21: IT WAS NICE, JUST SIMULTANEOUSLY MINDNUMBINGLY BORING

« wait a second! this is the kind of girl warner wants! someone serious! someone lawyerly! someone who wears black when nobody's dead! »

"THIS?" ALLISON SAYS incredulously. "This is your favourite musical?"

Toby nods proudly. "You betcha."

"Not Les Misérables? The Phantom of the Opera? Rent? This? Your favourite musical is this?"

"Hey, you pronounced Les Mis right!"

"That's not the issue here."

"What is the issue here?"

"The issue is that this is your favourite musical."

"Yes, yes it is," Toby beams.

"Let me just clarify. You, Toby Martin, theatre nerd, all-around musical theatre dork – you. Your favourite musical is –"

"Legally Blonde," Toby's grin widens. "Yep."

"I feel like I should have seen this coming," Allison sighs.

"You probably should have," he agrees.

She glances again at the television screen, which Toby has connected his laptop to and is now paused on the first scene of the aforementioned musical. "But you're a guy," she says helplessly.

"Hey," Toby objects. "Sexist."

"But, like...it's Legally Blonde. The musical. Of Legally Blonde. And it's your favourite. Your favourite musical."

"I think we've covered this already."

"You –" Allison is cut off by the doorbell. Toby stands up.

"Hold on," he says. "We will resume this invigorating discussion in one second."

Allison rolls her eyes as Toby walks out of the room and down to the front door, before following him.

"Oh my God," Lydia says as soon as he opens the door.

"Uh – Lydia? Hey?"

"Let me in, distract me with whatever ridiculous form of musical theatre you're witnessing today," she says breathlessly without even bothering to return Toby's salutation. "And I hope your coffee machine is decent, because I need some coffee, stat."

"Um, yeah, the kitchen is over there..."

"You lucked out," Allison says dryly as Lydia storms down the hallway into the direction Toby has gestured to. "We were just about to start Legally Blonde."

"There's a musical?" Lydia queries as she enters the kitchen, locating the coffee machine almost immediately.

"That's right," Toby says happily. "It's my favourite musical!"

"Great," Lydia reaches to take a mug out of one of the cupboards. "Really. Great."

"Why so stressed?" Allison asks.

Lydia doesn't reply with words, only a frustrated sound made through her nose. "I hate parties," she says with conviction. "I hate them."

"Ah," Allison says.

"And I hate hosting them."

"Ah," Toby says.

"And I hate –" Lydia's rant is cut off by the ding of the coffee machine. Practically at the speed of light, Lydia's pouring the coffee into her mug and bringing it to her lips, sighing in satisfaction.

 "Coffee is her drug," Allison stage-whispers to Toby. He nods. From across the room, Lydia glares.

"I do hope I haven't missed any of the undoubtedly inspiring spectacle you're about to witness," she says, choosing not to respond to Allison's jibe.

"Nope!" Toby replies chirpily. "We were literally just about to start!"

"Fantastic," Lydia takes another drink of her coffee. "Really. Fantastic."

And that's how they end up, Toby with orange juice and Lydia with coffee and Allison with a scowl on her face.

"Ooh, burn," Lydia says as she sips at her coffee when Elle wins a debate against her ex-boyfriend in Professor Callahan's class.

Allison is about to make a catty remark about how 2009 is calling and wants the phrase "ooh, burn" back, but is cut off by loud humming from her other side which quickly develops to singing along about chips on shoulders and Little Miss Woods comma Elle. She settles instead for thinking a lot about Toby Martin is eighteen years old and sings along to Legally Blonde: the Musical, and how Lydia Huntington is seventeen years old and indulges him, and how she is totally disowning both of them as her friends.

✦

"Toby," Allison sighs halfway through a song which debates whether one of the witnesses of the trial is gay or European. "I'm perfectly fine with you singing along –"

She is cut off by a derisive snort from Lydia, and glares at her friend before continuing. "But if you could do it at a volume which means I can hear the actual song," she says in what is a pretty reasonable tone, "that would be great."

"I love this musical," Toby sighs.

"I kind of got that," Allison replies. "From the way you literally say every line as it is being said. Or sung. And then proceed to laugh at every other line."

"It's funny!"

"Not every line of it," she retorts.

"I like Elle," Lydia announces, clearly choosing to ignore the dialogue ensuing between the two of them. "I can relate to her."

"Because she's in love with a guy called Emmett?" Allison prods with a smirk.

Lydia rolls her eyes, looking very much as though she was anticipating this response. "She isn't," she points out.

"Yet."

"Well, I don't like Emmett, I thought we'd covered that."

"You might be wrong."

"About my own feelings?"

"In denial, then."

"You can talk," Lydia retorts, and it's then that Allison gives her a warning look, because even though Toby is utterly engrossed in what's taking place onscreen, he's still right next to them.

"Guys!" he says brightly, but in a hushed tone. "This is the best part!"

"You said that about the part when Warner dumps Elle."

"And then when she sings a song about getting him back and turns up at Harvard with a band, and her sorority, and cheerleaders, etcetera."

"And when she turns up to Vivian's party dressed as a Playboy bunny."

"And when they get back Paulette's dog."

"And when she sings the song at the end of the first act. About being better, or something."

"And when they sang Whipped Into Shape."

"And when Emmett and Elle went to the department store."

"That was pretty cute, though. And when they did the bend and snap."

"And you literally just said it, like, ten seconds ago, when they – "

"Okay!" Toby cuts them off with wide eyes. "My point still stands! This is a good part! So, ssh!"

Lydia snickers and Allison mutters something about how he's one to talk about being quiet, but they both obey, and watch in silence as Elle slaps Callahan for kissing her and starts singing about how she's going  back to California because she clearly doesn't belong in law school.

"Wow," Allison says once the song has ended with Emmett failing miserably to convince her to stay, even after professing his love for her. "That was intense."

"It's so sad," Toby whispers brokenly.

 "Heartbreaking," Lydia snorts. Allison sniggers.

"You guys are mean," he pouts.

"We know," Allison nods.

Allison's seen the film of Legally Blonde already, obviously, so she knows what happens, but she's actually pretty interested in the musical as it goes on, and yeah, maybe it's a little funnier than the movie, too. The songs are ridiculous, but whatever. Not necessarily a bad ridiculous. Just...ridiculous.

Elle wins her case and it fast forwards to her graduation as valedictorian. Allison side-eyes Lydia as Elle proposes to Emmett.

You in seven years, she mouths.

Lydia rolls her eyes. Dream on, she mouths back.

Toby sings along super loud to the finale and neither of them bother to chastise him. It's a lost cause anyway, Allison tells herself as the musical ends.

"So whaddaya think?"  Toby beams.

Allison thinks she'll probably break his heart if she doesn't reply at least slightly positively, so she says: "It was better than I expected," because it kind of was.

"I liked it," Lydia shrugs. "I thought it was pretty great."

Toby's grin spreads ear to ear.

"First Frozen, now this," Allison raises her brows. "He really has converted you."

"I'm not converted," Lydia denies, rolling her eyes. "I just know when to appreciate something entertaining. And that was entertaining."

"Did it distract you from party stress?" Toby asks, which was evidently a misstep on his part, because Lydia's previously fairly neutral expression now dissolves into a glower.

"Which reminds me. I have to head back and make sure everything's ready," she says darkly.

"I'll come with you," Allison offers. "I promised, remember?"

"You don't have t –"

"I'll come too!" Toby says happily. "Another pair of hands can't hurt, right?"

Lydia's grimace softens as her eyes dart between the two of them. "Okay," she says slowly.

 "Okay," Toby beams. "Shall we go?"

✦

"Allison, what are you doing, that's not where it goes –"

"You literally just told me to put it here. You said, verbatim, 'Allison, put this on the table'."

"Yeah, but not there on the table –"

"Hey, Lydia," Toby's hair is sticking up in various directions at the back, probably a result of some ridiculous mission that Lydia's put him on in the past few hours that they've been here. "How alcoholic is alcoholic punch?"

"Very," Lydia replies, before frowning. "Actually, no. I don't want some lightweight freshman peeing somewhere unhygienic. Allison, did you make sure to lock mine and my parents bedrooms?"

"And I even swallowed the key," Allison replies, before amending the statement at her friend's widened eyes. Clearly, a stressed Lydia Huntington is also a Lydia Huntington who is incapable of taking a joke as a joke. "Relax, I put both the keys in the drawer."

"Which?"

"The drawer."

"Right, okay. Toby, did you do what I asked you to?"

Toby looks up from where he's pouring the presumably spiked punch into a bowl and beams. Allison rolls her eyes. "Yep!"

"Good." Lydia pauses to check the time. "Two hours till show time," she mutters. At this, Allison can't restrain a snicker, but, after being pinned with a glare from Lydia, quickly disguises it as a cough.

"Toby," Lydia looks at him appraisingly. Kind of like how she looks at different outfits before she decides on which one is best, Allison thinks. With a frightening amount of intensity. "Do you need to go home and change?"

"I have a feeling that even if I said no you'd make me go anyway," he shrugs. Allison makes a thumbs-up gesture at him behind Lydia's back, and he smiles.

"Good, you're learning," Lydia says briskly. "Okay, you're done, I release you, go home and make sure you come back looking hot enough to make Laura want to hook up with you for the night."

Toby shifts. "I don't –"

"Yeah, yeah," she's smiling now, just a little. "Save it. Go home and clean up."

 Toby makes his exit pretty soon after that, offering them both a smile and a goodbye. Allison is still trying not to think about him hooking up with Laura Bell long after the front door has been slammed.

"So," Lydia says lightly, rounding on Allison with a gaze much like the one she'd just fixed on Toby. "It's just you and me, Reed."

Allison is scared for her life.

✦

"This really isn't – ow! – necessary – ouch!"

"Hold still," Lydia growls, "and it won't be so painful. And of course it's not necessary."

"Then why –"

"Do you wear makeup, Allison?"

"Well, yeah – "

"That's not necessary. Do you wear jewellery, Allison?"

"Sometim –"

"Neither is that. Do you buy nice underwear, Allison?"

"Uh –"

"That's not necessary, either."

"It might be."

"Shut up. And I won't ask you to hold still again."

"I still don't think this is needed," Allison whines.

"Well, I do. And it's my party."

"It's my hair."

"I win."

"How are you even close to winning th – "

"Hold still, I said!"

 Allison holds still, but makes a point to scowl at Lydia's reflection in the mirror, one that doesn't go very far, since the girl is pointedly ignoring her childishness. After what feels like a small eternity, Lydia says:

"Okay, you're done. Take your pick of two of the dresses on the bed."

Allison glances over, and frowns. "Both of these are mine," she says.

"I took them with me when I was packing to come back here yesterday," Lydia explains. "They're the ones that'll suit you best. You'd kill in the white, but really kill in the green, if you want my opinion. When did you get that, by the way?"

"When I went shopping with Toby," Allison murmurs absently as she twists in the chair to study the two closely, recognising the green one immediately as the one she wore to see Once. "I got it at Macy's."

"You went to Macy's with Toby?"

"Yeah, ages ago," she says dismissively, blinking herself out of her trance. "That one time he didn't tell me we were going to see a Broadway show until the actual day."

Lydia makes a noise that Allison takes to be one of affirmation. "Well, I think you should wear it. It brings out your –"

"Eyes," Allison finishes in a soft tone. She remembers how she immediately thought that that would be what Lydia would say when she was trying it on. "Yeah. I'll – I'll wear that one."

"Good," seemingly satisfied that her best friend will be dressed to what she deems a good standard at her party, Lydia makes an up motion with her hand, and Allison stands up. "Change," she orders. "I'm presuming I can trust you to do your own makeup?"

Allison rolls her eyes. "Yes, mom."

"Good," Lydia repeats, unfazed, "because I am not even close to being ready."

"Wait, what?"

Lydia sits down where Allison just was and raises an eyebrow at her in the mirror. "Do you really think I'm dressed, Allison?"

"Yes?" Allison replies honestly.

"Well, I'm not," she says. "And I need to be in literally one hour. So you probably shouldn't talk to me from now until then unless you don't mind being shouted at."

"Sir yessir," Allison gives a mock salute in response. "Want me to go change in the other room?"

 "Wouldn't be a bad idea."

"Okay. See you on the other side."

"Allison. Leave."

Allison does.

✦

Objectively, and not in an excessively vain way, Allison's always known that she's at least fairly attractive. She's dated her fair share of guys, even if only a handful of them (for 'a handful', read: Daniel) were really serious, and thanks to Lydia, she knows how to dress and what makeup to wear in order to turn heads and give off different messages.

But right now, Lydia's looking at Allison in this kind of weird way, and it makes Allison shift slightly where she stands, a little uncomfortable.

"Uh...Lydia? Is it – did I – does it look okay?"

Lydia blinks, eyes moving up to meet hers in an instant. It makes Allison wonder where her eyes were before. "Yeah," she says, a little breathlessly. "You look – you look gorgeous."

Allison doesn't know what it is about Lydia's gaze, but – something. There's something. "Thanks," she says quietly, trying to summon up a smile. "So do you. I mean, not that that's anything new, but –"

Her monologue is cut off by the doorbell, and Allison is kind of glad, because she doesn't think it was going anywhere, anyway. Lydia goes to answer the door and Allison ends up just standing alone and stock still in the hallway, thinking about how it's the first time she's stuttered in front of Lydia since freshman year when they met, and how it's probably something to do with the weird look she was giving her.

The look she still can't name.

"Wow, Lydia, you look amazing," Toby's voice jolts Allison out of her thoughts, and she redirects her attention to the door, moving so she can just see his figure towering behind Lydia's far shorter one, even when she's wearing heels.

"I could say the same for you, Toby," Lydia's voice has that pleased lilt to it that shows its face when she's complimented on her appearance. Allison rolls her eyes, maybe a little fondly. "I mean, I know I told you to clean up well, but you exceeded my expectations."

Allison hears Toby's laugh, and her gut heaves pleasantly. "Thanks," he says. "I appreciate it. So where's Allison?"

"Oh, she's here – Allison!"

"Yeah," Allison steps out to meet them in the hallway, and as soon as she sees Toby, she feels like she's just been slapped round the face.

Oh, fuck, she thinks to herself. Because her ex-boyfriend's best friend is very, very attractive. And she totally did not just think that.

"Hey," Toby is looking at her, oddly, just like Lydia did, but there's a hint more openness to it. "You look, uh, I mean, that's – uh, you...um..."

"He means you look hot," Lydia rolls her eyes, but she's smiling. "Don't worry, Toby, I said it too."

"Thanks," Allison feels a smile begin to slip onto her face. "You look pretty um-uh-um too," she teases, and feels a surge of something in her stomach when Toby flushes a little.

"Okay, both of you head inside," Lydia says just as the doorbell rings again. "Looks like we're getting this party started."

✦

Allison is hot. Very, very hot.

And not hot as in attractive, hot as in Sahara desert hot. And sweaty. And she needs a glass of water, like, right now, because she feels like she's about to suffocate, and she's already had to bat away at least seven groping hands already, and not all of them looked like they belonged to boys.

She refuses to drink at any of Lydia's parties, mostly because you can't make fun of drunk people and the stupid drunk things they're doing when you're as drunk as they are, but also because she likes to keep her wits about her, which isn't something she feels she's capable of doing when she's had a few cups too many of the Huntington spiked punch.

The thudding bass of the music feels like it's hammering itself directly into her eardrums, and she sidesteps a puddle of what looks suspiciously like urine to reach the kitchen, which opens up into the dining room, which is filled with juniors doing shots.

Wrinkling her nose in mild disgust, she heads straight to the sink, fills up a clean glass with water, then turns to lean back against the counter, sipping and hoping she'll cool down eventually.

"Hey, stranger."

Allison is jerked out of her lull to see Daniel at the sink by her side and also filling up a cup of water. She smiles. "Hey, Daniel," she greets.

"How's the party going for you?" he says, turning off the tap and moving to lean beside her.

"Well," she starts. "As well as a Lydia Huntington party can go."

Daniel lets out a laugh, and she smiles. "I see. It's not all bad, though."

"No," Allison agrees. "It's not."

 There's a pause. "You look good," he says eventually. "Like, really. Really good, I mean."

Allison cocks her head slightly, looking at him, her smile growing. She thinks that she might even like the tone in his voice, different from Toby's and even from Lydia's, more friendly than anything else. It occurs to her that three months ago she'd have hated it. Now, it's more welcome than anything, even – especially – coming from Daniel. "Thanks. So do you."

"I know," Daniel replies with a wink, and she laughs, feeling more at ease here with him than she has done since the party started. "Looking forward to New Years'?"

"I think so, yeah."

"Me too."

"Hopefully 2014 will be less shitty," she says without thinking, before her eyes widen. "I mean – "

"It's okay," Daniel's voice is soft with understanding. "I – uh – I hope it is, too. For you, I mean. And for me. For both of us."

She gives him a long look over her water. "Yeah," she says finally, the volume of her voice matching his, only just audible over the music bleeding in from outside. "Me too."

Daniel gives her a soft smile that used to carry all sorts of implications and still does, but different ones, then surprises her by setting down his glass on the counter and taking her hand and squeezing. Allison lets herself squeeze back just briefly, but feels such a rush of warmth for him that  before she even knows it she's setting her own glass down, and rising up on her tiptoes to fling her arms around his neck. Daniel seems to hesitate, caught off-guard, before returning her embrace, their bodies fitting together, easy and familiar.

Allison breathes him in, all freshly-mown grass and clean aftershave, and because she's missed him and she knows he'll understand, she murmurs: "I love you, you know."

Daniel's arms tighten around her midsection. "I know," he returns. "I love you too."

She pulls away and they both look at each other and grin, and Allison thinks 2014 might be a good year for them after all.

✦

Allison walks back into what she thinks was once the living room but has now earned the moniker of the 'hot and sweaty music room' in her head to see very grim and sometimes vaguely repulsive things, but the only one that succeeds in properly catching her attention is the sight of Lydia and Emmett standing slightly to one side, talking in low voices. Or, more likely, they're talking at normal volume, and Allison can't hear them over the music. She creeps a little closer despite herself, a grin already on her face.

"Listen, Emmett," Lydia is huffing at him. "There's about a minute and a half left of this year, and I'm offering you what is a possibly once in a lifetime opportunity, so I'd appreciate some form of response. Like, right now."

"You're kind of putting me on the spot, here," Emmett points out, arching a brow. "I mean, who goes up to someone and just says 'hey, wanna make out at midnight, which is in, like, two minutes, and see how it goes'?"

Allison resists the urge to squeal.

"Me," Lydia says emphatically. "I say that. As I have just demonstrated."

"I don't understand why, though –"

Lydia gives a long suffering sigh. "Because apparently, we're well suited, and since you look so devastatingly handsome tonight –"

"I don't even want to know if that's sarcasm or not –"

" – and I don't have anyone to kiss and it's midnight approximately one minute from now, I'm figuring maybe we can try it out."

"You always know how to make a man feel so appreciated, Lydia," Emmett says dryly.

Lydia rolls her eyes. "Men do enough appreciating of themselves without me jumping on the bandwagon. Are you in, or not?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Wait – what?"

"I said," Emmett raises an eyebrow, smiling slightly. "Yes. You're really hot – not that I'm objectifying you, or anything – and I guess I don't find you extremely annoying, though you do have your moments, and I don't have anyone to kiss, either, so. Yeah. Let's try it out."

"Okay," Lydia moves closer to him, hands moving to clutch at his shirt. "Fine. Let's...fine."

"So...should we kiss?"

"Emmett."

"Okay, okay. I'm going to kiss you now."

"Yeah, thanks for the clarification. Sometime this year would be nice."

"Sometime this year. Ha. Haha. That's funny. Because...you know...it's next year in, like, twenty seconds..."

"Emmett."

"Sorry. Yeah. Kissing. Cool. Fine."

"Emmett."

"Right. Sorry. Here I go."

Allison can practically hear Lydia's eye-roll, even over the countdown, which is heading steadily towards the five and four region, and can definitely hear her taking a deep breath, as if begging for patience. "Really? Would it kill you to act  like a normal human being for once?"

"Okay, cool, sorry –"

Emmett's ramble is cut off as Lydia cups his cheeks and brings her lips to his gently, just as the countdown reaches zero. They break apart only a few seconds later, as everyone else is still busy with watching the screen and cheering, or, in the case of several sophomores, giving the occasional and random celebratory roar of 'opa!' from their corner of the room that feels like it's thudding directly into Allison's skull.

Still, she keeps watching as the two of them look at each other closely, foreheads still touching. The look on Lydia's face is tending more towards I am considering this carefully than Wow that was amazing must do again ASAP this is a revelation from God, and, surprisingly, Emmett's seems to match.

"Well," she can just hear Lydia saying. "That was..."

"Interesting," Emmett finishes, brow knit in thought. "Don't take this the wrong way, I mean, you're a pretty amazing kisser and all, but it just didn't..."

"Do anything for you?" Lydia completes. "Me neither. I mean, it was nice, just simultaneously..."

"Mindnumbingly boring," Emmett agrees. "Yeah, me too."

Lydia pulls back to eye him closely. "Did you just quote Gossip Girl to me?"

"...no?"

"You did," Lydia gapes. "You totally did."

"I did not!"

"Liar."

"Lydia –"

"Emmett Knight, that was a Dan Humphrey quote, and you know it –"

"I don't even know who Dan Humphrey is!"

"You totally do, that is bullshit," Lydia pokes his shoulder, and Allison thinks she sees a hint of a smile on his lips. "That was a direct quote from the episode where him and Blair have sex for the first time, a direct quote –"

"Lydia, honestly, I don't even know who Blair and – "

She tunes them out after that, because they're both pretty stubborn and could probably go for hours, even though, yeah, that was totally a Gossip Girl quote. Allison looks at them and wonders how they can fit so well as friends but not as more.

They finish each other's freaking sentences, she thinks furiously as she wanders away. Sentences. How did they not –

"Allison!" Suddenly, Toby is standing before her, beaming. "Happy New Year!"

His hair is sticking up at the back, there's a flush to his cheeks, his shirt is untucked, and the top two buttons of it are undone.

Allison's brain short-circuits.

"Uh..."

"Hey," he's leaning forward, now, and she can just smell him, his usual scent of cinnamon and melting butter (she's never actually understood why Toby smells like he just fell out of a bakery, but whatever) a little tangier with the waft of alcohol that's in the air surrounding them. "You okay?"

Allison blinks and tries desperately not to let her eyes to stray to his collarbone. "Fine," she manages to get out, the word a bit too breathless for her liking. "I'm – uh – I'm okay." She forces herself to look him in the eye and smile. "Happy New Year."

He smiles and moves past her back into the living room, and she goes into the now empty kitchen, bracing her hand against the kitchen counter and staring at the marble. She absolutely does not like Toby Martin. He is her ex-boyfriend's best friend. And she does not like him. She appreciates his aesthetic qualities, but she does not like him. At all. Not a thing. She does not like Toby Martin. She absolutely does not like Toby Martin, or his smile, or his laugh, or his dimples, or his hair, or his collarbones, or how he smells, or his eyes, or the way his skinny jeans hug his –

She does not. She will not. She absolutely does not like Toby Martin.

______________________________________________________________________

a/n: ohhhhh yeeeEEEES it is indeed my favourite musical :)))) dedication for charlotte because she was v important to the development of this chapter. and she's blonde. like legally blonde