Review Response:
Guest: I'm glad you find it interesting!
savethemadscientist: Here's more, as requested!
Chapter One: The Blue Box
The Cardiff Central Library, as you could probably image, was a perfect place to study. Not only did it have many, many books and great cafés just around the corner, but there was also a peaceful silence throughout the place of knowledge. The only disruptions were the turning of pages, clicks of fingers on keyboards and the occasional opening of a door.
Well, that's how it usually was.
"Come on, Eloise. Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
Eloise glared at her friend.
"No."
"Ple-"
"No."
"P-"
"I swear to God Cameron, if you say please one more time I will kill you with a cactus."
". . . Please?"
She slammed her book shut, causing the boy to scramble from his perch on the table and hide behind chair.
"Cameron," she growled warningly.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He was quick to throw his hands up in surrender, like that would somehow help his case. "It's just . . . I can't do it by myself. Who do you think I am? Changing Tatum!"
Eloise sighed through her nose, thoroughly done with him as he adopted a pouty look on his face.
"Yes you can."
His brow furrowed. "No I can't!"
"You can."
His eyes went freakishly wide. "I can't."
"Can."
And finally, his bottom lip jutted out an almost comical amount. "Can't."
"Can."
He opened his mouth to argue again, but the girl cut him off with a cold glare.
"Don't even think about opening that mouth of yours."
"But she so . . . Fiona." He said, flopping stomach down on the table, legs hanging awkwardly over the edge. "And I'm so . . . Shrek."
Eloise rolled her eyes and opened her book again, hoping to go back to studying instead of dealing with her best friends love life.
"Firstly, I don't think you're Shrek. You're not fat, you're not Scottish, you're certainly not green and I don't think you're an ogre. And secondly, even if you were Shrek, don't Shrek and Fiona get together in the end?" She muttered, trying to get him to lower his voice.
Not that it worked.
"Fine. Then-then I'm . . . Charming! I'm that Charming guy!" He yelled sitting, immediately being shushed by nearby people.
Ears tinted red, he whispered an apology. Eloise tried to hide her small grin by burying her head further in her studies.
"Charming is an egotistical mummy's boy. Not exactly my cup of tea. But, I think you're forgetting Charming is quite pretty and he does get most of the girls."
He groaned and dragged his hands down his face, flopping down onto his back.
"Can't you let me win woman."
"No."
"Ugh."
The boy fake sniffled and rolled away from his friend, his back facing her as he curled in on himself.
She snickered slightly.
There were a few moments of silence where both friends ignored each.
But more than once, Eloise found herself glancing at the man-child currently curled up atop their table. Shaking her head, she told herself to get back to work as this would be the only peace she would get for a while, especially with him near her.
Taking one last glance at him, she caved.
I'm so going to regret this.
"I can try talki-"
She was cut off by him scrambling across the table and tackling her in a hug, almost toppling her out of her chair.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" He rapidly said in her ear.
More people turned to glare and Cameron sheepishly slid off the table, sitting in a chair with his hands in lap, the perfect picture of a well behaved adult.
Not.
Eloise laughed and started packing up her things.
"One day, Cam." She teased as she stood up. "One day I won't be there to save your ass."
Making her way to the stairs she called out to him
"By the way, I thought that being able to get any girl was pretty a good trait among guys? That and being pretty." She asked.
"Yeah, but being able to get any girl except the one you really want isn't much of a superpower Ellie. And men don't want to be pretty." He puffed out his chest. "Men want to be handsome. Masculine. Sexy. Pretty is practically an insult to real men."
"In that case, I've never seen a prettier man than you, Cam." She teased
The boy gasped quietly with an offended air and turned away from her with a huff. She laughed and he turned back around in his seat, watching as she made her way down the stairs.
"Wait, where do you think you're going?"
Eloise smiled.
"I've got to meet with someone in an hour or so." She slung her satchel onto her shoulder. "Besides, there's no point in trying to study if you're here. I'd never get any work done."
From the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of blue outside the window.
Thinking nothing of it - because why should she - she winked at Cameron and disappeared from view.
"Jack!"
The 27 year old woman called as she ran and leaped into the man's waiting arms. He chuckled as spun her around, legs flying in the air.
"Hello Gorgeous."
"Where've you been Jack?" She asked after being set down. "I haven't seen you in ages."
"Oh, you know. Here, there, bit of everywhere."
"Is it completely impossible for you to give me a straightforward answer?"
His lips parted, showing his pearl white teeth as he gave her his infamous grin. "Only for you sweetheart."
She rolled her eyes, looping her arm through his as she causally dragged him in no real direction, walking straight past a 1950's police box.
The two friends soon after found themselves sitting in a café, Eloise trying her hardest not to spit out her drink from something Jack said.
"You did not."
He grinned. "I did."
"You didn't!"
"I did."
She stared at him with wide eyes and shit eating grin permanently etched onto her face. "Oh, you did, didn't you?" She whispered in awe. "What happened next?"
"Well, after-"
"Can I get you anything else?"
Jack looked up, immediately intrigued by the female voice.
"Hm? Oh. Hello." He blatantly check her out, from head to toe. "Are you part of the menu?"
Eloise gave her flirty friend a deadpan looked behind the woman's back.
'What?' He mouthed at her with a an innocent grin,
'Stop it.' She mouthed back.
The waitress giggled slightly and blushed, too busy looking down bashfully to catch their conversation. "No, I'm not."
"How unfortunate."
Eloise gave him an exasperated glare and took over. "We're fine, thank you," she told the girl with a polite smile, subtly kicking her friend under the table when she saw him open his mouth.
"Okay, then just call me over if you need anything else." She said, subtly glancing at Jack.
After she left, Eloise smacked Jack on the arm.
"Ow! What was that for?" He laughed, pretending to rub his 'hurting' arm.
"Must you flirt with everything that has two legs?"
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous." He teased.
She stared at him with eyebrows raised, utterly unimpressed. "She was 19 at the absolute oldest. And you're, what, 47?"
He laughed and lifted his arms in surrender. "Okay, okay! Though you wound me, i concede your point."
They were interrupted by Jacks phone going off. He looked at her apologetically. "Do you mind?"
"Yeah, yeah. S'fine." She waved him away.
He got up and moved away from their table, talking quickly into the phone. "I thought I told you." He growled. " . . . what?"
Eloise sat there and stirred her tea calmly, used to his out of the blue phone calls. Sometimes I feel like he's this massive crime lord running this great complex secret underground drug cartel.
"Okay . . . I'll be there soon."
She sighed in slight disappointment.
He turned around and walked back to their table as she fixed him with a knowing gaze. "Work?"
"Yeah."
She smiled and nodded her head towards the door. "Go on. Get."
He opened his mouth to apologise, but she didn't let him. "It's fine, really." She put on an accent, mocking his American drawl. "Duty calls, Cap'n Jack."
He grinned with a salut and kissed her on the forehead, grabbing his jacket as he rushed out the door. "Thanks Beautiful." He called out, just before he vanished into the outside world.
Eloise remained at her table for a long time, just sipping her hot chocolate and getting a refill once it was empty. By the time she eventually left the warmth of the café, the sun was setting and everything was cooler.
Not wanting to return home just yet, she walked a couple of streets to a nearby park where sat on a bench and pulled out her favourite book.
She didn't know how old the book was, as it was already very tattered she got it about 20 or so years ago.
The day she found it, she had been playing in the dirty gutters just next their house. It had just been sitting their in her favourite corner, its blue, textured cover standing out bright against the black and grey of the concrete floor, its spine so delicate that she hadn't dared opening it for weeks in fear of destroying the practically ancient book. Eventually she cleaned it of its grime and the blue became even brighter.
She smiled to herself as she opened it.
She had read the book many, many times, but that did nothing to deter her from reading and enjoying it all the time. She even went to and payed for the spine to be fixed so she could keep reading it without worry of wrecking it.
As she got lost in the world of her story, people came and went. Some with dogs, some with lovers, some with friends and some alone. But the girl took no notice of them.
The sun dipped below the horizon and the already chilly day turned into an even colder night.
"Ah, excuse me?"
It was only then that Eloise notice the shoes of someone standing in front of her.
"Oh, yes. Sorry, I always get so invested in my books." She apologised, glancing up. Standing there was a tall, brown haired man. Ignoring the slight jump in her stomach, she checked her watch and realised just how late it had gotten. "Oh jeez, is that the time?"
The man gave a small chuckle and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, I thought I'd give you a bit of a wake up call, so to speak."
Though she couldn't see his features all that well, the mere sound of his voice sent shivers down her spine.
Flustered, she smiled at him kindly and packed away her book. "Well, thanks anyway. Not many people would do that."
"No problamo." He brightly chirped, only to instantly wince and muttered inaudibly. "Never saying that again."
Biting her lip to hold back a giggle, Eloise smiled kindly. "Sorry, I would love to stay and chat, but I've got to dash." She apologised, standing up and holding her hand out to shake. "Perhaps we'll meet again."
Their hands met and her fingers tingled with electricity. Heart beating faster, she let go and flagged down a nearing taxi, thankful the the night hid her blush.
"Until then, Mr Stranger Man!" She hollered as she got in.
"Until then . ." The man called.
He watched as the taxi disappeared around a corner and softy whispered to the wind.
"Eloise."
In the car, the young woman held her still tingling hand to her beating heart, trying to shake off her schoolgirl reaction to the handsome stranger, a blush now fully raging on her cheeks.
Unknown to her, the man was having the exact same problem.
"Oh, pull yourself together." He muttered to himself, kicking a stone as he walked away. "Stupid. 'No promblamo!' He says. Who even says that?"
Still mumbling to himself, the man approached a 1950's Police box and slipped inside.
Just as no one noticed the big blue box appear in the middle of the park, no one noticed the big blue box mysteriously vanish.
Eloise was not having a good day.
She had woken up sporting a massive head and a stuffy nose.
She ignored the world for a moment, just lying in her bed, trying to block out the sound of cars, people and a mechanical wheezing that had started somewhere outside.
She was having a terrible day already.
And she was still in her pyjamas.
On the corner of Westgate and Quay Street stood Turn the Page. A small, cozy, not well known bookshop with an astounding number of one staff member.
Well, officially there were two, but the second employee never came in due to a different excuse each week.
This time was a deathly sickness that could kill him if he went anywhere near the bookshop.
It was safe to say that Eloise's morning got a little worse.
"Shit."
After the getting up to go to work that morning she went back to sleep, already knowing that her day was going to suck the life out of her. But unfortunately, that meant she woke up late.
Fall down stairs?
Check.
Roll ankle?
Check.
Stub toe?
Check.
Forget to bring everything for work?
Check.
She closed her eyes as she fought against the growing pain behind her eyes.
Headache the size of Neptune?
Double check.
Eloise surveyed the mess of books and boxes that had tumbled free of the storeroom closet, now wishing she had just called in sick and stayed home.
She bent down to start picking things up.
Ding.
I just bent down.
"Hello? Anyone there?" Someone called from the counter.
Ding. Ding.
Either an impatient customer . . .
"Two seconds!" Eloise hollered.
Ding . . . Ding. Ding. Ding . . Ding.
. . . or someone that had no control over their child.
"Okay, okay! I'm coming!"
She rolled her eyes and picked herself up off the floor, just staring down at the mess with a blank expression, deciding to pack it all away later.
. . . . . . . . Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.
"Yes?" She asked- more like yelled -loudly as she climbed out of the chaos of the storeroom.
Said person jumped away from the counter in guilt, obviously trying to act like they weren't just repeatedly raping her bell. But unfortunately, they seemed to trip on their own two feet and toppled to the ground.
Immediately jumping up again - as if it never happened - he glanced around the room nonchalantly, rocking back and forth on his feet and wringing his hands together.
Eloise regarded the man with slightly raised eyebrows. "Are you alright?" She hesitated to ask, not sure whether to be annoyed or to laugh.
"Ah, yes." He tried to lean on a bookshelf coolly, but missed and almost fell again. "Uh, this . . yeah, not my best first impression. Ha-ha."
"Okay?"
He looked around the room again.
"Did you need something?"
His head whipped her way in surprise and confusion, like he didn't understand her question. "Sorry?"
"You rang the bell." She saidDo you need help?"
"Oh. Oh! No, no. I'm fine."
"Then why did you ring the bell?"
He laughed nervously.
"Sorry. Bad habit. I like to touch things."
Eliose completely blaims her raised eyebrow on spending too much Jack, but for the life of her, she couldn't not react to his unintentional innuendo. After a short pause, he too seemed to realised his mistake.
"No, no, not like that," he hurried to explain, eyes wide and arms flailing. "I just tend to touch things I shouldn't."
"Was that supposed to sound better?" She asked letting a smile grow on her face.
"It . . . I . ." He stopped and took a deep breath, running his hand through his hair. "Yeah. Can we pretend this never happened?"
"Would that make you feel better?"
"Immensely."
She laughed openly, a smile spreading wide across her face. With her eyes closed as she laughed, unnoticed to her, the man watched her in a small daze, completely enraptured with the sound of her laugh.
"Sure thing." She replied lightly, opening her eyes.
He realised he was staring and hurried to look away, a blush creeping into his ears and staining his face.
Eloise watched the man as an awkward silence filled the space. He surveyed the small shop without moving, thumbs hooked onto his suspenders, rocking back and forth on his feet.
"So, is there any book in particular you're looking for or is it more of a general thing?" She asked.
"Hm? No, I'm not here for a book. I have far too many of those."
She shook her head, the corners of her mouth lifted up in a smile. "You're weird."
He frowned worriedly, as if it truely bothered him what a complete strangers opinion meant. "And that's a bad thing?"
"No, I never said that," she said, rolling her eyes and casually leaning on the counter. "It's just . . . most people wouldn't walk into a bookshop if they're not looking for a book."
"Well, I'm not most people."
"I can see that." She examined him up and down, eyebrows quirked in amusement. "A tweed jacket, suspenders and a bow tie? Not exactly the hottest trend right now, is it."
His hands reached up automatically and fiddled with his bow tie.
"What?" He asked indignantly, a pout lining his features. "Bow ties are cool."
"Not saying they're not." The bell above the shop door rang as another customer came in, beelining for the counter. The man expertly hid his disappointment as Eloise's attention became divided and he went to leave her to her job.
"Feel free to have a look around. Find something you like. Maybe buy it." She called to him.
He was once again blown away by her smile, facing flaming red.
"I'll just. Be over here. There. I–I'll be over there." He stuttered out and calmly walked around the shop, finding himself hidden behind bookshelf.
Unaware that Eloise watched him out of the corner of her eye, the man hit his head multiple times on the shelf with a soft thud, cursing his inability to speak without doing something embarrassing.
Eloise suppressed a smile, troubles momentarily forgotten and a warm feeling in her stomach.
The man stayed in the shop for most of day.
Occasionally he would buck up the courage to talk to the young women at the counter, but most conversations ended in awkward silence or when someone else came into the shop.
Either way the conversation ended, the man walked away berating himself for whatever his mouth spewed out.
By closing time - 5 pm - he decided to actually buy something.
"Quantum Mechanics by Eugene Merzbacher? You a science kind of guy?"
"You could say that. More of a hobby really."
She nodded.
"Ah, another one of your infamous hobbies." He blushed. "So, are you any good, Mister One-of-my-casual-pastimes-is-complicated-science-stuff-among-other-dubious-things?"
For the sake of his reddening cheeks, he ignored the latter part of her tease and grinned widely at her, unconsciously hooking his thumbs under his suspender straps proudly. "Yep." Really, Doctor? You can speak almost every language there is, and that is all you can say? "Having photographic memory helps a lot when you're learning new material." There, that's better, now you've saved yourself and she can be impressed by your natural skill.
She put his book into brown paper bag as he lent against the counter. "Okay then," she said, grabbing another copy of the book off its display stand and opening it to a random page, a challenging glint in her eye. "If you're so smart, tell me what the third paragraph of page 247 says."
He smirked.
Oh, Eloise. You never change. "The fundamental description of the universe does not account for a past, present or future." He recited, smirking as he watched her eyes tracking across the page as he spoke word for word. "According to the special theory of relativity, there is no such thing as a present, or a future, or a past. Time frames are relative: I have one, you have one, the third planet of Gliese 581 has one. Ours are similar because we are moving at similar speeds." The man could barely hid his smile as Eloise lifted her eyebrows in surprise.
"If we were moving at very different speeds, we would find that one of us aged quicker than the other. Similarly, if one of us was closer than the other to a major gravity well like the Earth, we would age slower than someone who wasn't."
He paused and blushed, realising that in his excitement to impress her, he had been rambling. "But you probably didn't need to know that."
"It's fine," she said, smiling warmly secretly blown away as book put the book back. "I probably shouldn't have doubted your amazing, god-like abilities."
"No, no. Well, yeah, but, I enjoyed you. It! I enjoyed it. It being talking. To you. Speaking. About quantum physics." He winced at his broken speech and muttered to himself. "Really? I enjoyed you? Stupid."
Having heard that last part, her previous embarrassment melted away and she laughed. "I enjoyed you too." She told him, stilling laughing.
A grin immediately took over his face as he saw her laughing. It didn't matter that it was at his expense.
The bell above the shop dinged, and Eloise's eye twitched.
"Hey, sorry I couldn't come in today early. I-"
"Had a deadly sickness that could've killed you at any second." Eloise interrupted with an eye roll. "Yes, I know."
Cameron smiled winningly. "Well, I'm here now so-" He checked his wrist watch and faked over the top surprise. "Oh, would you look at that. It's already closing time."
She glared at him.
"What a shame." She said in monotone.
"I know, bummer right?"
She glared some more.
The man - unsure if he should interrupt - stood there awkwardly.
"Is this the other employee you were telling me about." He whispered to Eloise.
"Ye-"
"Aww, you talk about me to your customers? How sweet." Cameron cooed.
She rolled her eyes again.
"Aren't you going to introduce us?" He teased.
The two had a staring contest, one glaring, the other smiling innocently. The man - once again feeling awkward - just stood there, not knowing what to do.
"Fine." She relented, just wanting to go home. "Cameron, this is . . . " As trailed off, she realised with a start that he had never told her his name. How on earth did that happen?
Cameron squinted at him. Something about the man seemed familiar.
Then it hit him like a freight train.
"Y-your. Your th-"
"Smith!" He exclaimed hurriedly before clearing his threat and saying more quietly. "Smith. My name is John Smith."
Looking between the two men in confusion, Eloise decided not to comment. "Okay?" She said slowly, with eyebrows quirked. "As I was saying, Cameron this is John Smith, and John this is Cameron."
Cameron walked for to shake Johns' hand, a look of complete awe on his face.
"You. I. With the. And the. It's just." He spluttered then whispered. "Amazing."
The man - John - shook his hand hesitantly and looked to Eloise for guidance.
"Cameron, you're going to rip his arm off."
He snapped out of it - whatever the hell 'it' was - and collected himself, clearing his throats and failing miserably at hiding his smile.
"Can I just say, that I - Cameron D' Lantte - love your work. I'm mean, everything you've done is . . . " His smile widened. "Is unbelievable."
John gaped at him slightly as the penny dropped.
"Ah, you mean my work in the field." He said, eyes widening in hope to convey what he really meant.
Cameron nodded his head wildly, eyes widening - if it was possible - even further.
"Yeah, with the . . . things that you do."
"Yes, all that . . . stuff."
Eloise watched the exchange with complete befuddlement. He must be some sort of professor. Or something. "Okay, and that's my cue to kick the two of you out because you're both being real weird right now." She told them, stepping out from behind the counter.
The duo were gently shoved towards entrance of the shop, Eloise flicking lights off as she went and ignoring Cameron's complaining.
"No, don't make me go. Please Ellie, I need to talk to you." He whined, trying and failing to capture her hand in his as she shoved him out the door, John following obediently. "It's about Fiona."
"Too bad. Should've come into work, we could've talked all day."
"But El-"
"Go home Cameron, I'll talk to you tomorrow at Uni."
"Bu-"
"Cam. Go home."
He pouted and and slumped in defeat. "Fine. See you later Alligator." He said wrapping her in a hug.
"Yeah, yeah, in a while Crocodile." She replied rolling her eyes as she shoved him of. Fondly watching him defectively slump away, she was about to go inside and finish locking up, when she was brought to a pause by John.
"Thank you." He blurted out.
She furrowed her brow in confusion and looked over at him. "What for?"
"For the book." Then he mumbled more quietly, hands twitching nervously in his trouser pockets. "And for not kicking me out every time I did something embarrassing."
She laughed lightly. "I didn't think you were embarrassing." She smiled cheekily. "I thought it was quite cute."
And she left him with that, she entered the shop, closing the door on him and shutting all the blinds behind her.
Oh Eloise, he grinned, never change.
Making her way to the back room, Eloise sighed heavily.
Time to clean up the chaos that was the storeroom.
No one noticed the tall blue box standing on the street corner.
And - once again - no one noticed it leave.
Okay, so I know that it's long and that some of this seems irrelevant, but it's mostly all got a purpose. Question: Would you prefer long, middle or short chapters?
So, what d'you think?
Who was that Jack person? (Obvious) What did you think of Cameron? (Fabulous) Why did he react so weirdly when he met John? Who does he think John is? What's Johns role in all of this? Is our little Eloise a teasing flirt, or just really nice? *wink* And finally . . .
Where did that big blue box go?
So many questions! I hope you enjoyed.