Crazy Day in the City, Part 5: Cheer Up
Gwen wasn't really sure what she was doing here.
The two sat at a table in an ice cream parlor. Gwen asked for a small sundae. The young man who treated her didn't buy anything for himself. He leaned forward with his elbows on the table. "You're not used to accepting goodwill or apologies, are you?" he asked with a casual smile.
She didn't look up. "Maybe I'm not," she said after some thought.
"You know, the replacement cell phone offer is still available." Gwen believed him. He would probably buy anything she asked for and think nothing of it.
Gwen didn't keep up with fashion, but she guessed the clothes and shoes this guy wore were "in style." His black hair had lots of gel making long, downward spikes. A silver piercing hung on his left ear. He seemed like the kind of kid who tried hard to be cool and often succeeded.
"I still don't want it," she answered.
"You already took the ice cream. Might as well take full advantage of my apology." He was still smiling.
He seemed to be talking differently than when they first met. He was self-confident to the point of arrogance. Humorous. Impulsive. He was starting to remind Gwen of HIM.
She forced down her contempt. "I only accepted this much 'cause I needed cheering up. Sugar is good for that."
"You don't need to be so defensive. It's my fault your old phone was ruined. Yeah, the other guy bumped me, but it's only fair I replace it. Besides, I just want to make you happy." She eyed him curiously. He grinned widely and held up his hands. "Oh, don't worry! I'm not a weirdo or anything!"
The only people who would say "I'm not a weirdo" are the people who have been accused before.
But instead of saying that she said, "You're pretty blunt, aren't you?"
"Would you prefer I only said stuff you wanted to hear?"
"I hate when people do that." She returned her attention to her food.
He kept talking. "Now that I think about it, I realize how all of this must seem like one big pick-up line. I swear it's not like that. I never did this with another girl either. So even if you think I've been called a weirdo before -" Gwen raised an eyebrow at that. "- I really haven't. I just don't want to start."
She stared at him. "Uh-huh." How else do you respond to that?
Gwen ate her ice cream in silence... for a minute or two.
"...So what's eating you?" the boy suddenly asked.
"Huh?"
"You said you needed cheering up. So I'm guessing you were having a bad day even before the phone thing."
"Well, yeah... but I don't want to talk about it." Not with you, at least.
"That's a little contradictory. You want to feel better. Talking about it helps. Or... is it because I'm a stranger?"
It was a little unsettling how he kept guessing what she was thinking. "I suppose..."
He smiled at her. "You had a fight with a friend this morning, didn't you?"
Oh my God. He really IS reading my mind!
"Let me guess. Your best friend has been acting all lovey-dovey with her boyfriend in front of you. And you got jealous 'cause you're still single and she was just showing off."
Or not.
"Sorry, Columbo. You're dead wrong. And just so we're clear, I do have a boyfriend."
He frowned and waved his hand dismissively. "He doesn't count as a boyfriend if HE'S the one you're mad at."
She sat up straight and tried not to sound shocked. "How did you know that?"
"You must be," he replied simply. "Or else you'd have gone to HIM to cheer you up on your bad day."
Gwen stared at him for a long while. Then she looked at her glass. About half of the ice cream was still left.
She placed her spoon on the table. "I'm done eating." Then she stood up and walked to the door.
Unfortunately, the boy followed her outside.
"I hit a nerve, didn't I? Sorry about that. So much for cheering you up..."
Gwen didn't respond. She only walked straight ahead on the sidewalk. He matched her pace and spoke to her back.
"Although, to be fair, you told me not to lie to you."
"What? I never said that."
"Yeah, you did. You said, 'I hate when people do that,' in response to that thing about telling you only what you wanted to hear."
"Oh... right."
"Want to take it back?"
"No, you weren't wrong. I just realized I don't need to talk to you anymore."
"That's a bit harsh. I thought we were getting along so well. Besides, you're kind of... I think you're..."
In one fluid movement the young man stepped in front of Gwen, got down on one knee, threw out his arms and said, "Ah, screw it. I'll just ask directly: GO OUT WITH ME!"
"HUH?"
He grinned wide, eyes hopeful. She gaped. She sputtered.
"Y-You can't be serious? Your first response to finding out - and in the middle of - and five minutes ago you were like, 'it's not a pick-up line, I swear!'"
"Five minutes ago, it wasn't," he deadpanned.
She couldn't stop gaping. Finally, she realized it was just easier to walk around him.
Still on one knee, he said, "Not the best reaction to my first-ever confession." He quickly recovered and walked after her.
Seriously? He's still following me? I could probably scare him off by telling him my dad's a cop... Nah, the less this guy knows about me the better.
So instead Gwen told him, "You were wrong. You're definitely a weirdo. How exactly do you confess to someone you JUST MET?"
"Don't you believe in love at first sight?"
"No."
"I'll believe it for both of us then."
"You realize you're now stalking me, don't you?"
"How rude! I'm not a stalker. We're just having a pleasant conversation walking down the street. I haven't done anything creepy like camp outside your house, or make copies of all your keys, or memorize your showering schedule, or steal your underwear, or look through your trash, or make a website about you, or create a statue in your likeness out of your used gum."
"Just thinking of a list that long is creepier than doing anything on it!"
"That's just the kind of stuff they show stalkers doing on TV."
"Exactly what kind of shows do you watch? Nevermind, I don't want to know."
"But, in all seriousness-"
Unlikely, Gwen thought.
"-Despite how you claim I'm stalking you, you never actually ASKED me to go away. That's 'cause you know if I leave, you'll just have to go back to your bad day."
He was right. And the revelation made Gwen stop in her tracks.
She turned back and looked at him. It was scary... and awe-inspiring... This stranger who had only known her fifteen minutes saw right through to the core of her.
"What happened between you and your ex-boyfriend?" For the first time, he had a serious, sincere expression. He looked like a different person. He-
A different person?
"He's not my ex," Gwen bitterly replied. "And I don't need to tell you."
"I can take your mind off it for a while, but you won't really feel better until you get it off your chest."
Gwen didn't respond.
After a few moments, the teenage boy smiled wide and crossed his arms. "I'll just have to figure it out myself then. Let's see... We've already confirmed you hate liars. So I'm guessing... Either he keeps things from you, or he told you everything and you don't like what you heard."
Again, she didn't respond. Just grimaced.
"Well?"
Sighed. "It used to be the first, now it's the latter."
"I see. That is something to fight over. The worst part is: you can't say you wish he didn't tell you, or else that would make you a hypocrite. So you just have to bear it. But grinning and bearing it don't really work in the long run."
"...Exactly."
He smiled and clapped his hands once. "So! Now that we know what the problem is, I can get your mind off it properly. Let's go do something fun."
Normally, agreeing to do something fun with a weirdo who claimed to love her was a textbook example of how girls got hurt. On the other hand, suspicious as he was, he hadn't done anything legitimately threatening yet. His creeper-like enthusiasm could be written off as teenage excitement. He WAS only a kid.
And besides, Gwen took self-defense classes since she was seven. If something happened she'd just kick his butt.
Most importantly, she still wanted the morning's bitter feeling to go away.
"I will do something fun," she proudly said, walking ahead. "Follow me if you want." The young man didn't argue.
Author's Notes: (1/20/2012) This was the first chapter I wrote in this story and the one I was most excited about posting.
There's actually a funny story attached to it. A long time ago, before I finished "Dual Identity," the idea for this chapter (and this whole fic I suppose) randomly came to me. I wasn't sure I wanted to officially include it in "Dual Identity." It just seemed like something fun to write out, so I started typing in the Doc Manager on FanFiction-dot-net.
Unexpectedly, I really liked the chapter I wrote even though it was just a first draft and I didn't even put that much effort into it. That's pretty rare for me. PROBLEM: I forgot about that document and got caught up in other stuff so by the time I remembered, 60 days passed and it was gone forever. That crushed my spirit for a while.
When I more recently decided to write a sequel to "Dual Identity," that old story was the best candidate. But I was intimidated by the thought of re-writing that lost chapter because I knew it wouldn't be the same. But eventually, I got past my crushed spirit and re-wrote it anyway. And while the first version was probably a little better, I think the version you just read is pretty good too.
Moral: DO NOT put the ONLY copy of a story in a temporary file! The Doc Manager is for second drafts! Even if you have a great memory, there's no benefit to not having a permanent copy. I, for one, will never make that mistake again.