Disclaimer: I own no characters, settings, etc. If I did, I wouldn't be posting on this site.
There he was staring at her again.
Jo March's patience was wearing thin with her boy. Teddy had never been shy when it came to looking at her, but ever since Meg and that deplorable John Brooke had started spending more time together, his gaze seldom left her. She had tried several times to distract him; a flurry of useless questions, a song on the piano with Beth, suggestions for her newest manuscript, she had even convinced him to chop wood and build the evening fire - which earned a scolding from Marmee - but it was all in vain. These failed attempts had only seemed to encourage him, and his eyes now searched her own for some sort of praise.
She didn't comply, instead glancing around the room for someone who could help her. She first settled on Meg, but she appeared to be in another world entirely as she mended a blouse Jo herself had torn that morning. A suspicious smile graced her delicate mouth, and Jo had a good idea at the scoundrel that had put it there.
She shook her head in disgust, her attention now landing on Marmee. The gentle matriarch was penning a letter to their dear father, and Jo knew it was a lost cause with her.
Father.
If he was here, he would recognize his second-born's discomfort and deliver her from it. She could just see him clapping a strong, yet friendly hand on the boy's shoulder and leading him to his study with the request for a look over of his latest sermon. She imagined the knowing smile he'd flash her as the two disappeared across the foyer.
Jo was yanked from her daydream by the all too familiar feeling of being watched. She flushed upon discovering herself under Laurie's direct stare once again. She still wouldn't meet eyes with him, and averted her gaze to the youngest two March sisters.
Amy was caught up coloring some new sketch of hers, so Jo knew she would receive little more than a half glance from the girl.
Little Bethy was busy with adorning her beloved cats. The timid hands tied ribbon after ribbon around the creatures' necks. She had just left to retrieve more when a dreaded voice caused Jo to jump.
"Are you going to leave me on the floor like a dog?" Laurie questioned, a playful smile tugging at his lips while an unreadable light shone in his eyes.
She made a headcount of the seats in the room, all being fully occupied except the couch on which she was stationed. The boy had been left to lounge haphazardly on a cushion near the fireplace, a spot she now wished Amy had taken.
"Jo, slide over so that Laurie may be comfortable, too," Marmee sounded from her corner.
Jo felt her brow knit in frustration. Her mother, who was so engrossed in her letter when her own daughter had sought help only moments earlier, was now coming to the aid of the one causing the distress almost eagerly. With a command now issued, however, the defeated soldier had no choice but to obey. The young Laurence's smile was even broader as he placed himself as closely beside her as the old scrap pillow would allow.
"And just when are you going to throw this dusty old thing out?" he chuckled, giving Jo's only defence a sound blow.
"Never!" she cried, clutching it to her chest. "I'll be buried with it!"
He slyly filled the now vacant space with his broad hand.
"But there's no telling what kind of diseases are hiding in it!" he continued, relishing in her spirited reaction. "Measles, influenza, probably even leprosy!" He leaned closer with each ailment.
"Just what do you have against my pillow, Teddy?" she demanded. "You act as though it were your sworn enemy!"
"It is," he grinned, his eyes narrowing, "for it keeps me from sitting as close to you as I like!"
Jo barely missed an observant look and smiles shared between Marmee and Meg. Her vision then followed their own to the - quickly shrinking - gap between herself and Laurie. Her mouth became firm as she decidedly slapped the functioning rag bag down betwixt them again, hitting him in the process.
"Ow!" he exclaimed with a laugh, and returning himself to his former position. "Are you trying to bruise your dear boy? I'll quarrel no longer with the patchworked fiend, if you wish it. Just promise me one visit where I won't have to battle it over my favorite seat."
Jo considered it. If she refused, it would seem as though she didn't want Laurie around her, which would surely wound the poor boy. On the other hand, however, she would have to put up with (at least) one whole day of him practically lying all over her like one of the cats. She didn't know which would be worse.
Before she could even draw breath to answer, Meg called out in an impatient tone, "Oh, just agree to it, Jo! You're no better off with that old cushion stuffed beside you! I need to replace one of the squares, anyway."
She shot the eldest sister a cold glare, then reluctantly answered with an annoyed 'fine'.
Laurie's face beamed with excitement as he looked from Meg to Jo. "I owe you a great debt, sweet Meg," he said to her, while his focus never moved from Jo. "I don't believe she would have agreed if not for your persuasion."
' I daresay I wouldn't!' Jo added in her mind.
Laurie now looked at her expectantly.
"I'm not moving the old veteran this evening," she said, her arms crossed tightly as she deadlocked straight ahead, "so you might as well stop looking at me like a beggar with a cup."
"Okay then, Miss March," he replied with a smirk, "look for me all the earlier tomorrow morning!"
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, still annoyed by his behavior.
By the time Laurie's curfew arrived (a strict nine o'clock), Jo's anger had melted into bliss, and the entire company was sad to see him leave. They all exchanged farewells as he went towards the door, Jo on his heels as usual.
"Goodnight, old girl," he said with a smile as he turned to face her.
"Goodnight Teddy," she returned, a smile of her own dancing across her features.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and gazed up at the stars, his breath rolling like smoke in the cool autumn air.
"I wonder how Brooke and Meg tell each other goodnight," he questioned suddenly, his head still bent towards the sky.
Jo blinked, her smile and pleasant mood leaving as quickly as Laurie's statement had came. The voices of her family were barely a mumble through the closed door, and she wondered if they had heard his odd comment as well. "I don't see why you should care to know," she replied, coming off much angrier and less indifferent than she had intended to.
He looked at her again. "You don't think about how two people as lovesick as they are part ways?" His expression was more serious than Jo liked.
"No," was the firm response, "and I don't think you should, either."
"How can you write about all of those lovers in your stories, then?" he asked, stepping closer.
She glanced around the dark yard as if the answer would jump out at her from the shadows.
"I don't know. I just imagine what they would do."
"Isn't that thinking about it, though?" His eyes held that same look they had earlier this evening, and Jo fidgeted under their solid stare.
"Those people aren't real, Laurie," she retorted. "They're just made up characters. Meg and Mr. Brooke are real, however, and I'd rather not think about how they 'part ways' other than saying goodbye. Now let's leave it at that."
A single corner of his mouth turned up, and Jo unconsciously reached for the doorknob behind her back. What had gotten into her Teddy? He remained silent for what seemed like an eternity to her. She stayed the same, fearful that he may do something far too bold if she spoke.
"Goodnight, Jo," he finally repeated, heading off towards his home.
"Goodnight," she echoed, her eyes wide as she watched his silhouette trudge across the yard. She ran inside the instant he was out of sight, clambering up the stairs without a second thought.
"Jo, dear," Marmee's soft voice called from the parlor, "aren't you going to say goodnight?"
Her heart beat wildly as she leaned against her door frame. "Goodnight, Marmee!" she yelled. "Goodnight, Meg, Beth, and Amy!"
She didn't give them a chance to reply before shutting herself up in her room. Her thoughts raced - most involving Laurie and his peculiar behavior. What did he mean about all of that with Meg and Mr. Brooke? Had he gone absolutely batty?!
She scarcely noticed that she'd dressed herself for bed and climbed in. And, despite her frenzied mind, she found herself quickly drifting off. Just as she settled into a good doze, a horrible realization hit her.
"Christopher Columbus!" she exclaimed, sitting straight up. "He's coming again tomorrow, intent on being glued to me!" She looked to the door as it squeaked open, Meg's ladylike frame coming through with a great noise of rustling fabric.
"What on earth are you yelling about, Jo?" she asked, a candle held to her concerned, but aggravated face. "You've frightened the house so that one of the cats scratched Beth."
Jo, still upright, looked down at her quilt, tracing one of the patterns with her finger. "I didn't mean to scare anyone," she said quietly. "Please tell Bethy I'm very sorry."
"She knows you didn't mean to," Meg responded, coming to sit on the edge of her sister's bed. "Now tell me just what's going on with you. You've acted strangely all evening, and especially just now that Laurie's left!"
Jo hesitated. She didn't know if Meg would understand, or if she would think she was just making it up.
"I just felt a little uncomfortable, is all," she answered uncertainly.
Meg stared at her, lips pursed in slight frustration. "I know that's not all of it, Jo. It had to be something to do with Laurie, because you were fine before he came."
Jo tried to think of some boring story that would satisfy her sister's curiosity, but felt that Meg wouldn't believe any of them.
"It was Laurie," she finally admitted, "but I don't know why."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, he kept... staring at me. He barely took his eyes off me the whole time he was here."
"Oh, Jo, Laurie looks at you like that all the time! Why would it bother you tonight?"
"I don't know," she reluctantly continued. "It was more the way he was looking at me. Then, when I followed him outside, he just blurted out how he wondered about you and Brooke."
Meg's eyebrows shot up, then lowered slowly. "What about Brooke and me?" was the dangerously calm response.
Jo found herself just as nervous as she did upset. No matter how utterly off Laurie was acting, she still despised the idea of Meg and John being an 'item'.
"He said he wondered about how you said goodnight to one another."
A blush rose to Meg's face so bright that Jo could plainly see it despite the darkness surrounding them. "And just what business of that is his?" she snapped in a fiery voice.
Jo hid a smile at her sister's surprising outburst of emotion.
"That's what I was so perplexed by!" she replied. "He came with it out of nowhere!"
"It shouldn't be a question to him at all how John and I conclude our evenings," the other continued, attempting to regain a bit of her grace and composure. "I'm sorry I made you agree to retire that old pillow for awhile. I just didn't want to hear you two start arguing over the silly thing... To think that he should ask something so personal as that, though! I'll certainly give him a piece of my mind tomorrow!"
"You need to go to bed, Meg," Jo chuckled, holding her sister by the shoulders. "You sound like you could lead the fight against the Rebs!"
Meg looked at her strangely at first, then joined in the laughter. "I suppose I did sound rather excitable," she giggled.
Jo gave her an incredulous look. "Excitable? Christopher Columbus! I thought I was going to have to keep you from running over and boxing Teddy's ears a few good times!"
Meg's scarlet blush faded into a rosy pink as she and Jo again erupted into peals of chortles and guffaws.
"But really, Jo," she sighed happily as she took hold of an ink-stained hand, "this with Laurie will be over before you know it. He'll likely be back to himself tomorrow. You know how he gets into those notions of his."
Jo wrapped her arms tightly around the elder's neck. "Thank you, Meg dear," she whispered.
Another round of goodnights and 'sleep wells' were shared, and Jo was soon fast asleep, Laurie far removed from her mind.
Author's Note: I believe the website removed all of my indents for my paragraphs, and I've yet to figure out how to return them. This, despite its lack of indents, is the first thing (aside from very short scenes) that I've written in about a year, so forgive the occasional rusty spots. It's also my first attempt at Little Women, so my apologies for any awkward moments. This was originally meant to be a very short piece, but soon took on a life of its own, and now includes two chapters and an epilogue-type ending. Reviews are most welcome, and appreciated!