Author's Note: I really like this story. It's very easy to write, and I really have a set bunch of quotes I want to use, and an idea of the transition I'm going to take from chapter to chapter. And Summer is just so much fun, at least before the seasons get colder, and I'll have to get back into those emotions. Hint. Even if the beginning of this chapter sucks, I wanna post it now! Yay!
This now takes place four or so odd months after the last chapter, and that previous brief glance at Archie has sent Atlanta's dull senses into a turmoil—as you will see. If only there was more of turmoil though, over her feelings. As expected of our heroine, she forgot all about the incident after she ran off to get ice-cream with 'daddy-waddy'. But it will come back.
Summer is bright enough to put things in a new light, or maybe reveal what was already there.—Nuuoa Eclaire
Disclaimer: That was forgotten due to excitement. Nuu no own. Nuu mad. Nuu roar. Nuu kidnap Archie. Nuu abuses Archie... sexually. Nuu avoids further possibilities.
Review Replies:
Paradox-Barbarian-Princess : You ain't on drugs girl! The Gahs are a virus that infect us all! EPIC GAHS. To buy the special limited edition sparkle Archies, check your local Wal-Mart. Even though they might be out-of-stock. In high demand, you know. xDD, yes, yes. We know it's impossible to stop the mind when something with even the slightest trace of dirtiness meets Archie. I mean, the boy is asking for it. Carrying a whip around like that. Seriously.
Becky Sky: Thanks hun. Really appreciated here : ). The flowy writing is mainly my style, isn't it? And also that of the chapter. Hopefully I can transition. UPDATING NOW.
Reborn-fire-bird: Well, knowing me I'll try to bring this fan-base back to life multiple times. So all is well. Theresa is a cat, she has nine lives ;3, don't worry. Thanks a lot : ), glad to pride the English professor within us all.
AllytheThird: xDD I think we call do. It's a natural urge, just like breathing. Thankies : ).
TheDragoness1992: HELLO TREE-SISTA. FROM ANOTHER MISTA. Thanks for the review and praise, always makes me warm and fluffy inside. 8DD HOLY COWS ALIVE. I HAVE ONE. I HAVE ONE. falls over in shock and squishes it D: NOOOEEZZZZ.
Lepidopteran: Thank you very, very much, Miss : ). Means a lot. SUMMER IS HERE. EARLY... though finals still lurk in the shadows. Hiss.
Demenior: Well I hope this dying thing you developed wasn't fatal! xDD, that's a cool system. Where'd you get it from? You caught my hint ), Winter comes, doesn't it? BUT IT WILL STILL HAVE ARCHIE. All is well in Nudemania, WHEN ENTERING THROUGH ARCHIE CLOSESTS (others reading this reply: .. wtf?). Archie laughs at his own jokes because no one else will ):. Poor fatherless boy, GO SULK IN DARK ALLEYS. Five-hour HOBO WALK. Well, you know how much I love your praise, FLATTERY, and give it equally. So here's more back, and an update. 3
o—Summer Carries A Toxic Heat, With Traces Left On My Red Cheeks.—o
Chapter Two: Summer
o--o
It smelled of salt and juniper. Of fresh, and damp. Of flowers, and green grass.
It smelled of Summer.
So it smelled of me.
Looking back, I was always looking back, I caught a glimpse of my always trusty, granted pathetic, companion. I was for once not running, and my only thoughts were about making it home to a great big glass of lemonade, out on the lawn. Laying down, playing some sports, and getting a fresh dose of UV rays.
The only thing standing in my way to eternal happiness, was the thing trudging along behind me. My eyes narrowed.
"You," I stated these thoughts out loud, "are pathetic."
"Thank you, I truly, really try." Archie bowed clumsily, probably only so because he made the effort of gracefulness. I chuckled, and my fist grazed his arm.
"I give you that. Only you could 'try' to avoid the beach." Archie's face darkened, contrasting the shimmer of light folded around us.
"Hey, the beach is a very dangerous place."
"Right," I sniffed, and the air that hit my nostrils overly heated, "If you're a hero that's scared of the water. Ah," I pretended to drown by falling to my knees, grasping at the invisible waves, "THEY'RE EATING ME!"
"Lannie," Archie's face grew so dark it was pitch black, black mixed with a varying amount of red. But his unspoken words rung true, so I decided to spare him from the teasing, until the reason for it was laid out before my very eyes. The glare of the sun had dimmed slightly when we reached the rare shadows, and I really saw him. I nearly killed myself from the laughter.
Archie's hair had melted into his forehead. The normally pert purple flecks he called 'Mo' licks' were plastered over his damp forehead, and their tips turned into to form the rough outline of a sad smiley face. The sad face's frown turned deeper when Archie's brow furrowed in annoyance. Poor guy just made it worse.
"Is there a virus going around or something? Something that makes you crazy?" Archie mumbled. He looked like one of those guys that just had his girlfriend call him weird, surprisingly enough. A chilli pepper could not match the colour of his face, so to spare him more embarrassment, I pointed out his... hairy forehead friend.
Sad face was soon wiped from existence.
"You could've told me earlier." Archie wailed as we continued our march back to town. 'Summer, thank you for my daily observations,' I grinned to myself before replying.
"I was waiting for the opportune moment." I chuckled heartily, feeling the humidity lace through my toes, peeking out of my flip-flops. They were still a bit wet from the beach; some salt was drying, albeit dirtily at the tips.
"You had over an hour!" Archie proceeded to flail his arms about. I barely escape a hit to the jaw.
"Whoa there Arch, take a breather." I let out a giggle-snarl, grabbing the unleashed limb. As I did so, not only did Archie's arm stop, but his breathing as well.
I stopped breathing too.
Something dug its way into my stomach and nestled in there for an untimely hibernation, but it was far too awake and lively for my liking. The butterfly was fluttering, fluttering, fluttering, and burning at the point where I touched him. I felt like I was going to throw up.
I let go of his pale hand, and coughed. I didn't really bother to search for his reaction; the boy was probably... well... I had no clue.
I hated having no clue.
"Let's stop a while."
"O-okay," he stammered, "Let's climb that tree!" As if it was the most obvious thing to do in the world when one stopped to take a rest. I sighed, not really wanting to argue with him. If I did that I would have to make contact again,
and I still felt queasy.
"Sure," I scampered up after Archie. The tangle of limbs that I assumed was him had already reached the top of beautiful bold green foliage. My hands gripped the bark, and I climbed nature's ladder. I plopped myself down, but the relief did not last long.
Feeling the odd sick sensation crawl back into my stomach, I dizzily turned away from Archie. 'Maybe there really is a virus going around.' I felt a bit better, not looking at him. At this extremely uncharacteristic realization, my head snapped up and almost hit the low tree branch above us. 'Me! Not us!' I bit my lip a little too fiercely.
The reason I felt sick wasn't because I was looking at him though, of course not. It was stupid. It was just the uncomfortable angle my tender stomach was put in when my... head... twisted... towards him. Yeah...
My apparently stomach-joined head nearly whacked the oak in frustration.
"Isn't this the place?"
"Huh?" I was confused and his talking caught me off-guard. What place was he talking about, "What place?"
"The place. You know, the hill that we reached a couple months ago, during March. After I had finally caught up to you. The daddy-waddy day?" He laughed, but my own was half-hearted. The rest of it had gotten stuck in my throat. 'He remembered?' That day was a beautiful dream to me. The same sunshine that had captured his face on that day was so much brighter now. I wished it could dim.
"Oh, right."
The white sun pierced through the clouds, like fire burning my vision. I blinked, still not daring to shift towards the purple thing annoyingly still at my side—sitting on our tree branch, smiling silently. I could tell he was, if only out of the farthest corner of my eye.
Archie was poised, even if his feet hung ungracefully over the ledge, swinging. The sun's fist attacked his ankle brace, maybe mad that something was equally gold or shiny, but all it managed to do was make it more so. The sheer intensity of the light it refracted hurt almost as much as the name of the spot on my body, under the left side of the chest . Something next to my heart, because it couldn't be the former.
Upwards from his kicking legs, his ridiculous blue shorts were bunched. I hid a chuckle. Archie would probably get cuts from the things, they weren't meant for our many escapades, and the dangers of dirty and sharp seating that came with it. He was really a stay-at-home boy, despite years of training in the field of dark alley sulking.
I smiled, and had actually almost permitted myself to feel better, when I may have well just have injected the virus once again. My eyes reached his nearly-bare, muscular chest, covered only by a thin layer of white that was definitely not allowed to be called a shirt. The heat of the Summer air swarmed to my face staining it bright red. It was too hot out. Far, far, FAR too hot. A tingle shot down my spine. I could've swore it was the vibrations of Summer's laughter.
"Put on your jacket, will you?" I mumbled incoherently, but Archie's ears must have been well tuned, because they seemed to pick up every word just fine.
"Umm, why?" I stared blankly at him. I didn't know... really... I nearly bit the jerk's head off.
"Because." I stated, folding my arms across my chest. 'That reason should prove enough,' my thoughts were inflated, but easily popped.
"But then I would get all sweaty..." Archie trailed off, and my thoughts took a sharp, and very different turn into a land where Archie lay bare and glistening in the whispers of a Summer morning. I practically fell face-first to the ground. I
had to get out of that world fast, but I doubted any amount of speed I possessed would help would speed up the process.
The vision tricked me into meeting his wide stormy blue eyes just as easily as it trapped me in the land of… indecently dressed men. They were twinkling, sparkling, and being altogether just too beautiful for words. He blinked, but as soon as they re-opened, alert and confused at my expression they stole my breath, and left me speechless.
But not without motion.
"You already are sweaty!"
Not only ruining the moment, but taking it, tearing it, and then stomping on it many times, I pushed myself away. Punching his arm, I scrambled onto my feet, still not sure why exactly the image haunted me so, or why I hit him until I glanced back down. I barely held onto my footing, pretty sure I was not meant to be a tight-rope walker, and a weave of damp sunlight didn't hold much to a net.
A jolt passed through me. I was going to fall. My hands reached to grab the air, but it turned out that despite being very real to me, Summer was refusing to take flesh form. So I settled for a mortal, rather than a season. I was shaking, but I only panicked as a new light shed onto the fact that my real fear happened as Archie's hand grabbed mine. Or maybe it only revealed what had always been there.
A jolt passed through my entire being. He pulled me back to my original perched position and with it an over-heated reality. I both relished and feared the electricity, and the lack that came as he hurriedly let go. My breathing hitched violently, and I wanted to cry. He noticed.
"What is with you? Are you okay? You practically killed yourself! Do you need—" Something was furious beating my skull, and my teeth clenched. I was angry. I needed no sympathy from him. The pavement was not the only thing sizzling today, and my rage boiled to a top. In fact, it reached so high, that it dissolved into nothing.
"I'm fine. Just thirsty." My smile hung limp and wilted. Archie's brow furrowed, and I sighed, wiping condensation from my neck.
'What is wrong with me? Am I dehydrated or something?' My hands dropped from my throat and traced the rough edges of bark. The ancient lines almost seemed like an equally old-fashioned sign of affection. Like the letterings of couples, using wood like walls to mark their initials together in eternity. All for that word... that... love.
"If you say so—"
The thing that tasted so sickly sweet dropped like a bomb from my mouth, "Have you ever had a girlfriend?"
The humidity was not the only thing that hung heavy. It was a toxic blanket of silence.
My words shocked me so much that I retreated from my body, trying to take shelter from the aftermath, and obvious explosion that came with such a sentence like the one I had spoke. Had the world records people made it here yet to report the latest scoring of longest mouth drop made by a purple-haired warrior? Or just a person in general?
He made no move to give a reply, and his before perfect eyes belonged to a hunter watching his prey. I was supposed to be the hunter... not the other way around. 'But I don't want to hunt him!' My head throbbed from inner-yelling , 'What am I thinking? My head feels fuzzy... I must be coming down with something.'
"Yes."
The enemy dropped explosives of their own, filling the streets of the place under the left side of my chest with sirens and mother's cries. For a time so hot, why did it feel so cold?
"Oh..." Archie was awaiting my reaction, and despite his obvious discomfort, he didn't let himself waver from battle position. He was well-trained in combat, though I wasn't quite sure what we were exactly fighting for in the first place.
"What was she like?" My voice cracked, and I grabbed my neck it horror. Bad body, don't make idiotic reactions in crucial times like this.
"Well..." It seemed that someone I had struck a weak spot in his defense, and Archie actually tore himself from my side. Had I won?
"She was the opposite of you." Archie whipped to my right, and grabbed a branch, stumbling to the ground. His face illuminated visage was near purple.
"It's late," he began.
'It wasn't. '
"I'm heading home."
'Home?'
"Catch up when you want." Archie equally stumbled over his words, before racing back along the path and then clear out of sight.
'Catch up?' My legs wouldn't let me, for they felt like lead.
Alone on the branch I remained, breathing in erratically the fevered air surround me. Something dropped, and I hoped it wasn't me. I wasn't quite sure how long I rested there, in the cradle of lingering sun.
'Opposite?' The nameless place under the left side of my chest seemed far too close to my heart for comfort.
And Summer rusted to Fall, as the name implies, falling along the way.
o—Summer Carries A Toxic Heat, With Traces Left On My Red Cheeks.—o