The Elevator Game
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: JOSS OWNS ALL! I am just a pathetic writer using his characters for my evil plots! MWA HAHA!
Spoilers: None, are you kidding me? I'm spoiler free nowaydays...*cough* ahem...yeah right!
Rating: PG-13 The funny stuff is a bit much for it to be just PG or maybe I'm just paranoid...
Dedications: The person who commanded me to update Whatever Happens...I *LOVE* you girl!!!
Authors Notes: This is the game Xander mentions in Whatever Happens *way* before all that fluke business. If you want to read that one click here.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I yawned trying to keep my eyes from closing. Cordy nudged me.
"Xander," she hissed. "What's wrong with you?"
Her dad gave me another one of the glares that, seemingly, had been clearly practiced.
"Sorry," I muttered. "We almost there?"
We were riding in the limo to this Art Gallery I had no idea was even in Sunnydale cause Cordy's dad had told her that I had to if she ever wanted to see me again. He thought I was no good for her. That I couldn't appreciate fine art and all that. He kept staring at me like I was some sort-of bug he wanted to kill. Plus it didn't help that the car was so big, I felt like I was sitting in the middle of an auditorium and the pants Cordy had made me wear were itching me.
"We'll be there in a few minutes." her mother said lightly.
Cordy's mom was very refined and never made eye contact with me. Her hair was pulled back and she stared at Cordelia who smiled her best May Queen smile and continued to look out the window. I could feel the tension. Ever since we had gotten in the car they'd been this way. I couldn't understand why her parents were like this...
Her father turned to me, his eyes black with distain. "So Alexander, you say you like my daughter?"
I glanced at Cordy who looked at me expectantly. "Well...uh...yes sir I do."
He nodded. "Yes, well then maybe you can tell me what kind of a future you can offer her-?"
"Daddy!" Cordy snapped.
"Now Cordelia your father is merely illistrating the fact that this boy is never going to be good enough for you in our eyes unless he can provide for you in some way." her mother broke in. She gave me a smile. "And if he can't except that he isn't worth our time."
I was about to open my mouth to say someting in my defense, but Cordy shot me a pleading look, her eyes blazing.
"We're here." she said brightly. Her voice was a little too high-pitched.
She opened the door and dragged me out of the car. She told her father we'd be inside and we walked briskly up the steps.
"Is it just me or is it inhuman to be that cold?" I grumbled as she pulled me.
"Xander you aren't helping anything." Cordy's voice sounded pained. "I know they're being unreasonable-"
"Unreasonable??!" I interrupted incredulously. "Now that's an understatement if I ever heard one!"
"...But you said you would be civil to them! Now you can't screw this up ok!?" she finished stopping and looking me in the eye.
I stared back at her for a second. I *loved* when she looked me in the eyes. Her brown eyes reflect so much... Cordy's beautiful. I never could quite understand why she stayed with me. I just stared into her eyes enjoying the brief moment of connection that passes between us whenever we do look at eachother that way.
"I won't," I assured her. "But I can't promise I won't smack somebody."
She rolled her eyes. "Can't you ever be serious?"
"Who's joking?" I said faking surprise. She whacked me on the shoulder and we went in.
***
We had been standing for what seemed like hours and I felt like my brain was going to explode. All we had been doing was looking at these abstract, strange paintings that I could have done with crayons when I was little. Our tour guide was droaning on and on about a painting of a head with a rabbits body, surrounded by what looked like tiny suns. I didn't even want to know...
I tried to listen and seem like it was interesting. Cordy's parents were staring at it with thoughtful expressions on their faces. Once in awhile they stole glances at me to make sure I was paying attention. Cordy was gonna owe me for a looong time for this one. I looked over at her and saw she had her eyes closed. I couldn't help smiling as I leaned in and whispered "Waykie, waykie."
She jumped and smacked me hard in the chest. "What's the matter?" she hissed.
"Cor, you were sleeping! Face it, you're as bored as I am." I crossed my arms in front of my chest triumphantly. Maybe I could get us out of here.
"I was not! I was just pausing to take a moment to picture what the artist is trying to convey in the poetry of the lines of the...(I gave her a pointed look)...ok, ok, I'm dying. Xander get me out of here." She pleaded.
I took her arm as the tour group started to move again. I heard her mom calling us and I pulled Cordy down. Her mom kept calling and threaded through the people looking around intently. She kept calling me Allen. Cordy gripped my hand as we darted through the swarm of people. I looked around frantically for some place we could hide. I spotted an elevator and dragged her into it. We ran in just as her parents turned around. They started towards us.
"Close the door!" Cordy shrieked.
"I'm trying!" I shouted back pressing the button over and over.
"It's not working!" she wailed. I gritted my teeth.
"Stupid thing!" I said kicking it.
"Stop it Xander!" Cordy looked horrified.
I suddenly couldn't stop laughing for some reason. She was panicking and shrieking like I'd never seen before.
"Close it close it!" she kept hitting my shoulders in panic. I shook her off.
"What are you doing?" I cried laughing. She stopped hitting me and started laughing too.
I pressed the 'close door' button a few more times and the doors finally slid closed. Cordy and I stepped into view of the closing doors and waved at her parents.
I burst out laughing again, and she started giggling.
"Freedom!" She breathed when we had calmed down.
"Ah, to be free," I added stretching my arms out as the elevator drifted up. "How do you stand these snore-fests they call tours? I was trying, but one more second and I would have passed out cold!"
"And I would have gone right with you. I hate these things. They're so boring! I have to fight to keep awake! And what is with the gross-ness of these so called pictures?! I drew better things with crayons when I was three!" Cordy looked bitter for a moment and I shook my head in amazement.
Cordy and I actually agreed on something? This was new. I liked it.
"And did you see your father's expression when the tour guide was talking about the shapes in that weird one?" I cracked up and mimicked his squenched up face. Cordy burst out laughing.
"And the dress on that woman!" she groaned when we had calmed down.
I blinked. "The dress?" I hadn't noticed anything funny about her dress.
Cordy rolled her eyes. "Please Xander! Red and purple? In a uniform? Could she be anymore crying-for-help-ish?"
I smiled. That was Cordy. It suddenly occured to me that she had gone to at least 14 of these, by what her father had implied. I turned to her as the doors slid open, and two fancy-schmansy people came in. Cordy motioned for me to be quiet as we went up again.
We waited until they were gone to talk again. "Cordy if you hate these so much, then why do you go to them?" I asked her looking her straight in the eyes. As the brief connnection passed between us and then Cordy's face became bitter and helpless.
I never had *ever* seen her look that way. Frankly it almost frightened me.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked gently.
She looked sharply at me. "There's nothing to talk about." she insisted. "And we can't ride around in this elevator the whole time we're here, so you'd better think of something for us to do."
"Me?"
"Yes you."
"It wasn't just my idea to leave missy!"
"Excuse me? I was willing to stick it out. It's not my fault that you'd rather be in here doing nothing!"
"What's the matter with you?"
"What are you talking about?"
I suddenly realized what she was doing. It was the same thing I always did. If we were getting closer, or connecting I'd touch something. Something I never felt before, with anyone. Then I'd get scared and pick a fight, or bail, or deny it in my head. If I didn't then I might think I was in love...
As the elevator door closed again and we went down, I started to think. What could we do? There really wasn't anything fun to do in this place...
It was quiet in the elevator. Something very unsettling...
Suddenly Cordelia grabbed my arm. "Xander I have the perfect idea. When these people come in, follow my lead!" she whispered as a fat lady and another fat lady came in.
They pushed their buttons and we went up.
Cordy leaned over to me and whispered just loud enough for everybody to hear. "Did you get the stuff?"
"Stuff?" I blurted. The sharp kick she sent my way made me think twice about what I blurted out. "Oh yeah, the stuff. I got it. It's in the factory right now."
"Do you have the gun?"
The lady's head shot up in front of us.
I tried to keep a straight face as I nodded. One of the ladies saw me nodd and she backed away nervously.
Cordy continued unfazed. "You know we're going to have to shoot anyone who gets in our way don't you?"
"Of course I know." I said trying to sound impatient. "Is Big Willie here setting up the bomb?"
Cordy gave me a strange look. The ladys were trembling and stealing glances at us every now and then. She played along anyhow.
"Yeah. It's gonna detonate in about 15 minutes." Cordy pretended to check her watch. "We'd better get out of here. And if you suspect anyone is gonna squeal shoot em! We can't risk faliure."
I nodded in agreement and she and I shook hands. I winked. She covered a smile.
The ladies hurried out as fast as they could. As soon as the doors closed we burst out laughing.
"Big Willie?" Cordy exclaimed. "Are you nuts?"
"Well what about you miss, shoot everyone!?" I retorted. She rolled her eyes.
We fell silent as the doors opened again.
This time it was two men who were looking at brosures for some sort-of exibit. One man was eating a doughnut. I suddenly got very hungry. I also had an idea.
"Did I tell you," I said in a loud whisper. "That the plan went perfectly? I got the poison. I mixed it into the batter. Every single doughnut loving person in town is gonna drop."
Cordy nodded seriously. "Yeah. Isn't it the most painful doughnut poison ever made?"
"Yup. It makes your lungs close up, and your heart explode." I tried to think of something else horrible as the man started to look at his doughnut with a panicked expression.
"Doesn't it also make you grow hair all over your body and then you can't stop sneezing?"
Where was she getting this?! I was going to laugh any second! The guy's friend was whispering to him in a frantic voice to stop eating it. The guy replied that he was checking to see if the poison was actually in the doughnut. I got angry at that. Who did this guy think he was?
"Yeah it does. It's this blue stuff, so every dough nut should have blue in it." I blurted out, eyeing the guy. He sighed in relief as the door opened again.
"Oh wait you made a mistake!" Cordy exclaimed looking over the guys shoulder quickly and then coming back in. "It's white, not blue remember?"
The guy turned around to stare at us. He looked at us then the doughnut. His eyes grew huge.
We waved at him and Cordy blew a kiss.
We laughed some more.
At one point in this little game of ours this tour guide came in and eyed Cordy's outfit. She got this disgusted look on her face and then turned away. I though steam was going to come out of her ears Cordy was so furious! I set a hand on her shoulder and she let me handle it.
"Hey, did you see the way that girl looked at you?" I said in the trademark loud whisper we had perfected over the course of this game.
"It's nothing." she glowered. "Don't get upset."
"Don't get upset??" I tried to sound furious. I was pretty mad. Cordy looked amazing. At least she wasn't wearing a tacky uniform.
"She looked at you like...she wants you Cordy!" I fumed. Cordy's eyes widened as did the tour giudes. "She's looking at your legs all lust-like..." I growled trying to sound like a jealous boyfriend on the rampage.
"No she..." Suddenly Cordelia got a wicked smile on her face as she realized what I was doing.
"She's just jealous that you have me. It'll pass. There's no need to pull out your gun." she tried to sound frightened. "Oh please! Don't pull out your gun! You know what happened last time! The guy never woke up from his coma!"
The tour guide's eyes widened and she eyed me a challenging look on her face. She didn't believe me??
"I'm pullin it out!" I bellowed. "Nobody steals my girl! Especially not some woman that looks like she's been beaten with an ugly stick!!" I reached into my pocket. Luckily we had stopped at a floor. The tour guide backed out looking insulted but frightened.
"You're insane! How dare you!" she squealed. "I don't want her! I'm already in a relationship!"
My eyes grew buggy. "Oh I see. So she's not good enough for you now huh??!"
"NO!" she shrieked.
I glared at her. "Don't make me use this." I made a gun with my hand and stuck it into my pocket to make it look real. She bought it! People all over the floor were staring at us. I tried to keep a straight face as Cordy gripped my arm. She's was doing a great job of looking frightened.
"Just go!" Cor yelled pleadingly.
The girl fled and the people shrugged assuming she was a lunitic.
The doors closed and I pumped my fist. "YEAH!" I shouted.
Suddenly something warm and nice touched my lips. Cordy was kissing me. I instinctively leaned into the sweet-ness of it and deepened it. We kissed passionatley. I didn't know why she was kissing me, but it was so...
Ok, amazing doesn't do it justice. We'd never kissed that way before!
We slammed up against the wall of the elevator. Her mouth never stopped moving against mine. We fit so good together. It was like she was made to fit in my arms this way. I reached out and pushed the door close as the doors started to open. Then I kissed her again.
Finally she let me go. We both were out of breath. She was smiling at me, her eyes shining.
"Thank you Xander," she said. "Nobody ever sticks up for me but you." Then she laughed. "But saying she *wanted* me was so crossing the line!"
I smiled. "Yeah I know. I'm not good at thinking on my feet."
She grinned. "Let's have lunch already! And no doughnuts..."
***
When we sat down I asked her again why she came to these if she hated them. Cordy got a sad look in her eyes.
"They made me." she said quietly. "Not pysically. They didn't drag me out of the house. I just was always told that I'd never be a real lady or anything special unless I did everthing a certain way. One of the ways I thought was to go to those boring tours. They always told me that if I went to those things and wore the right clothes and didn't care about hurting the 'poor' people I'd be something." She looked up into my eyes. "I didn't want to disappoint them Xander. And I am. They always have a way of telling me that...without actually saying it."
I was dumb-struck. I couldn't imagine that any parents could be that way. Actually I had some experience with being neglected by family and mistreated. But nothing like that. I instantly felt for her. I reached out and took her hand.
"Cordy, I'm sorry." I said meaningfully.
"Xander don't worry about it," she replied. "It's not anything I'm not used to."
"You shouldn't be used to it Cordy!" I burst out. She looked shocked. I couldn't blame her. I'd never heard myself sound like this. But it wasn't fair. Cordy was capable of being so much more than what her parents wanted. I had to straighten her out.
"Listen Cor," I began. I looked her in the eyes. "You can't listen to the bull your parents are giving you. I want you from now on to say this to yourself every morning: 'I'm Cordelia Chase, and my parents are nuts to think I'm less of the wonderful human being than I am'. I know that sounds really stupid and I am freaking myself out saying this right now, but Cordy, you don't deserve that. They should let you be who you are. Cordy. Not Cordelia the ICe Queen. I like it when you are the way you really are. The girl I fell for." I trailed off nervously. "Anyway don't listen ok? You get me?"
Cordy was beaming at me the way she had been in the elevator. "Xander Harris, you are quite a catch."
I blinked. "Huh?"
"I mean thanx." she said quietly. "You know I like that person too."
I looked up at her in shock.
She smiled and rolled her eyes. "Cordelia Chase the Ice Queen, was me. Maybe it was. But I can't be that anymore. Not around you. I try to but I can't."
"And why not?" I teased gently.
She looked at me then and her eyes said it all. She just shone for a second there. I was afraid of what she might say but she shook her head and held my hand tightly over the table. We stared into eachothers eyes for longer than we ever had and I felt the connection stronger than ever. I was heading face first into that heady little area called luv, when she picked the perfect moment and kissed me softley on the cheek.
"I think we should find my parents now and go explain to them why we ran off and stayed in an elevator for two hours scaring the heck out of people we don't even know." Cordy said to me picking up her purse. I felt slightly dizzy from what had just happened but I shook it off and smiled.
"Well we weren't in an elevator." I assured her linking our arms together. "I had to pee and then we wandered around upstairs, remember?"
Cordelia whacked me on the shoulder.
We smiled again.
I don't know what had come over us, but in that brief converstaion we had reached an understanding. I had never felt more in tune with anyone. I'll always remember that day. Plus whenever I go near an elevator, I'll think of our game.
And my brilliant crazy-jealous boyfriend act!
Man, that was fun...
FIN
Comments to Marie_214@hotmail.com