Lexi stowed her trunk under her bed and flopped down on the soft sheets, sighing with delight. A vacation! Finally! An actual vacation! And it wouldn't end up with a whole oh-no-here-comes-another-threat-to-humanity sort of thing again…hopefully.
What to do first? Well, take Slam to the beach to makes sand witches and sandwiches… Lexi chuckled quietly. With any luck, Slam wouldn't start eating the actual sand.
As she contemplated on the vacation's plans, her mind wandered to Ace. She frowned unconsciously as she remembered reading the magazine. Tabloid would be a more appropriate word.
"Ace and Lexi – 'just cousins'? Or one true pairing?" the headline practically screamed. Lexi scoffed. "They need to hire a better headline writer," she muttered to herself.
"The Now and Then? Yeah, they do. Even I can come up with better lines than that."
Lexi sat up, startled. Duck was leaning in the doorway, casually checking his fingernails (if there were any in the first place).
"How did you-"
"You left the door open," he pointed out.
"…oh." Lexi felt her cheeks burn. "Well, why are you here then?"
"Hospitable, aren't you?"
"Well, normally, people don't just stroll into someone else's room without knocking."
"Point taken. Can I come in then?" Duck asked. Lexi nodded and he walked in, whistling an ancient tune. "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing much…I was just thinking when you came in."
"Thinking about the tabloids?" Duck laughed at Lexi's expression. "What, wrong answer?"
"No – how did you know that?" Lexi asked, bemused.
"I know things," Duck said simply. "And they do need a better headline writer. I bet they just pick up any creative hack online and pay them a couple hundred quasarlinium a month to come up with a bunch of really stupid lines. It bothers me when I read them. Er, when I see them, I mean, I don't really read those things."
"Right," Lexi replied, unconvinced. Duck shrugged.
"Hey, I get bored."
"So do I, but I do better things than read the tabloids."
"Then I don't suppose you've read this?" Duck threw a copy of the Acmetropolis: Now and Then on the bed, the holographic images jittering as the circuits in the board rattled around. Lexi picked it up, but then screen lost focus and flickered. She growled and gave the back a good whack with the flat of her hand.
Magazines and books were often "printed" on circuit boards with loose wires and buttons, to save time and money, because most of the things were pitched into the recyclers after the first read-through. Many "printer" companies didn't bother with making sure their products were of the best quality. This usually led to magazine pictures to lose quality, or even completely disappear when a wire popped off, or a button was jolted against the front screen.
After a few good slaps, the screen came back into focus, and the headline blazed across the screen like a banner.
Ace and Lexi – 'just cousins'? Or one true pairing?The picture of Ace and Lexi standing in the park, laughing together was on the screen. Lexi stared for a few seconds, then set it aside, insides squirming. She felt something – it felt unusually like guilt. Guilt? What guilt could that be?
"So tell me – 'just cousins'?" Duck asked, the corner of his mouth twitching.
"Oh, be quiet, Duck," Lexi snapped.
"Well, maybe a couple of generations ago, 'just cousins' would have let you slide-"
"Quit it!"
"All right, all right, I'm just sayin'," Duck said teasingly. As Lexi continued to glower at him, he added, "I was just curious, 's all, 'bout you and Ace. I mean, everyone thinks – er, that is to say, everyone suspects – it's just a rumor, but-"
"I wish," Lexi muttered under her breath as Duck shrugged again.
"What was that? Didn't catch that."
"I said, I wish, all right?"
"You wish what?" Duck asked innocently, eyes twinkling. Lexi glared at him and walked over to the glass door leading out to the balcony.
"I wish…I wish that I honestly knew what Ace thought of all this," she said quietly, staring at the clear blue sky.
"Ask him." Duck grinned. "It's not that hard. And then ask him out."
"What are you implying?" Lexi said sharply, turning around. The bird had seated himself on the edge of the bed.
"Oh, nothing. It's just that, you know, whenever you're around him lately, your laugh is more forced, your heart and breathing rates go up, your eyes are just staring at him while he's not paying attention to that, you don't actually pay any attention to what he's saying…" Duck grinned at Lexi's shocked expression. "Hey, just 'cause I act dumb doesn't mean I really am."
"Well, if you're so smart, can you tell me what should I do?"
"Ask him out?"
"Besides that?"
Duck shrugged for the third time. "Hey, do I look like a shrink to you? Hey now, don't look like that," he said suddenly as Lexi turned away again. "You'll figure out something."
"Yeah, I guess," Lexi said absently, staring outside again. "But until then…I guess I'll just be on my own…" she murmured, almost forgetting that Duck was right behind her.
"Erm…if…if you want, we could go…er, go out for dinner or something…"
Lexi swiveled around. Duck was rubbing the back of his head, a nervous habit all guys seem to have. He grinned sheepishly. "Y'know, just 'till you figure out something. So you won't be on your own. And maybe Ace'll get jealous and ask you out on his own? I dunno, I'm just trying to help," he added quickly, laughing nervously.
Lexi stared, and after a short silence, grinned. "Why not?" she said, walking over to Duck and giving him a hug. "Y'know, for a egotist, you aren't such a bad guy."
"The ladies can't resist the confidence." Duck smirked as Lexi pulled away and punched his shoulder lightly.
"Ah, shut up. We're just going as friends."
"Just as friends? Or one true pairing?" Duck mimicked the tabloid as Lexi laughed. They talked and laughed together for half an hour, and when Slam and Rev came down, begging to go to the beach, they were still chortling as they parted, each going to get their things.
GASP DRAMA HAS STARTED
song two - Take Me Out
alternate title: OTP
(Lol. Fits, dunnit.)
WOW TWO CHAPTERS.
Maybe I'll ACTUALLY FINISH WRITING THIS FANFICTION!
Oh, yeah, and I found my flash drive.
DING
Take Me Out (c) Franz Ferdinand
Loonatics Unleashed and all related characters (c) WB
story (c) me (maaaaybe ;D)