Crimson/Silver
Disclaimer: I don't own Choices. That honor belongs to Pixelberry. Don't sue me.
Black and White
The week went by pretty quickly. The crew spent their time polishing up their scenes as close to perfection ae possible, under Ajay's direction, while the techs continued controlling the ambience, all the while working on the set design. Alan was particularly impressed with Skye's design skills. She was absolutely masterful, as he'd made sure to let her know multiple times, to which she'd get awkward and say something simple, or not at all.
Little things, Alan thought.
Clint and Natalie were crying almost everyday over the fact that Rory was going to homecoming with Danielle, and while it didn't matter much, as those two were just infatuated idiots, Alex seemed to be at an all time low. However, that meant his acting was currently through the roof, eliciting multiple compliments from Ajay and the others over the week, even Rory. They made Alex smile, but when no one was watching, he'd look heartbroken again. Alan thought on whether he could help, but realised this wasn't something his help would matter on. Alex was down because he'd blown his chance with Rory at homecoming. It'd pass, and if he'd need anything in the meantime, Alan would be there.
The week went by quickly, and soon it was time for Homecoming. Alan had gotten ready over the last few days, particularly because he had to make sure Skye's parents weren't too disappointed, lest they take it out on her, although it may have had something to do with impressing her as well.
Alan was wearing a simple jet black suit, with a black shirt and tie. He rubbed his shoes against his pants, before ringing the bell to Skye's house. The door opened and Alan was left staring at Skye. She was wearing a white dress with crystal rhinestones on the torso area, kind of like a diamond encrusted corset. Her black lipstick was in sharp contrast, but it looked good, Ala thought to himself.
"Whoa. You look great!" Alan said with a smile.
"You too." Skye said, with a small smile, although he could tell she was uncomfortable. At that moment, the elderly red haired woman Alan knew to be Skye's mother.
"Hello. You must be Mrs. Crandall. I'm Alan. Alan Gray." Alan introduced himself curtly. Skye's mother cast a gaze over Alan, looking him up and down to gauge him. Alan stood there without flinching, staying as confident as he could.
"I suppose my daughter doesn't have completely terrible taste. Is that your car?" she asked, pointing to the vehicle parked outside the house.
"It is." Alan answered, and Skye looked stunned, eyes wide as saucers.
"I expect her back by midnight." Mrs. Crandall said, stern as ever.
"Understood, Mrs. Crandall." Alan said, then turned to Skye. "Shall we?" he asked, as warmly as he could.
"Yeah, let's go." Skye said, breaking out of her surprise, and walking with Alan to the car, a black Chevy Camaro.
"You got a car?" Skye asked.
"It's been grinding at you, huh?" Alan smirked. "It's a rental. I got it for the day. I figured I best make a good impression on your mom, or you'd get the blunt of it."
"Well, thanks." Skye said, looking down.
"You look great, by the way." Alan said, bumping shoulders with her playfully.
"Uhh, that's the problem. This dress… it's so pretty… I hate it." Skye said, huffing.
Alan laughed a bit. "I didn't just mean the dress, you know. You look beautiful." He said, pouring some sincerity in his words.
Skye blushed a bit, before replying, "You look good too."
"Yeah, we love black, don't we?" Alan smirked again. They reached the car soon, and Alan opened the passenger door for Skye. "My Lady." He said with an exaggerated bow.
"Stop it." Skye said, clearly embarrassed, eliciting a chuckle from Alan, as she entered the car. Alan closed the door and walked around to get to the driver's side and entered the car. "Shall we?" he asked, turning the key and activating the ignition. Skye simply hummed in agreement, and Alan drove off to the school.
.
.
"Shall we?" Alan offered as he opened the door for Skye and she stepped out of his car.
"You don't have to open the door for me everytime, you know. My mom can't actually see everywhere." Skye said.
"Whoever told you I was doing that out of fear of your mother?" Alan smirked. Skye looked away, embarrassed. She clearly wasn't used to this. "Is this your first time at homecoming?"
"Yes. And it's already a drag. Although…" Skye trailed off.
"Although?" Alan asked.
"I suppose, it's bearable with you." Skye said, with a smile, this time looking directly into Alan's eyes. Alan stared back and was mesmerized. He didn't believe those cliches that spoke of getting lost in someone's eyes, but now he had to admit this was something quite similar.
Alan quickly shook himself out of it, and bumped shoulders with Skye. "Let's go, Skye-with-an-E. Or somebody is going to tell your mother we were late to the party."
"Don't even make me think about that. Come on." Skye said, visibly cringing, as the two walked into the gym court where the dance is held.
"Sheesh, they went some distance for this." Alan said as he walked into the hall with Skye. The decorations were, extravagant, to say the least. Blue and neon lights shone here and there. The place was completely packed with people. Alan hated that. This place was too crowded for his taste. But he shook it off for Skye's sake. He had to be there.
"Come on, let's see what's for snacks and drinks." He said to Skye.
"Sure. That's probably one of the few good things about this." Skye replied dryly.
The snacks table was really crowded as well. Alan was starting to get nervous. It had been a long while since he'd encountered large crowds.
"Alan? Are you okay?" Skye said, seeming to pick up on his distress.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm… I'm fine." Alan replied.
"Alan." Skye said, punctuating well to make Alan look at her. "You're not okay. Come on." She added, before promptly grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the exit.
"Wait Skye-" Alan tried, but Skye didn't listen, didn't stop until they were outside.
"Alan, I can tell you're uncomfortable in those crowds, and it's not normal discomfort, either. If you don't wanna tell me, it's fine, but don't force yourself in there for me. Please." Skye said in one breath. She sighed, before adding, "I don't want to see you so messed up, after everything…"
Alan melted. Skye was looking straight at him, a concerned look on her face. He sighed, before smiling. "Thanks." He said warmly. Skye cracked a smile at that herself. "I owe you an explanation."
"It's fine if you don't wanna talk about it." Skye started.
"No, it's okay. I do. I feel… okay, with you." Alan smiled. "Come on, let's find someplace comfy." He said, before taking her hand and walking away. His eyes soon landed on a lone bench near the parking lot, and he lead her there.
Once the two were sitting comfortably, Alan began speaking.
"So… one of my first memories… I kid you not, as far back as I can remember… is this. My aunt took me along to a super market. There was apparently a huge sale or something, and she didn't want to be stuck at home, missing out on the sweet prices. Anyway, as you'd expect on a big sale day at any supermarket, it is packed tighter than particles in a metal ingot." Skye immediately laughs at the scientific joke, which cause Alan to chuckle as well. It felt good to have someone nerdy enough to get these things, alongside everything that Skye already was.
"Anyway," he continued, "so, as you can expect what happened, she let go of my hand once by mistake. She didn't mean to, I'm sure, but… I was lost in that sea of people. And I'm this wee kid back then, I can only see up to people's knees. I look up and their coats and jackets and other clothing is draping down on my face. I can't even hear my own voice, even though the strain on my throat is telling me that I'm screaming. It stuck with me, I guess. The fear of crowds. And I'm not claustrophobic, I checked. I do fine inside a closet, it was the crowd that got me for some reason."
"Alan…" Skye said, softly. Alan was pleasantly surprised when he felt her take his hand in her own. "Thank you for trusting me. And you don't ever have to go into crowds. I hate 'em as well, so no harm done." She smiled.
Alan nodded, smiling back, a little surprised but still happy about everything that transpired in the last few minutes. He squeezed Skye's hand. "Thanks… Skye-with-an-E." he added his nickname for her at the end with a smirk.
"Oh just had to do it, didn't you?" Skye said, scrunching her face, but then bursting out laughing, Alan joining her.
"Come on." Alan said as he stood up, their laughter dying down.
"Where?" Skye asked.
"Homecoming, what else?" Alan answered.
"No no, you're not going-" Skye began but Alan cut her off.
"Skye. It's okay. I'm better now. And I promise to let you know if I feel uneasy. Okay?" he said sincerely. Skye nodded. "Good. It's kind of embarrassing if we missed our first homecoming." He offered her a hand. "Shall we?"
"Okay." Skye said, taking his hand, still smiling just a bit.
The two entered the hall once again. Alan turned to Skye to see her watching him carefully. Alan sighed, before smiling warmly in reassurance. Skye gave him a lookover again, before looking outward at the crowd in the hall. Alan wasn't sure what it was with Skye's sudden outburst of concern, but he sure as heck felt good, seeing how much she cared.
"Look, there's some snacks. Want some?" Alan asked Skye.
"No don't go that way again. Please?" Skye pleaded, genuinely pleaded.
"Okay. I won't. Promise." Alan put a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to be that concerned, you know."
"I know, I know, I… I don't want anything bad to happen to you." Skye said, looking away.
"I know, and I'm touched, but I'd hate it if I kept you from experiencing homecoming at least a little bit. I already told you I'd tell you if I think I'm in trouble."
"Okay." Skye smiled.
"Yo Alan!" Alan turned to see Luis calling him, standing near the door with a blonde girl.
"You go talk to him. I'll stay unseen." Skye said.
"Why? Come on." Alan said, waving at Skye to come with him.
"Don't worry, go talk to them, I just need some seconds alone. Please?" Skye said.
"Okay. I'll find you." Alan smiled before heading to Luis.
"Hey man! I have to say again, your plays were incredible last night. And that Inferno Trigger? Dude you took out like three guys, and saved Sakura at 10 hp!" Luis just started firing off.
"Thanks, Luis. I try. And this is?" Alan asked, gesturing to the girl.
"Oh, my bad! Alan, this is Emma, my girlfriend. Emma, this is Alan, our newest League player." Luis introduced.
"Nice to meet you, Emma." Alan said, offering a handshake.
"Nice to meet you too, Alan. Luis has been so excited to be able to play League. I would join, but I'm not very good at it." Emma said, accepting Alan's handshake.
"Yeah, not Emma's game. But she still is on our Lookout and Valorant team." Luis said.
"Oh, you play Valorant?" Alan asked.
"Yeah. Luis told me it's similar to Lookout, so I tried it out and it's a good game, if more competitive." Emma said.
"You're not wrong. So you're a shooter only gamer, huh?" Alan asked.
"I guess so." Emma said, smiling nervously.
"Nice. Speaking of, Luis, Debonair grind tomorrow?" Alan asked.
"Yeah sure. I'll let Nishan and Sakura know." Luis answered, clearly excited.
"Alright, see you then. It was nice meeting you, Emma." Alan said with a smile.
"You too, Alan." Emma smiled back.
Alan walked off, looking for Skye.
Now if I were a goth girl in a rhinestone dress, where would I be? Alan thought. He didn't have to ponder for long as he spotted Skye, with Sydney and a blonde girl in a black dress, slightly taller than the others. He knew Sydney, the cheerleader, who'd offered to help design the costumes for the play, and heard she had a girlfriend. Maybe that's her? This is homecoming, after all. Alan approached the group.
"I hate this dress. It's too pretty for my taste." Skye said to the others.
"If you hate it, why wear it?" Sidney asked.
"My mom had it made a month before, without telling me, then threatened to ground me for a month if I didn't wear it. I tried hiding it in the linen closet, but she had it brought out an hour beforehand." Skye said.
"Huh, your mom's a busybody." Alan said.
"Alan, hey." Skye suddenly said, seeing Alan. Alan simply smiled.
"You shouldn't hate it though. You've got style." The taller blonde girl said.
"Me?" Skye asked, surprised.
"I don't see anyone else who looks as interesting." The tall blonde girl said again.
"I know, Skye's outfits are so good!" Sydney near squealed. "I wish I could pull off half of those. When I try a dark lip, it looks like a kid scribbled Sharpie on my face."
"Sidney, introduction?" Alan said lightly.
"Oh sorry, Alan. This is Mia, my girlfriend. Mia this is Alan. He's new at Berry, and joined the theatre team as a tech." Sidney introduced.
Mia offered a handshake, which Alan accepted. "Hello, Alan. You look good as well." Mia said. Alan noticed an air of confidence he rarely ever saw in anyone. He wished he could have some of it himself.
"Thank you, Mia." Alan said with a small bow.
"Skye… you're Brian's sister, right?" Mia said, and Skye seemed to wilt under her gaze.
"... You can tell?" Skye said, clearly distressed.
"I know that feeling, I wish I could disown my brother too." Mia said. "Max isn't exactly loved after all the bullying he's done."
"He and Brian used to be friends. People here hate both of them." Skye said, surprised.
"That's right." Mia said with a nod.
Skye let out a breath. Like she was relieved. Alan automatically smiled.
"Anyway, that edgy, dark lip is so striking with your hair." Mia complimented. "Which is gorgeous, by the way."
"Told you so." Alan smirked, and Skye seemed to squirm silently in embarrassment.
Mia pursed her lips in thought, appraising Skye for a second. "That white and silver combo in your dress really is something else, though."
"I hate this dress. Glad you like it though." Skye said.
"You have to be kidding. You're giving me total dark mystery girl in Vogue Italia vibes." Mia said, a little surprised.
"Oooh, or like, frontwoman of a 2000s pop punk band!" Sidney popped in.
"In sparkly rhinestones?" Skye asked, in disbelief.
"It's how you wear it. Though, the way you're standing, it's more like the dress is wearing you." Mia spoke.
"It was my mom's idea. The look I wanted was more like an undead queen than a sparkly princess." Skye said sadly.
"Fair, but like, you are wearing sparkles. May as well wear them in a way no one would. If the dress doesn't feel like your style, make it yours." Mia said. Alan could see that confidence he noticed in Mia shine through. He understood she wasn't always this good at it. She had to work at it, build herself up. He admired the confidence she now seemingly effortlessly exuded.
"What do you mean?" Skye asked.
"Just walk a little straighter, and pretend the sparkly princess just rose from the grave." Mia said. "Otherwise, if you keep hunching your shoulders and trying to hid, you really will look like your mom dressed you. No offense." She finished.
Alan saw Skye sigh, unfurling her spine, standing straight and holding up her chin. Then she struck a half-hearted pose. He felt like chuckling, but held it in, not wanting to interrupt his date's growth.
Wait, date? What- .
"Happy?" Alan was broken out of his thoughts by Skye's voice.
"You're killing it. Alan, you're her friend, back me up." Mia said.
"I already told her. You look beautiful and mysterious, Skye." Alan said.
"Yeah, like the lead in a vampire romance novel!" Sidney said.
"Who told you I read those?" Skye said, putting on a surprised expression, but Alan could tell it was fake.
"No one?" Sidney said unsurely.
"Oh good, because I don't." Skye said.
Alan snorted a small chuckle. Sidney joined in for a bit too.
"Come on, everyone secretly wants to either be or date a vampire." Sidney said.
"No comment." Skye shrugged. "Am I really getting goth advice from the cheerleaders?" She suddenly said incredulously.
"Well, let's just say it would have been a crime to leave you to your awkwardness." Mia said.
"My awkwardness and I were doing fine. I… appreciate your confident and blunt words, though." Skye said shyly.
"Confidence takes a lot of hard work. And many small steps." Mia said.
"Like… pretending I like a dress?" Skye shrugged.
"Like being so strongly yourself, you make that dress work for you." Mia said. Alan noticed Skye was visibly less stiff in the dress.
"I'm still not wearing this again." Skye said, stifling a smile.
"Good, thinking forward to your next outfit. Now that's how you do style." Mia smirked.
"Alan!" Alan whirled to see Erin calling then over.
"We'll see you around?" Alan asked, to which Mia and Sidney nodded. "Good to meet you, Mia." Alan smiled as he and Skye walked over to Erin, who was standing with Alex.
"Hey Erin." Alan greeted as they met up with Erin and Alex. "Where's Annie?" Alan asked Alex.
"She's with Amber." Alex answered, though not very enthusiastically.
"And Ajay?" Skye asked.
"I don't know. Haven't seen him." Erin answered. "Hope you were having fun though, 'cause you missed watching Ben win Homecoming King."
"Crap. Well, no harm done. Right Skye?" Alan let a bit of nervousness slip into his voice.
"It's okay, Alan." Skye said, smiling, as if to relieve him. It worked, definitely, as Alan breathed a sigh.
"I missed it too." Alex said gloomily.
"Hey, there'll be plenty more to experience. And besides, y'all are in time for the last dance of the night. I didn't want you guys to miss it." Erin said with her signature smile.
"Oh, is there something special to do?" Alex asked nervously.
"Not really, but if there's someone you wanna dance with, now's the time to ask them." Erin said, winking an eye.
Alan held in a laugh as Alex blushed and started stammering. He noticed Alex's eyes dart to Rory by the tiki bar, who was currently talking with Danielle and other students.
More admirers, no doubt, Alan thought.
Alex sucked in a long breath and approached Rory. Rory looked and Alex and broke into a grin.
"So… any chance you'd dance with me?" Alex asked nervously, but without breaking his voice. Alan internally commended Alex.
Danielle, who was hovering near Rory, opened her mouth to object, but Rory beat her to the punch, "Of course, Alex. I was hoping to dance with you at least once tonight." She smiled. "Danielle, I'll find you after?" she asked, genuinely oblivious to Danielle's jealousy.
Danielle quickly softened her expression. "Fine. Whatever you want, Rory. Have fun!" she said with a chipper, plastic grin. She gave Rory a quick hug, glaring at Alex over her shoulder, before walking away.
Alan had to chuckle. At least Alex gets this one dance with Rory, and he got to show up Danielle in a subtle manner, even though Alex himself might not have realized it.
"What?" Skye said from beside Alan.
"Oh nothing." Alan said. He looked at Skye, looking beautiful as ever, then he looked around him. Everywhere, people were coupling up and dancing. He finally decided to do something.
"Hey Skye, you wanna dance?" He asked.
"Huh?" Skye said, surprised.
"Don't do me like that. Do you want to dance with me?" Alan asked, smiling, offering her a hand.
Skye blushed for a second, before giving her own hand to his. "Yeah, why not. If you don't mind me stepping on your toes."
"I think you're being modest with yourself, but I'll take the yes." Alan chuckled, leading her to the dance floor.
He tentatively slipped a hand around Skye's waist, holding onto her hand with his other. Skye also put her other hand on his shoulder. "You've done this before, haven't you?" Skye asked, clearly nervous.
"I've seen several dance scenes in movies. It's self taught." Alan smirked, as they started swaying to the music. Alan could feel his heart thumping, being this close to Skye. It was an entirely new feeling to him, but not an unwelcome one, at any rate. He could see Skye blushing in front of him as well, as the two gazed into each other's eyes. Alan swore again he could get lost in those blue eyes of hers. They swayed for some time before Skye spoke.
"What are these lyrics?" she asked in a ridiculous tone.
Alan focused on the song a bit. "Something… don't break my heart like an egg?"
"Let's steam romance up with the chicken leg?" Skye continued.
"How hungry was the person that wrote these lyrics." Alan asked, smirking.
Skye let out a laugh, snorting a little. "Stop it. You're murdering me."
Alan joined in as the two laughed at themselves.
Eventually, the floor got more crowded, and the song didn't get much better. Alan had a plan.
"Come on." He said, taking Skye's hand and pulling her away from the dance floor.
"Where?" Skye asked, a little taken aback.
"Trust me." Alan said. "You do, right?" he smiled at her.
"Yeah." Skye said, smiling slightly.
.
.
Alan led Skye outside to the parking lot, near his car.
"Are we going home early?" Skye asked. "There's still 10 minutes to midnight…" she trailed off as she noticed Alan take out his earphones. "Do you never leave home without those?" she chuckled a bit.
"Never. Now here." Alan said, offering her one earphone and putting on the other. Then he hit play on his phone.
A slowed, reverberating version of 'Creep' started playing. Skye looked speechless as, as close they were to share earphones, Alan offered her his hand and said, "Now, once again, Skye Crandall, May I have this dance?"
Skye's eyes sparkled, and for the first time, she smiled. Not the half hearted or the genuine but small smile, a full fledged grin, and Alan could swear it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. "Yes, Alan Gray. I'd love to."
Skye shyly put her arms around Alan's neck, as his hand rested gently on her waist. Both could tell the other was blushing heavily, but neither seemed to care. They were too happy to care. They simply swayed slightly and gazed into each other's eyes as their music played in their ears, her deep blue eyes, his deep black ones. They were, quite literally, inches away, staring and losing themselves in each other.
Alan became aware that, slowly but surely, they were gravitating towards each other. He was incredibly nervous, as anyone should be, but, he was too happy, too intoxicated on his happiness, to stop himself, and from the look on Skye's face, so was she. As the song slowly came to its end, their lips touched, in a soft, sweet kiss.
Alan felt like he was flying. Skye's lips were lush, warm, and it was maddening. He had never felt anything like this. All his planning and preparedness could never ready him for something like this. He let one of his hands come up from her waist to her cheek, cupping it gently and delving deeper into their kiss.
Skye's brain had already turned to mush. She never would admit it, but she'd wanted this to happen for quite some time. Alan was different, she knew it.
Soon, they broke apart, still staring at each other. They were about to say something, when suddenly, Alan's phone rung.
"Sorry, sorry, damn." Alan quickly shut off the noise. "It's an alarm I set just in case. It's five minutes to midnight."
"Oh," Skye said, barely, "we should go."
They were both clearly out of breath, but they were still smiling at each other.
Alan opened the passenger door for Skye, then went around and entered the driver's seat, as he had before, and they drove off.
They were back at Skye's house exactly one minute before midnight. The whole way, the two had been enveloped by this awkward, but comfortable silence, both of them not looking at each other, but looking out of the car with dreamy eyes. Of course, Alan had had to focus on the road, but still, the feeling of kissing Skye… that wasn't something that was going away.
"So… I'll see you next day at school?" Skye shyly asked.
"Of course you will. See you then." Alan smiled. He then got out of the car, to get the door for Skye.
As she got out of the car and walked towards her house, Alan felt a little down. He looked at his shoes, then went to get back in the car, when suddenly, he heard closing footsteps behind him, and a voice.
"Alan!" Alan turned to see Skye running, as much as she could, straight to him. Skye nearly jumped into Alan's arms as he caught her, and kissed Alan again. This time, it was shorter, but much more passionate, as if with an objective in mind. Alan happily returned the kiss before they broke apart.
"I just… I want you to know, tonight was the best." Skye said, her monotone voice leaking more emotion than Alan had ever seen.
"It was for me too, Skye-with-an-E" Alan smirked.
Skye groaned, hitting him playfully in the shoulder. "You just had to do it, didn't you? You had to ruin it."
"Hey, like it or not, that's your name. Besides, I don't think anything could ruin this." Alan smiled dreamily. Skye had a similar look on her face, smiling as she stared at Alan.
Skye finally let go of Alan, and waved at him a goodbye, before walking inside her house. She looked back at him one last time, before disappearing behind the door.
Alan sighed, this night had been way wilder than he'd expected. He'd kissed the girl he was crazy about. Heck, he didn't even know he was crazy about her, but better late than never.
"See you tomorrow, Skye." He said to himself, before getting in his rented car and driving off home.
!-!-!-!-!
To anyone that might say, isn't this too soon? No, this is how I pictured my story, and this was my plan. Alex and Rory will probably need help, but that's why my man Alan is here.
If anyone is reading, please let me know your thoughts in a review. Constructive criticism is always welcome. I'll see you guys in the next one. Peace!