overture | newsies imagines

corey cott || sorry i'm late

[AH I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!]

You weren't entirely sure if it was the lack of oxygen being inhaled to your lungs or the absolute torture of your heart breaking in two. Either way, something within was throbbing, pushing the thick, salty tears to stream down your cheeks. You wiped at them hastily, though they only kept replacing themselves. Upon giving up at clearing away the mascara, you banged you fists against the wheel, causing a loud honking noise to emit from the vehicle.

You jumped, hitting your head off the top of your tiny care. You almost laughed at yourself, but when you remembered the situation, you only began crying more— if possible. What seemed to be the worst part of this, was the sun shining high in the sky, the blue air almost laughing at you and your heartbreak.

You didn't understand how giving someone your heart meant allowing them to crack it in half. Someone you loved— your girlfriend, of almost three whole years— cheated on you. With a simple man she'd gotten drunk all over at the bar. The same bar she was supposedly meeting up with an old friend at.

You cursed her name once more before slipping out of the humid car seat. Your purse slung over you shoulder and your car keys indenting reddened patterns in your palm, you stumbled into the bar with the thought of alcohol on your mind. You plopped yourself down on a lonely black bar stool, ordering two shots of whiskey and a cup of vodka mixed with cranberry.

You ducked your head back upon receiving the tiny glass shots, letting the burn swallow your tightened throat whole. You spun the other drink around with the thin black straw, staring aimlessly at the wall filled with different alcohol liquids. She was beginning to slip from your mind, your brain instead becoming jello. You felt yourself nodding off on your hand before someone sat next to you.

"Hey, baby," he practically yelled, slipping his arm around your waist, "sorry I'm late."

You straightened your spine and grimaced at his grip. You slid out of it and shook your head, "Who the hell are you?"

He leaned in to your ear, pressing a hand to the middle of your back, "My names Corey. Sorry if I scared you, but there's a guy over there checking you out and you look pretty drunk. I didn't want him to take advantage of you."

You almost smiled, before slipping a small kiss onto his cheek and giving him a hug. "Thank you so much."

He watched the guy out of the corner of his eye as Corey helped you stand from your seat. "Let's get you home. Did you drive?" You nodded, gripping onto his bicep as he guided you into the darkened streets. "Do you want me to just walk you home and you can get your car tomorrow?"

"Yeah, please," you tripped over your own feet in response. Corey laughed, wrapping his arms around you tightly. You clung to his waist, not paying attention at all to where he was guiding you two.

"So, uh, where do you live?" He spoke after a few minutes of silence.

"Well—" you began to recite you address when you remembered you lived with her. You simply couldn't go back there tonight. "I live with my ex-girlfriend, who I just found out cheated on my tonight. I'll just go to a hotel or something instead. Do you know of any?"

Corey shook his head and pulled you onto smoother ground. You were on the other side of the street now, practically falling asleep in his arms. "You can crash on my couch."

"Really?" You snorted.

"Really," Corey felt you becoming limp in his arms, so he stopped. His arms looped under your knees and around your back, holding in the air with ease.

To the rhythm of his strides and the beating of his heart, you allowed yourself to sleep.

___

The next morning, you were sprawled out on the strangers bed, cuddled deeply in a large comforting of bleach white blankets. The sunlight streaming through the windows made the aching of your puffy eyes burn more than they should of, and streaked through the room in yellow patterns on the floor. You set a shivering foot onto the warm carpet, taking notice of the different clothes you were wearing.

A few memories of the night before flashed through your mind; falling asleep in the strangers arms, hastily stripping in front of him to put on the offered up pair of clothes, the entire reason you had gotten drunk in the first place.

You wanted to laugh at yourself, but instead swallowed the spit down your hoarse throat and found your way to the kitchen. Corey was at the kitchen island, a cup of coffee and his phone in either hand. He grinned at you when you entered the room, pointing to the left over coffee. You found a Mickey Mouse mug and a silver spoon to stir the coffee-creamed concoction before plopping down next to Corey.

He spoke first, "How'd you sleep?"

"Like a baby," you laughed. "Thank you for letting my stay here, and for giving me coffee, and saving me at the bar. I promise I'm not usually so careless. I just had a terrible night."

"Its quite alright." He nodded.

A little while later, after awkward moments of silence and shuffling around his apartment, you were standing outside his door and clearing your throat for some kind of goodbye.

"So—"

"You—"

Both of you mumbled something at the same time, causing the blush across your cheeks to appear. He laughed and began again, "You mentioned earlier that you aren't usually as careless as you were last night."

"Yeah, yeah, I did," you bit down on your lip, shuffling from side to side on your sneakers.

"Well, c-could i get to know that girl?" Corey held his phone out to you, a new contact open with your name in it.

"Yeah, yeah, you can," you shakily entered your phone number into the keyboard and slid it back into his hands.

"I guess I'll see you later, then?" Corey stepped out into the hall with you, shoveling his hands into his pockets.

"See you later," you stumbled your way to the elevator, turning back around to wave at the stranger one more time. You leaned against the elevator doors as he winked at you from across the hallway. All of a sudden, he closed the apartment door and the elevator opened, landing you straight onto your butt.