Popular (tv series) Fic: Clarity: Chapter 5/13 - 12.23.95
Title: Clarity
Chapter 5: 12.23.95
Author: emotionsovrflow
Rating: T
Feedback: Always welcome
Disclaimer: I do not own Popular or it's characters. I do not own Jimmy Eat World or their music. The only thing to which I can lay claim is the arrangement of the words herewithin.
Author's Notes: See Chapter 1. Also, I'd like to reinforce the fact that I've never really watched this show, just fell in love with the Brooke/Sam pairing through fanfic. That said, I have no idea when or how Sam's father died. If the timeline is off at all, I apologize. We'll just call it an AU and move on, cool?
Thanks to everyone who has read this and also to anyone who has taken the time to comment.
Sorry this update took a while to post. I had edited the last chapter a lot and needed almost completely rework this one to make things flow well and make sense and I had more trouble with it than I hoped I would have. IMMENSE thanks go to GilmoreRos for keeping me on track and dealing with my self-doubt and reassuring me that eventually it would work itself out, which it seems to have done.
Link to Chapter 1 - Crush
Link to Chapter 2 - Table for Glasses
Link to Chapter 3 - A Sunday
Link to Chapter 4 - Lucky Denver Mint
5 - 12.23.95
Brooke woke up to a pounding in her head and a disgusting taste in her mouth. She tried to open her eyes, but found that the light coming in through her window felt as if it were shooting spikes through her skull. Hiding her face under her blankets, she tried to will herself to fall back to sleep, if only to escape her hangover.
Slowly, she became more aware of the world around her and the state she was in. Not only did she have a headache, but there was a general ache in her entire body. She was thirsty. She was sure that if it weren't for the slight nausea she was feeling, she could drink a gallon of water. None of this, however, was reason enough to propel her out of bed. It wasn't until she realized suddenly that her bladder was being pushed to it's physical limits that she knew she really did need to get up.
Throwing the covers off of herself and stumbling out of bed, Brooke made her way to the bathroom, thankful that she had the route memorized so she could keep her eyes closed. Mechanically going through the motions, she took care of her business. Standing over the sink, she opened her eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the light. Her reflection in the mirror was akin to something out of a nightmare. The whites of her eyes were bloodshot and red, her hair looked as if it had been through a tornado and there was makeup smeared all across her face.
She reached down to turn on the water, and she noticed a bottle of tylenol next to the sink with a note propped against it that read, "take 2." She smiled to herself, remembering how she had gotten home last night and how sweet Sam had been through all of it. The rest of the evening coming back to her slowly, Brooke felt a blush spread across her chest and up her neck, finally engulfing her whole face. She couldn't believe how frank she had been with Sam, admitting that she thought she was pretty and that she often thought about kissing her.
Taking a deep breath, Brooke reached down and opened the pill bottle, taking the advice of the note that was left, no doubt, by the reason for her embarrassment. Looking back in the mirror and assessing her appearance once again, she turned off the faucet and instead started the shower.
-----------------
Looking at the clock and noting it was well after two in the afternoon, Sam considered checking on Brooke. She had heard the shower of their bathroom running hours ago, but then Brooke had gone back into her room and stayed there. Sam was about to go knock on the blonde's door, when she heard movement from upstairs. Not long after, Brooke came downstairs, looking almost put together.
"Good morning," Sam said, then, thinking better of it, "or good afternoon, I guess."
Brooke grunted in response and went into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge.
After trailing the blonde, Sam stood behind her, propped against the kitchen counter, watching as Brooke drank half the bottle without coming up for air. "How are you feeling?"
Brooke breathed heavily as she stared into the open refrigerator. "Better than I felt the first time I woke up. Thanks to you." She turned her head to offer Sam a half smile. "But now I'm starving."
Sam came up behind her, glancing over her shoulder. "You aren't going to find much in there. Mom and Mike are out at the movies and they were going to stop at the grocery store on their way home."
Brooke groaned and closed the door, opening the freezer to try her luck there. "Why don't we have any ice cream?" she whined. "I'm totally craving a milkshake."
Cocking her head to the side, Sam said, "hmmm," thoughtfully. "Well, if you're feeling like you could brave a trip out into the world, there's this ice cream place I know. We could go get you a milkshake."
"I don't know, Sam, I must look like hell."
"You always look good, Brooke. Even when you don't," Sam said, looking down to the floor.
Brooke shut the freezer and turned to look at Sam. "Thanks, Sammy." She thought for a moment, interrupted by the growling of her stomach. "Give me like ten minutes to try to make myself look presentable. Then do you want to go?"
Sam brightened, a smile spreading across the width of her face. "Really?"
"Yeah, why not? Will you drive though?"
"Of course. Go get ready." Sam watched as Brooke turned and went back upstairs.
-----------------
The ice cream shop turned out to be more like a tiny ice cream stand in the middle of a strip mall parking lot. Not the obvious choice, given the fact that they had to drive 45 minutes to get to it, the growling of Brooke's stomach getting more and more insistent as time passed. If Sam wanted parking lot ice cream, though, Brooke wasn't going to argue.
Once they arrived, they placed their order then walked over to a nearby bench to sit and enjoy their desert. Again, they had fallen into a comfortable silence, until Brooke's curiosity got the better of her. "So, you seemed pretty intent on getting ice cream at this particular place. Any reason why?" she inquired.
"Yes, actually." Sam started, but she seemed to stall after that, looking at nothing at all, her gaze seeming to land somewhere far away.
Brooke had taken a few large gulps of her chocolate milkshake without really thinking, and she sat back, hoping the new addition to her stomach would stop doing somersaults. Once it seemed to calm down, she looked back at Sam and put her hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you ok?"
Sam looked to her, seeming like she was trying to make up her mind about something. Finally, she took a deep breath.
"The year before my dad died, he brought me here," Sam started.
"Oh," Brooke said, her full attention now on the brunette.
"We had been Christmas shopping at the mall just down the road. I was 9 years old, and the last place I wanted to be was at this packed mall with my dad, picking out presents that weren't for me. I was being a pain in the ass and finally I told my dad I wasn't going to shop anymore and just plopped myself down on the floor of a jewelry store. He tried reasoning with me, but reason usually doesn't work on 9 year olds, and this was no exception. So he told me that if I just let him stay for a little bit more, he'd take me out for ice cream when we left. Even that didn't do it for me. Finally, he pulled out the big guns and told me that he knew this magical ice cream shop that he would take me to, but only if I was good." Sam stuck her spoon into the caramel sundae she held in her hand before continuing.
"Even though I was a kid, I was still skeptical about a magical ice cream shop, but my curiosity got the better of me and I agreed. I behaved, for the most part, for the rest of our shopping excursion. We finally left the mall and my dad just started driving. I don't even think he knew a place to get ice cream around here. He was just sort of driving, looking around like a madman for any ice cream shop. I guess he saw this place and figured it was as good as anywhere else. I kept asking him if he was sure this place was magic, because it didn't look like it to me. He insisted that it was, so I went along with it. Either way, I was getting ice cream. So we got out of the car, got our ice cream, sat on the curb and ate it. He asked me if I was sure if I had asked Santa for everything I wanted. I already knew that there was no Santa, but I didn't say anything because I thought it would hurt his feelings if I told him I didn't believe in the myth anymore."
Brooke laughed softly. She had gone through a similar experience. She was 14 by the time she finally told her father that she no longer thought that elves crafted her toys and that a jolly fat man brought them down her chimney every Christmas.
Brooke realized Sam's head was bowed and that there were tears in her eyes. In a shaky voice, Sam continued. "Then the most amazing thing happened. It started to snow. It had been unusually cold for a few days, and then it actually started to snow. I had never seen snow before, and there it was, snowing in Southern California two days before Christmas in the parking lot of a magical ice cream stand. I looked at my father and he had this big told-you-so grin on his face. I gave him a huge hug and got ice cream all over his sweater." Sam took in a deep breath and looked at Brooke. "That was a really, really great day."
By this time, both Brooke and Sam were crying. Brooke leaned forward and gave Sam a hug as huge as the one she imagined she had given her father 8 years ago, making sure no one got ice cream on their clothes this time.
Once they finally pulled apart, Brooke asked, "Sam, why did you bring me here?"
Sam took a large spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, taking the time to eat it before giving Brooke an answer. "I wanted to show you something special. When we weren't talking, I was going crazy. I really did miss you, Brooke, and at some point I decided that I wanted you in my life, even if it was just as friends. Now that I have you back, I wanted to show you how much I appreciate you. I guess this was the only way I could think to do that."
Without putting any thought into it, Brooke leaned forward, cupping Sam's cheek and pulling so they were facing each other. Brooke brought their lips together and lingered with a soft kiss, sweet with ice cream. She parted her lips the tiniest bit and let her tongue swipe across Sam's bottom lip in a barely-there brush.
Her senses coming back to her, she pulled away to see if anyone had seen them kissing. To her relief, no one seemed to be around. Looking back to Sam, she saw her staring back at her, a hint of tears still glossing her eyes, looking confused and a bit startled.
"Brooke?"
"I don't think I want to be just friends with you, Sam. That's what I was going to say to you last night. When I woke up this morning, you were all I could think about when I was in the shower. Well, you and I thought a lot about whether or not I could will my hangover away." Brooke smiled when Sam chuckled at this. "I thought maybe I could just pretend I had been drunk and I didn't remember saying everything I said last night. But I remember all of it, Sam, and I meant all of it. I want to try. I want to see what this is."
Sam took in an unsteady breath. "Are you sure? Are you sure this is what you want, Brooke?"
Brooke looked away from Sam's intense gaze, "well, I mean, yes. This is what I want. But we can't tell anyone about it."
"Oh."
Brooke started babbling, barely coming up for air, listing all the reasons why she didn't want to tell anyone that they decided to take a turn for the romantic.
Sam looked on in amusement before she finally decided to intervene. "Hey. Stop for a minute," she requested. Brooke stopped and looked up at Sam. "It's ok if you want to keep this quiet."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I mean, for a while anyway. If this turns into something long-term, eventually I'm going to want to start letting people know, but for now, there's no point in rocking the boat."
Brooke smiled at Sam, a blush coming over her cheeks. A matching redness worked its way across Sam's face, and both girls looked away, mildly embarrassed and not quite sure how to proceed.
"So," Sam laughed, breaking the tense silence, "wanna go out some time?"
"Like on a date?" Brooke asked, bumping her shoulder into Sam's.
"Yes, like on a date," Sam replied, rolling her eyes and bumping herself back into Brooke. "This is quite date-like, but we didn't really plan it that way, so maybe we could officially plan a real one."
Brooke took a sip of her milkshake, then swallowed, nodding. "I'd really like that, Sam."
The two sat in a mostly comfortable silence as they finished their ice cream. As Brooke finished the last loud sip from her cup, Sam turned to her and asked, "feeling better now that you've eaten something?"
Brooke nodded. "I really am. Thanks, Sam."
"No problem," Sam said as she got up to throw out their trash and start heading home.
Brooke stopped her with a hand on her wrist. "No, I mean it, Sam. Thank you for bringing me here. And thanks again for last night." Brooke looked down and slid her hand into Sam's so that their fingers were entwined. "And thank you for telling me the story about your father. It really means a lot to me."
Sam smiled at her and nodded. She lifted their hands and kissed the back of Brooke's. "Come on. Let's go home."
Chapter 5: 12.23.95
Author: emotionsovrflow
Rating: T
Feedback: Always welcome
Disclaimer: I do not own Popular or it's characters. I do not own Jimmy Eat World or their music. The only thing to which I can lay claim is the arrangement of the words herewithin.
Author's Notes: See Chapter 1. Also, I'd like to reinforce the fact that I've never really watched this show, just fell in love with the Brooke/Sam pairing through fanfic. That said, I have no idea when or how Sam's father died. If the timeline is off at all, I apologize. We'll just call it an AU and move on, cool?
Thanks to everyone who has read this and also to anyone who has taken the time to comment.
Sorry this update took a while to post. I had edited the last chapter a lot and needed almost completely rework this one to make things flow well and make sense and I had more trouble with it than I hoped I would have. IMMENSE thanks go to GilmoreRos for keeping me on track and dealing with my self-doubt and reassuring me that eventually it would work itself out, which it seems to have done.
Link to Chapter 1 - Crush
Link to Chapter 2 - Table for Glasses
Link to Chapter 3 - A Sunday
Link to Chapter 4 - Lucky Denver Mint
5 - 12.23.95
Brooke woke up to a pounding in her head and a disgusting taste in her mouth. She tried to open her eyes, but found that the light coming in through her window felt as if it were shooting spikes through her skull. Hiding her face under her blankets, she tried to will herself to fall back to sleep, if only to escape her hangover.
Slowly, she became more aware of the world around her and the state she was in. Not only did she have a headache, but there was a general ache in her entire body. She was thirsty. She was sure that if it weren't for the slight nausea she was feeling, she could drink a gallon of water. None of this, however, was reason enough to propel her out of bed. It wasn't until she realized suddenly that her bladder was being pushed to it's physical limits that she knew she really did need to get up.
Throwing the covers off of herself and stumbling out of bed, Brooke made her way to the bathroom, thankful that she had the route memorized so she could keep her eyes closed. Mechanically going through the motions, she took care of her business. Standing over the sink, she opened her eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the light. Her reflection in the mirror was akin to something out of a nightmare. The whites of her eyes were bloodshot and red, her hair looked as if it had been through a tornado and there was makeup smeared all across her face.
She reached down to turn on the water, and she noticed a bottle of tylenol next to the sink with a note propped against it that read, "take 2." She smiled to herself, remembering how she had gotten home last night and how sweet Sam had been through all of it. The rest of the evening coming back to her slowly, Brooke felt a blush spread across her chest and up her neck, finally engulfing her whole face. She couldn't believe how frank she had been with Sam, admitting that she thought she was pretty and that she often thought about kissing her.
Taking a deep breath, Brooke reached down and opened the pill bottle, taking the advice of the note that was left, no doubt, by the reason for her embarrassment. Looking back in the mirror and assessing her appearance once again, she turned off the faucet and instead started the shower.
-----------------
Looking at the clock and noting it was well after two in the afternoon, Sam considered checking on Brooke. She had heard the shower of their bathroom running hours ago, but then Brooke had gone back into her room and stayed there. Sam was about to go knock on the blonde's door, when she heard movement from upstairs. Not long after, Brooke came downstairs, looking almost put together.
"Good morning," Sam said, then, thinking better of it, "or good afternoon, I guess."
Brooke grunted in response and went into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge.
After trailing the blonde, Sam stood behind her, propped against the kitchen counter, watching as Brooke drank half the bottle without coming up for air. "How are you feeling?"
Brooke breathed heavily as she stared into the open refrigerator. "Better than I felt the first time I woke up. Thanks to you." She turned her head to offer Sam a half smile. "But now I'm starving."
Sam came up behind her, glancing over her shoulder. "You aren't going to find much in there. Mom and Mike are out at the movies and they were going to stop at the grocery store on their way home."
Brooke groaned and closed the door, opening the freezer to try her luck there. "Why don't we have any ice cream?" she whined. "I'm totally craving a milkshake."
Cocking her head to the side, Sam said, "hmmm," thoughtfully. "Well, if you're feeling like you could brave a trip out into the world, there's this ice cream place I know. We could go get you a milkshake."
"I don't know, Sam, I must look like hell."
"You always look good, Brooke. Even when you don't," Sam said, looking down to the floor.
Brooke shut the freezer and turned to look at Sam. "Thanks, Sammy." She thought for a moment, interrupted by the growling of her stomach. "Give me like ten minutes to try to make myself look presentable. Then do you want to go?"
Sam brightened, a smile spreading across the width of her face. "Really?"
"Yeah, why not? Will you drive though?"
"Of course. Go get ready." Sam watched as Brooke turned and went back upstairs.
-----------------
The ice cream shop turned out to be more like a tiny ice cream stand in the middle of a strip mall parking lot. Not the obvious choice, given the fact that they had to drive 45 minutes to get to it, the growling of Brooke's stomach getting more and more insistent as time passed. If Sam wanted parking lot ice cream, though, Brooke wasn't going to argue.
Once they arrived, they placed their order then walked over to a nearby bench to sit and enjoy their desert. Again, they had fallen into a comfortable silence, until Brooke's curiosity got the better of her. "So, you seemed pretty intent on getting ice cream at this particular place. Any reason why?" she inquired.
"Yes, actually." Sam started, but she seemed to stall after that, looking at nothing at all, her gaze seeming to land somewhere far away.
Brooke had taken a few large gulps of her chocolate milkshake without really thinking, and she sat back, hoping the new addition to her stomach would stop doing somersaults. Once it seemed to calm down, she looked back at Sam and put her hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you ok?"
Sam looked to her, seeming like she was trying to make up her mind about something. Finally, she took a deep breath.
"The year before my dad died, he brought me here," Sam started.
"Oh," Brooke said, her full attention now on the brunette.
"We had been Christmas shopping at the mall just down the road. I was 9 years old, and the last place I wanted to be was at this packed mall with my dad, picking out presents that weren't for me. I was being a pain in the ass and finally I told my dad I wasn't going to shop anymore and just plopped myself down on the floor of a jewelry store. He tried reasoning with me, but reason usually doesn't work on 9 year olds, and this was no exception. So he told me that if I just let him stay for a little bit more, he'd take me out for ice cream when we left. Even that didn't do it for me. Finally, he pulled out the big guns and told me that he knew this magical ice cream shop that he would take me to, but only if I was good." Sam stuck her spoon into the caramel sundae she held in her hand before continuing.
"Even though I was a kid, I was still skeptical about a magical ice cream shop, but my curiosity got the better of me and I agreed. I behaved, for the most part, for the rest of our shopping excursion. We finally left the mall and my dad just started driving. I don't even think he knew a place to get ice cream around here. He was just sort of driving, looking around like a madman for any ice cream shop. I guess he saw this place and figured it was as good as anywhere else. I kept asking him if he was sure this place was magic, because it didn't look like it to me. He insisted that it was, so I went along with it. Either way, I was getting ice cream. So we got out of the car, got our ice cream, sat on the curb and ate it. He asked me if I was sure if I had asked Santa for everything I wanted. I already knew that there was no Santa, but I didn't say anything because I thought it would hurt his feelings if I told him I didn't believe in the myth anymore."
Brooke laughed softly. She had gone through a similar experience. She was 14 by the time she finally told her father that she no longer thought that elves crafted her toys and that a jolly fat man brought them down her chimney every Christmas.
Brooke realized Sam's head was bowed and that there were tears in her eyes. In a shaky voice, Sam continued. "Then the most amazing thing happened. It started to snow. It had been unusually cold for a few days, and then it actually started to snow. I had never seen snow before, and there it was, snowing in Southern California two days before Christmas in the parking lot of a magical ice cream stand. I looked at my father and he had this big told-you-so grin on his face. I gave him a huge hug and got ice cream all over his sweater." Sam took in a deep breath and looked at Brooke. "That was a really, really great day."
By this time, both Brooke and Sam were crying. Brooke leaned forward and gave Sam a hug as huge as the one she imagined she had given her father 8 years ago, making sure no one got ice cream on their clothes this time.
Once they finally pulled apart, Brooke asked, "Sam, why did you bring me here?"
Sam took a large spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, taking the time to eat it before giving Brooke an answer. "I wanted to show you something special. When we weren't talking, I was going crazy. I really did miss you, Brooke, and at some point I decided that I wanted you in my life, even if it was just as friends. Now that I have you back, I wanted to show you how much I appreciate you. I guess this was the only way I could think to do that."
Without putting any thought into it, Brooke leaned forward, cupping Sam's cheek and pulling so they were facing each other. Brooke brought their lips together and lingered with a soft kiss, sweet with ice cream. She parted her lips the tiniest bit and let her tongue swipe across Sam's bottom lip in a barely-there brush.
Her senses coming back to her, she pulled away to see if anyone had seen them kissing. To her relief, no one seemed to be around. Looking back to Sam, she saw her staring back at her, a hint of tears still glossing her eyes, looking confused and a bit startled.
"Brooke?"
"I don't think I want to be just friends with you, Sam. That's what I was going to say to you last night. When I woke up this morning, you were all I could think about when I was in the shower. Well, you and I thought a lot about whether or not I could will my hangover away." Brooke smiled when Sam chuckled at this. "I thought maybe I could just pretend I had been drunk and I didn't remember saying everything I said last night. But I remember all of it, Sam, and I meant all of it. I want to try. I want to see what this is."
Sam took in an unsteady breath. "Are you sure? Are you sure this is what you want, Brooke?"
Brooke looked away from Sam's intense gaze, "well, I mean, yes. This is what I want. But we can't tell anyone about it."
"Oh."
Brooke started babbling, barely coming up for air, listing all the reasons why she didn't want to tell anyone that they decided to take a turn for the romantic.
Sam looked on in amusement before she finally decided to intervene. "Hey. Stop for a minute," she requested. Brooke stopped and looked up at Sam. "It's ok if you want to keep this quiet."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I mean, for a while anyway. If this turns into something long-term, eventually I'm going to want to start letting people know, but for now, there's no point in rocking the boat."
Brooke smiled at Sam, a blush coming over her cheeks. A matching redness worked its way across Sam's face, and both girls looked away, mildly embarrassed and not quite sure how to proceed.
"So," Sam laughed, breaking the tense silence, "wanna go out some time?"
"Like on a date?" Brooke asked, bumping her shoulder into Sam's.
"Yes, like on a date," Sam replied, rolling her eyes and bumping herself back into Brooke. "This is quite date-like, but we didn't really plan it that way, so maybe we could officially plan a real one."
Brooke took a sip of her milkshake, then swallowed, nodding. "I'd really like that, Sam."
The two sat in a mostly comfortable silence as they finished their ice cream. As Brooke finished the last loud sip from her cup, Sam turned to her and asked, "feeling better now that you've eaten something?"
Brooke nodded. "I really am. Thanks, Sam."
"No problem," Sam said as she got up to throw out their trash and start heading home.
Brooke stopped her with a hand on her wrist. "No, I mean it, Sam. Thank you for bringing me here. And thanks again for last night." Brooke looked down and slid her hand into Sam's so that their fingers were entwined. "And thank you for telling me the story about your father. It really means a lot to me."
Sam smiled at her and nodded. She lifted their hands and kissed the back of Brooke's. "Come on. Let's go home."