Okay, Third chapter's here! :) I wanted to post it a tad sooner but I honestly didn't get the chance; I've been a little piled up lately. Since I have a lot of studying to do, chapters may start coming out a bit... slowlier. Yeah. Lol.
You guys, I'd really apreciate reviews so I'll know what I'm doing about here and whether you're enjoying or not. I've been getting quite a share of hits and few reviews. Not that nine reviews is too little but... -.-" Well, but thank you very much to all who have reviewed! ^^ (and read, of course)
I'll be describing their house a little here so... well, just read the damn thing! x)
CHAPTER 3 – THEIR HOUSE …(felt like home)
"Wow Winry, thanks! It's as delicious as I can remember it."
Al complimented her culinary skills as he munched on a still hot piece of apple pie; he then chugged down a glass of milk.
To him, it didn't feel like she was any different; if anything, she was nicer (at least to Ed). As soon as she got home she looked at him and asked whether he was Alphonse; right after he nodded, she had jumped and hugged him tightly, as she always did, in a brotherly manner.
"Wow! If I'd ever had a brother, I think you'd be him! You're not my brother, are you?" she'd said, which made them all laugh.
Al felt a bit less nervous – she seemed to be ok. He was even more relieved when she asked him to go buy the ingredients for the apple pie, which he gladly did. She seemed normal, just a little forgetful. She smiled at his compliment.
"Thank you! It's funny how I can't really remember any of this, but it all feels so familiar…"
She glanced at Ed – who was already halfway through his slice of pie – and leaned over to look at him closely, which almost caused him to choke. Her brow furrowed.
"Aren't you gonna drink your milk?" she asked in a suspicious tone.
Ed exchanged glances with Alphonse – who sniggered – and then sighed. "Winry, I don't like milk. I just don't drink that."
She looked at Al, who nodded, and then back at Ed, and then at the milk glass sitting innocently in front of him. She quirked an eyebrow.
"Ooookay… That's natural, I guess. People don't like what they don't like. And since you're such a tall guy already, you can do without the milk. It tastes so good though!" She went to get him a glass of water.
The brothers exchanged glances again. 'Normal' Winry would have made fun of him, wouldn't she?
"There ya go!" she said as she handed him a glass of water. She watched as he took a large gulp at it; her expression was… odd. Wait, was she ogling him?
"You're tall and handsome to boot!" she stated matter-of-factly. She noticed his heavy blush and smirked; then she placed her hands on her hips and nodded to herself.
"Actually, I'll correct myself. At the hospital I said you were cute, but I think "hot" is definitely the right adjective."
That remark caused Ed to choke, splutter, and then choke some more, just to end up coughing desperately. Plus, he noticed – after his coughs subsided a little – that he had spluttered water all over his brother, who had been just about to laugh at the whole situation before being showered. Ed apologized to him, still attacked by coughing fits.
"Haha! Sorry for that, I didn't know you were allergic to the truth!" She laughed heartily – and that only caused Ed to cough more frantically.
Finally his coughing subsided and he just sat there, blushing and puzzled. After a small awkward pause, she yawned and rubbed her eyes, like a small child.
"Well, I'm bushed so I'm off to take a nap if you don't mind. I have a room; the one where you dropped my luggage, right?"
The brothers nodded; Al was still a bit offended for being spat on by his brother, and Ed was still a bit flustered.
"Yeah, we'll go wash the dishes… right after I clean myself up." He glanced venomously at Ed; he had actually wanted to make fun of his older brother, but after being spat on he just missed the whole momentum. So he got up and went to the bathroom.
"Okay then… Edo, will you accompany me to my room?"
"W-why do you need me to go there with you? It's just the second door to the right-" He began to argue, unwilling to walk with her to the room where she was going to stay; he was annoyed because of her commentary and mostly at his exaggerated reaction. But she cut him off.
"Pleeeease Edo! I'm afraid I might get lost or something…" She pleaded, wiggling her hips back and forth and fiddling with her fingers in a theatrical way.
"How the hell do you get lost here? This house isn't that big! You just have to climb the stairs and-"
She cut him off again, waving her hand dismissively.
"Fine, fine, I won't ask again since it's rude and all that but… if I get lost and end up crashing in your room, don't blame me! Not that I'd mind though," she grinned, "I bet your bed is real comfortable and smells nice and all…"
There was a trace of mischief in her tone and in the way she smirked at him that made him feel totally disconcerted. The whole idea of her sleeping in his bed was just a little bit too much for him at this point – he'd been fantasizing that for ages. He didn't need the mental picture right now.
So he just shook his head and took a deep breath in, trying to erase those last odd remarks of her as well as the pleasant picture that was forming in his mind. He almost succeeded at doing so – almost.
"Y- Yeah, okay, you win. I don't want you messing up my bed." He grumbled, getting up and grabbing a napkin to clean his chin and the front of his black tank. He felt even weirder when she squealed happily. He swore he heard her say "I'd love to mess up your bed though..." but he dismissed it as a figment of his imagination - though his antenna twitched a bit at those words.
They climbed up the stairs in an embarrassed silence and walked to the door of her room, right next to his. Al's was on the other side of the large corridor, and the bathroom was at the very end of the corridor. There was a large mahogany wardrobe that stretched all the way from a little after Al's room's door, to near the end of the corridor, right before the bathroom door.
"Quick tour of this floor, please?" She asked politely, to which he replied with another grumble.
"Err, sure… this big-ass wardrobe is where we store the towels, bathrobes, and sheets. It's all in here." And he walked over the huge piece of furniture and gave it a solid couple of knocks.
He turned to the bathroom door, which had a very funny sign hanging on it– probably, Ed had done it with alchemy – and she nodded in acknowledgement. The sign was explicit enough: over a red background was a large white toilet that instead of a seat, had a tongue sticking out. And he somehow managed to throw in a yellow antenna. Nice.
"This is my room; this one over here's yours; and that one on this side is Al's." he said as he pointed to each of the correspondent doors. She kept nodding and going 'hm-hm'.
She turned around to the other side of the large, wide corridor. On the other side of it, which means, if you turn left after climbing the stairs, were other doors and furniture. A few steps after the stairs was a cute little piece of furniture: it was a small divan bench in black wood, with velvet red pillows, merged with a tiny desk of the same wood atop of which lay one of the phones in that house. The other phone was right in the lobby, downstairs, but it was attached to the wall, no furniture involved.
Ed pointed to the door right next to the phone, "That's the laundry room. It's kind of silly for it to be upstairs but that's where it is." He sighed in clear disagreement of whoever decided that that room should be the laundry.
A thought briefly passed through Winry's mind – if the washing machine was working it'd be hard to hear the phone, would it not? (A/N: yes! I gave them washing machines! So generous of me *applauses*)
"The door over there," he continued, walking over to that side of the corridor, Winry following behind him, "Is another closet. We store all sorts of stuff in there, but it's kinda small… Over there is our lab or study room," he pointed to the bottom end of the corridor, to a door that had been left half open. "It's pretty big, and that's where we do our research." He stated smugly. Indeed, she would find out later, that division was huge.
"This door over here," and he pointed at the door opposite to the laundry's, "Is another guest room, it's kinda small. And this last door… Well, I don't know what it is since I haven't found the key for it yet. But I guess that's not important; this house is pretty big as it is."
He let out a sigh, as if maintaining the house was too much trouble. He heard her giggle and that odd flustering sensation returned to him in a snap.
"Okay then, thanks for the tour. Don't expect any tips though Mr. Tour Guide, since I'm flat broke! Well, at least I think I am." She joked and waltzed into her room, ready to close the door behind her; but she poked her head outside the room and smiled at him instead. She suddenly remembered something and smiled, warmly.
"Wait, Ed. Ummm... I might actually have a reward for you."
He promptly ignored the goosebumps on his skin and replied to her with a dismissive "I don't really need a reward for-"
But he didn't get to finish the sentence; she strided from her room right up next to him, stood on her tiptoes and gave him a peck on the cheek. Swift, but efficient - Ed's face reddened.
"Thanks..." was all he could say after the brief contact was broken. For a moment, he felt like asking her if her memory had returned. She went back to standing at the door of her room, hands behind her back, looking amused.
"Well then, see you later." He waved at her. Al had called him to help out at the kitchen. "Be there in a sec, Al!" he yelled back.
"Don't keep your brother waiting!" she scolded him mockingly. He smirked and waved dismissively, and began to walk away towards the stairs.
"Wait," she called, "You sure you don't want to move my luggage to that room over there?" she asked, nodding towards his own door.
He gulped.
She bit her lower lip, as if really waiting for a positive answer.
"Huh?" Did I hear her right just now? "B- but that's my-"
"Brotheeeeeeeer!" They heard Al's exasperated voice, clearly annoyed that his big brother wasn't helping him clean the kitchen.
Ed snapped his head towards the stairs, and missed Winry's mocking smile as she began to close the door. But before she did, she said, "Don't slack off as usual, Ed!" She closed her door.
"What was that all about?" He wondered, perplexed, as he descended the stairs and went into the kitchen. He wasn't really annoyed at Al for interrupting, he was more like… relieved. She was acting so odd!
"Finally," Al sighed, "go and sweep the floor, then grab the dish rag and dry the dishes up, store them back in the cabinets, and put out the trash. Okay?"
That sounded like an order, but Ed was already used to that; lately Al had been acting bossy sometimes, but that was all fine by Ed. If it wasn't for his younger sibling, he wouldn't take the initiative to do the laundry or the dishes or any general cleaning up; even with his own room, he had to be scolded by Al to get it cleaned up (but it was generally tidy). Thank goodness Al wasn't as lazy as his big brother.
"Sure will, kiddo!" He grabbed the broom from the kitchen's rather large closet – large like everything else in that house. He was still just happy that he could see his brother's smile again. And he was hoping that Winry would be better by the end of the day. He looked at the large round clock on the kitchen wall – it read 4'P.M.
As for Winry; as she went to bed – her head was spinning and she felt oddly tired – she couldn't help but to think she felt like she was at her own home. As if they're her family. Like they've always been a part of it, a part of her; and that was a reassuring feeling.
She undressed herself and slipped under her sheets. She thought about Ed; she felt attracted to him in several levels, and there was this familiar feeling… he told her they were childhood friends. She knew exactly what she felt about Al – he was like her own brother and she didn't have any doubts about that.
But it was different with Ed, like she wanted to hold and kiss him. Somehow his lips seemed familiar to her, like she'd kissed them before. Was that possible? Had they kissed before? Could it be that they were actually a couple, not just friends? Maybe it was just the bump in her head that made her think that way. She couldn't even remember ever having kissed a boy before.
What she knew for sure was that her heart flipped up and down around him – so she was into him. She was attracted to him, she liked him, she cared for him – and she definitely had the hots for him… maybe something even more overwhelming than that.
And maybe when he told her they were long-last friends he chose to omit the whole 'boyfriend-girlfriend' thing because of her condition. Maybe he thought it'd freak her out? I mean, waking up in a hospital and being told 'Hey, I'm your boyfriend' all of a sudden could freak her out. Or maybe he was afraid she'd reject him - or told him she didn't remember him at all...
"God… I'm so confused." She held her aching head with her hands and curled up in bed, wishing for her memories to come back, and that she could hold that Ed guy in her arms…
And then she fell asleep thinking about where to find a wrench in that house.
Well, that's it then! :) review, tell me what you think peeps.I have finally enabled anonymous reviews. Yay!
Next Chapter: Her Peculiar Dream
... Is wrenches really all she'll be dreaming about? Caution: The reason why I've rated this fic M is coming up next chapter...