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Entry tags:
Fic: It's Not Like The Greeks Invented The Marathon (Greek, Evan/Casey)
Title: It's Not Like The Greeks Invented The Marathon
Fandom: Greek
Pairing(s): Evan/Casey
Word Count: 5604
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The ZBZs are forced to team up with Kappa Tau for an upcoming Greek event. Nobody is particularly happy about it. (Well, except Cappie, maybe.)
Notes: Set during season one. Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
juleet for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
help_haiti.
DAY ONE
"That's like running, right?"
"That's like a lot of running," Casey says. If it's possible, Ashleigh looks even more disappointed. "Which means you can't wear your cute new tennis shoes that give you blisters."
Honestly, it's like kicking a puppy.
"But they're so cute," Ashleigh says, and Casey nods sadly in commiseration. "And I just bought rainbow shoelaces."
"Maybe you can put them on shoes that don't hurt your feet," Casey suggests, but she gets the feeling Ashleigh isn't listening; she's staring at her shoes, pouting, like Casey just told her she has to give them up instead of retiring them for a couple of weeks. "Or -"
"Maybe I just haven't broken them in yet."
"Ash -"
Ashleigh slumps back down on the bed. "Whose idea was a stupid marathon, anyway?"
Casey doesn't know - Frannie didn't really go into that much detail last night beyond 'marathon, start training, I'll tell the girls' - but she'd lay odds on the Lambda Sigs. This reeks of jocks.
"It's not that bad," she says, and Ashleigh looks up at her, like, yeah, right. Casey has to admit, she doesn't sound all that convincing. "At least we get to go to Dobbler's."
"We go to Dobbler's every night," Ashleigh says, and, okay, she might kind of have a point. "So why can't we just go to Dobbler's and skip the marathon?"
Casey doesn't have an answer for that, so she tries changing the subject. "Come on. I'm sure it'll seem better after breakfast."
Ashleigh sighs. "You go. I'm going to stay here for a bit and look at my shoes."
Right.
Casey only makes it halfway downstairs before wishing she'd stayed with Ashleigh in their room. It doesn't take a genius to work out what's going on, not when half the house is surrounding Frannie, who's saying something about the good of the house and what about all those New Year's resolutions?. Casey pauses for a second before turning around, and it's the pause that kills her; "Casey!" Frannie shouts, and she freezes, then slowly walks the rest of the way down the stairs.
"Frannie," she says. "I guess you told them."
Frannie shoots her a look, clearly unimpressed. "Casey, help me."
And Casey really, really wants Frannie's job next year, so she steps forward and takes Laura's elbow. And she's good at this - smiling and being perky, acting like everything's okay - and, really, it's not the end of the world, so it only takes until the end of breakfast to calm everyone down.
Never mind that breakfast goes for an hour and a half.
"Personally, I think it's stupid," Rebecca says, just as Casey has finally got everyone calmed down. "Shouldn't we be able to vote on things like this?"
"You don't have to join in," Casey says, because she's sick of diplomacy, and because the last person she feels like being diplomatic towards is Rebecca Logan. "We'll just tell people you're out of shape. I'm sure they'll understand."
For a moment, Rebecca stares at her, and then she goes back to finishing her low-fat, no-carb breakfast.
Casey's counting that one as a win.
In fact, she's ready to count the entire morning as a win when someone streaks past her, a blur of running shorts and purple leg warmers and -
Rainbow shoelaces.
"I just need to break them in," Ashleigh explains. "Trust me, Case. It'll be fine."
Casey sighs, and makes a mental note to stock up on anti-blister cream.
-
DAY TWO
It's not that Casey's tired, exactly. But when she jogs past the Omega Chi house and Evan just happens to be there, well. It would be rude not to stop, right?
"Training already?" he asks, and she shrugs. Like, hey, maybe she goes out jogging every day. "You look good out there."
And, okay, she's a little sweaty and a lot gross, but Evan's the one who leans down to kiss her, so she's not exactly going to complain.
"Thanks," she says, maybe grinning a little stupidly. "You know, if I had that kind of motivation in three weeks I could totally win this thing."
Evan laughs, and kisses her again, and she tries - a little - to stay far back enough so that she doesn't get him all sweaty.
Not that he looks like he'd exactly mind, right now.
"How come Ashleigh isn't with you?" he asks, looking around like she's just catching up or something. "I thought I saw her go past yesterday, she seemed pretty into it."
Right. Ashleigh.
"Ash is suffering some pretty extreme blistering right now," she says, and Evan winces in sympathy. Casey would do the same, but, seriously - she told Ashleigh not to go running in those shoes. "I think she's going to be out of commission for a few days."
"That bad?" he asks, and she rolls her eyes.
"Let's just say I'm pretty sure her shoes were meant to be decorative."
"Right."
And then he's kissing her again, his hands settling on her hips like he doesn't mind the sweat, and by the time he releases her, Casey's pretty sure she's breathing heavily again.
"I should go," she says. Reluctantly, but she really doesn't want to see Frannie's face after she hasn't kept her heart rate up.
Evan nods, stepping back, still smiling. "Then I guess I'll just have to watch you go."
That, she doesn't mind at all.
-
DAY FIVE
"Ash, come on!"
There's an interminable wait as Ashleigh descends the stairs. Slowly.
"Wait, I'm coming," she calls, and Casey waits, trying not to tap her foot impatiently. "Since when are you in a hurry to get to class, anyway?"
"Since I'm already ten minutes late?" Casey says. "And I already missed last week's tutorial because I had to help you plan that mixer, so -"
"You don't want to fail?"
"Exactly," she says. She can just imagine it now - failing the class, falling behind, not having enough credits to graduate. Staying at ZBZ forever and ending up like a female version of Cappie.
No. Just - no.
"All right," Ashleigh says finally, stepping onto the floor. "I'm down. You know, I don't think this anti-blister cream really works."
"I think maybe it's your shoes," Casey says. In all fairness, Ashleigh already swore off the tennis shoes from hell, but she really doesn't think four-inch heels are much kinder on the feet.
Ashleigh pouts. "But they're wedges."
"Yeah," Casey says. "I'm sure that helps."
And it's not like she's been able to talk Ashleigh out of wearing anything before, ever, so this probably isn't the time to start trying again.
"You know," Ashleigh says, as they step out of the house, "you could just go on without me."
Casey smiles at her. "But then who would I blame when I was late?"
"How about the fact that you obviously had to go dumpster diving for your outfit?"
Rebecca. Of course.
"Do you want to borrow it?" Casey asks, turning around. "Or is it just my boyfriends that you like to steal?"
"I won't need to steal anything in a couple of weeks," Rebecca shoots back. "Not after you'll be eating my dust in the marathon."
Okay, so, maybe Casey's given up on training. A little. But that's no excuse for Rebecca to come in here, all perky gym clothes and barely even sweating, and be all ... superior all over the place.
Not that Casey even cares. But maybe she'll start training again tomorrow, just in case.
"We'll see," she says, dragging Ashleigh out to the sidewalk and ignoring her complaints about blisters. Rebecca still stands smiling back at the house - it wasn't exactly a radiant comeback, and they both know it - and Casey turns away, fighting the urge to go back and come up with something better.
Besides, she'll just have to show up Rebecca when it comes to the race.
Sure. She can do that.
-
DAY SEVEN
Casey peers into the mirror and frowns, wiping her lips. Frannie was right - that colour is definitely all wrong on her.
"Hey, Ash," she says. "Can I borrow your lip gloss?"
"The one with the sparkles?" Ashleigh asks. "Or the really pink one?"
"The really pink one."
"Sure," Ashleigh says, and hands it over.
There. That's much better.
"I'm pretty sure I pulled something yesterday," she says, wincing as she leans over to give Ashleigh her lip gloss back. "Is it possible to sprain your butt?"
Ashleigh winces in sympathy. "Ouch. And I thought my training was a disaster."
Yeah. They make quite a team, all right.
"Maybe you should ask Evan for some pointers," Rebecca says, and Casey glares at her in the mirror. "Or maybe I should. He does look pretty good out there."
"What were you, appreciating his form?" Ashleigh asks, and Casey lays a hand gently on her arm. Honestly, she's tired of sparring, and tonight she just wants to have fun.
Sometimes, Rebecca doesn't exactly make it easy.
"Maybe he was appreciating mine," she says, and leaves before Casey can respond.
Not that she was going to. Right.
Between her sore muscles and Ashleigh's insistence on not giving in to comfortable footwear it takes them practically an eternity to get to Dobbler's, but Evan's already waiting at the bar when they do, lemon drop in hand. It takes everything she has not to down it in one go, but she smiles at him like she's fine, and lets him lead to her one of the last empty tables.
"I needed that," she says, almost before she's sitting, and Evan laughs.
"Sore?" he asks, and she nods. "You've been training pretty hard."
She raises an eyebrow. "So have you, apparently."
"Yeah, well, the guys have been kind of gung-ho about the whole marathon thing," he says. "We've got to keep our reputation intact, after all."
"Of course," she agrees. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Rebecca at the bar, chatting to Ashleigh; after a second, Rebecca notices Casey and turns around, smiling.
Not at her.
Casey leans forward, resting a hand possessively on Evan's arm, and tells herself she's not reacting to Rebecca. And that she doesn't care when Rebecca smirks, meeting Casey's eyes in a challenge.
"So," she says, "I guess that means I'll have to run with you. Maybe it'll be a good motivational tool."
Evan's smile freezes, and he takes a nervous sip of his beer. "Actually," he says, "I'd been meaning to talk to you about that. I wasn't sure if you knew ..."
"Knew what?" she asks. Whatever it is, she's pretty sure she's not going to like it.
"We've been assigned teams for the marathon," he says. "All the houses have. I assumed Frannie would have told you."
If ZBZ isn't partnered with Omega Chi, Casey's not surprised she didn't.
"Tell me our houses were put together," she says anyway.
He grimaces.
"If it's any consolation," he says, "we have to run with Gamma Psi, and I don't think any of the guys are looking forward to -"
But Casey's already tuned him out.
"Wait," she says. "Consolation for what?"
"Trust me," he says, instead of answering her. Or maybe it is an answer. "I don't like it any more than you do."
And then Casey turns around, as if she's operating on automatic, and sees the familiar face sitting at the bar.
Cappie winks at her, and she can feel all her plans going to hell.
-
DAY EIGHT
Casey's not surprised at all that she has to stop outside Kappa Tau.
She shouldn't even be running, she knows that. She still hasn't recovered from yesterday's training session, let alone drinks at Dobbler's, and she tells herself her newfound dedication isn't just Rebecca getting under her skin. She really wants to win, is all.
And of course Cappie is out on the KT lawn, because clearly the universe hates her this week.
"Case," he says, like she's stopped by for a visit instead of needing to work out her sore muscles. "How nice of you to drop by."
She doesn't answer him. At least she has the handy excuse of needing to get her breathing under control.
"You know," he says, as she kneads the back of her thigh, "I could help you with that."
She glares at him, and ignores the offer. "Shouldn't you be training, too? The marathon is in two weeks."
He shrugs, like it's no big deal. "I'll be okay."
"This event is worth a lot of blue ribbon points," she says, like that means anything to him.
He shrugs. "So?"
"Cappie -"
"I'll train if you agree to help me," he says.
That doesn't deserve a response, either, but she rolls her eyes anyway. "I'll pass."
"All right," he says. "Your loss."
Somehow, she doesn't think so.
"See you at the finish line," he calls after her as she starts off again, and she runs a little faster.
-
DAY ELEVEN
Casey tries not to be surprised when Cappie sidles up to her after class, rolling her eyes even as she slows down enough to let him walk beside her.
"Casey," he says, like it's all the greeting that's necessary, like they have a totally normal relationship.
"Cappie."
"So," he says, and she braces herself for it. "About that training session."
Of course. Cappie's never exactly been one to just let things go; she doesn't know why she thought he'd start now. "You mean the one I never agreed to?"
"That's the one."
Sometimes she wonders if anything ever ruffles him, and then she remembers.
"Seriously, though," he says, and the word seriously from Cappie is almost enough to make her laugh. "Some of the guys could really use the help."
"There's a shock," she says flatly.
"Hey," he protests. "Not all the Kappa Taus are in peak physical condition like I am."
She doesn't even have to say anything to that.
"Come on, Case," he says, in a voice that's enough to make her think maybe he was serious, after all. "Help us out. I promise -"
She never gets to hear what he promises; not before Evan's there, sweeping her up in a kiss, and she lets herself get carried away by it maybe a little more than she would if Cappie weren't right there. But only a little.
"Get a room," Cappie says, a joke that doesn't quite make it all the way, and it's enough to break the mood.
"Cappie," Evan says coolly.
"Evan," Cappie says; he'd sound almost friendly if she didn't know him. And then, to her, "Think about it."
"What was that about?" Evan asks after he's gone, and Casey shrugs, wishing he hadn't brought it up.
"It's no big deal," she says. "Just marathon stuff."
"You aren't really going to help those guys, are you?"
It's more than just competition, she knows. Or rather, it's more than just competition for blue ribbon points.
"Are you really worried KT is going to beat you?" she asks, trying to steer the conversation back to more neutral topics. "Because I'd be more worried about Lambda Sig if I were you. They've been training practically non-stop for the past week and a half."
"They've been training non-stop practically since birth," he says, and she breathes out, relaxes into his chest as they walk. "But we're still going to kick their asses."
"I'll be cheering for you," she says, and tries not to think that she'd rather be running with him instead.
-
DAY FIFTEEN
"Remind we why we agreed to this, again?"
Casey doesn't have an answer for that. She's sure that, somewhere in the past four days, it seemed like a good idea, but she can't for the life of her remember why.
Kappa Tau plus ZBZ plus exercise equals a recipe for disaster, clearly. And Rusty always said she wasn't any good at math.
"Come on, Ash," she says, trying not to let any more pesky equations sink in. "It's not that bad, right?"
Ashleigh looks slowly around them, her eyebrows raised. And, okay, it kind of is that bad. The Kappa Taus refused to leave the house for training, which means they're stuck in the KT living room, running drills in between empty beer cans and half-eaten boxes of cold pizza. They also apparently refused to shower. Or, in some cases, to get fully dressed. Which - is not a good look. For any of them.
When Cappie said not all the KTs were as fit as he was, she thought he was joking.
"At least I look cute," Ashleigh concedes, and lets out a loud sigh Casey knows is supposed to be commentary. "You owe me for this. Big time."
Casey doesn't bother to point out that she's doing this for the good of the house, or that they're all going to have to run with Kappa Tau in the marathon, or that she doesn't want to be here any more than anyone else. It was her idea, and that means it's pretty much her mess to clean up.
"I know," she says. "Let's just ... try to make the best of it."
It's probably easier said than done, but Ashleigh nods, and Casey takes a deep, steadying breath.
Through her mouth.
"All right," she says. "Ash, do you think you can set up some sort of obstacle course of something in here?"
"There are certainly a lot of obstacles," Ashleigh says, which Casey supposes is close enough to a yes.
"Laura, can you -"
Laura shoots her a look, and Casey quickly rethinks the assignments.
"Betsy," she says instead. "Refreshments?"
Betsy perks up at that, which is probably a bad sign.
"Non-alcoholic," she clarifies. "Rebecca -"
"You can't seriously think this is going to work," Rebecca says.
"Nice attitude. Clear out some space for a couple of exercise stations, get someone to help you."
Rebecca rolls her eyes, but doesn't complain. So, her day is looking a little better already.
"Where do you need me?" Cappie asks, standing a little closer than he strictly needs to, and Casey has to bite her tongue from telling him where she really needs him. Not that 'go jump in a lake' isn't good advice; swimming is pretty good exercise, after all.
"You could start by getting the Kappa Taus to be serious for a minute."
He laughs, like she's making a joke, and says, "No, seriously, where do you need me?"
"I seriously need you to get them in line," she has. She has her serious expression on and everything. "And tell Beaver and Wade to stop ... whatever it is they're doing."
"Beerchitecture," Cappie says.
"Is that supposed to mean something to me?"
"It's architecture with beer cans," he says, like, obviously. "We're creating the Taj Alcohol. Or is it the Guggenwine Museum, I forget."
"Well, whatever it is," she says, "it's about to fall on top of Ashleigh, and I doubt she'll be impressed by your architectural skill."
Cappie rushes off, and she almost has time to admire his dedication to safety before he says, "Guys, what are you doing? This structure is clearly unstable. You're going to ruin months of work."
Well, at least he cares about something. And they've narrowly avoided one major accident.
So far.
"I didn't ask for your help," Rebecca says suddenly, and Casey looks over to see -
Okay, that can't be good. She should probably make separating Rusty and Rebecca priority number one.
"I was just trying to do something nice," Rusty says. And then, not quite under his breath, "Not that you deserve it."
"I heard that," Rebecca says.
"You were supposed to."
"Okay," Casey says, putting herself in between them. It probably isn't necessary, but, well, she isn't taking any chances. "Rusty, thank you for you help -"
"Why are you thanking him?" Rebecca asks. "I'm the one who -"
"But I think we've got it from here," she says over Rebecca. "Why don't you make sure there aren't any more health hazards lying around?"
Rusty's expression doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
"Any major health hazards," she says, figuring that might be slightly easier. After he's gone, she turns around. "Rebecca, these look really great, thank you."
Rebecca looks confused for a second, like she can't quite figure out why Casey's being nice to her, and then her expression softens. A little.
"I should be getting hazard pay for this," she says. "And you owe me a new manicure."
"Deal." Considering everything, it's totally worth it.
Make that two major accidents they've narrowly avoided.
After a less than stellar beginning, though, Casey has to admit the training session isn't nearly as much of a disaster as it could have been. Okay, so most of the KTs are out of breath halfway through stretching, and the girls are still looking at her like there's some fresh horror just waiting around the corner, and she's pretty sure Betsy's definition of non-alcoholic doesn't match the one in the dictionary, but - apart from all that, she thinks that maybe today won't be a complete waste of time. Relatively speaking, of course.
"It's called stretching," Rebecca says, somewhere to her left. "It means you need to bend all the way down and touch your toes. If you can even see them."
"Why don't you show me?" Beaver asks. "If you need help, I could always -"
"Ashleigh!" Rebecca calls, and backs away -
Right into the Taj Alcohol. Or the Guggenwine Museum. Whatever.
Okay, so, scratch that. They're totally screwed.
-
"Why do all the KTs look like they've just been hit by a truck?" Evan asks, and Casey glances over her shoulder. "I mean, more than they usually do."
"That's probably my fault," she says. "We had training with them this afternoon, and -"
"Wait," he says, cutting her off. "You actually trained with those guys?"
Casey ignores Ashleigh's warning look. It's probably a bad idea. "You trained with Gamma Psi."
"So?"
"So, we trained with Kappa Tau. They're our partners."
"It's not the same thing," he says. "You know how I feel about those guys."
And by those guys, he means Cappie, obviously.
"Hey," Ashleigh says, a little too loudly. "There's Rebecca. I'm just going to go and ... bye!"
The way Evan looks after she's gone, it probably wasn't a bad move. Casey wonders, idly, if she can somehow slip away, too. Or maybe rewind this whole day; it's been a disaster, start to finish.
"It's just training," she says, because she can't think of a good way to change the subject. And because Evan's still glaring daggers at Cappie, which can't be a good thing. "Besides, the whole thing was terrible, so it's not like we'll be doing it again."
He looks back at her, then, and she smiles, running her hand down over her shoulder.
"In fact," she says, "I'm pretty sure I'm getting a cramp in my neck. Right ... here."
Yep, she's definitely got his attention.
"You need some help with that?" he asks, and his voice sounds a little dry.
"Maybe we should get out of here," she suggests, and Evan's standing almost before she's finished, taking her by the hand and leading her out the door. Past Cappie, who looks at her like some wounded puppy she just kicked, and she tries to put him - and everything to do with the KTs - out of her head. Because all she wants right now, she swears, is to get a massage from her boyfriend, curl up in bed, and forget this whole day ever happened.
-
DAY TWENTY
"Hey," Evan says, kissing Casey and nodding to Ashleigh. He looks almost apologetic, and Casey can't say she's surprised; it feels like she's barely seen him lately. "How was class?"
"Boring," she says, which is probably an understatement.
"I brought coffee," he offers.
"You're a lifesaver," she says. "We're still on for tonight, right?"
He flinches a little at that, and she waits for the excuse.
"About that," he says, and she rolls her eyes. Of course. "Sorry, Case. I really am. It's just that we're trying to get in one more training session with the Gamma Psis -"
"And you're doing it tonight."
"Yeah."
She really should have seen it coming; it's not like he's been doing anything else for the past two weeks.
"Well," she says, "I guess I'll see you Saturday, then?"
"Saturday," he agrees.
"Um, good luck?"
She wishes she meant it, almost. It doesn't even sound sincere.
"Yeah," he says, not doing a much better job of it than she did. "You too."
All told, it's probably the longest conversation they've had all week.
"Okay," Ashleigh says, once he's gone. "I'm sorry, Casey."
"It's fine," she says, half-heartedly.
"Do you want to go home?" Ashleigh asks.
"Back to the house?" she asks. "Where everybody's -"
"Going crazy over last-minute training," Ashleigh finishes for her. "Right. Maybe not."
"We could get coffee," she says.
"You already have coffee," Ashleigh points out.
Oh. Right.
"Or we could go over to the Lambda Sig house and watch them train," she suggests. "You know, in the spirit of checking out the competition."
"It's the least we could do," Ashleigh says, already brightening. "After all, there's no use training that hard until we know what we're up against."
"Exactly," she says. "Very important. Reconnaissance, and all that."
"Totally," Ashleigh agrees, already starting towards Greek Row. And then, as if it's just an afterthought, "Plus, hot sweaty guys."
Totally a bonus.
-
DAY TWENTY-TWO
"I can't find my scrunchie!"
"Who took me water bottle?"
"Has anybody seen Betsy?"
Casey closes her eyes, letting the chaos wash over her, and tries to focus on warming up. It's harder than it sounds, with everybody still scrambling to get ready, but she tells herself that it's okay. That they still have plenty of time. That they're totally going to win this thing.
"So," Ashleigh says, sounding like she's trying as hard as Casey is not to be nervous. "Are we checking out the competition?"
"Definitely," Casey says. Anything to take her mind off missing scrunchies and stolen water bottles and wayward ZBZs. "Lambda Sig looks ..."
"Good," Ashleigh says. And then, "I mean, bad. Fit. Whatever."
"They could be a threat."
"Yeah, but they're partnered with Tri Pi," Ashleigh says, "and there's no way they can run in those outfits."
Casey glances over at some of the Tri Pis, and has to agree. "Maybe they're meant to distract people?"
"Well, they're definitely distracting," Ashleigh says. "I mean, if you're a guy."
Casey just hopes the KTs don't get too distracted. They're at enough of a disadvantage as it is.
"What about Omega Chi?"
"What about Omega Chi?" Evan asks, coming up behind Casey, and she turns to face him.
"Nothing," she says. "We're just eliminating the competition."
"So we're competition now," he says.
"Maybe a little," she says. "But I'm not worried."
It's totally a lie, but whatever.
"Really?" he asks. "Then how about we make things interesting?"
"What do you have in mind?" she asks, but before he can answer, Frannie's voice cuts through the conversation.
"Where the hell are the Kappa Taus?"
"Right here," Cappie says, jogging up. He's breathing hard already, as are the guys who follow him up, and Casey sighs. There's no way they're going to win; maybe the best she can hope is that they don't come in dead last. She can handle losing to Omega Chi - there's no way she's going to lose to the Psi Phi Pis. "Sorry we're a little late."
"Not as sorry as I am," Frannie mutters, barely bothering to lower her voice, and stalks away.
"I guess that's my cue to go," Evan says, and leans down to give Casey a quick kiss. "Good luck out there."
"You too," she says. This time, she actually means it.
Besides, she's going to need all the luck she can get.
"So," Cappie says, once Evan's gone. "Are you ready to get our butts handed to us?"
"Do I have another option?" she asks, and he laughs. So, that would be a no.
"Hey, Rebecca," Beaver says, and Casey looks over in time to see Rebecca freeze. "Want to be running partners?"
"Not if you were the last Neanderthal on earth," she says. "Besides, I'm already running with Ashleigh."
"You are?" Ashleigh asks, and then, as Rebecca pulls her closer and shoots her a warning look, "I mean, yes. You are."
"Okay," Beaver says, shrugging. "I'll just have to watch your back, then."
Rebecca shudders, and Casey almost feels sorry for her. Almost.
"So," Cappie says. "Does that mean you and I are partners?"
Before she can answer him, there's shouting, the sound of the starter's horn and footsteps, and Casey sets off, leaving Cappie's question behind her.
-
"That's it," Ashleigh says, once they're at one of the midway checkpoints. "I'm done. I can't run any more."
"Sure you can, Ash," Casey says, opting for gentle encouragement.
Rebecca takes an entirely different approach.
"Get up, you big baby," she says. "We're almost there."
"I can't even lift my legs," Ashleigh protests.
"Oh, suck it up." Nice. "I'm not going to lost to those Tri Pi stripper-wannabees."
It's a little harsh, but it seems to do the trick.
"We're losing to Tri Pi?" Ashleigh asks, standing up a little straighter.
Rebecca nods. "I saw a group of them running past us when you were getting a drink."
"I didn't see -" Casey starts, and then catches herself. "I mean, yeah, they're way ahead of us.
Rebecca shoots her a dirty look.
"But not so far that we can't catch up," she amends.
"Come on, Ash," Rebecca says, a little more gently.
Ashleigh nods, determined. "All right. Casey, are you coming?"
She's about to say yes when she spots Evan, over by the water table, and she shakes her head. "Later," she says. "I'll catch up to you."
"Not likely," she thinks she hears Rebecca mutter, and she ignores it, dragging herself over to where Evan's standing.
"Hey, Case," he says, looking her up and down. "Tired?"
"No," she says. Not that it isn't perfectly obvious, but maybe if she keeps lying to herself, she'll start believing it.
"I haven't seen the KTs in a wile," he says. "Where are they?"
It's a good question. And not one she has an answer to.
"Shouldn't you be ahead of me by now?" she asks instead.
"I'm saving my energy."
"Yeah, sure."
"Okay," he says, "I'll prove it. Loser has to do whatever the winner wants for the rest of the day."
It's not much of a bet, but then, it's not exactly much of a competition. Casey thinks about the missing KTs, about the dozen ZBZs she knows are still behind her, and she's about to say no - but then she looks at Evan, smiling like he's already won, and she can't help herself.
"You're on," she says.
"Great," he says.
"Great."
Yeah, this is just great.
-
"I can't lift my arms," Ashleigh says, staring down at her drink like it's a hundred miles away instead of right in front of her. "Rebecca, lift my arms for me."
"You're pathetic," Rebecca says, but not like she means it.
"Casey?"
"You're on your own," Casey says. "I'm having enough trouble lifting my own arms."
"Is that right?" Evan asks, setting a lemon drop down in front of her. "And here I thought you were going to beat us easily."
Casey considers glaring at him, but it seems like way too much effort. "Hey," she says. "We weren't that far behind you."
Well, at least they didn't come in dead last. She's still not quite sure how the KTs managed that one; she didn't even see half of them finish.
"Whatever," he says. "You still lost, which means -"
Right. The bet.
"- You have to do whatever I say for the rest of the day."
"Kinky," Rebecca mumbles, but even that doesn't bother Casey. Maybe they're all too tired to get on each other's nerves.
"What's kinky?"
Great. Another intrusion by Cappie. Just what they all need.
"Nothing that's any of your business," Casey says.
"Poor old Evan here not pushing your buttons?" Cappie asks.
"Why don't you go crawl back under a rock?" Evan says, half-standing.
"Just because -"
"Okay," Casey interrupts, before Cappie can finish the sentence. Whatever he was gong to say, she's pretty sure it would be better if he didn't. "Hey, look, I need another drink."
And then she downs her lemon drop.
"I'll get you one," Evan says finally, still glaring at Cappie.
"Obedient, isn't he?" Cappie asks, before Evan's completely out of earshot. And then, once he is, Cappie glances over at the bar and straightens. "Well, I'd love to stay, but something tells me I have important drinking business to attend to."
Over at the far end of the bar, the KTs are doing shots. Of course.
Cappie's gone by the time Evan gets back, already shouting for another round, and Casey leans back into Evan as he hands her a drink.
"So," he says, leaning down so he's almost whispering in her ear. "About that bet."
"Unless you're about to suggest curling up in bed and watching Frasier, you're probably out of luck," she says, and turns around in time to see him smile.
"Actually," he says, "that's exactly what I was going to suggest."
Casey stands up, pressing a kiss to his lips, and passes her drink over to Ashleigh, who has apparently managed to regain control of her limbs. Enough to empty her glass, at any rate.
"In that case," she says, "I'm all yours."
Fandom: Greek
Pairing(s): Evan/Casey
Word Count: 5604
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The ZBZs are forced to team up with Kappa Tau for an upcoming Greek event. Nobody is particularly happy about it. (Well, except Cappie, maybe.)
Notes: Set during season one. Written for
juleet for help_haiti."That's like running, right?"
"That's like a lot of running," Casey says. If it's possible, Ashleigh looks even more disappointed. "Which means you can't wear your cute new tennis shoes that give you blisters."
Honestly, it's like kicking a puppy.
"But they're so cute," Ashleigh says, and Casey nods sadly in commiseration. "And I just bought rainbow shoelaces."
"Maybe you can put them on shoes that don't hurt your feet," Casey suggests, but she gets the feeling Ashleigh isn't listening; she's staring at her shoes, pouting, like Casey just told her she has to give them up instead of retiring them for a couple of weeks. "Or -"
"Maybe I just haven't broken them in yet."
"Ash -"
Ashleigh slumps back down on the bed. "Whose idea was a stupid marathon, anyway?"
Casey doesn't know - Frannie didn't really go into that much detail last night beyond 'marathon, start training, I'll tell the girls' - but she'd lay odds on the Lambda Sigs. This reeks of jocks.
"It's not that bad," she says, and Ashleigh looks up at her, like, yeah, right. Casey has to admit, she doesn't sound all that convincing. "At least we get to go to Dobbler's."
"We go to Dobbler's every night," Ashleigh says, and, okay, she might kind of have a point. "So why can't we just go to Dobbler's and skip the marathon?"
Casey doesn't have an answer for that, so she tries changing the subject. "Come on. I'm sure it'll seem better after breakfast."
Ashleigh sighs. "You go. I'm going to stay here for a bit and look at my shoes."
Right.
Casey only makes it halfway downstairs before wishing she'd stayed with Ashleigh in their room. It doesn't take a genius to work out what's going on, not when half the house is surrounding Frannie, who's saying something about the good of the house and what about all those New Year's resolutions?. Casey pauses for a second before turning around, and it's the pause that kills her; "Casey!" Frannie shouts, and she freezes, then slowly walks the rest of the way down the stairs.
"Frannie," she says. "I guess you told them."
Frannie shoots her a look, clearly unimpressed. "Casey, help me."
And Casey really, really wants Frannie's job next year, so she steps forward and takes Laura's elbow. And she's good at this - smiling and being perky, acting like everything's okay - and, really, it's not the end of the world, so it only takes until the end of breakfast to calm everyone down.
Never mind that breakfast goes for an hour and a half.
"Personally, I think it's stupid," Rebecca says, just as Casey has finally got everyone calmed down. "Shouldn't we be able to vote on things like this?"
"You don't have to join in," Casey says, because she's sick of diplomacy, and because the last person she feels like being diplomatic towards is Rebecca Logan. "We'll just tell people you're out of shape. I'm sure they'll understand."
For a moment, Rebecca stares at her, and then she goes back to finishing her low-fat, no-carb breakfast.
Casey's counting that one as a win.
In fact, she's ready to count the entire morning as a win when someone streaks past her, a blur of running shorts and purple leg warmers and -
Rainbow shoelaces.
"I just need to break them in," Ashleigh explains. "Trust me, Case. It'll be fine."
Casey sighs, and makes a mental note to stock up on anti-blister cream.
-
It's not that Casey's tired, exactly. But when she jogs past the Omega Chi house and Evan just happens to be there, well. It would be rude not to stop, right?
"Training already?" he asks, and she shrugs. Like, hey, maybe she goes out jogging every day. "You look good out there."
And, okay, she's a little sweaty and a lot gross, but Evan's the one who leans down to kiss her, so she's not exactly going to complain.
"Thanks," she says, maybe grinning a little stupidly. "You know, if I had that kind of motivation in three weeks I could totally win this thing."
Evan laughs, and kisses her again, and she tries - a little - to stay far back enough so that she doesn't get him all sweaty.
Not that he looks like he'd exactly mind, right now.
"How come Ashleigh isn't with you?" he asks, looking around like she's just catching up or something. "I thought I saw her go past yesterday, she seemed pretty into it."
Right. Ashleigh.
"Ash is suffering some pretty extreme blistering right now," she says, and Evan winces in sympathy. Casey would do the same, but, seriously - she told Ashleigh not to go running in those shoes. "I think she's going to be out of commission for a few days."
"That bad?" he asks, and she rolls her eyes.
"Let's just say I'm pretty sure her shoes were meant to be decorative."
"Right."
And then he's kissing her again, his hands settling on her hips like he doesn't mind the sweat, and by the time he releases her, Casey's pretty sure she's breathing heavily again.
"I should go," she says. Reluctantly, but she really doesn't want to see Frannie's face after she hasn't kept her heart rate up.
Evan nods, stepping back, still smiling. "Then I guess I'll just have to watch you go."
That, she doesn't mind at all.
-
"Ash, come on!"
There's an interminable wait as Ashleigh descends the stairs. Slowly.
"Wait, I'm coming," she calls, and Casey waits, trying not to tap her foot impatiently. "Since when are you in a hurry to get to class, anyway?"
"Since I'm already ten minutes late?" Casey says. "And I already missed last week's tutorial because I had to help you plan that mixer, so -"
"You don't want to fail?"
"Exactly," she says. She can just imagine it now - failing the class, falling behind, not having enough credits to graduate. Staying at ZBZ forever and ending up like a female version of Cappie.
No. Just - no.
"All right," Ashleigh says finally, stepping onto the floor. "I'm down. You know, I don't think this anti-blister cream really works."
"I think maybe it's your shoes," Casey says. In all fairness, Ashleigh already swore off the tennis shoes from hell, but she really doesn't think four-inch heels are much kinder on the feet.
Ashleigh pouts. "But they're wedges."
"Yeah," Casey says. "I'm sure that helps."
And it's not like she's been able to talk Ashleigh out of wearing anything before, ever, so this probably isn't the time to start trying again.
"You know," Ashleigh says, as they step out of the house, "you could just go on without me."
Casey smiles at her. "But then who would I blame when I was late?"
"How about the fact that you obviously had to go dumpster diving for your outfit?"
Rebecca. Of course.
"Do you want to borrow it?" Casey asks, turning around. "Or is it just my boyfriends that you like to steal?"
"I won't need to steal anything in a couple of weeks," Rebecca shoots back. "Not after you'll be eating my dust in the marathon."
Okay, so, maybe Casey's given up on training. A little. But that's no excuse for Rebecca to come in here, all perky gym clothes and barely even sweating, and be all ... superior all over the place.
Not that Casey even cares. But maybe she'll start training again tomorrow, just in case.
"We'll see," she says, dragging Ashleigh out to the sidewalk and ignoring her complaints about blisters. Rebecca still stands smiling back at the house - it wasn't exactly a radiant comeback, and they both know it - and Casey turns away, fighting the urge to go back and come up with something better.
Besides, she'll just have to show up Rebecca when it comes to the race.
Sure. She can do that.
-
Casey peers into the mirror and frowns, wiping her lips. Frannie was right - that colour is definitely all wrong on her.
"Hey, Ash," she says. "Can I borrow your lip gloss?"
"The one with the sparkles?" Ashleigh asks. "Or the really pink one?"
"The really pink one."
"Sure," Ashleigh says, and hands it over.
There. That's much better.
"I'm pretty sure I pulled something yesterday," she says, wincing as she leans over to give Ashleigh her lip gloss back. "Is it possible to sprain your butt?"
Ashleigh winces in sympathy. "Ouch. And I thought my training was a disaster."
Yeah. They make quite a team, all right.
"Maybe you should ask Evan for some pointers," Rebecca says, and Casey glares at her in the mirror. "Or maybe I should. He does look pretty good out there."
"What were you, appreciating his form?" Ashleigh asks, and Casey lays a hand gently on her arm. Honestly, she's tired of sparring, and tonight she just wants to have fun.
Sometimes, Rebecca doesn't exactly make it easy.
"Maybe he was appreciating mine," she says, and leaves before Casey can respond.
Not that she was going to. Right.
Between her sore muscles and Ashleigh's insistence on not giving in to comfortable footwear it takes them practically an eternity to get to Dobbler's, but Evan's already waiting at the bar when they do, lemon drop in hand. It takes everything she has not to down it in one go, but she smiles at him like she's fine, and lets him lead to her one of the last empty tables.
"I needed that," she says, almost before she's sitting, and Evan laughs.
"Sore?" he asks, and she nods. "You've been training pretty hard."
She raises an eyebrow. "So have you, apparently."
"Yeah, well, the guys have been kind of gung-ho about the whole marathon thing," he says. "We've got to keep our reputation intact, after all."
"Of course," she agrees. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Rebecca at the bar, chatting to Ashleigh; after a second, Rebecca notices Casey and turns around, smiling.
Not at her.
Casey leans forward, resting a hand possessively on Evan's arm, and tells herself she's not reacting to Rebecca. And that she doesn't care when Rebecca smirks, meeting Casey's eyes in a challenge.
"So," she says, "I guess that means I'll have to run with you. Maybe it'll be a good motivational tool."
Evan's smile freezes, and he takes a nervous sip of his beer. "Actually," he says, "I'd been meaning to talk to you about that. I wasn't sure if you knew ..."
"Knew what?" she asks. Whatever it is, she's pretty sure she's not going to like it.
"We've been assigned teams for the marathon," he says. "All the houses have. I assumed Frannie would have told you."
If ZBZ isn't partnered with Omega Chi, Casey's not surprised she didn't.
"Tell me our houses were put together," she says anyway.
He grimaces.
"If it's any consolation," he says, "we have to run with Gamma Psi, and I don't think any of the guys are looking forward to -"
But Casey's already tuned him out.
"Wait," she says. "Consolation for what?"
"Trust me," he says, instead of answering her. Or maybe it is an answer. "I don't like it any more than you do."
And then Casey turns around, as if she's operating on automatic, and sees the familiar face sitting at the bar.
Cappie winks at her, and she can feel all her plans going to hell.
-
Casey's not surprised at all that she has to stop outside Kappa Tau.
She shouldn't even be running, she knows that. She still hasn't recovered from yesterday's training session, let alone drinks at Dobbler's, and she tells herself her newfound dedication isn't just Rebecca getting under her skin. She really wants to win, is all.
And of course Cappie is out on the KT lawn, because clearly the universe hates her this week.
"Case," he says, like she's stopped by for a visit instead of needing to work out her sore muscles. "How nice of you to drop by."
She doesn't answer him. At least she has the handy excuse of needing to get her breathing under control.
"You know," he says, as she kneads the back of her thigh, "I could help you with that."
She glares at him, and ignores the offer. "Shouldn't you be training, too? The marathon is in two weeks."
He shrugs, like it's no big deal. "I'll be okay."
"This event is worth a lot of blue ribbon points," she says, like that means anything to him.
He shrugs. "So?"
"Cappie -"
"I'll train if you agree to help me," he says.
That doesn't deserve a response, either, but she rolls her eyes anyway. "I'll pass."
"All right," he says. "Your loss."
Somehow, she doesn't think so.
"See you at the finish line," he calls after her as she starts off again, and she runs a little faster.
-
Casey tries not to be surprised when Cappie sidles up to her after class, rolling her eyes even as she slows down enough to let him walk beside her.
"Casey," he says, like it's all the greeting that's necessary, like they have a totally normal relationship.
"Cappie."
"So," he says, and she braces herself for it. "About that training session."
Of course. Cappie's never exactly been one to just let things go; she doesn't know why she thought he'd start now. "You mean the one I never agreed to?"
"That's the one."
Sometimes she wonders if anything ever ruffles him, and then she remembers.
"Seriously, though," he says, and the word seriously from Cappie is almost enough to make her laugh. "Some of the guys could really use the help."
"There's a shock," she says flatly.
"Hey," he protests. "Not all the Kappa Taus are in peak physical condition like I am."
She doesn't even have to say anything to that.
"Come on, Case," he says, in a voice that's enough to make her think maybe he was serious, after all. "Help us out. I promise -"
She never gets to hear what he promises; not before Evan's there, sweeping her up in a kiss, and she lets herself get carried away by it maybe a little more than she would if Cappie weren't right there. But only a little.
"Get a room," Cappie says, a joke that doesn't quite make it all the way, and it's enough to break the mood.
"Cappie," Evan says coolly.
"Evan," Cappie says; he'd sound almost friendly if she didn't know him. And then, to her, "Think about it."
"What was that about?" Evan asks after he's gone, and Casey shrugs, wishing he hadn't brought it up.
"It's no big deal," she says. "Just marathon stuff."
"You aren't really going to help those guys, are you?"
It's more than just competition, she knows. Or rather, it's more than just competition for blue ribbon points.
"Are you really worried KT is going to beat you?" she asks, trying to steer the conversation back to more neutral topics. "Because I'd be more worried about Lambda Sig if I were you. They've been training practically non-stop for the past week and a half."
"They've been training non-stop practically since birth," he says, and she breathes out, relaxes into his chest as they walk. "But we're still going to kick their asses."
"I'll be cheering for you," she says, and tries not to think that she'd rather be running with him instead.
-
"Remind we why we agreed to this, again?"
Casey doesn't have an answer for that. She's sure that, somewhere in the past four days, it seemed like a good idea, but she can't for the life of her remember why.
Kappa Tau plus ZBZ plus exercise equals a recipe for disaster, clearly. And Rusty always said she wasn't any good at math.
"Come on, Ash," she says, trying not to let any more pesky equations sink in. "It's not that bad, right?"
Ashleigh looks slowly around them, her eyebrows raised. And, okay, it kind of is that bad. The Kappa Taus refused to leave the house for training, which means they're stuck in the KT living room, running drills in between empty beer cans and half-eaten boxes of cold pizza. They also apparently refused to shower. Or, in some cases, to get fully dressed. Which - is not a good look. For any of them.
When Cappie said not all the KTs were as fit as he was, she thought he was joking.
"At least I look cute," Ashleigh concedes, and lets out a loud sigh Casey knows is supposed to be commentary. "You owe me for this. Big time."
Casey doesn't bother to point out that she's doing this for the good of the house, or that they're all going to have to run with Kappa Tau in the marathon, or that she doesn't want to be here any more than anyone else. It was her idea, and that means it's pretty much her mess to clean up.
"I know," she says. "Let's just ... try to make the best of it."
It's probably easier said than done, but Ashleigh nods, and Casey takes a deep, steadying breath.
Through her mouth.
"All right," she says. "Ash, do you think you can set up some sort of obstacle course of something in here?"
"There are certainly a lot of obstacles," Ashleigh says, which Casey supposes is close enough to a yes.
"Laura, can you -"
Laura shoots her a look, and Casey quickly rethinks the assignments.
"Betsy," she says instead. "Refreshments?"
Betsy perks up at that, which is probably a bad sign.
"Non-alcoholic," she clarifies. "Rebecca -"
"You can't seriously think this is going to work," Rebecca says.
"Nice attitude. Clear out some space for a couple of exercise stations, get someone to help you."
Rebecca rolls her eyes, but doesn't complain. So, her day is looking a little better already.
"Where do you need me?" Cappie asks, standing a little closer than he strictly needs to, and Casey has to bite her tongue from telling him where she really needs him. Not that 'go jump in a lake' isn't good advice; swimming is pretty good exercise, after all.
"You could start by getting the Kappa Taus to be serious for a minute."
He laughs, like she's making a joke, and says, "No, seriously, where do you need me?"
"I seriously need you to get them in line," she has. She has her serious expression on and everything. "And tell Beaver and Wade to stop ... whatever it is they're doing."
"Beerchitecture," Cappie says.
"Is that supposed to mean something to me?"
"It's architecture with beer cans," he says, like, obviously. "We're creating the Taj Alcohol. Or is it the Guggenwine Museum, I forget."
"Well, whatever it is," she says, "it's about to fall on top of Ashleigh, and I doubt she'll be impressed by your architectural skill."
Cappie rushes off, and she almost has time to admire his dedication to safety before he says, "Guys, what are you doing? This structure is clearly unstable. You're going to ruin months of work."
Well, at least he cares about something. And they've narrowly avoided one major accident.
So far.
"I didn't ask for your help," Rebecca says suddenly, and Casey looks over to see -
Okay, that can't be good. She should probably make separating Rusty and Rebecca priority number one.
"I was just trying to do something nice," Rusty says. And then, not quite under his breath, "Not that you deserve it."
"I heard that," Rebecca says.
"You were supposed to."
"Okay," Casey says, putting herself in between them. It probably isn't necessary, but, well, she isn't taking any chances. "Rusty, thank you for you help -"
"Why are you thanking him?" Rebecca asks. "I'm the one who -"
"But I think we've got it from here," she says over Rebecca. "Why don't you make sure there aren't any more health hazards lying around?"
Rusty's expression doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
"Any major health hazards," she says, figuring that might be slightly easier. After he's gone, she turns around. "Rebecca, these look really great, thank you."
Rebecca looks confused for a second, like she can't quite figure out why Casey's being nice to her, and then her expression softens. A little.
"I should be getting hazard pay for this," she says. "And you owe me a new manicure."
"Deal." Considering everything, it's totally worth it.
Make that two major accidents they've narrowly avoided.
After a less than stellar beginning, though, Casey has to admit the training session isn't nearly as much of a disaster as it could have been. Okay, so most of the KTs are out of breath halfway through stretching, and the girls are still looking at her like there's some fresh horror just waiting around the corner, and she's pretty sure Betsy's definition of non-alcoholic doesn't match the one in the dictionary, but - apart from all that, she thinks that maybe today won't be a complete waste of time. Relatively speaking, of course.
"It's called stretching," Rebecca says, somewhere to her left. "It means you need to bend all the way down and touch your toes. If you can even see them."
"Why don't you show me?" Beaver asks. "If you need help, I could always -"
"Ashleigh!" Rebecca calls, and backs away -
Right into the Taj Alcohol. Or the Guggenwine Museum. Whatever.
Okay, so, scratch that. They're totally screwed.
-
"Why do all the KTs look like they've just been hit by a truck?" Evan asks, and Casey glances over her shoulder. "I mean, more than they usually do."
"That's probably my fault," she says. "We had training with them this afternoon, and -"
"Wait," he says, cutting her off. "You actually trained with those guys?"
Casey ignores Ashleigh's warning look. It's probably a bad idea. "You trained with Gamma Psi."
"So?"
"So, we trained with Kappa Tau. They're our partners."
"It's not the same thing," he says. "You know how I feel about those guys."
And by those guys, he means Cappie, obviously.
"Hey," Ashleigh says, a little too loudly. "There's Rebecca. I'm just going to go and ... bye!"
The way Evan looks after she's gone, it probably wasn't a bad move. Casey wonders, idly, if she can somehow slip away, too. Or maybe rewind this whole day; it's been a disaster, start to finish.
"It's just training," she says, because she can't think of a good way to change the subject. And because Evan's still glaring daggers at Cappie, which can't be a good thing. "Besides, the whole thing was terrible, so it's not like we'll be doing it again."
He looks back at her, then, and she smiles, running her hand down over her shoulder.
"In fact," she says, "I'm pretty sure I'm getting a cramp in my neck. Right ... here."
Yep, she's definitely got his attention.
"You need some help with that?" he asks, and his voice sounds a little dry.
"Maybe we should get out of here," she suggests, and Evan's standing almost before she's finished, taking her by the hand and leading her out the door. Past Cappie, who looks at her like some wounded puppy she just kicked, and she tries to put him - and everything to do with the KTs - out of her head. Because all she wants right now, she swears, is to get a massage from her boyfriend, curl up in bed, and forget this whole day ever happened.
-
"Hey," Evan says, kissing Casey and nodding to Ashleigh. He looks almost apologetic, and Casey can't say she's surprised; it feels like she's barely seen him lately. "How was class?"
"Boring," she says, which is probably an understatement.
"I brought coffee," he offers.
"You're a lifesaver," she says. "We're still on for tonight, right?"
He flinches a little at that, and she waits for the excuse.
"About that," he says, and she rolls her eyes. Of course. "Sorry, Case. I really am. It's just that we're trying to get in one more training session with the Gamma Psis -"
"And you're doing it tonight."
"Yeah."
She really should have seen it coming; it's not like he's been doing anything else for the past two weeks.
"Well," she says, "I guess I'll see you Saturday, then?"
"Saturday," he agrees.
"Um, good luck?"
She wishes she meant it, almost. It doesn't even sound sincere.
"Yeah," he says, not doing a much better job of it than she did. "You too."
All told, it's probably the longest conversation they've had all week.
"Okay," Ashleigh says, once he's gone. "I'm sorry, Casey."
"It's fine," she says, half-heartedly.
"Do you want to go home?" Ashleigh asks.
"Back to the house?" she asks. "Where everybody's -"
"Going crazy over last-minute training," Ashleigh finishes for her. "Right. Maybe not."
"We could get coffee," she says.
"You already have coffee," Ashleigh points out.
Oh. Right.
"Or we could go over to the Lambda Sig house and watch them train," she suggests. "You know, in the spirit of checking out the competition."
"It's the least we could do," Ashleigh says, already brightening. "After all, there's no use training that hard until we know what we're up against."
"Exactly," she says. "Very important. Reconnaissance, and all that."
"Totally," Ashleigh agrees, already starting towards Greek Row. And then, as if it's just an afterthought, "Plus, hot sweaty guys."
Totally a bonus.
-
"I can't find my scrunchie!"
"Who took me water bottle?"
"Has anybody seen Betsy?"
Casey closes her eyes, letting the chaos wash over her, and tries to focus on warming up. It's harder than it sounds, with everybody still scrambling to get ready, but she tells herself that it's okay. That they still have plenty of time. That they're totally going to win this thing.
"So," Ashleigh says, sounding like she's trying as hard as Casey is not to be nervous. "Are we checking out the competition?"
"Definitely," Casey says. Anything to take her mind off missing scrunchies and stolen water bottles and wayward ZBZs. "Lambda Sig looks ..."
"Good," Ashleigh says. And then, "I mean, bad. Fit. Whatever."
"They could be a threat."
"Yeah, but they're partnered with Tri Pi," Ashleigh says, "and there's no way they can run in those outfits."
Casey glances over at some of the Tri Pis, and has to agree. "Maybe they're meant to distract people?"
"Well, they're definitely distracting," Ashleigh says. "I mean, if you're a guy."
Casey just hopes the KTs don't get too distracted. They're at enough of a disadvantage as it is.
"What about Omega Chi?"
"What about Omega Chi?" Evan asks, coming up behind Casey, and she turns to face him.
"Nothing," she says. "We're just eliminating the competition."
"So we're competition now," he says.
"Maybe a little," she says. "But I'm not worried."
It's totally a lie, but whatever.
"Really?" he asks. "Then how about we make things interesting?"
"What do you have in mind?" she asks, but before he can answer, Frannie's voice cuts through the conversation.
"Where the hell are the Kappa Taus?"
"Right here," Cappie says, jogging up. He's breathing hard already, as are the guys who follow him up, and Casey sighs. There's no way they're going to win; maybe the best she can hope is that they don't come in dead last. She can handle losing to Omega Chi - there's no way she's going to lose to the Psi Phi Pis. "Sorry we're a little late."
"Not as sorry as I am," Frannie mutters, barely bothering to lower her voice, and stalks away.
"I guess that's my cue to go," Evan says, and leans down to give Casey a quick kiss. "Good luck out there."
"You too," she says. This time, she actually means it.
Besides, she's going to need all the luck she can get.
"So," Cappie says, once Evan's gone. "Are you ready to get our butts handed to us?"
"Do I have another option?" she asks, and he laughs. So, that would be a no.
"Hey, Rebecca," Beaver says, and Casey looks over in time to see Rebecca freeze. "Want to be running partners?"
"Not if you were the last Neanderthal on earth," she says. "Besides, I'm already running with Ashleigh."
"You are?" Ashleigh asks, and then, as Rebecca pulls her closer and shoots her a warning look, "I mean, yes. You are."
"Okay," Beaver says, shrugging. "I'll just have to watch your back, then."
Rebecca shudders, and Casey almost feels sorry for her. Almost.
"So," Cappie says. "Does that mean you and I are partners?"
Before she can answer him, there's shouting, the sound of the starter's horn and footsteps, and Casey sets off, leaving Cappie's question behind her.
-
"That's it," Ashleigh says, once they're at one of the midway checkpoints. "I'm done. I can't run any more."
"Sure you can, Ash," Casey says, opting for gentle encouragement.
Rebecca takes an entirely different approach.
"Get up, you big baby," she says. "We're almost there."
"I can't even lift my legs," Ashleigh protests.
"Oh, suck it up." Nice. "I'm not going to lost to those Tri Pi stripper-wannabees."
It's a little harsh, but it seems to do the trick.
"We're losing to Tri Pi?" Ashleigh asks, standing up a little straighter.
Rebecca nods. "I saw a group of them running past us when you were getting a drink."
"I didn't see -" Casey starts, and then catches herself. "I mean, yeah, they're way ahead of us.
Rebecca shoots her a dirty look.
"But not so far that we can't catch up," she amends.
"Come on, Ash," Rebecca says, a little more gently.
Ashleigh nods, determined. "All right. Casey, are you coming?"
She's about to say yes when she spots Evan, over by the water table, and she shakes her head. "Later," she says. "I'll catch up to you."
"Not likely," she thinks she hears Rebecca mutter, and she ignores it, dragging herself over to where Evan's standing.
"Hey, Case," he says, looking her up and down. "Tired?"
"No," she says. Not that it isn't perfectly obvious, but maybe if she keeps lying to herself, she'll start believing it.
"I haven't seen the KTs in a wile," he says. "Where are they?"
It's a good question. And not one she has an answer to.
"Shouldn't you be ahead of me by now?" she asks instead.
"I'm saving my energy."
"Yeah, sure."
"Okay," he says, "I'll prove it. Loser has to do whatever the winner wants for the rest of the day."
It's not much of a bet, but then, it's not exactly much of a competition. Casey thinks about the missing KTs, about the dozen ZBZs she knows are still behind her, and she's about to say no - but then she looks at Evan, smiling like he's already won, and she can't help herself.
"You're on," she says.
"Great," he says.
"Great."
Yeah, this is just great.
-
"I can't lift my arms," Ashleigh says, staring down at her drink like it's a hundred miles away instead of right in front of her. "Rebecca, lift my arms for me."
"You're pathetic," Rebecca says, but not like she means it.
"Casey?"
"You're on your own," Casey says. "I'm having enough trouble lifting my own arms."
"Is that right?" Evan asks, setting a lemon drop down in front of her. "And here I thought you were going to beat us easily."
Casey considers glaring at him, but it seems like way too much effort. "Hey," she says. "We weren't that far behind you."
Well, at least they didn't come in dead last. She's still not quite sure how the KTs managed that one; she didn't even see half of them finish.
"Whatever," he says. "You still lost, which means -"
Right. The bet.
"- You have to do whatever I say for the rest of the day."
"Kinky," Rebecca mumbles, but even that doesn't bother Casey. Maybe they're all too tired to get on each other's nerves.
"What's kinky?"
Great. Another intrusion by Cappie. Just what they all need.
"Nothing that's any of your business," Casey says.
"Poor old Evan here not pushing your buttons?" Cappie asks.
"Why don't you go crawl back under a rock?" Evan says, half-standing.
"Just because -"
"Okay," Casey interrupts, before Cappie can finish the sentence. Whatever he was gong to say, she's pretty sure it would be better if he didn't. "Hey, look, I need another drink."
And then she downs her lemon drop.
"I'll get you one," Evan says finally, still glaring at Cappie.
"Obedient, isn't he?" Cappie asks, before Evan's completely out of earshot. And then, once he is, Cappie glances over at the bar and straightens. "Well, I'd love to stay, but something tells me I have important drinking business to attend to."
Over at the far end of the bar, the KTs are doing shots. Of course.
Cappie's gone by the time Evan gets back, already shouting for another round, and Casey leans back into Evan as he hands her a drink.
"So," he says, leaning down so he's almost whispering in her ear. "About that bet."
"Unless you're about to suggest curling up in bed and watching Frasier, you're probably out of luck," she says, and turns around in time to see him smile.
"Actually," he says, "that's exactly what I was going to suggest."
Casey stands up, pressing a kiss to his lips, and passes her drink over to Ashleigh, who has apparently managed to regain control of her limbs. Enough to empty her glass, at any rate.
"In that case," she says, "I'm all yours."
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(Anonymous) 2011-08-22 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)- Charlot
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(Anonymous) 2011-08-24 01:38 am (UTC)(link)