"Okay, look," said Alex, a smirk on his face. "We've already recorded the song. It sounds great. It's done. We have the rest of the week to record and edit the video. It might just help us if you stop stalling."
"I'm not stalling!" Julie exclaimed. "I really do have to go now."
"Oh yeah?" asked Alex. "Where?"
"I'm meeting Jake and Ryder at the school," she said. "They've asked me to be in their video and I accepted."
"You did what?" he exclaimed. "Why? Please tell me it's so that you can sabotage!"
"No," she said. "They asked for help and I am going to give it because they're my friends and it could be fun."
"Or because you're screwing Jake," said Alex, shrugging.
"Okay, you need to leave now," she said, standing up and pulling him off the couch. She pushed him towards the front door.
She turned to him as she opened the door and he shrugged, "I'll see you tomorrow when you're not PMSing." She scoffed as he walked through the door and she looked out just in time to see that her mother had reappeared. She tried to close the door or call out to Alex before he left but she just stood there, stunned.
***
"Where is she?" asked Ryder, looking at his phone to check the time. "You gave her the right time, right?"
"Of course I did," Jake responded. "I'm sure she has a perfectly reasonable--"
The door burst open and an obviously upset Julie walked through. "Hi..." said Ryder, afraid she might erupt.
Julie didn't say anything. She just took of her jacket, tossing it aside and revealing a tracksuit underneath as she rolled up her sleeves. She looked up at them. "So are we doing this, or what?"
"Actually, we wanted to tell you about a new idea we had," said Jake. "And we just wanted to make sure you were comfortable with it."
"It involves a kiss..." said Ryder. "With me."
Julie seemed to have no reaction to this. "Yeah," she said. "Yeah, sure."
"Great!" Jake exclaimed with satisfaction. "Okay, so we'll do your part with me and then after we'll do the part with you watching yourself. And then your part with Ryder."
"Sounds great..." Julie mumbled. She set up on the chair and Jake joined her on the other seat. Their concept was pottery, just like in Ghost, and Ryder was going to be behind the camera for the first shoot. He watched from the camera's screen as the music began and Jake began singing to Julie, touching her hands as they spun the wheel. Something seemed... off. Julie looked really deep in thought. It was working for the video-- it worked perfectly-- but it didn't seem like she was purposefully looking so upset.
When they had filmed enough, they shifted positions for Julie's moment as she watched herself, upset. When that was over, Jake clapped. "You're doing a fantastic job, Julie," he said. "Great acting. If you'd just give us a sec."
Jake pulled Ryder to the side. "You notice it, too?" asked Ryder.
"Yeah, something's off," Jake whispered in reply. "I don't really think we should bring it up."
"But what if--" Ryder started.
"Ryder, she'll talk about it when she's ready," he said. Ryder sighed and nodded, agreeing not to mention it. They continued filming their video.
***
"So I couldn't help but notice you and Jake seem chummy again..." Unique said suddenly as she and Marley edited their video in the computer lab. They were way ahead of schedule and expected to be done before the week ended.
"Is that a question?" Marley mumbled in response, clicking a few keys on the computer.
Unique shrugged, leading to Marley sighign. "Jake is--" Unique started.
"Just a friend," Marley responded. "That's all. We hung out during the break, just doing some volunteer work, and I decided to just let him be a friend."
"What changed?" asked Unique.
Marley shook her head, unsure of this herself. "I don't know," she said. "I guess when we were together he looked at me a certain way that let me know he was into me and... Now, I just don't really get that look anymore. So I figured... He had gotten over me and that'd make it easier to be friends."
"So you forgave him then?" Unique asked.
"I guess..." Marley said. She turned back to the editing and Unique kept talking.
"So it was in the way he looked at you, huh..." Unique mumbled. "Baby girl, I wish Shana'd stop looking at me funny..."
***
"I almost kissed her," Shana said, nodding proudly. "But she pulled away. I could tell she's never been kissed; she was so nervous..."
"I'm confused," said Bree.
"With?" asked Shana. The two were still in the process of recording themselves in the AV room and were way behind schedule, mostly because they gossiped too much.
"Well, Unique's a boy, so..." Bree pointed out.
"And I'm a girl..?" Shana responded, unsure where this was headed.
"Yes, but Unique is a gay boy," she said. "So he's into dudes... And you're not a dude..."
Shana sighed, smiling weakly. "That's so limiting," said Shana, shrugging. "And I think Unique will see that. I think I can get her to like me. As soon as she lets herself."
"That'll make for interesting sex," Bree snorted. Shana laughed, playfully shoving her arm as the two got back to work.
***
"So, uh, so what's the deal with you and Alex?" asked Dan. Amity looked up from her textbook, annoyed.
"What do you mean?" she asked, tired of everyone asking her the same question only to be followed by the same warning.
Dan was busy setting up the camera for their video shoot with his friend, Stewart, from the AV club, who was helping them out, but he stopped to walk over to Amity. She was willing to help whenever he was ready for her, but for now she was working on some homework.
"Um," Dan started. "Well, I just think you should look out..."
Amity snapped her book shut and looked up at him. "I think I'm smart enough to look out for myself," said Amity. "I'm sick and tired of everyone talking about to me like I'm some stupid, little kid and talking about him like he's just been sent to prison for murder. It's not fair to either of us. Especially to him because you don't even know him."
Dan seemed hurt by her random outburst. He nodded gently and said, "Yeah, okay... Won't mention it again..." Amity immediately regretted snapping at him. She wasn't exactly sure why it had angered her so much, considering Alex probably wouldn't have defended her in the same way, but for some reason she just felt like Alex deserved better than the way people treated him.
"Let's just go film this thing already," said Amity softly. Dan nodded and the two continued on to make their concept a reality in nearly complete silence.
***
"Okay," said Harmony excitedly. "I say that after we do the man-eating toaster bit, we go straight into a scene in which we yell at the blob and anger it to make it grow."
"You wurn't kiddin' 'bout watchen da moo-vie, eh?" Rory responded with a smile. Harmony nodded proudly just as Joe walked through the door.
"Oh, hey guys," he said, feigning surprise. "I didn't know you all had this room reserved for the afternoon?"
"It's posted outside th' do'r," said Rory. "That 'n we made an announcement yesterday."
"Must've missed it," Joe shrugged. He walked over to Harmony, who was in her Ghostbuster outfit and smiled. "You look fantastic," he said.
"Thanks!" Harmony chimed, loving the attention. "I love this suit. It's so cute."
"Yeah, totally cute," said Joe, nodding at her as he admired the beauty of her blue eyes.
"So, uh, Joe," Rory intervened. "Ye 'eadin' ter work on yer own video?"
"Um, yeah, yeah," Joe said. "Sure. Pretty well ahead on it." He turned back to Harmony with a smile. "So, anyway, you're really..."
His voice became hushed so that Rory could no longer here. Annoyed, he turned back to his camera equipment and hoped Joe would leave soon.
"Fantastic..." he muttered.
***
"Okay," said Jake. "Finally there's the kiss. I think it should be shot from both this angle and that angle."
Julie nodded and Ryder shot Jake a look. He appreciated Jake's attempts to be a good wingman and all, but it wasn't really a great moment for making out or even snogging a little. Julie was so upset, she didn't even seem to notice what was happening.
"Okay, I've started filming now," said Jake as he set up in front of them. "Ryder, when you're part comes on you can go ahead and go for it."
"Got it," said Ryder, his voice shaking. It had been months since he'd had a romantic moment with Julie and even longer since he'd actually kissed her. Jake's voice was heard in the recording and Ryder just sang to Julie as she looked down at the pottery wheel. He caressed her hands, hoping to get a reaction, then stopped when she seemed completely out of it. It wasn't time for his kiss yet, but he had to get something from her, so he reached out a hand to pull her in and kissed her. He pulled away quickly and Jake watched from the screen on the camera, feeling as though if he watched them he was interrupting something intimate.
Before a second had even passed since he'd pulled away, Julie finally made eye contact with Ryder so he went for a second kiss. He half-expected her to pull away or say this was too much or maybe even slap him but instead he felt her kiss him back. Finally, something.
Ryder was loving the moment so much that he almost didn't pull back in time for his singing. When he did, he went back to the words and smiled as he sang to her. She half-smiled as she watched him, looking down at his lips. Ryder felt himself freaking out as he noticed the way she looked at him. It have him butterflies and as lame as it felt to admit that, she made him nervous.
Jake cleared his throat as the song continued and Ryder sang to her. On the last of his notes, he decided to kiss her one last time, before it was all over and he might not get to ever do it again, so he went for it. This time, she didn't kiss back. Since the second kiss, she'd appeared to have snapped out of it. This last kiss was so brief that Ryder didn't smile when it was over. Instead he pulled away, forced a quick smile, and watched as she hung her head back.
"And that's a wrap..." Jake muttered as the song ended. "Now we just have to edit this and--"
"I have to go now," Julie said suddenly, standing up and wiping her hands briefly. She didn't even grab her jacket before marching out the door.
"I hope she's okay..." Ryder murmured as he watched the door shut.
"Are you?" Jake asked. Ryder looked at him, pressing his lips together as he slumped down and tried to remember how those kisses had felt.
***
"Joe!" exclaimed Sugar from the door, making everybody jump.
"Ah tank Jasus!" exclaimed Rory. "Sugar, please take him away now."
"Ooh, cool suits!" Sugar exclaimed, completely ignoring Rory's frail complaints. He sighed as she went over to Harmony and complimented her outfit. Joe gave her a look, so she turned to look at Rory, who left the room.
"Wait, up!" Sugar called out, clanking her heels as she tried to run after him. The sat down on a bench at the end of the hallway.
"Oi'm glad Joe 'as a romantic interest in 'armony an' al'..." Rory mumbled. "Cos 'e's a deadly guy an' yer man deserves someone. But oi jist wish 'e'd stop 'oggin' 'er every time we're gettin' somewhere wi' de project."
"Okay..." Sugar responded slowly. "So I'm not really sure about half of what you said but I realized you were upset back there. But I mean, a lot has changed since you came back, Rory. Joe has really become a leader around. Did you know he's planning the next school dance already?"
Rory looked up and shrugged. "Oi jist want sum time ter work on my own tin', yer nu?"'
"Yeah, totes," Sugar nodded. "But, um, okay so I didn't want to say anything but... Joe and I were a little skeptical at first... You know, about letting you just rejoin and stuff."
"Why is dat?" Rory asked.
"Well, because you lied!" Sugar exclaimed. "Last year you said you had to go back to Ireland and you just left but you were really still in Lima! And we all had our reasons for leaving and I admit mine was the worst excuse but still I was at least honest!"
"Oi'm sorry, Sugar," said Rory apologetically. "Oi didn't mean ter 'urt anyone. Oi jist felt loike an outsider 'ere. But oi missed it. An' oi missed ye, too."
"Why is it that your accent seems to be getting thicker and not the other way around?" she asked jokingly. He laughed with her and then stopped, his expression serious once again.
"So can ye please forgive me?" Rory asked, his big eyes looking up at Sugar's.
She smiled. "I'll do you a better one," she said. She leaned in and kissed his lips. When she pulled away, a bright smile lit up Rory's face. "I'll be your girlfriend," said Sugar nodding.
"But oi never asked..." muttered Rory. Sugar gave him a look. "Yeah, gran', let's be a couple!" Sugar smiled.
"That's more like it," she said. "And as our first couple business, I say we go take back our partners and get back to work!"
"Dat sounds loike de perfect first couple move!" Rory exclaimed as the two stood and headed back into the room.
***
"Alright, we have just one more angle to shoot," said Alex, "and then I'll have everything we need and I can go ahead and edit over the weekend."
"Great," said Julie. She played the music as Alex set up the camera. He signaled for her to sit on one of the desks and clicked the record button, heading over to her. He stood next to the desk Julie was sitting on and she couldn't help rolling her eyes. Alex pointed at the camera to remind her that they were filming so she sighed and got into character. They sang along with their recording and he turned a chair over, sitting down and running a hand up her leg.
Alex: Lemme light a candle so that we can make it better, making love until we die...
She had to fight herself not to hit him or even to roll her eyes. He stood and put an arm on her, caressing the side of her body as he inched closer to her. She closed her eyes, wishing it would help her pretend that she was somewhere else.
Julie: Boy you know it feels real good...
"Umm," said a voice from the doorway, Julie opened her eyes and pushed Alex off of her. Bree, Amity and Dan were standing at the doorway, watching them.
"I told you to lock the door," Alex hissed at Julie.
"We can leave," Bree joked, raising her eyebrows at them.
Julie shook her head as she jumped off the desk. "We're finished in here," she said, grabbing her things and headed for the door. She stopped in front of Bree. "It's the stupid song," she said as if that were enough to explain what they'd just witnessed. Alex laughed as Julie hurriedly left the room.
"I can't wait to watch these," Bree said with a smile.
Alex nodded at her. "Me either," he said, making Dan scowl at him.