Hi everyone!
I'm back with another chapter. My muse for this story has been really intense lately and I've even begun dreaming up new scenarios while I sleep. This thing has become pretty important to me and I want to make it the best I can, so thank you to anyone who has read this far!
There is a scene, probably in the middle, that was inspired by Blur's version of the song Maggie May. If you have never heard their version of it, look it up either before or after you read this, it's really quite good!
Enjoy the story and pretty please R&R!
*~*~*Chapter 7*~*~*
*~*~*His Little Maggie May*~*~*
It was nearing 6:30 PM, and the sun was just beginning to set over the park downtown, coating every wilting tree and blade of dying golden grass with a soft, orange hue. In the middle of the park stood a small, yet convenient, circular stage, and it was surrounded by a small crowd of people, families and couples and friends who all had laid out little blankets and folding chairs and coolers beside them. Everyone was smiling, children were playing tag and adults were laughing over cold beer and soda, lovers were sweet talking, and a few were having their first dates.
It was a pleasurable, relaxing atmosphere. Everyone was just ready to sit back and have a good time before the daily grind began again.
And in walks our protagonist, who was blasting his classic tune "PonPonPon" from his cell phone in one hand, and carrying a small case of soda in the other, all while following around his still rather ticked off friend while insisting that he simply doesn't understand the message behind the happy song and that he really should sit down and watch the video.
"Really, Muds! If you'd jus' giv' t'is song a chance I know yew woul' luv eht, yew woul'!"
"If yew play tha' song one more time I'm shovin' tha' infernal device down your throat."
"Hmm, migh' no' be such a bad idea, I wouldn' lose it anymore." The two soon came to a spot right next to the stage, far enough away from all the families with little kids, who would no doubt become an unintended nuisance during the show. Murdoc turned to Stu and realized something that they totally forgot about.
"2D, di' yew bring any blankets teh sit on?"
"Nope." Stu responded. Murdoc sighed heavily and sat down on the grass, trying to not lose his cool and just enjoy the night.
"Well, we're goin' teh be leaving with some grassy asses lateh tonigh'."
"I didn' know yew spoke Spanish."
"What?"
"Look! There's people settin' up stuff on stage! They're prolly wit' Xia!" Stu pointed at the two people excitedly, anticipating the moment when Xia actually comes out and starts playing her guitar, the one thing he loved watching her do. Not that he watched her do a lot of things.
"Yeah, tha's lovely. Kin yew give me a beer?"
"I didn' bring beer. I brought soda."
"Yew brought no beer? None?"
"Nope."
"Even though I handed you two cases and said "Put these in the car"?"
"I didn' bring any."
"Wha' di' yew do with the cases then?!"
"Idunno."
"Yew don' know wha' yew di' with two bloo'y cases of beer?!"
"… I remembered teh soda…" Stu whimpered out while holding up the cans of soda with both hands, as if it would help the situation he had found himself in. Murdoc gave out an annoyed grunt and raised himself up from off the ground.
"I'm going to go find beer. If the show ends and I'm not back, I'm either dead, passed out, or making out with a hot bird." He started heading off into a randomly selected direction, intently searching to see if he could find A. a group of hot girls in bikinis, B. people with far too much beer who need help drinking it all, or C. a group of hot girls in bikinis who have far too much beer and need help drinking it all. Considering that this was a family park, and this was the middle of December, A and C seemed like they'd be farfetched ideas. But Murdoc tried anyway.
"'E mus' really luv chicken if 'e wan's teh make ou' wit' one." Stu whispered as he watched the man leave, ignoring the fact that someone was coming up behind him, slowly and quietly, and within an instant had their tiny hands reaching up to cover his eyes.
"Hand over the soda and no one gets hurt." A familiar, feminine voice said to him, which caused the startled man to giggle and smile as he realized who it was.
He turned around and went a little red at seeing how close she was to him, which she quickly noticed and took a step back to make the distance less weird. She smiled at him, looking happier than she had in all the days and hours that he had known her.
"'Ello Xia!"
"'Ello, Stalkeh Stuart." She giggled at her own imitation of his accent, and he internally sighed thinking about how adorable her laugh was.
"I brough' yew some soda." Stu held up the soda again.
"Nice. I'm going to need some if I'm to get through tonight with my eyes still open." She grabbed one of the soda's from the batch he was holding, and quickly removed it from the little plastic holder thing. For a split second, their fingers touched, and he blushed just the tiniest bit more, hoping that tonight would end with a hug from her, a nice, warm hug.
Speaking of warmth, he was cold.
Oh yeah, he didn't bring a jacket.
"So, uh, yew guys still nee' someone to play teh keyboar'?" He asked just as she had cracked open the soda and began gulping it down.
"Nah, none of the songs we are playing tonight require one."
"Goo', because I forgo' mine."
"Looks like you forgot a jacket too," She reached out one of her hands and touched his arm, noting the goosebumps on his slender limb before continuing, "aren't you cold?"
"A li'el now tha' I realize eht." Actually, he was feeling quite warm from her touch. If she just held his hand all night, he wouldn't need a jacket. Then again, he'd probably overestimate the friendly warmth and suffer from hypothermia before long, but at least he'd be pretty happy up until then.
"Well, I'll go see if my friend Danny has a jacket you can borrow. He plays bass in the band and usually doesn't wear one when it's cold out, he says the music keeps him warm." She walked off towards two people, one with dark hair who was holding a small bass guitar, and a young lady who was talking to him. Stu looked on, and admitted to himself that he felt a tiny twinge of uneasiness from her calling another boy her friend.
No, he shouldn't feel this way, he knew that. So he tried to shake it off. Tried really hard to, he did. But it wasn't leaving. He only knew her a little while, if he counted all the time he spent looking at her each day, it probably wouldn't even amount to a full 24 hours. Yet somehow, this sweet little guitarist seemed to have a tiny part of his heart glued to her, and he couldn't get it back no matter how hard he fought the feeling.
Before long he found himself staring into his reflection on a can of soda that he held in his hand, not even noticing that his little love had returned with a big leather jacket.
"Here you go! He says to just be sure you have it back by the end of the show, okay?" She placed it on his outstretched arm and grabbed the sodas he was still holding for some reason so that he'd be able to put it on.
"Fanks, luv." He mumbled, a sad look on his face as he faked a smile and put the warm jacket on over his tiny body.
"Hey, you okay?" She sensed something was wrong and placed a reassuring hand upon his shoulder. She was being a little touchy tonight, he really liked it.
"Yeah, I'm fine…" A sudden thought crossed his mind, maybe he should ask her out? It was risky, yeah, but maybe she'd say yes. He'd never know if he didn't try.
A sudden bout of bravery came over him and he decided yes, yes he would ask. He'd ask her out on a date, next Friday, maybe at a pizza joint or Taco Bell or something, he didn't know for sure yet but he'd think the details over later.
"Are you sure? You look like you're thinking really deeply on something."
"Hey woul' you like to go-"
"Hey Xia! We're about to go on!" The young man, who he guessed to be Danny, called out to her from his place next to the stage. Russell was behind him, holding a set of drum sticks.
"Oh, we'll talk later, okay 2D boy?"
"Yeah, yeah we'll tal' lateh. Good luck." He said with a melancholic tone, but also with a big goofy smile on his face, his signature expression.
"Thanks!" She took one last gulp of the soda she had grabbed earlier before placing it in a conveniently placed trashcan near the stage, then taking off towards her other band mates. Stuart sat down on the grass, waiting for the show to begin as he cracked open a soda himself and looked to the side to see Murdoc sitting next to a young woman with very short blonde hair. She had a gorgeous body, and found a way to show it off despite it being pretty cold outside. He giggled as he realized something, that was the girl who always sat next to Murdoc during class. The girl who he said helped him with the tests.
The girl he said he liked, but who would never like him back because she already had a boyfriend.
Stu sighed and turned back to the stage, a small fire starting in his chest as he saw his little love, the girl with the guitar, the girl he'd rather call Noodle than Xia for some reason, up on stage, her guitar, the guitar he gave her, in hand, proudly being played and creating a melody in tune to the other instruments. She smiled heavily and danced about as much as she could without losing rhythm, and as the song that started so intensely slowed down and allowed for a singer's turn to add to the music, she chimed into the microphone, allowing a melodious sound to flow out of her mouth.
Stu about fainted, he didn't know she could sing too! He sighed happily and closed his eyes, mentally jumping and dancing upon every word she sang. He didn't know the song, it must have been something original from their band, but he knew without a doubt that this right here was his favorite song in the entire world.
Another song came, this time with their bassist, Danny, singing. At times a duet would come along, but Xia and Danny didn't have much chemistry, so it simply didn't seem to be sung quite right. Stu thought to himself that maybe he could sing better than Danny, because lets face it, that guy can't sing.
Around five songs went by, all originals, and the man named Danny came up to his microphone and asked if the audience would like to pick a song.
"I have one!" A little girl shot her hand up, and Danny pointed to her with a smile.
"What would you like to hear us play, sweetheart?"
"I want you to play Maggie May, but you stink at singing. Find someone else to do the words, okay Mr. Guitarist?" So Stu wasn't the only person who thought that that guy sucked eggs.
"Well, I very much doubt our lovely Xia would want to sing that song. And young lady, this is a bass, not a guitar. I'm a bassist."
"You're a suckist." The little girl shouted in a sassy tone.
"Excuse me?!"
"I kin sing!" Stu raised his hand, seeing his chance to be up there with Xia.
"You can?" Danny asked, hesitant about letting some random guy up there to sing. Xia face palmed, having a feeling that he'd do this, yet finding it endearing anyway. That guy just always wanted to help.
"Well yew kin tes' ou' meh voice an' see if yew like eht before I do anyfink."
"Come up and let's hear you out then, man!" Russell shouted from the stage. The little girl looked over at the blue haired man, who was now getting up from the grass and heading over to the stage.
"He can't be any worse than you, Mr. Guitarist."
"Alright whoever owns this tiny Queen of Sass, please contain her little hateful mouth, alright?" Danny asked as Xia chuckled from the bold girl's teasing.
"Let's see what you got, 2D boy." Xia said as Stu stepped up onto the stage and twiddled his fingers nervously.
"Alrigh', well, I go' kind uh a 'igh voice, bu' I kin go somefink lioke t'is.." Stu began singing a random song, one that was sweet and showed off his pure, unique, yet simplistic voice. Xia smiled and looked at Danny, who also smiled before saying,
"You're in."
"I am? Really?" Stu smiled at those words and awaited more to follow.
"Yeah, you know the song Maggie May, right?"
"Yep."
"Well get up there to that mic and have at it!" Danny pointed to a corded microphone that was on the ground at the front of the stage. Stu turned around and walked over to it, picking it up with a shaky hand before standing straight and looking out at the people… lots and lots of people…
He felt like he was going to be sick.
But then Xia started strumming the familiar tune, and the words came to the man they all now called 2D boy, so he closed his eyes and let his inner rock star out.
"Wake up Maggie I think I got something to say to you
It's late September and I really should be back at school
I know I keep you amused
but I feel I'm being used
Oh Maggie I couldn't have tried any more
You lured me away from home
just to save you from being alone
You stole my heart and that's what really hurt."
The rest of the night went on beautifully. Stu sang a few more songs with them, "Silly Love Songs" being one of them, which Xia happily lended her voice to, which made our little protagonist shine with delight. This was the absolute best night of his life, he didn't want it to end. Ever.
The band played one more song without Stu before ending their little show and packing up their instruments for the night. Families started leaving, all of them tired but happy that they got to enjoy some nice music in a beautiful setting with people who they love and cherish.
Stu looked around for his ride, who was no where to be seen despite his little friend being on her way out. He decided that he'd search for him later, and if worst came to worst, he could just hitch a ride with Russell and Xia.
Stu was suddenly greeted with a big hug from out of nowhere, and when he looked down, he was elated to see that it was Xia.
"You did so amazingly great! Thank you!" She pulled away her warm body, her hands still wrapped around his waist. They looked into each others eyes without realizing it, both of them smiling widely.
"I, I di'?"
"Yes! Are you kidding? Danny could never sing like that. We all want you in the band permanently!"
"I… I'd luv to!" He leaned in and gave her a thankful hug back, bending down all the way and burying himself in her warmth. He swore to the heavens that he could stay like that forever and never complain.
"2D…" Xia whispered, trying to get his attention and see that he had prolonged the hug for long enough. She tapped him on the back, and he finally got the hint and shot straight up.
"Sorry, you're jus', really, really warm… I'm stupid."
"No you are not, I think it is cute that you like warm hugs," She smiled wide and giggled, "it's just that you were about to knock me over."
"Oh, well sorry abou' tha'."
"Hey, come over and hang out with us, okay? It will be fun. Or, do you have to be somewhere?"
"No no! I kin come! I'm no' sure where my ride is anyhow."
"Right, you came with Murdoc? I saw him wander off into the woods with a few women as we were packing up."
"Tha's funny, I though' 'e liked a girl alrea'y." Xia ignored his comment and grabbed onto his arm, pulling him over to a large fountain, where Danny and Russell were sitting and having a few beers while two girls and another guy joined them, one of the girls being right up on Danny's arm.
"Hey, 2D boy!" Danny called out as he saw the two coming near them. Stu smiled at the sound of his nickname and wallowed in a little bit of pride, he could tell the group had been impressed with his singing.
"'Ello everyone!"
"So has Noodle talked to you about joining our group yet?" Russell asked as he grabbed another beer from the case on the ground next to him.
"Yep! An', if you all wouldn' min', I'd luv to join yew guys!"
"Welcome to the family then, bro. Sit down, relax, have a few beers, it's part of the band initiation!" Danny joked as he waved his hand towards an empty chair and handed him an un-opened beer bottle. He sat down, Xia sitting next to him as she drank a soda over the beer the rest of them were drinking.
The seven of them chatted for at least an hour, although Xia seemed a little upset and didn't really engage in conversation that much. It didn't go unnoticed by Stuart for too long, but every time he was about to ask her what was wrong, Danny, Russell, or one of the girls would ask him a question, and he'd get trapped in another conversation. But every time he looked over at her, she seemed more and more upset, like the world was resting upon her shoulders. Her frown got bigger, her eyes got sadder, and her hair drooped more and more into her face as each minute went by.
Eventually he stopped answering each question so enthusiastically. He kept his attention on Xia and kept trying to think of something to say to her. Something besides "What's wrong," something that would show that he actually cared.
"'Ey, do yew wan' teh take a walk with meh, luv?" He asked, making it only audible to her so that no one would get the wrong idea from him.
"No thank you, 2D."
"Come on, luv, it'll be fun." He shot her a happy grin, but his face still said "I'm worried about you, talk to me."
After a moment of hesitation, she nodded her head "Yes" and got up from her seat. Stuart took off the jacket he had been lent by Danny and gave it back to the man, who was shivering but not really noticing since he was so full of energy and adrenaline from the night they had. As much as Stu regretted having to give the jacket back, he knew that if he didn't do it right at that moment, he'd totally forget to and the jacket would sit in his closet for forty years.
The two started walking, not really saying anything at all for a while. They walked in silence, despite Stu wanting to know what was wrong, and Xia actually really wanting to tell someone how she was feeling, but being too afraid to. The man knew that all she really needed was someone to be there for her and only her. She needed a shoulder that was free to be cried on if she needed it, an ear to talk into if she desired, and arms that would happily comfort and hold her until she told them to stop.
The two eventually sat down at a lake, still not saying anything to each other. It was beginning to get weird, this endless silence, but not too badly.
Eventually, Xia saw how badly Stu was shaking and decided to take off half of her jacket, which was quite large and could easily accommodate the two spaghetti thin people, and put it over his shoulder, to which he happily accepted and managed to snuggle up into, allowing the feeling to flow back into his skin as he warmed up, not only from having half a jacket, but also being so close to his little love.
"Do you want to know why I'm upset so badly, Stuart?" She finally piped up, not taking her eyes off of the water for a second. He looked down at her and noticed that she was fighting back tears and biting her lip.
"Yew don' 'ave teh tell-"
"I'm sick of my life!" She broke down into a fit of warm tears, a dam of water had exploded from behind her previously calm facial expression. She sobbed and sobbed, and Stuart felt like he could do nothing but hold her close to his chest, which she kindly accepted.
"Music is the only thing that is keeping me alive right now, keeping me from grabbing my father's pistol and ending my life with it. Not that he would even care, that big jerk!" She whisperedly shouted, wishing that she could scream at the top of her lungs all the horrible things she thought of him.
"I'm sad because I don't want to go home, Stu. I don't want to go back tonight, this is my home, right here with my friends, playing music and enjoying it. I want to be here, I don't ever want to go back to that house." She whimpered intensely through tears, her frail body shaking from the emotions she was letting pour out.
"I'm so happy when I'm here. I'm giggly and bubbly and fun and happy. I'm not ever like this at home. I never smile in my house. My father makes it impossible to."
"Wot does 'e do tha's so bad?"
"If I told you, you'd tell me I'm stupid to keep living with him and I should move out on my own. But it's not that simple. He needs me there."
"Xia-"
"No…" She turned in his arms and faced him, and placed a cold hand upon his cheek, to which he rested his own larger one on to keep hers warm. He had the strongest urge to kiss her palm, let her know that he cared so much for her despite having known her for such a short time. He wanted so badly to make her feel good and kiss away her tears. He wanted to hold her all night long and let her fall asleep in his arms. He wanted to be the person who made all the bad stuff in her life go away, the person who would make her happy. Such simple things he wanted with her, and it wrecked his head that he couldn't have them.
"Stu, call me Noodle."
"N-Noodal?" She smiled at his cute way of saying her name, and leaned in to give him another hug. He held her close, letting her know that he wouldn't let go if she didn't, and he buried his face into her sweet smelling hair. She began to cry again, allowing her reality to soak in once more. He held her tighter, cooing into her ear and whispering how sorry he was that she felt this way about her own home.
Suddenly, a phone began to ring.
"No!" The young girl jumped away from him in an instant and grabbed her phone nervously and quickly from her pocket. She looked at the name that popped up and whimpered sadly, allowing another tear to fall before answering.
"H-Hello?" Stuart could hear a man yelling abusive words from the phone, and with each second that went by, the young girl's face lost more and more emotion. After at least a minute of his yelling, the girl finally responded to him.
"I had to come, Dad. They couldn't get any other guitar player." Her tears seemed to have disappeared right off of her face, but she in no way seemed happy or less upset. The man began yelling again, and Stuart could actually make out what he was screaming this time,
"… You spend too much time with music. You know how I feel about you playing guitar, that demonic instrument. It wastes time! Nothing good has ever come of music, it's pointless garbage!"
"… I understand, sir. I'll be home soon." She hung up the phone, and after placing it on the ground, she started to cry again.
"Why is your da' so agains' music?"
"He thinks it wastes my time." She somehow managed to say. She raised herself up from the ground and took one final swipe at her tears, then reached out a hand for him to grab onto.
"Stuart, there is something I have to tell you."
"Yes?" She looked up into his eyes and held his hand firmly.
"That day that you left the guitar in the forest… You saved my life."
"I di' wha'?"
"I was going to kill myself that night. Without music I had no reason to go on. I could have bought a new guitar, yes, but that inscription on it, my nickname, my mother wrote that into the guitar for me when she was still alive. She bought me that guitar, it was the one I first learned to play on. Not just any guitar could replace it, but your gift, even though it's not a perfect replica, it saved me, Stuart."
"I… I didn'."
"Thank you. I owe you my life, I really truly do." She gave him one more, big, tearful hug, and he held onto her for dear life, feeling a train of emotion hitting his body faster than he could breathe. Was all that really true? He saved her life? He didn't mean to, not that he regrets doing it at all, but he just wanted to hear her play again, because she seemed so happy when she played. And yet come to find out, he actually saved a life that day. Her life, more importantly.
They parted, unwillingly, but she knew she had to go, and he knew that too. She looked up at him and smiled before saying,
"Goodnight, Toochie." and leaving a little kiss upon his cheek.
"T-Toochie?"
"Yes. That is my nickname for you. Toochie."
"Oh. Goo'nigh', Xi- I mean, Noodal." He smiled and brought her hand up to his lips, and he kissed the cold, soft skin tenderly. Butterflies racked throughout his body as he took one last look at her beautiful green eyes, and watched as she disappeared into the night, running off to find her friends and head home.
Stuart had never felt quite like this before, and yet he knew this feeling like the back of his hand. He knew people who had been through it before, they described it just like this, that feeling of just knowing, of just feeling so right when you're next to that one special person.
He had had girlfriends before. He had crushes and puppy love romances and steamy make out sessions with more than one girl. It was true, he wouldn't deny it, it felt right at the time, but he regretted them after every one of them broke his heart. He loved too hard, and he unfortunately seemed to attract sluts who couldn't love less.
But this was not any of that. This was entirely separate from what he had ever experienced before. There are people who you'd love to sleep with, and there are people who you'd love to make love to. And despite popular belief, those are different things almost entirely.
And he didn't feel like he would love to sleep with her, the thought hasn't even crossed his mind. He wanted to make her feel good, make her feel wanted, make her feel happy.
He felt, for the first time in his life,
That he was truly, madly, deeply in love with that girl.
So how did you like it?
I hope it doesn't seem like I'm rushing their relationship too quickly. I have a very bad habit of doing that in my writing. I feel like I'm spacing all the emotional stuff out equally though, if I do too much, things might fizzle out and get boring.
That's where reviews come in handy, guys ;) I love those things. Each one gives me a new kick of motivation. And you'll rest satisfied knowing that I give every reviewer a cyber cookie, and if I could, you'd get a real cookie too :D
I swear to it, Google has one more year to figure out how to send freshly made cookies over the internet. Otherwise they're getting a very serious letter from yours truly.
I hope you all are enjoying the story so far, I'm really trying hard to make this thing good. Maybe cause a few tears, as I've understood those are a good thing while writing.
Prepare for more comedy, more drama, and more little loves!
Until Next time!
-The Symmetricalist, AKA, Gorillove Potato
