Memphre Blues:
She's up there snapping her camera again. Every single click as the shudder goes down is magnified a thousand times in his mind. How's he supposed to concentrate?
Oh. Yay. Now Rick's here, reminding them about class. This does nothing to lighten Squib's already bad mood.
"Hey Cody!" He calls once he notices her, "How's it going? Looking good!" Stop hitting on her, you twisted little gnat!
"Crawl off and die somewhere, Rick," she tells him. Nice one, Myers! It succeeds in getting rid of Rick.
"This is getting boring, dude," he tells Sebastien, tired of hitting.
"Oh, is it, dude?" She calls. Now she's mocking him, too? He's already exhausted and her constant presence is not making matters and better.
"Why don't you mind your own business, Sweet heart?" He says rudely.
He mocks her threat to hurt him with one of her lenses and Meghan has to calm them down. Really shouldn't get in my way today, Myers he warns her internally not in a good mood already, your usual taunting won't help.
"Next time you hit the ball," Sebastien suggests, "shout something you want when you're a world famous pro."
"My own tabloid scandal!" Squib shouts when he hits the ball. Mwa ha ha.
"Hey Squib," Adena saddles up to him, "can I be part of your tabloid scandal?" Oh, yes, the ladies love Squib!
"Only if I can be your celebrity boyfriend…" rather smooth, if I do say so myself. He hears Cody's noises of disgust and snaps. That's it, Myers! I warned you! No more mocking! If you think I'm such a jerk anyways why can't you just leave me alone! Cute or not, prepare for the wrath of Squib.
"Wait a minute, one of us hasn't gone yet…"
"What?" Asks Cody, "You think just because I don't play tennis I'm not gonna be rich and famous?" That's right, baby, take the bait.
"Of course not. But we will need someone to take our pictures. We'll pay well."
"You're unbelievable," it's the first time he's seen Cody look actually hurt since her first day here when they all ditched her. Okay, maybe that was a little much, Squibey. But come on! Learn to take a joke!
"Squib, why are you always so mean to her?" Meghan asks.
"What? What'd I say?"
The idea came to him as he was flipping through an old magazine and he must admit it's pretty ingenious. He gets to fish; Cody gets to take pictures of…well, nothing. But he gets to fish. Besides, she deserves it. She started it this morning.
"Give me a break, Squib," she says when she learns of his plans to go monster hunting, "are you trying to ease your guilty conscience?" What? No! No. Definitely not. I was just, I mean, fishing, and…No.
"I'm telling you, all you need to do is find a rock or a piece of driftwood or something and you could be famous," come on… come on… you know you want to! She starts to walk away. "Where are you going?"
"Where do you think? To get my camera!" VICTORY!
Alone time with Cody? He's crazy. Insane.
Then why does his comment keep bugging you.
Sebastien's comment is not bugging me! It's just so stupid! That's all.
Oh really? So, if say, Adena had a fishing boat, you con her into taking it out with you?
Well, no, but that's Adena! This is…
Cody?
Shut up.
Squib's internal battle is interrupted when he sees Cody walk by. Jumping out and scarring her, he follows her down to the boat despite her complaints. 'Just don't be annoying'? Gee, you're nice! I've gotten over this morning, why can't you? Squib always knew she was a little stuck up…
He seriously considers taunting her about not being able to start the boat, but decides she's had enough for one day. He settles with offering her some helpful suggestions, which she promptly rejects in snappy tones. He glares at her when she does manage to start it, but her proud smile is kind of cute, so he has to look away.
Okay, so, he knows it was mean. And he knows she doesn't really deserve it. But the look on her face when she found out he came out here to fish was priceless. Squib makes sure to store it in his long term memory forever. She glares at him and he knows her 'jerk' vibe will probably resonate a thousand times stronger now. He starts to feel tiny pangs of guilt creeping up, but as if he's telling her that.
"You're wasting my batteries," she warns him as he plays with her cell phone. Well, at least she's speaking to me again. He ignores her until she reminds him about bed check and he begrudgingly gets ready to pack up. He goes to start the boat, but nothing happens. Oh crap. He tries again, still nothing. Once more, but the boat still won't start.
"Let me do it, reject," she snaps. Well, if there was any doubt that she still thought you were a jerk she's certainly cleared that up. Damn. The smaller girl tries three times but has no more luck than he did.
"What did you do to it? You broke it!" She accuses. Oh, so suddenly this is my fault?
"No way! You broke it back at the dock! I told you, you were starting it wrong!"
"My dad's gonna kill me!" He starts to feel bad for her until she continues, "This is all your fault!"
"How exactly is this my fault? I didn't force you to come out here! You can't blame everything on me, Sweet heart!" The minute the name leaves his mouth he knows he's going to get yelled at but by this point, he doesn't really care.
"Hey! I told you not to ever call me that! That is so condescending!" She shouts back and at the defensive and slightly hurt look in her eyes Squib decides maybe he does care (but just a little!) and backs off.
"Okay, okay, it doesn't matter whose fault it is. The thing's obviously busted," Way to state the obvious, Furlong!
She sighs, "So. What do we do?"
"We'll paddle to the nearest shore!" Squib saves the day once again!
"Shore? What shore?"
"…Uh oh."
"I can't believe you got us lost…I thought you said you were a…a seasoned outdoorsman?"
"I am," he says, willing to try anything to improve the situation, "in fact, I brought…matches!" Squib looks triumphant for about a second before losing his grip and dropping them into the lake.
"This is not happening to me…"
"Relax," says Squib as an idea strikes him, "I'll call my cell! I left it with Sebastien!" Squib saves the day!...For real! Unfortunately there's no answer, but Squib leaves specific instructions for Seb on his voice mail, determined to get him and Cody out of this. Suddenly, though, the phone call is forgotten when something starts pulling on his line. Cody's beside him, sounding worried, but he pays no mind. After all, it's just a fish. She should know by now that there's no such thing as a Memphre. The fish gets away, as does Cody's cell phone when it slips from his hands.
"My cell phone! You idiot!" Squib resigns himself right then and there to the disheartening fact that he is never going to be more than a dumb jerk to Cody.
"…Must have been a sturgeon," is all he can think of to say. Smooooooooth, Furlong.
"Okay, now, what are we going to do?" Cody demands. From the sound of her voice Squib can tell she's reaching the end of her line. He tries to reassure her that Sebastien will check the messages and suggests she gets some sleep.
"As if," she replies, "it's freezing out here." And before Squib can even process what he's doing, he slips off his jacket and offers it to her. She looks almost as shocked at his actions as Squib feels, but eventually she just thanks him and slips on the jacket.
She's been asleep for a little while now and Squib's so distracted by her that he decides to just put down the paddle and sit; it's useless anyways. She's really very pretty, he muses. And not just cute, like Meghan, or hot, like Adena, but pretty. And he supposes she's not that bad. No, scratch that, he knows she's not that bad; nice, really. If only they could stop fighting all the time. If only they could ease the tension. If only he could make her not hate him. Because, despite what he may say, and despite how he may act, he knows he doesn't hate her.
She's stirring in her sleep now, so he quickly looks away. He's not quick enough, though, and she catches him staring.
"What are you looking at?"
"Nothing," he denies. Then a thought occurs to him: Why not be honest? What has he got to lose? She already hates him. "I mean…It's just your face…in the moonlight…" cheesy, Furlong. Very cheesy. But true.
"What? Am I drooling?" He has to smile at her innocence.
"No," he says softly, "actually, you look…."
"What?"
Now or never, Squibey, "Beautiful."
"Shut up," she says as she rolls over. But he can hear the faint chuckle in her voice, and despite the darkness, he can see the blush on her cheeks.
He reaches over, turns off the lantern, and picks up the camera. She asks him what he's doing, but truthfully, he doesn't even know anymore.
"Why'd you take the flash off?" She asks. "There's not enough light. I'm just gonna be like a fuzzy blob."
"There's something that's really magical about this moonlight," he says openly. Raising his amateur eye to the camera, he hears the soft click as he takes her picture. At first she looks like she's going to protest, but she simply lies back down. "Somehow," he continues, "it hides all your flaws." As soon as he says it, he knows that there's something wrong with the way it came out. And this hypothesis is only solidified when she calls him a jerk. He never meant to insult her! Can't she see that's his roundabout was of telling her she looks pretty? Apparently not. But, although he's only known her for a short time, he has learned not to try and fix things when he makes her mad. It generally only gets worse…
"I'm so hungry!"
"I'm more hungry! Boys get hungrier; our metabolism."
"Oh, shut up," Cody says and he can hear the smile in her voice. If tonight has taught him anything, it's the she can't stay mad for long. At least, not at him, it seems. He takes a coin out of his pocket and flicks it into the water, deciding they need some entertainment.
"What was that?" He exclaims, sitting up.
"Nice try, nimrod," she says and he realizes that maybe he struck out with that one, "I can't believe there's actually people who believe in the Memphre!"
He's a little shocked that she's starting a conversation with him. A seemly innocent, friendly conversation with him. But he doesn't let it show, "Yeah, they, like, have discussion groups about it and stuff."
"It's so sad! Like, what'd that crazy guy in the magazine say?" She's sitting up now and moves closer to him, "It's a big, scaly beast."
"It loves the taste of human flesh! And it only ever comes out…"
"On a full moon!" They both finish, giggling madly by now. Suddenly, there's a splash in the water and the laughing has stopped. She screams, moving to sit beside him and clutching his arm.
"Was that you?" She asks. He's not quite sure if she's serious, but answers anyways.
"Uh, no…They don't make coins that big…"
A few minutes later and they're still sitting perfectly still (although she has, unfortunately, let go of his arm by now). Suddenly, she gasps.
"What the heck was that?" She grabs for his arm again.
'What?"
"Well, I thought I saw something!" He feels bad that she's scared, but there's really nothing he can do. He doesn't have a clue what's going on in that lake. Something rocks the boat and she screams again.
"Squib…do you think it could be…?"
"No way," he insists, "it's just a stupid legend!" But seconds later the boat is rammed again…
"Well, whatever it was…I think it's gone," Squib finally speaks. They've been sitting silently in the boat for a good five minutes, at least, but nothing else has happened.
"Good…I though I was going to die," she admits.
"Of all the people I'd wanna die with, you'd be way down there on that list…" he doesn't know why he says it. And the laws of probability and logic state that he really should have learned by now. But tonight it seems that his brain and his mouth just don't want to work together. He wonders if maybe he should try apologizing when she snaps at him.
"Okay, that's it!" She stands up, moving to the other side of the boat. "Why do you always say things like that to me?"
And suddenly he's mad, because it's not like she's ever been a peach to him, either, "If you think I'm a total jock idiot, then why do you even care what I think of you?"
"…Because." Suddenly it seems she's lost her nerve, but he's not letting her get away that easily. It's time they got this all out in the open, even if it does end with her admitting she hates him, because he knows that it's true.
"Because why?"
"Just because."
"Because why?" You hate me Myers, just admit it!
"Just because!"
"No, I wanna know why!"
"Because I can't stop thinking about you, okay?" That was…..not what he expected. He tries to think of something to say, but it seems she's not finished yet. "Your stupid face, your stupid hair, your stupid laugh and…like you care…because I don't play tennis….I'm not some supermodel like Adena. Forget it. So, go ahead, make fun of me. I don't care."
Looking back, even months later, Squib would still be unable to describe what he was feeling at that very moment. Don't play tennis? Who cares? Not like Adena? Even better. Make fun of her? Never. Not for this. Stupid hair? Okay, they'll talk about that one later…He doesn't even know what that feeling is in the pit of his stomach, but he knows that it's good. Very good. So he does the only thing he can think of. The only thing that seems right. The one thing he's wanted to do, even if it was subconscious, since he met her.
He kisses her.
The rest of the night and the following morning was frankly sort of a blur to Squib. He remembers her kissing him, and he remembers drifting to shore with her all tangled up in his arms. And he remembers that sinking feeling that he got when they stepped off the boat and he realized that they'd probably have to talk about this. Luckily, he is spared that conversation for the moment by Rick. He doesn't even mind when Cody kisses him on the cheek, because last night was that good.
Later that day, he decides to go talk to her. After coming to the conclusion that she's not at home, the only other choice is, of course, her darkroom. So he knocks on the door and waits for her reply. Actually, he stands outside for 10 minutes, seriously considers walking away 3 times, and then knocks on her door.
He figures there's no point in trying to hide it anymore. They basically laid it all down last night on the boat. However, before he can get very far, she speaks.
"Look, Squib, um…I'm sure there were things both of us said or did on that boat due to the…emotional intensity of the situation…that we now regret." Again, she surprises him. But this time it's not nearly as nice. He, of course, agrees stupidly. She looks at him as if she expects him to say something else, but what else could she want?
"So, um…bye," he decides to bail out before he makes himself look like more of a fool.
"Bye," she looks hurt. Which make absolutely no sense. She's the one who shot him down. He leaves the darkroom and leans against the wall, breathing deeply.
How could he have been so stupid?