A Rose by Any Other Name (1/?)
Title: A Rose by Any Other Name
Chapter: 1/?
Pairing: Kradam
Rating: R maybe? This one is G.
Summary: High school AU. What happens when Kris is kidnapped, and the police have given up the search after 2 years? And how do Adam Lambert and American Idol play into all of it?
Beta: My BFF Alex, who unforunately is not on LJ.
Disclamer: Unfortunately, I do not own Kris, Adam, or anyone else in this story. Nor do I own any of the songs, or anything recognizable from American Idol or Ford. I barely own the plotline, as its based on the show. Adam and Kris belong completely to themselves, and each other.
My eyes scanned the parking lot quickly, a frown appearing on my face when the usual sleek, silver mustang failed to cross my gaze. He never missed a day when they had rehearsals at the theatre. I was sure he had perfect school attendance, if only to avoid the wrath of the insane theatre director, who hated students being absent.
I didn't have perfect attendance in the past, but ever since I started volunteering in the theatre department, I did. Not that he'd ever notice me anyways. I always had to shake away the hope of a second glance from the senior as I walked through the backdoor to the theatre. Actually, I really hated working backstage. I volunteered because my mom couldn't get off work to pick me up right after school. Well, that was one of the reasons. I actually had the option of going to my best friend Katy's house if I wanted to, until she got off work. But Katy, bless her, had joined me in the after-school work, even though she knew the real reason for my wanting to be here.
Speaking of which…
The grand entrance of a strawberry blonde cut off my inner ramblings, and I held back a sigh of relief. He wasn't gone today after all. A smirk reached his lips. It was so common on his face, yet it made my heart race every time. "Allen!" The stage director's voice reached me from the other side of the theatre. I bit my lip, waiting for the anger sure to come. I knew it was there. It was pretty much always there. "Why aren't the backdrops finished yet?" he demanded. "You should have finished them two days ago! Opening night is tomorrow!"
I hated this part. I blamed Adam (the previously mentioned heart-racing strawberry blonde) for it, though it wasn't his fault. Directly, anyways. In some sort of idiotic freshman way to get his attention, I had dove headfirst into working with the stage crew until I had been put in charge of the construction of all the props. And for what from Adam? A sideways glance at the original announcement, and a hurried question whenever he wasn't sure of the location of the props he needed.
"We just have some finishing touches," I assured him calmly, "It will take about an hour for the last two backdrops, and they'll have dried by morning."
"They'd better have," Mr. Collins growled at me before stalking off to yell at some sophomores, who were lounging around instead of posting fliers. My eyes flew immediately to Adam, who was doing a final dress rehearsal with the rest of the cast. Living up to the expectations of every school play, Adam was the star.
"Quit daydreaming and pick up a brush," Katy muttered, pressing a small paintbrush into my hand. I sighed and tore my eyes away from him. The next two hours were spent fixing the last two backdrops so that they were perfect, and then setting fans on them to make them dry faster. After the dress rehearsals concluded, I stood outside with Katy, waiting for her mom to come pick us up. "What's your brother doing here?" Katy questioned suddenly, and my head snapped up. My brother? It couldn't be.
But that was definitely Daniel's car, so why was he here? He hated school in general and avoided the campus like the plague when he didn't have to be there. My breath caught when I noticed Adam walk right past me…straight for Daniel's car. Of course. They were best friends.
Another reason I hated my brother, actually. It wouldn't bother me so much, and I might like it, you know, if Adam actually came around the house once in a while, or if he didn't see me as just his best friend's little brother. I started slightly at the feel of a hand pushing in the middle of my back. I glanced back and saw Katy smiling, gesturing towards the car where Adam was sliding into the front seat. "Go," she said hurriedly.
Taking the hint, though I didn't know what the hell I was going to do with it, I jogged forward, waving an arm over my head, shouting, "Hey, Daniel! Wait up!"
"What, Kris?" Daniel asked through the rolled-down, passenger-side window. His voice was roughed and aggravated, as it usually was whenever I tried to talk to him when he was with his friends, but I ignored it as always.
"Can you give me a ride?" I asked quickly, leaning down to look at him through the window, pointedly ignoring the fact that Adam was mere inches from me.
"Doesn't Katy's mom usually take you home?" Daniel asked with an annoyed sigh.
My mouth went dry as I tried to think of an excuse, none rushing to the aid of my stumped brain. But thankfully, Katy saved me from the crash-and-burn scenario playing in my head. "My aunt and uncle are in town," Katy said from behind me, weaving me a way in, "We have to go to the airport to pick them up."
"Well why didn't you think about this sooner?" Daniel asked, still unwilling to let me carpool with him and Adam. Stubborn bastard!
Again, I had no idea what to say. My eyes flickered to Adam, who, surprisingly, was staring at me with a small smirk, his blue eyes seeming to read my mind. That thought alone scared me to death, considering the reason I wanted to get in the car so desperately, and also what currently filled my every thought, was him. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure he did know my exact thoughts, considering he saved me from yet another crash-and-burn scenario. "He did," Adam said easily, turning back to Daniel, "I heard him and Katy talking about it during rehearsals and told him you were giving me a ride since my car's in the shop. I didn't think you'd mind giving your own brother a ride."
Daniel sighed in resignation, apparently out of reasons to deny my request, and leaned back, "Fine, get in," he muttered.
I flashed a smile at Katy, who was beaming at me, and slid into the back seat, "Thanks," I mumbled quietly, my eyes downcast during the awkward silence as we pulled out of the parking lot.
"I'm dropping you off at the house," Daniel said firmly, "Tell mom I'll be home later."
"Where are you going?" I asked immediately, not caring about my brother so much as I was Adam. Actually, it was all Adam. I didn’t really care where my brother went at all at the moment. Not with Adam in the car anyway.
"Don't worry about it," Daniel said, and I could practically see him forcing himself not to roll his eyes at me, "We're just going out with some friends."
"Can I come?" I asked, though I knew the answer already. Daniel's eyes flickered to the rearview mirror to give me a glare that clearly said 'hell no!' So I just sighed and rolled my eyes to the roof of the car. He never let me go anywhere with him. Well, maybe that wasn't completely true. He was a pretty cool brother. Just not when he was with his friends.
"Aw, come on, Dan," Adam said, turning sideways to look at Daniel as my heart steadily picked up its pace again, "Let the kid come. We're all just going to meet at the movie and try that new restaurant downtown anyways." I had almost gotten my hopes up. Almost. Until I heard the word 'kid’, which abruptly ended all wishful thinking and dreams. Yep, that word just ruined the entire effect. I was still the little kid brother.
"No way!" Daniel exclaimed as he turned the car into our neighborhood. So, they dropped me off at the house, and left. Adam waved at me, and Daniel ignored me. Typical, I suppose. Maybe I should've been mad at Daniel, or at Adam for calling me a kid, but I couldn't keep the smile from my face. He'd been, well, at least friendly to me, right? So that had to mean something, right? Well, probably nothing more than that he wanted to be nice to his best friend's brother, but still, it was something.
Hours later, I was lying awake. I saw the headlights in the driveway, and waited. He would come in and apologize, and I would smile, forgive him and hug him. Then he would promise to make it up to me this weekend by taking me to the batting cages.
Sure enough, the light from the hall flooded my bedroom as he opened the door and smiled slightly. "Hey bro," he started, walking over to me, "Sorry for snapping at you earlier. You can come with us next time, ok?"
I perked up slightly. He'd never said that before! "Really?" I asked, smiling, "Promise?"
Daniel laughed. "Promise," he said, pulling me into a hug, "Actually, we're going shopping tomorrow," he said, and I pulled back.
I raised my eyebrows at him. "Shopping?" I asked in disbelief.
Daniel laughed again, "Yeah, Lacy and Jess sort of guilted us into it after we made them watch that X-Men Origins movie tonight." I laughed with him. Trust his girlfriend, Lacy, and her best friend, Jess, to convince them to go shopping. I didn't think Adam would've been a tough sell. Daniel was always complaining about how they went to a store to find Adam a jacket and spent three hours there. He'd said that shopping with Adam was worse than shopping with a girl. "So do you wanna come with us?" Daniel asked, "Katy can come too, if she wants."
"Great," I said brightly, already reaching for my cell phone on the nightstand. Yes, I have a cell phone. I begged and begged my mom and finally she let me have one; though I didn't get it until I started staying after school to help with the theatre stuff, because my mom needed a way to call me when I wasn't at Katy's house.
Daniel left, and I fell back onto my bed with a bright smile. All in all, today had been a pretty amazing day, mostly because of one Adam Lambert.