Complexity
A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed. 3 to you all. Kisses, too. Not quite, Comfortably Plump, but...something to do with that? I guess. But no. And, for those who are intrested, I have a tumblr now. Just go to my profile and click Homepage. Don't forget to vote Inception for best movie or best kiss in the MTV movie awards website!
Soundtrack: I Need A Doctor, Eminem ft. Dr. Dre
Chapter Two: Frozen Fingers Trapped Against Glass
Ari can't avoid telling him. It's only a matter of time. But she can damn well stall. She fiddles with her fork, saying "mhm" and "uh-huh" when needed. Arthur watches her with dark soulful eyes, and it makes her want to rip out her hair and stomp and tell him to stop looking at her like that. Clouds have crept over the sun, making the watery sunlight dim and the Chinese restuarant quiet as the lunch rush dwindles. Gray tiles catch her attention; she toes the dirt between each tile, avoiding Arthur's eyes. It makes her confused. She's only ever had two boyfirends: Ky and Daniel, a sticky curly haired boy from kindergarten who had sticky fingers and sticky lips when he pecked her on the cheek. The relationship lasted all of ten minutes, telling her he wanted to kiss his hamster instead. And yet Arthur makes her feel different from the others. Arthur's not her boyfriend, of course, neither her friend, but the way he looks at her...
She doesn't see anything, swirling vision. A hand on her shoulders jerks her back to reality, seeing an expectant looking Carol and a concerned Arthur. He catched her eyes, and then calmly looks back at his hands. He hasn't ordered anything, she notices with interest. Why not? She frowns.
"Any reason why we were mobbed earlier?"
The question sends her rocketing. She knew she couldn't avoid it, Arthur's too smart for her to make him forget, and besides, it's best over and done with. She does hesitate before answering, biting her lip and glancing at Carol. She nods a little. Well, if Carol trusts Arthur enough, then Ari trusts him too.
"He's my...ex-boyfriend. He's just...I mean, he's-" Ari gives up and looks at Carol for help. "It's hard to explain."
Arthur nods, understanding dawning on his face. He probably does understand, Ariadne realizes with a jolt. He doesn't look the type to fake awareness just to look cool. He's better then that. And it's not because of his dark eyes, she tells herself. He's distracting me.
She eats another forkful of lukewarm noodles. Carol checks the time on her watch and sighs. "I have class," she says, and begins to collect her stuff, throwing away her empty tray and grabbing her bags. Arthur says goodbye, and Ari focuses intently on finishing her food. She's halfway done when he talks again. "The whole jealous ex-boyfriend thing," he starts slowly. He's looking up at her through his lashes, making his dark eyes seem soft in the dim watery light. She nods. "Is that for real? Or is there a cult out there trying to kill me?"
Ariadne laughs, a short brittle laugh with no humour. "You'd be better off with the cult," she tells him. Arthur raises an eyebrow. "What makes you so sure?" he asks, and Ari considers, looking down into her lap and searching for an answer.
Ky's ruthless, she knows, overly- jealous to the point of insanity; even when she had broken up with him he still tried to keep her from going anywhere. They haven't dated for three months now, and he's jealous when she's out with some other guy. She bites her lip. Her fingers are locked together in her lap, and she doesn't know how to answer him. Damn you, she thinks. His questions actually make her think about things she'd rather not. She untwines her fingers slowly, flexing them. She looks up to see an intent Arthur, watching her every movement. She can't help but think that he knows her, why she bites her lip and why she plays with her fingers. She thinks that maybe he knows the answer to the question that's designed to make her feel trapped in a maze, twisting and turning on itself and then doubling back. This man's a puzzle desinged to make you feel different. She meets his gaze with one of her own. There's a question in his eyes. There's an answer in hers.
"I know because I've dated him for two years. You get to know a person. Ky'll try to kill you. Or put you in the hospital."
"I can take care of myself."
"Or so you think until he sics three of his gigantic thugs on you while you're walking home."
She winces a little -hopefully a small enough movement that Arthur doesen't notice, but he does. And that her semi sleeve has ridden far enough up her arm to reveal a huge bruise on her elbow. His eyes widen and he's out of his chair in what feels like no time at all- one second there and the next here, and it's all she can do not to giggle at it. He kneels next to her chair and inspects it.
She lets him, knowing she hasn't checked it in a while and he wouldn't let her say no- not because she likes the feel of his skin. Not friends, she tells herself desperately. Not friends.
"What happened?" he asks, and she can hear the disbelief in his voice.
"I fell."
"On the inside of your elbow?"
"Yes," she retorts, yanking her arm back and pushing her sleeve down. "It happens." Arthur's smart, she knows, and that's part of the problem. He's intelligent, and that makes him dangerous. Kyle's not smart- he cheats on tests and copies homework from anyone in his line of sight. She's not used to someone (a boy) who is as smart as she is, or smarter, and it unnerves her. She doesn't quite know how to deal with him. Like how she knows that Arthur can see through her thinly veiled facade. She stabs another mushroom.
She needs to go soon-its's Tuesday and Ky comes here every weekday to eat Chinese. She finishes her food quickly while avoiding eye contact with Arthur (who wants just the oppisit, it seems). But it's too late- she can see Ky approaching, outside the window, hands in jean pockets and sly grin plastered on his face. She gasps and hears Arthur's sharp intake of breath as she turns her head from the window. She can feel him thinking, almost, the cogs in his head turning quickly as he processes the situiation. He mutters something she can't hear, due to her fluttering pulse and thrashing heart.
When she peeks back he's gone.
.later.
It's dark as Ari opens the door to her dorm. The stars look like holes punched through velvet and light shines through. She gasps and whirls around as a throughly familiar-and-not-well-liked voice startles her. She glares, hand resting on the handle of the door.
Arthur's leaning agaisnst the brick with a amused expression. "Hello," she says back, and is about to enter when Arthur makes a move to stop her. "I'm sorry about what happened at lunch," she snaps at him. "Look, I'm sorry if I have a crazy stalker obbsesses ex-boyfriens. It happens."
And it's the thruth. This kind of thing does happen- to anyone at any place. Which means she can't blame herself for anything. She continues, willing her voice not to shake.
"May I go inside now?"
She's turned around from the door to say this, more sassy remarks lined up on her tonuge- like how corny her looks with that freakin' tie- but they're lies and she's caught in his eyes again.
Arthur lowers his gaze, staring at his shoes. "No. I wanted to say I was sorry. For leaving so suddenly. I just saw him and assumed-"
"You assumed right. It's okay, leaving early..."
She clears her throat. He catches on fast- seeing little details and clues, hidden hints and buried secrets and peiced together part of a larger puzzle. While Ari's used to reading people- searching their face for clue's as to what they're thinking, a twitch of an eyebrow, a twist of the lips- Arthur's a pro, seeing a murky version of a larger picture. He understands Kyle, at least a little. All of a sudden Ari's afraid that he will find out more about her and discover each of her small secrets. Why she wears scarves, why she loves A Fine Frenzy, why she loves the colour red. She doesn't want anyone else. Doesn't want to be near anyone else.
She opens the doo and is inside without saying goodbye.
She prepares a cup of hot chocolate once she's inside her room. She drinks is quickly while listening to Carol's events of the day, then goes to wash it in the sink. The water's too hot and burns her hand immediatky. She yanks her hand back, swearing under her breath. She can't help but think of her bruise, and a pair of soulful dark eyes. And the touch of soft skin. She swears again (not because of her burn) and finishes washing her mug with cold water.
"Night," sighs Carol, flipping out the lights. Ari changes into her pajamas and climbs into bed, slipping in her earbuds.
-She opens her eyes in a hospital-
Ari blinks her eyes open to darkened night, Carol snoring loudly. The Mickey Mouse alarm clock reads 4:28. She rubs away tears on her cheeks, aware of the taste of salt and blood filling her mouth. The one other time she tasted blood: she remembers, and it hurts.
Ky's face is thrown into shadow as Ari closes her apartment door shut behind her. Cold bites her fingertips and she rubs them together. "How," she starts, "did you get in here? Only I have the key. I'm gonna call the police."
"No, you're not."
Her cell phone is on her hand already- he lashes out and it tumbles to the floor. Her breath rises in a terrified scream. Then she sees it: the dull silver glinting in thw watery moonlight of the unlit apartment. A knife. She turns and wrestles with the door knob, her sweaty palms falling off the metal. Then the pain is everywhere, burning like a rancid fire and consuming her and she's so afraid that she'll lose herself in the pain and heat-
Then it's all black.
Like now. Ari slides her eyes shut and presses replay on her iPod.
.later.
"...And I want these students to come up after class: Kyle, Charlotte, Anne, William, Arthur, Charles, Liam, Ariadne. Come up after class."
The ususal boos and hisses of, "You're in trouble" start and Ariadne fells her face heat up. She glances at Arthur, who looks just as lost as she. Class whirls by quickly when she wants it to stand still, and when it ends she finds herself walking down to Professor Miles' desk, feet moving but she not quite moving. He stands when the last person arrives (Ky, of course) and gestures to a mechinism that has tubes hooked up to it and a big button in the center.
"This is a PASIV."
Ari wonders if she's the only one to be confused.
"Does anyone know what this can do?"
Arthur says something, and Ari mentally kicks herself for thinking that everyone might be confused. Not Arthur. He's a freaking genuis. Professor Miles smiles at him. "Correct." Ari can almost see him writing down "Arthur" in his mental book of favorite students. She's quite proud that she's on the very top of that list. "Shared dreaming," he continues. "Hook yourself up to this and you can share a dream with someone. What I have in mind for you eight students is something not usually offered. And before you go into this, I need to know if you'll do it." He looks around the small circle encompassing his desk. "You might not be able to dream again."
Ariadne knows that she will certainly do it now. To not dream the same dream again, or have nightmares of Ky- only deep warm darkness. She nods, looking around, and when no one leaves Professor Miles grins.
"Shared dreaming was developed by the military to test run missions. You can kill your fellow fighters or enemies or test out new stratigies and if you die- you just wake up. Perfect? Not quite so. Some of the soldiers lost their grip on what was real and what wasn't. And they needed someone to design the dreams.
"This is where you, as architects came in. But I want you to do something different. I want you to split into pairs that I will assign and design a city. To look real, to bend the laws that couldn't exsist in real life."
Ari glances uneasily at Arthur.
"And the pairs are-"
Quickly Ari finds herself praying she doesn't get paired with Ky.
"Ky and Anne, Charlotte and William, Charles and Liam, and Arthur and Ariadne. You all have one month, until May 3. This counts for 40% of your grade."
She exhales a breath she did not know she had been holding. Her partner- Arthur. She suddenly wishes she had been paired with someone else she might have an idea of how to handle. But anyone is better then Ky, and she'll take what she gets. And if Arthur is what she gets, then yes, she's grateful.
Only it means she has to spend more time with the dark eyed man, and at the moment she doesn't know who's more dangerous.
.later.
He carries a notebook everywhere, she discovers, sitting with him and Carol in a damp library. He also has neat handwriting. "A hotel," she says to him now, tapping her fingers on the table. He nods, writing it down. The library lights flicker on and off with a certain kind of randomness that puts Ari on edge. Carol is tapping out a rythm to the song she's listening to- Ari can hear it from across the table and it's in Korean. "Listen, Arthur, we gotta bounce," Carol says now, pausing her song. "Ari has a test tomorrow-" Ari has no thing of the sort, "and she needs to study."
This is the worst lie she's ever heard- this is a library- but she smiles and nods and begins to stuff her books and sketch pad back into her bag.
"Um. Ariadne."
He has her attention, even if she's annoyed, and she watches him fidget and clear his throat. "Er, I was wondering..."
Please don't ask me out. I don't want Carol to kill you.
Before Ari can be anything but shocked at her thoughts, Arthur continues. "How is your bruise? It looked pretty bad yesterday..."
She and Carol stare at him, and Ari pushes down her sleeve. "It's..." she starts, then clears her throat..."Fine."
He cares, honestly, and she can see it flicker in his dark eyes. And it's this- that little peice that repels her and attracts her all at once- that makes her pack her bags even faster then really needed. She gets to her feets and nods, a sharp jerk of her head, before leaving.
But she does it. She offers a tiny ghost of a smile- a smile so small it could be non exsistent- and then brushes past him.
She can't even imagine the complications that this could bring.
A/N cliff hanger! Vote! Vote! And Read and Reveiw! click the button right there! They inspire me to write faster. 3
-Cass