Old, New, Borrowed, Blue

Part 37: In Which a Romantic Setting is Sort of Created

Okay, something was definitely up with Al.

Arthur couldn't remember much about what happened last night. He knew that he and Alcide had spent the night getting pissed. Or at least he had. His roommate had that ridiculously-high alcohol tolerance thing going on, so he'd managed to even avoid a hangover this morning.

Bastard.

And he knew Al called at some point and he vaguely remembered something about her inviting him over to her house, although he'd had to rely on the text she sent this morning for the time. The text that said she knew he wasn't going to remember her phone call so here's a reminder that he was coming to her house at five.

He'd actually been slightly surprised by the fact that her text was the only one in his inbox when he woke up around two in the afternoon. After the disaster that was yesterday, he'd expected some sort of contact from Francis and maybe Gill or Mattie.

But so far, nothing. He'd even set his phone on vibrate and made sure it was in his back pocket where he'd be sure to feel it. Not that he cared about Francis contacting him, but he needed to apologize to Mattie and Gillian still.

Not that any of that really mattered now. What mattered was that something was definitely going on with his girlfriend.

He'd shown up at her house at precisely five minutes to five. Alcide had said he'd be fine alone for however long this took; honestly, he'd seemed a bit relieved to have some time to himself and Arthur couldn't really blame him after yesterday. He rang the doorbell, not that he really had to since he knew Ally's family generally left the door unlocked when one of them was home and they'd told him on multiple occasions that he could feel free to let himself in. Occasionally he did, but he always at least rang the doorbell twice before entering.

He was actually surprised when Ally answered the door. Generally, he'd have to let himself in when she was the only one home, since she was usually too distracted by one of her video games or a movie to hear the doorbell ringing.

He was also surprised to notice that she was dressed up for some reason.

The number of times that Ally had answered the door of her house in something besides a hoodie and sweats or T-shirt and jeans could probably be counted on one hand. Maybe even one finger. He legitimately felt like he'd just walked into an episode of the Twilight Zone or something.

"Hey, Artie!"

The shirt was a V-neck, that was of course the first thing he noticed. It was black and lacy and plunged down farther than any other shirt she owned. It took him a moment to realize he was staring and hurriedly turned his face away. Not before noticing, though, that she was also wearing a pair of tight, form-fitting jeans. Something else he'd never seen her in.

He coughed and returned his attention to her face. And was she wearing make-up?

It wasn't super drastic, but he could tell that her eyelashes were longer than usual and her lips were also a slightly darker shade of pink. Her hair seemed curlier and she was wearing a silver necklace with a heart-shaped charm that dragged his attention back down to where he'd been trying to not look because he was a gentleman and he really shouldn't be ogling his girlfriend like this on her doorstep…

"Come on!" Her words brought him out of his contemplation and he suddenly found his wrist captured. And she was also wearing nail polish? What? "You're right on time! I just got the lasagna out!"

What was going on? Arthur wracked his brain, trying to remember if she'd mentioned anything about dressing nicely last night. Was she expecting him to show up in something nicer too? She didn't seem surprised by his appearance, though, so…

Then they walked into the dining room and Arthur froze.

The table was set like they were in some classy five-star restaurant, with a tablecloth and fancy dinner plates and multiple forks and spoons (all the same size, but there were more of them than usual). And candles, couldn't forget the candles. They were burning, giving off a cinnamon scent that unseasonably reminded him of Christmas.

Ally dragged him over to one of the chairs before he had a chance to ask what the fuck was going on. "Take a seat!" She practically forced him down into the seat and then flitted away toward the kitchen.

What the hell?

Arthur had never been more confused in his entire life. Scratch that, this was beyond confusion. This was at a 'I think my girlfriend was abducted by aliens and replaced by a clone' level of weird.

Ally returned quickly with a bowl of lettuce that she placed on the table in front of him with a wide grin. And no, he didn't mean 'salad'. It was just a bowl of lettuce.

"I didn't really have time to make anything besides the lasagna, but I found salad in the fridge!" The way she was talking was Ally-like, though, and only Ally would set a bowl of romaine lettuce in the middle of a table and call it a salad. She hurriedly dropped into the seat across from him and then folded her hands in her lap—again what?—and stared at him like she expected him to do something.

It wasn't their anniversary. That was last month. She'd come up to visit him and they'd spent a very pleasant weekend together while Alcide was visiting his relatives down in Philadelphia.

It wasn't a holiday or either of their birthdays.

"Do you not want salad? I could get the lasagna now if you want."

Finally, Arthur managed to speak. And of course what he said was, "What the fuck are you doing?"

Ally actually looked surprised. "What do you mean?"

"You're wearing make-up!" That was probably the thing that was bothering him the most. That and the nail polish. Ally hated wearing make-up. She didn't have the patience to put it on and she played so many sports that even if she wanted to, she'd just end up sweating it all off anyway. "And this…" He continued with a motion toward the candles and the unnecessary number of forks. "What in the world is going on? You just asked me to come over today. I thought we were going to play one of those unrealistic zombie games or watch one of those 'blow everything up' movies, not… this!"

"Do you not like it?" And why did she actually seem to shrink at that? Her shoulders hunched and her lips twitched downwards into an unhappy frown.

What? "No! I didn't say that!" Although he supposed most people would probably consider his words to be some kind of protest. But it wasn't! He was just surprised and confused and wondering what in the world he was missing. "I just… Is something happening today? Why are you doing this?"

Ally didn't respond to that question. Instead, she suddenly jumped up with a "Oh, I forgot the drinks!" and hurried away, but not before Arthur was able to see that she was… blushing for some reason.

Maybe the alcohol was still affecting him. He honestly couldn't puzzle out what in the world was going on. Ally had dressed up, set up a fancy dinner, lit candles… She was obviously trying to create a romantic atmosphere, but why?

Had she made a bet with someone? In this town, it was entirely possible. This seemed to be the type of thing Francis would be involved in, but he was such a mess with his own issues right now that Arthur couldn't imagine him getting involved with anything else. Honestly, everyone had better things to be worrying about at the moment…

He sighed in annoyance and resignation that he wasn't going to be able to figure this out right now and reached forward to take some of the salad, since he really was starving. All he'd been able to choke down after waking up was some dry toast.

Ally returned after a few minutes with a jug of milk and two wine glasses.

"Uh, all we've got is milk…" She set the glasses on the table in front of their seats and then filled them almost to the brim with the white liquid.

Arthur honestly wasn't sure how to respond to that. He stared at the glass and then just decided to give in to the weirdness of this moment. Why not drink milk from wine glasses?

Ally seemed happy when he drank. She looked over at his plate filled with salad and asked, "Do you want your second course yet? Or any kinda dressing? We've got French and Ranch and Italian and Thousand Island and Poppyseed and Caesar and Bacon Ranch, which is awesome and Greek and this berry kind, which is pretty good…"

"Just, whatever." Arthur hadn't followed that. "Not Ranch or French and definitely not bacon Ranch."

"That just means more for me!" She disappeared again, returning in less than a minute with a bottle of Italian dressing in one hand a bottle of bacon-flavoured Ranch in the other. She set the Italian in front of him and then settled in her own seat, proceeded to fill her plate with lettuce, and then slathered it with dressing.

They then proceeded to eat what Arthur assumed was supposed to be the 'first course' in silence, which again, was bizarre. Ally never remained quiet for this long and she kept looking over at him, as if trying to judge his response to the lettuce. It was lettuce… He'd prefer salad cream to Italian dressing, but it was fine.

The moment he finished eating, however, she jumped out of her chair and hurried to his plate, snatching it up before exclaiming, "Okay! Main course now!"

Arthur just stared at her for a moment before stammering out an, "Ally, what in the world…?"

She ignored his question, unsurprisingly, and hurried into the kitchen again. This time, however, he stood up and followed her. Because this was just too much. He had to know what was going on. Arthur had never been a particularly patient person and he didn't appreciate it when someone refused to answer his questions, even if—or maybe especially if—that person was Allison.

She didn't notice him when he entered, since she was facing away from him and cutting into a large pan of lasagna with a butter knife. Her fingers were trembling slightly and she suddenly paused and took a deep, heaving breath. "It's okay. Everything's going great."

Arthur leaned against the doorframe and waited until she'd moved her hands away from the tray before he cleared his throat and asked, "What's going great?"

She screamed and managed to drop the knife. It clattered against the floor and left a tiny splatter of tomato sauce across the tiles. Nothing major.

Ally whirled around to face him, eyes wide in shock. "A—Artie!"

Okay, he really was losing patience now. Arthur moved forward and boxed her between his arms as he set his hands on the counter to either side of her. It would probably be more intimidating if she wasn't taller than him, but he was pretty sure that his irritation made up for the height difference.

"Allison, you're going to tell me right now what the bloody hell is going on. Why are you dressed like that? Why are you making a fancy dinner? Why are you wearing make-up?"

It was honestly starting to freak him out. Was something wrong or had something happened? This all seemed like some kind of lead-up … Was she sick? But he'd have noticed something like that, right?

"I—um…"

Everything was set up like some type of romantic date, but Ally wouldn't just create a romantic evening like this without a reason.

"Um…" She was staring at him, still looking rather frightened. But then, she visibly relaxed. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath and then completely out of nowhere said, "Why don't we just go up to my room, okay?"

…What?

"Your room?"

Ally laughed and she sounded almost nervous. "Yeah, we can just reheat the lasagna later. It's fine if you reheat it. I… I was doing this 'cause I had a surprise, but I should've guessed you'd be impatient. Let me just blow out the candles and put this away." And she suddenly ducked, going right underneath his arms. She grabbed the lasagna tray, covered it with tin foil, and set it inside the fridge. Then she hurried out the dining room, leaving him even more confused than before.

Surprise?

After a few moments, during which he assumed she was blowing out the candles, she returned and then wrapped her hand around his wrist again. "Come on. If you're gonna be so impatient…"

"I'm… How am I impatient, I just want to know what's going on!"

He didn't fight as she dragged him up the stairs and then down the familiar hallway toward her bedroom. She kept her hand clenched around him like she thought he might dash away while she opened the door.

The first thing he noticed was that the room was practically-spotless. The floor was cleared of the DVDs, video game cases, and clothing articles that usually turned her bedroom into a veritable minefield for the unwary. Not only that, but her bed was also made, which he'd never seen before. Ally considered it to be a waste of time to make your bed. 'Why would I do that when I'm just gonna mess it all up when I go back to bed?' And generally there were stuffed animals mixed in with the blankets and pillows. Those were all gone for some reason.

Arthur remained within the entryway, starting to feel an inkling toward what might be happening.

But… that didn't make sense. Ally had moved into the room and was standing between him and the bed, staring at him as if waiting for some response, but she was the one who always pushed him away, so she couldn't be asking for... that.

It was just his hormones getting the better of him and causing him to make assumptions. Ally probably just wanted to show him a new game or movie and that was the 'surprise'.

If that was true, though, then why was she just standing there?

"Um… Al?"

She blinked, looking slightly disoriented by him saying her name.

"What was it? The surprise?"

Everything seemed to fit. Her bedroom was clean like she'd expected to bring him up here at some point tonight. She was dressed in clothing that accentuated her body and there had obviously been an attempt at a romantic atmosphere at dinner. It all seemed to point in one specific direction. He just couldn't believe it.

But she was watching him and as he stared at her, a flush crept over her face. She probably-unconsciously brought a hand to smooth her hair as she shifted her weight between her feet.

It maybe wasn't the smartest move, but he took a step inside the room and then reached backwards and closed the door behind him. Her eyes shifted at the movement and she watched him as he took another hesitant step closer.

He'd been on the receiving end of many attempts at flirtation and seduction. This was all very amateurish and clearly based on pop culture, but… he found it hard to come to any other conclusion. Ally was trying to seduce him.

"Um…" She kept playing with her hair, obviously nervous. "I… Um…"

He didn't know what to say. He felt like he must be misreading something, but… Why else would she be acting so nervous? And why else would she be dressed like this?

The two of them just stood there, both awkwardly staring at the other. Arthur tried to think of something to say while Ally shifted her weight between her feet.

Finally, she opened her mouth and broke the silence, much much too-loudly. "I—I want to have sex!"

Yes, yes something was definitely wrong with his girlfriend. For a very long moment, Arthur just stared at her. Because, "S—seriously, you're just going to announce it like that?"

Obviously she'd gotten tired of her attempts at subtle seduction, because now she was standing in front of him with her hands trembling at her sides, eyes wide in obvious fear, but with an expression of resolve etched across her face.

"W—well, you're being super impatient so there's no point in me trying to make a nice dinner and everything. So… So we should just do it!"

And that was all the warning he got before his arm was captured again and he was suddenly yanked across the room. He lost his balance in the process and fell backwards, his mind only having a split second after he landed to identify his current location as her bed. Then he found himself with a lap full of Allison, one of her hands immediately tugging at his hair to force him into a better kissing position. Her other hand was already at the front of his slacks, tugging at the button like she was trying to get him out of his clothing as quickly as possible.

And he had absolutely no idea how to respond to that. His body was completely on board with whatever the fuck was going on, while his brain felt like it'd been stranded in that moment right before this whole flurry of movement happened.

She was kissing him with an intensity he'd never felt from her before, like she was legitimately trying to suck his tongue out of his mouth. She was biting at his lips, tugging on his hair hard enough for it to be painful. This was absolutely not even close to anything he'd felt from Ally before…

And it was turning him on faster than anything else he'd experienced in his entire life.

His brain had completely fucked off on him, leaving him only aware of the physical sensations of biting and sucking and scraping of her nails against his scalp. His hands hadn't yet figured out what they should be doing. They finally settled on her hips because fuck, it seemed as good a place as any.

She was pulling the zipper down on his slacks when his mind finally decided to return from vacation, the moment when her knuckles just slightly brushed against the area of his body that was currently very interested in the proceedings.

Unfortunately for it, he'd just managed to wrap his thoughts around what was happening and he suddenly jerked away, bashing his head against her wall in the process and screamed out a, "What the fuck are you doing?!"

A/N: Pffft.

God, I love Ally. I love her so much. She's so freaking cute with her wine glasses filled with milk and 'I know there's supposed to be multiple forks, not sure why, but fine, multiple forks' fail attempts at a romantic setting and then her being like 'FULL THROTTLE!' and just confusing the fuck out of Arthur.

Not the best way of going about it, but I will give you an A+ for effort.

So there are currently only 10 pages standing between me and being done for the semester. I am done with all of my other projects and classes (which is why I took a break and let myself write this out). Time to get back to work. SO CLOSE.