Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
I had a long sleep the next day and I was so glad it was the weekend and I didn’t have to endure another boring lecture of Psychology. I had another dream about Lance, this time it was more vivid than ever. I could almost feel his presence.
I was fixing breakfast when I heard the doorbell ring. It was only 9am, who could possibly be up that early? I peeked through the door hole and saw Neil. “What are you doing up so early?” I asked, opening the door for him.
“You have no idea what day it is don’t you?” he looked shocked as can be.
“No, not really…” I searched my mind for an answer but nothing came up. And then it hit me, it was Neil’s birthday! I covered my mouth “Oh my gosh…I’m so sorry! I can’t believe I missed it…It totally slipped my mind what with all these mid-terms and school and well…Im just so sorry…What can I do to make it up to you?” I rambled on and on while he smiled at me with the same goofy smile.
“Are you done babbling?” he asked.
I gave him a guilty smile “I’m sorry.” That was all I could think of.
“Well don’t be! I didn’t come here for my birthday gift…I came here to ask for a birthday wish.” He smiled slowly making wonder what he expected me to do for him.
“Um…I can’t give you a kid…we’re not married.” My eyes were wide and I knew I probably looked like an idiot.
He shook his head laughing at me “You’re too cute! But no, I’d want us to be married too. I just want you, my Angel to spend the whole day with me. I have everything planned, all you have to do is be by my side. Is that good?”
I smiled as I looked down at myself. I was in my pajamas and my hair was tousled and my face free of makeup. “Sure, if you don’t mind going out with a slob.”
“Still a pretty slob.” He nodded firmly.
He made me laugh “Well, let me change really quick.” I rushed to the bedroom and fixed myself up. Within 10 minutes I was ready as I walked out to find him fixing breakfast. “Sunny side up right? Toast? I know you like sausage.” He mumbled without looking up.
The sight of him behind an apron and cooking breakfast for me was funny yet natural, normal people would think we were a married couple. Yet we weren’t even a couple to begin with. “You’re too good to me.” I said sadly.
He laughed and shook his head again “Of course not! You can never be too good to an angel.” He cleared the pan with the food and set the table with two delicious smelling breakfast on it. “Come on over, you can try my cooking. Hopefully it won’t make you sick.” He looked up at me and tilted his head “That’s all it takes for you to clean up? I think I could deal with that when we get married.” He winked at me and nodded his head for me to come over.
I sat down across from him but I wasn’t ready to drop the subject “Seriously Neil, you’re too good to me. It’s your birthday, why are you doing stuff for me? I’m paying for lunch you know.”
He ignored my comments and cut his own sausage and took a bite “Hmm, this is really good, what kind is it?”
“Farmers…Neil, we really have to talk.” Instead, he cut another piece of his sausage and fed it to me. I shook my head at it “Please…I’m trying to have a conversation with you.”
He put down his fork “Niki, you know that every time you start talking about this subject it doesn’t help. I won’t change my mind and surely you will not ignore me, because you’re a better person than that. Be a good girl and let’s have a peaceful breakfast and you’ve got to try this sausage, it’s soooo good!” he attempted to feed me again and I allowed him this time. “Good huh?” he asked as I chewed away nodding my head.
There was no way around it, he was determined. “Well, where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” He said mysteriously.
“Okay, now that just doesn’t make any sense. It’s your birthday and you have the whole day planned? Can I take you out to dinner?”
“Sure, we’ve got reservations at Maggiano’s, this great Italian place I found hidden outside the city.” He answered with much excitement.
I rolled my eyes “I mean I chose the place and I take you there. You’ve got no gift from me and there is no surprise.”
He smiled in return without saying anything. It was his way of saying, you’re not gonna win, just do what I say. So I gave up. After breakfast, he took me to the beach and we walked along the sand as the water tickled our feet. I was wearing a long skirt with sandals, which was perfect “Remember when we had our picnic here?”
I nodded “Of course, it was after getting hit on at the gay and lesbian night at the bar.” We laughed together at the memory. It was a quiet walk for the two of us for some reason. He wasn’t talking as much as he usually did. “Is something bothering you, Neil?”
“No…” he shook his head slowly.
“Don’t lie to me, I can tell when you’re sad…and you look sad.” I stopped in my tracks to face him and I knew my guess was right when he wouldn’t look at me in the eye.
“Nothing is wrong.” He said as he glanced around.
“Neil..if you don’t want to tell me, then that’s fine.” I continued on the beach. I didn’t notice that he didn’t continue walking until I felt something wet hit my head. I looked up at the blue sky and then behind me. I found him in the water splashing water at me. “Hey!” I protested.
He laughed as he continued to splash at me, his jeans and t-shirt completely drenched and mine were getting soaked. “Come on in, the water’s warm!”
“It’s cold!!” I screamed but was laughing at the same time. The water must have been at least 40 degrees. “Stop!!” I giggled like a little girl. He finally did stop and ran to me with a huge grin. “Good boy.”
His grin turned into a sly smile as he picked me up with his arms and ran into the water. “I’m gonna drop you in!” he warned me as he let go of his arms. I didn’t fall into the water, instead I gripped onto his neck and closed my eyes. I used my muscles to hold onto him. We must have been a sight to see because his arms were loose while I was still clinging onto him like a starfish. “Let go, Niki.” I shook my head, trying not to laugh “I’m gonna tickle you!” he raised his hands as he knew I was extremely ticklish.
“No!” I let go so fast as I dropped into the shallow water. I was finally drenched from head to toe. “You brat!” I whined like a kid. He put out his hand to pull me to my feet but I was throwing a little tantrum “No!” I shook my head as I sat still in the water.
He sighed and sat down next to me with his arms around his knees “I guess we’ll just sit here then.” I gave him a face and it made him laugh “Well, it’s not every day you see an angel in the water.” He pushed me playfully.
“Why don’t I like you?” I asked out loud. It was always strange to me because I thought he was just the perfect guy but yet, my feelings for him never grew into something more. Considering the fact that we saw each other almost everyday, I was surprised that nothing ever happened?
“It’s not your time, sweetie.” He said casually “One day you will feel it and when you do, I hope you will tell me.”
“How could you be so confident? What if I saw him today and he tells me that he likes me and I realize that I am in love with him. What would you do?”
He wrinkled his forehead and thought about what to say “I would…be happy for you. And I would congratulate the lucky guy that won your heart. Then I would warn him to keep you away from me because one day you will realize that your actually madly in love with me and eventually we’ll be together.”
I shook my head “Neil, you are one of a kind.” I sighed as I got up dripping wet from the waist down. I put my hand out to him “Shall we?”
He smiled and let me help him up “That was my job.”
“Get use to it, you’re chivalry personality is getting to me.” I teased. We raced back to the car and he was well prepared with towels in the trunk. We cleaned up and went out to lunch. He was gracious enough to let me pay for lunch but insisted that dinner was on him.