Chapter Nineteen
"Where do you want to go next?" Mulder asked as they strolled back to his car.
"What are my choices?" Scully asked.
"Everything," Mulder smiled down at her.
She let a laugh escape her throat. They walked in comfortable silence until they reached his car.
Mulder started the car and began driving. "You still haven't made up your mind."
"What about going to a movie?" she suggested.
"Anything you want to see?"
She thought for a moment and shook her head. Mulder watched her in between glances at the road.
"Me neither," he replied. "Do you want to see what's going on at Jeff's house?"
"Okay," she replied.
"You sure?" he opened his right hand for her left and laced his fingers in hers.
"Yeah, I haven't seen them outside of FHS in a while," she assured him.
"Well, I heard that Garrett has a new girlfriend," he replied casually as he turned down the correct street.
"Really? It's about time! I was surprised to find a charmer like him single."
"But not me, right?" he joked, winking at her.
"I just got lucky."
Mulder smiled at her and squeezed her hand.
After a moment, they turned down the main road of Jeff's neighborhood. Mulder steered the car away from the middle of the road to allow space for the oncoming car that had made its presence known with the blare of its horn.
"I wonder what their problem is," she muttered, to which Mulder hummed in agreement.
As the car approached, though, it slowed considerably. From the open windows the car's occupants (at this point apparently girls), waved their arms, calling to Fox. Politely, Mulder waved to the car, nodding his greetings. When he lowered his hand though, searching for Scully's, it wasn't there.
Instead of groping the dark for her hand, Mulder took his eyes off the road, glancing over at Scully. He was genuinely surprised to find her staring out her window, arms crossed tightly and shoulders squared.
"Scully?"
If at any point in his life Mulder would claim to have X-ray vision, he would have sworn that Scully rolled her eyes at him. The exasperated sigh that escaped from her side of the car was just mounting evidence against her.
Mulder parked the car and walked around to open her door. He had never seen quite a painful glare in his entire life. His resolve weakened slightly, and he cursed to himself as he saw how hesitantly his hand reached out to her. She pointedly ignored it and jumped out of the car on her own. She made it up to the sidewalk before she whipped around, the accusatory glare seemingly permanently affixed to her face. Mulder idly wondered if it was a conscious or subconscious attempt to bridge the height gap between them. Even on the off-chance that it was neither, he was not about to step up next to her.
A beat passed before she even spoke, and when she did, her words were low and clear. "You have to be very careful about how our relationship comes off to other people, especially at school. I am already forced to deal with animosity from people because of whatever relationship you had last year. They can hurt me through you, and they will go as far as you let them."
Now, Mulder had dealt with women in his day. He was accustomed to the silent treatment, tears, hissy fits, temper tantrums, and even the dreaded PMS. But this, a well-thought, well-delivered argument, was different. She could have just as likely been giving a report in class. Without the expected dramatic, wailing accusations, it was hard to deny the relationship he had once had with Acacia. And what was worse, she was not mad; she was hurt. To see that his actions hurt her ebbed what was left of his male ego in the situation.
"Okay, Scully. I'm sorry," he reconciled. He gently kissed her lips and led her up the walkway to Jeff's front door. Even moments afterward, Mulder was not sure if Scully's lips had reciprocated the kiss; he held out hope.
When Garrett swung open the door and Mulder found himself enveloped in another girl's arms, that hope quickly faded. The girl then held him at arms' length, what was left of the hope disappeared. He found himself staring into the eyes of another former girlfriend.
"Fox Mulder!" the girl exclaimed, "And here I thought you had dropped off the face of the planet. The guys kept telling me 'Fox this' and 'Fox that,' so it was easy to imagine you had only become a name!"
Mulder, whose thoughts had honestly not strayed from Scully, gently pulled his girlfriend by her suddenly limp hand to his side. With a hand pressed into the small of her stiff back, he drew her into the group.
"Andrea, this is my girlfriend, Dana Scully. Dana, Andrea."
Dana was startled as the girl flung her arms once again, this time wrapping Dana in a friendly hug as she gushed over Dana.
"I've heard so much about you! I'm so glad the guys have found a girl that could put up with them! Can you imagine how awful they'd be if you weren't here to keep them in check?"
Dana opened and closed her mouth like a beached fish as she tried to find something to say. Over Andrea's shoulder, she saw Garrett gravely nodding in agreement, comical and completely oblivious to the tension in the room.
Jeff's mother entered the foyer, ushering the teenagers like little chicks into the basement with promises of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Mulder guided Scully with his hand on her back, needing to touch her suddenly, though he could feel her back curve away from his hand.
Mulder and Scully sat side by side on the leather couch. Mulder let his arm rest against the back of the couch, an invitation to Scully, but she had instead brought her knees up to her chest to lean on while she munched on a cookie. With Andrea sitting in an orange armchair and the guys occupying other various pieces of furniture in the room, Scully had a clear view of the entire group. She purposely leaned forward to remove Mulder from her eyesight.
"Andrea, where do you know Fox from?" she asked, not feeling any need for pointless small talk.
If Andrea felt uncomfortable by Dana's forwardness, she showed no sign. In fact, the girl let out a hearty laugh before answering the question. "I guess you could say we," Andrea paused here to laugh once again and shoot Fox a playful glance. "Well, to use the term loosely, we dated. But that was forever ago….God, was it eighth grade? If you could call it dating. I think we lasted four days. And the whole time, I don't know if we talked to each other," at this point, Andre took on a reprimanding tone. "Fox Mulder, I hope you've improved since then."
Mulder laughed. "Well, I've managed to hold her interest for a little longer. I'm afraid one day she'll wizen up, though."
Scully managed to crack a smile.
Andrea steered the conversation. "Anyway, it's a boring story after that. I started hanging out with some of the other guys from school, Jeff and Fox included. Then in high school we met Garrett. I went to a private high school, so it was a while before I really met the other guys. The reason I didn't meet you sooner, Dana, was because, I guess around the time you moved here, I was busy with volleyball. Then Fox kept you all to himself, and here we are, already halfway through February. I think the boys kept us apart to protect themselves. They aren't that many girls that grace Jeff's basement with there presence, so us two are going to have to stick together."
Scully smiled and nodded. "Yes, we should."
"You think Fox would be up for double dating?" Andrea asked as though he was not in the room. At first, Scully though that she meant the three of them going somewhere, but rationality quickly won over jealousy.
Mulder joined in the conversation, "You mean you are Garrett's new girlfriend?" He was genuinely surprised.
Andrea threw back her head laughing, "Don't tell me he didn't tell you? Well, you know how he can be, trying to make everything more dramatic than it is."
"How did you guys, you know?" Mulder asked, pleased with the news.
She tossed her hand in the air. "It's a horribly boring story. Not nearly as romantic as I think Garrett would have preferred it."
Garrett once again shook his head in agreement. Dana wondered if he was truly smitten; he seemed incredibly happy.
As much as she tried not to, Scully found herself really liking Andrea. As the night wore on, Andrea's constant, friendly, lighthearted demeanor made it impossible not to. Although her spastic, hyper behavior may not have lead someone to the assumption that Andrea was acutely aware of others' needs, her intuition was sharp. Her delight over the fact that Fox had found a girlfriend in Dana calmed Scully's uneasiness and she started to enjoy the visit.
"What I want to know," Andrea prodded, "because it seems like no one else seems to know, is how the two of you hooked up."
For the first time since they arrived, Mulder and Scully looked each other in the eye and laughed. They shrugged. The room busted with laughter.
"Well, how did you guys meet?" Andrea offered.
Mulder nodded his head towards Scully, "She ran me over in the hall and then had the audacity to yell at me."
Scully opened her mouth into a tight O. "I did not! You bumped into me! Then later," at this point, she addressed the room, "He didn't help me open my locker, even though he was standing right there!"
"Now, that," Mulder retorted, "is a lie. I saved her from a guy who wouldn't stop badgering her. I think you know him, Andrea."
"Oh, my God!" Andrea broke into the conversation, "Not that Jason guy! Every time I meet him, he doesn't remember me, and yet he still can't help himself from hitting on me!"
"See," Mulder dragged his words smugly, "And she didn't even remember."
For the next five minutes, the Andrea and the rest of the gang watched as Mulder and Scully argued over their first date. Mulder claimed it was the night at the coffee shop, but Scully said it was the night that they saw the Monty Python movie. The way they flirted and argued simultaneously was mesmerizing.
Andrea took the position of the judge, stepping into the debate. "Okay, okay. So the coffee shop came first. Who paid?"
"Fox did, but that doesn't matter. He didn't ask me. We didn't make plans."
"Yeah, I found her shipwrecked on the beach like a lost sailor," he joked.
Scully, who still had her arms wrapped around her legs, gently knocked his side with her knee. He let the tips of the fingers of his outstretched arm to draw circles on her shoulder. "I love the beach," she explained.
Andrea pretended to ponder this, "Okay, when was your first kiss? That is the definite start of your relationship."
"Ha!" Scully exclaimed, her arms unwrapping and her legs unfolding as if spring loaded, "That was the night of the movie!"
Mulder watched her excitement with a broad grin in his face. He pulled her closer and she compliantly leaned into him.
"I told you," she said, her voice softer but not without a gloating tone.
For that moment, they just smiled at each other, both remembering the night after the movie.
One of the guys yelled, "Kiss her!"
He gave her a questioning glance before lowering his face to her and once again gently kissed her lips. He was elated to feel her lips reciprocate the kiss, holding his lower lip between them.
The room erupted in sweet-sarcastic "Awws." Scully laughed and tucked her face down, embarrassed. Mulder watched, enchanted, and laughed with her.
When Mulder and Scully stood to leave, it was much to Andrea's disappointment.
"Dana, if we don't see more of each other, it would be tragic!" Andrea gushed. She handed Dana a scrap of paper on which she had scribbled her phone number. "Call me; we can go shopping or something."
"Okay, thanks, Andrea. It was great meeting you," Dana replied.
Once again, the girl wrapped her arms around Dana's waist. This time, Dana returned the hug.
When they arrived back at the Mulder residence, Scully was surprised to find that it was not even nine thirty yet.
"It's chilly in here, isn't it?" Mulder mused aloud as he put both his and Scully's coats in the closet.
"I'll go upstairs and get my quilt," she offered, "if you'll grab some sodas."
Before Mulder even had a chance to agree, she was bounding up the attic stairs. He placed the two sodas on the coffee table and flipped on the television. After flipping through the channels twice, he settled on the news and started to wonder what was keeping Scully.
He had just started up the attic stairs when the light switched off. Standing where he was, he waited as she descended the stairs, listening to the steady creaking of the warped stairs.
"I can't find Spooky," she whispered to Mulder, as if the ghosts in the walls could hear her.
"He's in my room. The attic was too cold. He usually hangs out under the bed," he replied in a matching stage-whisper.
"Well," she smiled softly, "in that case…" She unfolded the quilt and wrapped it around his shoulders, a long, colorful cape—invisible in the darkness.
Mulder pulled her close to him with arms wrapped around her waist. "Scully," he breathed across her lips.
She leaned forward decreasing but not eliminating the distance between them. She felt the increase of his breath—the coolness of his intake, the moist heat of his exhale. She pulled the quilt tighter around his shoulders before letting go of the thick material to run her hands the length of his arms. Scully tried hard not to crack a smile as she entangled her fingers in his hands, effectively removing his grasp on her waist. A giggle escaped as she tried to maneuver around him, down the stairs.
He kept his fingers tight around hers and whipped around, wrapping both his and her arms around her middle.
"You're playing dirty, Miss Scully," he mock-threatened before tossing her over his shoulders. Being in the dark stairwell caused Scully to completely lose her sense of balance. Mulder bent down to retrieve the jewel-tone quilt that he also tossed over his shoulder.
"Mulder!" she squealed, "Put me down right now!" Scully was trying hard to sound threatening.
"You aren't being a gracious guest, Miss Scully. I don't allow all my prisoners such a view."
When Mulder stomped into the den, she had once again given in to the fit of laughter and soundly smacked his bottom. "And what a view it is!"
She found herself dizzy but upright, the quilt once again on the floor.
"Mulder….did I embarrass you?" she asked, humored. "Mulder! You're blushing!"
"Scully, you talk too much," he growled as he fell back on the couch, pulling her on top of him. His legs dangled over the arm of the couch, the quilt long forgotten.
"I think I like you embarrassed. You're all red and cute," she laughed, her fingers dancing around the edge of his face.
Mulder turned serious, "Scully, I'm sorry about today."
Scully avoided eye contact, instead tracing the outline of his lips. "I know." She kissed him softly, two of her fingers still on his lips.
She broke the kiss after a few moments, pulling herself away from him so that she could focus on his face. "This isn't very comfortable, is it?"
Mulder chuckled and shook his head. "No, but it seemed romantic at the time."
Groaning as he sat up, he refused to allow her to stand up.
"What are you doing?" she chuckled, surprised as he placed her gently on the couch, the opposite armrest underneath her head.
"Saving face."
She stretched out her arms and latched them around his neck when he came close enough, "You're crazy."
"Only about you," he kissed her slowly.
She pulled away, "Oh, did I say crazy? I meant cheesy."
He nipped at her bottom lip, slurring her speech. Giving up, she slipped her tongue into his mouth. Invitingly, he opened his mouth fully, but she retreated back to her own space.
"Tease," he hissed before prying her mouth open with is own tongue, demanding complete entrance. His fingers skittered across her neck, up to the underside of her sharp little chin, down to the flat expanse of her upper chest. His left hand moved to the back of her neck, tilting her face up to allow better access. As his right hand continued to move down, her fingers tangled in the hair at the base of his neck roughly pulling him closer. The flatness of his palm measured the plains of her body, moving straight down between her breasts, across the smoothness of her middle, then down to the plain of her stomach. Back and forth, over and over, on her stomach, toying with the hem of her sweater.
She groaned, and he slipped his hand underneath the hem. The softness of her stomach mesmerized him, and the motion of his hand on its warm smoothness mimicked the strokes of his tongue on her mouth.
Scully felt like she would burst at any moment. She stilled the movement of his mouth on hers, sucking on the tip of his tongue. Their lips separated with a smack as her mouth found his neck, nipping at the saltiness of his skin. When she found the spot where the flesh caves into the valley wedged between his neck and collar bone, he tucked his face into her hair.
"Scully?" Mulder broke the silence after a few moments, his face still hidden in her hair. "I think we should talk about what happened earlier tonight."
She moaned protest before biting him gently. Frustrated, Mulder sat up, out of Scully's grasp.
"Why won't you talk about it?"
Scully straightened her shirt and pulled down the legs of her jeans. "I don't want to."
"Why not?"
Scully sat up. "Because tonight was fun. I didn't want it to be overshadowed by an argument," she explained.
"Who said we're going to argue? And who's to say tonight hasn't already been overshadowed," he countered.
"Well, we're arguing now, and I thought this," she said, gesturing between them, "was the highlight of tonight."
Mulder ran his hand through his hair.
"Well, what did you want to say?"
"Dana, this is the highlight. I just…nevermind," Mulder cut himself off. Scully stayed silent and waited for him to continue. "You know how much I care about you, right?"
Scully's lips turned upward. She reached out and grabbed his hand, worrying his fingers between her own. "Mulder, last night was rough on both of us. Did you just want to see what was on TV?"
Mulder grinned and shook his head. He leaned forward and kissed her slowly, their rhythm soothing, comforting. Scully's hand smoothed down his hair, coming to rest on the side of his neck. Mulder's hand found its way back up Scully's shirt, and he reveled in the different feel of her stomach, the way the muscles were tighter when she was sitting. Neither noticed the opening and closing of the side door.
A sandpaper voice interrupted the two high-schoolers. "Is your father around," the man stated, rather than asked.
Mulder and Scully pulled away from each other like same-charged particles, startled to find another person in the room.
The man who stood before them was not unfamiliar to Mulder. From his angle, the man had a clear view of both teenagers. His eyes darted to where Mulder's hand came to rest on Scully's hip bone, his fingers still under the soft cotton of her shirt. When Mulder noted the man's attention to Scully, he protectively leaned forward, forcing the man to make out much less of Scully.
"No." Mulder's word was so blunt, a bark almost, that if one were to second guess his own hearing, one would have thought the boy had not spoken a word at all.
Scully coughed softly when the smell of smoke reached her nose. The man smiled in what was probably meant to be a kind manner, though it came out as a grimace, and lit another cigarette. He nodded to her and left the house. For a moment, neither spoke. Looking at Mulder strangely, she asked, "Who was that?"
"Just some dude Dad works with. He's been coming around for years. He's eaten dinner with us a few times. And I see him at my parent's parties," Mulder replied.
"Oh," Scully replied, "What's his name?"
It was Mulder's turn to stare. "I don't know."