Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl and I'm not making any money at this. Depressing, isn't it?
Author's Note: Here's Arty! Hehe, the Artemis and Alyssa chapter is here. Semi-humorous with a little bit of emotion. Review, it makes me smile.
Chapter 9: A Little Worried
Artemis looked at the screen and saw that there was no email. At least, there was no message from her.
"What's the matter?"
Artemis looked at the girl standing behind his chair, standing with her hands on his shoulders. Sometimes she could read him like an open book; he hated that. He had always been so good at masking his emotions, but the more he got to know her, the more she was able to tell what was going on in his mind. "I was expecting an email. Holly usually answers my letters sooner than this and there hasn't been a reply yet." He tried not to let his voice betray the little bit of worry he was feeling.
"Holly is your police friend, isn't she?"
"Yes, she's gotten me out of a few sticky situations before."
"I hope she's alright. Law enforcement is a dangerous line of work."
"I'm sure she'll be fine," Artemis said, trying to sound as if he meant it. "She has something of a temper and always seems to land in one scrape or another. But she always manages to get out again. She probably just annoyed her boss. He's very irritable. In fact, his surname is Root, but everyone calls him Beetroot behind his back. The man is a heart-attack waiting to happen." He realized he was rambling; he almost never rambled unless nervous about something.
Alyssa started rubbing his shoulders to get a little of his stress out. It wasn't something she did often, only when she could tell he was really stressed or worried and needed it.
Artemis closed his eyes and relaxed.
Alyssa stopped massaging his shoulders after a few minutes.
"You should do that more often," he remarked.
"And have you spoiled rotten? I don't think so," she said, putting her hands on her hips.
"I'm not spoiled."
"Look at your room. You're spoiled," she teased. "Let's go to the den. I want to watch The Wizard of Oz. You promised today could be a marathon of musicals."
"Come here," he said.
She leaned down so their faces were nearly level. "What? You're not getting out of watching Oz. You promised."
He kissed her.
When they stopped kissing, she yanked him to his feet and pulled him by the arm. "That doesn't get you off the hook. We're still watching the movie."
"Alyssa, we've seen that movie together every time you've come over."
"It's my favorite one. Besides, you fell asleep the first time you watched it."
Artemis rolled his eyes and allowed her to drag him down the stairs and into the lower den where his mother had popcorn and some drinks ready for them.
Alyssa and Artemis sat down on the couch and Alyssa took possessive control of the remote. She took Artemis's hand and put his arm around her. She picked up the bowl of popcorn and handed it to him. She snuggled up closer to him and pressed play. She watched, mouthing the words along with the movie and started singing when Somewhere Over the Rainbow started. It was a good afternoon.
I'll try to keep updates more frequent from now on. When I'm home, the updates should be more frequent, but there's going to be times this summer when I go away for like a week at a time.