IT'S MAY!!! This is an Olivia and Emma friendship, with slight hints of Olivia/Fidelio in it. It's kind of a drabble fic. And the first name in each thingy that tells who's talking is the first person speaking. So if it says -Fidelio Gunn and Olivia Vertigo-, that means Fido's talking first.
Disclaimer: All things Charlie Bone belong to Jenny Nimmo. Yeah, go ahead and say it. It sucks to be me.
Summary: Olivia has always had feelings that were 90% of the time right (just ask Em) and Emma isn't always as great a listener as everyone thinks she is (just ask Liv) and the phone's just about the best invention ever invented (just ask anyone).LivEmFriendship
-Olivia Vertigo and Emma Tolly-
"You know what, Em? This year is going to be a good year."
"In the name of all things holy, it's Bloor's Academy. What makes you think that?"
"Isn't the answer obvious? I have a gut feeling."
"… I can't argue with that."
"I know you can't. But it's nice to hear why you can't, if you could oh-so-kindly tell me, please."
"Since you're practically ready to beg at my feet, it's because your gut feelings are right eighty-five percent of the time."
"It's ninety-five percent of the time, actually."
"Uh, no, it's eighty-five percent."
"No. Ninety-five percent."
"Eighty-five."
"Ninety-five."
"Eighty-five."
"Ninety-five."
"Ninety."
"Fine… but it's still actually ninety-five."
"Olivia…"
"Okay, ninety."
"Good. Anyway, it's because you're right ninety percent of the time. Happy?"
"Very."
"Good. But you know this could be part of the ten percent of the time you're wrong."
"Actually, it's fi-"
"Olivia."
"Sorry, you were saying?"
A pause.
"Oh, right. Sorry. But, honestly, I'm usually never wrong, and you know it, Emma."
"You can still think up a better reason than 'I'm usually never wrong.'"
"Fine, maybe it's because we're fifteen, and all that stuff that happened when we were younger is done and over with."
"Yeah, I guess…"
"And think about it, it's a fresh start. Actually, a lot of things are a new start. We have new classes, new teachers, new subjects, and just a new everything, pretty much. Well, I guess that's why they call it a new year. But it's not, because the new year won't start for another week. Well, technically the new school year. The New Year is in January and it's not as new as the new school year, don't you think?"
"… Olivia, why do I think there's something you're trying to tell me without outright saying it?"
"I'm not sure, maybe you're being paranoid?"
A pause.
A sigh.
"Or maybe it's just because you're Emma and you understand just about every single thing in the world?"
"Exactly. So do you want to clue me in, or do you need me to come over and force it out of you?"
"Whoa, would you look at the time? Mom needs me to… do… stuff! Have to go, Em, bye! Love you!"
Dial tone.
-Emma Tolly and Charlie Bone-
"Charlie, my dear friend, would you do me a favour and call Olivia to tell her I refuse to talk to her until she tells me what her gut feeling really is? Thanks."
Dial tone.
"… Uh, sure?"
-Charlie Bone and the Vertigo's Answering Machine-
"Why am I doing this again?"
"Hello, you've reached the Vertigo's. Sorry we're not in at the moment, but leave a message after the beep and we'll make sure to call as soon as possible. Bye, and have a nice day!"
Beep.
"Um, hi. This is Charlie Bone, Olivia's friend? Our friend Emma wanted to tell Olivia that they apparently aren't on speaking terms until Olivia tells Emma… something. I think it was about a feeling? I'm not sure, Emma just called and told me to tell Olivia, and I'm not even sure I should be saying this in a phone message… Uh, I'm going to hang up now. Bye, and sorry for bothering you all and using up space on your answer-"
"We're sorry. Your message has reached its maximum limit. To send message, press four. To replay message, press five. To make a new message, press six…"
Dial tone.
-Charlie Bone and Fidelio Gunn-
"Uh, Fidelio? What do you do when a girl calls you to tell you to tell her best friend that she's not talking to her and then when you call, you have to leave a message and then the answering machine cuts you off to tell you your message was too long and then you end up not leaving the message period and knowing that the girl who told you to do that, no matter how nice she is, is going to kill you?"
A pause.
"Fido?"
"… Could you repeat that in English?"
-Fidelio Gunn and Olivia Vertigo-
"Hey Liv. Did you know Emma's not talking to you anymore?"
"Yeah, I kind of figured after I oh-so-abruptly hung up on her."
"Which happened because…?"
"Whoa, would you look at the time? Mom needs me to… do… stuff! Have to go, Em, bye!"
"… I'm Fidelio. And I'm guessing that's how you got out of your conversation with Emma."
"… Right. For both statements."
"Thought so. For both statements."
"You need to think so for the first statement? Fidelio Elliot Gunn, are you having an identity crisis and not telling anyone?"
"No. And didn't you need to leave?"
"Yes, yes I did, actually. Bye!"
"Wait, why do you seem grateful? I'm not that bad to talk to, am I?"
"Like I said, bye!"
Dial tone.
"Why must I blush everytime he says a single word?"
-Olivia Vertigo and Emma Tolly-
"So… are you going to talk to me?"
A pause.
"Okay, I know, I deserve it. But seriously, will you?"
A pause.
"Emma! You know you're just wasting your aunt's phone bill by not saying anything."
"Hm."
"I GOT A SOUND! YES!"
"I'm still disappointed. But you brought my aunt in this."
"I GOT TWO SENTENCES!"
A pause.
"Alright, I am done being happy I got you to talk and am going tell you my feeling."
"I'm listening."
"Okay, and don't judge me for this…"
"Do I ever?"
"No…"
"Then you're worried because…?"
"I honestly don't know."
"Just tell me."
"Alright. I feel like I'm going to meet someone this year, but not in the way where it's like you're meeting them for the first time."
"By meet someone, you mean…?"
"Someone."
A pause.
"Em… I don't like that pause."
"Olivia's got a boyfriend!"
"Hey! Not yet!"
"Livvie and… someone, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
"You're a horrible singer."
"First comes love…"
"Who said anything about love? I only meant like!"
"Then comes marriage…"
"Okay, I can't even legally marry for another three years!"
"Then comes the baby in the baby carriage!"
"Funny, because right now, you remind me of a baby."
"I'm telling everyone!"
"Emma Lynette Tolly, you do that and I will personally paint ugly unicorns all over your cape."
A pause.
"Olivia Felicity Vertigo, you. Wouldn't. Dare."
"Try me."
"… I'll call you back."
"Going to hide your cape?"
"Yes."
-Emma Tolly and Olivia Vertigo-
"After long and hard thinking, I've decided to actually listen to you now… and I hid my cape for safety measures."
"You must have really thought long and hard about that decision."
"I did. But how do you know?"
"… Because it's taken you three days to call back."
"Well, I didn't think about it the whole three days. Just two days and three quarters."
"It actually kind of disturbs me that I was on your mind that much."
"You'd want to be on the mind of someone else, now wouldn't you?"
"Hey, Em? I already know you've hid your cape under your pillow."
A pause.
"You know, Aunt Julia's calling. I'll call you later."
-Olivia Vertigo and Emma Tolly-
"Okay, so I've done some obsessive thinking of my own."
"About someone."
"Cape. Under your bed. I know where your paintbrushes are. And don't hide it again until we're done. I'm getting tired of having three minute phones conversations where we say nothing that helps me understand my gut."
"We have science class to understand your gut. Unless you have a gut disease. Then you go to a doctor. Or the internet, which happens to be a wonderful thing."
"Oh, har har, Emma. You badly want to hide your cape again, don't you?"
"… How do you know that? And where I hide it, for that matter?"
"Gut feeling."
"Ah."
-Olivia Vertigo and Emma Tolly-
"Alright, promise me, right now, that we are not going to mention your Bloor's Academy uniform cape and the ugly unicorns I may or may not paint on it so I can get this out, because honestly Emma, this is the fifth time I've called you this week to try and tell you about my gut feeling, and all you know is that I think it's going to be a good year and that I think I'm going to meet someone that I already know!"
"I promise…"
"THANK YOU!"
"But can I call you back? I'm eating right now. Bye!"
Dial tone.
A frustrated scream.
A crash.
-Emma Tolly and Olivia Vertigo-
"Okay, I called back. Happy?"
A pause.
"And I'm ready to listen, too."
A pause.
"And I'm not hanging up unless you need to."
A sigh.
"Okay, so I'm not totally sure what to make of the feeling. I have a feeling I'm going to meet someone, I know that for sure. And he's going to be in a lot of my classes. Maybe all. That'd be so amazing! Actually, it might be someone I already know. That'd be… wow."
"Anything else."
"… And for some reason, I keep staring at the pictures in my room."
"The ones on the wall that we decorated together?"
"Yep."
"How often do you look at them?"
"All the time I spend in my room."
"And that would be…?"
"… I've barely left my room for two days."
"Then I think your feeling has something to do with the pictures."
A pause.
"Livvie?"
"I'm just really happy that we're actually talking."
"We talk a lot though, you know that. After all, you've called me practically everyday this week. Or I've called you."
"No, I mean talking as in having one of our practically hour-long conversations."
A smile on one side of the phone.
"I missed that too."
A smile on the other.
A crash.
Half a scream.
Dial tone.
"Me and my big mouth."
-Olivia Vertigo and Emma Tolly-
"What was that?"
"That was me falling off a ladder."
"You fell off a ladder? What in the world were you doing on a ladder?"
"Auntie Julia got some new books that she asked me to put away. Some were supposed to be on higher shelves, so I had to use the ladder."
"You decided to use a ladder while you were talking to me on the phone?"
"… Alright, I admit it wasn't one of my smartest ideas, but oh well!"
"Are you okay?"
"Fine, actually. I finished shelving the books, and my leg hurts a little, but that's okay. Now you have my full and undivided attention."
"I'm afraid that you just jinxed it."
"Alright, so last thing we talked about was the pictures, right?"
"Correct."
"Is there any specific pictures you keep looking at?"
"Um… The one's from my birthday when we all went out for lunch. And there's some from when Fidelio got accepted to that orchestra thingy. And a few from when you, me, Charlie, Fido, and Gabe had to do that science project we did last year. And… oh…"
"'Oh?' What do you mean 'oh?'?"
"I just noticed a pattern in the pictures, and I'm not sure what it means…"
A pause.
An impatient cough.
A nervous laugh.
"Well, um, you know, it could just be nothing and I'm making a big deal, you know how I -"
"Olivia, what was it?"
A pause.
A sigh.
"All the pictures have me and Fidelio in them. Is that normal? Please tell me that's normal."
"I don't really think so if you've stared at pictures of you and Fidelio for two days straight."
"Hey, I've taken breaks!"
"Well, I have an idea as to what it means."
"And…"
A gasp.
"Um, Livvie, what was that?"
A pause.
"Livvie?"
A pause.
"Liv, you there?"
A pause.
"Olivia?"
A pause.
"Olivia Felicity Vertigo, you say something or I -"
"Shut up, Em! I'm having an epiphany!"
"… You could have just said so."
A pause.
"Oh my God!"
"What?"
"No way!"
"What?"
"That can't be right, that just can't. Be. Right."
"What?"
"No, this is NOT happening!"
"WHAT HAPPENED?!"
"… I just realized that I like Fidelio! Oh God, this is so screwed up. I like Fidelio! That's just wrong! It has to be! I mean, there's no way -"
"You figured out you like Fidelio now? Psh, gosh, Livvie, keep up, will you? Everyone else knew a long time ago."
"… No one bothered to tell me?"
"We thought it was cute to watch. We didn't want to ruin it."
"Well, little-miss-I-knew-this-before-you-did, what do I do now?"
"I don't know, maybe the obvious thing, and ask him out?"
"… I've realized I've like him for about two minutes and you want me to ask him out? Besides, what about that someone I'm supposed to meet? Me liking Fidelio, and especially me going out with Fidelio, would totally screw that up!"
A pause.
"Well, that's not good."
"What?"
"Guess who decides to call two minutes after I realized I like him?"
"Well, in my opinion, you realized it two minutes ago. You've liked him a lot longer, trust me. And second, pick it up!"
"I'll call you back, I promise!"
"Just answer the phone. Bye!"
Dial tone.
"I'm hoping for encouraging words that will make me not nervous about answering the phone. Gosh, Em, thanks for leaving me with 'just answer the phone.'"
-Olivia Vertigo and Fidelio Gunn-
"Hey! Sorry about that, I was talking to Emma."
"Oh, it's no problem. It's not all that important anyway. I just wanted to compare schedules, but I decided I didn't really want to make four phone calls to you, Charlie, Emma, and Gabriel, so I'm just going to send it over an e-mail."
"And you decided this after while you were calling to me?"
"… Yes. Is there something wrong with that?"
"No, not really. I just think it's kind of strange you have the idea after you start the phone calls."
"… Okay, that's partially also because I just didn't want Felix to use the phone because he hid my violin case again."
"Okay, I personally think that's a horrible punishment and you need to take lessons to give better ones. But hey, whatever rocks your boat… Is that the saying? I hope so, because it would just suck if it wasn't, and I'd have made a complete fool of myself. But it'll be just our little secret, right?"
A laugh.
"And if it isn't?"
"Well, Mr. Gunn, I'm very sure if I asked you very nicely, that it would be."
"Of course. Anything for you, Liv."
"Aw!"
A pause.
"Um… what am I supposed to say to that?"
"Huh?"
A pause.
"Oh! My bad, I wasn't supposed to say that out loud, so how about we just change the topic. Shall we?"
"I think that's the saying."
"… Pardon me?"
"You asked me to change the topic, and before you asked me if it was the saying, so I just said that, yes, that is the saying to change the topic… I think."
"You think you did that to change the topic?"
"No! What I meant was -"
"Don't worry, I know what you meant."
"Then you added that last little thing because you like to make things difficult for me, is that it?"
"Well, yeah. You make things difficult for me."
"Like how?"
"You know…"
"No, I don't."
An awkward cough.
"So, topic change. You really should let your brother use the phone."
"No."
"It might be important, you know."
"Yeah, well, I'm talking to you. And that would be rude to just hang up. And I want to talk to you."
"Really? That's so sweet!"
A pause.
"… When you say something like that, give me fair warning as to what I should give as an answer. I honestly don't know. Guys don't do that kind of thing."
"Well, you have three sisters."
"That I barely ever see."
"… Fair enough."
"Can you hold on a second? My mom's asking me something."
"Take as long as you need. Seriously, as much time as you want."
"Okay then…"
A pause.
Whispering in the background.
"Hey, sorry about that. My mom needs the phone, and I'm actually willing to give it to her, so I'll call you back? Or I can just send you my schedule along with everyone else."
"Alright, bye!"
Dial tone.
"Uh… bye?"
-Olivia Vertigo and Emma Tolly-
"Can you believe it?! We spent approximately ten minutes on the phone! Yeah, sure, it was filled with awkward pauses and one big pause where he was talking to his mom, but still! Just… wow."
A pause.
"Oh my gosh! I'm swooning, or whatever it's called, over him! I'm not supposed to be!"
A pause.
"… Are you even there?"
"You know, he might like you as much as you like him."
"… Well, considering I haven't liked him too long, you know…"
"Olivia, I want you to think about every encounter you can that you've had with him. Ever."
"Alright…"
A pause.
Eyes widening on one side of the line.
"Oh, shoot!"
"I thought so."
"I've liked him since I was eleven! Eleven! That's four years, Em! Four years! I've liked Fidelio Gunn for four years!"
"Uh, yeah, I kind of knew that already."
"… I'm going to check my e-mail."
"Because he sent you one."
"Shut up."
A pause.
The sound of a keyboard being typed on.
A pause.
"… Emma… you know how I said I've already met that person I'm going to meet? And how I thought he was going to be in a lot of my classes?"
"Yeah…"
"Well, the only class I don't have with Fidelio is Gym. You know, besides the classes I have my Drama courses and he has his Music courses."
"So, you're pretty much saying, he's your someone?"
"That's an awkward way to phrase it, especially since it was all today, but yeah. He's my someone."
A pause.
"Emma, I don't like that pause."
"Livvie and Fidelio, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
"I've told you once, I'll tell you again. You're a horrible singer."
"First comes love…"
"Come on! Just because I realized I've liked him for four years does not mean I'm in love with him! Wait, does it? No! It doesn't!"
"Then comes marriage…"
"Hey! I'm fifteen, remember?"
"Then comes the baby in the baby carriage!"
"Ugly unicorns on your cape."
"I honestly don't care anymore."
"NO! What do I have to use against you now?"
"Nothing. Ha. And before you start screaming… are you going to ask him out?"
"Uh… Can I wait a few weeks?"
"Yes."
"Then maybe."
"Fair enough."
Two Months Later
-Emma Tolly and Olivia Vertigo-
"So, how does it feel to be a taken girl?"
"Pretty good, kind of-ish, in a way, sort of…"
"You love it, just because you're taken by Fidelio."
"Yeah, so? Sue me."
"I told you he liked you."
"No, you told me he might like me."
"Still, you're a taken girl. You're taken by Fidelio. And you have your first date tomorrow. Aw, maybe you'll have your first kiss! You have to tell me if you're anywhere near a tree."
"No, I won't. I've already kissed him."
A pause.
"Oops, I wasn't supposed to say that out loud."
A pause.
"It wasn't a huge deal, it was actually just yesterday, you know, when he asked me out and I said yes and I went to kiss his cheek and he accidently turned his head and yeah…"
A pause.
"… Were you near a tree? Because if so…"
"I love how from all the things you can ask, you have to know if we were near a tree."
"Because soon enough you'll fall in love and you'll get married and you'll have a child and I can sing at every one of those occasions, just to tick you off."
"You know Em, you're a lot worse of a listener than people think you are. But I love you anyway."
"Aw, I love you too."
A pause.
"And your gut feelings are still only eighty-five percent right… But you made a good call."
That is exactly 12 pgs of dialogue (so not including the things telling who's talking, the pauses, the other stuff). It's 17-ish pgs with author notes. I fail at keeping thing short, even drabbles/sort of drabbles. Also, this was my sad attempt at humour. I think I did ok on the friendship aspect, though. It took me about 3 weeks to write this and get it perfect. I'm not exactly happy with the two month skip, and the Fido/Livvie was pretty rushed, but hey, what can you do? Actually, if I get a lot of reviews requesting, I can write more chapters about what happened in between.
One more thing: I have a favour to ask of anyone who reads this. If you have a minute, could you send me a list of exactly forty-nine random words? ("Family" cannot be one of them.) Basically, I've started a challenge for myself that by June 25th, 2010, I want to have written a CB fic for almost every genre (minus Western, because I have no idea what that is). I've already finished 6 genres (I'm combining the genres) and have a Family/General in the works (also a Crime/Mystery, but that's not important yet). And for my idea, I wanted to do a kind of thing where there's 50 sentences about each family, so about the Bone's, the Vertigo's, the Silk's, the Gunn's, the Yewbeam's (yes, they're separate from the Bone's), and so on. I'm going to pick one list I really like and use it over and over, or if I get a lot, then I'll do different lists for each. So if you could send in lists of forty-nine words, none of them being "family", that'd be amazing. Thank you!
… Alright, so I've written over a pg long author's note (including top and bottom notes)… In paragraph form, too. That's kind of sad. But it's not as long as the story itself! So yeah, bye! And don't forget to review, or send me lists, or even both would be absolutely awesome! And Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! (I didn't post this because of Valentine's Day, it just ended up that way.)
~May
P.S. My thank you list:
Thank you to Nadia (not her name, but it keeps her identity secret). It's inspired by a phone conversation I had with her. She's also the reason I wrote this in the beginning, so it's mostly dedicated to her, even though it's our conversation spun out of control.
Thank you to Jackie (once again, not her first name, but it's her middle name) for being the only person to take time out of her oh-so-awesome life to read and edit it. She made the sweetest comment about it, too. She's just too awesome for her own good :)
Thank you to Sun (who I've mentioned in every fic I have) for inspiring the ugly unicorn thing. This added something to the story that it really needed. And thank you for also for begging me everyday to write/add to it. I don't think I would have finished it otherwise.
They're my besties. They're too cool. They rock my totally invisible (coughcoughnottherecoughcough) socks XD!!!!!