Okay, another chapter. This one's funny for the most part, but not really funny for some of the characters in it... One part is really sad too, but I'll let you read it now before I spoile the whole chapter.
"If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume and come back as a new character...Would you slow down? Or speed up?" – Chuck Palahniuk
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, its plot or any of its characters. I only own a space on this website where I can let my fantasy flow freely.
Chapter thirty-eight: In My Mind is You
A badly disguised sigh escaped Patricia Cherise Taylor's lips as she went into the kitchen of the apartment at 522 Main Street. The very poorly hidden 'deeply-in-love' face sighed once more when she sat down by the table.
"What's wrong?" Edward, who previously had sat at the table reading the paper, asked.
"Nuffin'," Patricia mumbled. "Just…"
"Trisha! What happened? Did he say something, Alex?" Scieszka came into the room almost screaming the both questions at Patricia, who didn't seem to care much that she was being screamed at.
"Nuffin'," Patricia said with the same expression as earlier. Mouth open, gaze lingering either at her hands, which was constantly playing with her hair, or somewhere in the corners between the walls and the ceiling.
"Trisha… c'mon!" Scieszka said.
"Well, Alex and I were at this café, see…" Patricia sighed lovingly again.
"Yes? I know you were going out today, that's nothing new," Scieszka said.
"And I ordered a coffee and a cookie, and he ordered tea and carrot cake…"
"Yes?"
"And, well, then he said that… Well, he said that he liked me…" Patricia let out another sigh.
At this, Edward sighed heavily and rushed onward out of the room.
"And, well, then we kinda, you know… kissed." Patricia smiled like one of the girls in bad fifties love movies. Widely and without any idea whatsoever of what she was doing.
"Aah! You need to tell me all about it!" Scieszka yelled and sat down beside Patricia.
A loud sigh was heard from the other room.
"I'm going out!" Edward shouted and banged the door shut.
"But what about Ed?" Scieszka whispered to Patricia when Edward had left.
"What about who?" Patricia said, still stunned by the moment.
-----
"I can't believe her!"
Angry feet in heavy boots made angry sounds in the narrow alley.
"Here I try to… I don't even try, do I? I hate this."
The cloudy sky glanced down at him with nothing more than grayness and threatening rain to offer.
"Sure, what the hell! Rain at me! Make me more miserable already! I'm waiting!"
Yellow eyes shut and pink lips sighed heavily.
"What do I do now?" he asked himself out loud as the grey sky let out thunders and rain started to drop down on his emotionless face.
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August 24th 7:06 p.m., 24 Mason Road
Alexander Osbourne's home
There was a knock on the door. It was strange; Alexander hadn't expected that Patricia would be over now.
"I'm coming!" he said when the next knock was heard. She knew that she could come in. The question was if he had locked the door. Had he locked the door?
He went over to the door and opened. He hadn't locked. Weird thing that she didn't come in.
The only thing was that it wasn't who he had expected it to be. Instead of a black, small kid there was a blonde, small kid.
"What are you doing here?" Alexander asked Edward.
Unexpectedly, Edward pushed Alexander against a wall and held him in place with his forearm.
"Hey!" Alexander exclaimed.
"Yes, hey," Edward said, cold as ice. "If she ever comes home in a worse condition than she left in, I will kick your scrawny ass. If she is hurt somewhere, no matter of it's physically or mentally, when she comes home, I will kick your scrawny ass. I just want her to be happy, so if she tells you to back off, you back off. Got that?"
A little disturbed by the sudden threat, Alexander nodded unable to do anything else.
"It's good we understand each other." And with that, Edward stormed off through the open doorway and disappeared down the stairs at the end of the corridor.
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522 Main Street was just as quiet as the earlier days. In the days, the inhabitants were away working, researching or just wandering around, and in the evenings they were in the apartment minding their own business.
They minded their own business a whole lot more since Patricia had started dating Alexander. She was rarely home before ten p.m. and gone directly after dinner the next day.
Of course they missed her. Edward, Scieszka and Alphonse saw only small hints of her as she threw the food into her mouth in a very mannerless manner before she disappeared out the door, sometimes after calling a 'don't wait up!'.
It was sad, really.
But one Sunday in the end of September, Edward woke Patricia up at four a.m.
"Today," he said, "we're going to go on vacation. Pack your bags; train's leaving in two hours!"
The simple sound of Edward's all-too-cheery voice made Patricia wake up the slightest bit.
"Wha..?" she managed to press through her tired lips, and even though she had heard every single thing that head said, she somehow didn't understand a word of it.
"We're going away. Two hours. Get up," Edward repeated. "I'll meet you at the station. Train number three."
The message got through Patricia's thick brain into the place where she actually understood it.
But, wait a sec. Go away?
"Edwa…" Patricia sat up, but Edward wasn't there. No one to speak to. Weird.
She sighed. What was he going to do now?
Getting up was hard that morning. She had been out with Alexander a little too late the night before, and she hadn't gotten home until midnight. Four hours of sleep didn't fit too well with whatever Edward might've planned.
But up she got, dressed she got, packed she did and breakfast she ate. And in the end she went to the train station too.
"Train three, right?" she asked herself as she went past the trains one and two. With a bag in one hand and a jacket in the other she saw that Edward stood outside the train and waited for her.
"There you are! I almost thought you'd fallen back to sleep!" he exclaimed as he saw her.
"But I didn't, okay?" Patricia said and sighed. "So tell me, where are we going?"
"Not telling! Not 'til we're there," he answered with a wide trademark grin.
"Is it far?" she asked.
"Quite," he answered, not wiping the grin off his face.
"Well, then how am I supposed to tell my boss that…"
"You're not. I got you one week vacation."
"But I have no time to call…"
"You are not supposed to do that either."
"I didn't even have time to say who I was calling."
"I could figure that out myself. Alex, right?"
"Well, kind of…"
"See! I told you. You're not supposed to. Not now. You can call later, at the place to where we're going."
"But what if he…"
"Stop whining and get on the train!"
That shut Patricia up pretty effectively.
----
"Are we there yet?" Patricia asked for the tenth time in ten minutes.
His only response was a sigh.
"Okay, let's try a new one, what time is it?" This time, his response was silence from the other side of the worn wooden table and the rhythmic thum-thuming from the train.
"Let's play something!"
"No." this response was the longest one she have had this train ride.
"Aw, come on! Truth and dare, old school!"
Edward face was a big question mark.
"Dude, you are the most boring person I've ever met. Truth or dare, spin the bottle? 7 minutes in the closet? No?"
He simply shook his head.
"Are your lips sewn together with invisible magic alchemy-tape or something? Let's play! Truth or dare?"
"Truth?" Edward said with his jaw clenched.
"Okay, have you... ever cut your hair?"
"What?"
"Yes, you have it in a braid and all. I mean, did your dog dig down all the scissors or somethin'?"
He smiled.
"Oh my god! A smile? Did my joke work the magic tape away?" She fake-gasped.
"No, I didn't have a dog," he said.
"Did your bird fly away with 'em all? Or did your cat mistake it for a mouse and ate it? Or did your guinea-pig… I don't know what a guinea-pig would do, but whatever guinea-pigs do to scissors. And by 'do' I don't mean hump it."
"My moms always used to cut it, okay? After she… the accident, I didn't have time. I do it once in a while, but just the tips. And I never had a pet."
"Okay, good. Thanks for telling me the truth, even though it is cheating not to. Now ask me."
"Truth or dare?"
"I will make it easy for you, truth."
"Have you ever had like…a boyfriend before?" he asked quietly and blushed a little.
"Oh you're going straight for the good stuff right away! You totally get this game. I'm impressed. Well, just like, one serious relationship with this guy in half of eighth and the beginning of ninth grade. Six long moths. It was good, but then we broke up because we fought like hell."
"Fought?"
"Yeah, you know, he was a jerk, and when he was a jerk I had to punch him, like, really hard."
"…Okay."
"Yeah, I know. Kinda harsh, but that's what you gotta do, y'know. And then there's Alex, but I guess you don't wanna hear 'bout him."
"You're right. I don't."
"Okay, my turn. Truth or dare?"
"No! I don't wanna play anymore. It was a stupid game."
"Aw, c'mon! You have to admit it's fun. Truth or dare?"
"Truth, I guess."
"Okay, have you ever… Have you ever had a girlfriend?"
"No."
"What about Winry? You two seem friendly enough!"
"No! She's more like a sister than a girlfriend."
"Ah… I see. A sister, riiight…"
"Stop it!" Edward cried out and punched her.
"Hey! What did you do that for?" Patricia yelled back and threw her handbag at him, grinning like a fool.
They threw punches and pinched each other in between laughs. Heavily panting, they eventually calmed down and left the train car squeaking for itself.
"You're sure you and Winry don't have anything?" Patricia asked, still barely breathing.
"Yes! Don't make me hit you again!" Edward said, the grin never leaving his face.
Not until Patricia fell asleep. Then he could mourn all he wanted about what he wanted so bad but could never have.
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Song of the day: Losing You – Dead by April