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 8: Paint the Town White"Add the three, carry the two…your total will be twenty-seven dollars and five cents."
A few coins clattered onto the checkout. "What!" I stared at the brown haired cashier in disbelief. "There's no way it can cost that much!"
Chocolat scoffed, holding out her hand expectantly. "Take it or leave it—the cash register never lies." I grumbled, but looked from her hand to the growing line of anxious people behind me. They seemed pretty annoyed, and all of them were sending me particularly vicious stares…
Giving my classmate one last glare, I shoved the money into her hand. "Just take it."
She beamed smugly before placing the money into the cash register. "Thank you. Have a nice day!"
"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled once more, heaving the plastic bags into my arms. "See you later, Chocolat." Stumbling out the door, I stared at the receipt in disgust. She must have been overpricing me again—there was no way the groceries could have been that expensive.
"Could have sworn that it only cost twenty …" I muttered to myself. But, then again, I wasn't always the best at math; that was Genis's thing, not mine. I sighed, scratching my head in confusion before shoving the receipt back into my pocket. This was what I get for shopping for Dirk's groceries again.
I glowered. I didn't like shopping; usually Dirk did it but, because he was still off today, he wanted me to pick some up groceries on the way home. 'Next time, Dirk's doing the shopping,' I thought. 'Chocolat always charges me extra.'
Shifting the bags, I headed down Elm Street, before turning the corner toward Star Theater. It was the long way home, but there was no need to rush. After all, the breeze was nice and clouds were blocking most of the sun—it was abnormally cool for a summer's day here in Iselia, and a morning walk sounded nice.
All of a sudden, my foot caught in something slippery and, at the same time, I bumped into something hard. The groceries went flying and, sure enough, I was looking up to the sky. 'What's with me and bumping into things?' I thought dryly, struggling to get up. I looked at the bags of groceries next to me. Pretty bent up, but everything looked in tact. And, still rolling on its side: a paint can, dripping some white paint.
"What the?" I picked it up and stared at it. "What's this doing in the middle of nowhere?"
"Uh…"
I turned around. Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) there was Colette, sprawled on the ground like I had been. She rubbed her head, looking up at the sky in a slight daze. I sighed. Fancy seeing her here. "Need help?" I asked, bending over to pick her up.
She blinked. Then, a bright smile lit up her face when she realized who was talking to her. "Oh, Lloyd! Good morning!" She grabbed my hand and I pulled her into a sitting position before plopping down beside her. "What a surprise," she commented. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"Neither did I," I said, leaning over to retrieve the paint bucket. "Is this yours?"
"Yup, that's mine alright!" She took the paint can happily and beamed. "So, why are you here?"
"Just walking home with Dirk's groceries." I pointed over to where the lumpish bags sat. Hopefully nothing in there had cracked open—I did not want to go back to face the greedy wrath of Chocolat. "I decided to take the long way home."
"I'm sorry," Colette apologized, noticing the bags strewn haphazardly over the sidewalk. "I'll get them for you…" She tried to grab all of them at once, but before she tipped over, I snatched a few and placed them back down.
"No, no, that's okay," I insisted, taking the rest of the bags gingerly. "I can handle them." I helped her back on her feet and grabbed the groceries from the ground. "So why are you here?" I asked. "And what's the paint for?"
Colette fidgeted and bit her lip uncertainly. "Erm…promise not to tell anyone?"
I blinked. "Sure. Of course."
The girl's mood instantly brightened. "Okay then! Come on!" She grabbed me by the wrist and, ignoring my protests, dragged me around in the alleyway to the left of the building.
The left alleyway was a big, sort of mini road between the buildings. When I was younger, I used to hide in the trash bins and bags during hide-and-go-seek. It wasn't the healthiest thing in the world, and I got in trouble for the smell that stuck on me for a few days, but it was worth winning the "Iselia Wide Hide-and-Go-Seek Championship". When we turned that corner, I expected that hiding spot paradise I had when I was a kid. Instead, I nearly dropped my groceries in surprise.
"What in the world…" I stared at the alleyway. There wasn't anything really different about this place. The trash bags were still there and even that odd, earthy smell that I had grown fond of…then, I spotted what was so different. It was the wall. A fifth of it was sparkling white, absent of any graffiti. What was odd wasn't that it looked brand new—oh no, it was the fact that there was no graffiti that was odd.
The alley wall was notorious for it's graffiti problem. The Desians loved to at night and spray-paint on the walls. Over the last few years, the whole bottom half of the wall had been covered with multicolored swear words and insults. And, yet, almost a fifth of it was gone.
"You like it?" Colette asked beside me. I stared at her and she smiled once more. "I've been working all morning on that part of the wall…it's not very good, but if I keep this up, I can finish at least half of it by the end of today."
"You did that?" I said in amazement. Of course she did, you idiot, who else would? But, of course, I ignored the little voice and continued to gawk at the girl's work.
"Yup!" chirped Colette.
Then I really stopped to take a good look at her. Her hair was tied in one long braid at the nape of her neck, probably to make sure paint didn't get into it. Her clothes were fairly old, splattered with fresh, white paint. My stomach knotted in unease. "Colette, are you sure you should be working outside? After all, what about your…"
For once, a slight frown tugged at her lips. "I'm fine, Lloyd. Didn't I say that already?" Her expression lightened up. "Besides, it's pretty cool today—I'm sure being outside wouldn't hurt."
"Does the theater manager know about this?" I asked.
She put her finger to her lips. "Nope! It's a surprise."
"But why—"
"Zelos said that, if someone were to make the theater look nicer, then more people would come, right? Well, I want to help them out a bit."
But what good would painting an alley wall do? Aside from making that side look nice, but hardly anyone came into this alley anymore, seeing as it was prime Desian turf. "I'm not sure this will work," I warned.
Colette gave me a stubborn smile. "Of course it will, Lloyd. Now, I should get back to painting—it's nearly the afternoon and my father is expecting me back at four."
As she headed off to the pile of paint cans stacked neatly against one of the trash bins, I stood there dumbly with no clue what to do. I knew that that was my cue to leave…but, for some reason, I didn't seem to want to go.
Then, as she began to paint with large, exaggerated arm waves, I sighed, walking over and placing my bags on top an empty crate so no rats could chew on them. "You're doing it wrong," I informed her, picking up an extra brush from the paint can. Ignoring her surprise, I said, "Trying to cover all of the wall and using big strokes tires you out more quickly—concentrate on one spot and use smaller strokes, so you get an evener coat."
"Oh…" Colette tried for herself. "Like this?"
"Yeah, just like that."
And then she smiled.
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"Wow! I can't believe how much we got done! I never imagined for most of the wall to be painted over by this afternoon."
"That's because you were trying too hard to paint fast," I said, trying to juggle my grocery bags into a more comfortable position. Colette had insisted for us to leave all the paint behind in the alley. I wanted to argue, but as soon as she dragged out a tarp from behind the trashcans, showing that she had actually thought it through, I shut up. "If you just paced yourself a bit," I continued, "you could have easily finished the wall without me."
Colette gave a goofy, apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. But it was nice for you to stop by and lend me a hand—it must have really been a burden for you. Are your groceries alright?"
"I think so…" I glared at the bags out of the corner of my eye. "There was nothing perishable in there…and I don't think any rats got in it." Oh yes, I made sure of that.
The girl giggled, and another silence fell as we approached the space between our mailboxes. "Thanks again for walking me home. You didn't have to stay all the way with me—I could have managed."
I shrugged as best I could with groceries weighing down my arms. "No problem, really. Dirk works on painting projects often and I help every once and a while—I'm used to it."
"Really?" Colette's eyes sparkled in interest, but she seemed to stop herself from asking anymore. "Well, I shouldn't keep you. Bye, Lloyd!"
"Uh, yeah, bye." As she split off to go to her house, I headed off to mine, trying to focus back on the groceries and what to say to Dirk when he asked me why in the world I was late. I put my bags down on the porch and, very slowly, opened the door to my house.
"ARF, ARF!"
"Noishe!" I yelled, trying to keep myself from falling backwards for the second time this afternoon. But it was kinda hard, with a waist high dog prancing about your legs. "Stop it!"
"Noishe, come here." The dog whined, but reluctantly padded back inside the house, where Dirk was ready and waiting to take hold of his collar if needed. He looked up at me with his eyes crinkled in a smile. "Welcome back. Need help with those groceries?"
"That'd be nice," I said breathlessly—carrying those things had done nothing good for my arms. Dirk nodded and helped me drag the groceries into the kitchen.
"So why are you home so late?" Dirk asked, emptying the food out onto the counter. "I expected you to come home hours ago."
I grinned sheepishly. "Uh, got caught up with something. Don't worry—I didn't have milk or anything like that, so nothing spoiled."
"I would hope not," Dirk chided, scrutinizing each and every little package.
My expression drooped. "Do you have to do that?"
Dirk chuckled, placing the loaf of bread he had picked up back down on the counter. "Sorry. Force of habit; I have to make sure you didn't pick up another batch of moldy items. So, did you have fun with whatever you did?"
I was about to protest that that had only been one time, but stopped. Did I have fun? Most of the time had been spent painting over the graffiti on the side of the theater. There were a few little conversations here and there. Colette sang some church hymns about halfway through and when I recognized some, I joined along, which wasn't often, since I barely even went to church, much less memorized the hymns, but she smiled at my efforts to join in and proceeded to teach me a few. And there was laughter. Lots of laughter—mostly when either of us messed up, but it was laughter nonetheless.
I gave another careless shrug. "It was okay."
Feeling Dirk's doubting stare, I sighed. "Yeah," I said with more conviction. "It was fun."
He seemed satisfied with that.
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"Are you sure you want to come with me again?" Colette looked at me in slight concern. "You helped me so much yesterday…and it won't take too long to finish."
I shook my head. I was wearing my work clothes today—despite my initial thoughts to just slack off with the others today, I felt more obliged to help Colette finish the wall. "It's alright," I said for the umpteenth time today. "Like you said, it won't take too long. Besides, I want to finish our wall as much as you do."
Wait, when did it become our wall? Colette said nothing of it, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw a strange, satisfied smile crossing her face.
Then, as we turned the corner into the alley, I froze in my tracks. What I saw filled me with repulsion and rage. Sprayed in bright, bold bubble letters, all over our hard work, were the words: FUCK YOU. I heard Colette's breath hitch and saw her hands fly up to her mouth. "Oh…"
"Damn them!" I cursed loudly and stomped my foot so hard, the ground shook. "Damn those Desians." My hands were balled up into fists at my sides as the bright letters began to burn my eyes. "Once I get my hands on them, I'll—"
"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice."
I looked at her in surprise and felt no anger radiating from the girl. Despite my rage, Colette's face was the image of calm. "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." She looked at me and said calmly, "Ephesians, chapter four, verses thirty-one and thirty-two."
Then, walking over to the tarp where we had hidden all of our paint equipment, she took out the cans and brushes and, with a cheerful hum, began to paint over the bright red letters.
Watching her from afar, all my anger faded away. The tension left my shoulders, leaving me standing there numb and unable to move. How could she forgive them so easily? How could she not be angry? I watched for a moment longer, trying to see if the answer could be found in her movements. But there was none—just normal, happy Colette. Then, with a lot of effort on my part, I strode over, took my spot next to her and began to paint.
Cont…
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A/N: Whaa! It took forever to write this chapter . Not because it was difficult to write (quite actually, I managed to pour this whole thing out in a few hours once I decided what I was going to write oOU) but because I had a major writer's block after the Chocolat scene. I'd like to thank my betas again for taking the time to read this (especially my friend, Mira-chan, who did most of it during her trip) and I hope you enjoyed it!