Author's Note 1: A warning here-IF you haven't watched Princess Bride, then you may be confused over some of this chapter. My greatest apologies, I promise I will get off the Princess Bride wagon in the next chapter ;)
Chapter 7 Inconceivable Texts
Text conversation with Belle was a baffling, wonderful thing. Not that he really knew how normal people texted, seeing as Jeff, Regina and three places where he unwittingly supplied his phone number and was now constantly receiving text alerts were the only people who had ever texted him. Jeff only texted when he had zoned out over an upcoming issue at work and then wanted information and acted like it suddenly became the most important thing to him and he couldn't wait until the next time they saw each other at work. Regina's were alerts, giving notice that she would be in the building on any given day. There was no family-obviously no other friends. But-Now there was Belle.
Sunday night's text was a simple: Thank you, again, for a wonderful day. Already looking forward to Friday!
There was nothing else to do than to give a simple reply of affirmation of his own enjoyment of the day. However, on Monday he was met with a startling text that left him reeling and wondering how to reply for a good ten minutes.
I'm in my American Literature class right now and the teacher has issued another work from Poe we have to read. I've read it, The Fall of the House of Usher, probably twice because I wanted to give it a chance, but I hate it! Have you read any Poe? Do you like it? What am I missing that makes it so popular?
He stared at the screen. This wasn't a simple informative text giving him the ability to give simple replies that took little effort and very few reasons to over analyze the answers. This was a conversation. She had opinions and wanted to know his, in return.
After the tenth minute he forced his hands to begin typing. He imagined her in his minds' eye, that she was just standing there, all smiles, and turning her face so she would not pressure him. Unfortunately this was not some request for information about his job, or wondering how to find out the history of a certain object-those dealt with facts, certainties. As much as he tried to imagine that his phone was merely like the notebook, and she would most likely be all smiles regardless, not being there to be able to analyze (or over analyze as the case might be) her facial expressions made him feel lost and his chest tighten.
I've read a little Poe. This was a fact. He could handle that sentence. They had talked briefly of their own mutual interest in the written word-mostly just to acknowledge that he also had an interest in classic literature, and not just because some of their first editions were so valuable.
I can see why you would not enjoy it. He could too. Someone with as much internal light as Belle would most likely have a hard time with the darker moments that Poe boasted.
However… And here went his Belle was all graciousness and light, his past experience with going against what was hoped or expected of him had disastrous consequences. She couldn't hurt him-wouldn't hurt him, he assured himself, and went ahead as bravely as a coward like him could.
I believe what attracts readers to Poe is how he paints pictures (sometimes quite eerie, creepy pictures, for sure) with such detail and the readers' ability to feel the emotional tension as well as see it in their mind's eye. Poe isn't for everyone, though, and I understand why there are those who do not enjoy it as much.
With shaky fingers he pressed send, his chest tightened even more and his breath felt short and difficult. He ran those shaky fingers through his stringy hair wishing he could even send a text without feeling as if he might have a panic attack at any moment. His phone vibrated. It had taken her not even a minute to do what had taken him ten minutes and she was at school! He truly was pathetic-no need for his father's internal voice to tell him anything there. He glanced at his phone.
Well, unfortunately, this is how I feel when I read Poe. And directly below it a Princess Bride meme with Count Rugan declaring he had sucked a year of Westley's life away.
Robby chuckled when he saw it and all the tension and nerves that had built up, worrying him over disagreeing with Belle slowly unraveled. He made his phone react to the meme, not that he had much experience with such things, but Jeff had a tendency to react to all of Robby's texts that way. Robby always thought the boy was too lazy to give a reply-then again, it was probably the hip thing to do these days, and it seemed the correct way to reply to Belle's declaration.
That last text began the trend of five days worth of Princess Bride memes to build up to the movie they would see that Friday.
He made some comment about Jeff's lack of professional clothing on Tuesday. He described the juvenile t-shirt he insisted on wearing underneath some sort of polkadot navy button down, each battling it out for which layer could be the loudest and therefore ugliest.
Jeff keeps telling me this is professional wear because he added something with a collar and buttons. Professional… And he added the meme that quoted 'You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.'
Belle replied with the laughing emoji and he found he could see her in his mind's eye with her eyes dancing and her sweet laughing expression, and he chuckled at the mental image.
Wednesday found him wistfully cataloging the building's collection. When Regina figured that he and Jeff had nothing better to do, or she acquired some sort of new piece for the collection, she had him analyze the pieces like he did when a new exhibit came in. Each piece was picked up, looked over for any issues-as this part of the building did not accommodate for the temperature control they should receive and they lived in a humid climate-thus making necessary the need for semi frequent checks. It had been done six months prior, and Regina simply wanted to make sure everything was ready for the pieces to be displayed as soon as the lull in artist spotlights came into full swing.
Robby felt his phone vibrate and seeing that Regina had already made her demands known, and Jeff was a few feet away from him, it left only one person who would be texting him and he smiled as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.
Finally out of school. Is it Friday yet? (I'm in the pit of despair! Not really, I just am trying to insert the quota amount of Princess Bride references to our texts) This week has felt especially long. However, there is a light at the end of this tunnel. The teachers are already speaking about finals. Also! I am making great headway on the creative writing paper. Thanks again, Robby!
'What's got you smiling? Normally you are complaining about Regina wasting your time down here. Actually-now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen you smile. It's weird.'
Jeff's comment wiped the happy feeling right off in a second and he pulled his face into a more neutral expression, though if he had to bet it was probably now teetering on looking annoyed.
'It's Little Beauty, isn't it?'
He grunted in response, and Jeff smirked.
'It's my lunch break, We'll finish this later.' He groaned and walked off and turned on his phone again to reply to his Little Beauty, and since Jeff was nowhere around, he allowed what he knew had to be a stupid, goofy grin, to come back. The last three days of communication with Belle had lessened his fears surrounding texting her. She always had a way of making things that seemed even the most mundane of actions surrounding her day interesting, and his day was made better with the addition of her words peppering the hours.
Alas, it isn't Friday yet, though your texts help the week not feel as long as they normally do. I'm about to take lunch-the only thing that would make it better if you were here to share it with me.
He had to admit, he was a little nervous sending that text. However, Belle's own brave spirit seemed to give him some honesty, if not exactly bravery. A few seconds later he felt the familiar vibration.
As you Wish
The text confused him. He was used to the Princess Bride quotes and memes and while he, of course, understood the reference, he was confused at the declaration. Giving a fleeting thought that the library was only a couple of blocks away from the art and humanities building, he haltingly went to the side entrance and there, all pink cheeked from the cool waning winter wind and smiling was the Little Beauty, herself-His wonderful Belle. In her hand was her own lunch box.
'I hope you meant that text, though I have to admit, I had already thought about surprising you anyway and hoped you wouldn't mind too much if I barged in on your lunch time.'
She reddened and shifted her feet a little nervously though her voice spoke of endless bouts of confidence.
'I'm certainly not unhappy you're here, c'mon in through here.' The stupid grin was there-he knew it but didn't have the heart to control it, as it seemed to give Belle reason to strengthen her own beautiful smile. She smirked happily at his little quip, so far from the inability to speak to her at all that had been the state of things not so long ago. He had never gone to therapy-since he might have to talk about personal things, however, he was sure that if someone could bottle up Belle's sunshine, it would be the cure to whatever curse he dealt with.
She followed in beside him and his monotonous week, and her busy one was broken up by the pleasant though short conversation. They broke away, and he at least, was happier than he had been the entire week, and at the time he didn't think he could have been more content than he had been that Belle was having a consistent conversation with him.
He controlled his expressions enough to trade out with Jeff and discovered that just the memory of his lunch with Belle was quite distracting to his employment-though since it currently only consisted of merely looking for flaws in art pieces, he didn't see the harm.
Thursday it rained. Sometimes he wondered why he lived in such a humid climate, though he argued that any further north he would be dealing with longer cold seasons. The temperature dipped nowhere close to freezing, yet the damp air ate at his bones. Every step screamed at him, and he refused to mount any stairs, thankful that Jeff seemed in an extra energetic mood. He was mostly keeping the place maintained, his mind desperately trying to escape the pain by doing what was his current favorite, yet anxiety ridden, past time-thinking of the future.
He had just started to sweat from the sheer amount of obstacles in his path to fulfill his promise to Belle (even if she didn't know such a promise existed), when he felt his phone vibrate. He was smiling before he even read the text and laughed aloud when he saw the familiar giant asking him if anybody wanted a peanut.
But no really-I'm thinking of preparing some snacks for our movie night. Are you allergic to anything?
He replied to the negative and they cemented their plans for the following day-what time, where to pick her up (they had both been silent on the ending of their last date-her texting him had assured him that she had made it to class and then work alright, and he had yet been brave enough to broach the subject). It was agreed for him to pick her up at the library and then take her back home afterwards. She didn't want to leave her car at the library, so her friend Ruby had decided they could work on a group project together at the library before her afternoon shift.
That being all squared away, he had only to wait for the building to close that Friday, and then wait an extra hour for Belle's shift to end.
She came out dressed in her usual smiles, and her tastefully put together clothing ensemble that, Robby smiled, was proof that at least someone in this newer generation knew what a professional dress code meant. She was beautiful, well put together, and apparently still keen on being with him. As soon as he saw her he got out of his car he beamed at her.
'Well, that was an inconceivably long week, wasn't it' Her eyes were dancing, he loved it when they did that.
'That it was, but I-well, the texts helped.' He spoke lamely.
'And we haven't even run out of Princess Bride memes! I think I have another twenty saved on my phone just waiting for the right occasion. But yeah, I've enjoyed it too.' Her smile had made it all the way up to her dancing eyes.
They made their way to the park and at the designated time, the movie played and despite the amount of times each person had seen it, they each laughed at just the appropriate times. Halfway through the movie, Robby realized that he was quite comfortable enough to chuckle at the funny bits, and hadn't worried over whether she would judge him if he laughed at all, too frequently, or not enough. It seemed Belle French had a way about her that made him feel more at ease than he had ever felt before, and he couldn't help but glance over at her from time to time and bask in gratefulness that she had taken a chance on someone like him. He just hoped it took her a good long time to figure out he wasn't worth the effort.
Author's Note 2:I hope you enjoyed that fun chapter! Coming up with texts that I felt like would be in character for Robby to give was probably the hardest part. Belle is basically me-I really tried to give Poe a chance, and though I really like the imagery he is able to show through words, it's just too dark for me, lol
Fun fact-since this story is based on my town, the library here is also near the art and humanities building :)
I feel like my story, though I have plans, things are just not as concrete-plot wise-as some of my other stories. I hope you are all still enjoying it, regardless!