton is kinda sorta Catholic, Blake has really, really bad timing and the rest of the Gossip Girl cast are along for a crazy comedic ride.
A/N: I seriously wrote over 6,000 words without a prompt… [WOW] and it could very well suck because A.) it’s un beta’d and I’m prone to mistakes y B.) *cough* I wasn’t drinking/smoking anything when I wrote this *cough*
---
“And it’s just… I don’t know. I felt like the walls were closing in around me and the ceiling was collapsing kinda like I was sinking into the mattress; like it was gonna swallow me whole, you know? And that’d be the end of me,”
“So what did you do?”
Laughton laughs, and it’s clearly a despondent chuckle.
“What do you think I did?” she asks incredulously. “I found my clothes and bolted before she could wake up,” she answers like it’s the most obvious response in the world. She shakes her head a bit, like he can see her. “Couldn’t find my underwear though,” she recalls with a chuckle then shakes her head again, “It was a shame. She was really cute too; I’m sure I could have spent another night or two with her,”
Leighton can hear a dissatisfied sigh followed by the unbuckling of chains. The metal grids of the confessional slide open to reveal a young boy in his early twenties. He has sandy blonde hair that just barely brushes across his eyebrows and sea green eyes that seem more suited for surfer trunks than a priest’s robe but white collar or not, to her, he’ll always be the boy of her childhood who had helped her stash that stray puppy she had found when she was nine, who had punched that one idiot who had made fun of her family background right in the face when she was ten, who had cried when her family first moved her to New York, and who had somehow made his way to California so they could go to high school together when she was fifteen.
“Leighton!” His voice is smooth, stern, and only slightly annoyed.
“Elijah!” she emulates his tone.
He rolls his eyes.
“I don’t know why you insist on coming here if you’re gonna keep doing the same thing over and over again, Lei!”
Now it’s Leighton’s turn to roll her eyes.
“Because, I need help, duh! I’m gonna sleep my way through every blonde, blue eyed, long limbed girl in New York and California until I get to the one blonde, blue eyed, long limbed girl that I really want,”
“Then just get the one blonde, blue eyed, long limbed girl you really want,” He blinks a few times, obviously mulling over what he just said before starring upwards and then shaking his head. “I can’t believe I just said that,” he admits. “I absolutely do not condone your behavior Leighton,” he says sternly. “We,” he gestures vaguely around him. “Cannot condone your behavior.”
“I need help Ely. Can’t you pray for me or something? Or better yet, pray for her. Pray that she comes to her senses and stops playing arm candy to a guy who’s like two inches shorter than her!”
“Penn is not shorter than her,”
Leighton purses her lips together.
“I didn’t say it was Penn… How’d you know it was him?” Her eyes narrow suspiciously. “You’ve been reading those gossip rags again, haven’t you?” He looks away guilty and she shakes her head, “Some priest you are,” she mutters.
He laughs.
“I only read them to see if the media has caught onto your scandalous lesbian flings yet, and moreover, I’m not a priest. I’m still in training. Besides, if you wanted a real priest, you would have gone to my father ages ago Lei,”
“Yeah… right! If I told him these things, he’d damn me to hell, or worse, excommunicate me or something and then the media would have a field day with that one! I’d be like the next Madonna-”
“You don’t even need a priest Leighton,” he interrupts her, “You’re in love with Blake-”
“Sshhh,” Leighton hushes him, her eyes darting around the small box as if anyone but herself could even fit in it.
“No spiritual guidance can help you, Lei” He continues. “You’re having meaningless sex with every Blake look-a-like you can find to suppress your emotions and now you’re feeling guilty because of it… You need like a psychiatrist… or a sex therapist or something,”
“I don’t need a psychiatrist, or a therapist. I’m not crazy Ely,” she says. “You know what? You’re really no help at all,”
“Well, I’m sorry that they don’t teach me how to give good lesbian sex advice in seminary school. I just, I dunno… stay away from mattresses that try to swallow you whole?”
Leighton rolls her eyes; she feels like that’s all she’s been doing for this whole conversation.
“What fantastic advice Ely,” she says, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “I’ll keep that in mind,”
“You know… This,” he gestures between them. “Isn’t penance Lei. I really hope you’re not wasting your money flying out here just for this, because it’s not gonna help you.”
“I know,” Leighton admits.
“So,” Ely begins, unwilling to push the subject any further. “You said she was really pretty?”
---
“I’m telling you Lei,” Ed has a glass of straight Bourbon in one hand and a beer in the other. He wraps an arm around Leighton’s shoulders offering her a sip of his drink which she refuses. Shrugging, he continues, “All you need is some more sex,” The combination of loud, booming music and the smell of strong alcohol on Ed’s breath is making Leighton feel drunk and she hasn’t even had a drink yet. “Really, really good sex,” Ed continues. He downs his whiskey with one large gulp and slams the glass against the bar top, signaling for the bartender to bring him two more. “Now,” he nods his head to the corner of the bar. “There’s a hot blonde to my left [it’s really his right, but he’s drunk enough for Leighton to excuse the mistake] who has been eyeing you since we got here,” Leighton looks in the direction and finds blue eyes fixed upon her. She feels a cool slim bottle of beer being slipped into her palms and a hand on the smalls of her back nudging her in the general direction of the blonde.
She’s halfway across the bar already when she hears the distinct howl of another shot downed and a slurred, “Go get her Lei,”
---
“It happened again,”
Leighton hears a sigh but no answer.
Ely’s reply comes in the form of a small business card that he slides underneath the metal grids of the confessional’s partition.
Leighton picks it up and reads the large bold heading aloud.
“Sexaholics Anonymous,” She laughs. “Very funny Elijah.” she shakes her head. “How many of these things do you have back there anyway?” she asks, recalling a couple of weeks ago when he gave her the ‘You, Sex, and God’ pamphlet and the ‘God Loves the Gays’ one before that.
“Enough to keep you reading for years,” He answers. “So… The mattress?”
“Yea, the mattress,” Leighton says. She shifts for comfort until she’s leaning back against the wall of the confessional with her elbows resting on her bended knees; this could be a long conversation.
“It’s trying to eat you again?” He asks. There’s a definite hint of amusement in his voice.
“This is not funny Ely,”
“Ok, you’re right,” he relents. “It’s not,” he says. “So?”
“So… Blake’s been hanging around a lot again,”
“Has she?” He sounds mildly distracted.
“Yea. It’s kinda like she’s moved back into our trailer again,”
There’s a moment of silence filled by the sound of pen scratching across paper before Ely speaks again.
“Did she and Penn break up?”
“No,” Leighton answers. “At least I don’t think so. If they have, she hasn’t said anything and he still follows her around like a lost puppy on set,”
“Well, maybe she just misses you,”
“Yeah, I guess.”
There’s the sound of more vigorous writing again.
“And I suppose it’s not helping your killer mattress problem?” Ely finally says.
“No it’s not.” Leighton sighs. “What are you writing anyway?” she asks curiously.
“Church activities for Lent,”
“Oh … Yeah. Forgot about that,” Leighton says. “That starts tomorrow right? What are giving up?”
“Yep. I’m fasting, but I believe the burning question is, what are you giving up for Lent?”
“I dunno…” She pauses. “Text messaging? Isn’t that what your dad’s encouraging all young people to give up?”
“Yea, he is, although, I’m not sure how well that’s blowing over, but… back to your murderous mattress,”
“Yes,”
“Are you sure you weren’t just inebriated or something?”
“I wasn’t drunk,”
There’s silence.
“Fine,” she relents. “I had one beer but that’s hardly enough to get me tipsy let alone drunk!”
“Alright then,” Ely replies. “I stand by my earlier assessment. You’re feeling guilty,”
“So how do I stop feeling guilty?”
“You stop doing whatever it is you’re doing that’s making you feel guilty.”
“In other words, you think I should stop having sex,”
“Well that’s obvious. I think you shouldn’t be having sex with anyone until you’re married.”
“Easy for you to say, you’re celibate,”
“Yes, and my mattress isn’t trying to swallow me whole,”
He had a point…
“I’ll do it,” Leighton says after a long stretch of silence.
“What?”
“Open this thing up, will you?”
Metal chains buckle until the gridded window slides open.
“I’m gonna give up sex for Lent,” Leighton says sincerely as soon as Ely’s face is reveled.
“Leighton-”
“I’m serious Ely. I think this may be just what I need to get this whole Blake thing out of my system. Forty days, no sex, no masturbation, no intimacy, period-” She sees the grimace color Ely’s features. “You don’t think I can do it!” Her voice is accusatory.
“That’s not it,” That’s exactly it. “It’s a big step for you to take. I just think… maybe you should start smaller?”
“Jeez Ely, have a little faith in me,”
“I do… It’s just-”
“I can do it Ely,”
He sighs.
“If you say so…”
---
“You’re kidding me right Leighton?”
“No. I’m as serious as cancer, AIDS and heart disease all in the same body,”
Ed looks doubtful.
“I’m one hundred percent capable of it Ed,” Leighton argues.
Ed grins. His smirk is so patronizing, so pompous, that if it were on anyone but Ed’s face, Leighton would probably be more than glad to smack it right off.
“Of course you are,” he says, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they make their way to Blair’s “room” to shoot their next scene. “But… how about we make this a little more interesting, yeah? A hundred says you don’t make it the full forty days,”
She looks at him, thinks about it for a few seconds and with all the conviction she can muster, says, “deal.”
---
There’s a sharp knock on her door, followed by a lighter knock and then an insistent rapping as if someone is attempting to use her door as a makeshift drum. If Leighton didn’t know any better, she could swear that it’s…
“Chace?”
He’s leaning casually against her doorframe with a hand on his neck and a pillow and a blanket wedged under his arm.
“The doorman let me up,” Chace explains, which, of course, makes perfect sense if that were the question that Leighton had opened her mouth to ask, but it’s not, because Leighton has more pressing questions, like:
“What are you doing here?”
She and Chace are friends, good friends, she’d even consider him one of her best friends but just dropping by without so much as a text message is taboo for Leighton’s own mother let alone her friends.
“I’m sleeping on your couch,” Chace says, pointing at his pillow like the answer should be obvious. He easily slips between Leighton and the door and throws his stuff down on the leather couch all whilst Leighton stares at him like he has somehow grown another head, or worse, shaved his head. “Ed, Jess and I are taking turns to make sure nothing,” he cranes his neck to look into Leighton’s bedroom, “goes on,”
“You can’t be serious,” Leighton complains.
“Oh yeah, and a message from Ed. He says your non-shooting curfew is midnight.”
Leighton shakes her head, like if she shakes it enough she’ll realize that this is some weirdly elaborate dream. When she still sees Chace standing there looking at her as if she’s the one who is out of context here, she accepts the situation for what it is, only….
“Ok, I get why Ed would want to make sure I stick to the plan… but you and Jess?”
“Yeah. The pot’s high!”
“The pot?” She really hopes he’s talking about marijuana. In fact, she could totally do with a joint right now.
“Yeah… most of the cast is in on it!” He says earnestly. “If it helps, not everyone is against you though. Taylor placed two hundred on you going the full forty days and Nicole, Kelly and Zuzanna think we’re all disgraceful for betting on your personal life like this. Matt didn’t even know you that you’re into girls, let alone that you’re kinda slutty but he put a hundred on you losing on day thirty-five. Ed called Michelle who placed three hundred on day seven! We tried to get in contact with Kristen, but she was busy… Connor-”
“No!” Leighton interrupts. She shakes her head. “Not Connor!”
He smiles almost apologetically, always prettily, and nods.
“Day fifteen.” He says seriously. “Even Josh and Stephanie are in on it! The only people who aren’t in on it are like Blake and Penn, for… obvious reasons,”
Leighton rubs her temple, sighing dolefully.
“I’m going to bed,” she states. “And,” she stops at her bedroom door, turning to face Chace once again. She grins. “I hope my couch gives you like really bad bed hair!”
She slams her bedroom door dramatically.
---
“Sorry Lei, but there are these totally cute boots that my mom won’t let me buy and I’m like, “it’s my money!” you know, but she’s all like “my foot is down!” So, in short, the acquisition of my boots lay in this bet. I have absolute faith in you though. You only have 35 more days to go. That can’t be that hard. I mean-”
“Taylor,” Leighton says, cutting the young blonde off. Blake has been waving her over from the craft service table for the past minute or so and there’s only so much ignoring Blake that Leighton can do until she relents. “Hold that thought,” she says before heading over to where Blake is standing with huge grin gracing her lips.
“Hey you,” Blake says as soon as Leighton is within earshot. “Walk and talk? I’m late for makeup,”
“When are you not late for makeup?” Leighton asks, rolling her eyes but barely managing to suppress a grin.
Blake shrugs but laughs anyway.
Leighton nearly jumps out of her skin when she feels Blake’s hand descend upon her bare shoulder. She would like to think that it’s because Blake has some kind of weird powers over her rather than think that it’s because five days has already made her this edgy but if truth be told, she knows it’s because of the weird lethal combination of the two.
If Blake notices her sudden jumpiness though, she doesn’t say anything about it; instead she gives Leighton’s shoulder a light squeeze and says, “Everyone’s been acting weird on set over the past couple of days.” Leighton forces a smile. “Between you and me,” Blake leans in close, too close. “I think Ed’s dealing on set or something,” Her breath wisps across Leighton’s neck and warms her to the very core. “I mean,” Blake continues and Leighton wonders if she even felt the shiver that ran through her body. “Do you see how much money he’s been handling lately?” Leighton shakes her head distractedly, way too preoccupied with the way Blake’s hand seems to be slipping lower by the second to actually pay attention to what it is Blake is saying. “I even saw him and Matthew exchanging cash behind the makeup trailer…” She says perplexedly. “Anyway,” She says loudly as her hand land squarely on the smalls of Leighton’s back. “Dinner and movie. My apartment tomorrow, say… nine-ish?”
Leighton purses her lips together. Not a good idea. SO not a good idea! Prolonged exposure to Blake usually ends in one of two things: 1.)Leighton in bed with some random blonde which as of late has lead to these random panic “the mattress is gonna kill me” type attacks and 2.)Leighton in bed alone, left to her own devices which is bad. Both are bad actually, very bad, but how can she decline an offer to spend time with Blake?
“Dinner and a movie, my apartment tomorrow, say eight?” She revises. It’s safer this way. “Ed’ll be there,” She quickly adds, which, she’s kinda sorry to say, is one of the huge reasons it’ll be safer this way.
Blake raises an eyebrow.
“He’s sleeping on my couch,” Leighton explains.
“Uhmmm alright then,” Blake says in a way that conveys that she clearly doesn’t understand but she won’t press on. “So…” She grins and scrunches her nose up in a way that Leighton knows means she’s going to say something endearing. “Tomorrow, your apartment, nine-thirty-ish?”
Blake just barely misses the hand that attempts to come down against her shoulder.
“I swear, if you’re late I will start the movie without you,” She wouldn’t dare. “You seriously need to learn to be on time,” she jokes.
Blake holds her hands up in mock surrender.
“Eight, I got it!” she says, stalling at the makeup trailer door. “Well,” she hangs onto the door handle, pausing like she has something more to say but doesn’t quite know how to say it. “Time to go get pretty,” she finally says, smiling widely.
Leighton smiles too, even as Blake enters the trailer, but, she can’t quite help but wonder if maybe Blake had found out about this whole Lent thing.
---
“Lei,” Blake shifts forward so she can see Leighton through Ed, who had stolen the bowl of popcorn, sunk down between them on the floor and then fallen asleep before the previews of the movie had even finished.
“Yeah?” Leighton shifts forward too.
“There’s been something I’ve been meaning to tell you,”
“Mmhmm?”
“I-” Ed snores loudly briefly distracting Blake from her train of thought. She leans back against the couch, waiting for Leighton to do the same before she speaks again. “Penn and I broke up,”
To Leighton’s surprise, she didn’t have to fake sympathy like she thought she would the many times she had thought about Blake saying those words; the sympathy came naturally the moment the words left the blonde’s lips.
“You ok?” She asks sincerely, resting her chin against her forearm and regarding Blake carefully from behind Ed’s head, which, now that she thinks about it, is rather large.
Blake nods.
“I’m fine,” she vocalizes. “It’s just… He said something that made me think, like really think about stuff,”
“Stuff like?” Leighton asks curiously.
“Like-” Blake begins, only to be interrupted by another loud snore.
“Sorry,” Leighton says, a smile tugging at her lips nonetheless.
“S’okay. We can talk at the door, I should leave soon anyway,”
Leighton nods, getting to her feet as Blake does so. She follows the blonde to the door, quietly closing it behind her so they can talk in the hallway.
“So… stuff?” she asks quietly, mindful not to wake the neighbors.
“Yea,” Blake affirms.
“Stuff like?”
“Stuff like relationship dynamics and fluidity and- Leighton, I really like you,” she says the last part really quickly, rushing the five words out in one breath of air, like maybe the quicker she says it, the lesser the blow, but apparently not, because Leighton is looking at her confusedly, like she can’t quite process the words until she finally just says, “what?”
“I know it’s probably a lot to take in,” Blake continues. “And I totally understand if you’re freaked out, no hard feelings, or anything, but, if you’re not, like completely freaked out that is, then I was thinking that maybe you would let me take you out, like, on a date type thing sometime? And we could like take it really slow and- Leighton, say something,”
Leighton blinks like she somehow expects Blake to just dematerialize into thin air. A plethora of emotions coarse through her but the two that actually stay are joy --skip through a meadow, sing from the tops of buildings type joy-- and outrage, because, really? REALLY, REALLY? NOW?!? of all times, now? Could Blake’s timing be any worse?
“Lei-”
“Yes,”
Blake’s brow furors.
“Yes yes?”
“Yes!”
“Ok, uhmm,” Blake grins. “Awesome, I, uhmm,” She leans down enveloping the brunette in a hug that’s so tight, and so strong that she almost lifts Leighton off of her feet. “Alright,” she’s grinning when she pulls back. “Goodnight Lei,”
Leighton forces a smile.
“Night Blake,”
She waits until elevator doors safely close before going back inside her apartment and unleashing her wrath on who truly deserves it.
“Oh, very fucking funny!!!” She stares at the ceiling, seemingly speaking to the walls. “Hilarious actually! Now I see what you do with your spare time,” she sing-songs and waits for a moment for something, maybe a lightning bolt to strike her down, maybe an earthquake, some kind of sign. When she gets nothing, she angrily heads to her room, purposely nudging a sleeping Ed -who has somehow managed to sprawl himself out on her floor-with her toe, before heading to her room and slamming her door dramatically for the second time since she’s moved into this apartment.
Part 2
Author: Annamollyisdead
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don’t own anybody
Summary: Leighton is kinda sorta Catholic, Blake has really, really bad timing and the rest of the Gossip Girl cast are along for a crazy comedic ride.
A/N: I seriously wrote over 6,000 words without a prompt… [WOW] and it could very well suck because A.) it’s un beta’d and I’m prone to mistakes y B.) *cough* I wasn’t drinking/smoking anything when I wrote this *cough*
---
“And it’s just… I don’t know. I felt like the walls were closing in around me and the ceiling was collapsing kinda like I was sinking into the mattress; like it was gonna swallow me whole, you know? And that’d be the end of me,”
“So what did you do?”
Laughton laughs, and it’s clearly a despondent chuckle.
“What do you think I did?” she asks incredulously. “I found my clothes and bolted before she could wake up,” she answers like it’s the most obvious response in the world. She shakes her head a bit, like he can see her. “Couldn’t find my underwear though,” she recalls with a chuckle then shakes her head again, “It was a shame. She was really cute too; I’m sure I could have spent another night or two with her,”
Leighton can hear a dissatisfied sigh followed by the unbuckling of chains. The metal grids of the confessional slide open to reveal a young boy in his early twenties. He has sandy blonde hair that just barely brushes across his eyebrows and sea green eyes that seem more suited for surfer trunks than a priest’s robe but white collar or not, to her, he’ll always be the boy of her childhood who had helped her stash that stray puppy she had found when she was nine, who had punched that one idiot who had made fun of her family background right in the face when she was ten, who had cried when her family first moved her to New York, and who had somehow made his way to California so they could go to high school together when she was fifteen.
“Leighton!” His voice is smooth, stern, and only slightly annoyed.
“Elijah!” she emulates his tone.
He rolls his eyes.
“I don’t know why you insist on coming here if you’re gonna keep doing the same thing over and over again, Lei!”
Now it’s Leighton’s turn to roll her eyes.
“Because, I need help, duh! I’m gonna sleep my way through every blonde, blue eyed, long limbed girl in New York and California until I get to the one blonde, blue eyed, long limbed girl that I really want,”
“Then just get the one blonde, blue eyed, long limbed girl you really want,” He blinks a few times, obviously mulling over what he just said before starring upwards and then shaking his head. “I can’t believe I just said that,” he admits. “I absolutely do not condone your behavior Leighton,” he says sternly. “We,” he gestures vaguely around him. “Cannot condone your behavior.”
“I need help Ely. Can’t you pray for me or something? Or better yet, pray for her. Pray that she comes to her senses and stops playing arm candy to a guy who’s like two inches shorter than her!”
“Penn is not shorter than her,”
Leighton purses her lips together.
“I didn’t say it was Penn… How’d you know it was him?” Her eyes narrow suspiciously. “You’ve been reading those gossip rags again, haven’t you?” He looks away guilty and she shakes her head, “Some priest you are,” she mutters.
He laughs.
“I only read them to see if the media has caught onto your scandalous lesbian flings yet, and moreover, I’m not a priest. I’m still in training. Besides, if you wanted a real priest, you would have gone to my father ages ago Lei,”
“Yeah… right! If I told him these things, he’d damn me to hell, or worse, excommunicate me or something and then the media would have a field day with that one! I’d be like the next Madonna-”
“You don’t even need a priest Leighton,” he interrupts her, “You’re in love with Blake-”
“Sshhh,” Leighton hushes him, her eyes darting around the small box as if anyone but herself could even fit in it.
“No spiritual guidance can help you, Lei” He continues. “You’re having meaningless sex with every Blake look-a-like you can find to suppress your emotions and now you’re feeling guilty because of it… You need like a psychiatrist… or a sex therapist or something,”
“I don’t need a psychiatrist, or a therapist. I’m not crazy Ely,” she says. “You know what? You’re really no help at all,”
“Well, I’m sorry that they don’t teach me how to give good lesbian sex advice in seminary school. I just, I dunno… stay away from mattresses that try to swallow you whole?”
Leighton rolls her eyes; she feels like that’s all she’s been doing for this whole conversation.
“What fantastic advice Ely,” she says, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “I’ll keep that in mind,”
“You know… This,” he gestures between them. “Isn’t penance Lei. I really hope you’re not wasting your money flying out here just for this, because it’s not gonna help you.”
“I know,” Leighton admits.
“So,” Ely begins, unwilling to push the subject any further. “You said she was really pretty?”
---
“I’m telling you Lei,” Ed has a glass of straight Bourbon in one hand and a beer in the other. He wraps an arm around Leighton’s shoulders offering her a sip of his drink which she refuses. Shrugging, he continues, “All you need is some more sex,” The combination of loud, booming music and the smell of strong alcohol on Ed’s breath is making Leighton feel drunk and she hasn’t even had a drink yet. “Really, really good sex,” Ed continues. He downs his whiskey with one large gulp and slams the glass against the bar top, signaling for the bartender to bring him two more. “Now,” he nods his head to the corner of the bar. “There’s a hot blonde to my left [it’s really his right, but he’s drunk enough for Leighton to excuse the mistake] who has been eyeing you since we got here,” Leighton looks in the direction and finds blue eyes fixed upon her. She feels a cool slim bottle of beer being slipped into her palms and a hand on the smalls of her back nudging her in the general direction of the blonde.
She’s halfway across the bar already when she hears the distinct howl of another shot downed and a slurred, “Go get her Lei,”
---
“It happened again,”
Leighton hears a sigh but no answer.
Ely’s reply comes in the form of a small business card that he slides underneath the metal grids of the confessional’s partition.
Leighton picks it up and reads the large bold heading aloud.
“Sexaholics Anonymous,” She laughs. “Very funny Elijah.” she shakes her head. “How many of these things do you have back there anyway?” she asks, recalling a couple of weeks ago when he gave her the ‘You, Sex, and God’ pamphlet and the ‘God Loves the Gays’ one before that.
“Enough to keep you reading for years,” He answers. “So… The mattress?”
“Yea, the mattress,” Leighton says. She shifts for comfort until she’s leaning back against the wall of the confessional with her elbows resting on her bended knees; this could be a long conversation.
“It’s trying to eat you again?” He asks. There’s a definite hint of amusement in his voice.
“This is not funny Ely,”
“Ok, you’re right,” he relents. “It’s not,” he says. “So?”
“So… Blake’s been hanging around a lot again,”
“Has she?” He sounds mildly distracted.
“Yea. It’s kinda like she’s moved back into our trailer again,”
There’s a moment of silence filled by the sound of pen scratching across paper before Ely speaks again.
“Did she and Penn break up?”
“No,” Leighton answers. “At least I don’t think so. If they have, she hasn’t said anything and he still follows her around like a lost puppy on set,”
“Well, maybe she just misses you,”
“Yeah, I guess.”
There’s the sound of more vigorous writing again.
“And I suppose it’s not helping your killer mattress problem?” Ely finally says.
“No it’s not.” Leighton sighs. “What are you writing anyway?” she asks curiously.
“Church activities for Lent,”
“Oh … Yeah. Forgot about that,” Leighton says. “That starts tomorrow right? What are giving up?”
“Yep. I’m fasting, but I believe the burning question is, what are you giving up for Lent?”
“I dunno…” She pauses. “Text messaging? Isn’t that what your dad’s encouraging all young people to give up?”
“Yea, he is, although, I’m not sure how well that’s blowing over, but… back to your murderous mattress,”
“Yes,”
“Are you sure you weren’t just inebriated or something?”
“I wasn’t drunk,”
There’s silence.
“Fine,” she relents. “I had one beer but that’s hardly enough to get me tipsy let alone drunk!”
“Alright then,” Ely replies. “I stand by my earlier assessment. You’re feeling guilty,”
“So how do I stop feeling guilty?”
“You stop doing whatever it is you’re doing that’s making you feel guilty.”
“In other words, you think I should stop having sex,”
“Well that’s obvious. I think you shouldn’t be having sex with anyone until you’re married.”
“Easy for you to say, you’re celibate,”
“Yes, and my mattress isn’t trying to swallow me whole,”
He had a point…
“I’ll do it,” Leighton says after a long stretch of silence.
“What?”
“Open this thing up, will you?”
Metal chains buckle until the gridded window slides open.
“I’m gonna give up sex for Lent,” Leighton says sincerely as soon as Ely’s face is reveled.
“Leighton-”
“I’m serious Ely. I think this may be just what I need to get this whole Blake thing out of my system. Forty days, no sex, no masturbation, no intimacy, period-” She sees the grimace color Ely’s features. “You don’t think I can do it!” Her voice is accusatory.
“That’s not it,” That’s exactly it. “It’s a big step for you to take. I just think… maybe you should start smaller?”
“Jeez Ely, have a little faith in me,”
“I do… It’s just-”
“I can do it Ely,”
He sighs.
“If you say so…”
---
“You’re kidding me right Leighton?”
“No. I’m as serious as cancer, AIDS and heart disease all in the same body,”
Ed looks doubtful.
“I’m one hundred percent capable of it Ed,” Leighton argues.
Ed grins. His smirk is so patronizing, so pompous, that if it were on anyone but Ed’s face, Leighton would probably be more than glad to smack it right off.
“Of course you are,” he says, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they make their way to Blair’s “room” to shoot their next scene. “But… how about we make this a little more interesting, yeah? A hundred says you don’t make it the full forty days,”
She looks at him, thinks about it for a few seconds and with all the conviction she can muster, says, “deal.”
---
There’s a sharp knock on her door, followed by a lighter knock and then an insistent rapping as if someone is attempting to use her door as a makeshift drum. If Leighton didn’t know any better, she could swear that it’s…
“Chace?”
He’s leaning casually against her doorframe with a hand on his neck and a pillow and a blanket wedged under his arm.
“The doorman let me up,” Chace explains, which, of course, makes perfect sense if that were the question that Leighton had opened her mouth to ask, but it’s not, because Leighton has more pressing questions, like:
“What are you doing here?”
She and Chace are friends, good friends, she’d even consider him one of her best friends but just dropping by without so much as a text message is taboo for Leighton’s own mother let alone her friends.
“I’m sleeping on your couch,” Chace says, pointing at his pillow like the answer should be obvious. He easily slips between Leighton and the door and throws his stuff down on the leather couch all whilst Leighton stares at him like he has somehow grown another head, or worse, shaved his head. “Ed, Jess and I are taking turns to make sure nothing,” he cranes his neck to look into Leighton’s bedroom, “goes on,”
“You can’t be serious,” Leighton complains.
“Oh yeah, and a message from Ed. He says your non-shooting curfew is midnight.”
Leighton shakes her head, like if she shakes it enough she’ll realize that this is some weirdly elaborate dream. When she still sees Chace standing there looking at her as if she’s the one who is out of context here, she accepts the situation for what it is, only….
“Ok, I get why Ed would want to make sure I stick to the plan… but you and Jess?”
“Yeah. The pot’s high!”
“The pot?” She really hopes he’s talking about marijuana. In fact, she could totally do with a joint right now.
“Yeah… most of the cast is in on it!” He says earnestly. “If it helps, not everyone is against you though. Taylor placed two hundred on you going the full forty days and Nicole, Kelly and Zuzanna think we’re all disgraceful for betting on your personal life like this. Matt didn’t even know you that you’re into girls, let alone that you’re kinda slutty but he put a hundred on you losing on day thirty-five. Ed called Michelle who placed three hundred on day seven! We tried to get in contact with Kristen, but she was busy… Connor-”
“No!” Leighton interrupts. She shakes her head. “Not Connor!”
He smiles almost apologetically, always prettily, and nods.
“Day fifteen.” He says seriously. “Even Josh and Stephanie are in on it! The only people who aren’t in on it are like Blake and Penn, for… obvious reasons,”
Leighton rubs her temple, sighing dolefully.
“I’m going to bed,” she states. “And,” she stops at her bedroom door, turning to face Chace once again. She grins. “I hope my couch gives you like really bad bed hair!”
She slams her bedroom door dramatically.
---
“Sorry Lei, but there are these totally cute boots that my mom won’t let me buy and I’m like, “it’s my money!” you know, but she’s all like “my foot is down!” So, in short, the acquisition of my boots lay in this bet. I have absolute faith in you though. You only have 35 more days to go. That can’t be that hard. I mean-”
“Taylor,” Leighton says, cutting the young blonde off. Blake has been waving her over from the craft service table for the past minute or so and there’s only so much ignoring Blake that Leighton can do until she relents. “Hold that thought,” she says before heading over to where Blake is standing with huge grin gracing her lips.
“Hey you,” Blake says as soon as Leighton is within earshot. “Walk and talk? I’m late for makeup,”
“When are you not late for makeup?” Leighton asks, rolling her eyes but barely managing to suppress a grin.
Blake shrugs but laughs anyway.
Leighton nearly jumps out of her skin when she feels Blake’s hand descend upon her bare shoulder. She would like to think that it’s because Blake has some kind of weird powers over her rather than think that it’s because five days has already made her this edgy but if truth be told, she knows it’s because of the weird lethal combination of the two.
If Blake notices her sudden jumpiness though, she doesn’t say anything about it; instead she gives Leighton’s shoulder a light squeeze and says, “Everyone’s been acting weird on set over the past couple of days.” Leighton forces a smile. “Between you and me,” Blake leans in close, too close. “I think Ed’s dealing on set or something,” Her breath wisps across Leighton’s neck and warms her to the very core. “I mean,” Blake continues and Leighton wonders if she even felt the shiver that ran through her body. “Do you see how much money he’s been handling lately?” Leighton shakes her head distractedly, way too preoccupied with the way Blake’s hand seems to be slipping lower by the second to actually pay attention to what it is Blake is saying. “I even saw him and Matthew exchanging cash behind the makeup trailer…” She says perplexedly. “Anyway,” She says loudly as her hand land squarely on the smalls of Leighton’s back. “Dinner and movie. My apartment tomorrow, say… nine-ish?”
Leighton purses her lips together. Not a good idea. SO not a good idea! Prolonged exposure to Blake usually ends in one of two things: 1.)Leighton in bed with some random blonde which as of late has lead to these random panic “the mattress is gonna kill me” type attacks and 2.)Leighton in bed alone, left to her own devices which is bad. Both are bad actually, very bad, but how can she decline an offer to spend time with Blake?
“Dinner and a movie, my apartment tomorrow, say eight?” She revises. It’s safer this way. “Ed’ll be there,” She quickly adds, which, she’s kinda sorry to say, is one of the huge reasons it’ll be safer this way.
Blake raises an eyebrow.
“He’s sleeping on my couch,” Leighton explains.
“Uhmmm alright then,” Blake says in a way that conveys that she clearly doesn’t understand but she won’t press on. “So…” She grins and scrunches her nose up in a way that Leighton knows means she’s going to say something endearing. “Tomorrow, your apartment, nine-thirty-ish?”
Blake just barely misses the hand that attempts to come down against her shoulder.
“I swear, if you’re late I will start the movie without you,” She wouldn’t dare. “You seriously need to learn to be on time,” she jokes.
Blake holds her hands up in mock surrender.
“Eight, I got it!” she says, stalling at the makeup trailer door. “Well,” she hangs onto the door handle, pausing like she has something more to say but doesn’t quite know how to say it. “Time to go get pretty,” she finally says, smiling widely.
Leighton smiles too, even as Blake enters the trailer, but, she can’t quite help but wonder if maybe Blake had found out about this whole Lent thing.
---
“Lei,” Blake shifts forward so she can see Leighton through Ed, who had stolen the bowl of popcorn, sunk down between them on the floor and then fallen asleep before the previews of the movie had even finished.
“Yeah?” Leighton shifts forward too.
“There’s been something I’ve been meaning to tell you,”
“Mmhmm?”
“I-” Ed snores loudly briefly distracting Blake from her train of thought. She leans back against the couch, waiting for Leighton to do the same before she speaks again. “Penn and I broke up,”
To Leighton’s surprise, she didn’t have to fake sympathy like she thought she would the many times she had thought about Blake saying those words; the sympathy came naturally the moment the words left the blonde’s lips.
“You ok?” She asks sincerely, resting her chin against her forearm and regarding Blake carefully from behind Ed’s head, which, now that she thinks about it, is rather large.
Blake nods.
“I’m fine,” she vocalizes. “It’s just… He said something that made me think, like really think about stuff,”
“Stuff like?” Leighton asks curiously.
“Like-” Blake begins, only to be interrupted by another loud snore.
“Sorry,” Leighton says, a smile tugging at her lips nonetheless.
“S’okay. We can talk at the door, I should leave soon anyway,”
Leighton nods, getting to her feet as Blake does so. She follows the blonde to the door, quietly closing it behind her so they can talk in the hallway.
“So… stuff?” she asks quietly, mindful not to wake the neighbors.
“Yea,” Blake affirms.
“Stuff like?”
“Stuff like relationship dynamics and fluidity and- Leighton, I really like you,” she says the last part really quickly, rushing the five words out in one breath of air, like maybe the quicker she says it, the lesser the blow, but apparently not, because Leighton is looking at her confusedly, like she can’t quite process the words until she finally just says, “what?”
“I know it’s probably a lot to take in,” Blake continues. “And I totally understand if you’re freaked out, no hard feelings, or anything, but, if you’re not, like completely freaked out that is, then I was thinking that maybe you would let me take you out, like, on a date type thing sometime? And we could like take it really slow and- Leighton, say something,”
Leighton blinks like she somehow expects Blake to just dematerialize into thin air. A plethora of emotions coarse through her but the two that actually stay are joy --skip through a meadow, sing from the tops of buildings type joy-- and outrage, because, really? REALLY, REALLY? NOW?!? of all times, now? Could Blake’s timing be any worse?
“Lei-”
“Yes,”
Blake’s brow furors.
“Yes yes?”
“Yes!”
“Ok, uhmm,” Blake grins. “Awesome, I, uhmm,” She leans down enveloping the brunette in a hug that’s so tight, and so strong that she almost lifts Leighton off of her feet. “Alright,” she’s grinning when she pulls back. “Goodnight Lei,”
Leighton forces a smile.
“Night Blake,”
She waits until elevator doors safely close before going back inside her apartment and unleashing her wrath on who truly deserves it.
“Oh, very fucking funny!!!” She stares at the ceiling, seemingly speaking to the walls. “Hilarious actually! Now I see what you do with your spare time,” she sing-songs and waits for a moment for something, maybe a lightning bolt to strike her down, maybe an earthquake, some kind of sign. When she gets nothing, she angrily heads to her room, purposely nudging a sleeping Ed -who has somehow managed to sprawl himself out on her floor-with her toe, before heading to her room and slamming her door dramatically for the second time since she’s moved into this apartment.
Part 2