Strange & Beautiful

...(I'll put a spell on you)...

By Nora Fenn

-

This is my first... 'smutty' oneshot...No 'smut', so to speak, just a lot of tears and different to my songfic overloads. I personally feel good about it. I know for a fact that I've never taken so long to complete a oneshot like I have for this little baby! And having confidence in your own work means a pretty 'alright, still' story, huh? I wonder if anyone even reads these... XD

I might stretch it out to a few chapters if you like it. It's going to be long-ish... Definitely Pheely. But hey, dare to be different, eh?

The title comes from a beautiful Aqualung song, Strange and Beautiful. I'll put a spell on you... You'll see, won't you?

I'm going to try and format this correctly. I want it to turn out right for once. :P I'm sure you all know what I mean, hah... Shake your fists in rage:P I kid, I kid. Anyway... Here we go.

Strange & Beautiful.

-

It was graduation night. The troupe- All of them, and then some- all headed off for some crazy idiotic road trip tomorrow morning. But for now their main priority was the party that the six main couples were sitting in the middle of.

"So, Phil..." Owen began, taking a sip of his beer and breathing in refreshment afterwards. "What's your plan for this lovely long break?"

"The road trip..." Phil said dully, cross-squinting at the drunk blonde next to him. Phil wasn't drunk. In fact, Phil wasn't drinking. Period.

Actually, Phil wasn't the only one staying sober. Owen was literally the only one bringing in the alcohol, and only four or so other people were drinking it.

One of the two brunettes snapped her fingers. "Hey, come on! Let's play a game, eh?"

The two other girls nodded fiercely. "Alright... Spin the Bottle?"

All three boys shook their heads. "No way..." "Nope..." "Not gonna happen."

"Aww, come on guys!" Cooed one of the girls, a blonde. She grabbed one of many of Owen's discarded beer bottles and wiggled it in the air.

Phil caved. Big shock. "Fine... I'm in."

The blonde, Keely, smiled and set the bottle on the coffee table. "Who else is brave enough?"

"Sure..." Another blonde guy sighed, caving in.

The left over five turned their attention to Owen, who was now snoring away, hugging the pillow that he was leaning on before.

'Should have done the same...' Phil thought, turning his attention back to the bottle.

The other brunette, Tia, spun the bottle, and it landed on Owen. She spun it again and it landed on Seth.

They kissed quickly and the bottle was passed to Via, one of the brunettes. It was spun quickly and landed on Keely.

Phil watched intently as they got up and 'ooh!'ed at each other innocently before sitting back down.

"What?!" Phil screeched, eyeing the two. "That's so unfair!"

"Phil, Phil, Phil." Said Via, shaking her head. "Would you rather I kissed you?"

He lied, nodding his head with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes and ignored him.

"Women." He muttered, spinning the bottle next. It landed on none other than Keely.

She stared at him nervously, but he just stared back.

Tia laughed. "C'mon, you two. We don't have all week!"

Phil moved his attention back to the bottle. "No, I'm going again."

Hugely dissapointed, Keely hoisted herself off the blue couch she was resting on and looked down on her friends for a brief minute before running off alone towards her guest bedroom.

Phil looked blank, and turned his attention towards Owen, who was just now waking. "Mm... Did I miss anything?"

-

Keely flopped down on her bed, snatching a pillow from it's neat placement on another, larger pillow.

She hugged it tight, burying her face in it angrily. It wasn't the first time she had been let down by him. It had happened a lot in the past eight years.

She was used to it, putting it simply.

"Gah!" She growled into the pillow. "Sometimes he can be so, so... Dense!"

She fiddled with the heart locket around her neck. "Can't you see?"

"I love you, you idiot!"

-

Phil was finally talked into a drink, but only had one sip before he rejected it.

Tia and Via grabbed him and pulled him into a corner as soon as they saw him put the drink down.

"What the hell? Guys! What..." He muttered, glaring confused at them both.

"Phil," Via began, "look what you did!"

He looked around. "I don't see what 'I did'. What did 'I do', exactly?"

"You hurt Keely." Tia snapped. Phil had no clue, as he stared emptily into the girls' eyes. They nodded and he gulped, turning his gaze in the direction of Keely's room.

-

She held her breath when she heard the tapping on her door.

"Wh... Who is it?" She called anxiously, temporarily resting her head in her hand.

"Me," replied the oh-so familiar voice.

"You woke me up," she replied gingerly but untruthfully, not getting up to answer him.

"I don't care," he protested, leaning against the closed door. "Can we talk?"

"There's nothing to talk about." She replied, wiping away the tear that was trying to worm it's way down her cheek.

"Keely, please," he pleaded. "I... I need to talk to you anyway."

"We... Can talk in the car tomorrow," she suggested, pulling more of the blanket over her shoulders.

"But I have something to give you." He said simply, however he heard her growl behind the door;

"It can wait! Just leave me alone!"

-

He walked angrily back to his room, shutting the door quickly but not loudly.

It was not more than five minutes later that he heard a knock on his door.

I'll put a spell on you

You'll fall asleep and I'll put a spell on you

And when I wake you

I'll be the first thing you see

And you'll realise that you love me

Yeah, yeah...

She looked like she was about to break down as she crashed into him, embracing him tightly.

His heart almost broke, and his chest heaved. He hugged her back.

"Phil," she choked, her breaths laboured. Phil silenced her and led her into his room.

-

He held her tight and waited as she cried. He'd done this before. Breakups, tragedies, et cetera. But this was something else.

"Keels, what happened?" He asked, rubbing her shoulder kindly.

She groaned but didn't reply, burying her face into his neck.

"Keels..."

"Nothing happened," she told him finally. "I just... I don't know."

She was lying. He knew it. "Keely..." He pressed, his hands falling to her lower back.

She looked up and looked down again, her eyes tearing up again. "Nothing!" She sobbed, falling into his arms again.

"I want..." She breathed, "I want..."

"What do you want, Keel?" He asked sweetly.

"I want you to love me."

-

Phil was quiet for the following few minutes, contemplating. Contemplating her words.

'I want you to love me.'

Love me why? Because you've never told me? Because I need someone to love me? Because I... love you too?

"I..." He choked. It was one letter, but it seemed like some imaginary chain had tightened around his neck. "I..."

Keely tried to get up out of his arms but his grip only tightened.

His 'I's continued to come out as a choke.

"Keels, I..." He gulped. "Keels..."

He closed his eyes and pulled her even closer.

He brought his lips suddenly to hers, engaging them in a beautiful, passionate kiss.

"I do..."

She melted into him again, her tears causing her shoulders to shake uncontrollably, even though he was holding her still.

He comforted her as best as he could, whispering sweet words into her ear.

Her breathing calmed gradually, and he smiled when she looked up at him. She didn't even need to ask for what she wanted, his lips embracing hers once more. She thanked him and settled back down.

"Any time."

-

Keely then asked him a series of questions. 'Why', 'how come' and 'what for' were among many of them. He answered well. Too well. Like he had planned this before. She rested her head on his chest, sighing heavily but she was clearly content. Phil smiled.

"You're flawless, Keely," he told her, focusing his gaze on some random places in the room before turning it back towards her. She sighed again.

"Well you're amazing, Phil," she replied. "You know that."

"Yes, I do know that," he said, smiling, modest. Keely scoffed, but smiled with him.

She counted her breaths before finally breaking the silence at twenty one. "I don't want to go back to my room now..."

He took her hint immediately. "Who said you had to?"

The silence grew again, and they could only hear the ticking of the clock and each others breaths, coming and going.

Keely grabbed hold of her necklace, rolling the charm up and down the chain and causing friction, emitting a rather unsavory sound.

This was an obvious sign that she was nervous.

Phil took her hand gently and she stopped. "Sorry," she muttered.

He just smiled and kissed the back of her head. "I agree with you," he told her, "I'm kind of... anxious."

She nodded. "Yeah. Why... Do you think that is? Maybe?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. Do you think it's a bad thing though?"

Keely paused. "Um... No? I'm just feeling kind of... loose."

Phil smiled. "Maybe you're just tired."

She yawned. "I like that idea." Kissing him again, she got up out of his arms and headed on over to the neat bed that was lined up against the wall.

-

Phil watched, wide eyed, as she slowly removed her dress and the long white shirt that was under it.

He had seen her in a bathing suit, but that wasn't like this. This... This was underwear.

She startled him when she spoke. "Um, do you have like... a big shirt?"

He nodded and got up, rummaging through the suitcase that was propped up on a chest. He pulled out a clean shirt and handed it to her.

"Phil," she said and he looked up. She smirked at his blush. "Phil, if you're uncomfortable I can put my clothes back on-"

He shook his head vigorously and her smile widened. She pulled the shirt over her head and opened the sheets.

"Don't stay up too long," and she kissed him and turned off her bedside lamp.

Phil remained awake for a few more minutes, watching the clock's second hand go round and round. It wasn't until he checked the time for real that he noticed how tired he was. Eleven thirty. He got up, exhausted, and sluggishly made his way over towards the sleeping Keely. He watched her for another few seconds before leaning down and gently kissing her cheek. He kicked himself mentally when he noticed that she was waking up.

"Sorry," he whispered softly and directed his eyes away from hers. She reached out and turned on her lamp, yawning.

"Mmm... What time is it? I'm hungry."

Phil smiled faintly. "You've got seven hours to go."

He heard her groan. "Oh, well, there's always that stuff I got from Owen..." She paused. "On second thoughts, maybe I should just wait."

He nodded solemnly, then turned and headed back towards the other end of the room, but she stopped him.

"What are you doing? Surely you're going to sleep, right?"

"Right," Phil replied sleepily and yawned again. "I'm... just... going to sleep here."

She shook her head again and again as he continued to beat the couch up slowly, 'fluffing' the cushions aimlessly.

Keely stopped shaking her head to stop herself from getting a headache. "Phil, come here."

He stopped for a brief second. "Now."

This time he obeyed, walking back towards her and nodding. She turned off her lamp and slid over. "Here."

He blinked and lowered himself down to the bed, closing his eyes and smiling in relief. "Okay."

-

The both of them slept late into the morning. Keely re-woke at around four, but she simply readjusted herself and went back to sleep.

Phil was next at nine thirty. He had heard Owen's unmistakable voice, going on about the best kind of jelly to use in a peanut butter sandwich, and he knew that he wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep again now. He heard his blonde friend ask where 'Phil had gotten to?' and the other clear voice of the British Via, 'he never 'went to' anywhere, he hasn't woken up yet.'

Phil rose, stretched, pulled on some Converse and headed for the door. He turned to the sleeping Keely for a moment and smiled before heading outside.

-

Owen was downstairs, trying to find more alcohol. There were empty bottles everywhere, but not too many.

He was obviously hung-over. 'Wouldn't be the first time,' thought Phil with a snicker. Via welcomed him and handed him a slice of buttered toast.

"Mm, you look happy today, Phil!" She said, glad to see him awake. Owen hiccuped.

"I am," he replied with a positive smile. Via's smile grew. "What happened, then?"

Owen grinned. "You got laid, didn't ya?"

Via rolled her eyes. "Not ev-rything in life has to do with nudity, Owen."

His grin didn't disappear. "No, but everything good is."

She sighed and turned her attention back to Phil. "Ignore him. I'm sure you didn't get laid. Besides, the only girls here are me, Tia and Keely."

Phil smirked. Via's jaw dropped.

"You DIDN'T!"

"Not exactly..."

"OH MY GOD! YOU DID!"

"I didn't get laid. But I... 'Hooked up'?"

"With Keely, right?"

Phil blushed and shifted his eyes uncomfortably before looking up again. "Well, yeah."

Via squealed and hugged him. "Oh my gosh! About bloody time as well!"

A little voice interrupted them and Via broke away from him. It was Keely, and she was looking a little shy, which was unusual.

"Phil, um, could I talk to you for a second please?"

Phil said, "sure", and the other two winked at him suggestively. He rolled his eyes and walked slowly up towards her. They turned the corner and walked a few extra feet towards the broom closet and went inside, pulling him in with her.

-

"Um... What was going on back there, Phil?" She asked a little defensively.

"Nothing, really!" Phil assured. "She was just congratulating me. Um.. well... Us."

Keely smiled. "So you remember it and everything?"

Phil nodded with a smile. "And you?"

She exhaled and smiled too. "Yeah." She leaned back and bumped up against a calendar and mop handle.

He grinned and pulled her in before kissing her gently. "I guess that means we're 'ok'?" She asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, Keels." He smiled. "We're 'ok'."

She smiled and looked down at her clothing. She still had his shirt on, but her dress was on underneath, which acted like a skirt.

Keely blushed and it took him a little while to figure out why. "Oh, right," he said. "Here, I'll walk you back to your room."

-

As they walked, they talked quickly. It was only a few doors down and Phil knew she wouldn't let him in. She was particular about her living space. She didn't like others 'invading' it unless it was totally necessary. At her door, she turned to go in but he pulled her back.

"Just had to give you this," he said softly. Keely smiled and leaned in, and he kissed her. "Just so you wouldn't forget."

Keely furrowed her eyebrows. "Hmm?"

Phil smiled widely and used sign language to say, "I love you." Keely rolled her eyes and repeated his actions back.

He leaned in to whisper in her ear. "See, I'm not all that dense."

She raised her eyebrows. "Oh? I wouldn't be so sure."

Keely kissed him gently again before walking into her room alone.

Phil just nodded, telling himself 'you should have seen that coming', when the door widened and she cleared her throat.

He glanced up. "Yeah?"

She glared at him. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"You're my boyfriend now, aren't you?"

Phil shrugged and nodded.

"Well are you coming in or not?"

With that, Phil smirked and gladly accepted her offer.

"Just lead the way," he said, and walked on through the narrow door.

-

Fin.

Thank you for reading.

Please review. :)

-Nora