Hers Chapter 8

Oct 16, 2009 23:52

Title: Hers
Pairing(s): David Cook/David Archuleta
Rating: PG to NC-17
Genre: AU
Disclaimer: The real-life characters do not belong to me, and the story is fictional.
Summary: David falls in love with someone he can't have, but what happens when that person wants him back?
Author's Notes: This fic was originally posted at cookleta from July 2008 to September 2008. :)


8

I. David Archuleta.

I realized the next morning that, lately, each day had been starting exactly the same way. Utah’s early summer weather never failed to deliver a daily dose of sunshine, and I would walk down to the kitchen to find half of my family already seated around the table. For a second my mind would have me believe that nothing was out of the ordinary. Mom would hand me my plate, and I would take my usual seat and listen to Amber’s excited chatter or read a section from the paper. Then Cook would plop down in his chair with his bowl of cereal, and reality would set in once more.

My life was very far from ordinary.

“Hey, David,” Cook called from across the table, already halfway through his Cheerios.

“Yeah?”

“I figured out what I can call you from now on,” he said, casually grabbing a strip of bacon from Dan’s plate.

“What is it?”

“Well I spent most of the night mulling over it,” he continued, ignoring the look Dan was giving him for taking his food. “But I have found it, and it is genius. Get this. Archie.”

“Archie?” I wrinkled my nose. Cook noticed.

“You don’t like it? I could call you Nemo instead.” He gestured at the t-shirt I was wearing.

“No thanks,” I scowled, after which he just laughed and, to my shock, winked at me. Not so subtly either.

“Dave and I both got shirts at the Nemo ride in Disney World,” Amber piped in as I sat there and gawked. “He loves Finding Nemo. I have Dory on mine.”

“Hmm, I want to be Jacques. You know, that OCD shrimp?” Cook chimed in, not missing a beat.

“But he’s such a minor character! You should be Crush. I could see you as a surfer.”

I didn’t know what to respond to: the fact that Cook was having a discussion about an animated movie with my nine-year-old sister or that he remembered the cleaner shrimp’s name.

“Umm,” was all I managed in the end.

“Sharkbait, ooh ha ha,” they chanted together before Amber broke into a fit of giggles.

Dad peered over at the two of them over his paper while Jazzy just rolled her eyes, refusing to believe the level of immaturity that was playing out at the breakfast table. I saw Mom suppress a laugh as she flipped the bacon in the frying pan. Dan was standing next to her, too focused on the strips of pork to care about the conversation.

“So Archie it is?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah, it’s good.”

“Sweet.” Cook seemed satisfied with my answer. Stealthily, he reached over for a strawberry on Jazzy’s plate. She slapped his hand away, but huffed and offered him one when he put on a wounded face.

“David, are you stealing food from the kids?” Jaidyn chided as she shuffled into the kitchen.

“Me? Nah.”

“What do you want to do today?” she asked, enclosing Cook and herself in an invisible bubble that kept the rest of us out. The room suddenly became rather quiet.

“I was secretly hoping for a Guitar Hero tournament with Daniel and Archie after breakfast. Want to join?”

“… Archie?”

“Yeah, it’s a nickname for David so there’s no confusion.”

“Babe, you’re only staying here for like two more days. Who knows when you and Dave will see each other again?”

“It could be sooner than you think,” Cook replied coolly, tensing visibly at her words which hadn’t been so innocent. “Anyway, I think it’ll stick. Right, Archie?”

“Sure. I mean -”

“Well in that case, you boys go ahead,” Jaidyn cut me off with a sniff. “I think I’ll go meet some old friends for lunch.”

She kissed Cook on his cheek and walked out of the kitchen without another word. Cook looked a little pained, but quickly composed himself so the girls and my parents wouldn’t notice.

“So Daniel, how about that tournament?” he nudged my brother with a smirk.

“You’re on. No one filches my food and gets away with it.”

+

I had no problem letting Cook and Dan battle it out without going through me, so I amused myself by simply watching them from the couch. My parents had taken Amber and Jazzy out to a movie, so the house was empty except for the three of us, and I felt an odd sense of responsibility to keep them from hurting each other. So far, the atmosphere was peaceful enough.

The two declared a truce when they both agreed that it was time for lunch. They hunched over the phone book to find the perfect pizza place as I stood back and looked on in amazement. In the face of hunger, competition had become teamwork without a second thought.

“Hey Arch, which topping do you want?” Cook was having fun trying out all variations of his new name for me.

“I don’t mind. Just order the one you guys want.”

It took another five minutes to choose sausages over chicken, and it was time to hit the guitars again. I shook my head as I got up to return the phone and the phone book to the kitchen. The doorbell rang on my way back.

“Yes?” I answered the door, and froze as soon as I saw who was standing on the doorstep.

“Hey David.”

“Prescott. Hey.” It was only after I said his name that my brain sent the signal to my mouth to smile. “What brings you here?”

“I was just at school for soccer so I thought I would drop by and see if you were doing anything more interesting than scrimmages. Well, I hope you were anyway.”

Prescott’s hair was still a little wet from a shower after practice, and the breeze that flowed past us carried with it a faint soap scent that tickled my nose. My heart still jumped a little from the way he smiled at me despite the pleading voice inside my head.

“Actually, I’m kind of the third wheel right now,” I confessed, stepping aside to let him in. “Dan and David are having a Guitar Hero tournament.”

“I thought you liked playing?”

“I do but today I’m in charge of supervising them.”

“The most important job, by all means.”

A song was just ending when we walked into the family room. Dan looked up from gloating about his score to see us come in.

“Hey Prescott!”

“Winning, Dan?”

“Of course. David doesn’t stand a chance,” Dan joked, pretending to jab Cook in his side with the guitar.

“You didn’t bring the paparazzi by any chance, did you?” Cook asked, his question not entirely playful.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Prescott all but shot back, his expression a little stiff.

“Uh… Prescott, do you feel like playing?” Dan asked, a little alarmed by the tension rising between Cook and Prescott, and especially since he had no idea what the source was.

“Sure.”

“Here, take this guitar. I think I need some time to recuperate from being beat,” Cook passed the guitar to Prescott and sat down next to me on the sofa.

“Recuperate, hmm?” I teased, taking my eyes off of the television screen to glance at Cook.

“Eh, a white lie never hurt anyone.” He grinned and slung an arm around me and I leaned against him, my head resting on his chest and relaxing to the rhythm of his heartbeat.

I figured that Dan and Prescott were pretty much neck to neck since they were already on their fifth song when the delivery guy rang the doorbell. Cook went to get the pizza while I searched the pantry for paper plates, although I had a feeling we would all end up just digging in as soon as the cardboard box hit the table.

While we ate, Prescott and Cook continued to stare each other down, but at least the pizza was there to keep them from actually saying anything.

II. David Cook.

On Sunday, David stayed behind to keep me company while the rest of his family went to church. Jaidyn offered to stay as well, but Lupe suggested that she go and see her friends from before she moved to New York, and there was no use for further argument.

We were still in the clothes we’d worn to bed when everyone left, and we decided to sit on the highchairs at the island in the middle of the kitchen for breakfast: pancakes that David made with the chocolate chips I’d miraculously found in the pantry. It felt like it was just the two of us living in the house, enjoying a typical morning together. I cast away the plaguing thought that such a dream was less likely to come true than not.

“Penny for your thoughts?” David asked while cutting his pancake into bit-size pieces.

“Just thinking about us… and how lucky I am.”

Whatever he was going to say was lost when I leaned in to kiss him. He tasted of chocolate, and the sweetness spread over my tongue as I cautiously intertwined the muscle with his. He moaned against my mouth, and I put a hand on his waist to keep him from falling off the chair. There was a little skin exposed between the hem of his t-shirt and the waistband of his pants, and I heard his breath catch in his throat when I slipped a hand underneath the fabric and ran it up and back his back.

He murmured something about finishing breakfast but didn’t complain when I carried him to the couch in the family room. The familiar awe washed over me as I looked down at him, lying before me. We kissed until his lips turned a tantalizing shade of red, and it took every ounce of willpower for me to stop before I did something I knew he wasn’t ready for just yet. To me, he was like a gift from Heaven, sent with a warning that one wrong move will make him vanish forever. I couldn’t risk anything.

Everyone came home around three o’clock with armfuls of groceries. Lupe announced that we were having a barbeque as sort of a goodbye party for me, and insisted that no one could slack from pitching into help. So Jeff and Daniel manned the grill while, in the kitchen, Jaidyn prepped the food with Lupe and Claudia, who had come home for the occasion. Meanwhile, David and I helped Amber and Jazzy set the table outside on the patio.

Dinner turned out great, and it made me a little sheepish to be honest because it reminded me of the little Mrs. Doubtfire stunt I pulled when they were over at my place in L.A. This was definitely something I would miss: sitting around a table as part of a family, knowing that you belonged somewhere and the people around you weren’t going to ask for anything in return other than yourself.

But all of it was hanging precariously, and I wondered how long it would last until the thread it was holding onto snapped.

“Archie, can I talk to you?”

It was just me and David outside on the patio after dinner, assigned to put the wooden folding chairs away. He nodded and we sauntered down onto the grass that covered the spacious backyard. Both of us were wearing flip flops, and the blades of grass felt soft against our bare feet.

“What is it?”

“Thanks for one hell of a week, for one thing.”

“I would have to say the same to you.”

“I wouldn’t exchange it for anything.”

“Me either.”

I gazed at him, once again mesmerized by his eyes, which now showed hints of olive green under the rays of sunset. Lifting my arm, I let the back of my hand brush against his cheek.

“Thank you for being patient with me, Archie. I’ve never properly thanked you, huh?”

“It was implied.” He smiled wryly. “Thank you for remembering me.”

“You weren’t someone I could easily forget, you know.”

“Neither were you, mister rock star.”

“… Um, Arch?”

“Hmm?”

“I think I’m going to tell Jaidyn about us.”

“… You are?”

“I can’t keep it a secret forever. It’s not fair for her either. I created the problem so it’s up to me to fix it.”

“Cook, are you sure? You don’t have to do this. I’ll understand if… if you want to break it off with me -”

“No. It’s the right thing to do and I shouldn’t have waited this long. I know what the consequences will be but I don’t want to see you hurting anymore. I love you.”

“I don’t believe this,” said a voice that was neither David’s nor mine.

We turned to find Jaidyn staring back at us, her body gone completely still but her eyes furiously alive.

David blanched. “Jaidyn, I -”

“Don’t come near me,” she warned bitterly, stepping back like she were moving away from something vile. “How could you? My own brother…”

“Jaidyn, please -”

“You disgust me,” she snapped before she spun on her heel and ran back up to the patio and into the house, slamming the door behind her.

david cook/david archuleta

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