Atlanta - Why?
She frowned at her reflection. It made no sense to her! There were so many things she didn't understand at the moment and all of them led back to the ever-frustrating Archie. Firstly, why did he even like her? She was not pretty or beautiful in the traditional sense of the word and though she knew that looks weren't everything in a relationship, she hadn't previously believed that teenaged boys had the brain capacity to handle that concept. On the other hand, she didn't think it was her 'sparkling' personality that had attracted him either. They were always at odds over something, even an idiot could realise that much. The male, sexist, chauvinistic pig side of him always seemed to bring out her ever so righteous and usually dormant feminist side. Well, maybe not entirely dormant, but she knew that side of her wasn't particularly likable to say the least.
She may not be the best judge, but she had always thought she'd live through her teenaged years with boys running from her like terrified dogs with their tails between their legs. Her mother had been as opinionated as she was in her youth and she hadn't exactly been beating the boys of with a stick. She would have thought Archie to be the last person to take an interest in her. But she would have also thought that she would be the last person to take an interest in him! That was another thing she didn't get. How could she find someone so perfectly annoying so annoyingly perfect? She knew things had gotten really bad when she found herself staring dreamily at him one day during class and rhapsodising to herself about his hair. His hair for goodness sake! It should be something she teased him about, not something she considered poetically when she was bored.
And it was more than just how he looked, she liked him. There were moments when he would do some innocuous thing and she would find herself thinking about how cute or sweet or sexy he was. He had this certain smile that made her stomach jerk like someone had attached the top of her stomach to a fishhook and tried to cast the line. Fortunately, it was a lot less painful than that. Yet, they were only moments. More often, they found themselves bickering. She knew constant fighting did not make a good relationship. Her parents had more than proven that to her. If they had waited one more week she probably would've asked them to get a divorce herself! She wondered if they had started out like this, playful little arguments that, funnily enough, lead to a greater sense of closeness. Would those arguments one day turn around and fling them further apart? She didn't know.
But the thing that laid most heavily on her mind at the moment was a simple question. Why weren't they together? They liked each other and they knew they liked each other. She felt like she was constantly holding her breath around him, waiting for the air to rush from her lungs in blessed relief when they finally could admit that they belonged together. Sure, it was terribly old-fashioned and quite out of character for her to want him to ask her first, but some small part of her desperately wanted to hold on to that innocent, fairy-tale dream that she'd had when she was young. So why didn't he ask her? She had the sneaking feeling that he really did want to, but something was pulling him back. Sometimes they were alone together this funny look would cross his face and she could almost feel that he was about to ask. But then he would avoid her gaze and make some excuse so that he could avoid her presence too. It seemed so unlike him, but perhaps that was the warning that she didn't know him well enough. Yet, still she had some weird sense of faith in him. She knew that it would all be okay, they just needed a bit of time. Unfortunately, time did not come in an unlimited supply. Especially for heroes.
Reviewers get cyber-cookies... Hope you enjoyed it! Hopefully, Herry's will be up tomorrow. Not written as of yet, but if I can do it with Atlanta's, I can do it for Herry too! ;)