Challenge Fic: "Some Kind of Warning"
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Don't own Anna. Didn't even really like her until recently. Nor do I own anything remotely related to Some Kind of Wonderful.
Summary: "Don't go mistaking paradise for a pair of long legs." --Watts


A Scene from "Some Kind of Wonderful"
[In the locker room]
Girl: I've just never seen a girl wearing boys underpants before.
Watts: Have you ever seen a girl with a drumstick shoved up her nose?
Girl: Oh, is that some kind of a threat?
Watts: It's some kind of a warning.




I hate planes. Okay, that's not true. I hate flying. No matter how smooth the flight, it never feels safe. There's always the possibility that you'll just fall out of the sky, with no warning. I like warning. I like knowing what's coming, even if I'm helpless to stop it. I used to sit on the porch at home watching the clouds roll in, when everyone else was running from the rain. Even if I know what's going to happen is going to kill me, I still want to know.

I knew when the whole thing started. I knew on Thanksgiving when I saw her in the kitchen. I knew when I saw her in that damned Wonder Woman costume. She's amazing, beautiful and shiny and I can never compare to that. I can't compete with someone he's wanted his whole life. I can't compete with her. And even when he was annoyed with her for always being around, he wasn't really annoyed. Because, honestly, it was always Summer.

I wonder if Seth even caught the "Some Kind of Wonderful" reference when I was telling him about my trip home. I wonder if he's even see that movie. Well, I think Seth has seen, like, every movie ever made, but I wonder if he really gets it. If he understands that he's supposed to end up with Watts. He's supposed to go to the party with Amanda and she'll be all over him, and I'll wait patiently in the car with tears welling in my eyes, and then after the party, suddenly he'll get it. Everything will click and he'll chase me down and tell me I was the one all along and he'll give me the earrings and we'll kiss in the middle of the street. And he'll tell me I look great in his future. And we'll be together.

Only I'm on a plane. And he chased me down after the party to quell his guilty conscience, not to tell me I'm the one. And I lied and told him I wasn't leaving because of him. Well, it's not a total lie. I do miss home. I miss all the things I told him about and more. And I hate Newport. Everything is so…bright. And plastic and superficially perfect and I can't stand it. But, then I met Seth, and I thought, "Wow, there's one person here who I can be friends with." And I wasn't going to fall for him, I really wasn't. But he's so freaking adorable and dorky and watching him lust after Summer when she wouldn't give him the time of day drove me crazy. I couldn't stand it anymore. And I thought maybe I could change things, I could make him change his mind 'cause we're perfect for each other. We're Watts and Keith.

Only I'm on a plane to the other side of the country and he's home making out with Amanda. And even when he was pressing his nose up to the glass at the airport and making a big dramatic scene, it still wasn't because I was the one. He just didn't want me to leave. And while that's sweet, one guy's misguided friendship isn't enough to make me stay some place I hate. So, I'm going home where there are no Seth Cohens and no perfectly shiny girls and I don't have to be the second choice anymore. Because in Newport, even when I'm the first choice, I'm still the second choice.

So I'm on a plane. Heading home, earringless. Keithless. Sethless.

Some kind of wonderful, my ass.