Brian slipped his hands into his pockets as he walked. He took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. There was no reason for him to be upset; so what that his girlfriend had showed up? It wasn't like anything was going to happen between him and Joe. He'd known that going in. Joe's taken. And straight. Period.
He pulled out his phone, knowing that he should call Joey. He stared at his contact, but didn't press call. In truth, he really didn't feel like talking to anyone. He wasn't even sure if he could; his throat was dry and his teeth were clenched. He pulled out his headphones instead, plugging them into his phone.
Something about music always relaxed him. He felt like singing; but he was walking around outside. He tried to let his mind wonder off, but the more he did the more it fixated on Joe and Zoey. He wished he would stop having intrusive thoughts about how they were probably fooling around right now. About how much Brian wanted Joe to be with someone who treated him better—even if it wasn't him.
Of course, he wanted it to be him.
He also couldn't stop thinking about Zoey's obvious hatred of him. The glare she'd given him today was the same one he'd gotten yesterday at Beanies. Of course, she was snobby and rude, but he felt like the look she'd given him was different then the dirty looks she normally gave to the theatre kids. It didn't feel like she was simply looking down on him or thought he was a loser. For some reason, although he couldn't fathom why, he felt like she was looking at him with complete and total hatred.
He shook his head. He was just being paranoid. In no way shape or form was he anyone of significance to that girl. She probably didn't even know his name. He pulled out his phone to call Joey. He could defiantly help him see reason.
"What up my guy?" Joey asked, answering practically the second Brian had hit the call button.
"I have heartache." Brian responded.
"Don't we all," Joey teased. "What happened?"
"It's a long story." Brian said miserably. "Are you home right now? I'm walking home from Joe's and I know you're on my way back."
"Why are you walking? Joe couldn't drive you home?"
"He could've. He offered. But I had to get out of there."
"You make no sense." Joey mused. "Well I'm actually out with Darren right now, want us to come pick you up?"
"No that's okay, I don't wanna inconvenience Dar—"
"Not an inconvenience at all!" Darren shouted from across the line. "Where you at? Joe's neighborhood?"
"No, for real. You guys are great, but you don't need to—"
"Shush, we're coming to get you." Joey cut across. "It's already happening. Just stay put, we'll be there in ten minutes."
xXx
"Bruh, is Joe that oblivious to just how much of a bitch his girlfriend is?" Joey whined as they walked into Darren's house. "You know I'm not one to trash talk, but holy fuck I can't stand him dating that girl anymore."
"Try being in the same grade as them," Darren whined miserably. "You know Joe's totally convinced that him and Zoey our gonna be in our limo for prom? Like she would be caught dead with any of us. You know she's constantly pressuring him to quit Glee and theatre right?"
"Believe me, I do," Brian responded miserably. "I just wish he was with someone who treated him better."
"You mean you wish he was with you?" Darren responded bleakly.
Brian froze, him and Joey looking at each other with wide eyes before they both looked at Darren. "I, um, what do you mean?"
"Wait, is it supposed to be a secret that you're into Joe?" The older boy was smirking at Brian.
A moment of silence passed, tension setting throughout the room. Joey coughed, before saying "Dare, what are you on about?" He managed to sound much more convincing than Brian.
Darren softened at the look of horror on Brian's face. "Yo man, I didn't mean any harm. I'm just messing with you. I just wanted to put it out there that I know so you two can talk about it openly with me, because you guys keep like, communicating with your eyes."
Brian ran a hand through his hair nervously. "It's... it's obvious? That I . . . you know."
"Honestly no, it's not. If that's what you're concerned about. Joe's oblivious." Darren answered. "And I haven't told anyone. I don't plan on it. I promise."
Brian nodded, still feeling completely horrified. Joey was supposed to be the only person on earth who knew about his crush. "How'd you find out then?"
Darren shrugged. "I don't know." He paused, thinking it over. "I guess little things, like the way you look at him. How you always stare at the floor when he looks at you. Mainly I just noticed that you always blush during rehearsal when we're working Quirrelmort scenes. Honestly? It's been influential in helping me write the reprise for Different As Can Be."
Brian rolled his eyes. "That's what gave me away?"
Darren pursed his lips. "That, not to mention that you laugh way too hard at his jokes, even when they're not funny."
Brian flushed. He did do that. What else did he do that was a dead give away? Had Joe noticed? Had Lauren, Holden, Dylan, or any of Joe's other close friends caught him?
A horrifying thought washed over him. "You don't think Zoey's noticed, do you?" Brian asked Joey.
Joey stared at Brian, confused. "She's never around us, when would she have noticed? Apart from today when she walked in on you under the covers with her boyfriend."
Joey and Darren laughed, but Brian wasn't amused. He kept thinking about the look of disgust she'd given him today; and how it was the same look from the day before. "Yesterday, at Beanies. Do you think I did anything obvious?"
Joey bit his lip, thinking about how Lauren had picked up on Brian's crush on the car ride over. "I don't think so. She didn't even notice us until we got to the front to order. You guys were just... talking. I don't think you said or did anything that would be a giveaway while we were at Beanies."
Brian sighed. "You're right. I'm probably just being paranoid."
In truth, Joey wasn't so sure if Brian was. He debated if he should tell Brian about how Lauren knew, but before he could decide his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket to check who it was.
Speak of the devil, it was the most perfect girl in the world herself. "Hello miss Lopez."
Lauren laughed over the line. "Hello to you Mr. Richter."
"Do what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?" Joey asked, trying to bite back the smile that was breaking out across his crooked jaw. He locked eyes with Darren, who made a kissy face at him. Joey flicked him off with his free hand.
"I'm calling on behalf of our business arrangement."
"Ooh, give me one second." Joey pulled the phone away from his ear, placing it against his shoulder. "I'm gonna step outside for a minute if you guys don't mind."
"Maybe we do mind," Brian teased as Joey walked into another room, out of earshot "Okay, which business arrangement? The one involving lions, or the one involving our friends?"
"The one in regards to lions. I was wondering if you were available at the moment to come rehearse? As student president of the Theatre program I have a key to the choir room."
"How professional of you," Joey responded, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Brian and Darren weren't listening. "I am currently at the household of a one Darren Criss, but I could probably meet you in an hour? I may also have an update on our secondary business deal."
"YOU GOT MORE BRIAN AND JOE TEA? HELL YEAH!" Lauren yelled, smirking.
"It's not necessarily the best tea. But yes. There is tea."
"I am ready for you to SPILL THE TEA!" Lauren yelled, loud enough to the point where Joey had to move the phone back from his ear. "See you in an hour?"
"Looking forward to it."
xXx
Joey resisted the urge to skip to the choir room after Darren dropped him off. He couldn't believe he was actually going to spend the evening with Lauren; that she'd invited him. Of course, he knew in his heart of hearts that it was just a rehearsal. Now he knew exactly how Brian had felt.
He finally reached the choir room, running in to find Lauren sitting on the floor, stretching. He walked over to the small girl as she slid into her split. "Quite flexible. You going to flex these skills in our video?"
Lauren laughed, rolling out of her split. "You're such a goofball."
Joey extended a hand to help Lauren up, which to his relief she accepted. "So I was thinking, where do we want to record our video? Choir room? Stage?"
Lauren shrugged, slowly pulling out her pony tail. "That's what I was figuring. Worse case scenario we can always shoot it at my place." She offered as she shook out her short brown hair.
Joey resisted the urge to drool as he watched her hair dance on top of her head. "S-sounds good." He mumbled, mesmerized.
Lauren glared at him, bemused. "You okay?"
Joey nodded. Should he say something? "You, um, you have nice hair." Why did he say that? She probably knows that she has nice hair, she doesn't need him to remind her.
Lauren gritted her teeth. "Eh. I've been thinking about dying it blonde actually."
"To match Draco Malloy?"
The small girl froze, staring at him with wide eyes. "Holy shit, I didn't even think of that!" Lauren jumped around excitedly. "Ha, now I have to do it!" She ran a hand through her hair, smiling up at Joey. "Thanks Jo-jo."
Joey resisted the urge to breathe out a sigh of relief. "Happy to help."
"So," Lauren said dramatically gesturing for Joey to sit down with her. "While of course this is a Lion King business meeting," she started, handing Joey sheet music. "Give me the status update on our other business project."
"Ooh, okay it's tea time." Joey responded giddily, pulling his red vines out of his backpack.
"Tea time means red vines?"
"Of course it does. Everything's better with a red vine," Joey responded matter-of-factly, handing her one.
Lauren shrugged, taking the candy. "Thank you kind sir."
"Of course," Joey smiled as he took a bite. "So you know how Brian went over to Joe's today?"
"Yes! I saw on Joe's Snapchat." Lauren exclaimed. "And I wanna know how they wound up in his bedroom?"
"Joe invited him up to watch a damn movie," Joey said giddily. "Oh, and they also had a wrestling match on the couch that involved Joe climbing on top of Brian."
Lauren rolled her eyes. "I swear to god, I'm ninety percent sure that Joe did that because he's super attracted to Brian but completely oblivious to it."
"Probably. Or maybe he's in denial?"
"Very true. He's completely turning a blind eye to the fact that the way he acts around Brian is not how platonic friends act."
"Right?! But anyway, it gets better. So you saw on Joe's snap how they were messing around with how they're gonna be Quirrell and Voldemort in the play?"
"Yes, I liked Brian's turban."
"Well, they would up wrapping a blanket around themselves to practice singing back to back and stuff."
"Oh my god," Lauren whispered in awe, leaning in towards Joey. "Please tell me that this story ends with those idiots tripping."
"Not only does it end with them tripping, but it led to them landing on the ground on top of each other and under a blanket. And at the precise moment that that beautiful act of god occurred, Zoey walked in."
"Shut up? Shut up!"
"I shall not shut up. But yeah. Brian cleared out of there pretty quickly because Zoey was all over him, but he said that Joe was super insistent that Brian stay."
"He was? No way. It's practically impossible to pry Joe away from Zoey." Lauren said matter-of-factly. She knew from experience. "He's completely codependent of her. Once she shows up, that's his entire existence."
"I know! But he actually told Brian that Zoey could wait for them to be done."
"Oof. How'd Zoey react to that?" Lauren asked, amused. The thought of Zoey walking in on that was almost too good to be true. She must have been furious.
Joey laughed with Lauren, offering her another red vine.
Lauren froze as she reached out for the candy, a moment of clarity washing over her. "Fuck. How did Zoey respond to Joe saying that?" Her hand fell.
Joey shrugged. "No idea. Like I said, Brian was keen to get out of there."
Lauren stood up, twiddling with the ends of her hair. "I'm, um, I'll be right back."
Joey shook his head. "What? Where are you going?"
"I just gotta do a quick errand," she responded vaguely, already walking towards the door. "Should just take a few minutes."
Before Joey could say anything else, she was out the door. He laid down on his back in defeat, resisting the urge to break down crying in the choir room. Instead, he hugged his box of red vines to his chest. It was definitely weird the way she'd suddenly run out of the room. Was it a something he'd said? What had he done wrong? Why couldn't he ever get this right with her? He was going to die alone.
Lauren made sure that the door to the choir door was closed before pulling out her phone. She dialed Joe's number, holding the phone to her ear. "Come on Walker," she whispered sadly as the phone rang over and over again, but there was no answer. Lauren sighed. She tried calling Joe again, but she knew in her heart that he wasn't going to pick up.
She'd seen how Zoey treated him whenever she got jealous before. She had zero doubts that what she'd done to him last time, she was doing again.
Shorter chapter, I figured we hadn't checked up on Richpez in awhile so I wanted to squeeze them in here. I'm officially done with school now next chapter should be up soon! :)