For those of you unfamiliar with my writing style, the segment(s) in italics are dreams/memories/flashbacks/whatever.
"Alright so if this works." the young man on the computer screen began. He was young, in his late twenties at most with unruly dark hair and silver rimmed glasses perched on his nose.
Still, he wasn't nearly as young as the botanist on the other side of the country conversing with him through video chat. He'd only met Eden in person twice, but even with miles separating them they still made a wonderful team. "If we can fuse the venom from your dragons and the poison from my daphne berries then we're one step closer to the skeleton antidote. We need a common base between the two before we can get anywhere."
He smiled dreamily as he watched her at work, huffing a breath of air to get her big frizzy bangs out of her eyes every now and then. She wasn't the normal vision of beauty, but something about her made Keith's heart skip a beat whenever she bit her lip, twisted some hair around her fingers, chewed on her thumb, how every discovery, outcome was celebrated by a dance to Tubthumping or a Daft Punk song. Her little quirks made her beautiful. At least to him.
She looked in his direction and Keith looked away quickly, but not quickly enough.
Eden slammed the beaker she was holding onto the table, not hard enough to damage it, but enough to make a point. "That's it, Keith! I swear this is close to the hundredth time I've caught to you staring at me like that. What the hell is the deal?"
Keith swallowed and pulled on his collar. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Keith, I graduated high school when I was fifteen. Are you honestly going to play stupid with me." Her nose wrinkled and her eyes darkened.
Keith laughed lightly, "Oh god, E, I love you."
Eden's expression became shocked. "Do you…I mean…you…love me…do you…mean that?"
Keith froze after he realized what he'd said. And over video chat. He'd hoped he could be at least a little more romantic than that. He avoided looking at the screen as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well…I…I…" The articulate young scientist had become a puddle of stuttering mush.
"Keith!" Eden exclaimed, hoping to bring him back into reality.
Keith winced, "Of course I mean it. You're my 42."
He looked up cautiously, just in time to see her face turn red before she disconnected the chat. His face went white. "E?" He tapped on the space bar of his compute and his blood went cold. "Eden?" He called out again, still to no avail. He cursed himself and tried setting up a new chat. A red window saying 'chat declined' popped up and he cussed loudly. He took out his phone and tried calling her. "Hi, you've reached Doctor Greene, I can't come to the phone right now-" Keith hung up and growled at the device before trying to start a chat again.
It had been almost three hours before he gave up on contacting her again. He staggered into his apartment and dropped his keys on the table, knocking his lamp onto the floor in the process. He didn't even care. He collapsed into a chair in his living room and, for the first time in months, turned on the television. As always, there was nothing good on.
There was a knock at the door and Keith slowly climbed out of the chair. How could he have been so stupid in telling Eden he loved her like that? She'd never talk to him again.
His eyes went wide when he answered the door and his mouth fell open. There stood Eden, her unruly mass of hair somehow tamed into a bun behind her left ear. Her lips shone, a pale gloss coating them and she wore eyeliner and mascara behind her glasses. She avoided his gaze and chewed on her lip. "So…what were you saying?" She asked at last.
Without another word, Keith grinned and pulled her into his arms, kissing her feircly. She gasped and sharply stole a breath before collapsing into his embrace, rolling up onto her toes. Keith lifted her off the ground, pulling her feet out of her shoes before taking her in his appartment, slamming the door behind him. A few seconds passed and Eden was bad in the hall, collecting the shoes she had borrowed from her neighbor. She squealed when Keith came up behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her back inside before slamming the door shut.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Keith opened his eyes lazily just in time to watch the girl that called herself Motley tying up some boys he'd never seen before. They were young men really, probably twenty-five at most. He'd been in this basement for almost a week now. Every now and then Motley and her hyenas would come in to check on him and give him enough food and water to keep him from starving. He didn't understand what was going on though.
"Boy howdy!" one of them exclaimed, "We're all gunna die!"
A blond one with an oddly shaped head rolled his eyes, "We aren't gunna die, Sid."
The black shook his head, "Well let's hope your little girlfriend gets here soon."
"Cat Scratch isn't my girlfriend, Gerald." The blond one chided, "Helga is."
"You're dating Helga?" a small red headed one chirped in, "That's an interesting turn of events."
Keith rolled his eyes, "What're you boys in for?" He asked, unsure if they even knew he was there.
"Wilikers!" One of the taller ones exclaimed, "How long you been here?"
"About a week." Came the annoyed answer. "I don't even know what they want from me. I haven't done anything wrong."
"Don't feel alone, bubba." Gerald said, "We just got kidnapped from my bachelor party."
Keith's nose wrinkled, "Tough break. I'm Keith."
The blonde one, named Arnold, proceeded to introduce everyone to Keith. When asked if they knew anything, Arnold was more than happy to fill Keith, and everyone else, in on what he knew. When Arnold mentioned Eden, Keith scowled and snapped, "Eden has nothing to do with this."
"What, you know her or something?" Gerald challenged.
Keith scowled, "Better than you'd think. She was a…colleague of mine. She wouldn't hurt a fly. She'd have to be really desperate do anything even half as horrible as this."
"Well then maybe she's desperate." A new voice. A woman's voice, chimed in.
Everyone searched for the speaker, unable to find her. Arnold only smiled, "Hello Cat Scratch."
"Hey stud." Came the answer from some unknown location. "Now, what were the stats based upon the Skeleton Antidote?"
Keith looked surprised, "How do you know about the Skeleton Antidote?"
Cat Scratch 'shrugged from her hiding place, "You have your keeps and I'll have mine.
Too tired…too early for tired…going to bed. Love you all and don't forget to review.