Author's Note: Bet you guys didn't believe me about getting this out fast. =] Anyway, here it is... Chapter Ten! Yay! Hurrah! Remember to review, peoples! Oh and I'd like to thank Aaron-san and Janis-san for giving me the push I needed to proofread all my chapters and fix them as much as I could.
(It _is_ spelled Kahran... Damn, so many pages I had to re-read...)
One more thanx to LunarBlade Valentine for the insomnia correction! Where would I be without you people? ^_^
*Disclaimer*: (sigh) Xenogears is a brilliant game that belongs to Squaresoft... I'm just expanding on it...
Chapter Ten
Margie sadly stared at the tapestry of the Nisan Cross that had been put up on the wall of the orphanage in D-Block. She sat on one of the pews of the tiny church that made up one of the sections of the little building that had been rebuilt as the orphanage. It had been one of the first buildings to be rebuilt. Sadly, the orphanage had really been needed.
Margie looked at her surroundings; at all the little ones that made this building their home now. It struck a chord in her to see them here, all together, knowing that they were the only family they themselves had left.
A little girl, who couldn't be older than seven sat next to her on the pew, silent as she listened to the Sister's daily sermon. A stuffed rabbit was clutched possessively in her arm and her other tiny hand held on tightly to Margie's. It nearly broke the Great Mother's heart.
The Sister said the final prayer just as the children began getting restless and when she was finished, the kids immediately stood up and ran outside, their laughter echoing in a room that was suddenly empty. If it hadn't been for the laughter, Margie knew instinctively that she'd have let a few tears loose.
~The tragedies of war and the mistakes of humanity... The children are the ones that suffer in the end... And that's exactly what I can prevent... What I _will_ prevent...~
Margie was brought out of her dark thoughts by a tug on her hand. She looked down and met the serious dark eyes that could only be put on a seven year-old's face by tragedy. Margie immediately put on her brightest smile. "What is it, sweety?"
"Can I go pway outside?" the little girl queried softly, her voice ringing with the innocence that had ruthlessly been stolen from many of the others.
"Sure. Go have some fun."
"You wont be wonewy? 'Cuz I can stay, if you want me to," she offered solemnly.
Margie stared at the angel before her and smiled softly. "I'll be just fine, sweets. Don't worry about me."
The little girl nodded before running off after the others, leaving Margie to sigh. Once again, she had very nearly broken down. She sat there on the pew for a while after that, her mind preoccupied. After the meeting with the Kaiser, Fei had surmised that Sigmund and Rico would probably be busy with the plans that needed to be made for the ex-Battling Champ's departure. So he had announced that they had the afternoon free to do whatever they wanted. They'd leave tomorrow morning if things went smoothly.
So they had all gone their own ways. Citan and Jessie had gone back to the ship to inform the others about this. The rest of the group would undoubtedly want to have a chance to 'stretch their legs and get some fresh air'. Bart had demanded to know what fresh air Citan had been talking about.
Fei had wanted to take a look around the rebuilding city, but had been reminded rather curtly by Ramsus about the challenge he had agreed to. Dominia had also pointed out that she would have her turn after the Commander. If there was anything left of Fei, that is.
Elly had cracked her knuckles and announced that she would tag along, too. A good Gear battle was just what she needed, she said. The protective alarm in Fei's head had immediately gone off and the two had left towards the Battling Arena with the beginnings of a heated argument already in motion.
Emeralda had decided to go with them and so had Bart, after asking if that was okay with her. Margie had smiled and nodded and he had gone after them, but not before pressing a quick kiss on her lips and promising to see her later. Fei's surprised look had been priceless, in Margie's opinion, but not as much as the grin and thumbs-up he had sent her afterwards. The man had approved, for heaven's sake.
So that had left Margie momentarily on her own, which was completely fine with her. She had taken a good walk around the bustling city, seeing everything until her curiosity had been satisfied. She had caught glimpses of the others along the way, even spotting the ever cynical Tolone gawking at the Machine City as much as her sister was doing. It had been another of those priceless looks she would keep in her memory.
Now it was nearly sunset and here she was, in the orphanage where she had spent the last hour and a half in the company of the children and the Sisters. It had been quite an eye-opening hour and a half. This is exactly what reminded her that she had the power to make a difference and prevent these type of situations from happening. She had no room to be selfish.
But did she have room to be the Great Mother and be herself at the same time?
She sat there on the pew with her legs pulled up and her arms wrapped loosely around her knees while the Sisters continued their work around her. Her inner struggle continued as she tried to find a way to be the Great Mother the people needed her to be, and the sixteen year old girl _she_ needed to be...
"Margie?"
She glanced up and met Maria's concerned gaze. She hadn't even noticed the girl walk up to her.
"Huh? Sorry, did you say something?" Margie asked, trying to shrug away all the thoughts that had been clouding her mind.
"Are you okay? You looked a bit troubled. Something wrong?" Maria questioned as she sat down next to her.
"What? No, eveything's fine, I guess," Margie said, shrugging and lowering her legs to the floor. "I was just wondering about how it would be to grow up in an orphanage..."
"Depends. It can be pretty lonely when you know that you don't have parents or any other family to count on. But at the same time you have all the other children with you..."
Margie turned just as Billy came around the pew. He sat down on the one across from them and gave her a curious look. "Why you asking? The orphanage got you thinking?"
"Yeah. I came to check it out and see how it was doing... My Grandma used to come here all the time... She liked to keep an eye on the kids and see how they were doing, so I thought I'd do the same."
"I think it's good that you want to keep doing that," Maria murmured, glancing around at the small building. "I didn't grow up in an orphanage, but I think I know what a lot of these kids are feeling. When I was rescued by my Grandpa and taken back to Shevat, I remember how much it hurt to not be able to see my Dad. To not even be sure if he was still alive or not..." she trailed off and stared down at her lap where her hands where fisted tightly. "How was it growing up in an orphanage, Billy?" she quietly asked after a while, not looking up.
Margie turned to him and saw his pale brows furrow a bit. "It... I can't really say I grew up in an orphanage. I lived in the streets for a while until I began training to be an Etone. Then after that, I asked the Church to have the Orphanage built so other kids wouldn't have it the way Prim and I did..." He stopped with the frown still on his face and reached out to slowly pull off Maria's goggles. The girl looked up in surprise as he slid them off her head and held them up to the light to study them, continuing with his story. "But I was never alone. I always had Prim there. Unlike these kids, I always had one constant. You could say she's the one that kept me from giving up on everything..."
Maria blushed a little. Without her goggles to hold her hair back; her thick, flaxen, corkscrew curls slid forward to frame her face softly. Apparently she didn't like that because she kept on brushing it behind her ears, to no avail. In the end she just sighed and continued to look down at her lap. Billy kept on studying her goggles.
Margie hid a smile behind her hand. What Billy had just done was something that was so like what Bart used to do to her. The young pirate had always had a habit of pulling off her hat back in the days when she used to wear it. There was something about that little gesture...
They stayed silent for a while until Maria finally asked. "How was your childhood, Margie? We don't really know much about your family. I don't think I've ever heard you say a thing about your father..."
Billy turned away from the green goggles in his hands and looked at her, too. "Yeah, me neither. You mind sharing?"
"No. It's just that I don't really know much about my Dad," Margie said, pulling her knees back up. "He died when I was little. About two, I think. I can't remember him at all. Sometimes, I wonder in which ways I'm like him, you know? Do I have some of his traits? Do I act the way he did? Grandma used to say I had his curiosity and the keen precision he had with judging people. Bart would argue that point, though," she said, rolling her eyes. "I wish I had met him."
"I can imagine," Maria sighed. "I miss my Dad horribly. I think I always will..."
"What about you, Billy?" Margie asked.
He snorted. "You forget that I've already lived through that and survived." He shrugged. "The man isn't all I hoped for..."
Just then, Maria stood up and swatted him on the head, making him look up in surprise.
"Hey! What was that for?!" he demanded.
Margie noticed the girl's fierce glare and hoped Billy would just keep his mouth shut for his own safety.
"That was for being such an imbecilic, ungrateful, moronic brat," she declared angrily, causing him to blink.
"Huh?" was the best he could manage.
"How can you be so stupid?! Unlike you, some of us don't have any parents left to speak of and yet you badmouth yours every chance you get just for that one mistake he did in the past!"
Billy glared right back at her and stood up, towering over her by a good five inches. "What do you know, Maria? You don't know how it feels to have your Mother murdered and then find out it was your Dad's fault she's dead because he wasn't there to protect her!"
"No. But I know exactly how it feels to lose your father because he was trying to protect _you_! I know _exactly_ how it feels to ache and yearn for him and know he can't come home because if he does, he'll put the most precious thing in his life at stake! He tried to protect me, the same way your father was trying to protect you, Billy! And you're really stupid to just treat him the way you do when he's right here, _alive_, and anxious to spend some time with his children!" She stopped to take a deep, shaky breath. "It wasn't his fault," she finally whispered, sitting down again and looking at the floor.
Margie sat breathlessly between the two. Her mind told her to do something, but her instincts told her not to intervene. Just like her father would've, she followed her instincts.
Billy stared down at Maria for a while, frowning. His fists clenched and unclenched and his aqua eyes clearly showed the struggle going on within him. In the end, his gaze hardened.
"No, it wasn't," he began slowly, his voice quiet. "But the fact that Prim had to live in the streets and lose her voice and not have a real home _is_ his fault! And for the many years she had a hard life, I'll give him a hard life."
And with that, he stalked out of the orphanage, leaving them behind to stare after him.
"Oh heavens, what have I done," Maria groaned as she continued staring at the floor miserably. Her goggles had been left on the bench in front of her.
*************************************************
Margie couldn't help but worry about them. They _were_ two of her closest friends.
That night the group gathered at the Wildcat Bar, which had been repaired since it luckily hadn't been completely destroyed. Even the musicbox had been brought back. Everyone was gathered there in a brief trip of nostalgia as the music played and food and memories were shared. They packed up the small bar and no one else was let in for that night.
Elly pulled Fei onto the cleared floor and lured him into a rhythmic jig that made Margie think of the music of Aveh. Fei tried his best at matching Elly's graceful steps with his own while the others cheered him on, and after a while he got the hang of it, twirling her around at the right moments to finish with her laughing in his arms.
After that, those who dared tried their own steps on the floor, each wanting a turn with the graceful Solarian heroine. Until Fei told them all to find another dancing partner. His wife needed to rest. 'Boo's' ensued.
The food flow slowed down considerably after that since the waitresses were the ones being pulled onto the dance floor. None of the other women really wanted to dance. Dominia had snarled at Jessie when he had ventured to ask for the honor of her company. Kahr had chuckled at the whole thing.
Seraphita wasn't one to let herself be intimitated and as soon as she had seen Elly dance, she had been the next one to show her stuff, proving that Elly wasn't the only Solarian with grace. She had immediately taken Jessie up on his offer and thoroughly enjoyed herself, while her sister muttered darkly from the table she'd been left behind in.
Kelvena had giggled at Tolone's reaction. Then she had blushed brilliantly when Kahr had bowed in front of her and asked her for a dance. Since Dominia didn't dance, he told her, he was asking her. After giving Dominia a quick apologetic glance, Kelvena agreed and shyly followed him onto the dance floor. Daggers practically shot out of Dominia's eyes.
At the other end of the bar, Emeralda and Rico were having another contest. The Gear Battling earlier had shown that both were about the same in skills. A tie was what they had ended up with. Now they were having a dart's game to prove who had the best 'accuracy'...
Margie sat on one of the stools of the bar, one of the bar's patron cats curled in her lap where it purred contenetedly as she looked at the ones on the dance floor. Bart was sitting beside her with his arm loose wrapped around her waist. It felt nice to have him close.
Maria was on her other side, smiling slightly. No one had been able to tempt a full smile out of her since what had happened at the orphanage. She was looking at the dancing, but had refused an invitation from Fei. Her eyes kept on travelling to a table across the dance floor, where Billy sat.
The ex-Etone was talking with Citan but was clearly not really in the conversation. The small frown hadn't disappeared from his face. When Seraphita asked him for a dance, he refused, saying he needed to get some fresh air. No one went after him as he went outside, but three people worriedly noticed his departure. Jessie, Primera and Maria.
"I have to go to the ladies room," Maria suddenly yelled at Margie, trying to be heard over the loud music and talking. Margie nodded and watched as the young mechanic climbed off her stool and made her way to the bathroom. She had put her goggles back on.
"Hey, Bart," she yelled, turning to look at him. He was laughing as someone nearly tripped over one of the cats on the dance floor. "Bart!"
"Huh?" He turned to her. "What?"
"Remember when I used to wear my hat?" she said loudly, leaning in closer to him to be heard. He nodded. "Why did you always use to pull it off?"
He stared at her and suddenly smirked. "There's only one reason a guy does that."
"Which is?"
He leaned in closer and said it in her ear. "I used to do that to see how beautiful you looked with your hair loose..."
Wide eyed, she stared at him. "Really?"
"Yup. You don't leave your hair loose enough times. I like it loose," he continued as he absently began playing with her ponytail. His lips brushed her ear, making her shudder. "That's the reason a guy does that... Because he likes her."
Margie turned to him and pressed a kiss to his lips as this new revelation sank into her mind and was quickly forgotten along with everything else for the moment...
*I know some of this stuff isn't really accurate, but, hey... Work with me people! Review please!* ^_^
(It _is_ spelled Kahran... Damn, so many pages I had to re-read...)
One more thanx to LunarBlade Valentine for the insomnia correction! Where would I be without you people? ^_^
*Disclaimer*: (sigh) Xenogears is a brilliant game that belongs to Squaresoft... I'm just expanding on it...
Chapter Ten
Margie sadly stared at the tapestry of the Nisan Cross that had been put up on the wall of the orphanage in D-Block. She sat on one of the pews of the tiny church that made up one of the sections of the little building that had been rebuilt as the orphanage. It had been one of the first buildings to be rebuilt. Sadly, the orphanage had really been needed.
Margie looked at her surroundings; at all the little ones that made this building their home now. It struck a chord in her to see them here, all together, knowing that they were the only family they themselves had left.
A little girl, who couldn't be older than seven sat next to her on the pew, silent as she listened to the Sister's daily sermon. A stuffed rabbit was clutched possessively in her arm and her other tiny hand held on tightly to Margie's. It nearly broke the Great Mother's heart.
The Sister said the final prayer just as the children began getting restless and when she was finished, the kids immediately stood up and ran outside, their laughter echoing in a room that was suddenly empty. If it hadn't been for the laughter, Margie knew instinctively that she'd have let a few tears loose.
~The tragedies of war and the mistakes of humanity... The children are the ones that suffer in the end... And that's exactly what I can prevent... What I _will_ prevent...~
Margie was brought out of her dark thoughts by a tug on her hand. She looked down and met the serious dark eyes that could only be put on a seven year-old's face by tragedy. Margie immediately put on her brightest smile. "What is it, sweety?"
"Can I go pway outside?" the little girl queried softly, her voice ringing with the innocence that had ruthlessly been stolen from many of the others.
"Sure. Go have some fun."
"You wont be wonewy? 'Cuz I can stay, if you want me to," she offered solemnly.
Margie stared at the angel before her and smiled softly. "I'll be just fine, sweets. Don't worry about me."
The little girl nodded before running off after the others, leaving Margie to sigh. Once again, she had very nearly broken down. She sat there on the pew for a while after that, her mind preoccupied. After the meeting with the Kaiser, Fei had surmised that Sigmund and Rico would probably be busy with the plans that needed to be made for the ex-Battling Champ's departure. So he had announced that they had the afternoon free to do whatever they wanted. They'd leave tomorrow morning if things went smoothly.
So they had all gone their own ways. Citan and Jessie had gone back to the ship to inform the others about this. The rest of the group would undoubtedly want to have a chance to 'stretch their legs and get some fresh air'. Bart had demanded to know what fresh air Citan had been talking about.
Fei had wanted to take a look around the rebuilding city, but had been reminded rather curtly by Ramsus about the challenge he had agreed to. Dominia had also pointed out that she would have her turn after the Commander. If there was anything left of Fei, that is.
Elly had cracked her knuckles and announced that she would tag along, too. A good Gear battle was just what she needed, she said. The protective alarm in Fei's head had immediately gone off and the two had left towards the Battling Arena with the beginnings of a heated argument already in motion.
Emeralda had decided to go with them and so had Bart, after asking if that was okay with her. Margie had smiled and nodded and he had gone after them, but not before pressing a quick kiss on her lips and promising to see her later. Fei's surprised look had been priceless, in Margie's opinion, but not as much as the grin and thumbs-up he had sent her afterwards. The man had approved, for heaven's sake.
So that had left Margie momentarily on her own, which was completely fine with her. She had taken a good walk around the bustling city, seeing everything until her curiosity had been satisfied. She had caught glimpses of the others along the way, even spotting the ever cynical Tolone gawking at the Machine City as much as her sister was doing. It had been another of those priceless looks she would keep in her memory.
Now it was nearly sunset and here she was, in the orphanage where she had spent the last hour and a half in the company of the children and the Sisters. It had been quite an eye-opening hour and a half. This is exactly what reminded her that she had the power to make a difference and prevent these type of situations from happening. She had no room to be selfish.
But did she have room to be the Great Mother and be herself at the same time?
She sat there on the pew with her legs pulled up and her arms wrapped loosely around her knees while the Sisters continued their work around her. Her inner struggle continued as she tried to find a way to be the Great Mother the people needed her to be, and the sixteen year old girl _she_ needed to be...
"Margie?"
She glanced up and met Maria's concerned gaze. She hadn't even noticed the girl walk up to her.
"Huh? Sorry, did you say something?" Margie asked, trying to shrug away all the thoughts that had been clouding her mind.
"Are you okay? You looked a bit troubled. Something wrong?" Maria questioned as she sat down next to her.
"What? No, eveything's fine, I guess," Margie said, shrugging and lowering her legs to the floor. "I was just wondering about how it would be to grow up in an orphanage..."
"Depends. It can be pretty lonely when you know that you don't have parents or any other family to count on. But at the same time you have all the other children with you..."
Margie turned just as Billy came around the pew. He sat down on the one across from them and gave her a curious look. "Why you asking? The orphanage got you thinking?"
"Yeah. I came to check it out and see how it was doing... My Grandma used to come here all the time... She liked to keep an eye on the kids and see how they were doing, so I thought I'd do the same."
"I think it's good that you want to keep doing that," Maria murmured, glancing around at the small building. "I didn't grow up in an orphanage, but I think I know what a lot of these kids are feeling. When I was rescued by my Grandpa and taken back to Shevat, I remember how much it hurt to not be able to see my Dad. To not even be sure if he was still alive or not..." she trailed off and stared down at her lap where her hands where fisted tightly. "How was it growing up in an orphanage, Billy?" she quietly asked after a while, not looking up.
Margie turned to him and saw his pale brows furrow a bit. "It... I can't really say I grew up in an orphanage. I lived in the streets for a while until I began training to be an Etone. Then after that, I asked the Church to have the Orphanage built so other kids wouldn't have it the way Prim and I did..." He stopped with the frown still on his face and reached out to slowly pull off Maria's goggles. The girl looked up in surprise as he slid them off her head and held them up to the light to study them, continuing with his story. "But I was never alone. I always had Prim there. Unlike these kids, I always had one constant. You could say she's the one that kept me from giving up on everything..."
Maria blushed a little. Without her goggles to hold her hair back; her thick, flaxen, corkscrew curls slid forward to frame her face softly. Apparently she didn't like that because she kept on brushing it behind her ears, to no avail. In the end she just sighed and continued to look down at her lap. Billy kept on studying her goggles.
Margie hid a smile behind her hand. What Billy had just done was something that was so like what Bart used to do to her. The young pirate had always had a habit of pulling off her hat back in the days when she used to wear it. There was something about that little gesture...
They stayed silent for a while until Maria finally asked. "How was your childhood, Margie? We don't really know much about your family. I don't think I've ever heard you say a thing about your father..."
Billy turned away from the green goggles in his hands and looked at her, too. "Yeah, me neither. You mind sharing?"
"No. It's just that I don't really know much about my Dad," Margie said, pulling her knees back up. "He died when I was little. About two, I think. I can't remember him at all. Sometimes, I wonder in which ways I'm like him, you know? Do I have some of his traits? Do I act the way he did? Grandma used to say I had his curiosity and the keen precision he had with judging people. Bart would argue that point, though," she said, rolling her eyes. "I wish I had met him."
"I can imagine," Maria sighed. "I miss my Dad horribly. I think I always will..."
"What about you, Billy?" Margie asked.
He snorted. "You forget that I've already lived through that and survived." He shrugged. "The man isn't all I hoped for..."
Just then, Maria stood up and swatted him on the head, making him look up in surprise.
"Hey! What was that for?!" he demanded.
Margie noticed the girl's fierce glare and hoped Billy would just keep his mouth shut for his own safety.
"That was for being such an imbecilic, ungrateful, moronic brat," she declared angrily, causing him to blink.
"Huh?" was the best he could manage.
"How can you be so stupid?! Unlike you, some of us don't have any parents left to speak of and yet you badmouth yours every chance you get just for that one mistake he did in the past!"
Billy glared right back at her and stood up, towering over her by a good five inches. "What do you know, Maria? You don't know how it feels to have your Mother murdered and then find out it was your Dad's fault she's dead because he wasn't there to protect her!"
"No. But I know exactly how it feels to lose your father because he was trying to protect _you_! I know _exactly_ how it feels to ache and yearn for him and know he can't come home because if he does, he'll put the most precious thing in his life at stake! He tried to protect me, the same way your father was trying to protect you, Billy! And you're really stupid to just treat him the way you do when he's right here, _alive_, and anxious to spend some time with his children!" She stopped to take a deep, shaky breath. "It wasn't his fault," she finally whispered, sitting down again and looking at the floor.
Margie sat breathlessly between the two. Her mind told her to do something, but her instincts told her not to intervene. Just like her father would've, she followed her instincts.
Billy stared down at Maria for a while, frowning. His fists clenched and unclenched and his aqua eyes clearly showed the struggle going on within him. In the end, his gaze hardened.
"No, it wasn't," he began slowly, his voice quiet. "But the fact that Prim had to live in the streets and lose her voice and not have a real home _is_ his fault! And for the many years she had a hard life, I'll give him a hard life."
And with that, he stalked out of the orphanage, leaving them behind to stare after him.
"Oh heavens, what have I done," Maria groaned as she continued staring at the floor miserably. Her goggles had been left on the bench in front of her.
*************************************************
Margie couldn't help but worry about them. They _were_ two of her closest friends.
That night the group gathered at the Wildcat Bar, which had been repaired since it luckily hadn't been completely destroyed. Even the musicbox had been brought back. Everyone was gathered there in a brief trip of nostalgia as the music played and food and memories were shared. They packed up the small bar and no one else was let in for that night.
Elly pulled Fei onto the cleared floor and lured him into a rhythmic jig that made Margie think of the music of Aveh. Fei tried his best at matching Elly's graceful steps with his own while the others cheered him on, and after a while he got the hang of it, twirling her around at the right moments to finish with her laughing in his arms.
After that, those who dared tried their own steps on the floor, each wanting a turn with the graceful Solarian heroine. Until Fei told them all to find another dancing partner. His wife needed to rest. 'Boo's' ensued.
The food flow slowed down considerably after that since the waitresses were the ones being pulled onto the dance floor. None of the other women really wanted to dance. Dominia had snarled at Jessie when he had ventured to ask for the honor of her company. Kahr had chuckled at the whole thing.
Seraphita wasn't one to let herself be intimitated and as soon as she had seen Elly dance, she had been the next one to show her stuff, proving that Elly wasn't the only Solarian with grace. She had immediately taken Jessie up on his offer and thoroughly enjoyed herself, while her sister muttered darkly from the table she'd been left behind in.
Kelvena had giggled at Tolone's reaction. Then she had blushed brilliantly when Kahr had bowed in front of her and asked her for a dance. Since Dominia didn't dance, he told her, he was asking her. After giving Dominia a quick apologetic glance, Kelvena agreed and shyly followed him onto the dance floor. Daggers practically shot out of Dominia's eyes.
At the other end of the bar, Emeralda and Rico were having another contest. The Gear Battling earlier had shown that both were about the same in skills. A tie was what they had ended up with. Now they were having a dart's game to prove who had the best 'accuracy'...
Margie sat on one of the stools of the bar, one of the bar's patron cats curled in her lap where it purred contenetedly as she looked at the ones on the dance floor. Bart was sitting beside her with his arm loose wrapped around her waist. It felt nice to have him close.
Maria was on her other side, smiling slightly. No one had been able to tempt a full smile out of her since what had happened at the orphanage. She was looking at the dancing, but had refused an invitation from Fei. Her eyes kept on travelling to a table across the dance floor, where Billy sat.
The ex-Etone was talking with Citan but was clearly not really in the conversation. The small frown hadn't disappeared from his face. When Seraphita asked him for a dance, he refused, saying he needed to get some fresh air. No one went after him as he went outside, but three people worriedly noticed his departure. Jessie, Primera and Maria.
"I have to go to the ladies room," Maria suddenly yelled at Margie, trying to be heard over the loud music and talking. Margie nodded and watched as the young mechanic climbed off her stool and made her way to the bathroom. She had put her goggles back on.
"Hey, Bart," she yelled, turning to look at him. He was laughing as someone nearly tripped over one of the cats on the dance floor. "Bart!"
"Huh?" He turned to her. "What?"
"Remember when I used to wear my hat?" she said loudly, leaning in closer to him to be heard. He nodded. "Why did you always use to pull it off?"
He stared at her and suddenly smirked. "There's only one reason a guy does that."
"Which is?"
He leaned in closer and said it in her ear. "I used to do that to see how beautiful you looked with your hair loose..."
Wide eyed, she stared at him. "Really?"
"Yup. You don't leave your hair loose enough times. I like it loose," he continued as he absently began playing with her ponytail. His lips brushed her ear, making her shudder. "That's the reason a guy does that... Because he likes her."
Margie turned to him and pressed a kiss to his lips as this new revelation sank into her mind and was quickly forgotten along with everything else for the moment...
*I know some of this stuff isn't really accurate, but, hey... Work with me people! Review please!* ^_^