Arthur Kirkland walked into Jinmen's Cafe and Bookstore, feeling how he always felt when he came back from a World Conference Meeting, exhausted and ready to relax with a good cup of tea, his favorite book, and the corner window seat in the very front of the cafe.
Therefore, like anybody, he was slightly disappointed by the fact that his favorite window seat was already taken-and by a seemingly depressed teenager, of all people! As Arthur walked over to the girl, he noticed that she was not a teen but actually very close to his own age, maybe a year or two younger. And she was very cute. Maybe he shouldn't go yell at her…No, he was already walking over there, and besides, that was his favorite seat! And-and-and-
And before he could finish his thought, he was there, in front of the pretty blond who was toying absentmindedly with a medium-sized, blue, red, and white bouquet of flowers.
For a few seconds, he was speechless, stricken by how attractive she was up close. The girl had shoulder-length wavy blond hair and a jean skirt which had several layered ruffles of different lengths, a red ribbon for a belt. Her plain white shirt had a faded American flag printed on it and a brown bomber jacket over it, which matched [kind of] with her brown cowboy boots. She had several different necklaces adorning her neck, and bangles on her wrists, chandelier piercings in her ears.
She was looking out the window at the office buildings, cars, and pedestrians walking by. By god, do I really care for this girl? She stole my seat for Pete's sake!, he thought, his face on fire. Suddenly he was reminded that he was here to take back his seat and that the girl had the capacity to turn around at any second and catch him ogling at her.
Crap!
He immediately turned his head the opposite direction from her and flushed an even brighter red.
Crapcrapcrapcrap…
He glanced back at her from the corner of his eye. He sighed and relaxed, turning back to her. She hadn't turned around. But she had noticed.
"So, are you gonna say something? Or are you just gonna sit there and stare at me like a stalker?"
Crap! She noticed!, though he did feel slightly happy that he wasn't just blatantly ignored.
He turned his head to reply, but before he could, the girl hung her head and sighed, shoving the entire bouquet into his abdominal. His blush returned and he stared down at the flowers, arms raised.
"..Uh…"
"Take 'em. I don't want 'em."
He looked up at the girl suspiciously, slowly taking the flowers from her hand.
"Um…thanks…I guess…Hey, do you mind-"
"Could you sit with me? Please?"
She still hadn't turned to him but the tone she used was pleading and he guessed she was close to tears. He slightly wondered if she knew that's exactly what he was about to ask.
When he hadn't said anything for a few minutes, she finally liberated herself to turn sideways toward the seat across from her, giving him a worried sideways glance as she pointed to the chair with a black polished fingernail.
"Pretty purple please? I won't disturb you reading if that's what you're worried about."
At this point she turned to him completely [revealing pretty blue eyes and contacts] with a confident smirk.
"I promise I won't bite~!"
This, along with the realization that not only was this girl cute, but she was hot-was enough to send him turning a shade of red yet to be named. And yet he was sure that from that second on he was going to discover that he could go higher in the blush scale. That this girl was enough to make him do that.
"Um…okay…"
He slow sat down and scooted the chair forward, setting the flowers in the middle of the table, making the girl give an anxious look to the flowers. As he bent down into his bag, he noticed that she pushed the flowers as far away from herself as she could, as if she was allergic to them and even smelling them could cause her to break out in hives.
He smirked slightly and sat up straight.
"You must really hate those, huh? Who gave those to you anyway?"
She grabbed her head, pulling her blond bangs back and closing her eyes with a pained sneer.
"No one gave them to me, I bought them for my boyfriend but…"she looked out the window with a forlorn expression. "The jerk broke up with me."
He raised his overly big eyebrows.
"Hmm, one would think that such a pretty girl would be the one breaking hearts."
She smiled at this, liking the compliment, but mostly it was bitter.
"He didn't actually break up with me. But when I came to give him the flowers, he was kissing my twin sister!"
She turned to him then with a bitter tone.
"Maybe you've met her? Maddie? You know; shy, quiet, calm, smart, dating someone? She already has a boyfriend! She just better wait 'till I tell her boyfriend-"
"Just how much do you two look alike?"
She blinked, blank faced.
Then she whipped out her phone from her bag, pushed a few buttons, then shoved the screen in his face. He grabbed the phone, moving it to where he could actually see it.
Huh. They were similar.
They had similar face structure, but 'Maddie' was slightly paler and had violet eyes. Her hair was much longer and worn in loose pig tails. She was wearing a large, loose, red hoodie with a white maple leaf on the front, a green pair of shorts underneath.
"Well, I was thinking that if you were really that alike then maybe that jerk didn't know that it wasn't you."
She seemed to think about this for a second.
"Well, that's true…It's certainly possible…But still, he should know his own girlfriend! Besides, he was starting to be mean to me again."
"Who is he anyway?"
She looked up, confused. "My boyfriend? Ivan Braginski. Why?"
If he had been drinking his tea, which he forgot to buy, he would have done a spit-take. Instead, he dropped his jaw so far he thought that it would break. He swiftly shut it and looked down at his book.
"Well, I'm certainly glad you broke up with him."
She looked completely baffled now. "Why?"
Arthur gave her a bewildered glance.
"Are you barmy? He's a bloody lunatic! The rumor in my office is that he was shipped here straight from Alcatraz!"
She giggled. "Agreed. I'll have to add that to the long list of things he'll be hearing from me tomorrow."
They both laughed at this. The girl scrutinized Arthur for a minute or two before speaking again.
"You know, you're kinda cute~! Do ya got a girlfriend?"
He blushed at this.
"Um…no, actually, I don't."
"Haha, okay, fair is fair"
Her bracelets jangled as she thrust her hand out.
"I'm Alyssa Jones, but you can call me Al."
"Um…A-Arthur. Arthur Kirkland." He said as he shook her hand nervously.
She shined a mouthful of bright white teeth.
"Well, Artie, I'm gonna go get a few books and a coffee while I'm here. You want anything?"
"No, I would much prefer to buy it myself."
"Aw, c'mon! You helped me, I should at least be allowed to pay you back a little!"
He blushed. "Well…fine. If you insist on buying me something, I would appreciate a cup of hot tea-"
"No way! I won't allow you to get something so lame! If you're gonna get something at a coffee shop, it should be coffee! Here, how does a frappe sound?"
He gave her a bewildered look.
"Y-you dolt! If you're going to force me to let you buy me a drink, shouldn't it be of my choosing? And if you ask someone what they want to drink, don't go and choose something for them!"
"Hey, beggars can't be choosers!" she scolded, wagging a finger in his face and jutting her bottom lip out like a disapproving parent trying to convince their two year old something is wrong.
Arthur sat, mouth agape, completely flabbergasted. "I-I did not beg!"
"You're right, its not really the right type of weather for a frappe. I mean look; its about to rain! So maybe a latte…"
"Are you even listening to me?"
She looked into her purse. "Oh, hey, could I borrow, like, five dollars? I left my wallet at home."
Now he was truly seeing her. And he felt his left lower eyelid twitch.
"You offer to buy me coffee and you don't even have money?"
"She gave him an impish smile. "Sorry."
He slowly brought his hand to his forehead and clutched his temple, eyes closed in frustration. When he looked back up again, Alyssa was shooting him a look he knew he couldn't refuse. She was leaning forward and had her hands clasped together on her chest. She had her puppy eyes on and her bottom lip jutted out and quivered. Wow, she was cute.
He sighed, finally relenting. "Alright. Just don't-"
And suddenly his credit card was taken from him.
"No way, you got a debit card?"
"Um…Yeah. I'm 19 after all, it's not like I still depend on my parents for anything."
"I didn't end up getting a scholarship like I hoped, so my parents had to pay for it. Lucky me, they're rich! But now they say I gotta either get a job or find some other way to make money."
Then a thought popped into his head. He knew it was a bad idea from the moment he thought it and he knew he would regret it if he told her, but for some reason, it spilled out anyway.
"You know, my friends boss is looking for a new waitress."
"Really? Where?"
"McAllister's."
"Perfect! Though I'd kinda prefer Micky D's…"
"Beggars can't be choosers." Arthur repeated her earlier phrase with a smirk, looking down at his book, pretending to read.
She giggled. "Okie-dokie, Artie-chokie! I'm gonna go get a mocha so I'll be right back."
"Don't forget my tea!" he yelled over his shoulder at the happy-go-lucky girl.
He smiled to himself. She may be a pain, but she sure is cute…
When she came back, she had a hand behind her back and a mocha in the other. She was smiling mischievously and shoved the coffee into his face, almost spilling it on him.
"Here, try it!"
Still suspicious, he did so. Surprisingly, it was good.
"I like it."
"Oh, Good!" she brought out another from behind herself. "Here's yours."
She quickly retreated to the seat across from him and downed at least half of the coffee in one gulp.
"You GIT! First you ask what drink I want, then choose for me, then you forget your wallet and have to use my money, and now you bring me this? I wanted tea!"
"I told you, I'm not bringing you that crap" she teased.
He was taken aback by the insult and wanted to continue his rant but decided against it. He instead grabbed the frappe and grumbled curses and insults under his breath.
They continued drinking their coffee and talking (mostly arguing) about whatever came to Alyssa's mind first, having completely forgotten about their books. When it came time for them to go, they noticed it had been raining outside. Quite hard, actually.
"Al, do you need a ride?"
"Um…yeah, actually, I just kinda walked here."
Arthur led her to a motorcycle parked next to the building, which she adored and happily climbed on. When Arthur climbed on, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pushed her face into the back of his shirt, making him blush considerably. The drive to Al's house was relatively as talk-filled as the coffeehouse had been. Al told him all about her sister, her mom, Francine, and about her house in general.
When they pulled into her drive-way, rain-soaked, and stepped inside, Arthur got to meet Madeline and her boyfriend in person. Considering they were making out on the couch.
"Hey, boyfriend stealer and jerk face, can you at least take that upstairs?"
The boy sat up and stuck his tongue out and Madeline blushed a red that combated Arthur's earlier one.
"Y-you know, th-that was an a-a-accident. H-he didn't m-m-mean to-"
"Yeah, yeah, 'he didn't mean it', 'he didn't mean it'-Well I don't care if he meant it or not! He still did it!"
"C-calm down, Al." Arthur managed to day, even though Al was giving him a death glare. After a pause, Al huffed a "fine" and stomped off to the kitchen, arms crossed.
"Come on, Birdie. Your sister is freaking me out and I wanna play with your guitar." the white haired albino whined. Madeline smiled sweetly at him, like a patient mother with a child. As then headed up the stairs, the boy stopped and smirked at Arthur, red eyes blazing. They were starting to scare him.
"Hey, you. Just so you know, I'm the awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt and if you're trying to date Al…" he shook his head. "Good luck and may heaven have mercy on your soul."
He laughed a sort of "kesesese" laugh and dashed off, dragging a surprised Canadian behind him.
And then he was alone.
Before he could even think, "well, this is awkward", Alyssa had almost knocked him down with a tackle-hug. Which made his cheeks turn redder than a tomato.
"Hey, Artie, my mom says you can stay for diner if you want!"
"W-Well, I don't know…"
Alyssa gave him her infamous puppy dog eyes. "Please?"
He blushed and looked away, trying to hide his smile.
"Alright git, but I do need to get home soon. I have a life, you know."
After a hectic tour of the house (excluding Madeline's room where the lock was turned), Alyssa excused herself to change and Arthur was left in the living room with a cup of hot chocolate…and Alyssa's Mother.
As he drunk his hot coco and shiftily looked around, the woman stared at him intently.
"So, Alyssa says you're name is Arthur?"
"Um, yes ma'am. You might even know my father- Jermaine Kirkland?"
"Ah, yes! A fine man…"
An awkward silence carried on and the TV from upstairs boomed through.
"Pardon me-" they both said at the same time.
"You first." Francine said, smiling bemusedly.
"No, no, its your house after all-"
"And therefore you follow my rules. So, new rule, you go first."
Arthur smiled slightly. I can see how they're related.
"Okay, well, I was just wondering…are you French?"
She blinked. "How observant! Yes, I am. And I can assume your British, like your father?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
He smiled, finally feeling like he was getting somewhere with this lady.
She smiled as well. "I like you! But…"
And suddenly Francine was in Arthur's face.
"Its obvious you like Alyssa so don't deny it. If you so much as lift a finger at my daughter without her permission or make her cry again; that's where you've crossed the line. Into my territory. And I hope you know what I do to trespassers. I'll peel those eyebrows right off your face and that's only a warning."
She then backed off and smiled again.
Arthur had no idea that such a pleasant woman could go mildly crazy in under two minutes, then change back like it never happened. There was only three logical explanations for that; she was bipolar, it never actually happened, or she was being serious. He really hoped it was number two.
Arthur knew if that happened again, he would need a change of pants.
"By the way, stop it with the 'ma'am' thing. My name is Francine Bonnefoy. Call me Francie."
Arthur pointed upstairs where an Alyssa Jones and a Madeline Williams resided, bushy eyebrow raised.
"Adopted. And Maddie kept her fathers last name."
"Ah."
And suddenly a loud, "Iggy!" was heard from the top of the stairs.
"Iggy" turned around to see Alyssa wearing her soft blond hair in loose pigtails on either side of her head and all the necklaces and bangles removed except one with a big 'A' on it. She had on an extra-large, red, McDonald's tee and a short pair of blue shorts. Behind her, she was dragging a blanket with the words, "Who's your hero?" painted on it. Francine groaned.
"Where she got her fashion sense from, I have no idea…"
"Nonsense, I think she looks cute." Arthur burst out, not thinking.
Alyssa beamed and jogged down the stairs, giving him another tackle hug as she got down. "Aww thanks Iggy!"
"And may I ask just where you got 'Iggy' from?"
She pulled away, tapping her chin in a concentrating look.
"I dunno. But now that I think about it, you do look like an Iggy, so it fits."
Arthur opened his mouth to argue and Francine gave him a warning look. His mouth shut just as something beeped in the kitchen. Francine brightened.
"Oh, the foods done!"
She rushed up to the kitchen and Alyssa went tot eh fridge and popped a burger into the oven, grabbing a soda on the way there.
She plopped down and fixed her position so she was upside down on the couch. She grabbed the remote and chugged her coke while channel-flipping until she found an old episode of Batman. The microwave beeped and Alyssa groaned.
"Iggy, could you get that for me?"
"Why should I? I'm not your slave." He remarked, but did as told.
"Add a soda too! Please and thank you!"
He chuckled softly at the silly rhyme and grabbed the hamburger (hamburgers, he realized there was at least five there) and grabbed two more cokes. He looked up to see green haired Joker facing off against a black-clothed Batman and Robin with a maniacal grin. Though Arthur found it somewhat boring, Alyssa was eating it up, yelling, "GO BATMAN! Kick Jokers butt and shove his face in the mud!"
He chuckled. She really is a kid…
"You really like this stuff, huh?"
She sat up and looked over the couch, eyes gleaming. Enthusiastically, she yelled, "Yeah, don't you?"
He chose not to respond to that and instead brought her her coke and food.
After a few moments of only Alyssa's munches and slurps and occasional "whoop"s when Batman won, Alyssa broke the silence.
"Who's your favorite? I'm always for the hero-us hero's gotta support each other, ya know?"
He looked at the screen, hand on chin in thought. "Well, I guess the Joker is somewhat like a wizard, so he would be my pick."
"No way! You like the villain?"
"No, not necessarily. But you have to remember that the villain is just as important as the hero. The villain, in a way, makes the hero. So if there is no enemy making victims, who is the hero gonna save?"
Alyssa seemed to think about this before both of them jumped at Francine's voice. "Maddie, Gil, get your butts in here it's chow time!"
In a lower tone, she added, "You too, Al and Arthur. Al, eat what you want, but Arthur, come try this pasta, I think you'll really like it."
After a rather "interesting" diner, Arthur relented that he had to get back home. Alyssa sent him off, but before he could go, she grabbed his hand and pulled him in. Before Arthur could even blush, their lips were pushed together and Alyssa slipped her hands in his. When the kiss stopped, she removed her hands to reveal a thin slip of paper.
"Call me sometime, okay?"
Arthur blushed and ran off to his bike, smiling like an idiot.
But before he rode off, he swore he heard her say, "Now, how do I get my bike home?"
AN:
I got favorite-ed a lot on my last Hetalia fic, so i figured I'd upload this as well. This is the first story i wrote for my Reading (or English Lit. or whatever its called) class and, as you can see, it is fairly long. It was supposed to be a short narrative story, topic of our choosing, but since i am incapable of writing short stories, i just wrote this. On paper, it was 19 pages, front and back. 19 pages that, if i had chosen this one, i would have had to read to a classroom of ignorant teens and a friend or two. Needless to say, this one wasn't chosen.
Anyway, this is fairly old (a whole year old now) so my writing style has changed quite a bit. I hope you enjoy it, or at least got a little "what not to do" tips for writing.
The 3 Rs of fanfiction: Read, Rate, and Review! Please do!
I wish you all fun, food, and plenty of freetime!
Benevolently, Pans