A/N: I have this problem with time.
See I had this whole 'update every three days' thing under control, but then I realized my week long field trip for government might just hinder that a bit. So since my beta's coming on the trip with me (yay!) Dulcis has been kind enough to upload this for me. James's will have to come after my trip, sorry about that : (
Thanks for all those super-incredible-awesome-someonepinchmecauseIthinkI'mdreaming reviews... You really don't know how much they brighten my week. : ) Hehe, I think people just like Sirius.
Grace:
I's three in the morning."
"I know," I agreed happily, adrenaline pumping brilliantly through my veins. "Isn't it great?"
"'Well... that's not exactly the word I had in mind."
"Oh get up you lug," I dropped onto Remus's bed and bounced up and down on my knees. "You said you were more of a morning person."
Remus groaned and wearily lifted his head. Even in the pitch black room his eyes shone with skepticism. He worries way too much.
"Remus," I reasoned, "I'm up, you're up, the air is fresh and you promised you'd participate in Spontaneous Day. So c'mon, up and at 'em!"
He rubbed his eyes and cleared his throat to rid of the sleep induced grogginess. "Up and at who, exactly?"
"There's my Remus, always asking questions." I pat his head fondly. "Now let's go," the pat turned into a smack as I grabbed him underneath the elbow and dragged him out from under the covers.
"All right," he mumbled, searching blindly on the dresser top for his glasses. I spotted the thin frames and handed them to him. After placing them on he gave a little bounce on the mattress and sprung up beside me. "Here," he said, opening a small drawer in his nightstand and handing me a piece of parchment. "I've made us an agenda. I was thinking about it, and-"
"You made an agenda?"
Remus glanced up from the parchment. "Yes; now it's up to you if you'd rather start with-"
"You made an agenda," I repeated slowly, "for Spontaneous Day?"
Remus gave a feeble smile. "Well if we don't know what we're going to do..."
I folded my arms reprovingly. "Tear it up."
"But..." Remus protested, gazing up at me with forlorn puppy dog eyes. Unfortunately for him; I'm more of a cat person.
"Remus," I stared pointedly between him and the parchment. "Tear up the agenda."
He gave a piteous sigh, before squinting his eyes shut and holding up the parchment. With a loud and ceremonious tear the agenda was ripped in two jagged pieces.
"There," I smiled broadly at his achievement. "Doesn't that feel better?"
"Not really," he said, lifting a finger to his face and inspecting it. "I think I got a paper cut."
I peered over at Remus from behind my lopsided tower, watching as he smoothed the edge of an arch, before absently itching his nose and smearing a bit of dirt across it.
In an excellent bout of luck Mother Nature had showered down some rain in the wee hours before Remus and I had awoken, leaving a great hill of mud for us to create castles out of. See, even she's in the spontaneous mood.
Remus sighed as his relentless efforts had no effect on the bumpy surface of the tower. I marveled at his perfectionism. You wouldn't think one individual person could be as painstakingly precise as he, but aside from a terribly messy dormitory (a conundrum that boggles my mind still to this day), he's neater than five astrophysicists put together. And astrophysicists are very orderly, let me tell you. My uncle's one and he color codes his towels to correspond the chronological order of the tide. In Antarctica.
Remus's distinct bout of soft laughter sounded from behind a huge glob of mud. "What are you laughing at?" I inquired in a mock offended voice.
"Well," he began, wiping away a stray strand of hair off his forehead and effectively streaking more mud across it. "I was going to ask what you're going to do with those round orange things, but then I just figured you'd use it for a miniature fence or chimneys, or something of that sort."
"Mmm, no actually," I said, scooping up a couple of the 'round orange things'. "These are Tic-Tacs. Here, take one," I grinned. "Put one in your mouth and get a bang out of life."
Remus picked the mint up hesitantly. "A bang out of life? It doesn't explode, does it?"
"Nah, it's muggle." I paused a moment as he inspected the Tic-Tac, before he finally popped it into his mouth. "Unless of course someone mixed Clorox and Paprika in it."
Remus pulled an adorable look of worry, rolling the mint around his tongue as if rapidly examining it. "Don't worry," I assured. "The probability of that is very unlikely."
Remus gave a weak smile in response. We worked a few more minutes in silence, before I inevitably grew tired of the event and stood up to declare I was finished. Remus stood up too, smiling at my makeshift pine curtains and top-of-the-notch bridge, complete with a plastic fork lift and pebble lined moat.
"Okay," I announced, wiping my mud caked hands onto blue plaid pajama bottoms. "We've cooked up a mess in the kitchen, watched a bit of Bambi, and investigated my vegetable garden. It's your turn to choose something to do. And don't forget," I waved my hand lavishly, "spontaneous."
"Remus this is not very spontaneous."
"Sure it is," Remus encouraged, nodding enthusiastically. "Go on, I'm sure you'll enjoy it."
I eyed the different piles of rocks, one plain and one speckled. "Er..."
Remus raised a brow knowingly. "This is spontaneous, you know."
"Oh?" I asked skeptically.
Remus gave a swift nod before returning to his rock assortments. "Well you weren't expecting to separate rocks into different species and classes, according to geneses and classifications of the 19th century, were you?
"No," I shook my head. "I most certainly was not."
"Well there you go," he flicked a dirt spot off a particularly large rock, "that's spontaneous, isn't it?"
I resigned and kneeled down onto the soft grass beside him, sliding a speckled rock into the pile with my foot. "All right... but next time I'm choosing the event."
After we were done with the rock sorting, which, admittedly, was more fun than anticipated, I settled for taking a leisurely walk to the gazebo out back. Remus was excited about the seemingly placid idea, so I decided not to tell him it was in the middle of construction and all sorts of animals had burrowed into it, including a species that- I'm not quite sure- might possibly be lethal.
"Oh," Remus's mumble broke the tranquil silence. "I almost forgot; remind me when we go back upstairs, I er- brought something for you."
"Really?" I asked curiously. "What is it?"
"Mum had some extra Pumpkin Patties," he said, "and she knows they're your favorite, so she told me to bring you a batch."
"Oh good," I answered happily, as I dodged a patch of questionable looking grass. A thought struck me, sending a smile to inch across my lips. "You talk about me at home then, eh?"
"No," Remus answered a little too quickly.
I arched a brow. "Well you talk about me enough for her to know I like Pumpkin Patties," I pointed out.
Remus folded his arms. "That's a very common topic."
"Sure," I giggled. "If- ayck!" I screamed as an unidentified monster hurdled into me, its horrible claws grinding against one another and looming, closer and closer, until I could clearly see its fangs and-
"Huh," I heard Remus comment beside me.
"What?" I turned to him, panting and breathless.
He was so calm... How could he be so calm when a gigantic creature was about to bring us to our doomed, twisted fates? "Well," he shrugged an irritatingly calm shoulder. "I just never knew you were afraid of owls."
I paused in my insane swatting to look over at him. "Owls?"
"Well that is what you're screaming at."
I looked over my shoulder and did indeed view a harmless carrier owl. "That's not what I was screaming about," I bent the truth a bit. "There was a- um, bee! Yes, yes there was a bee in my shoe, and I was screaming because I'm deathly allergic."
"A bee in your shoe?" Remus questioned.
I nodded gravely. "There might've even been two."
Remus peered down at my feet. My stupid, bare feet. "But you're not wearing any-"
"The lake!" I shouted suddenly.
Remus glanced sideways at me. "Uh huh... What about it?"Well we're going to go swimming, of course," I stated the obvious.
Remus smiled wryly. "Of course."
---
"Oh... Oh my... Oh...."
I took in a bunch of lake water and spouted it out at him. "Come on in, the water's
great!"
Remus scratched his head nervously, tugging at the waistband of his sunshine
embellished boxers. "Aren't there specimens? And the bacteria count's not even close to
the general board of safety's code and-"
"Fine," I sighed. "Don't come in." Remus brightened, so I added, "But I'm going to stay
under water until you do." Before he had time to respond I inhaled deeply and ducked to
sit on the shallow bottom. I knew Remus; it'd take barely a second for him to jump in
now.
Any second...
My lungs are beginning to ache..
Any second now...
Great, nice to know I have a boyfriend that cares more about germ counts than me dying.
Well, at least I'll go a decent way, although I do wish Id've eaten more lasagna at
dinner, and one last taste of chocolate would've been nice. My Word, it's been an entire
minute, at least. I can see it, the white light's calling to me, compelling-
I felt my body being jerked up suddenly, two pale hands pulling me up to the water's
surface and away from the gnawing hands of death.
Sputtering water right into Remus's face, I arched a brow and shook my head slowly.
"Thanks for hurrying. I was a whole two seconds away from biting the dust."
"I-" Remus started.
"Kicking the bucket."
"You-"
"Buying the farm."
"Sorry," Remus said quickly, before I could interject with another little quirky quip.
Good thing, too; those were the only sayings I could think of. "I just, I..." his face
reddened slightly, even noticeable in the dark. "I can't swim," he informed me in a
whisper.
I'm an awful person.
"Oh gosh Remus, why didn't you tell me?" For the first time I noticed he was struggling,
even in the shallow water we were currently standing in. "I'm really sorry... Here, this
bank's plenty big for us to sit on." I grabbed his hand and pulled him up to a slippery
strip of muddy land, before surveying him with concern. "Are you all right?"
He laughed lightly, running a hand through drenched sandy brown locks. "Yes, but I think I
swallowed about three gallons of that disgusting water."
"That's all right, it's good for you," I said, absently squishing the mud between my
fingertips and carving a pattern beside me. "You sure you're okay?"
He stared at me with a grave expression. "No. I don't think I'm going to make it."
I smirked and punched his shoulder playfully. "I'm only being compassionate."
As Remus yelped I realized the cool mud I had been puttering with had mistakenly
landed on his shoulder. I giggled and swiped a little more at him with my toes.
Remus made a noise of distaste and cowered back.
"Oh come on," I said. "Remember, Remus; Spontaneous:(adjective) acting, reacting, or happening without apparent forethought or prompting.
We've gone through an entire day and you are still acting, reacting, and happening with
very apparent forethought and prompting." I sighed. "Spontaneous Day didn't much of
an affect on you, did it?"
"What do you mean?" Remus crossed his arms indignantly. "I happen to think I was very
spontaneous."
"Sorry Remus," I shook my head sadly. "Burning toast just isn't very impulsive."
"Well, now sure it is-"
"And you wouldn't even touch that snakeishy spidermabob."
"Sure but, the rocks..."
"All in all, you gave it your best shot," I heaved a heavy sigh. "As long as you gave it all
you've got, well that's just the best you can do, so I suppose that's all that matters, but
maybe next time you could try to let all of the rules go, and let your soul guide you,
Remus, your soul, not your mind... Wild, careless, quixotic, unpredictable, that's the way to be,
just free and independent of common sense; there's still time, and possibly still hope, but
for now, you-"
Remus's lips abruptly cut me off.
My train of thought dissolved and I felt myself weaken beneath his resolute grasp, which at
the moment I didn't care or notice was placed oddly on either side of my head. His lips
tasted like lake and his suddenness and determination caused them to press much too hard
against mine, but it was perfect all the same.
Time passed in a blur and before I knew it he was pulling away and opening his eyes
wide to stare into my own. "Well..." he began hesitantly, "spontaneous enough for you?"
"Mgrph."
...Was that just me making such a pitiful utterance? Grace Shadron couldn't possibly
get so flustered she's rendered speechless... Could she?
By the way Remus is grinning, yes.
I cleared my throat, took a slow and steady breath, and successfully regained my cool.
"Mgrph."
Blast it.
Remus's eyes shone before me, dancing jovially against the fading night. "I'll take that as
a yes, then?"
Hey everybody! Dulcis here. As the temporary beta of STBY, I'd like to say a few words...Ok, I'll admit, any excuse to talk. Read MY story! While it's not an astonishing literary work like our dear Eye's of Emerald's, it's a two chapter start. READ IT. The revised version. Thanks for listening to my shameless Ballyhoo. STBY ROCKS! We should have buttons.
Review!