[Complicated] I'm Falling Hard For You

[Lance James Renner]

Lance looked around the house, it was pretty dark in there. Music was blaring against the walls and he couldn’t see a few people past him. Definitely different than the Taboo parties he was used to, a lot more like just the regular old fashioned Renner-Madden parties back in Malibu. Red solo cup and all. He brought the plastic cup to his lips, taking a long drink. Mmm. Root beer. He looked down in the cup. He’d been doing so well lately, and being entirely sober was never a goal for him. He honestly felt like he could handle drinking tonight. Besides, Kiersten was with him. He’d never been an angry drunk with her. Just when he was alone. So he wasn’t worried about her having to stop him if she needed to, but he didn’t really see that being a problem. Lance headed into the kitchen, moving past the large amounts of bodies until he found the bar and picked out some vodka and poured it into his cup. After taking a drink he made his way to find Kiersten. He wasn’t going to lie to her, he’d never let it control him that much. He came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders as he kissed the top of her head, holding the cup low so she could see it. “ Having a drink…” he said, knowing that said between anyone else would be a normal conversation, but he didn’t want to lie to her or have her see him drinking something and wonder what was going on in his head.

[Travis Dex Jenkins]

Dex made a face at a girl that was trying to dance with him. “ What the hell do you even call that?” he asked out of curiosity. It wasn’t often that he partied with high schoolers, he made it a rule of thumb to avoid it like the plague. But it was for his group of friends. Joel was throwing a party to celebrate the release of Dani’s first music video ever. What a charming little boyfriend he was. Sending her flowers, singing on stage with her, posting videos on his profile page. Hell every time you turned around they were making out for the cameras. Clearly they were in love. Dex shook his head, finally having enough of dancing with this girl. He’d come here with Felicia for this exact reason; having to avoid the crazies. He’d asked her to come and be his date, a faux girlfriend of sorts, to make sure he came alone home. Though she was one of his best friends. And she did look amazing tonight. It sort of surprised him how well she could pull off an outfit. Not that he hadn’t imagined actually pulling it off a time or two. But she didn’t look at him that way, and why would she? He just knew in her eyes he was this deadbeat cage fighter who wasn’t going to go anywhere with school. She was beautiful, and talented. She’d find someone much more in her league. One that didn’t get bruises on his face nightly. Dex puffed out his cheeks and sighed before he started to go look for Felicia, another reason he wanted to be her date tonight was so that he could make sure the scumbags stayed off of her.

[Zoe Lauren Pierson]

Zoe narrowed her eyes as she looked at Gabe over her cup. “ You know…” she slurred, pointing her finger at him as though he was the cause of all of her problems. “ We might bicker.. or whatever, like we used to.. but you’re a butthead and I don’t remember you actually being a butthead when we dated, and I have to think it’s because you’re just a jerk now and I want to know why. I mean seriously, lay it on me.. why you won’t you know… lay it on me. Didn’t wanna touch me when we were dating, and now I’m basically hey bitch let’s get it on, and you won’t even touch me. Just chuckle and take me to lunch…” she said..lifting her eyebrows. She gave Felicia a small wave as she walked past her and Gabe talking before she held her drink back to the side, tossing her other hand in the air. “ … WHAT IS THAT?!” she yelled, though it didn’t really go over the sound of the music that much. Okay, so a few things were fair. One, she was undeniably drunk. Two, Gabe was and always had been sexy as hell. Three, she was going to need another drink soon. But thankfully, she felt the cup being taken out of her hands, replaced with one that felt more full. “ Thanks Joel!” she called out, giving him a quick wave and a smile before she turned her glare back on Gabe. “ Is it cause I’m not pretty enough?” she said, finally frowning and lowering her arms to the side. “ Cause I’ve been doing P90X” she said before she started to lift her shirt off so she could try and show him her stomach.

Outfit

[Joel Carter Foster]

Joel stood on his segway, sunglasses on even though it was ridiculously dark in the house. Thank you Logan for the party establishment. Who had a spare place in a city that they had their original house in? The coolest motherfucker on the planet, that’s who. Joel zipped into the kitchen on his segway, “ Scuse me!” he yelled out, making people pave way for him before he mixed together three drinks. He was keeping one for himself and was going to disperse the next two accordingly. He held the three cups in the fingers of his right hand, using the left to steer the segway through the hallway until he reached the living room. He reached down, smacking Felicia jokingly on the butt when he passed her before he gave a small head nod and carried on. When he passed Zoe he passed her by a few feet, before he went backwards on the segway and looked down in her cup. “ Party foul” he said, looking down at the almost empty cup, he took it away from her, giving her one of the full ones before he saluted her and pushed forward, leaning his body into the segway. He grinned brightly when he saw Dani. Party girl of honor. Fake girlfriend. Most gorgeous latina he knew. “ Daaanniii!!!!!” he yelled out, stopping in front of her before he jumped off the segway. “ Everyone, round of applause for our guest of honor! The most gorgeous, insanely sweet, awesome cooker I know… my beautiful girlfriend, Dani. This one’s for you baby, congratulations!” he said pointing the remote towards the sound system to start blasting her song, Naturally, before leaning down as he wrapped his arm around her lower waist and gave her a kiss. One that was a little too long apparently because he backed away when he felt her hand push against his chest. “ Cheers to motherfuckin Logan Renner!” he yelled out, raising his cup in the air with a ‘woo’ at the top of his lungs. When in doubt, always cheers the guy that got you where you were today.

Naturally, that Joel plays

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Dani pushed some of her hair behind her ear as she looked around the party. Those boys…. Logan, Shane, Ryan, …and now Joel.. any excuse for a party. She smiled as she watched Zoe and Gabe. Poor guy… She took a drink from her cup, lemonade and uv strawberry before she looked over the edge of it at Jake. She was so thankful for him, especially for this last week. And for what Lance had done. She was just glad to be out of the courtroom and doing her own thing now, with her friends. She had court for the next three months, but tonight she could just celebrate. And it seemed like Joel was intent on making that happen. As if right on cue he came up to her on his segway. Dani watched him, shaking her head as he jumped down and then started yelling over the music. She smiled as he changed the song to Naturally, one that was written for Jake and subconsciously found herself looking for Lance, wondering how he was reacting to that song being played. Hearing it was what led him to believe she’d been seeing someone else, not knowing it was his best friend. But before she could turn her head fully Joel was kissing her. She didn’t move at first, fully aware of how Jake was just inches away from her this time. Usually Joel pulled away by now, but considering he was drunk… Dani put her hand against his chest and pushed him away gently before she took a small step back. She clenched her jaw as she stared at him before looking at everyone else in the party and giving a small smile. He was going to get killed someday. Dani took a quick drink from her cup, hoping it would almost wash away the Foster germs before she lowered her hand to Jake’s and wrapped her fingers around his. “ Oh my god this is my song” she said excitedly, having already forgotten that Joel had put it on a few seconds ago. Jesus, how long had they all been drinking already?

Outfit

[Kiersten Mollie Bannon]

Kiersten stood beside Felicia, both of them dancing drunkenly, waving their red solo cups around and what not. God why was Felicia so tall. She was like a tall, drunk, goddess. That moved like sex. It made Kiersten jealous. And also made her wonder where half of her drink had gone, not even bothering to think about the fact she had drank it. It also made Kiersten wonder where Lance was. She was drunk, that much was obvious. But with all the stuff Lance had been dealing wit lately, he hadn't been drinking tonight. It kind of made her feel a little guilty that she was having such a good time and drinking, and wondered if he wanted to drink too. Maybe it was hard for him, not to. It wasn't as if he was so bad. Still she worried about him. She'd never been so scared in her life that day he had gone to the hospital. Didn't want that again. But that didn't mean he would always be that bad. It really was his choice. And their were tons of people around that would say something if he got too out of hand. It was when he drank alone that was the problem. But he wasn't alone. Speaking of, Kiersten felt Lances around her shoulders, kissing the top of her head and told her he was in fact, drinking. She turned around to face him, wrapping on arm around his neck, leaning into him so she didn't fall over and kissed him, "Me too." She dropped her arm, holding his hand and his drink in her other hand, "I might have to get another drink though because I think Felicia put her straw in my cup and stole it." She shook her head in mock disgust that she would do such a thing. Still holding onto his hand she heard Joel yelling somewhere and playing Dani's new single through the sound system, "What about you? You're good?" She didn't even really know that she meant by that, a lot had been going on. Jake and Dani, they were a couple, and Lance hadn't known. And Lance had his alcohol problem. She just wondered if he was okay. Sometimes she wondered if there was more going on with him then he would ever let on.


Outfit

[Felicia Nicole Jenkins]

Felicia danced with Kiersten, and her drink was already gone. Though when Kiersten wasn't looking she put her straw in Kiersten's cup and helped herself to Kiersten's drink. Where was Dex anyways? Maybe he wouldn't mind getting her another drink. Or she could just go get herself another drink. She figured the only reason her asked her to be his 'date' was so that no girls hit on him and he could go home solo. Which was fine with her. It was a Sunday night after all, and she'd spent half the day in bed, only to roll out, figuring she didn't really need to do much to her newly cut off hair. She spent the afternoon in her pajamas, and then since they were apparently going to a party threw on whatever clean clothes were in reach. They kinda of matched. Kind of had the, I just rolled out of bed and came to get shit faced look to them, which essentially was what she had intended. Lance had come up behind Kiersten, occupying her, so Felicia just danced by herself, saying to the guy next to her, "I keep forgetting I cut all my hair off, I feel kinda bald!" With that, she sauntered off, wiggling her but to the music as she moved through the crowd, making her way to the kitchen for another drink. She ran into Joel on his segway, who happened to have a full cup so she took that one. Good thing for Joel patrolling for empty cups. Felicia found Dex, "Hey! I found you! Wanna dance? I just got a new drink, so I am good to go. Have you seen Joel on his segway?" She laughed, shaking her head, "He's so funny."


Outfit

[Gabriel Dylan Atherton]

Gabe shook his head, "Noooo, uh uh." He disagreed, taking a drink of his drink. He hadn't changed much since when they had dated before. He treated her the same, it was her that was different, because now all she wanted to do was sleep with him. Which he really thought was a fine idea and wasn't sure why he hadn't yet other then the fact that something always spoiled it, like him having another girl over to study, or just bad timing. There was the fact that he didn't want her to just 'get it over with' but he was so over that. She didn't want to 'get it over with' she just wanted to do it with him. "Nooo Zoe, I haven't changed, I was always a butthead, that's not different. You're the one that's a butthead now, you just want to have sex all the time." He laughed, "Not that I'm against it, I'm not!" He saw Joel come over and give Zoe new drink because hers was pretty much empty and it made her pretty excited. "Careful Joel, you might need another person on that segway to balance it out," he joked, finding it funny that Joel hardly gave girls the time of day, but he could easily get one on his segway easily if he wanted. Zoe said something about not being pretty enough or some garbage, but Gabe just shook his head, "Shut up, you're gorgeous, how many times to i have to tell you," he smiled, sliding his hand into the back of her hair and kissed her, he knew she probably wasn't expecting it, but what the hell. "Tell you what Zo, sober up some, and I'll lay it on you, deal?" He wasn't sure if he really was going to, it depended on if she really did sober up, because he felt awful sleeping with her when she was drunk. But all this talk about sex made him think they might just have to. Maybe he was just drunk. Probably not though.

[Lance James Renner]

Lance lowered his arms around Kierstens waist when she turned to face him and placed a quick kiss on her lips before she could speak. He gasped in horror and made a look of concern. “ She put. A straw.. in your drink. And stole it?” he said, clicking his tongue as he shook his head in disbelief. “ I don’t know what would possess a person to do such a haneous act, but I promise you love that I will get you another drink,” he said, looking up as he heard Joel yelling about his ‘girlfriend’ Dani and playing the song for her. His eyes moved from Joel to Dani as he heard the song. The exact same one that had tipped him off, due to the timing, that she was at least interested in someone else while she was dating him, or even with that person already. He kept his eyes glued on Dani until he saw Joel kiss her, then his eyes moved to Jake. Well that should be a familiar setting for him. Seeing another man kiss the woman he cared about, he wondered if it struck any sense of familiarity for Jake when he would see Lance kiss her. He turned his attention back to Kiersten as she spoke to him, asking him if he was good. About a million things ran through his mind. His best friend having an almost affair with his girlfriend of the time. Landing himself in the hospital. Having to monitor his drinks. Punching a grown man in the face because he had abused one of his best friends. But aside from all of that, he smiled. Of course he was okay, look at the beautiful girl he had his arms wrapped around. She just made everything better. “ Of course.. are you?” he questioned. So what if he couldn’t go into specifics, it didn’t mean that she wasn’t doing him a giant favor by just being herself. “ Let’s go get a drink” he said, holding her hand tightly in his before he made his way to the kitchen , picking Kiersten up swiftly and set her down gently on the counter so he could make a drink for her. “ Alright, what do you want?” he asked, looking at the assortment of drinks in front of him.

[Travis Dex Jenkins]

Dex finished off his drink, setting the empty down as he looked around for one that was full. He narrowed his eyes as he saw a guy pouring himself beer from a kegtap. Bingo. ‘ Oh hey man, that girl wants you to get her a drink from the kitchen,” he said, pointing to the nearest slutty looking girl he could find and gave a wink at her so that she would wave in their direction. “ See.. All over you dude. Here I’ll take that” he said, taking the newly poured beer from the guy before he sauntered off to whatever dead end Dex had just sent him to. Dex brought the beer to his lips and took a long drink, lowering it to see Felicia boogying her way through the crowd. He smiled as he watched her, placing on an amused grin as she approached him. “ I would love to dance,” he said, glad to have finally found someone worth dancing with. He would’ve danced with Zoe, but she was bickering with Gabe. Give it five minutes, she’d be on top of him making out, or they’d be on their way upstairs. Literally. Five minutes. You could probably time it. He nodded, looking down at Felicia’s drink. Let her have fun, let her newly short hair down, have a blast. But he also wanted to keep an eye on her. “ Good, I just got a new drink, too” he said before taking a quick sip. He tilted his head back to the living room, hearing Joel go off about Dani. He smiled faintly as he pulled Felicia into the crowd, watching Joel and Dani. They were so in love. He narrowed his eyebrows as he watched Dani hold Jake’s hand though, oh well.. maybe they were just really close friends. Joel and Felicia were close after all. Dex brought Felicia’s hand to the air, twirling her around quickly to the beat before he started dancing with her. “ Thank you for keeping the stalker girls from me” he said, leaning in closely to whisper in her ear before he hugged her loosely and went back to dancing. If anything, the girls would stay away because of how intimidatingly drop dead gorgeous Felicia was.

[Zoe Lauren Pierson]

Zoe scoffed at Gabe as he denied that he had changed, shaking his head. Dude was wasted, there was no sense in trying to drill some sense into him. “ You were not a butthead before, Gabriel. I’m the one that dated you , I think I would fucking know” she said, taking a drink from her freshly filled cup. Or her new cup entirely, whatever it was. She gasped, making a shocked face as she looked at Gabriel, poking her finger into his chest. “ I do NOT want to have sex all the time! I just want you to explain why you tell me you want to sleep with me, then you never act on it when I THROW MYSELF AT YOU” she said, jabbing her finger harder into his chest. “ Don’t tell me to shut up you stupid meathead” she said, though she wasn’t entirely sure if he heard her considering just as quickly he was sliding his hand into the back of her hair and leaning down to kiss her. Zoe dropped her arms down to the side, not even noticing as the cup slipped out of her hands. She blinked a few times when he pulled away to speak to her, but she was just as stunned by what he had said. “ What?” she questioned with a tone of hope before she quickly glared at him. “ I swear to god Gabriel Dylan Atherton if you are lying to me I will make your life a living hell,” she said bringing both of her arms up around his neck before she hopped up, wrapping her legs around his waist before she leaned in to kiss him again. “ Does anyone know if this place has a coffee maker? Or if Starbucks delivers?... This piece of shit is gonna lay it on me. After months. Almost a year. Because he’s an ass and didn’t take the opportunity earlier,” she said, looking at the guy she was talking to that was standing next to Gabe before she looked at Gabe. “ Stupid. Ass.” she said , holding her hands behind his hair before she shook her head, “ God, you’re hot” she said before she lunged back towards him, arms around his neck, legs around his waist, and kissed him again, hearing Dex give a hearty cheer behind them.

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

Jake watched Dani, smiling at her over her cup. She was too damn cute. And he was so proud of her. She was becoming so successful, what with her music career, and new acting projects she was looking into pursuing after Wizards ended. On top of all that, the stuff she had to deal with with her father who should be awarded world's worst father of a lifetime. Jake couldn't even imagine the kind of struggles Dani had to deal with, he only really got the surface of it, but he knew it ran so much deeper. More than once she'd woken up out of a dead sleep, screaming, or got up and just went to the bathroom and puked. A lot of the time she just shook in her sleep, or broke out in a sweat. Jake was kind of a light sleeper, so he wok up a lot, not knowing what to do for her. Usually he sleepily just wrapped his arms around her and went back to sleep. He figured she probably never even knew he had been awake. He never mentioned it in the morning. Joel came over and yelled out something about Dani's new song, Jake grinned. It really was something to be excited about. But his excitement left him when Joel kissed Dani. Okay, he understood that they were fake dating or whatever, and it wasn't as if Jake and Dani could be public with their relationship anyways. But he still hated when Joel kissed her like that. On the gossip sites and in tabloids, on TV, Jake ignored it, didn't even look. Why torture himself. But it as when Joel did it right in from of him that drove him nuts. And of course Joel didn't know. But still. It was the fact that that kid could mack on her in public and Jake couldn't. Jake looked away, visibly irked he was sure, taking a drink of his beer. When Joel left, Jake felt Dani take his hand, and he couldn't stay angry about it anyways. He laughed, "Yeah, it's your song," he agreed, with out thinking, he brought her hand up to his lips, kissing her fingers before he dropped their hands back out of view. He knew he really should be more careful of who might see stuff like that. he couldn't help that doing little things like that just came naturally. "So when do you think he's gonna stop calling you his girlfriend?" he asked, raising his eyebrows, "You know, it kinda pisses me off when he does that... I can;t just do that. I have to wait to get home before I get to kiss you." He smiled pointedly.

[Kiersten Mollie Bannon]

"Yes!" Kiersten said, "Stole it!" as she threw her arms up in disbelief, sloshing some of the drink in her cup onto the guy next to them, "Oh, sorry about that," she said seriously before she turned back to Lance who said that of course they would go get her another drink. She brought the cup to her lips, finished it and let the cup fall to the floor before she wrapped her arms around him, "What would I do with out you..." she asked quietly, not even really fishing for an answer. She didn't know what she would do with out him. She didn't know where she'd be, or what kind of person she'd be if she hadn't ever met Lance. Sometimes she thought back to when she first met him, the girl she was. She was such a mess. Angry at the world. Violated. Sad. Untrusting. Somehow, Lance had weasled his way through her tough exterior, became someone she trusted. Someone she let her walls down for. The only guy she had ever let put his hands on her in any way shape or form. To this day she couldn't stand the thought of any other guy touching her, not like that. Lance was literally the only person at this point that she thought she would ever be comfortable with. He was the reason she hadn't just shut everyone out. She wondered if he knew that. She followed him to the kitchen, "Do you think Jake hates when Joel does that? I would." She giggled when he picked her up and put her on the counter, clasping her hands in her lap and answered seriously, "Umm something alcoholic." As if that answered his question. But she was still thinking about the past, how they'd gotten to this point. "Lance remember that time when we threw water balloons at the neighbors dog? Or the time we jumped off the upstairs balcony onto the couch. Oh," she said, "Remember when we went to prom? That was fun," she said thougtfully.

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Dani set her cup down so that she could raise the hand that Jake wasn’t holding into the air and sway her hips back and forth, singing the first song she’d ever written about him. She had to admit that it was kind of strange that the public had no idea who she was, at least not really. They got to see her personality during interviews, but her relationship with Joel? Fake. And not once did she ever mention what she was going through with her father. Or that she was dating her co-star. In essence, she was still a complete mystery to the media, and she was beginning to get tired of hiding some things. Jake was amazing, what she felt for him shouldn’t have to be hidden. He annoyed her, and teased her, he made her life a living hell sometimes, he left beer bottles out, socks on the floor, played xbox way too long, refused to put her music on his iPod still, got mad over the stupidest of things and never seemed to understand her hints. But he was also the man that was holding her together. When he wasn’t annoying her or starting fights with her, he was wrapping his arms around her, making her feel safe. Which meant more than anything to her. They knew how to push each others buttons, but she also knew she’d never love someone the way she loved him. Moving in together had been a blessing, cause they needed this time to work things out and figure out how to live with one another. When he spoke to her, Dani completely abandoned dancing to her song and turned to look at him, not caring how close she was to him. “ I think he’ll quit calling me his girlfriend when the press quits caring if he is dating anyone” she said, though.. who knew how long that would take. “ Maybe he’ll quit calling me his girlfriend, when he’s calling me his wife” she said sarcastically, giving a cheesy smile to Jake. He’d been through a lot too, with Lance, with having to deal with her as a girlfriend. She came with a lot of baggage, that had to be a lot of stress on his shoulders. She grinned drunkenly as he smiled at her pointedly. “ It’s my party, I can kiss who I want to,” she said, keeping her hand in his as she closed her eyes and puckered up her lips. She waited there for a few seconds before she opened one eye. “No?” she sighed as he shook his head at her. Part of this was her own fault, she was the one that was the most adamant about people not finding out. But here she was trying to kiss him and he wasn’t having any of it. What the frick? “ Maybe if I was an xbox game you’d turn me on”she muttered under her breath, slightly agitated now. “ I got all dressed up, to come to a party so dark no one can see me, I’m getting kissed by the one guy in the industry who doesn’t use his fame to get laid, and my actual boyfriend won’t kiss me..” she said before she looked at him with the same pointed smile he had given her. Do not look into his eyes. Do not let him call you senorita. Do not admit he is cute. Dani took in a deep breath, dragging him out to the dance floor. “ Dance with me, that’s perfectly acceptable at a party,” she said,before turning around to face him again once they got to the middle of the dance floor. She lifted her eyebrow though before she moved in close to him. Maybe she had a little bit too much to drink. Maybe she didn’t care who knew they were dating. .. But mostly it was probably the drinking. Dani leaned in, close enough to where she could kiss him but instead latched her leg along the outside of his so that when she moved her hips against him he was forced to move his as well. She draped one arm around his chest, the other clinging to the fabric of his shirt. He might not kiss her, but she wasn’t leaving much to the imagination for everything else.

[Lance James Renner]

Lance looked at Kiersten as she asked about Jake in regards of Dani and Joel. He gave a small shrug of his shoulder. “ I’m sure he’s felt something similar before,” he said matter of factly. Similar, but not the same. Lance and Dani’s relationship hadn’t been fake. He licked his lips before he looked back at the drinks in front of him. “ Something alcoholic” he repeated, as though that was all the information he needed. He enjoyed just playing along with her most of the time. Mainly cause she was so damn adorable she just made it easy. He grinned as he mixed a drink for her, listening to her take a trip down memory lane. He gave a small nod at each memory, finally fixing putting together a long island tea for her and set it on the counter next to her. “ I do,” he said, placing his hands on her hips as he pulled her towards the edge of the counter. “ I also remember the first time I saw you walking down the hallway at school… every mate turned his head to look at you,” he said with a small smile, “ I remember the first time you fell asleep, pillow on my lap. Our trip to Vegas,.. how things changed” he said, kissing the side of her hair. “ I also remember the first time I knew I felt something more for you than friendship, that it was like I had a pull towards you.. and the butterflies that came with it… The first time I could do this..” he said as he leaned closer to her to kiss her. Lance kept his fingers against her lower back, tracing his right thumb over her hip as he kissed her. “ I promise I will make many more memories for you to look back on,” he said, giving her another quick kiss before he took a step back. “ Come on,” he said with a playful grin across his lips. “ We have mates to mingle with,” he said, holding his hand out to her.