Tessa Brennan and Kaden Gray lead two rivaling glee clubs in New York City, and end up in rather tense conditions at one of their competitions.

Pairing: Tessa Brennan/Kaden Gray

Warning/s: N/A

Word Count: 3143

Tessa didn't want to go to the party. But at request of their choral director, the Muses of the Olympic School of the Arts were invited to the New York City Glee palooza, or whatever. Tessa didn't care much for these whole gatherings of other glee clubs in the city for two reasons: one, her school was on Long Island, not even in New York City so why did they count, and two, she wanted to avoid contact with one team in particular for the rest of her life.

            Tessa suppressed a groan. The Oracles of the Apollo Academy were an exceptional team, making them their rivals, but it was their captain that drove her nuts. Kaden Gray, the insufferable leader of the Oracles, always found a way to get on Tessa's last nerve. And it didn't help that he was hot as hell, either.

            "Oh, come on, Tessa, lighten up!" Tessa's best friend, Dale, said. The bronze-skinned girl hadn't dressed up much for the party, but still managed to look nice. Tessa guessed it was to impress one of the Oracles, a sweet blond boy named Reese, but she shrugged.

            "No, thanks, I'm good." Tessa flashed a sarcastic grin. She ran a hand through her long dark hair, probably adding more waves to the ones that already existed in the locks. Unlike her best friend, Tessa had at least dressed up: a black top, floral skirt, and flats.

            Tessa and her team made their way down the streets of New York, trying to find the location of the party. They heard it before they saw it, and soon enough, they stood in front of a small park, pounding with music and filled with people. Banners of various schools and groups hung around the park, and Tessa was able to spot the omega of OSA.

            "We should—" Tessa started, turning around to address her team, but they were all gone. She huffed a strand of hair out of her face in frustration. "So much for coming as a team." She grumbled.

            "Can't even keep your team together at a party, Brennan? I wonder how you'll manage them at sectionals next weekend." A voice drawled from behind her, one that send warning flags flying all around her and a skip in her heart.

            Tessa turned around slowly, folding her arms. Kaden Gray stood before her, his signature smirk on his lips. He too had dressed sharply for the event, which made Tessa hate him even more, but the button up and slacks didn't do too bad of a job on his broad figure. He held a cup in his hand, and his green eyes shimmered calculatingly in the evening light.

            Tessa narrowed her sea green eyes. "I don't see your posse," She made a big show of looking behind him for the entourage that normally followed him. "So I wouldn't talk if I were you, captain." She added sarcastically, trying to flounce past him.

            "Woah, woah, hold it." Kaden called, reaching out to grab her arm as she passed. His touch sent a shiver up Tessa's spine, but she forced herself to meet his gaze forcefully.

            "You have five seconds to let go of me. Five, four, three, two—" Tessa rambled, but thankfully, the green eyed boy let go of her.

            Kaden chuckled. "Would've thought you'd be nicer to me tonight of all nights, Tessa," he said, his smirk still on his lips. "Or are you always this bitter?"

            Tessa smiled enchantingly—or as her best friend, Mark, put it, "venomously"—and batted her eyelashes at Kaden. "Why would I be nice to a tryhard like you?" She said sweetly.

            Kaden hesitated, and Tessa could see the falter in his eyes. She was riling him up, which was good, but he seemed to get hotter when he was a little mad, which was bad.

            "Do you really wanna start a scene at a party?" He asked in a low voice, taking a step closer to her.

            Tessa closed the gap, and soon enough, they were nearly nose to nose. Kaden had about a half a foot on her, but she didn't care. "I don't, but looks like you do." She mused. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a party to attend." And with that, she plucked the cup out of Kaden's hand, took a sip, and stalked away.

            She meandered through the crowd, in search of at least one of her friends, and found Nova and Madi watching her expectantly. Tessa knit her eyebrows together, but felt like she already knew what was coming as she gravitated over to them.

            "What?" Tessa asked slowly, lifting Kaden's cup to her lips. She expected it to be filled with some sort of alcohol, just so she could have some sort of blackmail on him, but it was filled with pink lemonade. Who would've guessed?

            Madi, Tessa's half-sister, glanced at Nova conspiratorially and looked back to Tessa. "When will you and Gray get a room?"

            Tessa choked on the pink lemonade. Her eyes bugged out, and as she gasped for air, she gaped at her sister and her friend. "What?!"

            Nova grinned maliciously. "You heard her," She nodded to the cup. "That's his cup, right?"

            Tessa's gaze flicked to the red Solo cup in her hand and tried to strategize an excuse, but the looks on Nova and Madi's faces was enough to prove that she was busted. "I will neither confirm nor deny," She straightened her posture, her tone neutral.

            "Yeah, okay," Nova laughed, running a hand through her mane of curly dark hair. "I'm betting on at least a kiss by sectionals."

            Tessa felt her cheeks flush. "If by kiss, you mean a punch to the face, then sure." She tried. Her heart was pounding, but she couldn't tell if it was from the embarrassment, the wanting, or the hatred.

            Before the situation could escalate, Tessa swept away. She tried to get lost in the music, to allow the pulsating beat floating through the music into her body, but each time she tried, she only got lost in her head.

            It wasn't until she glanced through the crowd, unsure of what she was looking for, that her eyes landed on Kaden Gray, and her mind cleared once she saw he was looking back.

~~

            For the next week, Tessa was forced to see Kaden at rehearsals for sectionals. It seemed like everywhere she went, he was, even if she was back at school in her own practice room. Conversation about Kaden and what his team had in store circulated amongst her team, and Tessa tried her best to not throw a fit.

            Soon enough, the weekend approached, and the competition began. To Tessa's dismay, the Muses were scheduled to go on during the second half of the competition, and the Oracles were in the first act. She seemed to be the only one on her team that was put off by this, despite the general stress that came with competitions.

            "Remember," Tessa told her team as they walked through the back halls of the performing hall. Various teams were waiting backstage, warming up and practicing dance moves, but Tessa and the Muses were headed to the house. "No matter how good a team looks, we can be better."

            "I wouldn't be too sure about that," Kaden's voice drawled.

            Tessa whirled around so quickly she was surprised she didn't give herself whiplash. Standing in a doorway—lurking would be the better word, in Tessa's opinion—was the captain of the Oracles, donning their signature navy and red coat.

            "Kaden," Tessa acknowledged, forcing a smile.

            "Tessa," Kaden pushed himself away from the doorway. "Always a pleasure." He reached forward and grabbed Tessa's hand, bending down to place a kiss on the back of it. A strangled noise formed in Tessa's throat, but it was drowned out by the oohing of the people surrounding them.

            "We'll leave you two alone, then," Mark called over the hubbub. Tessa didn't turn to see her team retreat, but she could hear the whispering and heels clacking against the tile of the hallway. Her focus had tunneled into Kaden, who had straightened back up and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his gray dress pants.

            "Oh, clever move," Tessa said in mock impression. "They'll be spreading rumors about us by tomorrow."

            "So? Let them talk." Kaden shrugged. "It's all the same to me."

            Tessa blinked, watching the green eyed boy before her. "What are you talking about?"

            Kaden smirked, chuckling a bit. "Oh, Tessa. It's like you have no idea." He stepped closer to her, and Tessa tried to back away, but she had a wall directly behind her. "Don't you know I'm crazy about you?"

            Tessa's conscience began to scream and run in circles in her head, and before physical Tessa could do the same thing, she met Kaden's gaze forcefully. He was inches away from her, so close that Tessa wondered if he could hear her erratic heartbeat.

            "Yeah, okay, and I'm Alexander Hamilton." Tessa deadpanned. She tried to shuffle her way out of the awkward position, but Kaden had her trapped shortly by pressing his hands on the wall on either side of her. He loomed down, his face centimeters from hers.

            "Tessa," he breathed. "I'm serious."

            Part of Tessa wanted to believe him, to leap into his arms and kiss him to her heart's desperate content. However, the other, more rational part of Tessa stood her ground. She stared Kaden down, and she remembered the order of the performances. Kaden's team was the last act of the first half, with Tessa's team following them as first after intermission.

            He was trying to distract her, to get in her head so he could win.

            "I see what game you're playing here, Gray, and it's not going to work." Tessa jabbed a finger at his chest, but it was like trying to push a wall. Was he really that built?

            Kaden knit his eyebrows together, but before he could even try to defend or refute her statement, a stage manager walked into the hall and the leader of the Oracles leapt away from Tessa. "Kaden Gray, you're on in two." The manager shot a wary glance at Kaden and then Tessa, then disappeared behind the door backstage.

            Kaden turned back to Tessa, but the dark haired girl was already storming down the hallway to the house of the performing hall.

            How dare he? How dare he try to manipulate her feelings—nonexistent feelings—like that? He was despicable! No, he was nefarious! No, he was...he was...

            Tessa groaned as she walked into the house, earning a look from one of the ushers at the entrance. She ignored him and walked past him, searching for her friends in the crowd of audience members. She spotted Dale and Mark among the other Muses—why did they choose the front row? Ugh—and marched over to them as soon as the audience applauded the group that had just finished.

            Dale glanced over as Tessa sat down. Her black dress accented her gold eyes, which were filled with amusement. "What happened with you and Gray?"

            "Did you use protection?" Mark chimed.

            Tessa didn't answer either of them. She just stared at the darkness of the stage, listening to the muffled hubbub of the audience as they settled and the scuffle of dress shoes onstage.

            "Wait," Tessa started. "What team is—"

            The answer came to her in the whistles and acapella voices on stage. The lights came up, and Tessa saw the red, white, and navy uniforms of the Oracles. The spotlight shown down on the center, where their captain, Kaden Gray stood, whistling along. He scanned the crowd, and in half a second, his eyes were locked on Tessa.

            "Can you blow my whistle, baby, whistle, baby, let me know. Girl I'm gonna show you how to do it, and we start real slow," Kaden sang, his eyes flicking from the crowd to Tessa every few seconds as he and the Oracles sang along and danced.

            Tessa's eyes widened, and the strangled cat-like noise from earlier returned. He was not going to address this song to her, right?

            She was wrong.

            Throughout the entire performance, which was perfect in multiple ways, Kaden snuck glances at Tessa when he could. He kept that insufferable smirk on his face as he executed on point dance moves, hit high notes and held them, and directly after he executed a backflip.

            "I knew he was good, but I didn't know he was this good," Dale whispered in astonishment.

            Tessa slouched down into her seat even further, as if she could disappear. She tried to look away, but it proved to be really hard to ignore the extremely attractive captain onstage when he was singing in his perfect voice and moving around with confidence.

            "Here we go!" Kaden and the rest of the Oracles sang in finale, standing on the back steps of the stage in perfect sequence. His smirk didn't leave his face when the audience erupted into a standing ovation, not even as he looked directly at Tessa in the front row and his smile seemed to grow.

~~

            As soon as intermission was announced, Tessa began her warpath. She shot up from her seat and tore down the aisles, flying into the back hallways. She could hear the voices of Dale, Mark, and the others getting up to follow--they were in in twenty minutes anway—but Tessa couldn't care less. She had a captain to pulverize.

            Her look must have been pretty intense, because as she forged her way backstage and spotted Kaden surrounded by a few of his teammates, drinking a water bottle, the boys backed away in fear. Kaden turned, and his smirk lit up his face.

            "Well, if it isn't Tessa Brennan," He drawled. "How'd you like that performance, doll?"

            Tessa's heart flipped, but she was seething with rage. "How dare you?" She asked in a gravely calm voice.

            Kaden quirked an eyebrow, as if he had no recollection of what had happened before his performance. "Sorry?"

            "How dare you do that? Flirting with me, trying to distract me from my performance! You didn't see me doing that to you! No, you, Kaden Gray, are possibly the biggest, most manipulative, untalented coward I have ever had the misfortune of meeting in my seventeen years of existence!" Tessa burst, her voice carrying in the echoing back of the stage.

            Kaden's eyes seethed with something dark. "Oh yeah?" He said intimidatingly, stepping towards her.

            "Yeah!" Tessa exclaimed, fury etched onto her face.

            "Well, you're the most pathetic, hideous, incapable excuse of a performer that I've ever had the misfortune of viewing in my life!" Kaden responded, his voice just as loud.

            The two engaged in a screaming match, and their respective teams tried to separate them from one another, but to no avail until a stage manager walked backstage.

            "Hey!" He bellowed, his eyes sharp with aggravation. "Continue to scream back here and you're both disqualified!"

            Kaden and Tessa tried to protest, talking over one another and pointing at one another, but the stage manager had none of it. "Not another word!" he jabbed his finger at the door behind them.

            Tessa shot a glare at Kaden, but stomped out into the back hallway. She figured Kaden was behind her, but as she stormed down the hall, her heels clacking angrily, she felt a hand wrap around hers and pull her the opposite direction.

            "Who—let go of me before I beat you to a pulp." Tessa said in a deathly tone as she discovered that her captor was Kaden.

            "Just be quiet for literally five seconds, okay?" He hissed back to her. He scanned the hallways, and pulled her towards a closed door.

            Tessa's eyes widened, and she tried desperately to get Kaden to let her go, but the kid had a vicelike grip. "If you try to lock me in there, I swear to god—"

            "I'm not going to lock you in there! Jeez, how bad of a person do you think I am?" Kaden responded as they neared the door. Maybe it was Tessa's imagination, but she thought she could see a flicker of hurt in his eyes.

            Before Tessa could react, Kaden swung the door open. The room turned out to be a janitor closet, that probably was nine square feet in entirety. Mops and buckets and shelves made that area even smaller, and as Kaden swept her inside and shut the door behind her, they were practically pressed up against one another.

            "What is your problem?" Tessa asked.

            "What's my problem?" Kaden asked incredulously. "How about what's your problem?"

            "My problem?"

            "Yeah!"

            "You know my problem!"

            "Oh, please!"

            Tessa stamped her foot on the ground and looked back up at Kaden. "You're insufferable."

            "Well, you're incorrigible." Kaden scoffed.

            "You're obnoxious!"

            "Do you want to kiss me as much as I want to kiss you?"

            "Yes!"

            Within an instant, Tessa's lips were on Kaden's, a passionate kiss blooming between them. Tessa's hands flew to the back of Kaden's neck, her fingers entangling in her perfectly tousled hair. Kaden made some sort of sound of approval, and Tessa smiled into the kiss, her breathing turning slightly ragged as his hands snaked around her waist.

They were pressed up against one another, pressing passionate kisses to one another's lips without a care in the world. The kisses slowed, becoming softer, more tender, but they pulled away when they both needed to breathe.

"You have no idea," Kaden took a breath, his green eyes electric in the low light. "How long I've waited to do that."

Tessa smirked. "Just shut up and kiss me."

"Gladly."

Their lips reconnected, and it felt like some piece in the puzzle in the grand scheme of things fit together in that moment. Tessa smiled into the kiss, savoring the feeling as if it Kaden's kisses were some sort of drug that she wanted more and more and more of.

Their moment was cut off by the sound of the door opening, and with Tessa's hands in Kaden's hair, and his holding Tessa to him by the waist, they turned to the light filtering into the closet.

Nova stared back at them, a devilish grin on her face. She stepped back from the doorway, looking down the hall. "Madi, you owe me five bucks!" And with that, she winked at Tessa, shut the door, and paraded back down the hall.

Tessa turned back to Kaden, and for seemingly the first time in forever, his smirk was replaced by a genuine smile.

"She'll spread some rumors." Tessa said, smiling.

Kaden only laughed, a sound that sent her heart rate further up than it was already. "Let her," He said softly, before pressing another soft kiss to Tessa's lips.