Hey guys, I finished it! Yay! Took me long enough *eye roll*. Truly sorry it took so long, I'll try not to let it happen again, it's been a crazy few months but I'm on summer holiday now so I can devote most of my time to writing.
Thanks for your patience and your lovely reviews, means a lot :)
What a crazy night. Somewhere I had clearly pushed the boundaries of reality and fantasy and now I wasn't even sure what had really happened. Clearly the scene with Arthur had been fake. I mean please, he's a total sex god and I am bumbling idiot. Blush warmed my cheeks as I remembered the restaurant scene and my totally obvious and desperate making out with Kevin. Ew. That could be one of the contributing factors to the gross taste in my mouth right now.
With a groan, I rolled over and dangled half my body out of bed, grasping to the half-sane point that if I was halfway out of bed then I was nearly achieving my goal of actually getting out of bed. Giggling at the complete nonsense in my head, I slid onto the floor and blearily began to crawl towards my kitchen. I needed water. And cereal. Just the thought of my coco pops (yes, I accepted the fact I was childish) had me practically drooling.
However, most unfortunately, there was a barrier between me and my too-good-to-be-true cereal that sat enticingly in my kitchen cupboard: a pair of lean legs dressed in crisp trousers. My gaze travelled up the legs, neatly skipping the obvious crotch area, and landed on the torso where the 3 piece suit was completed.
Arthur.
Oh shit.
"Hi!" I said jauntily, as if I crawled around my apartment everyday.
"Hello." He smiled down at me bemusedly. "Need a hand?"
With effort, I pulled myself off the floor and tried to look normal, painfully aware of my bed head hair and surely smeared make up. "Oh no! I was just looking for an...earring! Blasted things keep running away from me." Blasted? Who says that anymore?
Just be yourself, I reminded myself. He likes that Ariadne, at least.
"So, what are you doing here?" I asked.
"Well, I didn't want to come across creepy and stalkerish but I was worried about your state of health this morning – by the way I had no idea how much of a total lightweight you are – and I came to check on you. I took your keys, sorry. Here." He handed me back my keys and a shot of warmth rippled across my palm. Then some of his words registered, and I scowled.
"Hey, it's only because I drunk so much at the restaurant," I faltered slightly, looking away, "Kevin drove me crazy."
"Seems we have more in common than we realised." Arthur joked, smiling warmly and causing my heart to jolt. "Rose just about drove me crazy last night, I realised that she wasn't right for me for a while, but only last night did I actually see her true colours. I'm sorry you had to see that, it wasn't fair to you." He said sincerely. Such a gentleman, I thought dreamily, before scolding myself for being vapid.
"No, I'm sorry I tried to make you jealous." I blurted, mortified.
"Jealous?" He queried quickly. An eyebrow raised, oddly making him look even more sexy.
"Why would you want to make me jealous?" He continued.
I had never understood until that moment how true 'saved by the bell' was. I breathed a sigh of relief, shot an apologetic glance at Arthur, and picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Ari? Get your butt down here, Cobb has a new job for us and it's a cracker, but we'll need a strong architectural structure this time so stop munching on your coco pops and get your brains in gear girl."
Eames, how delightful.
"Oh hi darling! How am I Eames? Oh I'm brilliant thank you, how about you?" I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes at Arthur.
"You know, talking to yourself is the first sign of madness." He said seriously.
"Whatever, see you soon."
"Say hi to Arthur for me." He added sneakily before hanging up.
What the hell?
"What did he want?" Arthur asked.
"Oh, something about a new job." I said vaguely, Eames' parting line on my mind.
"Oh yeah, I've already done my research on that, it's a good one, I'm sure you'll love the challen-"
"Urm, Arthur, did you mention to Eames that you were out with me last night?" I interrupted suddenly.
"No." He said blank faced. "Why?"
"He has an unnerving sense of intuition that I'm sure will make work very unpleasant today.." I grumbled.
"Oh hi guys. Mmm you look gorgeous Ari!" Eames' booming voice made me wince, which only made him grin wider as he leaned back on two chair legs and surveyed us with a twinkling gaze.
"Eames, I am going to trap you in my own maze of hell if you don't lower your voice." I threatened. I attempted to sweep past him haughtily but due to my dark sunglasses that shielded my still-recovering eyes from the sun I tripped over a chair leg and would've gone flat on my face, if not for a steady hand that caught my elbow.
"Thanks." I muttered.
"No problem." Said Arthur mildly. As we both went back to our desks, I caught Eames sharing a look with Cobb and cracking up silently. I resisted the urge to knock the chair out from underneath him.
Cobb came over, looking calm as always. His face was less shadowed and drawn than a few months previously – having his children back in his life had flicked a switch in him and shown I side I completely adored.
"Ari?" He said gently. "Did Eames mention to you the new job?"
"Briefly. He said it was tough one." I said this nonchalantly, unaffected by the challenge. Architecture was everything to me – the harder the job, the more I savoured the impressive outcome.
"Yes. The guy himself is an architect. I won't go into specifics now, but he clearly has a big imagination and we will need impressive structure in the dream. You up for it?" He didn't have any real question in his tone, and I smiled at how much he got me. I nodded eagerly.
"Excellent. Of course Arthur will know everything about this mark, where he studied, what experience he has, etc etc. You'll need to collaborate to get the perfect dream layout."
My smile flickered slightly. There was no insinuation in his tone but I couldn't help wonder if this was pre-meditated planning.
On cue, Eames called: "That'll mean a lot of late nights Ari. Working hard together. Alone. Are you sure you can handle that?" He asked with fake concern.
This time the urge was too strong, but luckily Arthur saved me the trouble by casually kicking the chair legs out from under Eames and causing him to topple to the floor. We all roared with laughter as he picked himself up, cursing angrily.
"Sorry." Arthur said innocently. "Just practising the kick." He winked at me, and the knot in my stomach loosened.
"Shall we get started?" He added, glancing at Eames who was now a safe distance away and still cursing under his breath.
"Sure. It would probably be best for you to tell me all you know and then we go into the dream and I have a go at some construction." I glanced at Cobb for confirmation. He nodded.
"I'll leave you to it then." He gave me a swift, searching look, smiled slightly, and walked off.
I didn't have time to ponder the suggestion behind that look before Arthur piled information on me and I got lost in the job.
"Okay." I said wearily, with my head in my hands.
"Got all that?" Arthur teased.
"Yes." I snapped. "Sorry. It's hard to compete against another architect. If this goes wrong, it's all on me."
"Hey," Arthur gently took my hand and jolted me out of my tiredness, "He's no match for you. I doubt anyone could be."
We sat there in silence for a few beautiful moments, until Arthur's eyes shifted to the dream machine.
"Shall we start constructing then?" He said ruefully, doing that gorgeous raised eyebrow thing again.
I sighed in defeat, but secretly I felt excited, like a child who had a lump of playdough in her hand and had the power to create anything at her will. This was my thing, my crutch, my hobby.
As I got up to go to the machine, I staggered slightly as a wave of vertigo swept over me. Arthur caught me before fell, of course.
"Ari?" His voice sounded far off and I struggled to bring myself back to sanity.
"Sorry...had a...weak moment." I managed to get out before collapsing into a chair.
Arthur bent down next to me, still frowning in concern. "When's the last time you ate?"
I came up blank. I had eaten nothing at the restaurant because everything had kicked off so quickly, but before then I couldn't remember. Arthur tutted when I told him this.
"I'm taking you out to lunch – no arguments." He ordered. I tried not to think about how sexy he sounded when he was like this.
Arthur pulled me up gently and casually put an arm round my waist to help support me. I saw him look furtively around for Eames as we crept towards the door, hoping he wouldn't pounce.
Of course, fate and me didn't really get on, so I wasn't really surprised when Eames' loud voice battered us.
"Guys! Where are you sneaking off to?" I turned wearily to see Eames strutting over, his eyes lingering on Arthurs' arm round my waist. This was getting ridiculous.
Holding my hand up as Arthur began to talk, I said firmly. "Eames. It is none of your business what me and Arthur do. We are all grown ups – at least me, Arthur, Yusif and Cobb are" Arthur sniggered and Eames shot daggers at him. "-And therefore I do not need to explain myself to you. Good day." And with that I stalked out the door with Arthur chuckling behind me. He wrapped an arm around my waist again just on the safe side, and I smiled happily.
"I like the assertive Ari." Arthur murmured in my ear, and I shivered in pleasure. Helping me into his car like a gentleman, he surveyed me in worry again, all the laughter gone.
"Seriously, don't collapse on me like that again. Eat in future."
"Yes boss." I said sarcastically.
"Where do you want to go?"
I directed him to a small, cosy bistro that was home to my most favourite brownies in the world. His face tightened slightly as he glanced at a bar a few doors down.
"What?"
"Rose works there." He said softly.
"Oh. We can go somewhere else-" I hastened.
"No." He cut me off. "This is where you're happy, and I like seeing you happy." He threw a furtive smile in my direction and got out, opening my door for me. I could smell the food coming from the bistro and the aching hunger within me made me wonder about my eating patterns. Lately, I'd been forgetting to stick to the whole '3-meals-a-day' rule because I was so stressed out about Arthur. I had thrown myself into my work to forget him, thus compensating for my lack of time to eat.
No way could I tell Arthur that, it would kill him.
The waitresses greeted me with enthusiasm; I was an old favourite. I didn't even have to order anymore. A searing cup of coffee and stacked plate of brownies was already heading our way, as we holed up in a set of armchairs in a private corner. Arthur watched me with both amused and stern eyes as I scarfed them down.
"I know I know," I mumbled through the deliciously rich mouthfuls of chocolate, "It's unhealthy."
He shook his head. "I'm annoyed because you're so hungry, why haven't you been eating?"
I shrugged and stuffed another mouthful in, therefore I wouldn't have to speak. Once the brownies were gone (Arthur declined having one, for which I was grateful as I do not share easily) we both ordered the lasagne and fell into easy conversation about the job. I'd forgotten how simple it was to work with Arthur, he kept everything so simple that all my qualms went away. I could do this job.
We dodged the topic of last night, but I could feel it approaching. I decided not to beat around the bush.
"Okay, so last night was awkward and confusing, and then I didn't help matters by getting tipsy." I began.
"Lightweight." Arthur quickly butted in before I could continue. I glared at him and he mimed zipping his lips in admonishment.
"But I'm going to clear up the confusion between us that's made our relationship strained since the kiss. "I'm-" I broke off, summoning my courage, then took a big breath and declared:
"In love with you."
I exhaled. Arthur had spoke with me, and a warm smile played about his lips. He took my hand.
"Of course I am, it all just weighed on whether you thought me rude to kiss you like that in the dream, or that I was simply using you as a distraction."
"I'm sorry I avoided you like that. I shouldn't have been a coward." I apologised. My breathing was easy now, my stomach untied, my cheeks flushed. Arthur was mine. Finally.
"Ari-Wari!"
No. Freaking. Way.
Me and Arthur locked incredulous eyes with one another at the possibility that Kevin could possibly be ruining another moment.
I turned to the source of the caller. Kevin was standing at the counter, waving at me frantically. His smile slipped as he noticed who I was with, and a grim determination broke out in his expression. He began to come over.
I turned back to Arthur in panic. He was looking at me similarly and I just wanted to break out into laughter. This was a similar situation to the one in Fisher's mind. Where the consciences were noticing us and all we wanted was to be left alone.
Of course. The solution came to me.
"Hey Arthur?" I asked coyly.
"Yes?" He noticed my change of tone in confusion.
"Quick, give me a kiss." I repeated the words he had said to me in the dream.
Arthur looked at me in surprise, then the memory of the dream broke through and he grinned appreciatively. We leaned in and kissed so quickly I didn't have time to anticipate it in excitement. Our lips moulded together and we understood each other perfectly, moving around each others soft, warm lips without awkward collisions. Like the edges of a puzzle, finding each other at last.
When we broke apart, I wanted to look at Kevin's expression, but I didn't want to be obvious. Arthur took it out of my hands.
"Oh, hey Kevin! Didn't see you there!" He said jovially. We both burst out laughing as Kevin turned away and stormed out, fuming. Our laughter ended in another beautiful kiss, and I lost myself in his cool, careful touch.