CHAPTER EIGHT! By the way, loads of interesting stuff very, very soon. Possibly some in this very chapter! Y'never know! Also, so... many... flavours... AAHH!
I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not quite sure...
I'll try and use as many as I can, but please don't hate me if yours isn't eaten. :(
Wheatley's POV:
The 'car' was very pretty. Very pretty. Now, I'm usually not the best at telling whether things are nice to look at, believe it or not, (take the Frankenturrets, as Chell reminded me) but this very vehicle actually made me say 'wow' involuntarily the first time I saw it.
It was slim, streamline and silver. Triple alliteration! Anyway, it had a simple black vertical stripe just behind both doors, and a strange symbol on the front, like four rings connected in a row. Aparently, that symbol combined with little signs on the back which read 'R8' and 'V10' meant it was not only very pretty, but very expensive.
Chell, who had her hair up in her usual ponytail, and casual shorts and t-shirt, was a real competitor for the car, though. Even taking into account I was a machine myself barely a month ago, Chell seemed to be winning.
Nope, not gonna think like that. It was almost as if thinking of Chell as 'pretty' made me too happy; a happiness I just knew either couldn't be real, or wouldn't last with my luck. Besides, there's probably something offensive I might say if I compared her to the car.
Wow, a good idea! Maybe I wasn't such a moron after all.
It took me all of three and a half minutes to realise I was actually staring at Chell. My head was spinning, and I couldn't think straight with all this constant, loud drumming of my stupid human heart.
"Wheatley, are... are you okay?" Chell asked, her face full of concern as I shook my head slowly, then gripped at it to try and steady myself.
"Yeah, I'm fine, luv. Just... just a little dizzy, is all. There, gone. I'm fine." I grinned broadly, but I could tell she didn't believe me.
Although the car was pleasant on the outside, I found myself quickly disliking the inside. There were too many buttons, and it was very small. I had to be strapped to the chair I was sitting on, and to make matters worse, Chell turned in her seat to face me, looking completely, deadly serious.
"Now, I've got to turn the engine on. When I do, it'll make a loud noise, and I don't want you to panic. Okay? It's normal, and nothing will go wrong." She waited for my response.
"Oh, o-okay, that should be absolutely fine, fine. Nothing wrong with the loud noise. Gotcha. Perfectly normal. Good, good. Uh, just wondering, but exactly how loud are we talking abAAAAAAAAAHHHH! Ok-okay, that was a little bit louder than I was originally anticipating, so just, uh, bear with me while my heart slows down a little. Good, back to normal. Or, well, not normal, just not beating so loudly as to make me think it would try and escape my very chest. Still, all good... in the hood... hah! As in... the hood... of the car- actually, bad joke, ignore that. Ahem!" I tried (rather convincingly, in my opinion) to clear my throat. When Chell just rolled her eyes and looked away, I figured I was in the clear.
Chell's POV:
"Okay, so... what now?" Wheatley turned to face me as we sat in the car. He seemed pretty oblivious to the fact we were actually moving. I wanted to laugh so bad, but a part of me told me to wait and see what would happen when he figured it out.
"Nothing." I tried desperately to keep a straight face as he stared at all the buttons and colours in the car. "Just... nothing!" I had been about to say 'wait until we arrive' but then he might've had the idea to look out the window.
"Okay. Although I do feel a little odd. As though I was zooming along my management rail. Oh, God, don't tell me there's a human management rail?!" He froze, right index finger inches from the 'on' button of the radio. He didn't bother looking up, but I could see the look of horror on his face.
"Well, no. Not really." Come on, figure it out.
"Oh, okay then. Must just have sea-sickness or something. We're not-"
"No. We're not on the sea."
"So... motion-sickness? But for motion-sickness, we'd need to be mov-" He looked up, and his eyes widened gradually, until his eyebrows were barely visible and I could see white all around his eyes. "Oh.. oh. We're... moving inside of a machine? So it is like a human management rail! Oh please please tell me you have control over this thing!" He suddenly gripped at the ceiling and the edge of his seat, staring out of the windscreen.
"Yes, it's fine." I was grinning internally, because in his moment of panic, he'd forgotten that he'd pressed the radio 'on' button. Since it was possibly the slowest radio on the planet, it still hadn't started up, but soon enough, Wheatley was going to get another surprise. Part of me felt kind of cruel, laughing at his alarm like this, but hey. He doesn't seem to mind.
"Oh, cool, so that's a radio!" Wheatley cried happily as the first song finally started. I was surprised, but glad all the same that the music seemed to make his usually happy outlook on life shine brighter.
The song was old. Not ancient, but still. It also happened to be my favourite song. A smile sprouted on my face, then grew and grew with every beat.
I gotta feelin'
That tonight's gonna be a good night,
That tonight's gonna be a good night,
That tonight's gonna be a good good night!
The cheesy grin on Wheatley's face just made my own grow more. Eventually, I started siging along. Even Wheatley started singing the bits he knew from the repeats.
Laughing and singing, we drove into the quiet town.
We stood in front of the ice cream display case as the girl behind the counter waited for our choices. Wheatley was gazing open-mouthed at the rows and rows of strange flavours. There was vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, chocolate chip, lemon, caramel, chocolate brownie, mint choc chip, pistachio, hazelnut, bubblegum-blue, cherry, mint, cookie dough, sherbert and even a strange multicoloured one called 'Harry Potter'. Luckily, a little sticker on the glass said 'Ask for a free sample!', because I doubted Wheatley would ever decide otherwise. Personally, I was leaning towards my usual, mint choc chip. (It was a childhood favourite of mine!)
When it became clear that Wheatley was not going to talk for once, I spoke up.
"Wheatley? You have to choose a flavour." He looked up at the sound of his name, but his gaze was soon drawn back to the many flavours.
The young woman behind the counter flashed me an unexpectedly fierce look.
"Give him a moment to decide." Then she turned to Wheatley, smiling as innocently sweet as she could. "Would you like a free sample?"
"Hmmm..?" He was still entranced by the ice cream, and barely took any notice of the girl.
"She wants to know would you like to try some of the flavours." I surprised myself with the cold tone in my voice.
"Yeah, that's what I meant." The girl smirked.
"Oh, yes please!" Wheatley shot her a miniature grin, and I found myself feeling a little jealous.
"Which would you like?" The girl looked overjoyed as she picked up a small cardboard cup and a spoon, then arranged them so that she could put a flavour into it.
"I'll go for... blue, please!"
"Sure thing." She handed him the cup with the bubblegum flavoured ice cream inside, and he sampled a bit.
"Mmm. That's... c-c-c-cold!" I bit back a smile, despite my current mood.
"Ice cream. It's supposed to be cold!"
"Yeah, but... wow, quite nice." When he finished, (after his mouth had recovered) he asked to sample the vanilla. He found that one pleasant too. After trying almost everything, (Harry Potter, sherbert, cookie dough, mint, cherry, caramel, lemon and strawberry) he finally tried chocolate.
And I think he found the one he wanted. From the sheer lack of speech, I knew he liked it. Every other flavour he'd commented on how delicious it was. With chocolate, you could just read his face. My chocolate stashes at home were now in danger.
"I'll have mint chocolate chip." I grunted at the girl, who was now staring at Wheatley as he licked away the drips on the cone. After clearing my throat, she grabbed the ice cream scoop and shovelled some into a cone, then thrust it at me.
"Here. Enjoy your date." She all at once spat at me, and practically sang to Wheatley, who was still painfully oblivious to the clash.
"What?" The word caught me off guard.
"You're on a date, right?" Hope seemed to flare in the girl's eyes.
"No!" I answered a little too quickly, and too late did I notice her gaze on Wheatley intensify. I panicked suddenly as she opened her mouth to speak. Pulling my purse out, I threw the money onto the counter, then spun around and stormed off, grabbing Wheatley's arm on the way.
"Whaaa..?" He cried, eyes wide as I dragged him away from that... that...
No! I... what did I just do? I was so rude to that girl... and all she did was look at Wheatley. I let go of his arm and only then realised I was still gripping my cone.
What was going on? It took all my mental power to build a nice, solid barrier over the events that just occured. I forced a smile, then turned around to face a confused and scared-looking Wheatley.
"Sorry, there was a line of people behind us. I don't like queues. Anyway, wanna go sit down?"
"Sure! I tell you, this chocolate flavour is amazing! It's so... chocolatey and sweet, and... cold, very cold, yes, but so tasty! You've no idea! Well, you probably do, since you've been human quite a bit longer than me. But still! Oh, it's delicious! Oh, look, there's a bench over there, in that park-y thing. Anyway, as I was saying..." I let my mind relax as his voice rambled on. We sat down on the bench, eating ice cream, while Wheatley's voice acted like a river and washed away my troubles. Then he managed to catch me off guard.
"By the way, what's a date? I mean, I know it can mean the, um, date of the year, and that strange fruit, but neither really made sense in the context of yours and that girl's conversation." Firstly: WOW. Did he really use polysylables in his sentence? Humanity must be improving his inteligence.
Secondly: He heard our coversation. Ah.
"Well, a date is like... it's when two people who really like each other go out somewhere and hang out with together."
"Oh, so... we're on a date, then?"
"NO, nononononono!" I cried.
"What? Wait, what?" He was both at once confused and worried again.
"No." I tried, a little calmer. "No, we're not on a date."
"Oh. Okay. But... why not?" Oh, boy. "We're hanging out together, we like each other. How is that not a date, unless..." His face fell. "You don't like me."
"No! No, Wheatley, I do like you, I like you a lot! Maybe a little too much for my own good, but you're my best friend!" I searched his eyes for signs that he heard me.
"Then, please explain to me, very slowly; how is this not a date, if we like each other and are hanging out together?"
I took a deep breath. Time to explain relationships. This was going to take a while.
"Because we're only friends. What I meant by people who like each other a lot is a couple. As in a boy and a girl, -or a boy and a boy, or girl and a girl- who like each other more that just as friends. Sometimes they can be in love with one another."
"But... how do you know if you like someone a lot? As in, more than friends?" Wheatley was frowning everso slightly, with his head tilted to the side, like a confused puppy.
"Well, sometimes if you like someone a lot, you'll think about them a good bit of the time. You'll notice how pretty or handsome they are, your heart will beat slightly faster when you're around them, and you'll want to spend more time with them. You'll want to protect them, keep them safe. Somewhere along the way, it can turn into love, where you want to spend the rest of your life with that person."
"Huh." That was all he had to contribute? Oh well.
"It's getting late, we need to go home." Silently, we left the park and returned to the car, driving in silence until we got home. Wheatley remained mostly quiet as we ate dinner, then only made a few comments as we watched TV.
When he returned from the bathroom with his pyjamas on, all he said was goodnight, then lay down in the bed and rolled over, facing away from me. At first, I worried if he was sick, or if he was angry for some reason. Eventually, just put it down to the fact that he always needs time to process new information. Finally, sleep overcame me.
Wheatley's POV:
I lay awake, staring at the ceiling as Chell slept quietly beside me. After she explained what love was in the park earlier, I think discovered something pretty darn massive.
I think I'm in love with Chell.
Well, told you some massive stuff was coming! Anyway, this is a long chapter to make up for the fact that:
A) I haven't posted in a while, and
B) I won't be able to post for a while!
School is starting up again on Wednesday, and as I said earlier, I'm moving house. I'm in my Junior Cert year in school, so for now, that takes priority.
Don't worry, I'll still post when I can, but don't be surprised if Halloween rolls around and I'm only just posting chapter fifteen. XD Okay, obviously won't be that bad, but... you never know!
And please, do keep reviewing! If I could hug each and every one of you through the internet, I would. :D
