Challenge #3
Bringing Down The Walls
INFO: Amy doesn't want to let Ian in… right? This story is all about Ian gaining her trust.
NEEDED:
- Fireflies!
- Use of the quote "I'm going to need some dynamite for this". It shouldn't be too hard though…
- Some laughter...
NO-NOs:
- No use of the word "trust". Ironic, I know, but… yeah.
- No crying. That's the next challenge!
- No gifts, especially the showering of roses and all that.
- No deserts either, or candy.
******
He raised his hand, about to knock on the door. But he stopped short.
What would her reaction be? Angry, he could predict. Unforgiving. Yet he couldn't just let her go without at least letting her know.
Not that he had any intention of failing at this.
He raised his hand again, hesitation all but evident in the slight tremble of his hand. But the moment passed, and it met the hard, wooden surface of the door.
Rap, rap.
"Coming!" came a voice from the inside. It sounded like a boy. Probably Daniel Cahill.
Ian glanced at his watch, something to keep him preoccupied as he waited for it to open.
Thirty seconds. What the devil was taking them so long?
He tried again.
Rap, rap.
"DAN!" a girl's voice yelled. "Get the door!"
Amy. It was Amy.
Ian almost turned around when he remembered who he was. Ian Kabra. A Kabra, first and foremost. And Kabras don't walk out. They don't leave. They don't give up.
They stay and fight---and they win.
"I'm on the COMPUTER!!!" Dan bellowed.
"Aargh," Amy grumbled. Ian could hear the thump of something being put down, followed by footsteps. He took a deep breath to calm himself.
The door swung open. Finally, Ian thought.
"Hi, how may I---" Amy froze, staring at him with wide eyes. Like…like…like he was some kind of bug.
Ian's nose wrinkled at the comparison. He most definitely was not a bug.
He opened his mouth to speak. "Amy---"
Bang!
The door slammed in his face.
Ian blinked, shocked.
"What the---!" He began to curse until he had exhausted his entire supply. Then he pressed on the doorbell, again and again, sending its shrill rings to invade their apartment, just like he was invading them.
"Hold your horses, I'm coming!" Nellie said.
"Nellie, don't---!"
Too late. Nellie opened the door. She gaped at Ian, standing there, his smile starting to slip off. Ian gaped at Amy, still in the act of grabbing Nellie's arm.
Regaining his composure, he said, "Good aft---"
For the second time that day, the door slammed in his face.
He stared at it for one long minute. Then he turned on his heel in a fit of temper, back into the car where Natalie was chuckling at the events that were unfolding.
******
"Bar the doors!" Dan ordered, swooping down the stairs. Nellie and Amy were piling up heavy objects in front of every possible entrance, not risking the fact that Ian might force his way in. He was certainly capable of it.
"Shut up and help," Amy told him in an imperious tone that only older sisters had.
She could not, and will not, allow Ian Kabra back in her life. Not after he'd ruined her. Not after he'd broken her heart. Not after he'd made headlines day by day with his many girlfriends. Not after she'd torn him out of her chest, ripped him up, and stomped all over him.
No, not after all that.
"I think we're good to go, kiddo. That creep's all blocked out," Nellie said.
"Thanks, Nellie," Amy told her.
"Hey, what about me?" Dan complained from the sofa.
"What about you? Thanks, Dan, for being on the computer all day and lazing around," Amy shot back sarcastically.
Dan grinned sheepishly. "Uh…" He stood up, faking a sudden stomachache. "CR!"
Amy rolled her eyes.
******
"No."
"Natalie."
"I said no."
"I'm still your older brother."
"No."
"Just a few will do."
"No! How many times do I have to say no!" Natalie threw down her champagne glass, shattering it. "Our reputation is on the line! You're throwing it away on some girl!"
"I fail to see how it can damage our reputation," Ian replied.
"Really, Ian. You're talking about my equipment here. If you'd had the sense to bring yours, we could have gotten away already!" Natalie argued.
Ian's face fell, suddenly looking like a lost little boy. His head practically hung like a puppy's.
Natalie's tone softened. "Well, if you want…"
"No, no, it's okay," Ian sniffed. "I understand…" He turned around to tap on the partition.
Natalie's heart felt like it was being squeezed at seeing her brother so despondent.
"Driver---"
"Alright, fine. You can have them." Her voice became severe, as if she was now the older one. "But you have to pay me."
Ian's eyes shone. "Really."
"Really," Natalie said reluctantly, glad he was getting back to normal. She handed him a leather backpack.
Her brother's eyes lit up like he'd seen a Christmas tree and Santa Claus. And then it changed.
Ian smirked. "Gullible idiot," he chuckled. Before Natalie could react, he was out the car.
She sat still for a moment. And then she realized it.
Ian had double-crossed her.
Stupid, stupid, Natalie! Of course he'd put up an act. Of course he'd try to fool you. He had gone to school at the London Academy of the Arts!
Damn you, Ian.
******
Ian had tried the knob. It was stuck. Next, he'd tried to shoulder his way in. It only ended up in passers-by gathering around curiously. Lastly, he'd kicked it. It only made him look like a fool, hopping around on one foot.
"Whatcha doin', mister?" a ten-year-old tyke asked, one of the crowd that had pressed in on all sides.
"Trying to get in," Ian answered.
"Are you one of those robbers on TV?" the boy asked again, licking his lollipop.
Ian blinked. "What? No! I'm trying to get in so I can convince this girl that I love her," he explained.
He did not expect the sudden outbreak of raucous cheers from the crowd.
"Good luck with that, sonny," a man said, clapping Ian on the back.
Ian nodded. "Let's see…what do we have here…" He looked at the impenetrable walls then at the things inside the bag. The crowd watched in bated breath.
"I'm going to need some dynamite for this," he decided, pulling out a few sticks. "Stand back," he warned the crowd. Then, using duct tape, he stuck the dynamites to the wall. Ian struck a match and lit the dynamite, quickly jumping back and covering his ears----
Instead, a shower of fireworks erupted.
A child laughed. "Look, those are like fireflies," she giggled.
Ian looked and saw that they were indeed in the form of fireflies.
He checked the rest of the things. Party poppers, confetti….
Blast it! These were for some party Natalie was holding!
Ian threw it aside and rolled up his sleeves. Well, here comes sheer force…
He ran at top speed, hurling himself at the door. Over and over, he kept hitting it. But it didn't budge for even an inch.
Just as he was about to prostrate himself on the front steps, begging for mercy, the child tugged at his polo. Ian resisted the urge to snap at the little girl.
"Mister, why don't you try…" she began to whisper in his ear.
When she was done, he smiled at her. Then he straightened up.
He now knew what to do.
******
"Is it over? Are they gone?" Amy asked. They had watched from inside the various, pathetically futile, methods Ian had employed to enter.
Now he had gone---according to the peephole, anyway---and so had the bystanders.
Amy breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't hate him outright. She just…just wasn't ready for whatever lies he would feed her.
They were both 21 now. She had given him 3 years. Then 5 years. Until she lost hope and tried to move on despite her heart's protests.
He had to reappear just when she'd barred any other way back to her heart. She was starting to regret it—but she was strong. Strong enough to forget him. Strong enough not to care about him.
Just not this moment. That's why she needed him to leave.
"May I ask for a glass of water? All that physical exertion has exhausted me."
Amy nearly shot through the roof. She whirled in disbelief and found Ian casually leaning on the wall behind her, arms crossed over his chest.
"W-w-what…H-h-how…." Amy stuttered, completely at a loss for words. "I th-thought you were gone!" Her voice rose.
Nellie came running out of the kitchen, and Dan thundered down the stairs.
"How did that jerk get in here?" Dan demanded.
"Amy, did you let him in?" Nellie asked, bewildered.
"N-n-no."
"Au contraire," Ian said. "Amy did let me in."
"W-What? I didn't!" Amy insisted.
Ian stepped over to her, Amy backing away, until there was nowhere else to go. "Oh, really? Then why did you leave the windows open?"
The windows!
"The windows were open?" Dan asked Nellie.
"I don't know, were the windows open?" Nellie asked Amy.
"Well, he got in!" Amy said to Dan.
"So the windows were open," Dan concluded.
"I don't know, were the windows open?" Nellie asked Dan.
"Why are you asking me? I don't know if the windows were open!" Dan said to Nellie.
"I have no idea, were the windows----"
"The windows were OPEN!" Amy screeched. "Seriously, guys."
Ian looked amused. "So, Amy. I'd like to talk to you. In private."
"If you want to talk to me, do it now," Amy told him.
Ian sighed. "Fine. Don't blame me, though."
"Blame you for what?"
"Anyway," Ian continued, ignoring her question, "It's really a pretty short piece. In fact, all I have to say are three words."
"Three…words?" Amy repeated.
"Yes, three words," Ian confirmed.
"What are they, then?" Amy asked.
"…"
"Hello?"
Ian gave her one dazzling smile that took her breath away. "I love you."
A long pause.
Ian breathed out. "Now would be the time to say something."
"I…You…You think it's that easy?" Amy demanded. "You think it's that easy? To just walk in my life, and say those words?"
"Believe me, no," Ian replied. "You are one difficult girl, Amy Cahill."
"Me? Difficult? Hah!" Amy retorted. "I can't believe you'd just come here…out of the blue…thinking I'd accept you. That it's so easy to break these walls between us. I'm not the same anymore, Ian."
'True," Ian conceded. "You're even more beautiful than I remember. Except for the stutter." Amy blushed. "And that blush."
Dan and Nellie tiptoed to the shadows, Dan's face slightly green from nausea.
"The point is, Amy, I don't think apologizing will do us any good. You and I both know that no matter how many times I beg for forgiveness, it can't undo the damage. I can only hope to give you something more…something that negates my mistakes completely," Ian told her in earnest.
"You…honestly think it's that easy?" Amy asked in a much smaller voice.
'Nothing in life's easy," Ian replied just as quietly.
Amy stared at the floor. Then at Ian. Then at the floor.
"It's alright. If…If you can't…accept this---"
"Sssh." Amy put a finger to his lips.
She looked at him straight in the eyes. Then she took his face in her hands, pulling him down to whisper in his ear: "I can't believe it's that easy, either."
Ian gazed at her, uncomprehending. Amy smiled and planted a kiss on his cheek.
The look on his face was pure surprise.
"I know," Amy shrugged. "But our author was too bored to make this longer."
And then the silence was destroyed by the noise of reveling. Amy and Ian glanced back in surprise, and saw the bystanders cheering, halfway in through the windows.
As the cheering continued, Ian said: "Amy?"
"Hmm?"
"I think you'd like to know that breaking walls is in my job description…as a Lucian agent."
Amy laughed.
"What's so funny?" Ian asked.
"No, it's just---"
"IAN!!!"
Natalie Kabra came storming in, hair awry, clothes in disarray, holding a shoe with a broken heel.
"Natalie!" Ian exclaimed.
"Don't 'Natalie' me, you filthy scumbag! Where the devil is my bag?"
And that is how it ends, with Natalie typically having to crash the party.
But then, if she hadn't, she wouldn't be Natalie then, would she?