So I was bored today and feeling very uninspired. I've been working on a new story and I just... couldn't do it. I'm bored. I don't have a clue what the story even is. In an attempt to get back in the 'creation zone' I did this. A lame-o oneshot. Just for you. I don't really know what this is either and I certainly don't know if it helped. I guess I'll find out later.
Prompt: Bonnie does not like Marceline's boyfriend.
It made her bristle. Just sitting in the same coffee house was nauseating. Not in the cute, fluffy, 'holy crap aren't they adorable together' way. More in the 'can someone tell me how to slap politely' type way.
This was ludicrously strange. Bonnie didn't want these thoughts in her head. Nope. She sure didn't. They were totally out of place. What did she care what Marceline did with her life? Why did she feel as though her friend was being blind and stupid and totally undercut here?
She sighed into the cup, seething. The proprietor, a lovely young man by all accounts, paused by her table, coffee mug in hand. He dropped his cloth onto her table and tilted his head, trying to get a better look at her expression. Of course, she was just scowling at the laminate, but he was trying to infect her with his insanely bright smile.
"Did the table do something wrong, Bonnie?" he asked her, refilling her cup. "Or are you just trying out a new face?"
"I'm just… ugh," she groaned. "It's nothing, Jake. I've got a killer headache."
"Yeah," he said, nodding sagely. "That makes sense. Because you've been sitting here all morning drinking coffee, that'll give you a headache. Why don't you go for a walk? Classes?" He lifted an eyebrow. "A life of any kind?"
Bonnie fiddled with the handle of her cup. "Do you know if Olive's open today?"
"Should be, why?"
"I need something cold." Bonnie pushed back her chair. "Maybe brain freeze will feel better."
Jake threw an arm out, blocking her way to the exit. "Hey. Talk to me. Something's got you in a very odd mood and I don't like this." He waved a hand up and down her length. "It's unbecoming of you."
Bonnie rifled in her bag until she came up with a ten and left it on the table for him. "Maybe once I've cooled down," she told him, not meaning it. "Don't be cut too deep if I don't come in tomorrow, alright?"
He frowned at her, running a hand through his already messy brown locks. "If I ask Rosie about this, will she have an answer a little less vague than yours?"
Bonnie shook her head and waved goodbye, unable to keep her eyes completely averted from where her friend was sitting in the corner with her stupid boyfriend. She hastened from the building, not even sparing a glance behind her for Jake, who was no doubt still watching her worriedly. He'd ask Rosie later, but she wouldn't have an answer for him.
She wandered the long way across campus towards Olive's. It always bugged her that the coffee shop and the ice cream parlour were on opposite ends of the university grounds. Shouldn't they be close together? Then you could go from one to the other. Although… maybe it did make sense. If Olive's was so far from everything, then you had a reason to walk off all her delicious pastries, pies and other assorted things that are generally bad for one's health. Valid point.
Thankfully, Olive's Apple Shack was open on Saturdays. Unfortunately, lots of other people had the same idea. A crowd of first years was just exiting the parlour and making navigating rather horrid. Bonnie scowled at them too. Why not?
"Hey yo!"
There was only one person who greeted her like that and with a sinking heart, Bonnie turned to find Marceline ambling over trailed by her douche boyfriend. He looked bored. What possible reason did he have for looking bored? Jerk.
"Hello, Marceline," Bonnie said flatly. She blinked once before returning to glower at the new students milling in the doorway as though they owned the place.
"Well geez, ok then, frosty," Marceline huffed, bumping her in the shoulder. "What's gotten your nickers in a knot?" Marceline smiled at her, prodded her a few times, trying to force a smile.
She was successful. Bonnie tried her very hardest to keep her smile ghostly and sour, but it didn't work. It never worked. Not with Marceline.
"Aha!" her friend exclaimed. "A smile."
Marceline's boyfriend, the ever-so-hateful Ash, slouched up beside Marceline; draping one arm across her shoulders in a way that looked so condescending Bonnie had to put conscious effort into not grinding her teeth. "Are you really going in there?" he asked, jerking a thumb at Olive's. "That place is so lame."
"No," Bonnie corrected thinly. "Olive makes the best strawberry tarts around. Also home-made ice cream." You're lame, her brain tacked on at the end.
He shrugged and strode off. "Whatever, babe. Eat lame food then, I'm out. Grab some beer on your way home."
There was that bristling feeling again. Bonnie wanted to wrap her stethoscope around his neck and throttle him with it. Actually, no wait. She didn't want to break her stethoscope. Her hands would suffice.
Marceline frowned after him and then headed for the door. Bonnie beat her there, pulling it open, earning a blinding flash of teeth from her friend. Yeah. She liked it when Marceline smiled. Honestly. Ash was a… a… she didn't even have a satisfying word to call him mentally. A wenis. That would do. He was a wenis.
"Pick a spot," Bonnie told her. "I'll get us food." Marceline spun in a circle before deciding on a table by the window. Bonnie ordered, no need to ask what Marceline would get, she already knew that. Idly she wondered if Ash knew what Marceline would order. Her fingers tightened unconsciously.
After eating Bonnie skipped out as fast as she could. Seriously, it took all her willpower not to just ask the other woman what the hell she was doing with such a loser. So she took up refuge in her dorm room. Naturally, Rosie was there pattering away on her laptop. She glanced up when Bonnie entered and gave her best approximation of a frown. Rosie wasn't very good at frowning, she was too positive in nature.
"Jake said you're acting strangely," she said bluntly when Bonnie flopped onto her bed. "What's troubling you?"
"Nothing."
"Don't lie to me. Spit it out."
Bonnie didn't get to deny it again because her phone went off. Marceline's name flashed across the screen and Bonnie couldn't stop from smiling.
Ash ditched me this evening, wanna go see a movie?
Sure, she replied. What's showing?
Eh. You pick, I don't really care.
That didn't answer my question.
Um… I don't know ok? I didn't check.
Bonnie rolled her eyes. I'll see when we get there.
Cool. I'll be by your dorm at six.
"Ok…" Rosie said once Bonnie's phone was tucked back into the pocket of her jeans. "Now tell me what the problem is. That was some smile for just a text. Who from?"
"Nothing, no one, doesn't matter," Bonnie sighed, burying her face in a pillow.
Rosie sighed. "You suck. Whoever it is, just ask them out already."
Bonnie shook her head.
"Why not?"
"Taken." Her voice came out muffled through the pillow, but she was sure Rosie understood.
Her roommate clucked her tongue in annoyance. "Grow a pair, would you please? You won't know unless you try."
"So I was your last resort, huh?" Bonnie teased as she slid into Marceline's car. "That must grate. Why'd he ditch you anyway?" Why would anyone bail on her? The logic (if that's what it was) seemed kind of broken to Bonnie really.
Marceline just laughed. "Oh please, you're never my last resort. He and his mates are going to watch the dirt bikes tonight."
"Spectacular." Hmmm, Bonnie mused, staring out her window. Dirt bikes or Marceline? Wow, tough choice. Idiot. The answer is Marceline. It's always Marceline. "I'm kind of surprised he didn't take you with. Not your scene?"
"Didn't invite me. Tickets only. He went with some friends."
Bonnie bit back her angry reply at that. Instead she watched the traffic. It was more interesting than the current conversation and despite the erratic driving of some people, was somewhat therapeutic.
After their movie (an 'edge of your seat' thriller type movie that Bonnie only watched parts of) they headed back to the campus, stopping once to collect drive-through take out. They spent most of the trip in silence. Without thinking, she flicked the radio on, turning the knob until a station came in. Just to fill what Bonnie decided was an uncomfortable quiet.
"There's a disc in," Marceline said. "I know how much you hate ads. I don't know what it is though. I put it in months ago."
She pressed the button for the CD player and was surprised when she heard Marceline's voice coming from the speakers. Bonnie glanced over at her now bright red friend.
"Oh god, sorry." She reached out a hand to turn it off but Bonnie just swatted her away. "I um… that's our demo tape. I listened to it the other day… was gonna send it to a record label. Changed my mind. Please turn it off."
"It's excellent," Bonnie informed her softly, but changed back to regular radio anyway. "Why didn't you hand it in?"
She shrugged. "Ash didn't like it."
Bonnie choked back more heated words. Oh yes, she was going to give him a piece of her mind. He treated Marceline like rubbish. It didn't matter how hard she tried to be happy for her friend, Bonnie couldn't stop hating Ash. Just wouldn't happen. And she would never understand why Marceline spent any of her precious time with him. She was far too awesome for him. She fumed the rest of the way home.
"Wanna come up?" Marceline asked as they got out of the car. "I have tea if you'd like." She checked her watch. "It's early and I don't want to be sitting up there alone, you know? That's boring."
"I thought you were all about boring," Bonnie quipped, trying to create a smile she wasn't feeling in the slightest.
"No, Bonnie B," Marceline replied dryly. "That would be you. Nerd."
"Weirdo."
Marceline lifted an eyebrow and gestured at the building. With much internal screaming at how much she was going to regret this, Bonnie followed her friend upstairs.
"You want tea, I take it?" Marceline asked, dropping her phone and keys onto the table before heading to the kitchenette. "Afraid I don't have much to offer you. But I guess camomile is acceptable."
"You would guess right," Bonnie replied, sinking onto the lounge chair. She flicked the television on and scrolled through channels until she found a suitably light-hearted show to help erase the movie she'd just sat through.
"I have chips too if you want something to eat."
"I'm good."
Marceline collapsed onto the chair beside her, passing a teacup. "A'ight then. If you change your mind I'm sure you know where to look."
Actually, Bonnie decided the trashy romance flick she'd found on the TV was the worst possible thing to be watching right now. It just made her angry. It made her think about Ash and this was not good. She wasn't having much luck watching the movie.
"This guy is a tool," Marceline said, pointing at the guy on screen. "I mean the girl of his dreams is prancing around with that other toolbag and he has lunch with her and doesn't tell her how he feels? What a wanker." She smiled, and elbowed Bonnie. "If only it wasn't so true to life, eh? Who has the guts to ask a pretty girl out, right?" There was a twinkle in her eye that only barely covered the seriousness beneath.
"Marceline why are you even with Ash?" Bonnie blurted before she could stop herself. She blinked, silently cursing herself.
"Huh?"
"Marcy, he's such a jerk. It's like you're just a trophy to him," Bonnie had absolutely no control over her mouth. Honestly though, in her head she was slapping herself nine ways to Sunday. Next Sunday. Not tomorrow. "The way he makes you fetch things for him, the way he ditches you for no good reason. There is no good reason to ditch you. Seriously. You could do so much better. You deserve better." She blinked again, finally reasserting control of her oral faculties. "I'm just gonna go. It's getting late."
She stood and all but bolted from the room, completely ignoring Marceline's call for her to wait. Bonnie was also incredibly glad Rosie was out with Jake that night, otherwise explaining the red in her face would've been the topic of the evening and Bonnie was not in the mood. Why had she said that? Holy carp that wasn't going to end well.
"You can't hide in here forever, Bonnie," Rosie was saying for the umpteenth time that week. Or that day. Everything had kind of blurred together.
"I go to my classes," Bonnie grouched in reply, hunching closer to her laptop. "And I'm not hiding."
Rosie laughed. "Whatever you say. But I know hiding when I see it." She flopped down onto her swivel chair and scooted closer to Bonnie. "Something happened didn't it? Something about whomever this mystery text-contact is. This person who makes you smile. Spill."
Bonnie sighed. "There's nothing to tell," she reiterated, trying her best to block out her roommate's prying. She and Rosie were good friends and had been for years. But she didn't seem to know when Bonnie needed a little space.
"Bonnie," Rosie sighed, tilting her laptop screen down so she couldn't see what she was doing.
"Hey," Bonnie squawked.
"No, shh, listen. You've been in here for what now? A week, yeah? Go out for me please. Let's just walk to Olive's anyway," Rosie pleaded. "We'll get ice cream, alright?"
Bonnie pouted. "No."
"Well what about a walk into town?"
After a good long moment of thinking in overdrive, Bonnie concluded that was pretty harmless. She probably wouldn't be accosted by anyone… surely not. She nodded, sighing, "Fine." Then she paused. "Will you get ice cream to eat while we walk? I'll just get changed."
Rosie spared her a sad little smile, knowing Bonnie wouldn't get changed, that she just wanted a little bit of time to herself in their cramped apartment. Still, the tall blonde nodded, snatched her things together and headed for the door. "Be ready when I get back. I'll text you and wait on the footpath."
As soon as the door clicked shut behind her, Bonnie exhaled heavily, glad for a moment of solitude. It wouldn't last, Rosie would be back all too soon, but for now, she could just wallow unobserved in her misery and self-loathing. Why did she have to be so stupid?
She was just ruminating over some particularly nice names to degrade herself with when a soft knock tapped on the door. Glancing over, she noticed that Rosie had left her keys on the table. That's what happened when you were too hasty to go out.
Bonnie heaved herself from her chair and shuffled to the door wearing a rather rumpled pair of track pants and unironed tee. Not her most presentable, but who really cares? It's not like she'd gone anywhere since she'd totally mucked up at Marceline's the other night. And the woman hadn't tried to get in contact with her so she assumed that was done with. She dropped her head to the wood feeling pretty crappy before she mustered up the energy to open the door.
"Hey."
She closed it again. Slammed more like actually.
"That's not very polite, Bon," Marceline called through the wood. "Let me in, yeah?"
Bonnie slumped against the door wanting to scream at herself. "Just go," she mumbled instead.
"You're being a goblin, you know," Marceline went on. "Nobody's seen you outside of class in a week. And since I'm in none of your classes that means you've been ignoring me. I'm wounded out here. You're a doctor, patch me up."
She sucked in a deep breath before managing to pull the door inwards again. Marceline smiled at her. That was all, just smiled.
"Can I come in?"
"No."
"Why did you run out on me last weekend?" Marceline asked casually. As though Bonnie hadn't just been rather rude.
Bonnie blinked. "I called your boyfriend a jerk. I figured you'd want me out."
"Nah," Marceline waved her away. "You're right, he is a jerk. I broke up with him."
Once again, Bonnie had to think about that before it sank in. "What? Why?" Not that she was upset by this information. Precisely the contrary in fact. But still. Formalities and all that.
"Because he is a jerk. And because I never really liked him," she admitted off-hand, like it was nothing. "Because I decided it'd be much nicer to hang out with someone who knows what I order at Olive's, someone who will sit through a thriller with me even if they hate it, someone who likes my music even. Someone better than him."
Bonnie felt very… swirly on the inside (to borrow a phrase from Rosie). There were little fire-crackers going off everywhere in her intestines and possibly a vat full of molten gold was boiling over in her stomach, there was lots of fluttering too. A weird assortment of sensations to be sure.
"Uh-huh," she stuttered. "That's great. Good for you."
Marceline sighed. "Yup… you're such a nerd, you know that?"
"So you keep telling me."
Marceline tilted her head to one side, all of her dark hair shivering across her shoulder. "Can I come in now?"
Bonnie made to step back, but hesitated, thinking of something. "You're not mad at me?"
"Nope."
"Then yes, you can come in."
"Hey, Bonnie?" Marceline asked, as she slipped past into the apartment.
"Yeah?"
"Will you be that someone?"
So her heart died at that point, turning into a little puddle of goo down in her feet. "What?" she asked, not sure she'd heard right.
Marceline just smiled her world-class smile and stopped well inside Bonnie's little bubble of personal space. "Will you be that someone better for me?"
Bonnie's mouth worked for a moment, speech – at the present – beyond her capabilities. "Um… yes…?"
"Why did that sound more like a question?" Marceline laughed at her.
"Because I'm convinced you're high." Bonnie squinted at her, trying to gain a little composure and return her heart rate to a regular speed. "Are you high?"
"Nope."
"Sure?"
Still beaming like an imbecile, Marceline didn't answer, just leaned in to kiss Bonnie on the cheek. Bonnie froze, not at all sure whether this was real. Her heart did a few backflips, sprained its ankle and settled for just bouncing up and down very fast. She swallowed.
"Marceline…" she began slowly, trying to fight back the blush creeping up her throat.
"Mm?"
"What… what are you…?"
"You are such a nerd," she breathed, making it sound very much a frustrated curse. "So dense in the head. I guess you need a thick skull to protect all those smarts, yeah? I'm asking if you'll go out with me, Bonnie."
"Um… yes…?"
"There you go with the questions again." Marceline rocked back on her feet, peering at her confusedly. "No pressure. You don't have to say yes. But you were right. I could do way heaps better than to live with a boyfriend like Ash. So will you be my girlfriend-who-is-far-too-amazing?"
Do something, Bonnie's brain screamed at her. Say something even. Don't let her walk away, Bonnie, don't you do it.
"Alright."
Marceline blinked at her. "That didn't sound like a question," she said carefully.
"It wasn't." Bonnie grabbed Marceline's collar and kissed her forcefully. Her phone went off in her pocket, making Marceline's hand twitch on her waist. All Bonnie did in acknowledgement was kick the door shut.
Rosie didn't have her keys.