Stay Young Forever

Chapter 8


"Why did you make a fort?" I asked, stepping a little closer to touch the soft fabric. It was amazing.

"Well, we are doing this so that you get your 'party experience', right? Well, since I can already cross out us sleeping in the same bed, this is the next best thing. We'll share a fort."

I nodded, understanding. The fort wasn't too big, but it was a hundred times better than sleeping in his room.

"So, wanna watch a movie?" He asked, and I nodded again. I feel as if I had a lost of words. When did Beck start being so nice to me?

"Okay. How about Beauty and the Beast?" He asked, holding out the tape. My eyebrows went up in shock.

"You have Beauty and the Beast?"

"Who doesn't?" He shrugged, taking my answer as a yes. He slipped the tape in and pressed play. Then he crawled under the fort and patted the side next to him. I took the hint and slowly crawled under as well, our shoulders barely touching. Still, I felt like the entire house was burning up.

"This is so childish." I mumbled to myself, but loud enough for him to notice. This time he raised his eyebrows in shock.

"Beauty and the Beast is childish?" He asked, sounding stunned. I nodded, rolling my eyes in the process.

"Please. Beauty and the Beast is a romantic tale of a selfish man that finds a young woman, and is changed by her love into something better."

"I guess." I said, staring at Beck. He said that so simply, yet real. It's like he was trying to tell me something. But then he looked at me and I blushed, the moment gone. I stared back at the screen for a while.

I looked over at him again in the middle of the big dinner scene, only to find him staring at me. "What?" I asked, and he smirked a little in response.

"What?" I asked again, feeling defensive. Was there something wrong?

"You look like Bell." He said, reaching out to touch my now-brown hair. I flinched against his finger, pulling back.

"Please." I said sarcastically, shaking my head and looking at the movie again. He watched me for a few more moments until finally he gave me a break. I sighed with relief.

But even so, I once again had that feeling he was trying to tell me something. Or.. was he trying to warn me? Either way, the feeling passed quickly.

Towards the middle of the movie I felt my eyelids become heavy, and I noticed I was beginning to drift off.

I woke up to the sound of something crashing against the floor. I jolted awake and looked around, alarmed. Beck saw my reaction from his spot in the kitchen, where he was picking up a fallen pot.

"Geez, are you okay?" He asked, putting the pot back.

"Yea, sorry. My apartment is usually quiet, since I'm alone besides my cat. I'm not used to loud sounds when sleeping. How long have I slept?" I asked, noticing the movie was over. I had missed the ending.

"About 45 minutes. You have a cat?" He asked, changing the subject. I was asleep that long?

"Yea, her name is Penelope. Why didn't you wake me up to watch the ending?"

He shrugged, as if the answer was obvious. "I was about to. But you looked so innocent in your sleep. I felt like it was the first time you weren't glaring at me or rolling your eyes. I think you even smiled." He joked, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes again.

"I smile."

"Hardly." He said, but I could tell he was only half-joking, so I didn't take too much offense. "It's kinda funny how you have a cat."

"How so?" I asked, as he walked over and handed me a root beer float with a spoon. "Thanks."

"No problem. And because of your name. Cat, with a pet cat."

"Caterina." I corrected him. That was something I wasn't going to change on this mission.

"No. Cat. If your becoming the old you, then you need to be Cat. Not Caterina."

"Ohh, I see." I said, nodding along and digging into my cup of ice cream and soda.

"What?"

"Oh nothing. Your just jealous that I have an elegant name and you don't.."

He laughed at that, and I mean really laughed. The kind of laugh that just makes you want to laugh too. In fact, I did start laughing.

"Hmm. The first smile and first laugh. We, my friend, are making excellent progress."

"I've laughed before." I said, knowing for a fact I have.

"Yea, but that didn't count. This laugh was different. It wasn't fake or forced. It was real."

"How do you know? I could have faked that."

"Because your a terrible lier." He said, and I gasped. He laughed and I hit him playfully on the shoulder.

"I am not!"

"Are too. That's one thing that hasn't changed."

"I've never been a bad lier!" I stated.

"Oh, right." He said sarcastically.

"Name one time I've been a terrible lier."

"Ever since I met you here." He said, and I found that in our heated discussion we had slowly moved closer to each other, so I was now only inches away. I stared into his eyes, and he looked uncomfortable to have said that.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice more steady and quiet now.

"You've been doing nothing but lying, Cat. About being the new you, about never wanting to see me again. You were always lying, and I could tell."

"How?"

"Because your you." He said, as if he knew me oh-so-well.

"You barely know me."

"I know the old you." He said, and I noticed our conversation was getting heated again.

"Well even if people don't change, not everything about them stays the same."

"So?"

"So, there are lots of new things you don't know about me."

"That's because you won't tell me any of those things."

"That's because I don't want you to know!" I exclaimed, and then we were both silent as I realized that we were having the same conversation we had weeks earlier.

"Cat, what don't you want me to know?"

"Nothing."

"Cat, tell me."

I looked at the root beer float in my hand, the ice cream slowly dissolving into the soda.

"I'll tell you, if you do me a favor."

"Sure, anything. What is it?"

I looked out at the back door, wondering how to say this. Or even why I'm saying this. "Will you tell me why your here? And why you haven't gone back to film your movie yet? And why you want the old Cat back so much?"

He looked into my eyes as I met his, and we just sat there for an eternity, staring into each others eyes, wondering our options. Then he stretched out his hand, and I took it, feeling the warm flesh tingle my palm and we shook.

"Deal."