Just Like the Mangas

The Glance - 一目

"There she is, Lexie."

Alistair looked up from his desk to see a girl walk through the door. Short, maybe 5'3"? Dark brown hair, short to her jaw with large curls. It stuck up at the top. A shirt that was too big for her tied up at her waist. Athletic shorts that went mid-thigh. Conservative clothes, not showing much skin, but enough to show her curves.

The opposite of Emily. The opposite of his type.

"You want me to seduce her?" Alistair whined; he couldn't wrap his mind around it. He had been tipsy that night, the night he had sealed his fate for the worst. He hadn't even been fully drunk; why had he made such a rash decision?

Alistair already felt indifference. There was no way he would be able to seduce that girl. All the girls he had been with had looked like Emily in some way; her nose, her eyes, her hair; but this girl was new.

"Look at her," Emily sneered. "Immediately going to Thomas."

Her tone scared him. When he looked over to her, Emily's face had gone back to stone. Eyes as cold as coal, nostrils flaring.

Alistair felt his chest burning. "Stop thinking about her, focus on him! You're playing the jealous girlfriend too soon."

"I don't care. She's cozying up to him like he's hers."

Lexie had indeed gone to Thomas; the moment she walked in she had searched the room, roaming around until she had saw him. Like magic, a smile immediately split her face, bunching her cheeks and turning her eyes into half circles. She was so happy to see him, like he was the sun.

Is that how Emily looked at Thomas?

Then there was Thomas, the devil himself. Sitting alone in the corner, reading a book with a squeaky-clean cover. His dark brown hair, parted down the middle as if he were a window with curtains. He was as average as average got; 'cept his ambiguous face. At sunrise he looked Asian, at midday he appeared European, late at night he seemed African. It was like every nationality had an hour of the day on his face.

"He's not even that great looking," Alistair sneered. His eyebrows scrunched so hard they looked like a unibrow. "You have terrible taste."

Emily shoved his shoulder. "Shut it! He's more handsome then you'll ever be."

"Like hell he is."

"Get over yourself, focus less on Thomas and more on Lexie."

Alistair's gut dropped. How was he supposed to do this? Walk up to her and ask her to go out with him? No, that would never work. What kinds of things do girls like her like in a man? Masculine, feminine? Cries during the Notebook, likes to shoot zombies? What was he supposed to do after? She couldn't be one of those girls that likes to get it on everyday, could she?

Oh, what had he gotten himself into?

"Do you have any conscience at all?" He growled, his voice as low as his morale. "How could you ask your bestest friend to do something so heinous?"

"Well look at Mr. Fancy over there using fancy words."

Alistair groaned, grabbing Emily by the shoulders. He twisted, staring deep into her almond eyes. "I'm serious. What you're asking me to do, it's terrible. Downright immoral."

"When have you ever cared about morals?"

"I care enough." Alistair shook his head, his chest began burning again. "No! Focus! Am I really doing this?"

When Alistair looked into Emily's eyes, he wanted to see some semblance of love. Something like companionship, something to merit their years of friendship. Something, anything.

All he saw was stone, steel and bone. A fire that burned inside her, like lava melting through her very soul. She wanted death, she wanted revenge. She wanted love, she wanted it all.

Alistair gulped.

Emily opened her mouth.

Alistair didn't want to listen.

"Do it."

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

"I need him, Ali. I want him."

Alistair looked to the side, at Thomas and Lexie in the corner of the room. Neither were talking, their noses were both buried in books. Even so, small smiles graced their lips. It wasn't because of their books, they didn't seem to be the type of books one would smile during, they were smiling because of the company. Anyone could see there were sparks.

Even Emily.

"Is this the only way you can think of?" Alistair leaned forward, murmuring close to her ear. "And it has to be me?"

Her steely eyes met his. "Unless you want more drastic measures, this is the best way. You're the only one I trust, Ali, I have no one else to turn to."

"You have yourself."

"I have you."

"After this you may not have me."

"I'll always have you."

She would. How arrogant.

"Lexie shares a class with you later today," Emily quickly changed topics, turning away from Alistair like all was well. "You should approach her then."

Alistair reached up to rub his temples. "You didn't bring me here to meet her now?"

"Not while Thomas is here," She fixed the two of them with a malicious stare; like she could laser through all of Lexie and swim in Thomas alone. "He won't be in the class later."

Alistair sighed; this was the most he had every sighed. Usually he groaned, growled, and snarled. Stress and depression were not his usual emotions.

He better get used to it.

"Do you know her at all?" He sighed again. "Any ways I should approach her?"

Emily frowned; no, sneered. "Treat her like she's the most important thing in the world."

Alistair didn't like this. Her anger, her fixation. Her utter revolt of another human being, her utter obsession with a lowly man.

Ah, what a beautiful face she had. A face blessed with natural beauty.

A face marred with hatred.

"I'll meet her."

A smile exploded onto Emily's face. Floodgates of happiness pushed away the hate, putting the rays of sunshine back beneath her cheeks. "Hontou? You're the best, Ali!"

Yeah, yeah, he was the best. The absolute best. He should get a Nobel Prize for how great he was.

The smile on her was was enough. Enough. Enough.

Do this, make Emily smile. Easy as 1-2-3. Seduce Lexie. Let Emily wine and dine Thomas. She gets the man. He gets a girl.

Happily Ever After.

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