Eleven O'Clock Number

MUSICAL #11: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Toby mumbles something that sounds vaguely like I don't know, and Allison's eyes widen.

"What?"

"I - she's not here," Toby tells her in a stronger, more audible voice than before. "She's...not around. Not in that way!" he rushes to assure her when her eyes widen even further at the implication. "She's just...not living here anymore, I guess..."

"I get it," Allison says, and she doesn't feel upset any more, she just feels bad for asking him at all. "I, uh, I'm sorry."

The side of Toby's mouth quirks up into a tiny half-smile, cheek dimpling slightly as it does so, and she suddenly feels a very weird urge to pull him into a hug. "S'okay, Allie. I have been being a little weird lately, I guess..."

"Don't call me that," Allison admonishes, rolling her eyes. 

"Sorry," Toby replies, but he doesn't really look like he means it. "So, you didn't like Phantom, huh?"

She recognises the switching of the subject, but decides to go along with it. "It was just so..." Allison trails off, frowning. "Emotional."

"Oh, God forbid," Toby gasps.

Allison punches his shoulder, and he whimpers in pain. "Stop being a smartass and heat the damn chocolate," she scolds.

Toby raises his eyebrows, but does as she says. Soon, the both of them are sipping at warm mugs of the stuff, and a sigh of slight content is slipping from her lips before she can even stop it. Toby shoots her an amused glance, but it's a lot warmer than the one he was wearing only a few moments ago, and Allison feels herself relax slightly.

Suddenly, Toby's face breaks out into a wide smile. She frowns confusedly. "What?"

"Nothing," he says, still grinning as he brings the mug to his lips.

"Toby..." Allison's eyes narrow.

"Mhm?"

"Oh, really?" she arches an eyebrow. "Random smiling now?"

"It wasn't random."

"Then what?"

"What what?"

She lets out a tiny noise of frustration. "Why were you smiling?"

"Okay, you wanna know?" Toby asks, still beaming as he takes a few steps closer to her.

"Yes."

"You really wanna know?" The smile has made the transition to a smirk that's grating severely against Allison's nerves.

"Toby, for God's sake –"

"Okay, okay," he holds up the hand that isn't holding his mug in surrender. "I was smiling because...you were smiling."

"What?" Allison blinks. "No I wasn't –"

"Yes, you were," Toby assures her, and now he's definitely smirking.

"Toby, I was not smiling –"

"You were!"

"Okay, this is stupid," she huffs. "Why would I just randomly be smiling?"

"I don't know! But you were!"

"I was not."

"You should smile more often," he says in a thoughtful tone, and she thinks to herself that it isn't the first time he's said that. "Suits you better than some other facial expressions I could name which you use a lot more..."