Natsu no E
Summary: TOS AU Colloyd, Zeroshii Nearing the sixteenth summer of his life, Lloyd Irving considers himself your normal, average, everyday teenager. That is, until the ethereal Colette Brunel moves right next door.
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. What do you expect?
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Chapter 3: TourThe next day I woke up pretty late. I was having a weird dream where I was this guy who was out to save the world and stuff. Yes, weird, I know. But, I had to admit, I did have a lot of fun in this dream. Problem was, I didn't even know what time it was until I creaked open my eyes and stared at the digital clock beside my bed: 10:00. I remembered jumping out of bed so fast that I nearly fell to the floor tangled up in my bed sheets. Noishe stared oddly at me when I cursed in surprise.
"Jeez, Noishe! Why didn't you wake me up?" I yelled. My dog only whined in response, trotting off in order to avoid my wrath. I glared at him as he wiggled his way out of the room and I silently put a note to get back at him later on.
Untangling myself from the sheets, I yawned, stretching my arms above my head. Dad was probably out in town today. Although he usually stays in his workshop all day, he had to run some of his work down into town so he could deliver them to whoever asked for them. Must have left without waking me up. Subconsciously, I stared outside my bedroom window (my bedroom faced the streets) and looked for Dad. What I got instead was the sight of that girl standing outside of my gate, lounging about in front of the mailbox.
I dropped the curtains and drew backwards. What the heck was she doing here? I ran downstairs in big leaps and flung open the doors. Sure enough, there she was right outside of our gates, waiting patiently for something.
"What are you doing here?" I yelled.
She smiled. "Don't you remember, silly? You promised to show me around town today."
Oh…yeah. I did, didn't I?
Crud.
"Just wait right there!" I said frantically, slamming the door behind me. Crud! I totally forgot! I ran upstairs into my room, startling the freeloading dog that curled back up into my bed when I was away. "Get out of here, Noishe!" I yelled, shooing him out. I had no time for this! Sorting through the hurricane I called my room, I picked out a pair of decent pants and a shirt and shrugged them on. Bolting down the stairs, I flung open the door. She was still standing there, watching a butterfly flutter past her nose.
I sighed, grabbing the keys off the key hook. "I'm going, okay Noishe?" He whined helplessly, but I already knew what he was thinking: more bed for me. I grinned, patting him on the head, and shut the door.
"Um, sorry I'm late," I said, pocketing the keys after locking it. Colette looked away from the butterfly and then to me. "How long were you out here?"
"Oh, I was here since eight," she replied, waving goodbye to the butterfly as it floated off.
"Since eight!" I shouted in disbelief. "You know, you could have just woken me up instead of waiting two hours out here!"
She giggled. "I thought that would have been rude. I'm sorry."
I shook in exasperation. "Don't worry about it. Well, come on; let's go."
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Walking with Colette Brunel wasn't one of the most comfortable things I've ever done. Although I didn't want to talk at all, she kept attempting to speak with me, commenting on some random thing on the sidewalk or asking me a question about myself like: what's your favorite color? Or what do you like to do on the weekends? I answered most of them with as little words as possible, but she kept piling them on me to the point where I felt like I was going to burst.
"Look, can you stop asking me these questions already?" I asked about halfway to town. I could feel her looking at me strangely from behind (I didn't want to be seen with her, so I kept walking ahead so that it seemed like I wasn't walking with her or, best case scenario, she'll get the hint and go back home. Problem was, she kept staying close behind me, her footsteps always falling with mine)
"Why?" she inquired with that sugar sweet voice of hers. I winced.
"It's just…uncomfortable, okay?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," she sounded sheepish for a second. "I just wanted to get to know you better, that's all. I'm very sorry."
Hearing how guilty I made her sound, I gave another sigh, scratching the back of my neck. Now I was the one that was feeling guilty. "No, seriously. Enough with the apologizing. It's okay; ask as much as you want."
I could practically envision her smile when she heard this and, almost immediately, she continued with her onslaught of questions. I wanted to sigh again, but, for some odd reason, I felt a little happy.
Just a little.
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Town was already bustling by the time we got there. People were walking down the streets to get to work and tons of kids littered the sidewalks playing marbles and hopscotch. At this, I remembered that my friends were probably waiting for me at Marble's. I made a mental note not to go anywhere near that place today.
Instead, I directed her towards the opposite side of town, where I rarely went to instead. There was not much to see here. Not really, anyways. Just a few old movie theaters, a retirement home, and other stuff I really didn't remember. When we passed by the first little attraction, the Golden Stars movie theater, I stopped so that she could take a better look.
"This is the Golden Stars Theater," I said, looking up at the familiar building. It was far from Hollywood material. The theater was a shabby little place, with old worn carpets and torn tapestries. A pimple faced teenager lounged around in the ticket booth, her face stuck in a magazine and her feet propped up on the desk. The letters on the sign were at least a few years old and were beginning to fall off. It currently said: Movie Nig . Wa ch s me g eat m vi s. It was in a pitiful state. Even the posters lined up on the side of the walls were at least a few months in date, some of them already yellowed at the edges.
I remembered going to this theater when I was just a little kid; Dirk took me here to watch an old western cowboy movie, the clichéd ones that were in black and white and had the hero ride off into the sunset. I didn't remember what it was called, but I probably didn't want to remember anyways.
"It's not exactly the most glamorous theater here in Iselia," I began, my hands stuffed in my jeans pockets. "There are better ones closer in town."
"No, I like this theater," Colette replied. "It's very pretty. I should watch a movie later with my family here."
I blinked then checked to make sure that we were looking at the same thing. We were. This was the first time I actually ever heard anyone admit that this place was pretty. I guess it must have been pretty in some point of its pathetic existence. The carpet would have been sparkling new, clean and still smelling fresh of shampoo. The moody teenager in the front would have been a pleasant looking woman with a great big smile on her face, wearing a crisp uniform as she welcomed the hoards of customers inside. The sign would be lit up with unbroken light bulbs, blinking at random but timed intervals. And every night must have been paradise.
But, when I blinked, that picture vanished and blurred into the ruin in front of me.
"Whatever you say," I shrugged, forcing the thoughts back into my mind. "Come on, there's still more to see."
We walked further down the street and eventually stopped right next to an old retirement home. "This is Iselia's Green Acres," I said in a monotone voice. "It's a retirement home."
I remembered working at this place for community service one time; those three hours were hell. There were old people everywhere, all of them moaning and groaning on how their back hurt or cooing over their grandchildren as they showed each other pictures of them in their wallets.
This place was as cheesy as they came. The name just screamed it.
There were shuffleboard courts out back, though no one here really used them much at all. The cafeteria served the same mush that they called 'food' everyday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along with prescribed medication to those who needed it. It had a sterile, old smell that smelled fake and artificial, just like the nurses who attended to the old people with big, fat smiles on their faces when, really, they were just waiting for the day they could get out of that dump and get a real life.
Old people were sitting out on the front porch playing checkers. They stared at us as we passed, but only Colette was brave enough to wave back. As we passed them completely, she said, "They looked nice, don't you think, Lloyd?" I remembered all the times they had glared at my friends and me and replied, "Yeah, very nice."
A familiar tune filled the air as we went on and I paused, spotting a welcomed sight. "You want to get ice cream?" I asked, pointing to the ice cream truck.
"That sounds lovely!" Colette beamed.
When we got there, there were tons of kids crowded around it, all of them eating their ice cream. They were dressed in old, raggedy hand-me-downs and a lot of them didn't even have shoes. I looked to the house the truck was parked next to and sighed to myself. This was the orphanage. The tall, gray-blue building was built in an old Victorian style, very thin but sort of long. There was a stone porch leading up to the arched front door: a perfect place to leave babies in baskets.
"Why are there so many kids, Lloyd?" the girl next to me asked.
"This is the orphanage," I replied, pointing up to the looming building next to us as I ordered our ice cream: chocolate for me and vanilla for Colette. "The kids are allowed one ice cream a week and I guess today's their day."
The moment that we got our ice cream, a sudden wailing filled the air. I cringed; a boy must have dropped his ice cream or something. All the kids around the boy were staring sadly; they had all finished theirs, but he had just barely got started. A girl with light pink hair tied up in pigtails tried to comfort him, but he merely pushed her away and kept bawling. I grabbed Colette by the arm and began to drag her away from the scene. "Come on, Colette," I muttered. "Let's go."
But she stopped, and gently jerked her arm out of my grasp. Walking over to the boy, she bent down and placed a hand on his shoulder. He stopped wailing for a second to look at her. "It's okay," she murmured, brushing the tears away with her thumb. She handed him her ice cream cone, which she didn't even touch. "You can have mine."
He looked at her, then to Colette's ice cream, and then took it. "Thank you, lady!" He chirped licking up his new ice cream. Colette smiled then walked back towards me. I stared at her.
"You want me to buy you a new one?" I asked. She shook her head.
"No, that's alright." She looked over her shoulder where the boy was happily eating his gift while all the other kids were complaining that he got two ice creams this week and not one. "I'm fine."
It was noon when we passed by the town's church. It wasn't one of those old fashion cathedrals that barely held any light in them and were stuffy as hell, but it was a semi modern one, with open aired sides and comfortable chairs instead of pews. The bells were ringing and everyone was crowding inside. Colette's eyes lit up when she spotted the church.
"Oh, Lloyd! Can we attend mass today?" she pleaded. "I really, really want to attend mass."
I looked at the church and back at her. I didn't know she was religious. I shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
She practically cheered, then dragged me off inside, finding us some good seats near the back. I looked around nervously, hoping no one would recognize me with this girl. I normally went to church in the afternoon, instead of the noon masses. I didn't know if any of my friends went to noon mass.
As the music started and we were all forced to stand, I peered out of the corner of my eye towards Colette during prayer, and found her clasping her hands close to her heart deep in prayer, murmuring it quickly under her breath. I had never seen anyone pray like that before. There was truthfulness to it; it did not seem hollow like everyone else's prayers. I surely didn't pray like that, or sang the songs like she did, so loud as if no one could hear her. I never took church really seriously. I often had other things on my mind. I just showed up, but never took anything to heart.
During a song, I caught her swapping the word God with Goddess. I blinked and tapped her on the shoulder as we sat back down. "Why did you say Goddess?" I asked quietly.
She smiled. "I was always taught that God could be a woman. And it wouldn't be fair if I said God was only a man, right?"
For some reason, I had a feeling Sheena would have liked that; she was the kind of person who stood up for woman's rights.
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"Today was really fun, Lloyd! Thank you so much!" Colette and I were standing outside of her house. We had visited a few places after church and headed straight back home after that. I was glad that we didn't run into Genis or the others today; they'd probably be pissed off at me tomorrow for ditching them though.
I shrugged. "Don't mention it. Sorry I didn't get to show you the whole town. We sort of got sidetracked."
"Oh, I'm sorry; that was my fault."
"No, it wasn't your fault," I sighed. Quite actually, it was her fault, but I didn't want to say that.
"Oh, okay…I'm sorry!" She managed to wiggle in one more apology before trotting down her driveway. Her old man was already waiting in the front door for her, watching me intently with slight suspicion. I gave a feeble wave and he smiled, sending back another.
"I'll see you tomorrow Lloyd!" She shouted when she reached the porch.
"Yeah, sure!" I called back though, in the back of my mind, I highly doubted it. Going back to my house, I unlocked the doors and staggered onto the living room couch, not even bothering to call out my usual: 'I'm home!' Noishe trotted up to me and nudged my hand, whining softly.
I smiled weakly, patting him on the head. "Not now, Noishe. I'm tired." The dog gave me a confused look and whined once more, but I couldn't hear him.
I was already asleep.
Cont.