Natsu no E
Summary: TOS AU Colloyd, Zeroshii Picnics, beach parties, movie theaters, ice cream shops, with a little bit of romance sprinkled on the side—that is the picture of summer.
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia.
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Chapter 7: The Falling StarFor the next few days, I didn't see hide or hair of Colette.
At first, I was a bit worried. After that little incident on our way home, I was a bit afraid that she was sick again. I was even scared that she might've fallen down the stairs, though I had no idea why—falling down the stairs had nothing to do with what was happening to her right now. But, then again, she was pretty clumsy.
I felt a little stupid about how silly I was acting; I don't think I was this worried about anyone before. Well, maybe a few times, but it still felt odd nonetheless.
My annoying conscience kept bugging me to go and see how she was doing, but I always said no; it'd be a little suspicious if her dad or grandmother caught me visiting for no reason at all. After all, I promised Colette that I wouldn't tell them anything about what happened. Still, I tried not to let it get at me as I moved along with the rest of my summer.
It was until the fourth day after the incident that I finally saw her.
I woke up pretty late: 10:00, the same time I woke up when I was supposed to show Colette around the town. I had promised to meet the gang at Marble's again today, but, honestly, I didn't feel up to it. They'd already noticed my odd behavior (even self-absorbed Zelos) and to avoid the inevitable questions, I decided to stay home and be lazy for a day. Luckily, Dirk was taking the day off so I didn't have to worry about the kitchen catching on fire while I was asleep.
"Finally up, eh?"
I sent my foster father a smoldering glare before sleepily shuffling off into the kitchen. I would have slept longer, but my stomach was getting the best of me. "Aren't you supposed to be out with your friends today?" he asked as I walked back into the living room and plopped myself down on the couch, a piece of toast hanging out of my mouth.
"Too lazy," I muttered as best I could with my mouth full of bread.
Dirk merely shrugged, going back to his morning paper. "Suit yourself." When he turned the page, the doorbell suddenly blared to life. Although the dog at his feet seemed a bit startled, Dirk didn't even look up. "Lloyd, can you get that?"
"Yeah, okay." I reluctantly hauled myself off the couch and went to go answer the door. But, when I swung that door open, I found a big surprise waiting on the other end.
"Good morning, Lloyd!"
"Colette?" I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was seeing things correctly. Yup, it was her, alright. Standing outside my door was definitely the chipper blue-eyed girl, dressed in her normal white blouse and long light blue skirt. With her patient smile and my sleepy posture, I had an odd feeling of déjà vu while trying to process why in the world she was outside my door.
Colette beamed brightly. "Did you sleep well last night?"
It was a random question, but I replied sheepishly, scratching the back of my neck, "I guess, but I kinda just woke up…"
The blue-eyed girl's expression drooped a bit. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I wake you?" she asked worriedly. Silently, I appreciated the fact that she didn't remark that it was way too late to be waking up just now.
"Nah," I shrugged it off. "Not really. I was going to wake up sooner or later anyways." I opened the door wider to let her inside. But, as we stood in an awkward silence, it was pretty obvious that she didn't want to come in. Finally, I gave a ragged sigh, slipped on my slippers, and stepped outside onto the porch, closing the door on my way out. "Um…you feeling any better?" I asked when I was sure that Dirk couldn't hear us.
"Oh, yes, much better!" She seemed to notice my doubtful look and gave me an encouraging smile. "Truly! I feel great!" The girl mimicked the action of jumping jacks and I felt the corners of my mouth twitch up slightly.
"Then why are you here?" I asked, still curious.
"I was just wondering if I could spend the day with you and your friends." To my surprise, she looked down at the ground and began to fiddle with her fingers. "I…want to get to know them better. They seem really nice."
Well, this was awkward. I fumbled with my words, ruffling my hair nervously with my left hand: a trait that I had for all my life. "Um, well, I wasn't really planning to go out today." I looked at her for a reaction. "Feeling a little sleepy and all…"
"Oh, I see…" Colette's expression drooped the slightest bit, though it was quickly replaced by her cheerful smile. "If you weren't planning to go out, then I understand. I'll just be going now and—"
"But I'll come with you," I interrupted quickly. If it had been a week ago, I would have just let her go, I noted wryly to myself. "Just, err, give me a minute to change, okay?"
The blonde looked up, wide blue eyes growing even wider; she mustn't have expected me to agree. "Oh…" she sounded puzzled for a second, before her face split into a full out smile. "O-okay! I'll be waiting right out here!"
"You do that." I closed the door behind me and headed up towards my room.
"Who was that?" Dirk asked when I was halfway up the stairs.
"Colette." I could practically feel that odd, cocked eyebrow stare boring into my back. But, once again, my dad said nothing. Shutting the door behind me, I shuffled through the mess that was my room and pulled out a pair of clothes from my practically unused wardrobe that seemed suitable. Shrugging them on as quickly as I could so not to keep her waiting, I bounded down the stairs and took the extra house keys from the key rack. "I'm going out, okay Dad?"
"Sure Lloyd," Dirk said, looking up from his paper with his eyes crinkled in a smile. "Have fun."
That was what I liked about Dirk; he wasn't the kind of parent who instigated Spanish Inquisition every single time his kid went out, even if said child was going off to hang out with a girl.
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The walk down to Marble's was, surprisingly, not as bad as I imagined. Colette was just as bubbly as she was before, asking me questions here and there, trying to strike up a conversation. And, remembering my promise to myself, I answered them the best I could. She wasn't asking me as many questions as the first time, though, I realized after a long while. Whether it was because she had asked most of her questions the first time on the tour or because we were both a little awkward from the incident, I couldn't decide. But it was still hard to pick out if Colette was feeling as uncomfortable as I was.
If she was, she was doing a very, very good job of hiding it.
"Lloyd!"
I heard Genis's voice calling out to us as soon as Marble's came to view. Not surprisingly, they were all there standing near the bicycle racks, with the exception of Zelos who was probably in the store flirting with one of the cashier registers.
"Where were you? We were starting to get worried!" The boy exclaimed as he ran up to me. He didn't seem to notice Colette.
"Heh," I laughed nervously. "I was kinda feeling a bit lazy today and sorta slept in late…"
Genis looked at me. "So you were going to ditch us again?" he asked bluntly. I winced; he was absolutely right. Seeing my reaction confirm his thoughts, he rolled his eyes. "Yeesh, Lloyd, you could at least call when you're planning to sleep in all day. I—" He stopped and his gaze wandered over to Colette. I quickly intervened before he could say anything.
"Genis, you remember Colette, right?" He nodded numbly, but was still staring at the girl as if she was some alien that just beamed down from a flying saucer. "Yeah, well, she's hanging out with us today."
"It's nice to see you again, Genis." Colette sent him a smile and, noticing the smoldering look that Genis was sending over, I jabbed him in the ribs.
"Stop it," I hissed. Genis cracked a slight smile, but a glimmer of distrust still remained. I sighed—I really didn't expect to get anywhere anyways. By this time, Sheena had noticed that we had arrived and joined us on the sidewalk.
"Hey, Lloyd." The girl paused for a second, taking in Colette. "Hi, Colette." I practically sighed in relief; at least Sheena was acting nice. I didn't know what terms she and Colette were on (after all, she had called her weird the first time they met) but at least I knew that the girl didn't dislike the other—if she did, it would have been made very clear.
"Where's Zelos?" I asked, and Sheena pointed dully at Marble's. At that I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Did I really have to ask? "Were you guys planning to do anything today?" I asked again, changing the subject.
"No, not really," replied Sheena with a shrug. "Since you didn't show up, we were just going to walk around the park some more. You have any ideas?"
I didn't really think of that. There wasn't much to do in our little town so we always got bored; most of the times we had to come with things in order to keep ourselves occupied. I was about to shrug when Colette intervened.
"How about we watch a movie?"
"Hey, that's a pretty good idea," Sheena commented in approval. "It is pretty hot out today…some air condition would do us good."
"But there's only one problem," Genis said with scorn. "The High Tide Theater's AC is broken and you know how hot it can get in the theaters."
Colette blinked in confusion. "Huh? I don't know about a High Tide Theater." She paused to smile at me. "I was thinking we can go to that quaint one we saw while you were showing me around the town. You know, Lloyd. Golden Stars, right?"
I really didn't think about that—it had been so long since I've even been there that I didn't even consider it. And it wasn't that bad of a place. Yeah, it was a little outdated, but at least the neighborhood was okay. "Sure, why not?" I looked to Sheena and Genis. "You guys up for it?"
Sheena grinned, Genis nodded reluctantly, and, not surprisingly, Colette was smiling. "Then come on; I'm sure we can catch a movie before three." Suddenly, I smacked my head and groaned. "But, first…can someone get Zelos?"
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"Aw, man! Why'd you have to drag me away like that, huh? We were having a very nice conversation, you know."
Sheena glared at the pouting Zelos. "Just shut up, already, Zelos. You're lucky I didn't tug your ear off."
The redhead huffed, but then gave a happy grin. "Oh well! It's alright now, now that I have my cute Colette with me today!" He casually swung an arm around Colette's shoulders and, for some reason my eye began to twitch. If it was out of annoyance or something else, I didn't want to know. "Where were you these past few days, my little cutie?" he asked her. I eyed Colette cautiously.
"Just up and around the house," the girl replied politely. "I wasn't feeling all too well, so I decided to stay home."
"Oh, well, that's not too good, now is it—do you want Dr. Zelos to come take care of you next time?" She laughed politely and shook her head.
"That's alright." Colette smiled slightly. "Do you go to the movies a lot, Zelos?"
"Yup. Back home, I own my own theater," he boasted with pride.
Although I had tried to tune out to their conversation seconds earlier, my interest was perked as soon as he said this. "Really Zelos? You didn't mention that before."
"Yeah!" piped Genis. "Tell us about it!"
Zelos looked irritated at us for butting in, but an exaggerated grin crossed his face. "Got it for my thirteenth birthday. It's a pretty big place: velvet curtains, red carpets, the works. My dad built it for me that summer." He puffed out his chest like a proud peacock. "It was a little gaudy at first…but I spiced it up a bit."
"That's amazing," Colette commented in awe. "You must be really proud of that theater, Zelos."
The redhead shrugged. "Hey, it's nothing special. But…" he paused, then a wry grin passed his face. "It became a sort of second home to me, back then when I was just a kid."
Before any of us could ask what that meant, we had arrived in front of Golden Stars. As the rest of our group eyed the old, musty decorations, I ordered the tickets from the booth, startling the ticket person inside (who probably didn't expect anyone, much less teenagers, to come to a place like this) The inside of the theater didn't look as bad as it did from the outside—the velvet curtains were slightly stiff and dusty, the carpet old and faded, but the ceiling, which gave the name to the theater because of the sparkling mirrors in the shapes of stars hanging in the night sky, was still as brilliant as it was years ago.
Aside from the slightly stale, cold butter popcorn, and Zelos's constant attempts to grope Sheena in the dark of the theater, the movie itself wasn't half bad. The movie we watched was the very same one that Dirk made me see a long, long time ago—the scenes were still the same shade of brown and held all the cheesiness that I had remembered swallowing. Looking at Colette next to me, I could see that she was watching the scene with rapt interest and sincerity, unlike the other two, who were too busy glaring at Zelos for something or other. I couldn't help but smile slightly at her wide eyes—it was almost funny, really, seeing as I thought most kids our age weren't interested in this old stuff.
I could only thank the darkness of the theater for hiding my embarrassment when she caught me staring.
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"Well, that wasn't that bad, now was it?" I asked as we exited out into the hot afternoon sun. We were some of the only people that came out of the theater, aside for an old couple and one or two street bums.
"Yeah," Genis agreed, wrinkling his nose as he peeled off some old chewing gum from his jacket sleeve. "The movie was pretty old though."
"I like old movies." Sheena's smile dissipated into a slight frown. "But the popcorn was sort of stale and there were hardly any people here. Also, the theater's a bit old and run down…"
From a far away distance from Sheena, Zelos shrugged. "Heh, not as bad as some places—some of the theater's I've seen are butt ugly. And I kinda like that old rustic charm."
To my surprise, an unfamiliar sparkle came to Colette's eyes: a sparkle of a plan forming underneath blue depths. "If they fixed up the condition of the theater, would you think more people would come, Zelos?" Colette inquired.
Unaware of that sparkle, Zelos shrugged once more. "Yup. All you gotta do is fix the outside, dust the curtains, get a new carpet, clean the seats a little bit and play some newer movies and this place could be really popular."
A slow smile passed the girl's face and she cocked her head in satisfaction. "I thought as much."
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A/N: Well, sorry about the late update…again. I told myself that I was gonna update every week, but noooo, I keep forgetting…-grumbles- Oh well. Hope you liked this chapter. I know that Lloyd and Colette seem sort of awkward…but they aren't just going to become best friends off the bat, now are they?
I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my second beta, Tekli, who is just too awesome! XD
For that person who emailed me about being my beta and didn't get a reply, I'm sorry—my Yahoo screwed up and ate your email oOU
Well, read and review people! Reviews encourage me to actually stay focused on this fic.