Authors Note: Please review. I spent ages on this trying to make it perfect. Nearly 3 weeks, i hope it was worth it.
The Meeting
Her thought process was going about 100 miles a second. She was pretty sure she would have got a ticket if she was driving, if she could drive that is. As her thoughts started getting even scarier, she bumped into someone. "I'm sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going." The laugh that came after caused her to look up. "Oh. Yeah, me too. I was completely focused on the floor," she managed to say without stuttering.
"S'okay." He chuckled as she blushed, and she laughed with him, if anyone laughed it always started her off. Like her own addiction. "You have a cute laugh." His voice was musical. She giggled, an embarrassed smile on her lips appearing. "Er thanks." She didn't quite know what to say. She was on her way to visit her nan for the first time even though her nan had being here for a few months, it just wasn't the right time to chat up an insanely good looking guy or the right place. She had a fear of hospitals, and a fear of getting over fears, but she sucked it up. After all, her nan was most likely going to die. Cancer can do that to people. She shook her head and looked up at him. "I'm really sorry about bumping into you but I have to go. I've got to see someone."
She hadn't even turned the corner when he called out to her. He couldn't shout her name, he didn't know it, he did the next logical thing. "Wait! I have to see someone too." She stopped walking, waiting for him to catch up. "My grandma, she's seriously sick. Maybe they're in the same ward?"
"Maybe..." She Mumbled, but he heard her. She turned around to talk to him again, and found him straight in front of her. His lips on hers. She backed her head away as soon as she got over the shock, which was a lot sooner than him. She blushed and stared at the floor pattern. White square, white square, white square with a stain, white square... she kept on going over it in her head, white square, white square... "You have a cute blush too." This made her blush more. She only looked up to say sorry about the (accidental and technical not even a) kiss, but got lost in his eyes, his brown sparkling eyes. Her gaze lowered to his lips and he smiled. She smiled back and looked at his eyes again. "Your eyes sparkle."
"Yeh, i guess they do." He replied, but he sounded distracted. She knew he was staring at her. She licked her lips nervously. "Don't do that." She was confused. She shuffled her weight onto her left foot and licked her lips again before speaking, "Do what?"
"Lick your li..." He trailed off as she licked them again. He moved in. He kissed her, and she reciprocated, not even thinking about it. The lust just overflowed. They both could say it was their way of dealing with everything in their life, or some other little white lie, but they both knew it was just that, a little white lie. What they really were doing was kissing someone they liked, as simple as that. All the troubles were forgotten as they lost themselves in each other. His tongue just slipped in and hers automatically entwined them together.
"Wow." They both uttered when their mouths were (finally) free to talk.
"Maybe we should get to know each other a bit more before anything else like that happens." She stuck out her hand all business-like, keeping a straight face but her eyes were twinkling as she introduced herself. He laughed, but shook it just as seriously as she did, his eyes sparkling as he introduced himself. They both laughed at how silly they were being, which stopped as soon as they looked around. "Oh yeah. I forgot we're in a hospital. Feels weird to be happy when so many people are close to death." He nodded, agreeing with her. He didn't have the words to explain how he felt, she just thought he didn't understand, or care. "I have to go to my nan now. Where's your grandma?" She asked.
"This may sound stupid but i don't know. I mean i know where it is, i just cant say where it is. Does that make sense?" He shook his head, like what he was saying confused him, but she understood him perfectly, perfectly understood him after 20 minutes.
"Of course it does. Come on, let's go!" She said perkily. She swallowed, took a step forward and lead him away from where they bumped into each other. Away to get rid of her fear. The fear that takes over her life. "Okay," was his only reply. On the way they talked about all sorts of things, hobbies, pets, school and favourite everything from food to stuffed animal to pop singer.
"So where do you live?" She asked as they rounded another corner. She was getting nervous the closer they got to their destination. Whether it was from leaving him or fighting her fear, she didn't know. "Far away. I had to fly just to get here, then take a few taxis." She laughed, knowing that would have cost a lot and have being very annoying. "Oh." She paused, trying to think of something else to say. "So did you come from there just to see your nan?"
"Yes." He smiled shyly and she smiled softly back at him.
"That's sweet of you. So where about? Canada, USA, Mexico, Australia..?"
"First two, sort of. It's complicated. What about you?" He turned to look at her then quickly looked away, he hoped she didn't notice.
"I asked you first."`She stood in front of him, staring him down until he answered.
"You answer my question I'll answer yours," was his only answer. She stared, waiting for more but he just stared waiting for her to speak.
"Fine!" She crossed her arms over her chest. "Just so you know, complicated things can sometimes be helped when you share them with a stranger."
"I'll remember." He grabbed her hand and they sat at the bench that just so happened to be in the corridor. She ran a hand through her hair, then decided to tie it up. "Well, here. I was born here, I live about half an hour away, depending on traffic. This place is all I've known. My family always ends up with cancer of some sort and a different life-threatening disease and their last year of life is in this stinking place. Nobody lives." They sat in silence for a while until he spoke up.
"Okay, you answered, guess it's my turned. Here's why it's complicated. I was born in Texas, but when I was about 3 we all moved to Canada. Then my Dad got murdered by his best friend who was in love with my Mum. We moved towns to get away from the memories and stuff. About 3 years later my Mum married again and we moved to New York. And now we live in California, we visit Canada every few years and go to New York to visit my step-Dad's family for birthdays and New Year and stuff like that. My Dad's family blame me for the death, my step-Dad is a idiot only after my Mum's money and my Mum's an alcoholic spending all my inheritance. Good thing I make my own money. My sister is so naive sometimes, she has no idea what has being going on for the last few years. I think she's sleeping with our step-Dad too."
"That's awkward. My Dad died too. It's only me, my Mum and nan. Soon, not even my nan." She wiped her eye as he hugged her. She laid her head on his shoulder, just savouring the moment, remembering how comforting and kind he is/was, and then she'd have to say bye and go on with her life. She didn't want to, he was too comfortable, so unlike her life right now. She retracted from the hug and they just stared at each other. It was like a show-down. The first one to crack was him, he looked away and then back to her. "I guess we should go?" She nodded at him, as reluctant as he seemed to be. "Yeah, I guess."
They walked the short distance left. Her nan was next to his grandma coincidently. They were having an arm-wrestling match. "nan, do you think you should be doing that?"
"Oh I'm fine darling. Trust me, it's my body." She laughed at her nan, and he noticed it made her look so much more beautiful. So much more perfect, for him. "Come give me a hug. We both know I won't be around for long." She loved that her nan was honest with her. She couldn't take it if she believed her nan was going to survive when she wasn't. I would hurt her so much more, maybe even be the end of her life. It was already bleak and unclear. Her nan was honest, she loved that. She leant forward and wrapped herself into her nan's comforting arms. She sat on the side of the bed and chatted to her nan like they weren't in a ward and were just watching a boring television show instead. If only it was that easy. "Hey! Hello? Anyone there?" He blinked and shook his head. He got caught up watching her. It was certainly interesting, and very educational. "Yeah grandma?" He was polite, as always. "How about we talk? What's happened in your life so far?" A lot, he thought. He looked over to her to find she was so involved in her conversation she didn't notice anything, not even the fly not far from her eye buzzing annoyingly. It's safe, he thought. "Okay grandma. Whatever makes you happy."
"Now child. Be happy. I'm getting help. I'm not that close to death." He tried to smile, and sat next to her on the bed and spoke all about his life. She oohed and aahed at the right moments, and smiled sympathetically when he told her about his Dad. She was left out of the loop a lot of the time. She was his Mother's Mum and yet only he had visited her. His family were so out of the normal zone.
OOO
They walked out together to the parking lot once visiting hours were over. They had stayed for hours talking and laughing. They even played a game of chess, where he and her nan lost. She and his grandma tried to do a victory dance, she danced while his grandma waved her arms in the air and clapped. They couldn't get out of the bed for medical reasons, hygienic reasons, some type of other reasons. He drove her home in his smart car. She didn't notice, to busy in her dream-like world for insignificant details like his very expensive 2 seater car. It proved there was something different about him, but she was too busy in her dream-like world for insignificant details. They were both silent, pondering on the inevitable, the future, the past. Pondering didn't matter, it wouldn't change anything. Nothing could be changed now. The inevitable was about to happen. Her nan would die, and when she did, she would be ready for it. For the pain and grief. She would be ready and she would live through it, because she had too. Her Mum wasn't very strong, she wouldn't be able to live with losing her own mum and only daughter, it would break her.
OOO
She stared at the whiteboard behind the teacher. It was a question and answer session in her English class, she had no idea what it had to do with English and frankly she didn't care. It was an easy pass for her. Her name was called out and she stood up, waiting for the questions. They were pretty boring at first, 'What's your full name?', 'How old are you?' etc... "Climb to fame?" She just stared at the teacher, pretending she actually cared about what was going on. "Have you met anyone famous?" She nodded her head at her teacher, she figured acting dumb would help. "Who?" She wasn't sure if she should say this or not. They might not believe her. "Don't lie because we will be checking." She took a deep breath, then blurted out his name. The bell rang and she dashed out of the classroom. She went to a table and sat there thinking. 'I've met the one person in the world that everyone idolizes'. Once her thoughts ran out on her, she got her book out of her bag and started reading. "Your reading 'The Vampire Diaries'? Seriously, what kind of dork are you? Suppose you love Twilight too eh?" She ignored the voice, knowing damn well who it was. "Does it remind you of your Daddy walking out?" She ignored that too, it wasn't the truth so she didn't care about it. "Or did you lie about that the same way you lied about meeting..." She got up so fast, the other girl instantly stopped talking. "You know I don't lie," She practically growled the words at her. The other girl shrunk back, until she felt the protection of her friends around her.
"Of course you lie. Your the lying twisted dork-bitch."
"If you don't shut up right now you little slut, nobody will be coming to you for business." Anyone would of admitted she looked menacing, but the girl wouldn't budge. She stood her ground, foolishly thinking she could win this. "I'm not scared of you, you can't do anything."
"You should be, shouldn't you? I can break you." The girl shuddered as she remembered the past. "Do you want me to tell them? Do you? Or shall I?"
"N-n-no." The girl actually stuttered. I made her stutter, the thought was only fleeting.
"I think I should. Unless, of course, you shut up and leave me alone." The girl nodded, and pushed everyone away from her. "Good girl." She patted the other girl's head and then pushed her out the way and sat on her seat again. She looked up just in time to see the other girl speed walk away, with her followers all scurrying behind, trying to catch up.
She wasn't bothered again by anyone, at least not that day anyway. She did get some questioning stares, some questioning glares, not that she cared or even saw most of them anyway. She always did have her head stuck in a book, or the clouds. Everyone wanted to know what she did to scare the schools bully/slut so bad. Some of the toughest people in school were scared of her, and yet she could do something; the dork or rather the nerd could scare the toughest girl in school. It made most people mad, some proud, some confused. She still didn't care. She rarely did. That was why she had no friends, no acquaintances. She didn't bother to make friends, or anything. Her school was just a formality, something she was required to do. She wasn't however required to enjoy it or make friends. That was something she was grateful for, something she relished. The only thing it seems.
OOO
At her next English lesson, her nan had died the night before. She couldn't take the day off, it was too important. She was doing GCSE English coursework, or assessment or something along those lines. She sat at the back, ignoring everyone and being ignored by everyone. It was a cycle she was used to and didn't bother changing. She had no idea what had being going on for the past 30 minutes but was relieved when the door opened interrupting something she wasn't listening to anyway. It interrupted her thoughts though, which were getting pretty disturbing and messing up her mind. All eyes locked onto the boy at the door, but the boy only locked eyes with her. "Hey." He waved slightly and she smiled. Something good about today then finally, was her only thought. He always did stop her thoughts, she didn't know what it meant but was grateful for it. He walked up to the teacher, whispering words she couldn't hear or lip-read, then he pointed at her. All eyes turned to her. The whispers started, she was telling the truth, he knows her, he's so much hotter in person... The teacher didn't know what to do. The room was suddenly full of whispers, which made it seem like everyone was screaming the same thing. She droned them out. "You can leave." She stared at her teacher like she had suddenly turned into an alien. "Leave now, before I change my mind." She quickly left, not thinking twice about it. They hadn't leant anything anyway, despite the test they were supposed to be doing, and the whispers and pointing were annoyingly arrogant. She went from being completely ignored to being astounded by all the attention, because of him. Good or bad didn't matter, she didn't know the difference really anyway.
"Hey." He repeated himself once they were outside the classroom. She nodded at him, noticing everyone staring out the big window they would have to walk past. She ran ahead of him, spreading her arms like she was flying and ran into the grass outside. They laid down for a few minutes in silence, staring at the sky. She turned towards him to find him staring at her. "What?" She was self conscious, feeling her face and checking her clothes. "The sunlight hits you just right like that." He smiled softly at her as she cocked her head towards the sky, thinking through what he said. "It does?" was what she came up with as a reply.
"Yeah, it does." He smiled and she nodded, a small smile playing on her lips. She blinked a few times, waiting for him to stop staring. "Why are you here?"
"I wanted to see you." She nodded at him, letting his answer sink in before answering.
"Yes, but why? How did you know where I am?"
"I know people." He was watching her carefully, waiting for some kind of reaction.
"Huh." Her vision blurred and she wiped her eyes. She wasn't used to so much kindness. "I'm sorry." She looked at him, waiting for him to explain. "About your nan. I'm sorry she died." She took a big gulp of air before answering.
"It's okay. It's not like it's your fault. She had no chance of living anyway. I was ready for it." He shook his head at her. "Ready or not, it must of hurt." That broke her.
"Yeah." She nodded, her tears flowed freely down her cheeks now. She didn't bother wiping them, it was pointless. More would fill their space. "It hurts so much. So much."
He shushed her and hugged her, rocking her back and forth. Anything that might of helped. She cried on his chest, breaking down slowly. She had to be strong, always. At school, she was bullied for being weak. Her Mum can't handle her own pain, let alone her daughter's. Being strong was for the best. But now, she was letting it all out, on his chest. He just comforted her, telling her everything was going to be okay over and over again. She kept thinking how he was sounding like a repeating cd, going on and on saying the same thing, but it helped (more than she could or would tell him). She sniffled and wiped her eyes, cheeks and anything else that was wet. She laughed at how stupid she was being. He just smiled at her as she sorted herself out. She was used to it now, him smiling at her that is. His smile was nice, simple and sweet and made her feel nauseated in a good way. She wasn't sure what that meant either, but she was sure she should know. It was the same feeling she got when they kissed that one time, or he hugged her, anything really. But it didn't change the fact that she was still a shell, so unlike him.
He was famous, they only met by accident. She was a nobody. He was a somebody. "I'm a nobody. I'm a nobody. I'm a nobody. I'm a no..." She thought she was saying that in her head. "Hey now. You're not a nobody. You're a somebody. To me at least. And to your Mum, and your nan. You will be a somebody. A special somebody. A somebody who will do many great things, like writing books and stopping wars, rearrange the letters of the alphabet, name a planet. Whatever you want, you can do. Your smart."
"I shouldn't be. I don't listen in class, ever. I just seem to know the stuff the teacher's teach."
"Maybe that's the way you learn. By not really listening, maybe that's how your brain processes things."
"Maybe.." she agreed half-heartedly, just wanting him to be quiet for a bit. She needed silence, craved it. It was how she lived.
"I'm glad I met you, you know. You may have turned my life upside down, but..." She trailed off, unable to say what she meant, unable to find the words to describe it.
"I know what you mean. I've met millions of people in just the last year." He stopped because of her expression. It was unbelievable, but yet funny. Her eyebrows were slightly raised, her mouth open, her tongue just sticking out. He couldn't help it, he laughed and laughed until he seemed slightly crazy and still he was laughing. She couldn't understand why he was laughing. He only stopped when he had trouble breathing and the laughing hurt his stomach. "I'm...sorry." He gasped. "I...was trying...to be...serious." He stopped and started breathing for a bit, catching his breath. "Guess I failed." She laughed at him then, it was short but a laugh. He hadn't heard her laugh since that night. It was magically.
"Where was I anyway? I was trying to give a great speech.""Oh you were saying about the millions of people you met in the last year."
"Right. Okay. Well. In the last year I have met millions of people, mostly fans that are crazy or young and cute. But none have being like you." She cut him off then.
"I'm not a fan. I don't listen to music. I don't have a computer or a phone or anything electronic."
"I know. That was why I came to visit you. I was going to ring but learnt you don't have a mobile and your house phone was disconnected. But my point is..." He gently held her chin and moved her head so she was looking him directly in the eyes,
"Your amazing. Your unique. I'm so much better off for knowing you. Your kind, guarded, smart, funny, a great reader." He winked at her and continued with a list of qualities he loved about her. "I love all those things about you, they're what makes you, well you." She blushed and moved her eyes since he was still holding her chin. "Thanks." He slowly let go of her chin, "Your welcome." They smiled softly at each other, then laid down to enjoy the moment.