ANDREA
I sigh for the hundredth time, looking at Aragorn as we walk through the woods towards the snowy mountain. Is it possible for this man to look any better? He runs a hand through his thick hair. Oh yes, apparently there is and I love it! "Um, Andi," Ashley states, waving a hand in front of my face to capture my attention. I don't bother turning my head in her direction, eyes glued to the amazing display before me.
"What," I ask dreamily.
"You're drooling again." I shoot a glare at her, swiping the back of my hand across my mouth and finding nothing; lying asshole. "Why don't you just ask him out already?" I raise an eyebrow, mouth twisted into a frown. "Don't you give me the practice-what-you-preach look, little missy." I continue giving her the look until she has to glance away.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I'll admit I'm probably in denial, but at least I can hold eye contact for long periods of time.
"Aragorn—you want him, you desire him...He's the only person here that you don't have the near-uncontrollable urge to slap the ever living shit out of."
"Ha, lies—I want to slap everybody!" Aragorn looks over his shoulder at Ashley and me with an amused yet questioning look at my exclamation. "Um, these are not the droids you're looking for."
"Eyes on the trail," Ash tells Aragorn sternly," I know this isn't your first time leading people through the woods, but I don't feel like crashing into a tree because you were too busy checking out the blonde." Shaking his head, he faces forward again with a low chuckle that sent pleasant shivers down my spine.
"Can you please just shut up before you embarrass me any further," I tell her in a hissed whisper. I quickly realize my mistake the moment Ashley gets a devious light in her eyes and a toothy grin on her face.
"Aragorn," she calls, gaining the man's attention once more.
"What are you doing?"
"What you're too chicken to do."
"Yes, Ashley?" I look up at Aragorn fearfully, pulling Ashley away from him before she could say anything; quickly making my way over to Kharl with Ashley stumbling along behind me. "Such strange young women," Aragorn murmurs quietly, turning back around again. Kharl only has to take one look at my angry expression and Ashley's clueless one to figure out that Ashley did something she wasn't supposed to.
"Ashley, what did you do," he asks, continuing to walk so that we don't fall too far behind the others. Ashley gives him a devious smile, pulling at the sleeve of her dress—a nervous habit she picked up at four-years-old. Kharl raises an eyebrow at his best friend, throwing his cigarette to the ground and grinding it into the dirt with the toe of his boot.
"I almost asked Aragorn out for Andrea," she finally answers with a shrug as if it was no big deal, but this is a huge deal and she's lucky she's still breathing.
"How'd it go?"
"I couldn't get a word out." He smirks at me as he walks over to Aragorn, casually dropping his hand on the taller man's shoulders. Oh, Lord, please tell me he's not doing what I think he's doing!
"He's doing worse than I could do," Ashley tells me with a sympathetic smile," he's talking guy which means Aragorn can understand him." As if on cue, Aragorn smiles back at us; Ashley smiles and waves. She looks like a thief that's just gotten away with one of the biggest crimes of the century. She's gonna get it later. I squeeze the bridge of my nose, fighting back an Ashley-induced migraine. "You're just angry that you didn't put the moves on him when you were under that bush."
"Yeah," I retort sarcastically," just like you didn't put the moves on Marek when you first met him at that party."
"Hey, now, we were making sure Kharl didn't break his neck trying to prove he wasn't drunk."
"Sometimes I worry about you, Lassie," Gimli smiles as he passes us. At least, I think he was smiling anyway—the beard kind of gets in the way. Aragorn begins to make his way over to me, Ashley making a point to leave me behind. The rest of the group decides to take a small break, so that the Hobbits can have a drink and rest their feet for a moment.
"Is what Kharl said true," he asks in his usual calm voice that had more of an effect on me than I liked to admit. I open and close my mouth a couple of times, looking like a fish out of water. Lord, I probably look like a complete moron!
"Um, well, you see," I stutter, looking for help in Ashley, but she's attempting to levitate a pebble or something; the tip of her tongue was sticking out, but she'd deny ever doing it later on. I call the expression her "thinkin' face". A slightly awkward silence descends as I try to find a way out. "Well, I-I, um perhaps...Ashley, come here!" The other woman looks at me over her shoulder and then skips over with a smile on her face.
"Yes, oh demanding one," she questions, bowing dramatically at the waist. I have to hide an amused smile, wanting to stay mad at her for bringing all this down on me. She's annoying when in a good mood; always wanting to make people laugh even when they just want to smack her upside the head.
"What do you do in awkward situations?" She grins excitedly at her almost foolproof plan.
"Poof, we be gone!" With that, she grabs my arm and pulls me away—running to hide behind a tree. "I told you that would work," she states proudly, arms crossed over her chest and chin raised proudly.
Neither of us were able to hear Aragorn's near silent approach and jump about five feet in the air when he speaks. "So what's your answer?" I let out an embarrassing squeak, turning around and finding myself getting an eyeful of Aragorn's clothed chest. Mm, yummy... Ashley makes a show of inspecting an imaginary speck of lint on the sleeve of her shirt, looking away from us and stepping further behind the tree.
"Yes," I shout," yes, my answer is yes!" He looks a little shocked at my outburst, but says nothing about it.
"Good, so we'll start sword practice again tomorrow?" I nod numbly, watching as he walks back over to talk with Gandalf. That was... Not what I was expecting. I purse my lips in thought, head tilted slightly to the side as I continue to watch him move around the camp to make sure each of the members are doing okay and what not. Ashley steps up beside me, nodding slightly.
"He didn't say what kind of sword practice," Ashley points out with a smile. Her expression changes to one of intense curiosity and I hope it has nothing to do with me. "Kharl," she calls out, looking expectantly at the man she calls her brother.
"Yeah," he asks, walking over to us.
"What'd you say to Aragorn?"
"Well, I was going to ask him about Andrea, but I got distracted by his sword..." he trails off awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing down at his boots.
"Your secret is safe for now, Andi." Good. Wait, for now?
"Yep." Kharl and Ashley walk away to rejoin the group that had begun moving again, talking about Scooby-Doo and rigging up a 'Scrappy Trap' to scare the hell out of Gandalf. For being in their twenties those two act a lot like toddlers. I shake my head, continuing to walk near the back of the group, not wanting to hear Gandalf's long speeches and unhelpful advice that would've done Frodo a lot better than it would me.
"Alone again," I mumble quietly, looking around at the trees I've never seen before and wondering what they're called. They're much larger than any I've ever seen, but the ones back where I'm from are often cut down for paper and never really get the chance to grow even half as tall as some of these. They remind me of a description in Inkspell about how the trees were rarely cut down and grew to be taller than the giants. My focus is brought back to the present when I hear Aragorn laughing, spotting Kharl standing near him and making exaggerated gestures with his hands. "Why can't they focus on one thing at a time," I ask myself, watching as my two friends bounce from person to person with questions that the others never get the chance to answer before Ash and Kharl are off again.
"Don't blame them, they're just distracted easily," Legolas comments, making me jump because I hadn't heard his approach. Is it so wrong to make a little noise when you walk so people can expect your ass? "I was never told where you and your friends are from." I hesitate slightly, trying to remember exactly what we had told Aragorn earlier.
"Ask Ashley later." Maybe she'll stand a better chance to remember since she's the one that came up with it. He nods with a smile. Wow, he looks so much better as Will Turner or Balion from Kingdom of Heaven. "Do you like Ashley? I mean, like, more than a friend?" He smiles again as though he was recalling some kind of fond memory from his past.
"She reminds me of my friend's daughter." I nod my understanding, a little disappointed that I might not be able to sick him on her as revenge for her trying to set me up with the man of my dreams—well, the second man, the first one is Johnny Depp. "She's also very..." he trails off, thinking of which word to use and finally settles on one he'd heard me use a couple of hours ago. "...Hyper."
"She's always been like that, but it's gotten worse since we arrived the other day. I think it's her way to deal with all of this, you know, locking away what she's really feeling and acting like everything's hunky dory."
"It must be hard on all of you." I shrug and shake my head slowly. I don't want to open up to the Elf this early on.
"Ashley and Kharl move around a lot, kind of like a brother/sister thing," I answer, leaving out the part that they move around a lot to kill humans that the US government deemed dangerous, but could do nothing about. My friends don't know I know and I plan to keep it that way 'cause I like to see them squirm when I ask them difficult questions I already know the answers to. Legolas furrows his brow in confusion, tilting his head slightly as he looks over at my friends.
"They do not look alike." Well, isn't he observant.
"They're not really brother and sister, but they pretty much grew up together."
"Yes, I can understand that." Hmm, is he talking about Aragorn? We walk in silence for a while until Aragorn comes over to us. Ashley sends a devilish grin in my direction and I know what's about to happen—a kind of dread punching me in the gut.
"Hello," Aragorn greets, taking my hand without hesitation," Ashley told me you were interested in—what did she call it... Dating? Is that true?" I might kill her if this doesn't end the way my fantasy does.
"Yes, I suppose," I nod, biting my bottom lip. Once I realize I was biting my lip I abruptly stop. He smiles warmly at me. Oh boy, here comes the part where he says that we can only be friends because he's in love with that stupid Elf that saved the dumb Hobbit.
"I would love to, my lady." Do what now?
"Really," I squeak, eyes widening to the size of dinner plates. This is definitely not what I was expecting him to say, but it was better than the alternative so I guess Ashley can live to sleep through another day.
"Yes," he says with a laugh, giving my hand a light squeeze. Ashley, he said yes!
"I know," she replies, seeming to pop up out of nowhere. How did you do that, O Weird One? "Meh, I climbed that tree while you were distracted by Mister Kingly King." Aragorn raises an eyebrow, looking between Ashley and me curiously.
"Are you reading her thoughts?"
"You know it." He smiles and shakes his head in amusement.
"Of course you were." I wonder what Aragorn would look like shirtless ...
"Still am. It makes me wish I had an eraser for my memories because that was an image I could've gone my whole life without seeing."
"Why?" We both look up at him, my look is of embarrassment and hers just that deviousness that never truly left her face for very long. I can't quite look in Aragorn's eyes, feeling myself blush and becoming even more embarrassed. This is just plain wrong; I can't even fantasize about my dude shirtless without my friend calling me out on it.
"Ashley, don't you dare," I threaten, giving her my best evil eye. She gives Aragorn a toothy grin, my glare not having the same effect on her that it used to.
"I know, you'll smite me 'til their ain't nothing left." Her voice is mocking, but holds a friendly quality that means she wouldn't tell even if she were feeling cruel. She leans forward to whisper in my ear. "He's thinking the same thing and it's kinda disturbing me."
"Well, that's always nice to know, but don't tell me that again or I might just s'pload from fangirl overload."
"Alright," she shrugs with a lazy smile.
"And stay out of trees, you're clumsy."
"No problem." She walks off and I notice Leggy following soon after with an intent look on his face. Reminds him of a friend's daughter, my ass. How would he act if she just reminded him of a friend's friend? Sicko Elf Boy!
