Alex was sitting at home, having just gotten back from an early morning jog, when a loud, hurried knock forced him to get up. He sighed and walked to the door grouchily, angry at whoever was ruining his peace.
When he opened the door however, he found Kara, all frazzled and in a rush. He began to greet her but she marched right past him and began searching his living room for something. "I'm late to meet Peyton," she explained softly, out of breath. "But I left my wallet here last night. Have you... seen it..."
Alex followed her gaze to Meg's bed, where the small dog was chewing on her brown leather wallet. Kara groaned as she reached for it, jumping back when Meg growled. She turned to Alex and crossed her arms, obviously angry, so Alex snapped his fingers at Meg and retrieved Kara's belongings.
As he handed it to her, she frowned at how destroyed it was and checked for the items inside of it to still be in tact. Seeing a few torn papers, she scoffed and headed for the door.
"Wait," Alex pleaded, trying to block her way. She rolled her eyes at him, however, and, completely stressed out from her visit, left. After Kara slammed the door, Alex expected for the sleeping Julie to get up, but when she didn't he took matters into her own hand. After stomping his way to her doorway, he began to pound on the door until she got up and opened it.
"What the hell..." she mumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
They widened when he began to shout, "Thanks to your stupid dog, Kara is mad."
"Uh..." Julie gasped. "Apologize to her right now."
"Whatever," Alex rolled his eyes at her in the same way Kara had done to him. "Just get ready so that you don't make me late to the studio."
"No, forget it," an offended Julie responded. "I'll just ask Sebastian to come pick me up on his way over since he doesn't insult my baby."
Alex rolled his eyes once again and repeated, "Whatever," leaving just as angrily as Kara had.
Still shocked by his behavior, Julie turned to Meg, arms crossed, and watched as the dog began to whimper. "Don't feel bad," she ordered. "It's not your fault his girlfriend sucks."
***
"Where are you going?" Kitty barked from the top of the staircase, tightening up her robe as she dashed down to follow Riley, who was almost out the door.
"To school," Riley mumbled, looking at her as though she was crazy.
"I spoke to Finn," Kitty told her. "He told me all about your little argument. Is everything ok?"
Riley nodded and answered, "I was just really uncomfortable with everyone spilling their secrets like that. So I left. Nothing new." Kitty opened her mouth to say more but Riley beat her to the punch, "I'm going to be late for school now so unless you want to have me arrested for truancy..."
Riley readjusted her backpack and walked out the door before Kitty could get a single additional word across to her.
***
"A book?" Rachel asked as she and Quinn met up for coffee before Quinn had to go to work. The Lima Bean was fairly empty, which was refreshing as compared to the otherwise adolescent-filled occasions.
"A musical," Quinn responded. "Jesse said he's been working on it for a few years and now it's complete. Isn't that weird? Jesse the playwright..."
"Not really," Rachel shrugged. "I mean, it does seem like something he would do. I'm just a bit upset that he didn't tell me about it so that I could take part in it... But this isn't about me. What's going to happen now?"
Quinn said, "I convinced him to talk to some producers out in New York and try to get himself some funding to make the show happen. Actually, it's why I asked you to meet me. Since you're going to New York next week, I was hoping that he could tag along and maybe speak to some of your old contacts. Meet some people to help him get the advantage over in Broadway?"
"Absolutely," Rachel nodded. "It'll be nice to have someone who is like family tag along with me since I have to leave Finn and Olivia..."
"I know," Quinn said, reaching out a hand to comfort Rachel. "I'm sure it'll be hard to be away from each other when we're engaged. I can't imagine a long-distance marriage."
***
["Dirty Little Secret" by All-American Rejects.]
Clint: Let me know that I've done wrong. When I've known this all along. I go around a time or two. Just to waste my time with you.
As soon as Clint began to sing for the New Directions, the faces of the people in his audience began to give him mixed messages. They weren't at all eager with having 'the enemy' in their backyard, even if he was no longer competition.
Clint: Tell me all that you've thrown away. Find out games you don't wanna play. You are the only one that needs to know.
Especially upset about it was Jared, who didn't like the vibe he was given. When Riley saw this, she rolled her eyes at her teammate, who she knew wouldn't like him because they were the same type of person. Only Clint at least knew he was a jerk.
Clint (Jeremy, Brianna, Drew and Stewart): I'll keep you my dirty little secret (Dirty little secret). Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret (Just another regret, hope that you can keep it). My dirty little secret. Who has to know.
Clint's purpose wasn't to impress the entitled quarterback though. It was to make sure everyone saw how talented he was and let them know that they needed him.
Clint (Brianna and Drew): The way she feels inside (inside). Those thoughts I can't deny (deny). These sleeping thoughts won't lie (won't lie). And all I've tried to hide. It's eating me apart. Trace this life out.
A few members were singing along with him, which he liked, but he was sure it was just the song, not him. And that didn't bother him. He danced around the room and did everything Jesse had adviced him to do.
Clint (New Directions): I'll keep you my dirty little secret (Dirty little secret). Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret (Just another regret). I'll keep you my dirty little secret (Dirty little secret). Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret (Just another regret, hope that you can keep it). My dirty little secret.
Jesse had been watching the kids for a couple of weeks, even without Finn's blessing. He wanted to help them sure, but he cared more about Clint, so he'd been searching for ways to help Clint find a way to make it into the glee club. He told him that there were just a select number of people he needed to impress: Kayli, Brianna, Riley, and Jackson. They were the ones with the most influence—the most connections—in the group, whether they knew it or not.
Clint: Dirty little secret. Dirty little secret. Who has to know. Who has to know.
As Clint finished his song, he made sure to wink at Brianna, making Jeremy uneasy. He had worked his charm on Riley at the dance and made flirtatious eye contact with Kayli. Brianna seemed to be enjoying the performance and was one of the first to start singing along. He just needed to find a way to get to Jackson.
When only a few people clapped for Clint, Finn cleared his throat and forced the rest to join in pleasurelessly. "Ok," Finn said. "Let's, uh, vote."
"He's not even a student yet," Jared pointed out immediately. "He can't join a show choir for a school he's not a part of."
"Good point," Jesse told him. "But Clint intends on joining the glee club for the new semester. As you are probably aware of by now, Vocal Adrenaline is no longer a problem. He has no other reason to remain attached to Carmel and it is his senior year. Vocal Adrenaline has not won a Nationals trophy in years, but we've—they—have gone to Nationals every time. New Directions also hasn't won. In fact, New Directions hasn't made it to Nationals as many times as they have. I believe that with Clint in here to add to this group's spark, we can make it."
Finn didn't speak. He thought it'd be hypocritical to speak of accepting the enemy when he was never able to accept Jesse, having felt too threatened by him in the past.
"Ok, so the vote then," Brianna took over. "Everyone in favor of Clint joining, raise your hand."
Kayli's hand shot up, while Riley slowly joined her, as well as Brianna, Drew, and Autumn. Everyone else remained dubious. "That's five," Jared said. "You need a majority vote, so..."
"Oh, did the jock learn math?" Riley mocked him.
He rolled his eyes at her and said, "I'm great at math. I'm a mathlete."
"Ok..." Clint said. "I guess I should go then." He expected at least one person to stop him or say something else, but they didn't. So, as Jesse suggested, Clint turned to him and said, "I'll call you once I leave Dalton."
"Wait, what?" Finn stepped in. "Wh—why are you going to Dalton?"
"He has an audition with them, too," Jesse answered. "Don't you Clint?"
Clint nodded and Kayli said, "Hold on. The Warblers are more competitive than us—almost as much as VA. Why would they allow for a former Vocal Adrenaline robot—no offense—"
"Non-taken," Clint told her.
"—to infiltrate their team?" she finished.
Jesse cleared his throat and told them, "Sebastian's clever. He knows how to win. The Warblers are going to want Clint to, uh... To beat us at Regionals. But since you all made your vote already—"
"We can vote again in January," Riley said, surprising everyone by using her voice to help rather than hurt someone. "I mean, like he said, the semester isn't over. The official audition can be when he leaves Carmel. Officially."
After a few seconds of silence, Clint smiled at her and said, "Can't wait."
When he had left the room, Kayli turned to Riley and without thinking about it said, "What the hell was that?"
"Yeah," Jared agreed for different reasons. "You just promised him a redo. You aren't queen."
"You aren't king," Riley responded.
"And Mr. St. James is right," Drew said, explaining why she voted yes. "We need him."
"There's nothing that guy can do that we can't," Jackson said, surprising himself by agreeing with Jared on something once again.
"Are you all blind and tone-deaf?" Riley asked. "He has a good voice, but most of all, he has stage presence. And no offense, Mr. Hudson, but I think it's because he had a great teacher. Mr. St. James won the most show choir competitions out of everyone in this room. If he says we need Clint, I believe him."
***
"Julie, Julie, Julie..." Alex said when the girl tried to walk right past him at the studio. "Hey, stop."
"What?" she asked as she came to a halt.
"I'm sorry for the way I acted this morning," he sighed. "The last thing we need is to start fighting nonstop."
"Right," Julie responded, emotionless.
Alex scratched his head uncomfortably and said, "We're living together now. There are going to be bad sides to that. But I think if we start stepping on each other's toes—"
"—or dogs," Julie interjected.
"Right," he said, just as she previously had. "So I was thinking... What if we celebrated the fact that we're now sharing a home? We never had a true housewarming party so let's throw one. Tomorrow night."
"Tomorrow?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, tomorrow," he said, putting an arm around her and leading the way to the recording room. "And you won't have to lift a finger."
"You're going to do all the work?" she asked in disbelief.
He laughed at this and said, "Oh god no. I hate that stuff. But I talked it over with someone who loves parties."
Julie pulled away from him, shocked, and said, "You asked your ex-girlfriend's best friend to throw us a party... For me..."
"That's right," Alex nodded. "Am I the best roommate slash male friend or what?"
"Hmm, Albany was a great cook and John would sing show tunes with me so—" Julie began.
"Nice try," he told her, happy that his relationship with Kara wasn't causing any more tension between them.
***
The next day was a Friday, so everyone was excited for the opportunity to do something besides go to work. Shana had invited all of their friends in Lima to attend, regardless of who had dated whom or competed with each other. She knew that a party was exactly what they needed.
To accomplish everything, Albany offered to help her plan. "The best way to throw a party is to be completely organized," she had said, to which Shana responded, "We'll do everything last minute then!"
So everything was set and perfect by the time the party was beginning. Leila couldn't come, so Sam and Mandy were coming. Kara said she had other plans so Amity was definitely there. The only bummer was that Peyton wasn't going. But everyone else was.
"This looks great," said Alex as he walked into his living room just seconds before everyone was supposed to arrive.
Julie made a face and said, "There aren't any decorations."
"Exactly," he responded. "I thought Shana was going to put glitter everywhere and just—" He stopped himself when he saw that their previously empty bar had been stocked. "Nice!"
"Yeah, she thinks everyone will be eager to drink," Julie sighed. "Anyway, I'm sorry to hear Kara can't make it. Well, not really, but I'm pretty sure as a friend I'm supposed to say that."
"And not that," Alex said with a flat look. "But yeah, she had other plans with Peyton. Not sure what that was about but I hope whatever they're up to isn't as fun as what we'll be doing."
***
"Leila McGuire," Leila said to the bouncer at a dirty warehouse in a back alley somewhere in a town even worse than Lima.
"Are we sure this is the place?" Peyton asked Kara, looking around nervously.
"Yes and we'll be fine," Kara told her. "Aside from the fact that we're dressed like high-end hookers at a farm, tonight will go just as planned. And before you ask for the hundredth time, yes, I made sure we weren't being followed by the cop guy."
"Ok," Leila said, turning back to them. "We're good. Let's go in already."
The girls followed her lead inside the torn down warehouse and were completely shocked by what they saw inside of the sound proof walls. Music, shimmering lights, shiny jewelry, and very important-looking people."
"Is that the guy from the Jersey Shore?" Peyton whispered to Kara, who had no clue what she was talking about. The girls were instantly led to a table, one which was full of men, and Leila seemed to know one of them.
As Leila comfortably leaned over to whisper something to a man who had to be in his fifty's yet looked good for his age, Kara made a face at Peyton. The latter was busy looking around at all the different strangers nervously, hoping she wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb.
Leila, however, was used to it. In fact, her night job often required for her to attend these sort of events and many of the men in the room were clients of hers, so she had to make an appearance and play nice if she expected any payment for her services.
After one of the men passed her a note, Kara raised an eyebrow suspiciously. Was that a number? Was she going on a date? What about John? They tried asking Leila all these questions when she returned to them, but the girl dodged them easily, knowing that they would tell Alex and he would tell John if they knew the truth. In fact, she was pretty surprised that Julie and Kitty hadn't said anything yet, considering that she'd had them unsuspectingly working a group with her when she'd first met them.
Wanting to avoid any suspicion, she quickly led the girls to their own table, where she urged Kara to take a seat. The latter did as she was told while Leila and Peyton stood behind her encouragingly. "Remember what I told you," Leila whispered to them. "Play well enough to keep up with them. But not well enough to beat them. Boys always suspect foul play when a lady is better than they are."
Kara nodded and told the dealer to play her in. Peyton nervously twisted one of her rings and Leila began to converse with the gentlemen at their table, doing her best to get new contacts while also getting as much information for Peyton as she could.
***
"Welcome," Shana greeted everyone at the door. "Take off your shoes and you may as well get rid of your underwear now because shit is about to go down!"
Albany stood behind her and rested her chin on Shana's shoulder to whisper, "Sweetie, you know I think you're amazing, but don't you think your expectations for how big of a rager this will be are just a little bit high? I've known Julie and Alex for a while now and neither of them is big on partying."
"Things need to change," Shana responded. "I'm a model. So is Mandy. Bree goes everywhere with us. Kitty's a politician, sort of. And we have a bunch of musicians here. So yeah, we should be partying hard."
"I'm surprised I was invited," Santana told Shana as she walked in and took off her jacket. "I mean, let's remember that one of the people who lives here seems to not like me very much."
"I don't care," Shana said with a smile. "A little alcohol in her system and Julie won't even notice you here. Trust me."
"It better top The Rachel Berry House Party Train Wreck Extravaganza," Santana mumbled.
"Ooh, is she coming?" Shana asked, having never heard back from her.
"She's on a plane to New York, so I don't think so," Santana said. "And it's the same for Jesse. Finn doesn't think it will be appropriate because of his job—"
"What?" Albany said, seeing as she was hoping for a similar career. "Why not?"
"—and Quinn is right outside parking," Santana finished, ignoring Albany. Once she was in the living room with the other guests, Albany turned to Shana, panicked.
"Teachers can't party!" she exclaimed. "Oh my gosh, what if Figgins sees this and then says I shouldn't get the teaching position. I'm supposed to sign my employee contract next week. What if—"
"Chill," Shana chuckled. "You'll be fine. We never got in trouble as students. And trust me, the teachers partied, too. Let's just relax and enjoy the night, ok?"
"Ok," Albany said, trying to calm herself down. "I'll go get us some beer while you make sure that Luke doesn't kill someone. He's been looking pretty homicidal recently."
Shana made a face, not sure what this meant, and looked around for Luke. When she spotted him, he was sitting in a corner, just glaring at Kitty. The blonde seemed to notice this and was uncomfortably trying to have a conversation with Jake, who had no idea why she was acting so weird.
"Ok, party's here!" Stefan exclaimed as he burst into the apartment, nearly knocking Quinn over in the process. "Let The Unbelievably Reckless Night of Fiery Explosions of Fun and Passion begin!"
***
The designated drivers, Shana, Amity, Bree, Sam, Ryder, and Sebastian, were trying to have an actual conversation in the kitchen but were interrupted every fifth word by someone either shrieking very loudly, obnoxiously singing to the song playing on the stereo, or just laughing.
Shana laughed when she saw Albany trip and said, "I'm glad I decided to be designated driver for my household. Albany never gets to party. And look at her now. Drunk, clumsy, loss of coherency. That's what it means to be an American in your 20s. Well, in the 20s..."
"She's not going to like it tomorrow morning," Bree pointed out.
Ryder looked at Amity and asked, "You're not drinking?"
"I don't drink, like, ever," Amity answered. "Well, except at church."
"Have you guys figured out who here is each drunk archetype?" Sam wondered. "Santana's a weepy drunk and Quinn's an angry drunk—"
On cue, Santana began to sob loudly as Quinn shouted, "And all you ever do is complain and that time I asked you to... To do the... thing... with the other... You were just like, 'No, I don't want to.' And it made me really, really mad."
"I'm sorry I'm so selfish!" Santana responded through her tears, covering her face and crying into her hands.
"Should we...?" Amity began.
"Nah, they're fine," Sam shrugged. "So, give me the dirt. Who's who?"
"Just look at them," Sebastian laughed, nodding towards everyone who was drunk. "It's pretty obvious. Dan's naked."
"That does happen a lot," Shana cringed as she watched a shirtless Dan dancing by himself in the corner. "He's lucky Pey-Pey didn't make it."
"We don't have any hysterical criers," Bree pointed out as Santana made her way to the restroom to finish crying there. "But we do have someone who gets angrier than Quinn and that's Harmony." Harmony was literally punching the wall when they all turned to her. "And maybe we should stop her before she hurts herself."
"I'll go," Ryder said, having rarely seen Harmony in this position. He walked over to her and said, "Hey... Harmony... Maybe you should—maybe just... Maybe take it down a bit. And maybe possibly... Go lie down? Just for a bit... I can help."
"Are you patronizing me?" Harmony snapped. She turned to Kitty and Jake and asked, "Is he? Ok, hold my earrings."
"You aren't wearing any—" Ryder tried to explain, but she stood up and stumbled into him.
"I need to use the restroom," she said softly, convulsing for a moment before making her way to the restroom, having to lean against it and knock rapidly, which only made Santana's sobbing louder.
"Kitty's the drunk dialer," Ryder said as he returned to the sober group. "I just heard her start talking to someone on the phone and she did not sound like she was giving any compliments."
"So screw you and screw your whole team because I hate you!" she exclaimed, throwing her phone to the couch and turning back to a conversation with Jake, who looked like he was falling asleep.
"If he dozes off," Sam pointed out, "he's going to join Mandy and Marley." The two girls mentioned were currently asleep on Julie's bed.
"Does Mandy always fall asleep when she drinks?" Amity asked him.
He shook his head and said, "Only with beer. She's used to wine and—"
"Boring," Sebastian stopped him. "Moving on. What's the deal with Stefan?"
They all turned to him as he responded to something Albany had said with, "Oh my gosh, no freaking way!"
"Much like my gorgeous girlfriend," Shana said, "Stefan happens to be a shrieker. He's the kind of guy who will get excited about everything, talk like he just won a million dollars, and annoy you with his overall joy and happiness."
"Eww," Bree said, completely grossed out.
Ryder smiled at her and said, "What are you?"
"I don't get drunk," Bree claimed. "I do however find different ways to make sure that as many people as possible get drunk so that I can mock them, get all my mean out, and not have to deal with their hurt feelings the next day because they won't remember a thing."
"That's..." Sam said. "Not surprising, actually..."
"Oh my gosh, what is Luke doing?" Amity asked, shaking her head. "He's just glaring at Kitty."
"Albany says he plots when he's drunk," Shana shrugged. "I don't really know what that means but his squinty face is hilarious and as long as no one gives him any sharp objects or lets him near Kitty, I think he'll be fine."
"Oh dear god, what is John doing to poor Quinn?" Ryder said, pointing to the back of the room. While leaning against the television, John was twirling Quinn's hair for her while she swatted his hand away.
Bree began to laugh and said, "Classic John. The flirt. He will flirt with anything living."
As Quinn stomped away from John, the latter looked around and nearly ran into a lamp. A second later, he grabbed onto it and said, "You DTF?"
"And apparently anything non-living, too," Sam chuckled, getting off his chair and walking towards John to stop him from straddling the lamp.
As he did that, Sebastian turned to the others and asked, "Ok, so what's up with Julie? She's just sitting there with Alex. They're talking like normal people."
"They're definitely drunk," Amity sighed. "Actually, it's kind of what they do. It's not about how they act but the things they say." She watched Alex roll his eyes at Julie and could instantly tell he was telling her she was being absurd just by the look on his face.
"I don't get it," Sebastian said when they were rejoined by Sam.
"Get what?" Sam asked.
"Julie and Alex," Ryder answered. "I've seen Julie drunk maybe three times before. And I know for a fact that Amity's right. She says ridiculous things but by her composure you would have no idea that she wasn't in her right mind."
"Oh yeah," Sam agreed, looking at Sebastian. "Watch." He turned around to face Julie and Alex and called out their names. When he had their attention he waved them over. As they joined the sober group, Sam said, "What are you guys talking about?"
Immediately, Julie and Alex started to talk over each other. Finally, Julie stopped and Alex said, "So then I'm like—I'm like... How do we get, the thing... And she said we get it with, like, a fishing pole, but it has holes and I don't understand... I don't understand how—how you could, like, fit the thing... Because circles and squares. Right?"
"Totally," Shana agreed with him, nodding enough times to make him smile at her.
Julie rolled her eyes and said, "You're really dumb, MIT... Why not? I don't care what you... I mean, this is America, so like... I can say that the president sucks and... And no one can stop me... Because the Nile River is reaaaaaaaally long..."
"Interesting point," Shana told her.
Amity put a hand on her shoulder and asked, "You know what they're arguing about?"
"Nope, but it was fun to make them think I did," Shana answered brightly.
Bree smiled at her and then asked the drunks, "So, I have an interesting question. Which school is better? MIT or Stanford?"
It didn't take a second for them to start blabbering. Alex got the first word in when he said, "We were created first in 18... Yeah... And we are in Cambridge which is the best country in the world."
"That's ridiculous," Julie responded. "We are up there—" She pointed to the sky. "And we have teachers and a lot of students and there's a dog somewhere and he... He has legs and likes to wear tutus and—"
"That's from a TV show," Sam laughed, shaking his head.
"Well, we have aliens," Alex claimed. "MI... MIH... There's aliens there."
Sebastian made a weird face at that while Julie said, "This debate is stupid."
"Your face is stupid," Alex snorted. "And your dog is asleep on my bed, so what do you say about that? Even he likes MIT."
"My dog's a girl so your whole premise is laughable," Julie said. "And my face is... cool and stuff..." She turned to the others and in a very sad voice asked them, "Right?"
"Totally," Ryder said, doing his best not to laugh at her sadness.
"Mac or PC?" Bree asked. In any other situation, Bree would roll her eyes at even the idea of having these dull conversations. But at a party, with two really drunk nerds? It was the best thing ever.
"PC's are reliable," Julie began immediately, "and traditional and... And great listeners and..."
"Mac's don't break down," Alex said. "I have a degree in... the computers... and I talked to all of them and they all think that I... I wore it—wore it best... There isn't even twelve days in Christmas so... Boo-yah."
Julie stayed quiet for a couple of seconds, long enough for the others to think she was about to throw up or was sleeping with her eyes open. She finally opened her mouth to say, "This is a cool party. Thanks Sam."
As she walked away, Sam turned to the others and Shana called out, "You're welcome."
"Boom," Alex told them. "I win. Get me the president because I'm about to blow him out. Up. Blow him... No, not—not... that... I have to pee the shower... Or no, the... Where's my pen? Did I have a pen? I can't remember. But I think I've lost my pencil."
"Pen," Amity corrected him.
"Jeez, we dated a long time ago," he shouted at her, surprising her. "Get over it."
She tilted her head in confusion as he walked away and Bree soothingly patted her back. "He's drunk," Bree reminded her.
"I feel so bad," Sebastian said, making all heads turn to him, confused. "They're so drunk and I was dying to tell them and order them to go home but... They live here."
"Party was a success," Shana congratulated herself. "A few of us are sober and having fun making fun of everyone. And the rest of them are having fun. Except for Santana and Harmony... And Quinn... And maybe Luke... We should check on everyone."
***
"Knock, knock," Sam said as he walked into the restroom, where Santana was wiping the makeup off her face. "How are you?"
"Quinn hates me," Santana responded, doing her best not to cry. "And so does everyone else here. My friends, your friends, our friends... My boss... Everyone hates me."
"That's not true," Sam told her. "Sure, you drive us crazy sometimes. But we all drive each other crazy every now and then. If we didn't love you, you wouldn't be here hanging out with us and doing the things we do together."
"I'm only here because Shana is in this LGBTQ blog and she was asking if anyone knew where she could get a strip pole in Lima last minute," Santana explained. "And I saw it and I clicked and I saw that her name was Shana and she was pansexual and there's only one of those that I know of so I clicked and it just... I shouldn't have clicked... I ruined everyone's night..."
"No, that's not true," he assured her. "They all ruined their own night... They had no help from you. You may as well have not even showed up."
Santana cleared her tears again and then said, "But they do hate me... And the one who hates me most is the owner of this annoyingly cozy apartment..."
"Alex has never explicitly said that he—" Sam said.
"Julie!" Santana exclaimed, her voice cracking between syllables. "She detests me. Abhors me. Loaths me."
"Got it the first time," Sam mumbled, scratching his head.
"And she's ruining my life," Santana began to cry once again. "It sucks working with her, Sam. She gets all the credit and makes me look like an idiot. And it's not that she's more talented than I am... It's that against all that is logical guys seem to be drawn to her like moths and they just go flying to her and they just like her and... And she's done it again and Sebastian's our boss so of course if you want to sleep with someone you'll favor them and that's totally not cool. Why can't he just like me?"
"Wait..." a confused Sam stopped her. "Are you saying that..?"
"She gets more studio time than us," Santana told him. "She gets more promotion from the label. He hired producers just for her and only because I suggested it to her to suggest to him... He likes her. We're screwed."
"That's just wrong," Sam said, shaking his head angrily.
"I agree," Santana said wiping her eyes. "Man, I feel a lot better now. But something tells me I shouldn't have told you anything. I just can't remember why that is."
As Sam stood up, he told her, "I'm glad you did."
She watched as he walked out and, when he did, Harmony stumbled in and told her, "Out of my way, gopher."
Out in the living room, the party had died down a bit. The sober group had mixed it up with the drunks in an attempt to help them sober down a bit and Sebastian was currently in a conversation with Amity.
"Great," he was saying as Sam walked over to them. "You can come in on Monday and we'll sit through the contract, and after that you'll be a part of the label as an actual artist."
"I'm incredibly nervous and equally thrilled," Amity told him, taking a deep breath.
"Is she joining the label?" Sam asked rather loudly. Sebastian tried to get him to quiet down, but it was too late. They had the attention of everyone at the party. Sam didn't care or notice as he added, "Amity, if I were you I'd just pass on a record deal from this guy. Apparently no one will ever get ahead with his go nowhere methods since he's in love with Julie and will only give her his attention."
"Ok, love is a strong word," Sebastian told him.
"Wait, he's not denying it," Kitty pointed out. "Oh my god..."
"I can't feel my skin..." Dan told Shana, who patted his head and tried to get him to ease down.
"It's not fair," Sam told Sebastian. "The rest of us go into that studio and work hard almost every day of the week and none of that means anything because Julie will just end up getting all the benefits?"
"That's not exactly how—" Sebastian began.
"Finally someone renders him speechless," Santana said as she emerged from the bathroom, her sobs replaced by Harmony gagging.
"Weren't you too drunk to be normal?" Bree asked her.
"I puked it all out," Santana answered. "I've perfected my gag reflex and now the alcohol is out of my system."
"That's awful," Julie told her, shaking her head as Sebastian slowly walked out of the apartment.
"But what isn't is you finally getting what's handed to you," Santana told her. "Now that everything's out in the open, everyone can stop pretending that Sebastian actually likes your music. Go ahead. Follow him out and ask."
"I don't understand," Julie shook her head again, a million ideas running through her mind at once. She walked out of the apartment and saw Sebastian just standing out there. When he turned to her, she said, "Is this true?"
Sebastian hesitated for a moment and then answered, "Well... I guess... Sometimes I do give you preferential treatment..."
"Sebastian," Julie sighed. "You know I've always wanted for you to just treat me like you treat every other artist in your label."
"Well, I can't," he responded. "You're not just any other artist. I like you. In different ways than I like them. Even though you're really annoying."
Julie stayed quiet for a moment and then softly told him, "It's against the company policy for a boss to date his employee..."
"Uh, I'm the boss," Sebastian said. "It's my company and we don't have any rules about that. And I said nothing about wanting to date you."
"What about the, uh..." she scratched her chin. "What if I, uh... Ok, just give me a second and I'll pull out a phone and Google what to say next because my brain is foggy and I might have alcohol poisoning so I can't think straight or curved or crooked and—"
"You don't have alcohol poisoning," Sebastian told her. "And if you don't wanna do this, you could've started there."
"Well, I—" Julie tried to think of something else to say. But she just couldn't. "It's cold..." she finally responded.
"Yeah, it really is," he said. "But you'll get your wish. I'll start treating you the way I treat everyone else. Goodnight, nice party, and you put your shoes on backwards."
As Julie looked down at her boots, which were in the wrong feet, Sebastian disappeared swiftly so that when she looked back up he was gone. She headed into the apartment again and everyone was staring at her. "You all heard, didn't you?" she said.
"You didn't fully close the door," John told her.
"This is really awkward and that really makes me want to punch someone in the face," Harmony murmured, standing by the bathroom door.
"I ate Luke's sandwich," Shana said in an attempt to change the subject and lift the party spirits again.
Luke gasped and exclaimed, "You just went up my list! Not the good one..."
"I had a sex dream about Amity last week and I'm not ashamed of it," Stefan said, making Amity take a few steps away from him.
"I called my boss and quit my job," Kitty shrugged, looking at her destroyed phone. Everyone turned to her, thinking nothing could top that.
Alex broke the silence, however, and turned to Amity to say, "Ok, what I want to know is how you could be signing with the same label I work at and am still in the process of switching over to without telling me?"
"No disrespect but I don't really owe you any explanations," Amity said softly, clearing her throat afterwards for the effect of it.
"Um, we didn't break up that long ago," Alex told her.
"But earlier you said—" Ryder began.
"Please don't get involved, Taylor Swift," Alex told him.
Dan made a face and asked, "How does that comparison make any sense?"
"I was thinking of her ok?" Alex exclaimed. "I love her and I'll marry her one day."
"I had my partner follow three of your girlfriends and they are probably being arrested right now," Jake said nonchalantly, taking another gulp of beer. Everyone turned to him and forgot all about their own problems.
"Are you serious?" Albany asked, not laughing or shrieking for the first time since she'd started drinking.
"Your girlfriend," Jake said, pointing at Dan. "Your girlfriend," he added to Alex. "And even your girlfriend," he said to John. "Right about now, they're probably in a patrol car on the way to the nearest station of some town."
"Wait, under what charges?" Alex asked, searching for his phone to get in contact with Kara.
"Gambling among other things," Jake shrugged.
Dan's eyes widened as he said, "Oh no, today was the... Oh no..."
"That was my secret of the night," Jake told his friends, who were all beginning to panic for their friends. "Who's up next?"