Be Free, Be You

Steph sang through the song and I couldn’t have been more proud of her. Sure, she didn’t sound perfect, but it was a thousand times better than what Artie had her singing before. “I like that a lot more,” she chuckled softly.

“See what I’m saying?” I stood and walked over to her, Steph’s eyes were wide as I pulled her into a hug. “Just be you, sing what you want and know, don’t let us decide for you.”

She squeezed me back before we pulled away from each other and turned to Artie for the final verdict. He smiled widely at her and put his hands up in surrender, “Val’s right, I’m wrong. That was really good Stephanie.”

Steph let out a little squeal of happiness and did a happy dance. “Do you think it’s good enough for the Glee Club? They’ll let me in right?”

I inwardly sighed, gosh this girl was such a dork sometimes. “Steph, you’ll be fine.”

Artie nodded and agreed with me before training his eyes on my body with a wicked grin. “What are you going to sing for your audition, Val?”

I felt my body go rigid and I looked at him with wide eyes as I innocently asked, “What?”

Steph smiled at me too and plopped herself down on what I had inwardly deemed my side of Artie’s bed. “Yeah, Val, what are you sining?”

I thawed up enough to shoot her a sisterly glare, “None of your business, it’s a surprise.” I said with a hint of childish whining.

“Bull, you’re going to try and chicken out now that Coach Sylvester let you back on.” Steph said as she moved to lay on her stomach with her chin propped up by her hands.

I rolled my eyes and tried to turn to Artie for some help but he was shooting me a relative look from earlier and I did not want to open that can of worms again. “Okay fine, you win, I was going to try and skimp out, happy?”

Steph opened her mouth to respond but Artie cut her off, “No, you have to join Glee Club with us.”

“Yeah, it’s not a choice anymore, Valarie Louise.” Steph mocked from again, my side of the bed.

I scowled at her use of my ugly middle name and moved to send her a cutting retort but Artie’s wide grin and sparkling eyes caught me before I could, “What the hell are you smiling at?”

“You’re name is so adorable,” he bit his lip to hold in what I knew was going to be a goofy laugh and I just sent out an exasperated sigh.

“Oh my god, shut up,” I whined. Artie laughed again and motioned for me to come over to him however when I didn’t he came to me and pulled me down onto his lap.

“Think of how this sounds,” He leaned into my ear and whispered, “Valarie Louise.” He practically moaned my name into my ear and I instantaneously wanted to rip both my own and his clothes off. A blush decided to move onto my face as I was left breathless and sexually frustrated; I stood with crossed arms and tried to regain my composure which in turn was met by a loud laugh from Artie.

“Uh, what just happened?” Steph asked with a raised brow.

I sighed and put a hand up, “Nothing, lets get back to your lesson, Stephanie Louise.”

Artie raised his own brow, “You have the same middle name?”

Steph nodded, “Yeah, but I think Louise suits me, not Val.” I let out a sarcastic laugh in agreement. “But that’s not the point, what are you going to sing for the audition?”

I groaned and sat down on the air mattress that was still set up from the night before, “I don’t know, can’t I just be like that Asian guy and only dance?”

I received a disapproving look from the both of them as Steph replied with, “Mike sings too, oh lovely sister of mine.”

I rolled my eyes as a response and shrugged, “I honestly have no idea, I’m not good with singing by myself.”

Artie rolled his eyes, “Technically you were doing that already.”

I shot him a look, “Not really, they were judging Steph, not me. It’s different.”

I saw a look of recognition pass through Artie’s eyes and they softened, “You’re an amazing singer and dancer, babe, you’ll be great no matter what song you pick.”

“Oh my god he just called you babe!” Steph shouted and began to bounce on Artie’s bed on her knees with her hands out. “Are you two officially together now? Ah! Oh my gosh why didn’t you tell me last night!?”

I blushed again at both his words and Steph’s outburst, “I figured you’d just guess when you got here.”

Artie blushed a bit too but quickly got us back on track, “We could sing a duet together for your audition, if you don’t want to be alone.”

I smiled at him shyly and nodded as a reply. Steph let out an excited little squeak again before blurting, “You two are so freaking cute, it’s unfair.”

Choosing to ignore her outburst I grabbed his ipod and began going through the songs to try and find a good one, “Any suggestions?” Artie’s eyes lit up as he saw me going through his ipod and he lunged for it but just as he came within range I stumbled upon a playlist labeled Val and clicked on it to reveal a fifty-some song list of love songs.

A blush spread itself onto my cheeks and his hands dropped to cover his face I embarrassment, “You found it didn’t you?”

“Found what?” Steph asked and leaned from Artie's bed to look over my shoulder to see the list full of love songs. “Oh?”

Artie took the ipod from my hands and sighed, still half covering his face. “I know it looks really dumb.”

I let a half mocking, half impressed smile spread itself on my face, “What were you planning on doing with the playlist in question, Arthur?”

He blushed as I said his real name and bit his lip, “I have them on hand in my head all of the time if I ever need them...”

Steph and I first looked at each other then back to Artie in confusion, “On hand for what though?” Steph asked out loud.

“Well, if you were ever in a bad mood from a bad day or thought you looked ugly or we were in a fight...” He sighed again. “I would sing you a song from it and make you feel better.”

Steph and I looked at him in disbelief but Steph spoke first, “I’m so using this scenario in my next book.”

I turned to Steph but kept my eyes trained on Artie, “Lesson’s over, can you get yourself home?”

She looked at me confused but nodded, “Yeah I’ll call P-” Her voice faltered but before I could question it she recovered, “I’ll call Mom to come and get me,” and with that she left. Artie and I sat there until we heard a car pull up however many minutes later. Once we heard a car door slam and it pull away did we finally break the silence.

“Say my name,” Artie said, his voice was husky and he rolled himself over to me.

I looked at him confused, “Artie?”

He shook his head and pulled me closer to him, catching the hint I slid my legs around him and under the wheelchair handlebars. I blushed when I felt his heat but leaned in right next to his ear so that my breath tickled him and I could see the goosebumps flare as I spoke. “Arthur.”

He moaned out my name in return, “Valarie.”