A/N; Merry Christmas, everybody! Here's a little happy fluffy Christmas fic for you! Virtual cookie to whoever can tell me the right answer to this question! Also, the last name in here isn't actually mine, I just made it up because I'm not gonna put my real name in here. That also means I get to make a Marvel reference ;) Two cookies to anyone who catches the reference and knows the right answer! Bonus cookie for each additional reference!
DISCLAIMER; I DO NOT OWN THE SONG "MAGIC" BY COLDPLAY!
-Ash
Who wrote "The White Man's Burden?"
John Wilkes Booth
Zoe Hough
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Rudyard Kipling
Are you serious? I ask the teacher silently, shooting a glance at him over the rim of my glasses. He catches my eye, and all of a sudden my mind goes completely blank. Silently cursing myself, I pull my eyes away from his and return to the question. With difficulty I pull my mind back to the test at hand and, circling the right answer, continue with the exam.
Normally, I don't worry too much about tests, but this time I'm actually worried. This is the first test I've ever taken that makes up more than five percent of my grade. This one represents 25%. Thirteen questions later, I've finally finished the test. For the first time in two and a half fours, I sit back in my desk and actually take a deep breath. I check through all of my answers once more, then get up to go turn in the test.
-Blackthorn's POV-
Ever since she looked up and caught my eyes, I haven't been able to take my eyes off her. It's driving me mad, because I have so much grading to do. Ashallyn- no, I'm supposed to call her Ms. Carter- puts down her Grand Central Station fountain pen and leans back in her chair, then hunches over her test one last time. She gets up, and picks up her test. I hastily scribble a small note to her:
We need to talk. You pick the place. Seven o'clock tomorrow night.
As she gives me the completed test I slip the paper into her hand. She looks at me, one eyebrow raised in confusion. I just smile a bit, and wave her back to her seat, where she takes off her glasses and plugs in her iPod. Once she's settled on a tune, she reads the note, and scribbles one of her own in reply.
Half an hour later, the remainder of the class begins to finish the exam, and as the man behind her gets up, she snags him by the belt loop and drips the note on top of his test, pointing to me. The man raises an eyebrow, but when two ones follow the note, he shrugs and delivers the note.
My place. 1337 Parker Ave. You want to talk, you bring the food.
I scribble another note, and give it to the man.
I need to talk to her, and I can't do that here. Not without people noticing. This needs to stay between the three of us and whoever she gets to deliver the next note, ok?
He reads it, meets my eyes, and nods slowly, then gives me a grin and a thumbs up. On the bottom of the note, he scribbles back; Sounds good to me, My lips are sealed.
Good, I write back. Then I slip him another note for her. He returns to his seat, and I don't even see him drop the note on her desk, until I see Ms. Carter open the note and smile.
What does your place look like? What do you want to eat? And what's the dress code?
That means she caught the reference I made. For a moment, I don't think she's going to answer. But then she scribbles on another piece of paper and snags the next kid in her row as they go up to turn in their exam. I read her note and try not to laugh.
Formal, of course! :) Large Victorian on the right. You will only see the gates; I'll leave them open for you. Just go up the driveway and park wherever you want. No lettuce, I hate lettuce.
I send the kid back with a note of my own.
Sounds good to me. See you tomorrow night?
She nods, grins, and gives me a big thumbs-up. I send a small one back, and turn back to grading. I have finally made contact with her! With dinner to look forward too, the arduous grading ahead of me suddenly isn't so bad after all.
-Ashallyn's POV-
His reference made me happy, so I'm smiling as I put my head down on my desk and sleep for the rest of the class period.
By the time I wake up, everyone has finished and Mr. Blackthorn has left. His note on the huge whiteboard simply says not to leave until the bell and to have a good holiday break. My college is strange; We have school until halfway through Christmas Eve's Day, and then free flights are available to all student who are going home. The flights are provided by the College of aviation students, who use them as long hour for their degree. That way, we get out for summer break sooner, and we still get time for families. Probably helps that we don't start again until halfway through January.
When the bell rings at noon, there's a mad rush for the door. People are calling out to their friends, shouting goodbyes as they track down their pilot for the day, or their keys. I don't call out to anyone, and no one calls out to me. I don't really have many friends here, but that's ok. Less time partying means less time here. However, that also means less classes with Blackthorn…. Ah, well. The sooner, I'm out of here, the better. Somewhere out there, there's a badge with my name on it, and I'm going to find it.
The next day, 6:57 pm.
I sing a little to myself as I whisk around the house, making sure everything is in it's place. You would be surprised how much everything can get out of hand, even when only one person inhabits the space. Then my favorite song comes on the stereo downstairs, and I thunder down the stairs so I don't miss it. After a bit, I find myself dancing around the living room, singing and dancing with all I've got because there's nobody there to question me. I crank up the bass- I have no neighbors, what does it matter?- and carry on with my flailing of arms.
-Blackthorn's POV-
As I reach what has to be the end of this incredibly long driveway, I catch a glimpse of a house through the trees. Rounding the bend, I see a sprawling mansion emerge from the trees. I drive my Charger through the circle drive and park behind an old motorcycle. I peer up through the windshield at the tall Victorian, trying to see the top and failing. The instant I open my door to get out, the bass hits me like a cannonball. Yep, this is Ashallyn Carter's place. I smile and shake my head, snagging the champagne bottle from the passenger seat, as well as the wrapped present and the bag of Chinese food. Ascending the stairs to the grand double doors, I take in the beautiful stonework on the building, as well as the snow covering everything. The door is open when I reach it, with a note on it.
Come on in.
Walking into the foyer, it's easy to see that she lives here. A leather jacket hangs in the entryway, next to a vast collection of black hoodies and a peacoat. Two pairs of Converse grace the floor mat, next to a pair of black knee high modified combat boots. On the opposite wall hangs a motorcycle helmet and several hats. Another note hangs on an empty rack, with several arrows drawn around the words. Hat (if you wore one XD) here, coat there. After complying, I walk into the living room.
Ms. Carter is dancing around in there, twirling like Julie Andrews in the hills. She's singing too, a delightful sound that carries above the pounding music. I stand in the doorframe, just watching her move around. She really did dress formal, in a floor length midnight blue gown that wonderfully brings out the purple in her hair, as well as the golden color that it naturally is. The song ends and she keeps twirling around, slowing down. She comes to an abrupt stop as I start clapping from the doorway. When her eyes meet mine, they are glittering with happiness and amusement, the kind that only music and good company bring. It makes me smile, and I'm so happy I came here.
-Ashallyn's POV-
Blackthorn starts clapping from the doorway, and I swing to an abrupt stop. He smiles, and the simple smile almost stops my heart. I stagger around, very dizzy from all the pinning. He catches me and sets me on my feet, his smile widening.
"Careful there, Ms. Carter." I hold a hand to my head, promising to be a better person if only the world will stop spinning.
"Professor Blackthorn." I squint at his clothing, taking in the slightly unbuttoned short sleeve dress shirt and the black jeans he's wearing. "You know, when someone tells you to dress nice, you should make an effort," I say jokingly. He grins.
"Sadly, all of my nice things are in storage. I just switched apartments, and I'm not finished unpacking." He then picks up a metal bucket from the ground, with a bottle of champagne half buried in the ice, as well as a wrapped gift and a bag of food from the Chinese restaurant in town.
"Oh, you brought champagne, too," I say, leading the way into the kitchen and motioning for him to set the food on the long countertop.
"It's Christmas, what did you expect?" he replies with a grin. His brows furrow as he thinks for a moment. "Why aren't you celebrating Christmas with family?" I shrug.
"Why aren't you?" I fire back.
"Nobody to celebrate with."
"Same." I move towards the bag of food on the counter, picking up the stereo remote and turning down the music. Blackthorn beats me there, opening the bag and placing boxes on the counter.
"I didn't know what you wanted, so I got you orange chicken and sweet and sour chicken. That's ok, right?"
"Yes, very much so. I'm really hungry, so I'll probably eat both." I smile, and he smiles back. We dig in, and once I finish my last bite of chicken, I wave my chopsticks at him, preparing to ask a question. I swallow and ask, "So, Professor, why teach here? I've seen your degrees, and you could be teaching anywhere." He takes another bite and leans back in his chair, thinking.
"First off, call me Shane." I cut him off.
"Okay then, call me Ashen. Most of my friends do." He look at me sternly over the takeout boxes, and I apologize and gesture for him to go on.
-Shane's POV-
"Well, I guess I just really like it here. I was driving through here once, and my car broke down. I had the chance to walk around a bit while my car was being fixed, and the town enchanted me. Even after I got home, I still thought about this place all the time. " Ashen starts giggling a bit. "What?"
"Was your car a silver '72 Charger?" she asks.
"Yeah, why?" Ashen bursts out laughing, "What is so funny?"
"I fixed your car," she chokes out between laughs. My jaw drops and my eyes widen.
"Are you serious?" She nods, crying from laughing so hard. Then I start laughing, and the music from the stereo is completely drowned out by our laughter. We stop only when a wolf howls, close by. Both of us stand up and move towards the back of the house, following the sound.
Through the wide windows, I see a single wolf illuminated in the light spilling out from the windows of the house. As we watch, his pack comes running out of the woods to join him. They run in circles around him, then the hole pack runs off into the woods. We stand in silence for a beat, then look at each other in wonder. Through the open doors, the opening notes of "Magic" drift out to us. I turn to fully face Ashen and bow slightly.
"May I have this dance?" She nods, curtsies, and places one hand in mine and the other on my shoulder as my hand slips around her waist. I wait to feel the beat; then I cue her, and we dance in slow circles as the snow begins to fall softly around us. The wolf howls again in the distance as the moon rises over the trees, bathing the world in silverlight. I look at her beautiful face, lit gold from one side and silver from the other, and I know in an instant that I am hopelessly, completely, irrevocably in love with this beautiful girl in front of me. I slow our circles down until we are barely moving, and slide both arms around her waist. She moves hers up to my neck, looking at me with a slightly bemused look upon her face. As the song ends, I tip my face down closer to hers in the silence and stop about six inches from her face. From here, I can see every single freckle on her face, all the little scars from the time a window exploded in my classroom and the shards flew into her face. Ever so slowly, I inch my face closer and closer to hers, and finally brush a light kiss across her lips. She freezes, then kisses me back.
Once I finally end the kiss, I watch her beautiful eyes as I catch my breath. Them I smile, and she does too. She shivers in the cold, so I pull her closer to me and as she rests her head on my chest, I rest my cheek on the side of her head.
"Merry Christmas, Ashallyn," I whisper.
The End