Fic: RPF: You Look Great When I’m F**ked Up (4/10).

[x_moonshine_x]

Title: You Look Great When I’m F**ked Up (4/10).
Author: x_moonshine_x
Pairing: Rupert/Emma.
Rating: R.
Warnings: Real person fiction, lots of angst, depressed!Emma, off the rails!Emma.
Word count: 2,661.
Summary: After a hard day filming, Rupert offers to take a battered and bruised Emma home, ending up with a little more than he bargained for when they get there. On the face of it, it all seems pretty simple, they’ve wanted each other for years, surely this is normal. But, unfortunately, he soon learns that there’s more going on than meets the eye and he's not entirely sure if he's the one Emma should be turning to.
Other Chapters: Here.
A/N: I have no idea if there’s a girl called Sam in wardrobe, but if there isn’t, there is now!

You Look Great When I’m F**ked Up
Chapter 4

One foot after the other, taking it steady, walking towards your death, blood pumping fast and furious in your--

‘CUT!’

Everyone on set jumped a mile as David’s voice rang out across the room. His shout cut through the silence like a knife through butter. Five seconds ago you could have heard a pin drop, but now – now – everyone was on tenterhooks, muttering to themselves as they waited to see what the problem was.

‘Sorry guys,’ David finally spoke again, his words laced with both mirth and apology. ‘But Dan, you look constipated…’

An extremely brief silence followed and then Rupert began to laugh as he laid eyes on his friend’s dumbstruck face. The rest of the crew quickly followed suit and from the red faces and smudged make-up dotted about the place, it was pretty clear they wouldn’t be getting in another take for quite some time. Way to go David!

By the time they got the scene wrapped, time was pushing on and a glance to the clock in make-up soon told him that it was almost eight thirty. He’d be lucky if he got home for ten now and originally they were supposed to be going out for a family meal. Things never went according to plan these days, there were too many obstacles stood in the way.

Deciding a change in his plans wouldn’t hurt; Rupert caught hold of Emma near the exit and smiled at her hopefully.

‘Emma,’ he started softly, ‘do you fancy getting something to eat with me?’

She stared to begin with, her Bambi eyes wide and unsure. Then the fidgeting began; a glance to the left, a tug on her sleeve, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. She was about to make an excuse as to why she couldn’t and he knew immediately that he wouldn’t like it.

‘I’m going out tonight. I’m already late as it is. Maybe we could do some--’

‘I could come with you!’ He really had no clue why he’d said it, but the words had just spilled from his lips like verbal diarrhea, completely unstoppable. ‘I haven’t been out in ages, it might be… nice?’

Christ, what an idiot.

Emma continued to stare, but then she shrugged her shoulders and glanced over toward her trailer. ‘OK, I guess,’ she responded. ‘My driver’s supposed to be taking me into London, so if you want a lift he’ll be in the car park in twenty minutes.’

Nodding, Rupert turned on his heel and pegged it back to his trailer. He had absolutely nothing to wear. Oh God, he’d have to ask Dan if he could borrow something and they were nowhere near the same size! Raiding costume was out of the question, not unless he wanted to go out on the town in dress robes anyway. Tempting, but he wasn’t that desperate yet. He needed shoes and a jacket and he needed them now.

It wasn’t going to happen either, it really wasn’t.

Pulling open the tiny wardrobe of his trailer, he was straight on his knees and throwing Converse left, right and centre. There had to be something other than trainers in there surely. But a minute or so of rifling soon told another story, apparently there wasn’t.

With a soft sigh, he got back to his feet, brushing the lint from the knees of his jeans and pulling out an army jacket. He couldn’t look the same as he did every other day or else Emma would kill him. Besides, celebrity or not, he doubted they’d let him into a top London club in a pair of dog eaten All Stars.

There was nothing for it; he would have to ask one of the girls in wardrobe for some help. If he managed to catch them before they left anyway.

Rupert made sure he had everything that he needed and then dashed over to wardrobe quickly, stepping through the double doors just as Sam pulled her messenger bag onto her shoulder. Hearing the doors, she stopped dead, her eyebrows lifting in amusement as she spotted him. ‘Rupert, hi, everything OK?’ she asked, her lips curling up into a small smile.

‘No…’ He shook his head, tucking his hands into his pockets. ‘Can I borrow some shoes?’

Thankfully Sam came through for him and ten minutes later he was greeting Emma’s driver, Nigel, like an old friend. Emma herself appeared shortly afterwards and as he glanced in her general direction, he developed a rather serious case of butterflies, having to do a double take. Dressed in a sheer black dress, waistcoat and high heels, she did a fantastic job of making him forget what on earth he’d been saying only seconds before.

when i grow up, fresh and clean
number one chick, when i step out on the scene

‘Ready?’ she asked, tilting her head curiously and flicking a lock of blonde hair from her eyes.

Assuring her that he was, he opened the car door and then slid in beside her once she was seated, a hesitant breath catching in his throat. He was mere seconds away from falling apart. It had been two weeks since they were last in a car together and his composure was no better, nor his attention span.

Beside him, Emma crossed her legs awkwardly and as Nigel drove out of the studios, Rupert very fleetingly caught her gaze. There was some kind of tension lingering in the air and he knew he’d need to say something soon. They could hardly drive all the way into London without saying so much as a ‘you look nice’ or a ‘went well today, didn’t it?’ to each other.

‘I wanted to--’

‘What are you--?’

He laughed and noticed her head drop into her hands as she did the same, blonde hair flying wildly. Yeah, this was stupid all right; they needed to get over it as soon as possible.

‘Sorry,’ murmured Emma.

A shrug and there was that silence again. He didn’t know what to say to her. Perhaps, just for now, it was better to stick with what they knew. Silence was golden after all. And what a stupid bloody expression that was.

when i grow up, i wanna be famous
i wanna be a star, i wanna be in movies

Eleven o’clock and Rupert led the way toward the bar, Emma and her friends filing in behind him. Eloise, the friend who had verbally abused him via the phone two weeks ago, was particularly quiet. Apparently he could make girls speechless upon occasion, despite what Dan was so insistent to make him believe. OK, not in the way he hoped, but still, it was a step in the right direction.

‘Oh fucking hell, I do not need this!’

He’d just picked up his first pint when Eloise decided to make herself known quite abruptly. She was staring across the room, face like thunder and clutching her glass so tightly that her knuckles had gone white.

Emma was doing a good job of ignoring everyone; body pressed up against the bar and eyes glued to the drink stirrer she was twirling around in her cocktail glass. She didn’t look particularly happy with his ongoing presence. But he felt better for being there. He was watching over her like an overbearing older brother somewhat, but perhaps after the way she’d been behaving lately that was what she needed.

It didn’t take long for him to realise that the girls weren’t interested in his input and upon downing his second pint, he leant in closer to Emma and asked, ‘Do you want to dance?’

Her eyebrows shot straight up into her hairline. ‘I have seen you dance remember,’ she said very playfully. ‘You might want to try asking someone who doesn’t know you’re going to step on their foot every ten seconds.’

‘I’m not that bad!’ protested Rupert.

Of course he knew how much he sucked, although that wasn’t going to stop him tonight. She got to do this all the time, he never did, there was a time and a place for behaving (being a boring sod more like it) and this wasn’t it.

‘Come on, Em, please…’

Emma’s reluctance didn’t last long and she sighed, shaking her head in disbelief as she placed her drink down. ‘Fine then,’ she muttered. ‘Come on.’

Rupert reached out for her hand, smiling as she clasped it and hopped down off her barstool. He then intrepidly led her toward the dance floor, ignoring the stares they were undoubtedly receiving. Neither of them could go anywhere anymore without someone bothering them; be it fan, some drunken idiot or a photographer.

Of course, Emma had it worse. But she would, she was the girl and her behaviour just lately only succeeded in encouraged them all. The photographers of London town were like rabid dogs.

when i grow up, i wanna see the world
drive nice cars, i wanna have groupies

As a general rule, he didn’t make a habit of dancing around to the Pussycat Dolls in the middle of a crowded club on a Friday night. In fact, no, he never made a habit of dancing around to the Pussycat Dolls; it didn’t matter where the hell he was.

She was in her element of course, a bright and infectious smile on her face and she moved her body in perfect time to the beat. It wasn’t long before Rupert found himself simply staring at her, transfixed to the way her hips rolled and her fingers danced through her hair. He wouldn’t be able to hold off not touching her much longer without the fear of combusting.

When she turned back around to face him, her snakelike arms dropped down rather suddenly and her gaze, glassy and unfocused in the strobe lighting, moved to the floor.

Caught red-handed and no amount of grovelling would get him out of that.

Emma didn’t move at first, her expression becoming anxious, but then she closed the gap between them and he suddenly found it quite hard to breathe. He was tempted to back off, although she didn’t give him time and put a stop to that, grasping onto the front of his jacket and looking up at him through her eyelashes. ‘I thought you wanted to dance with me,’ she said.

‘Aren’t I?’ he questioned, heart leaping rather abruptly into his throat as she tugged him closer still.

Shaking her head, she smiled up at him and murmured, ‘You’re not close enough. You look like you’re dancing with that girl over there, not me.’ Her tone was light, playful, she didn’t care.

The breath Rupert had been holding he let go again, a shaky laugh accompanying it. She was his friend, he needed to stop being an idiot and think they were anything more. What happened two weeks ago had been a mistake; she’d needed somebody and he’d been there, simple as. He was reading too much into--

Jesus! Maybe not!

His train of thought came to an abrupt halt as her hips ground into his. Friends did not do that, no matter how close or drunk they were. Especially them, they did not do that.

Gaze dropping downwards in embarrassment more than anything, he swallowed down hard. Emma’s not so subtle action had caused an almighty rush of blood to one less than forgiving part of his anatomy. Hopefully she wouldn’t notice though and he would be able to leave the club tonight with his dignity still in tact.

By the time she slipped away from him and headed back up to the bar, he’d managed to compose himself again and merely laughed to himself over the whole ordeal. As he looked around the club, he noticed a girl stood several feet away from him staring. She was alone, no sign of any of her friends around. Feeling a little unnerved, he quickly made a beeline to where Emma and her friends had congregated, avoiding any unnecessary conversation.

‘Why is he hanging around like some kind of lost puppy dog?’

He came to a stop not far from them upon hearing the comment, and then chose to conceal himself behind a small group of people so he could hear what was being said without being seen. Unsurprisingly, Eloise was the one leading the conversation, her head held high and hands placed on her hips.

‘He isn’t, he’s just…’ Emma trailed off and Rupert felt a little disheartened by her lack of enthusiasm.

‘Well, can you tell him to go away?’ Eloise again, voice loud and indignant. ‘How am I supposed to have a good night with him lurking around watching all the time? It’s like having my sodding brother following me around and you know how much I hate him.’

‘I can try, but I--’

‘I don’t care if you fancy him, Em, just get rid of him!’

Closing his eyes a moment, Rupert placed a hand to his head and took a step back; coming out tonight had been a mistake. Deciding in the end to simply save her the trouble and leave, he headed back the way he’d come, hands shoved into his pockets. The last thing he wanted was to hang around somewhere he wasn’t appreciated.

Emma caught up to him as he was stepping through the front doors and out onto the street. She came clacking sown the stairs, breathing hard as she called out, ‘Where do you think you’re going?’

Looking back to her, he sighed and shrugged his shoulders half-heartedly. ‘Getting out of your way, Em,’ he responded, throwing his hands up. ’That’s what you want, isn’t it? You can go and enjoy yourself now, don’t have to worry about me cramping your style and spoiling all your fun.’

‘You heard what Eloise was saying?’ she queried softly, making her way down the last of the steps, arms coming up as she hugged herself in the cool breeze. ‘Because I don’t--’

‘Don’t you?’ he cut her off sharply.

Out in the open like this she looked quite vulnerable, yet also quite confused at the same time.

‘No…’

‘I don’t know who you are anymore.’ Rupert couldn’t go on much longer without saying anything, so he decided it was time to let her know a few home truths. ‘Your friends, they’re not – why are you hanging around with them, honestly? You can do better, so much better. They’re judgemental and they’re bringing you down. You weren’t--’

‘They’re judgemental?’ Her sudden cry took him by surprise and he stopped talking immediately. ‘You might want to take a look in the mirror, Rupert. You’ve done nothing but judge me for the past couple of weeks. At least they take me for who I am!’

Shaking his head, he took several steps backwards, hands raking painfully through his hair. ‘But this isn’t you…’ he told her softly.

Emma looked to the ground, idly playing with the hem of her dress. ‘Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do,’ she answered. ‘We were never going to be the best of friends, Rupes, we’re too different. And deep down you know that as well as I do.’

‘No I don’t… because this isn’t you. Will you listen to yourself, Em, please?’

He was fighting a losing battle, that much was obvious. Who was he kidding, this was what she’d chosen and it didn’t matter what he said, she wasn’t going to listen to him. Continuing to talk would, quite simply, be a waste of time.

‘I’ll see you on Monday… OK?’ she whispered, holding his gaze a moment longer. And then she turned on her heel, heading back into the club, the doors swinging closed behind her.

And he’d officially lost… for now at least.

be careful what you wish for, cuz you just might get it
you just might get it, you just might get it

.x.

Comments

[eternal-moonie.livejournal.com]

This is an awesome chapter! I totally love it!!

[cloudysky.livejournal.com]

Thanking you! =)

.x.

[jkwriter.livejournal.com]

Awesome chapter! loved the club scene hehe