Spectacles and Speculations
...
It took her until she was eighteen before Bianca realized she didn't have twenty-twenty vision.
Thankfully the sign she was looking for included a rather large picture of glasses, or else she would have passed the small, private optometrist's office Professor Juniper had recommended for her. After observing her constant squinting while she helped type up research papers and the like, Juniper practically forced her to visit her favorite eye doctor, playfully ordering her "to not come back until I see a pair of spectacles on your face!"
Apparently her awkward clumsiness that plagued her when she was younger-even still plagues her now-actually stemmed from something other than being a bit of a scatterbrain! She smiled to herself. Now she might finally have a cure to her two-left-feet syndrome. She squinted at the sign; she could just make out the words "Accumula Eye Associates Inc.," swinging in the chilly winter breeze.
Yep. This was the place.
Pulling her orange coat tighter around her body, she looked up to see that to reach the office among the many other businesses that shared the multi-storied building, she needed to climb four flights of wooden stairs. Located outside the building. In this weather?
Bianca begrudgingly started the climb up the stairs. She shivered in the cold. "Wherever you are, Professor Juniper, I hope you're having more fun than I am..." With a last worried look, she climbed the rest of the stairs and scurried inside, the door's bell ringing behind her.
…
"Okay, can you focus on the Drifblim? Yes, good, you're almost done. Now simply keep looking until you hear a beep, then you can return to the waiting room. The girl who'll help you find a pair of frames is coming back from her lunch break, so you just sit down and it won't be too long."
When the nurse was out of earshot, Bianca let out a long sigh.
Having bad eyes stinks. A lot. And these appointments are even worse!
Her eyebrows furrowed, making funny faces at the Drifblim to pass the time. "How in the world did Cheren do it..." She muttered, gaining even more respect for her past friend. Her eyes softened as she again remembered the adventures they shared together. After having beaten the Elite Four, both Hilda and Cheren both seemed to disappear from her life. If Hilda had left to find her "acquaintance," then where did Cheren get off to?
BEEP.
Bianca shot up out of the seat, glad to finally be done with the waiting. At least, here straining her eyes at a far-away drifblim waiting. Of all things, Bianca is not the kind of person who likes to stay still for long. Especially sitting down with no one to talk to. That frequently leads to boredom.
"And I for one," she snorted playfully to herself, making her way into the waiting room, "am not gonna put up with boredom one bit-YIKES!"
With a loud thump, Bianca toppled flat on her face, her body sprawled all over the waiting room carpet. After falling victim to many faceplants in the past, it didn't hurt too bad, but it still always smarted on the nose. She sat up on her knees, brushing the bits of dirt off her jacket. "Oh silly me... What did I trip over this time?" She asked no one in particular, "my own two feet?"
"No, I believe this time it was my feet."
"Huhwhat?!" With a start, Bianca looked up to find herself face to face with a pair of tight jeans. Her eyes trailed slowly upward, making her way up a neatly-pressed, white shirt and orange tie, stopping at a bemused face framed by raven black hair. His granite-blue eyes bore into her own, leaving him with a striking stern, yet unimpressed demeanor.
Funny... Bianca pondered, her brows creasing in thought, Where have I seen that expression before...
After a few seconds, the young man cleared his throat, speaking in a dignified tenor. "I apologize for my lack of manners... Would you like a hand getting up? I'm sure your kneeling on the floor is twice as uncomfortable for you as it is for me."
It didn't take too long for Bianca to process the awkward position the stranger was talking about. Springing up, she bowed profusely, her green bonnet threatening to fall off of her head. "Oh dear, oh dear I am terribly sorry sir for all the trouble. Oh gosh... I didn't mean to I-"
She was surprised to find his stoic stare melt into a small smile, his eyes twinkling. He waved his hand dismissively, beckoning her to sit across from him.
He brushed some stray strands of black hair away from eyes. "It's no trouble at all. I'm rather used to it-or, was..." His gaze fell to his hands, eyes softening. "You just reminded me of someone I know..."
Bianca sighed, relieved that she didn't upset him. Thinking of her own feeling of deja vu, she perked up. "Funny you should say that!" She grinned. "'Cause you kinda remind me of someone I know too!"
He looked back up at her, one eyebrow arching in amusement. Bianca merely smiled sweetly, thinking of how Cheren used to give the same quizzical expression. Breathing deeply, she turned to look out of a small window. It had begun to snow outside, leaving vines of frost creeping up and down the glass panels. She leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes.
"So, I hear you're battling boredom, am I correct?"
What?
Opening her eyes, Bianca saw that his gaze had never left her. His eyes shifted about her figure, glittering as she sat up in her seat, confused. "Wait... how did you...? OH!" Bianca's face flushed bright red. "O-oh no, you heard that?"
He gave a half smile, his eyes twinkling with laughter and what was maybe a bit of sympathy.
Yes Bianca. He definitely heard that.
Flustered and a bit embarrassed, Bianca dodged his unwavering stare, playing with her hands. As the uncomfortable silence grew, she guessed he wanted some sort of explanation.
"Y-you see..." She began, stopping to glance warily up at him. He merely leaned back in his chair, bringing the tips of his index fingers together in a look of attentive interest. Bianca gulped.
"You see, I uh, I've never been to an... umm... opta.. optomalist? No thats not it-"
"...Optometrist?"
"Oh! Y-yes, thank you..." Bianca stuttered, biting her lip.
Come on Bianca, what's wrong with you? You never have problems making small talk with new people! So what's so different about him? It should make him doubly easy to talk to if he reminds you of a good friend! Well... Cheren was never really a talker but-no! No, focus. Pull yourself together!
Bianca took a deep breath. "...Anyway, this is my first time visiting an... optometrist. I'm being fitted for glasses. Well... at least that's what I'm sitting here waiting for..." She twiddled her thumbs absentmindedly. "It turns out I have bad eyesight. I'm figuring this is the reason why I was such a klutz when I was younger..."
"You were clumsy in your childhood?" The raven-haired man yawned nonchalantly, "I'd have never guessed."
Bianca brightened up. "...Really?"
No way! He actually thought that-
Hold up.
"HEY!" She crossed her arms, making a pouty face.
He let out a laugh. It was surprisingly warm for someone so reserved, but still a bit shaky, as if he didn't laugh out loud very often. Then it struck her. That was just the kind of snide comment Cheren would make if he were sitting here. Strange...
"So." She huffed quietly after his laughter died down, trying to hide a soft blush that was sneaking its way up her face, "What are you in for?"
He smirked. "This is a medical establishment, not a prison." However his smile-if you could call it that-soon fell into a deep frown. "I'm here to have my contact prescription reexamined." His eyes darted to the left in annoyance. "This is the second time I've had to come back, and to be honest, it's becoming a tiresome bother..."
Bother. Bianca's eyes widened at the mention of the word. Cheren used to say it all the time after he hit fifteen. It had probably become a habit, like his incessant adjusting of his spectacles when he grew nervous.
My goodness... Enough Cheren nostalgia already! Maybe you need some more sleep... that's it. Make a few friends! Or... or maybe get in touch with your old ones... Well, just don't be as flighty as everyone thinks you are!
tic-tic-tic-tic...
Bianca was jostled out of her self-scolding, looking down to find the young man's left foot tapping away at the carpet in impatience. She watched as he flicked his wrist, glancing down at a dark blue Xtransceiver, visibly irritated. Just as she was about to suppress another feeling of Cheren deja vu, the young man leaned forward in his chair, adjusting his tie.
"Come with me."
Bianca blinked in confusion. "...E-excuse me?"
He held out his hand. "You said you already have a perscription, correct? All you need are the frames. The most that lady will do for you is show you around their selection. Now even I can do that." His eyes darted to the side again. "They seem to be running behind schedule again. I don't think they'll note any absence of mine anyway... Deal?" He turned back to her, one corner of his mouth drawing back into a smile.
It only took Bianca two seconds to decide. She broke into a crazy grin, shaking his hand enthusiastically. "It's a deal! And thank you very mu-WHOAH!"
Bianca soon realized he hadn't only meant to shake hands. Catching her by surprise, he sprang up to his full height, pulling her along with him. And by height... This man was tall.
Really tall.
It looked like I could see eye to eye with him when we were sitting down... Forget any resemblance to Cheren, that is most certainly not him. I mean, I'm taller than him! Well… was taller than him... I wonder how much he grew...
"What are you waiting for?"
Bianca's eyes snapped up to see the raven-haired man, his foot tapping again in impatience. Sighing hotly, he grabbed her wrist, ushering her through a small wooden, door.
...
Bianca had to suppress a gasp once reaching the other side.
The room was filled to the brim with glasses. It was a relatively small room, but still. Large glasses, thin glasses, sun glasses... All filling up every wall. Well, except for one section of the back wall, which hung a panel of mirrors for customer self-assessment.
"It sure does leave an impression, hm?"
Startled, Bianca almost backed up against one of the expensive glass shelves, forgetting about the young man who had led her in. For once, he was looking the other way and she was spared humiliation. Well, for now with her luck…
As inconspicuously as possible, Bianca scuttled over to the raven-haired man's side, who was lost in perusing the shelves. She watched as he pulled out a green pair, and froze as he placed the frames delicately on her face, his hands brushing her cheeks. Bianca couldn't believe she was just standing there while he took her chin in his hand and held it there, tilting it upwards to have a better look. He seemed not to notice anything wrong, however, and continued analyzing.
It was a few moments of silence later when he finally spoke. "Hmmm…" He squinted, which made Bianca almost giggle nervously, "The frame are too wide."
The blonde let out the quietest sigh of relief she could muster as he retracted his hand.
"Although, the green brings out the emerald in your eyes."
Bianca's head jerked up in surprise. He was smiling warmly, yet his granite-blue eyes held something… some emotion that she couldn't read.
This is getting strange-oh, what's this?
After finding her own section of shelves to look at-she unknowingly shifted to the thinner frames, mentally heeding the young man's advice-she found near the bottom of a back-lying shelf a relatively compact pair of glasses. They were thin, much thinner than the glasses that she modeled earlier. They also had a familiar reddish-orange color.
And if I'm not mistaken, these glasses look exactly like-
"Well what do you know, this is where they ended up all along!" Bianca whirled around to find the tall, lanky man barely a foot behind her. He grinned as he took a walk down memory lane. "I remember when I was just older than ten sporting these all around Unova. And after all these years, here they are in the recycling shelf-wait, what are you doing?"
Dazed, Bianca had grabbed the glasses while the man was speaking, and with shaking hands, placed the frames on the bridge of the protesting man's nose. She was taking a chance, she knew, but so many seems seemed too coincidental to be true.
And her wall of disbelief shattered as she saw a face she hadn't recognized in two long years. The face grew even more stupefied as the man watched the little blonde's eyes began to tear up. He stared uncomprehendingly, unprepared for the shock that would him like a punch to the stomach.
"...Cheren? Is that… Is that really you?"
"B-BIANCA?!"
...
Ding-ding!
"Gee, hello? I'm so sorry I'm so late miss, I didn't know there would be that much... traffic?" The nervous glasses clerk looked to both sides of the waiting room, but there was no young blonde to be found.
"Well, look who decided to show up."
"Moira! You know it's a long drive, and I already said-"
"Oh, I'm just messing with you, Val." The practice's receptionist smiled worriedly. "At least you arrived, my next patient was a no show."
"Wait.. but he's always so punctual! How?"
"That's what I thought, but that Cheren's certainly not here now! And hey… Where's your patient?"
"She didn't show either?"
"No, she couldn't have! Dr. Neil gave her a prescription a while ago."
"Oh well… If you find her, give me a shout, I'll be amongst the frames if you know what I mea-goodness!" The shocked clerk clapped her hands over her mouth in surprise, beckoning the nurse over with excited whispers. "Shh, Moira I found them. You won't believe this!"
Both women stole to the door and crouched behind it, not helping wide grins from spreading ear to ear. There, unknowingly being spied upon, were two figures: a male and a female, kneeling on the wooden floor. The woman, her bonnet discarded beside her, was squeezing the death out of the young man. Yet he didn't seem to mind as he held his arms loosely around her shoulders, bowing his head closer to hers. Only the two spies hiding behind the door noticed a small pair of red frames quietly slip from his nose onto hers.
It was just a simple and innocent hug, the clerk and receptionist agreed, but the embrace seemed a bit more… intimate? Maybe it was the watery, closed eyes of the blonde that told of recent tears, even though she smiled contentedly? Or… Maybe it was how although the young man's breath caught with each inhale due to the woman's suffocating hugging, he tolerated-no more, held her even closer?
The two reunited friends didn't even hear the door slide shut, leaving them absolutely alone once more.
The young man couldn't hear the receptionist gleefully tell her boss that the next patient will be "arriving in a while..."
And both the young lady and the young man couldn't see the way the glasses clerk smiled as she slowly rang up an order for glasses free of charge. She chuckled quietly to herself, the irony not escaping her as her mind drifted back to the man and the woman-Cheren and Bianca-and the bright, red frames.
"What a perfect pair…"
.
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So, how did I do? :D
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! I hope it wouldn't be troubling you to much to go that extra mile and review it? Anything, I don't care if it's bashing criticism, fuels me to write more!
-PaintingWindows