Thanks to LRW, ABEDFAN (yay, glad you liked it!), Dirtkid123, Sarcasmisinmyblood, and AlienGhostWizard14 for the reviews! I still haven't forgotten what I owe you guys. ;)
Day twenty's entry is a little bit more cheerful than these past ones. I'm trying my hand at romance again, but this time with a new pairing I kind of want to play with, which is Adam/S-1. This story takes after the library scene in the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast.
Onto day twenty!
/day twenty/
Prompt: Beauty and the Beast
Featured LR character(s): Adam, S-1
"Something There (That May've Been There Before)"
'You know, you and I are not very different.'
"Can you tell me now where we're going?"
"No. You have to wait and see. We're almost there."
He hears a door squeak. "…Are you going to trap me in a room and leave me there?"
She chuckles as she gently leads him ahead, her hands on his shoulders. "No. Why would I do that?"
"I don't know. A prank? Chase and Bree have done that to me before."
After a few paces, they stop. "I'm not going to do that to you," she says. "And – thanks for not saying that I would do it because I'm a psycho." She reaches for the doorknob behind her with one hand, the other still covering his eyes, and then pushes it to shut the door. "Okay. Are you ready?" She flicks on a switch, causing a few lights in the back of the room to turn on.
When Adam opens his eyes, he sees a screen set up ahead, a projector, and two chairs, each draped with a blanket, facing the makeshift movie system. On another table near the chairs, he sees an abundant amount of food, food that he loves, arranged upon it. He grins as he swivels around to look at her. "What? What is this?" he asks.
S-1, or Taylor, as Adam had thought her name should be, smiles. "Well, you said that it's been a while since you've gotten a chance to relax. So, I put this together for you," she replies as she watches him hurry to the table to examine the array of food.
"You're really going to let me have candy at twelve o'clock at night?" Adam asks.
Taylor takes the chair on the right then places the blanket on her lap. "I'm not your mom," she says. "You can do whatever you want."
Adam smiles at her. He looks over the choices, and then picks up the small container of chocolate chip cookies to start with. "You want some?" he offers as he reclines on the chair beside hers.
Taylor stares at the box of small desserts. She doesn't really have an appetite for any, but she doesn't want to refuse this act of generosity. It's through little things like these that Adam shows her his kindness. "Thanks," she says as she picks up one, telling herself for what must have been the twentieth time that she's not allowed to fall for someone who's only offering her friendship.
Adam, unaware of this, only browses through the dozen of cookies. "Where did you get these from?" he asks after taking one.
"The cafeteria," she says. "I dug through the pantry, and I found these in the very back."
"Someone's been hiding them?"
"I don't know. It seems like it," she says with a grin.
Adam frowns thoughtfully as he mulls it over, but then he decides it's too inconsequential to dwell on. "We're here to watch a movie?" he asks.
"Um, well," she shifts uncomfortably, hoping desperately that he wouldn't think she had forced him to a date, "only if you want to. I just figured that, you know, you said relax and…I was told that movies are relaxing."
A smirk pulls on his lips. "At twelve o'clock at night?" he asks.
She rolls her eyes. "You're busy throughout the day, okay? This is the only time I can find for you," she answers with a grin.
"Alright, alright," he says. "What do we have to watch?"
She pulls out her tablet, turns it on, and then brings up a small list. "I don't really know," she says, handing it to him. "You pick."
"Okay…" He scrolls through the selection, and then points to one, saying, "What about this? Back to the Future. It's a classic. Have you seen this?"
"No," she says, smiling at him sadly. "I haven't seen any movie. Not as far as I remember."
Adam stares at her and feels bad for even asking. How could he have forgotten that? To amend his mistake, he says, "Oh, well, this is actually a really good one to start with. Like I said, it's a classic. There's some science stuff, but it's not very boring because the story makes up for it."
Taylor chuckles. "Okay," she says. She gets up from her seat to turn off the lights.
As he starts up the projector then operates the tablet to begin the movie, an inquiry divides Adam's attention. He's been wondering about this since this morning, when she asked him to meet him at the training area near midnight for something important. He wasn't very sure what it was for, but he trusted her and so just went along. He's glad that he had, because although his slight sleepiness prevent him from fully enjoying everything, he sees that she has been listening to him – something that he admittedly doesn't think people do when it comes to the things he say anymore. Still, there's one question left unanswered. "Taylor?"
"Yeah?"
"What is this for?"
Her brows wrinkle. "What?"
"This," he gestures at the things that surround them. "Why did you do all of this?"
She smiles, but he knows she's holding something back. "Short vacation for you," she says.
"I know, but why?"
She thinks it over for a moment, whether she should tell the truth or not. Then, she sighs. "It's just my way of saying thank you," she responds.
"Thank you?"
She nods. "Adjusting hasn't been easy for me. I don't really know exactly what I was before, but it's affected how others treat me now. My siblings still don't trust me, and I have a feeling they don't want to accept me yet. Your family's been very nice, but I can tell that all of the bad things I had done, I've done the worst to all of you," she explains. She hesitates for a moment before asking, "I did, didn't I?"
"Did what?"
"Something bad?" she supplies. "What did I do?"
Adam smiles a small smile. "You don't want to know," he says.
"I do," she insists. "I mean, your brother kept attacking me when I first came here, and I know it's because he's scared. I need to know why." When he continues in silence, she asks, disheartened, "I tried to get rid of him, didn't I?"
Adam doesn't say anything.
Taylor tries not to lose so much heart at this. "I know it'll be a while until everyone understands that I'm different now—"
"We do know you're different."
"Yeah, but, I mean in a way that people won't feel awkward when they're around me," she explains. She looks at him. She smiles. "You're different, Adam," she says. "You're nice to me, and you treat me like I'm a friend. I really just appreciate that, so I did this."
Adam nods. He leans back on the chair as the first scene of the movie comes to view, but he doesn't pay attention. "You know, you and I are not very different," he says.
Taylor tilts her head inquisitively. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not very intelligent – not even somewhat intelligent – and everyone makes fun of me for it. My siblings do, and it kinda makes me feel like the oddball of the family, especially since everyone is a genius. It's like I'm a mistake, you know?" he tells her. He scoffs. "Plus, look at this. I'm nearly twenty years-old, and I still get excited when I see candy."
She smiles. "If it's any consolation, I think that anyone who doesn't get excited at the sight of any candy is a weirdo," she says.
He laughs. "Well," he shrugs, "thanks."
She nods, happy that she has cheered him up.
They lapse into silence for a while. When the scene changes into the family having dinner, Adam smiles. "I know you said you don't remember much of what happened a few months ago, but do you have any memory of what happened the first time we met?" he asks.
She shakes her head.
He grins. "Good."
She chuckles. "Why? What happened?"
"Nothing much. My introduction was just a fail. I told you what my name was, and you punched me clear to the other side of the room."
She laughs, covering her face as it burns up out of embarrassment. "No!"
"Yes, you did," Adam says. He picks up another cookie from the box casually before adding, "And, uh, you also told Bree that you think Chase is cute."
"Chase?"
He nods. "Yeah."
"Oh," she says, a thoughtful frown on her face.
"Why? You still think he's cute?"
"Well, I mean, Chase is an adorable guy, but – I don't like him like that."
Adam nods as if it only mildly interested him, though inwardly he's thrilled to hear that bit of information. "Oh, okay."
She stares at him for a while, unsure what's going on. Then, a smile slowly pulls at her lips. "Am I missing something here?" she asks.
He looks at her straight in the eyes and smiles. "Maybe," he says, thinking how she's still as beautiful as she was on the first time he saw her.
It doesn't take long for her to understand. When she does, she turns her eyes back to the screen and then nestles closer to her chair, pulling up the blanket farther past her shoulders to bury the bright smile that has emerged on her features and the rosy hue coloring her cheeks.
Can you guess who's who in this? ;)
Reviews are appreciated!
