Movie Night

A/N: What apology haven't I apologized yet? It takes months, I know, but every so often, I pop out a chapter for this silly little story, generally inspired because some random awesome person reviewed it and reminded me that it actually exists. Apparently it's been a year or something since I posted on this 'un, considering the last a/n I wrote was when I got home from Jamaica LAST year, and I just got back THIS year.

If it's any consolation, it's been a long time since I wrote on my other chapter-having fic too.

Anyway...I'll just um...

Story:

Mandy had a philosophy. Being a notorious movie junkie, she was under the firm belief that there was a movie for every occasion, mood, and person. Meet Joe Black was the movie to show at a funeral, The Breakfast Clubwas the movie to watch when you felt lonely, and Nightmare Before Christmas defined Mandy. However, the task at hand was slightly more difficult. She was browsing the movie-rental place looking for a movie for Edward. All three of the afore mentioned movies had been considered, then dropped. While Death had a somewhat similar personality to Edward, maybe a movie about Death wasn't what the doctor ordered. The Breakfast Club was a great classic to fall back on, but the geek in the movie bore an eerie resemblance to the boy Edward had ended up killing when he had come down from the mountain, so that would never do. And as for Nightmare, it just didn't seem fitting.

"What matches a supernatural guy living up on a mountain all by himself?" Mandy murmured to herself.

"What was that?" A voice from behind her asked. She turned to see Brian, once again, right behind her. Her best friend's brother was turning out to be a very sneaky person.

"Wow, stalker much?" Mandy chided him, grinning. Brian shook his head. He opened his mouth to speak, but Levi came over to them at that moment.

"Hey, Mandy!" He greeted her cheerfully, quirking an eyebrow. "Come here often?"

"All the time!" Mandy replied, feigning obliviousness toward his teasing "pick-up line."

"D'oh!" Levi winced. "Ouch. Ooh, hey, we should do a movie night tonight. Me 'n Bri were going to anyway, but you and Brendan and Jamie should come over, too."

"Um, no...um...I can't." Mandy said. She had promised Edward she'd come up tonight. She'd been back to hang out with him several times since the Exploration Incident. They had discovered Liam's library and spent a lot of time there together, looking through old books. Edward had even been able to recite her a silly poem about a man who wore crepe paper clothes. Tonight, she had told him she'd bring him the movies she'd been promising for a while.

"Mandy, you haven't been hanging out with us very much lately. What's up?" Levi asked, his playful face becoming serious.

"Nothing! What are you talking about?" Mandy asked, though she knew he was right.

"Come on, you haven't been around much since..." Levi's eyes widened. "Since the night we dared you to go up the mountain." Mandy froze, her heart leaping up to her throat.

"Mandy...you're not..." Levi paused, obvious dots connecting behind his grey eyes. Mandy closed her own eyes, waiting for the awful truth to come out. "You're not mad at us are you?"

"What?!" Mandy cried in surprise.

"For making you go up there and ruining your favorite story." Levi explained. "We are sorry..."

"Oh! Oh..." Mandy sighed, relieved. "No, Levi, that's not it at all! My mom...has just wanted me to stay home a lot lately. Like tonight, we're doing a movie night, me and her. You know, because of my dad and all." Light dawned behind Levi's eyes. Mandy's father had died two days before Christmas four years ago on his way home from a meeting one day. He had hit black ice and crashed into a semi on the highway.

"Oh...I'm sorry." Levi said quietly. "I should have figured that out...wow. Are you okay and everything? You know, because you're my best friend and stuff..."

"Levi, it's cool. My mom just wants to keep me close." Mandy said. It was a lie...honestly, her mother became more distant this time of year. She took on more hours at work and was home less. Mandy didn't mind so much; this gave her more opportunities to see Edward. She realized, briefly, how many lies she had told since becoming Edward's friend, but disregarded it instantly. He had to be a secret.

"All right. Well, I'm here. Call me if you need me." Levi said, lightly hitting her on the shoulder (his way of showing affection) then walking away.

"Well, that was one awkward moment come and gone." Mandy said to herself. She turned back to rack of movies when two were shoved into her face. She blinked at them for a moment, then looked up at the person who had put them there.

"These are the ones you're looking for." Brian said. Mandy looked down and studied the two movies she held. Her face lit up.

"Wow, hey! They are! Thanks, Brian!" She gave him a big grin, then went to check out. It wasn't until she was halfway up the Hill that she realized he hadn't just found two good movies, he'd found the perfectmovies for the situation. The first was How The Grinch Stole Christmas starring Jim Carrey. It was the perfect movie for the time of year (one of Mandy's favorites, in fact) plus it centered around a guy who lived in an amazing invention-filled fortress on top of a mountain and happened to be an unrecognized genius. The second movie was Disney's Pinochio, which fit Edward's story almost to a T. Perfect. But how could he have known to pick those two?

"Everyone has secrets."

Did he know? Mandy's pace slowed as she thought of this. If Brian knew, then who else could know? Her friends? No...Levi didn't act like he knew. And no one else had said anything. No, no one else knew. And how could Brian know? It was impossible. Mandy pushed the thought from her mind. The movies were just coincidental. And that was that.

Edward was happier than he had been in a long time. Mandy came up every day that she could. When she couldn't come, he didn't worry about her never coming back. They were good friends now, much better friends than he'd been with anyone when he'd come down the mountain fifty years previous. Mandy wasn't worried about him fitting in...she was just his friend. They had explored a little more (though rather cautiously since the first day) and found the Library. Since then, Edward had learned the story of Rumpelstiltskin, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Carrie, by a rather scary man named Stephen King.

Tonight, Mandy was bringing movies. Edward had seen one movie with the Boggs and had enjoyed it very much. He was excited to watch another. He loved watching the tiny people move around, telling stories.

"Edward!" Mandy's voice drifted up to him from the front hall. He made his way down the stairs.

"Hello, Mandy!" he said, smiling at her. She held up her army-green messenger bag.

"Movies!" She explained. "Come on, let's go to the library. We can put the player on the coffee table and sit on the comfy couch in front of the fire...it's cold!" Edward nodded. It wascold...he had already had Joseph (the large, woodcutting/chimneysweep robot) build fires in the front hall, the sitting room, and the library...the three places he and Mandy frequented. The two of them made their way down one of the hallways toward the library, chatting as they went. It was strange: a week and a half earlier, he had barely been able to say two words to her. Edward wasn't exactly Chatty-Cathy or anything, but he was a thousand times more relaxed than before. The difference was phenomenal.

"I've got two movies. I figure we can watch one tonight and one tomorrow night." Mandy said. Edward nodded his agreement as they set up the DVD player (a strange contraption that came folded up. DVD's were even stranger...little plastic circles with holes in the middle...very odd indeed.)

"There. Let's watch this one first...it's one of my very favorites!" Mandy said, putting How the Grinch Stole Christmas into the player. She skipped over to the wall and turned out the lights, so the only sources of light were the fire and the DVD player. She returned to her seat next to Edward on the couch as the movie began with its magnificent journey into a snowflake.

"Inside of a snowflake like the one on your sleeve, there happened a story you must see to believe." Mandy glanced at Edward. From those first few words, spoken by the admirable Anthony Hopkins, he was mesmerized. She smiled and made herself comfortable, pleased with her choice. Brian's choice, a voice in the back of her head reminded her. She sighed, pushing the thought from her head once more, concentrating on the movie.

Edward was instantly in love with the movie. He loved snow, and the idea that a tiny world lived inside of a snowflake amused him. He also loved the characters and the little town of Whoville. And he found the story very near to his own heart...seeing as he knew what it was like to live by himself at the top of a mountain, though he rather wished he had a dog like Max to keep him company. In short, he found the movie simply magnificent. As it ended, he found he had a grand idea or three for some ice-sculptures.

He made to get up, but found a weight pinning his leg to the seat. He looked down in surprise; Mandy had fallen asleep, her head resting on his knee. He hadn't even noticed. His feelings mixed suddenly; Mandy was definitely asleep, and thus he didn't want to disturb her. But he didn't like her on his knee like that–what if something bad happened like it often did when people touched him? And he really wanted to go sculpt ice...at the very thought, his scissors twitched in anticipation. He held his breath, willing his scissors to stop snipping, lest he clip Mandy by mistake. What should he do?

"If a lady is making you uncomfortable, you don't have to stay...simply carefully extract yourself from the situation. Isn't etiquette marvelous? It always gives us a way out of uncomfortable situations!" Liam's voice floated back to Edward. Slowly, carefully, Edward eased his knee out from under Mandy's head. Without warning, her head flopped down onto the couch. He winced, watching her.

"Mehh." she grumbled, her nose wrinkling. But thankfully, she remained asleep. Edward breathed a sigh of relief; his leg was free. He stood and quietly left the room. He ignored the warm spot on his leg where her head had been with a fierce determination. He hadn't liked it there at all.

It was only a little more than ten minutes later when Mandy awoke, confused.

"Where's the movie?" She asked, sitting up and staring at the DVD player's screensaver. The last thing she remembered was brave Cindy Lu Who going up the mountain to invite the Grinch to the Whobilation...and now it was over? For a few minutes, she watched the logo bounce around the screen, then she looked at Edward...only he wasn't there.

"Edward?" Mandy stood up and looked around. He wasn't in the library. She realized he must have gone upstairs so he wouldn't disturb her. She smiled. He was such a sweet guy. She climbed the many stairs to Edward's attic bedroom. She had offered to help him fix up the place, but he had declined, saying he liked it.

As she neared the top of the stairs, she heard a sound she'd never heard before: the fast-paced snipping of many sets of scissors at once. Her breath caught in her chest-it was the sound of Edward Scissorhands at work. She crept into the attic, not wanting to disturb him. He was hacking away at a block of ice, a snowflake in the making. Mandy sat down on the floor, watching him silently, her mouth open. It was the most amazing thing she'd ever seen. He stabbed and clipped furiously at the ice, the shavings flying through the air, looking remarkably like snow For the first time since she'd met him, Edward's movements were precise and confident. This was Edward in his true element. He was an artist.

Edward's scissors finally slowed.He stepped back to admire his work–a snowflake with a globe in its center. It was definitely a memoir of the movie he'd just seen.

"Oh! I get it! Dude, that's so awesome!" Mandy cried before she could stop herself. She clapped her hands over her mouth. She hadn't meant to say anything at all. Edward whirled around, embarrassed. But his brown eyes darkened, his face hardening.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded. Mandy's own face clouded over. She had never seen him like this before. He didn't seem scared as much as he seemed...defensive. Had she intruded too much by watching him sculpt?

"Wh–." she began, then realized Edward wasn't looking at her, but behind her, toward the door. Mandy turned to look as well. Her face paled.

"Brian..." she whispered. "No..."

End Chapter Six.

I know it was slightly short, but don't worry...the other chapter is written.

To Be Explained:

The movies - I really went nuts with those, didn't I? I don't know where the heck that came from. . . but you have to admit, they fit. And remember Pinochio, that gets important sometime later.

All the stuff that we missed - I know I could've given it a chapter all it's own where they discover the library and read books and such, but then I thought to myself, why? Nothing really phenomenal happens there...they just become better friends and hang out and stuff. More important things are happening here.

Mandy's Dad - Yes...it's cliche. But you've got to admit, Mandy herself is pretty cliche, right?

That's it for now...review! I told you how that inspires me, right? '

AJ