"Adrian, no." I said firmly, ignoring the delicious pie that sat in front of me.
"Come on, Sage. You still haven't had that gelato and I doubt that the amount of calories in this one bite would be more than that." He said, and I was rather impressed that he'd thought up something so logical so quickly. Maybe he was discovering it was the easiest way to win me over.
We were currently at a place atrociously named "Pies n Stuff". Which lead me to many negative thoughts and rhetorical questions such as: Who names their restaurant something like that, and what did "stuff" stand for anyway? Maybe if you were lucky you'd find a special toy inside your slice of pie? Did it sell way too many copies of an idiotic teen romance book about forbidden love?" To anyone who didn't know this place, the possibilities of the word "stuff" in their title could be endless! The confusion could jeopardize their business and cause them to lose customers, however, I knew that there weren't a lot of people who analyzed things as thoroughly as I do, so maybe it didn't affect the store as much as I previously thought it would.
The reason I was currently here was no other than the infamous Adrian Ivashkov. He had dragged me here after I had proposed we get back on civil terms, for Jill's sake, and put the "incident" behind us. It had resulted in a heated argument at his apartment, but he'd eventually agreed to it. Right after were done arguing Adrian had completely changed from irritated to cheerful, in a matter of seconds, something he had done many times before but never ceased to surprise me. He had declared that to secure our friendship, I wasn't quite sure when our agreement to being civil became friendship, we had to have a proper meal, but he had quickly decided that he wasn't 'in the mood' for a full meal and that we should skip to desert, so by Adrian's request (even though he clearly insinuated I didn't have a choice) we headed over to Pies n stuff. We had taken his yellow mustang, and he had driven which made me think that he wasn't as carefree as I thought after our intense debate, because under normal circumstances he would have let me drive.
Adrian had been trying to get me to take a bite of the pie he had ordered for me, yes for me, meaning without my consent, for the past ten minutes. Quite honestly it had been getting on my nerves, and judging from his face he knew that he was bothering me an awful lot and also that my patience was wearing thin. So he shouldn't have been so shocked when I had snapped at him that I'd have a bite if he stopped bothering me about it. Looking down at the pie, I regretted my reckless response towards Adrian's prompting, because after all it had sugar, and salt and so many things that would help me gain weight. As if I needed any help. The fork was nearing my mouth when I'd heard my name being called out.
"Sydney." The voice said. I spun around to face my father, Jared Sage, a face I'd hadn't expected to see in Palm Springs, which was sad considering it was nearing Christmas holidays.
He looked at my fork, then back at me, then at Adrian, all with the same level of disgust and disdain. I was suddenly glad that I had my own slice of pie when I thought how unprofessional it would look taking a bite out of Adrian's. It would've looked like, like a date, and considering my recently redeemed reputation from vamp-lover to exemplary alchemist, it wouldn't have gone over well with the superiors who were still in doubt about my loyalty. I was hoping that his disgust was due to the proximity in which we were to a Moroi and not my eating habits, but those hopes were quickly squashed when he'd spoken again.
"Are you sure you should be eating that?" My father questioned as he looked at my fork that had a small amount of pie piled on the end and, well at me, in general.
He looked at my face, which I suspected the primary reason was to make eye contact was as if to ask me: really Sydney? You weren't fat enough? You really thought that someone like you would need to eat more pie? He looked at my body as if to make me look at it too and prove his point. Gingerly I put down my fork with the uneaten piece of pie still on it. My automatic reaction was to look over at the Moroi sitting across from me in the quaint black and white checkered restaurant that was Pies n stuff. I was nervous about his reaction, and judging from the expression he wore I had every reason to be.
"Adrian's face was the picture of perfect politeness and restraint. Meaning that something disastrous was about to happen."
"Actually, sir, he said mockingly, I think Sage should eat that. Do you have any idea how many problems come with being underweight? I was forced to learn about it once, of course I was planning to sleep through that class but it happened to be one of those projects that even my charm couldn't get me out of" he said appropriately with a disbelieving tone and look to match.
"Anyway, Mr. ….Sage, was it? The list extremely long and a real pain in the ass to read so maybe it is in her very best interest to have a piece of pie." He finished, a fiercely protective look in his emerald eyes coupled with a mocking tone that he had kept religiously through his response to my father's comment. I was actually kind of happy he had just talked back to my father, I was half-expecting him to punch him in the face.
"Sydney I need to talk to you, outside." He continued, completely ignoring Adrian's statement.
I knew Adrian wouldn't react well to the snub, but was too concerned about my own well-being to busy myself with his feelings about being ignored. I was scared because if I knew one thing it was that Jared Sage almost always brought bad news. It would be fitting that he could be the one that brought the worst news of all for an alchemist like me: Re-education center. I quietly followed him outside and waited for him to speak.
To my relief it was a mostly routine check-up on Jill's state in Palm Springs and the only reason he'd been sent to see me and not the other way around was because mom had asked him- though the appropriate term would be closer to demand- that he hand-delivered me my gifts from our family for Christmas. I had received two packaged boxes; one from Carly and one from mom and a gift- card from dad to which I suspected were more out of tradition than his warm fuzzy feelings towards me. I hadn't gotten anything from Zoe, so it was safe to say she was still mad at me. Nearing the conversation he asked me why I had my phone off, why I was having pie with a Moroi and why I made him have to ask a damn vampire about my whereabouts. I quickly responded that we were having a business meal, even though it was dessert but we all know how strange vampires were, and that having my phone on would be tantamount to not taking the meeting seriously. Which could reflect badly on the Alchemists. Lying was very easy because a part of it was true; Adrian and I were having a business dinner/dessert, even though it was on different terms. He seemed to believe the lie, which meant that I had become a better liar or that he was tired. I guessed the latter.
I returned into the restaurant as Jared drove away and the moment I sat down I was engulfed in an Adrian lecture. I caught pieces of it, mostly about my eating habits, but my mind was too preoccupied about the look on my father's face when he caught me eating something as fattening as pie. Eventually, I tuned back in to the green-eyed Moroi's lecture.
"Seriously Sage, you shouldn't listen to him, he's an asshole-
"Hey! That's my father you're talking about!" I exclaimed hoping to stop the lecture by embarrassing him for blatantly insulting one of my family members- not that I minded- but as his expression didn't change and he quickly got back into lecturing me I realized my feeble attempt to stop him from talking didn't work, in other words, no dice.
I looked back down at my hands until he finished. When he was finally satisfied enough to stop ranting I looked back up at him. His hair was a little more dishevelled than usual as if he had fisted strands of his hair during his monologue. His crazy hair complimented his expression which was a mixture of anger, frustration, pity, sadness and disbelief. I suddenly felt outraged, he pitied me? Now that was something that I didn't want from anyone, least of all him.
"Let's get out of here Sage." He said as he laid a couple of crumpled up bills on the table next to two plates ; one empty and one with an almost untouched piece of pie laying on top of it.
I opened my mouth to protest him paying for my food- even if I hadn't eaten it- but he cut me off already knowing what I was going to say.
"I'm paying. I ordered everything so it's only fair that I pay for everything too." He added forcefully.
It surprised me a bit, considering that this was about the time that he would make some kind of joke by now, but studying the expression on his face, I doubted he was in that sort of mood. We exited Pies n Stuff and I looked longingly at the beautiful sunset, because in all honesty, it calmed me, especially after the stressing episode with my father. I was so absorbed in observing the scenery that I almost didn't catch the car keys thrown toward me. I looked over at Adrian and was sure that my confused expression showed on my face because he replied quickly after I had gained possession of the keys to the spring time yellow Mustang.
"Now normally I don't lend my car keys to emotionally distraught damsels in distress but, I don't know how to drive a stick."
He shrugged nonchalantly; a wicked devil-may-care grin on his face. I shook my head at him as we both got in the car. Even though I was certain he was only doing this; the mustang, the jokes, the grin, to cheer me up, it nonetheless brought a smile to my face. It was a small one, one that I had wiped off my face seconds after it appeared, but it was probable he had seen it. I looked into his emerald green eyes and saw something I was certain was in mine when I had cheered him up with a cherry slush: contentment. He was content just being able to make me feel a little bit better after this horrible encounter. It wasn't just probable that Adrian had seen my smile, it was definite. His eyes told it all, his beautiful, expressive deep green eyes. Too late, I realized I'd been staring at him too long, with the keys not yet in the ignition but still nestled safely into the palm of my hand.
"Sage, I don't care how much you love this car. I'm not walking home just so you can be alone with it." He said, his tone light, automatically breaking the spell his beautiful eyes had cast for him.
A/N : Tell me if you want me to write more prompts in your reviews. If you do review it. I hope you liked it!
Disclaimer : what I own? Only the ideas coming out of my head while waiting for The Indigo Spell. So basically the plot of this Fanfic , and even then the idea was inspired from a quote so… like half .