A Strange Escape 3/14

[charminglygawky.livejournal.com]

Title – A Strange Escape.
Chapter – 3/14
Author – Charminglygawky
Pairing - Ryan/Colin
Rating – for the most part about a 15 for swearing. That may change. - er probably will... later.
Disclaimer – I own nothing but a very disturbed mind.
Feedback – Adored 
 
Part 3 of my insane fic - key point is Colin is English - did I mention that I have a deranged imagination?
As ever thanks to jerluvsdean for her help and encouragement.  XD 

 
A/N – Colin is dissatisfied with life, does Greg hold the key? 

Greg picked me up early the next morning, swanning into my flat and opening my hand luggage.

“What are you doing?” I asked, the idea of stopping him not even crossing my mind.

“Looking for your emergency credit card.... Ah here it is!” He pulled it from my bag with a flourish and glared at me. I looked sheepish band tried to protest, he silenced me with a look. “It’s better if you don’t have a safety net, I don’t have one, and I don’t want one and if you have one then I have one too. And that is not happening.”

“But...”

“Anyway, you do still have a safety net; you have darling Mummy and Daddy, who would send you money the instant you phoned to ask. Now don’t be a baby.” Then he picked up his bags and headed for the door, “you coming or what?”

I grabbed my bags and hurried after him.

The airport was crowded and noisy and uncomfortable, the flight was barely any better, I shuddered to think of what it would have been like if I had not upgraded us, Greg’s reaction of “Niiiccce” when we were shown our seats was not a good advertisement for standard class.

Probing Greg for information was totally hopeless he was tight lipped.

“Greeeegggg!” I whined hopefully.

“Col, I told you we will meet the guys at the motel tonight, Ryan’s picking us up from the airport so you can meet him then. Apart from that we’ll be playing it by ear, the guys have booked the tour not me; I don’t know where we are going.”

“Well who are ‘the guys’ then? You know that!”

He sighed loudly glaring at me “You’re worse than taking a kid, and I don’t suppose you’ll even take a nap will you?”

“I can throw a tantrum if you’d like.” I offered solicitously “It’d make it more authentic.”

He laughed and grinned at me “Alright, alright; Ryan is a giraffe who can hold his drink and can win any argument, and you’ll never know quite how he did it. Drew’s an ex marine who seems about as dangerous as a teddy bear, and just as cuddly. Brad is a heart-throb poster boy lookalike with a dirty mouth and Chip is a young man with a hell of a voice and a penchant for accidentally hurting people.”

I took a moment to try to process at least some of what Greg had just reeled off, I blinked carefully at him and tried to ignore his smirk, if I was going to be living with these people then I needed to at least try and learn something about them.

“So...” I counted on my fingers “there’s going to be six of us?”

It was my turn to laugh as Greg paused to count them himself “Yeah, there will”

“Oh,” I waited for another thought to cross my mind “what do you mean by ‘a penchant for accidentally hurting people’?”

He patted me on the head and ignored my attempts to swat him away “Awww, who remembered it word for word then?” he cooed.

“Shut up.” I growled “And just answer the damn question.”

“Ooo, testy, I like!” He winked at me before finally answering “Chip, yeah you’ll want to watch him, heart of gold but he is a bit too puppylike sometimes, he’s poked Ryan in the eye onstage, knocked Brad out with a pool cue and tripped Drew down some stairs.”

“So he’s clumsy?”

“No, strangely enough he isn’t, Drew is the clumsy one. Personally I think he simply fell down the stairs and Chip had nothing to do with it. Oh and Ryan is a bit gangly at times, he is a walking talking skeleton that is far too tall.”

“How tall?”

“6’6 I think, and as thin as a rake, he looks great onstage. I wonder if anyone’s managed to cut his mullet off yet.” He mused.

“So what do you actually do onstage?”

“Improvisation.”

“What’s that?”

“Theatre Sports, like acting warm up games, things all actors are taught to make them listen and learn how to interact but we take it further so that it is not the training tool but the act itself.”

“Oh, so how does it work?”

Greg groaned, “I didn’t sign up for twenty questions, you’ll see tonight. I’m going to sleep.”

And the bastard did. I thought back over our conversation, trying to see if I’d missed any information in what he had told me, hoping that it wasn’t too late to try to glean something from my memory. All I came up with was the knowledge that I really hadn’t held up my end of the conversation. He was right, I was like a kid asking all the questions.

But I was nervous damn it, I was taking a huge risk going with him, it was only natural that I would be worried. I hoped that I hadn’t annoyed him too much and spent the next few hours trying to stop myself from pulling all the little threads out of my complimentary blanket.

I failed.

I poked Greg awake when we were on the final approach. “We there yet?” He grumbled.

“Yeah, landing in ten minutes.”

“Then we’re not there then are we, wake me when we’re at the gate.” And he went back to sleep again.

It wasn’t long before we were sat on our bags outside the gate, me shivering and Greg muttering.

“Keep your eyes peeled.”

“But I don’t know what he looks like.”

“He’s six foot six; you’ll have a pretty good chance.”

“Has he got blondish hair?”

“Yeah.”

“Slightly curly with a small mullet?”

“Brilliant he hasn’t had it cut, where is he?”

“Over there chatting up some girls.”

“Oh.” He sounded disappointed “Not him then.” He followed my pointed finger then grinned “Ha! It is as well, what the.... Oi! Chicken!” he yelled suddenly making me jump.

The tall man turned and met his eyes grinning madly, the two girls he had been talking to laughed and wandered off. I winced in sympathy but he hardly seemed to notice they had gone. Instead he strode over quickly and enveloped Greg in a tight hug.

“Hey! Proop-dog. Long time man.”

“Stiles, good to see ya, oh and I’ve brought some entertainment.” He added as he stepped back and indicated me.

The tall man swept his appraising eyes over me in a most perceptive manner, it only lasted a moment but it felt like I was naked before the man. I was helpless to stop the slow blush that was spreading across my cheeks. A slow grin on his face matched my blush in intensity as he held his hand out.

“So I see, Hi I’m Ryan Stiles. The only one who ever actually does anything around here.”

I gratefully accepted his proffered hand. “Colin, Colin Mochrie. Erm, I don’t mean to pry but Chicken?”

Greg roared with laughter and Ryan flushed slightly “It’s his fault” he said pointing at Greg. Who merely laughed even harder, handed Ryan his hand luggage, and then walked towards the exit.

“Come on my little neon love chicken!” He cooed and off he sauntered.

Ryan sighed and looked at me “Why do I always forget what he’s like?” He asked plaintively.

“Because if you remembered then you would probably never see him again and then you’d miss him.”

“I was going to ask you how you got here, but I don’t think I need to, Greg just kinda collected you didn’t he.”

“Yeah.”

“Me too, years ago. I warn you now he doesn’t let go.”

“Good.” I said fervently.

He cocked an eyebrow at me “Well that needs some further probing.”

“You can probe him later Stiles, now come on let’s get this show on the road!”

Greg was back and trying to usher us towards the doors, me and Ryan exchanged a wry glance but went without complaint.

As I settled into the back of a beaten up old truck that seemed to belong to Ryan I had a huge smile on my face, I had been welcomed by at least one of the people I was to be staying with, I had been wondering whether or not I’d even get that. After all they didn’t know me from Adam, now I just hoped that the others would be so friendly.

They couldn’t possibly be as handsome, Greg had said that Brad was the poster boy lookalike, but surely he must have noticed just how bewitching Ryan’s green eyes were. They...

“Hey Col, stop smiling like a goof back there and pass me the map.”

Oh well, I thought as I passed it over, that thought process probably needed to be stopped anyway.

It wasn’t long before we pulled up outside a decrepit looking motel; I looked at the flaking paint with curiosity. I’d never in my entire life stayed anywhere with a rating of less than 4 stars. I viewed this place not with disgust but more as an adventure. Greg turned to look at me as Ryan busied himself parking. I met his eyes just as he nodded in approval. Apparently I wasn’t going to be allowed to act like a spoiled little rich kid.

“So, we’re sharing rooms.” Ryan started as he switched the engine off. “You were on your lonesome Greg but I guess you brought a roommate.”

“Not the first time we’ve shared a bed.” Said Greg gaily as he sallied forth towards the reception. I found myself on the receiving end of a wry look from Ryan, damn Greg.

“Have you ever tried to persuade Greg that the sofa is the usual sleeping place for guests?”

Ryan roared in response. “No, actually, I take it that it wasn’t very successful?”

“You could say that. He asked me whether I wanted to be the front or the back spoon.”

“And what did you say to that?” Ryan was now having trouble breathing he was laughing so much, his face had crumpled adorably as he tried to control himself.

“Can’t remember, but I was so close to drawing a line down the middle of the mattress and forbidding him from crossing it.”

“Did it work?”

“Yes it did actually, I was rather surprised.”

“I bet you were, come on let’s go in and introduce you to the others.”

On that he climbed out of the car and walked round to the boot... I suppose I mean trunk, and started heaving the cases out. I wandered around to help him feeling very nervous. What if they didn’t like me, what if they resented me, thought I was intruding of something. My thoughts were racing at a thousand miles an hour.

Ryan must have noticed my change in emotion; I felt a gentle bump of my shoulder and looked up into his green smiling eyes.

“Don’t worry, they’ll love you.”

We were standing close, side by side and he leant into me as he spoke so that our faces were close, I felt a shudder run down my spine and I forgot what I was nervous of as I struggled to keep myself from leaning back into him. He smirked and picking up Greg’s bags turned and walked towards the motel. I shook myself and looked after him in confusion. What the hell was that? And why had I enjoyed it?

No answers were forthcoming so I shrugged my shoulders and picked up my bags and followed him. He led me through the reception and over to the bar, I could hear Greg’s nasal tones long before I saw the group. They were crowded into a booth at the side of the room and Greg was centre of attention.

Ryan paused and pointed to the three men who were sitting with Greg.

“That’s Drew on the end, then between him and Greg is Brad. Chip is on the other side of Greg.”

“Thanks.”

Then Greg noticed us “ah there they are!”

“They?”

The man who had been pointed out as Brad turned around in confusion. A took a deep breath and walked forward. I could do confidence.

“Hi, I’m Colin. Greg kind of brought me along.”

Brad took my proffered hand politely “Brad.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Drew and Chip likewise held their hands out and greeted me. But it all felt rather stilted. I wilted slightly and looked to Greg for help. Help came but from a different quarter I felt a large hand thump down onto my shoulder and a deep voice suggest another round.

“Colin, what do you drink?”

“Er, my round I think.” I stuttered and allowed myself to be steered to the bar. “Well that went well” I muttered sadly as we went.

The hand on my shoulder tightened slightly before being removed “Don’t worry, they were just surprised. They’ll come round.” I shot him a disbelieving look and he grinned “Really, especially if you are buying the drinks!”

I thought of my five hundred pounds, now mostly changed into dollars and the small amount of Canadian I had and sighed. I was stuck out here so I had to hope that they started to like me before my money ran out. Glancing back to the table I saw the others in a tight huddle around Greg.

“Look, now they’re having a go at Greg. I shouldn’t have come.”

Ryan glanced over my shoulder and chuckled “I think it is Greg that is having a go at them, he’ll look after you.”

The thought was hugely comforting “But I don’t want to be looked after!”

Ryan’s chuckle sounded again. “Say Colin, you ever heard of improv?”