Wait it Out
Title: Wait it Out
Summary: "Love is a many Splendid thing"; Allison searches for love.
Prompt: 10: "Love"
Author: Sakura123 (weber_dubois22)
Rating: T
Characters: Allison Dubois; Joe Dubois
Chapters: 10/28
Word Count: 1104
Written: 3/5/09
Completed: 3/5/09
Disclaimer: Medium and all things related are property of Glenn Gordon Caron, CBS Paramount Television, Picturemaker Productions, and Grammnet Productions. Original storyline and characters are property of me, the author.
Authors Note: This is something I'd written in early March on a stray piece of paper but never thought of posting until now. I hope you enjoy :D.
When I was little, I always wished I had a place I could runaway to, a place to hide from the loud 'disagreements' my parents would have, or the simple looks of disappointment my mother would give me when I unconsciously spout the first unpleasant thing that jumped into my mind about our next door neighbor. The bed never worked, my parents always found me, I tried the closet and prayed that it would take me to another world, away from their chaos, before my mother found my hiding place.
Someplace I could talk to Grandma Benoit about the all the things that plagued my mind, even if I didn't understand what it all meant, my dreams. My parents were miserable together, whatever brought them together in the beginning had long since dissolved by the time she turned eleven. I can't even remember whether or not if I was mommy or daddy's girl, but I knew my father loved me. Just not enough to stay with my mother --- or take me with him.
As I got older, the that dream of running away to Grandma Benoit's home never truly left me; I'd spend hours at the park, plotting and planning on how to go about packing my things and sneaking out of the house, catching a bus or calling a cab to take me there. When I was in high school, I wanted a prince to sweep me off my feet and make his princess, but with the sudden increase of dreams, the steady loss of my friends --- particularly Izzy --- and my mother's absolute refusal to listen to me about my dreams, I felt alone and the dream of prince charming just started to dwindle into a pipe dream. It was like that for the longest time until I met Clay Bicks in my Sophomore year of college. He made me forget all about the dreams, the lack of friends, my mother even. Everything. He swept me off my feet, took me out on long rides on his motorcycle and odd date locales.
Clay never bothered to impress me, he just thrilled me. And for a long, long while, I was content with where I was with him. That is, until the dreams started up again; They showed me that Clay had started to pay attention to other women. He never bothered to tell me, I never brought it up. I'm not sure what made me think he would stick with me, maybe some false hope that he was a "one-girl" kind of guy. My prince charming. But, of course, by the time he started doing this, I realized I wanted something different, needed a serious change of pace. So I broke it off. He wasn't happy, but I knew he'd get over it in time. Again, I was alone for some time until that day in the bar, during my last year a freshmen and starting on his senior year in college.
A young man with deep brown eyes and short sandy blonde hair came up beside me and requested a beer from the bar tender, then almost impulsively said "Hello" to me. And I was taken completely by surprise when I looked up and saw the man of dreams, of my literal dreams. Joe Dubois, minus several years off. Trying to cover my surprise, I said hello back and introduced myself with the last name "Rolen". He smiled, returning the handshake.
"Nice to meet you Allison, my name's Joe. Joe Dubois," We talked for hours at the bar (even after his friends left, slapping hands at the prospect that their friend would probably getting laid that night. As if), staring with the little things, like, what our favorite colors or foods were, how old we were (turns out he was four years my senior, and I his junior). When the bar closed, I was stumbling over my own feet, giggling, while Joe assisted me in walking in a straight line.
Like a gentleman he asked if I would like to… well, I don't how gentlemanly you can sound when asking a girl if they would like to come over to your apartment, but he asked regardless. "I would love to," I told him, taking his hand. So he took me up to his apartment and spent a good half-hour, divulging me in his dream to see the stars, maybe even join NSA. I swear he had to be more intoxicated than he was letting on, because he showed me his outer-space themed lunch box from third grade and telescope.
It was only a moment after he stopped talking that looked at me with the most apologetic face. "I'm sorry. I practically kidnapped you and bored to tears with all this," He said. I laughed at him, scooting closer to him on the bed. "No, not to all. I had fun, thank you for showing me all this," I said with a gesture of my mind. He stared me with those beautiful brown eyes, puzzled. Almost like he couldn't believe me.
"Really?" He asked, eyebrows raised. Acting on impulse, I cupped his face with my hands and caught a glimpse of a fidgety boy trying to escape his mother before she kissed him. I smiled. "Really," I repeated. Joe smiled too, leaning into my left hand's embrace, lips poised to kiss the warm flesh of my palm. He gave me this forlorn look.
"So, uh, I guess you wanna go home now, huh?" I shifted my gaze downward for a second to give the illusion that I was thinking about it, when in reality, I'd already made up my mind about staying. The fuzzy memory of the two of us strolling through a supermarket, talking like two of the greatest friends in world, flashed in mind. Leaning forward so our foreheads met, he watched me carefully until I met his gaze. "No. I really don't," I whispered. And that was it. He gave me the biggest smile and leaned in to kiss me.
The morning after, I woke up lying next to him, his arms wrapped around me and his face buried in my hair. Outside, the trees danced in the wind and birds sang. I felt him stirring against me, so I adjusted myself until I was facing him. Joe opened his eyes and smiled. "Hi," He said, his voice hoarse. "Hey, Joe," I whispered with a giggle. This was my price charming, he made me feel special, wanted, needed and loved all at once. Without really wanting to, I picked up the same assortment of feelings from him. Suddenly, I found myself thinking, this is what love must really feel like.
[End Prompt 10]