Pepper smiled against his shoulder, swaying along with him, letting him hold her close. Her gloved hands rested, one on his shoulder beneath her chin, the other in his strong warm hand, fingers intertwined.
"Aldrich?" she whispered, bending her head to the side and resting it against his shoulder once more.
"Yes, darling?"
"I don't want you to leave," she sighed. Only five days remained and she'd have to see him off.
His arm looped more tightly around her pale green party dress. "I know. I don't want to leave you either."
She sighed, lifting her head to watch her friends, dancing amongst them with their own dates. The sorority's winter formal would've been perfect if it had not decided to snow just hours before the event started. Of course, Pepper was already at the venue helping to decorate, but all the other ladies and their beaus had gotten caught in the season's first storm.
Besides that, it was a perfect way to end the semester, and to spend another night with Aldrich before he was shipped off. She had all but forgotten about the incident in the car a few weeks prior, deciding it to be unimportant and only an accident. She was never one to make excuses for others, but this was Aldrich after all. He had always been so sweet and tender, nothing but a gentleman. The kind of man her mother would've wanted her to marry.
After the last song, the party concluded, girls making their goodbyes to friends and dates catching quiet moments in the corner. When Aldrich led her out to his car, she was still waving at her friends, wishing them happy holidays before finally ducking into the Cadilac.
"I suppose I'll give you your Christmas present early," he said, smiling over at her as they drove. The street lights glowed, illuminating the patches of snow along the road. He turned onto the road leading to her dormitory, and parked, switching off the engine.
"What is it?" she asked excitedly.
"I would've liked to do this properly, but tonight seems fitting enough." He fumbled in the pocket of his overcoat, tugging out a small, velvet box.
Just the right size to hold a ring.
"Aldrich!" she squeaked, covering her mouth.
He passed it to her, grinning at her shock. "I told you I would."
She looked to him, mimicking his smile and opened the lid. A huge diamond stared back at her, glittering and round and…monotonous.
Suddenly she couldn't catch her breath. The air was dry and there was a pit in her stomach now. Something that told her this wasn't good. That this wasn't it.
"Aldrich…" she breathed again.
"I know," he said smiling. "Its beautiful. It was my grandmother's." He took the box once again and plucked the ring from within it. He reached for her hand, but she tugged away.
"I haven't said yes yet," she said, holding her hand close to her chest.
"Well…" he said, grasping her fingers. "Won't you?"
The brevity of it all crashed on her shoulders, like a heavy weight on her back. She wasn't sure. She had been…but now…so quickly and so unprepared…
"No," she breathed.
"No?" he asked, glaring.
"No. I can't. I…" She brushed her bangs from her eyes. "I'm sorry. I just…don't…I'm not sure…I don't…"
"Don't what?" he asked, fury gleaming in his eyes in the yellow lamplight filtering into the car.
"I don't…" she stammered.
"Don't love me?"
"I…" she faltered. "I do. But I don't know if I'm ready for all of this. I'm young and I…you're young and….we…"
"You had no problems when we discussed it before…"
"I didn't know I was committing to anything right then!"
Aldrich closed the box with a snap, throwing it to the floorboard at Pepper's feet.
"Forget it. Forget I asked. How about we just forget we've even been in a relationship for a year and a half, huh? You'll forget me as soon as I leave anyways, once you start seeing Stark all the time."
"Aldrich, you know that's not…"
"Not what?!" he shouted, startling her, his perfectly coiffed hair breaking free in wild strands. "Not true?! Look me in the eyes and tell me it isn't true!" He reached forward, grabbing her chin, but Pepper didn't even flinch.
Silence settled, the only sound their breathing, heavy and pressed.
"Please get your hand off me," she said, eerily calm.
Several moments ticked past, but Pepper held her ground, her eyes staring back into his own. Eventually, his grip loosened and he backed away, easing into his seat, his hand lowering to his side.
Silently, she gathered her purse from the car floor, ignoring the black little cube there next to it. Trying to pretend it hadn't existed.
"Goodbye, Aldrich," she said softly, opening the door and moving out slowly. Quietly, she tip-toed up the steps and towards the door. But she didn't go inside. Her back pressed against the cool brick of the wall at the corner of the building, where she was unseen by Aldrich as he revved his engine and drove away.
She took a few breaths, but was unable to calm herself. The tears sprang up, trickling over her face in thick tracks. She heard herself sob, echoing around the slick, unforgiving walls of the buildings around her.
A crunch of snow nearby made her jump. She glanced up, hoping she hadn't caught anyone's attention, but it was him. His black hair stood in tousled bunches, unkempt. His striped sweater and thick wool coat looked so warm and inviting, reminding her that she had left her own coat in Aldrich's car. She shivered involuntarily against the dry, stinging air.
"Oh, its you," she said, bitterness thick in her voice. She swatted the tears away from her eyes with her lace gloved hands. "Well isn't that perfect," she spat.
Tony took a step towards her. "I saw everything. Are you ok?" He spoke slowly and quietly.
"I'm fine. I'm fine, ok?" she said, tugging at her stupid party gloves, stained with mascara.
"No, obviously you're not. When I asked, I didn't mean were you emotionally ok. I can see that you aren't," he said, earning him a glare. "I meant are you ok physically? He grabbed you like that, Pepper…" He shook his head. "That's not ok."
"He didn't hurt me," she said, her voice evening out. But then she spun on him again. "What do you do all night anyways? Peek into cars and try to play hero? Walk around campus and wait for girls to crash their bicycles into you?"
"I can't sleep," he said softly, almost hurt. "I walk around to ease my mind. Excuse me for trying to help."
She watched him turn, but her hand reached out for his elbow. The new wool was soft beneath her fingers.
He watched her, saw the tears glittering in her eyes. But behind that he saw the same loneliness he knew all too well. The desperate and helpless need of a friend. Of someone to stay.
So he did.
He turned to her again. "Its not even ten o'clock. What do you say to an ice cream sundae?"
His mother's tactics would come to good use he supposed, when at last she agreed and hurried inside her dorm to grab a coat.
-O-O-O-
She sat awkwardly in the booth in her mint green party dress, the crinoline beneath scratching into her legs. Her hair was still pinned up in a neat twist, her earrings still glittering in her ears. And across from her, the millionaire's son sat dressed like a vagabond in his sweater, jeans, and coat. In the glaring light of the diner, she could see that his eyes were reddened and purpled with lack of sleep, but still a deep shade of bourbon brown that she'd never seen before.
"Why can't you sleep?" she asked, sipping at the coke they were sharing.
He shrugged. "Dunno. I've never been good at slowing my mind down."
He took his own straw between his lips and sipped before starting again. "I try to go to the lab, work some, tinker around. But it just makes it worse."
She didn't know how to respond, how to help. So she remained silent.
The waitress brought their sundae and she grimaced at the large bowl topped with everything but the kitchen sink.
"What? I thought you wanted ice cream," he said, digging in.
"I'm allergic to strawberries," she admitted.
He laughed, spooning one up. "Really?" He held it out to her teasingly and she flinched back.
"I'll just eat around them." She picked up her spoon and took a bite.
He wanted to ask her about Aldrich, but decided it was best if they avoided the subject for now. He didn't want to upset her again, and what he'd seen in the parking lot was pretty self-explanatory.
So they ate in silence. Until she spoke again.
"What are your plans for Christmas?"
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'm going home to Long Island. For Thanksgiving, my dad had a business meeting in California so we spent the time there. But now Mom's insisting that we stay home. She's got all these traditions she likes to do…and my dad actually takes the day of to be with us."
"That's nice." She smiled.
"Yeah sure. Until he makes up some excuse to leave."
She leaned back in the booth. "Well, I'm from Queens."
He glanced up over his spoon. "Really?"
She nodded. "We should go out sometime…I mean…" She caught herself, and cleared her throat as if to erase her words. Her cheeks reddened suddenly. "I just meant that we should…"
He chuckled. "Hang out. I gotcha. Don't worry about it."
The woman behind the counter ran them out at exactly ten, trying to close up shop and get home before the snow got any worse. Tony offered to drive Pepper back home, and she obliged. His car was even nicer than Aldrich's. She suspected that his father kept his son up to date with the latest automobiles, and her suspicions were confirmed when he told her this was his second car since he'd had a license.
He slowed the car to a stop in front of her building and she opened the door, letting in the bitter air and a few bits of snow that stuck to her hair. He reached over to pluck them free.
"I had a nice…I mean…Thank you," she stammered again.
"No problem, Pepper. See you during the holidays?" he asked, hoping she'd make good on the promise.
She nodded and leaned over to kiss to cheek softly, casually. "Thank again, Tony. Goodnight."
She hurried out of the car, skipping up the stairs by two. Tony smiled, and waved when she turned to glance at him before entering her building safely.
When he drove away, his cheek was tingling. Burning pleasantly where her lips had been.
He smiled to himself in the darkness.
Even alone, he didn't feel so lonely anymore.