Best
Friends Forever, Chapter Nine (A Good Sized Fourth-Grader By
Now)
"Come
here, Eric, we need to complete the circle." Mrs. Smart had said
innocently enough.
He
walked over without a hint of suspicion and took the seat she had
pulled up
next to her and sat down slowly, seeing a few eyes turn in his
direction. Nadia
walked into the room slowly and saw the circle, pausing with a
half-drawn-out
thought process, and then her mother tugged her next to Eric with a
smile.
"Sit!"
She insisted, but when they searched for a chair, every single one was
occupied. Eric started to stand, but was shoved back into his seat by
Carmen,
who gave him a smug look as Mrs. Smart forced Nadia to sit on his knee,
her
arms windmilling wildly as her balance was tampered
with. Eric caught her and started to scowl at Mrs. Smart, but Nadia
made an
indignant noise and shifted up onto his lap further, her nose wrinkled
in
slight irritation. Her father walked in and made a face, but didn't say
a word,
and Eric felt himself get slightly angry at the whole thing. Just as he
was
opening his mouth to object, he felt something shift to his left. When
he
looked over to see what the hell it was that was moving around, he
jumped to
see a small child standing there, black hair, bright eyes; not one of
Carmen's.
He leaned forward to see if there was anything about the child he could
recognize when his eyes flicked open and he saw Nadia squirm next to
him,
groping for the lamp on the table.
"Jesus,"
he muttered, grabbing his racing heart for a moment, unsure why the
image had
startled him so much, and then he was thrown into a bright light and he
felt
vaguely like a booming voice should be saying he was welcome in the
realm of
God. Then he snorted and told himself that those were words he'd never
hear, if
he had any say about it.
As
Nadia started sitting up, her alarm went off for nine thirty in the
morning; she usually only
took ten minutes to get ready for her classes, but today was different.
Today
he was there and she needed to get up early to see him off so he
wouldn't get
mutilated when he stumbled into the BBC half asleep and with a cowlick
the size
of England.
She
elbowed him. "Come on, you have to go."
He
groaned and pulled her onto his chest, playing with the sheets around
her,
separating her from him. Once yanked away she sighed lovingly and sunk
into his
embrace, unsure just why she found it her responsibility to keep his
job for
him. Almost without realising it, Nadia picked up
Eric's hand and put hers palm-to-palm with it, seeing the size
difference, her
long fingers so short next to his, and his hands bigger in comparison.
She then
clasped her hand around his fingers, lacing them together tightly, and
he
smiled.
"Not
moving yet," he said.
Nadia
groaned and put her head on his shoulder, making disagreeing noises as
he ran
his hands over her back. Calluses on the tips of his fingers from
playing
guitar were starting to heal, and Nadia felt a sort of disappointment
he never
had the opportunity to play anymore. Sometimes they'd need him to play
for some
nonsense sketch and then he'd toss the thing back into its dusty case,
end of
story. She heard her alarm go off again, and smacked at him as he tried
to hold
her down. A quick elbow to the stomach and she was curled at the foot
of the
bed, her sheet around her tightly as she sat, waiting for him to move
and start
getting ready. He snored softly and she scowled.
The
nightmare began again, and Eric awoke around noon, unsure again what
his dream had
been about. At first he couldn't remember just what had awakened him,
and then
he drifted off, so unbelievably tired. The day went on like this for
him,
stopping and starting abruptly, startling and shocking all at once as
he tried
hysterically to find the source of his terror. It was like catching
moonbeams
though, and he only grew more frustrated and tired until the phone rang
and his
hand shot from under the covers like a snake, snatching the phone from
the
cradle.
"'Lo?" He croaked.
There
was a disapproving sigh on the other end before a muffled response of,
"I
told you he was there."
Eric's
heart thudded dully in his chest. "Gray? Izzat choo?"
"Yeah,"
he replied dully, "and we need you here. You knew we were filming
today,
or did Nadia need something back at her place?"
Eric
frowned heavily. "You know how hard it is for me to do this?"
"You
make it worse on yourself. Now, I've been keeping your ass off the fire
long
enough down here, if you can't make it before seven thirty when we
close-"
"Gray,
I'm not coming, and I don't care what Howard, or Terry, or John have to
say about it." Eric spat.
"Why
the hell wouldn't you come back?" Gray asked, and Eric could hear the
grumbling on the other end in the background grind to a halt.
He
sighed. "Just today. I'll leave tomorrow morning.
I-" He wanted to explain to him that he was there because he was with
Nadia, and he was also with her in another sense. Just when he really
wanted to
come clean, to stop hiding everything, that's when they choose to do
it.
"Not
dating her are you? Slinking around up there like we can't
figure it out, Christ, Eric. You know you're making everything harder
on
yourself, don't you? Eric?" Gray was talking softly, trying to sound
gentle but only pulling off a considerate attacker kind of sound.
Finally
finding the bravery to swallow his pride, Eric felt his lip curl and he
spoke.
"Yes, I am dating her. In fact, I'm here because I fell asleep here
again
and I didn't just pass out on the couch, Gray. If you want to laugh and
tell me
you told me so, go the fuck ahead! I could care less right now, and if
you
think I'm going to up and leave because I might lose the job that's
keeping me
away from her, you're fucking nuts!"
There
was a heavy silence.
Eric
slammed the phone down and ran a hand into his hair, breath shaky.
"Great," he muttered aloud, "no job, no money anymore. No money
means no house, which means nothing. Which means no Nadia. Damnit."
The
clock chimed and he noticed it was five o' clock. With a heavy heart he
stood
and pulled on his clothes, leaving jacket and tie on the floor with a
scowl. He
then made the bed and walked downstairs to the tiny kitchen where he
made tea, yawning every few seconds. The paper was
spread out on the table, so he indulged for a moment in other affairs,
hardly
hearing Nadia walk in.
She
had seen his car outside still, and had tore off for
the house immediately, angry and slightly embarrassed. How many
students walked
by and noticed a car sitting in front of her yard? How many were
talking? Then
she realised she didn't really care if they knew he
was there, and walked in the front door, surprised to see him fully
dressed but
looking tired as hell at her kitchen table.
She paused her planned angry rampage. "You
alright?"
He
glanced up and shrugged. "I might lose my job, but I'm not complaining
yet."
"Did
they call?" She asked gently.
He
turned the page. "Yup, and it doesn't sound good."
Nadia
felt annoyed for an instant before despair starting nibbling at her
feet and
she felt her toes dance across the floor in seconds flat to fall to her
knees
in front of him, her shoulders hunching forward as he too slid to the
floor.
They held the other for a moment, but the moment passed, and they
pulled apart,
smiling weakly to the other with a nervous shyness.
"God,
Eric, I'm so sorry. I just keep making things worse, or starting things
off
that never end up well, and now I've crossed the line from ruining my
life into
ruining yours." She threw her gaze over his head with a sad look.
"Hey,"
he said, and she was surprised to hear a slight angry undertone there,
"you didn't do a damn thing, Nadia. Besides, I'd rather be here with
you
than in that stupid building staring at two people fight like cats for
half an
hour. I love you, I couldn't possibly blame you for
this."
A
pinprick of a strange feeling enveloped Nadia's lower stomach. The very
pit of
her stomach had prickled gently, leaving her feeling like at any moment
she'd
be unbelievably happy, and this caused her to flash a quick smile, but
it
dissolved when her thoughts started whirring again.
"I
love you," she muttered, feeling him grab her shoulders again in a
tight
hug.
"That's
all I need."
~*~*~*~*!*~*!*~*~*~*~*~*~*!*!*~*~*!*~*!*!*~*!*~*~*!*~
Right
on time the next morning, Eric pulled into the car park and stopped,
his eyes downcast. When he clamored out he thought about how he was
going to
beg his case to Howard, the director/producer sort of friend they had.
He was
probably hopping mad as it was, and Eric had to be careful not anger
him
further; he stepped into the building, surprised as a few people gave
him
shocked looks. He knew he probably didn't look very healthy at that
point, but
he wasn't that surprising to see.
Voices coming from the back room? He leaned forward and
listened.
"He's
not coming back, Howard. You should have heard him talking-" Gray shook
his head slowly in amazement.
Mike
sighed. "Christ, leaves us for that girl; we were
the ones that told him to do it though, I suppose we can't complain."
Howard's
fist collided with the card table. "He can't just leave! You guys were
more than a team, he wouldn't just leave!"
"Well,"
Gray shrugged, "one could argue that he's in Cambridge, we could all
find him, but he did
leave us, more or less. He was at Nadia's house with her, and he
sounded upset
that all we could do was badger him about her and his job. Those were
our only
points of focus."
Eric
pushed the door open then and cocked an eyebrow at the dropped jaws.
"Gray," he flicked his eyes to the man carefully, "what part of
'I'll leave tomorrow morning' was so confusing?"
Abruptly
Howard's arms threw themselves around Eric and he was pulled into a
rough
man-hug of sorts which left his arms crushed to his sides, breath
wheezing out
as the others cheered in a relieved way.
"So,
Howard," he said as the man still crushed him, "I need to make my
case, right?"
He
pulled away. "That's right, I've only heard these guys bugged the hell
out
of you to date some girl and then you were and you weren't coming
back."
Eric
rolled his eyes. "Worse than women sometimes, aren't we?"
"So?"
Howard made a funny gesture.
Eric
took a while explaining just what the guys had done before he explained
what he
and Nadia had been doing the past few weeks.
"-So she was staying at my place for a while and we just
started going out in a way. She had to leave and I pissed her off
because she thought I was embarrassed about her-"
"Sex, yes or no?" Gray asked without a hint of
sensitivity in it.
Eric
scowled at him. "Mike," he turned towards his friend, "how's sex
with Helen going? Is that alright? Or have you shagged her yet?"
His
jaw dropped and he started to turn red when Eric spun around to face
Terry. "Or Alison? How's that?"
Gray
started to object when Eric rounded on him. "If these guys shouldn't
have
to elaborate on if or how great sex with their wives is, I should not
have to
tell you if I've done a thing to Nadia."
They
smiled weakly at him. "Really care about her, don't you?"
"Could
care less what you think about that, honestly," he muttered, standing
up.
With
that, all was sorted out.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
There
was something strange about that morning in December when Eric tossed a
wave to
John, who had been kind enough to carpool half of England up to
Cambridge with him while visited the
theatrics department for whatever reason. The note on the door was
specifically
for Eric, and when he caught it fluttering on the door, he smiled.
"'Eric',"
he read aloud, "'my landlady is here right now, so if you so much as
think
of coming inside and skipping formalities like last week, I'll kill
you.
Literally, I'm cooking and I have a knife out.'" He snorted. "Naddy's
cooking, I'm going to have
to do something."
He
pushed the door open and stood, poised for action as he heard voices
talking
pleasantly in the other room. "HONEY! I'M
HOOOOME!" He shouted with cupped hands, and her head poked out around a
corner, smiling bemusedly.
"Mrs.
McCartney, this is my crazy boyfriend. Don't feed him please, he
bites,"
she pointed to him and an elderly lady with flaming maroon hair leaned
over and
smiled at him as he slipped his shoes off. She had waddled over to a
cupboard and
was going through it, pointing to a recipe book now and again checking
it for a
spice they needed for whatever it was in the large mixing bowl.
"Naddy," he whispered while the woman's back was
turned, "you're cooking again." His eyes sparkled mischievously.
She
was about to hold up a warning finger at him, but he'd already shoved
her
against the nearest cabinet and was trying to keep as quiet as
possible. She
giggled for a moment before Eric released his hold on her and linked
his hand
into hers, trying to keep her from escaping, even if it was to help
Mrs.
McCartney find the garlic salt. Finally the woman found it and Nadia's
shoulders relaxed. She turned and poured some of the spice into the
bowl,
stirred and showed the contents to Nadia, who shrugged with ignorance,
Eric
nuzzling her neck in an effort to distract her.
"Is
that how wet it's supposed to look?" Nadia asked with a shrug.
Mrs.
McCartney nodded. "Oh yes, the casseroles have to be this way or they'd
dry out in the oven. It's preheated, so let's put it in the dish and
see how
she turns out!" Nadia abandoned Eric and helped smooth out a rather
gross
looking amount of green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and french-fried
onions
into a casserole dish, seasoning with cheese in the end. With the salt
and
garlic it smelled pretty good, but Eric still wrinkled his nose at it,
waiting
for the moment he had alone with her to talk about something that had
been
bothering him recently.
The
woman had gone upstairs to use the bathroom, and he leapt upon the
moment.
"Nadia,"
he hugged her from behind, "I need to ask a huge favor from you."
She
laughed. "Because you know I'm going to do it without knowing what it
is,"
He
smiled weakly before speaking. "You know Lexi moved again to start her
own
firm, so your house is empty in Bloomington. It's bigger than this, and
closer
to you than I am already. Say we move in there together and stop the
weekend-dating crap we've got going on?"
There
was a long pause as Nadia stared at Eric, the hope in his eyes, the
nervous way
he chewed his tongue. For a moment she was distracted by the way he
reached up
and pushed her glasses up on her face for her, and then she heard some
creaking
upstairs and knew any minute now Mrs. McCartney would reappear and hear
what she
was going to say.
"I
can't do that," she said suddenly, "I'm buying this house from Mrs.
McCartney. I can't just move away or sell it-I've painted this sucker
like
there's no tomorrow. Not to mention you'd be driving about an hour to
work
every single day-which would suck ass-"
"Sometimes
you amaze me," Mrs. McCartney said from the stairwell, "the man asks
you to live with him so he can be closer to you and you start talking
gibberish
about painting and how far he'll have to drive. Wasn't it his bleeding
idea?"
Nadia
blushed hotly, her face turned down. "I didn't-"
"Think,
I know. If you want my advice at all, go live with him, you're happy
with him.
You've always got a place to stay up here-it's yours. Rent it out, make
money!" The older woman sounded so excited it was almost funny, but
Nadia
blinked in surprise. It was the perfect idea, and she'd be living with
him
again. Her stomach did a little flip and she spun around and hugged him
tightly.
"Yeah, alright."
The
next class, on a Wednesday, she stood awkwardly at the end of every
lecture or
project, and stared on nervously at her students, which caught their
attention.
First
hour was probably the worst of all the explanations.
"Uh,
I'm not going to be here for the next two days, and since there's
no classes on Monday or Tuesday, I won't see y'all until Wednesday next
week-"
"Why?"
Julia piped up.
Nadia
smiled carefully. "I'm moving back to Bloomington,"
"Why?"
Asked another student. "I mean, didn't you just
move up here?"
Nadia
squirmed. "Well, that is true, but it's a pain in the neck dating a guy
so
far away, only able to see him on weekends, so we're moving into my old
house
down in Bloomington."
"Oooh!" Julia cooed,
giggling with a few other girls.
"Wedding
bells and children's laughter," chirped another and Nadia blushed
again,
just hoping the day would END ALREADY!
The
only other hitch in her explanation came in her third class, where
Jimena was infamously making herself Nadia's worst enemy.
"So,
if you have any problems with the sub, Mr. Moorman, you'll have to
restrain
yourself until Wednesday. And no more snowball fights, that
was ridiculous!" She smirked at the guilty parties before turning to
face
the girl who had made an indignant noise.
"Julia
said you were moving back to Bloomington, with that boyfriend of yours.
Are
you really moving away?" She seemed sad. Nadia smiled sadly at the
girl,
who lived next door to her in a dorm with two other girls in her room
alone.
"I
am, but don't worry, I own that house, so you guys get to rent that out
and
live in my funhouse-"
"Moving
in with your boyfriend?" Interrupted Jimena, and
a few people mentally groaned.
Nadia
eyed her. "Yes. What do you want to hear, Jimena?"
The
girl scowled at her. "I want to hear that I have a respectable teacher.
We
can't have harlots teaching here at Cambridge."
A
few gasps echoed out of some mouths, but Nadia only smiled. "I may be
the
single least respectable teacher here in a few respects, but I may also
be one
of the best teachers here. With the rare exception of you, Jimena,
people like me and tend to listen to what I have to say. Go ahead,
get me fired for moving in with a guy I've known since before I was
your age.
If you want, you can leave now and use class time to do it-certainly
would make
me happy."
She
only scowled again and folded her arms. One more absence and she
failed, and
she knew it.
That
night she loaded up the car Eric had allowed her to borrow from him and
drove
it down from Cambridge to her old house, moving boxes
back into the dark brick building. Four half-hour trips and she fell
asleep on
the bed she'd brought, unaware that she was even supposed to be moving
along at
all. It wasn't until early the next morning that she even remembered
that she
had to put the signs up on her little house in Cambridge with her phone
number. As she
rolled over to push the boxes away from her bed looking for the phone,
she
noticed that there were a few more boxes than normal. A hollow thud and
a grunt
reminded her that Eric was probably moving around out there, trying to
stay
quiet. She stood and walked into her old living room, stepping over
boxes and
footstools.
Eric
reappeared, stepping carefully over a particularly large box of books.
He
looked up and grinned at her. "Good morning, sunshine."
She
wrinkled her nose at him. "What's so good about it?"
"I
refuse to go pansy-ass on you today, so figure it out yourself." He
replied, eyes dancing as he walked back out into the yard where Mike
was yawning
as he leaned heavily against the hood of his car, falling asleep
standing up.
He waved sleepily at Nadia, who waved back and proceeded to help Eric
unload
the last of his things into the house. All that was left was the
unpacking of
the boxes and they could be done.
"How
many days did you say you had off?" Eric asked as he cut the tape from
a
large box of photo albums.
She
hefted her paints into the sunlight area with the washer and dryer
under the
single skylight. "Uh, the rest of this week plus Monday
and Tuesday."
He
grinned mischievously at her but said nothing as she bent to help him
with the
photo albums. A particularly full one spilled from her stack and opened
to a
middle page in the book. Nadia set the stack down and looked blankly at
the
pictures. On the left side were a few pictures of Eric looking bemused
as his
mother and grandmother sobbed in his dorm, arranging his bed as they
went,
trying to be mothers as they were shoved from his room. On the right
side was a
single picture of Nadia sitting placidly in the fountain. From that
photo on
she was in almost every single shot with him, grinning, scowling, there
was
even a great shot of her about to land a rather high kick to some
haughty
girl's jaw in a kickboxing match, her mouthpiece just about out.
Nadia
pointed to the photo. "Kicked her teeth out, I think she lost three."
Eric
laughed. "Three and a half!"
They
grimaced together but were immediately distracted when a gust of wind
blew
through the open door and a stack of papers went soaring from one of
Nadia's
boxes. She started gathering, but Eric was hunched over a green and red
one, a
Christmas tree on the back side.
"Family newsletter?" He asked bemusedly as she
gathered the rest of them. She nodded and grinned as he read aloud.
"'Our
little Nadia has finally made it to the big world. She's all alone in
Cambridge-an English school-though I am
relieved to say she has made a total of two friends there. My husband
is not as
pleased as I am to admit that one of them is in fact an English boy,
but Lexi
has traveled with her to the school so they'll take care of each other
and
watch out for the other nasty little boys that we all know dwell
there.'"
He glanced over the paper. "I almost want to believe I'm perverted just
because I'm reading this."
She
held out another before reading, "'Nadia has settled down for her third
year in Cambridge and is living with her friend Eric Idle in a small
house
just inside the campus. As wonderful as it is for us to finally accept
that she
is living on her own and a responsible (almost) adult (almost) she is
living
with an English boy nonetheless, and we're losing money hysterically as
we take
turns checking on her every few months or so. Can't trust
him, damn!'"
He
laughed. "When did she start bugging you about me?"
"Oh, probably senior year when you graduated. Those
first few months you were gone and I was still there she showed up and
told me
that I should go find you and try to date or something so we had a
better
excuse to stay together. My papa was a little leery about you still
though-just
like he is to my sister's husband." She shrugged. "Of course, when
she first saw us living together she thought we were dating and started
asking
me if the stereo-type was true."
"The
stereo-type that all us English boys are perverted and prey on lovely
French
girls like we can't get laid for our lives, am I right?" He asked with
a
cocked eyebrow.
She
nodded. "Exactly,"
"Well,"
he dug through the photo album box and held up a faded letter, "this is
my
mum's reaction. 'Dearest Eric, we are so happy to hear
that you have been able to settle in just fine with your friend Nadia.
She
seems like a lovely girl, and so polite! You couldn't have chosen a
better
house-mate, if I can say so without you rolling your eyes at me even
with the
distance. Give her my best wishes and please keep out of trouble; I'd
rather
not have to explain why you tried to run over another security guard
with your
car on the sidewalk this year. Love, Mum.'"
Nadia
giggled. "If my dad ever sent me letters they'd say things like, 'Give
that Eric-boy a good slap across the face for me-'"
"What's
his problem again?" Eric frowned.
"He
thinks you can't possibly bring me anything, or be worth anything. If
he had
the choice he would have me unmarried forever, and in the basement of
our house
in Paris forever." She shrugged.
"So, don't take it personally."
Eric
stroked his chin. "I'd like to go see this house in Paris."
"Someday,"
she promised, and began emptying boxes again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Eric
grunted as the alarm clock went off, and Nadia slapped it once to shut
it up.
Once silence was restored, however, she began to move over to shove him
off the
bed. He had to leave at some ridiculous hour in order to get to work,
something
like eight thirty. He groaned and eyed the face of the small clock,
groaning
as he saw the hour.
"Just
shoot me now," he moaned and rolled over.
"Bang,"
Nadia mumbled and pulled a pillow over her head.
He
sat up and pulled the sheet from his lap, looking blankly at the boxers
he was
wearing. "Happy Monday, to all ten of my toes and
fingers."
Nadia
snorted under the pillow.
"How about you? Don't you have today and tomorrow
off?" He shook her shoulders.
She
groaned. "Go awaaaay,"
He
pulled her up, grinning as she flopped over his shoulder sleepily, her
tank top
and pajama pants all too big for her. She groaned again, but held his
neck for
support.
"You
could probably come into the Beeb today, just to
scowl at Gray for me when I can't do it." He told her, smiling as she
squinted at him.
"Why?"
"He's
going to give us hell for moving in and all that stuff." He shrugged.
She
shrugged right back. "I'm sure he puts up with plenty of hell himself,
right?"
"I'm
sure he does, in fact-"
"Don't
you even think about using that! How tasteless can you
get?" She pushed him gently, trying to stress her anger.
"Still not as bad as him asking me, 'Sex, yes or no?'"
He retorted bitterly.
Nadia
smirked. "You should have said, 'Yes please.'"
He
laughed and hugged her. "Well, I better start getting ready if I'm
going
to be leaving in half an hour-"
"I'll
come too, sheesh." She rolled her eyes and
stood.
They
dressed and forced themselves to eat and drink something before
skipping out
the door arm in arm, trying to look a little bit stupid as they flopped
into
the car and started the ride. The radio came on and neither of them
moved to
turn it off; too sleepy to talk. A little later than intended, Eric
pulled into
the car park and stopped, feeling more awake than normal. He glanced at
Nadia,
who was hunched over her glasses, trying to fix the bent frames, her
black
fingernail polish chipped. He caught sight of the enormous green class
ring and
smiled, waiting for her to stop fixing the damn thing so he could get
out of
the car with her. Finally she slipped the frames back on and blinked at
him,
her mind suddenly awake.
"Please
tell me I didn't wear all black again-" She glanced down and sighed in
relief. Her blue jeans were blue, thank God, and her gray and black
Beatles
shirt had a vintage yellow submarine emblem on it. She felt less
death-obsessed
than usual, and stood from the car, hardly expecting to be swept off
her feet
and carried into the building. As he set her down she grinned happily
at him,
his smile unusually cute. Just as she was about to kiss him, she heard
a
snicker and Terry and his counterpart, Mike, walked into the room,
whispering
while they walked. They stopped dead as Nadia forced herself to ignore
them and
hug Eric, he also ignoring them with a fervent passion.
"We filming today?" Eric asked and released his grip on
her, walking to the back room where the other three were sitting, feet
on the
table.
Terry
nodded. "Yeah, today's the day when the masses show up to watch us film
live-"
"Oh,
that's right. Huh," he shrugged and sat down, unnerved. Nadia felt
slightly like a sort of Yoko Ono, and sat herself down next to him,
busying
herself with picking the rest of her black nail polish off.
Gray
stretched his shoulders slowly, wallowing in the pleasure and relief it
brought
the aching muscles, hardly noticing that Nadia had thrown him a strange
look in
the midst of it all.
"Told
you so," John said suddenly, and they all laughed, including Nadia.
The
actual filming of the show was not disaster or even particularly
exciting,
though Nadia did cringe when Eric walked out on stage wearing a pink
floral
dress. Just before the sketch itself started, he was tossed a small
handbag,
and he caught it with a scowl, a childish grin coming to his face as
the camera
started. The rest of the day was sort of bland, but fine enough with
Nadia. It
was Carol who finally snapped on the two of them in the lounge area,
her hands
on hips as a few of the other crew members and the Pythons sat around
the
couches, all smiling occasionally at Nadia and Eric, speaking softly in
the
corner.
"Do
me a favor, Eric, since I'm leaving." She begged, and clasped her hands
together. "Just kiss her once before I leave."
He
stared at her disbelievingly and started to shake his head, but she
tilted her
head insistently and he knew she was dead-serious.
"Uh, no?"
"Come
on! I don't think I believe she even puts up with you when you don't
have
people staring at you!"
Nadia
laughed and tilted a mug of tea up over her grin, waiting for Eric's
face to
succumb to the action as well.
"Carol,
leave them alone, huh?" Mike said with a grin, but she flashed him a
dangerous look.
"You're
worse than my family." Nadia stated, shifting her leg across Eric's
lap.
He abent-mindedly rested his hands on her knee and
began to play with the frayed hole there, waiting for
Carol to give it up already, and leave.
She
stepped closer to Eric. "I'm giving you an excuse to kiss a pretty girl
in
front of your friends, what the hell is wrong with you?"
Terry
lifted a hand. "I'd do it."
"Second,"
John lifted an arm.
Eric
started to frown, but Gray had already lifted his arm. "Even I'd do
it."
Nadia
started to giggle, but the jealousy effect had worked its magic and he
kissed
her on the cheek, a quick peck.
Carol
let her face implode into a small, pursed-lip scowl. "Eric Idle-"
"CHRIST!"
He lifted his arms above his head before turning and pushing Nadia to
the
armrest, pushing his face up against hers, tongue flitting in the
second their
lips touched, and she windmilled her arms, trying to
keep from falling back completely. A few seconds later he pulled away
from her
and sat up, taking her mug of tea and sipping carefully. Nadia flashed
him a
dirty look and sat up while Carol grinned at him.
"Thanks,"
she said, and left.
Nadia
rolled her eyes as the other guys smiled knowingly at Eric, who hadn't
really
looked at any of them up until now. He locked eyes with Mike and stared
on,
expressionless.
"Faker,"
Gray said suddenly.
"What
the hell?" Nadia asked and wrinkled her nose.
Eric
laughed. "He doesn't believe it, he doesn't
believe it was real."
"Not
that," he shook his head, "you just did it. I saw it; what I don't
believe is you two enjoyed that at all. You're putting us all on,
aren't
you?"
Nadia
rolled her eyes. "Yes, we're not dating, he's not living with me, and
we
didn't just kiss and like it."
It
was confusing for any spectators, but they shut their mouths and let
Nadia sit
there, her legs draped on Eric's lap. He looked at her suddenly, and
when their
eyes met, Gray knew they had to be in love. He didn't want to say a
word
though; it was crucial Eric tell them this time, without their
prodding. He had
to be able to look them in the eye and say it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Disaster
seemed to skip blessedly over Eric and Nadia for a while, but Christmas
was
approaching fast, and the snowy weather made for slick roads, and
finally
disaster bent and smacked them rather harshly, if not hard.
The
phone in Nadia's studio rang during her first class, and she snatched
it up.
"Nadia Smart," she muttered quietly while her students finished up
the test.
"Miss
Smart? This is Doctor Carrigan at London General. We
have here a Mister Eric Idle? He said we should call you first to come
sign the release forms." An apologetic voice said
softly.
Nadia's
throat seized up. "What's he done now?"
"He
didn't do anything, Miss Smart. He was, er,
sideswiped shall I say? He and his friends were riding around in a
couple of
shopping carts when an elderly driver hit him. Concussion, sprained
ankle, he's
walking out today if you'd just sign the papers. Right now he's
unconscious-"
There was a hint of bemusement in the doctor's voice, but Nadia didn't
want it.
"Is
he alright?"
"Oh,
he'll be fine in a few days. Let him bedrest and he
should be right as rain."
"Alright,
I'll be there in an hour and a half." She informed him and hung up.
She
stood and whistled through her teeth. "Tests will be finished tomorrow,
hand 'em in right now, you're all dismissed."
She gathered papers without asking questions or answering them and
exited,
leaving a sign on the door informing all her future classes that she
had an
emergency to attend to.
Fear
and anxiety forced Nadia to speed, it really wasn't her fault she
didn't
believe the doctor when he said that Eric would be fine. Her Eric had
gone and
sprained his ankle, dumbass. Of course, immediately
after thinking this she made a sad face and drove faster, trying to
outrun the
anger that wanted to envelope her fear. She parked in the hospital car
park and
walked to Eric's room, surprised to see three doctors there.
"Well,
you did give him sedatives when you said he had a bloody concussion,
Carrigan!" One of them said hotly.
The
other one squirmed. "He'll be fine!"
Nadia's
heart pounded and she walked in, tossing a dirty look at all three of
them.
"What's going on here?"
"Miss
Smart?" Asked the youngest of the three.
"I'm Carson Carrigan and we've put him a tiny
bit of trouble for the moment-"
She
made a face at him and turned towards Eric. He appeared to be sleeping,
but the
heart monitors on him made her believe something bad had happened.
"Coma? Vegetable? What's going
on here?" She gestured at him.
The
oldest of the three glared for a second at Carrigan,
and then spoke. "Carrigan here let him go to
sleep after he had a concussion, which means he may or may not wake up
for a
while here. A coma is highly unlikely at this point, however, the REM
patterns
are starting-"
Terry
walked in sheepishly, glancing with a guilty _expression at Nadia.
"Gosh,
Nadia, I'm sorry. We told him to do it, see, and then he did-"
"I
don't want to hear anymore about this." She threw her hands up and bent
over Eric. "Wake up," she poked him in the side and he squirmed away,
groaning.
The
doctors gaped in astonishment as she slapped at his face until the slow
coma-like beating of his heart escalated to a healthy rate and his eyes
fluttered open.
"Oh
do I have one hell of a headache, Naddy-"
"What
made you get into a bloody shopping cart and run it into an old lady,
huh?" She smacked his head and he grabbed it with a whimper.
"Have
a heart! I just got a concussion-"
"You
are NOT playing the sympathy card with me!" She snarled and felt her
racing heart finally slow down. For a second there she had realised
that his heart was beating far too slow to be normal, and then it had
sped up
and she prayed to God he was alive.
As
soon as he saw the look in her eye and not the sound of her voice, he
smiled
and opened his arms. She collapsed into them and sighed with a shaky
squeak. He
kissed the top of her head and sat up, keeping her in a tight hug while
Mike
and Terry stared on with relieved faces.
"You
were scared," Eric accused softly, and her hand smacked at his head
again.
"Was
not," she retorted, and wiped a single tear from her cheek.
Collecting
him and signing papers, Nadia drove Eric and his car back to their
house,
anxious to have him take the medication and sit up for the next
twenty-four
hours to make sure he didn't fall into another coma. Once home and full
of
painkillers, Eric found it easy to stay awake, and for the next two
days he was
perfectly fine. After the first twenty-four hours, he slept for twelve
to make
it up, and then his regular schedule was restored. By Friday night he
was
perfectly healthy, on crutches but perfectly healthy. His sense of
humor had
restored itself as well.
He
tossed the crutches at Nadia and made a break for the door, hobbling on
one leg
as Nadia screeched at the objects thrown at her before tearing off
after him.
She didn't care if it killed him, it was the last straw.
"AIEEEEE!" He shrieked and felt the backs of his
knees buckle as she grabbed him round the leg. He collapsed to the
floor just
before the couch and rolled over with a wild look of terror. Nadia sat
on him
with a crazy look and held his arms back as he panted, waiting until he
apologised.
"Alright, alright! I'm sorry I put the egg in your
hair."
"And?" She pressed, threatening to twist his arm
further.
He
yelped then added, "And for throwing the other things at you! NOW
PLEASE!" He begged and threw his head back in pain. Instead of the pain
getting worse for a split second while she stood and left him there,
humiliated, he felt her kiss him and suddenly her presence over him
wasn't a
bad thing at all. He pulled one of his legs to a bent position and
tugged her
down so she wasn't crushing his ribs, but straddling his stomach. For a
few
moments they kissed and then she shifted away from him, listening
carefully.
"You
hear that?" She asked and started to crawl away.
He
snatched her leg up and pulled her back. "If it's the voice in my head,
then yes-"
"No, shhh!" She smacked
his hand away and put her ear to the wall. A few seconds later a weak
noise
emitted from somewhere down the hallway in the linen closet. They
crawled to
it, and Nadia pulled up the hatch that led to her crawlspace. Eric
fetched a
flashlight and handed it down to her, and she slipped down, cooing
suddenly.
"We've
got kittens!" She shouted up and started handing up kittens one at a
time,
following with a very tired looking black cat. The kittens all mewled
pathetically, and Nadia took it upon herself to get an old sheet and
box to
make a small, comfy den for them. Once settled the kittens became less
pathetic
and more satiated. The mother cat looked at Nadia and Eric gratefully.
The kittens
were about four weeks old, and Nadia found it strange she hadn't heard
them
before. Then again, the house was rarely silent what with the music and
the
talking all the time. They both despised silence, so something was
always
working, moving, making noise. The rare moment when all the sound had
stopped,
they had discovered the cats.
"We'll
be able to give away a few of them for Christmas; make some little
girls very
happy." Eric pointed out when Nadia regretfully informed him that they
could not keep seven kittens and a cat.
She
gave him a puppy-dog look. "Can we keep one? And the
cat?"
He
looked blankly at the seven jet-black kittens. "How do you pick your
favourite?"
One
meowed weakly and rolled over, slightly smaller than the rest. "You
pick
the runt," she said wisely and lifted the small cat to her face,
letting
it run it's soft hair all over her and purr.
"What's
his name then?" Eric asked, picking up another kitten as it tried to
escape the box and nearly fell five whole inches to the carpet.
"Well,
let's name the mother first." She reached into the box and scratched
the
mother's ears.
"Something
completely unrealistic-"
Nadia
laughed. "Greek goddess, that should be
nice."
"Alright
then, Aphrodite it is."
Nadia
touched noses with the tiny kitten. "Then we'll name this one after
Mars'
minions. Phobos or Demos?"
"What
do they mean?"
"Fear
and terror,"
"Oh,
definitely fear," Eric nodded.
Nadia
smiled at the kitten. "Phobos it is,"
There
was something about Nadia in the weeks following that made Eric feel
more and
more crazy. She came home at the end of the day, a few hours after he
returned
and immediately came to his side for a quick briefing on his day, and
then it
was straight into the laundry room to check on her kittens and their
lovely
mother. She was very responsible about it, too, making sure they were
healthy,
a good weight, eating the right things for their age. One of the cats
was
getting little white spots around her paws, and traditionally she
should have
named the kitten "Socks," but being as unconventional as she was,
Nadia named the animal "Reebok."
"As
in the shoes," she informed Eric.
He
snorted. "Very clever,"
And
still he watched her care for the animals and the vague thought entered
his
mind about how great a mother she'd be some day, and he found himself
thinking
about that, but not of who the father would be, or
anything to that. She'd just be a mother, nothing more. And then,
before he
knew it, he knew why he was thinking that recently; he wanted to marry
her, and
nothing could convince him otherwise.