01: JESUS, SEND DOWN A LIGHTNING BOLT TO DESTROY TOBY'S DVD PLAYER
« there's no place like home. »
IT'S A few more days until Toby and Allison even talk about starting work on the project, or talk at all, actually, because Toby always hangs around with Daniel (predictably), and Daniel's a person Allison really would rather avoid.
(Toby's also a person she would tend to avoid, but she's slowly come to accept there's no running away from her fate now.)
Unsurprisingly, it's Toby who broaches the subject.
"Allison!" He bounds up to her, interrupting Lydia's early morning rant on how Honors Pre Calc isn't even vaguely challenging and is in fact limiting to people who actually excel at the subject. Allison isn't sure what she'll dislike more; a conversation filled with Toby Martin's blindingly bright smiles, or another five minutes spent listening to her best friend talk about Mr. Lewis' ineptness as a math teacher.
"Hi, Toby," she sighs, mentally noting that "despondent resignation" has become a very regular look on her lately.
"Hey!" he returns with considerably more enthusiasm. He takes the opportunity to also shoot a smile at Lydia, who gives him a slightly more tepid one in response, then quickly sends Allison a look that clearly communicates is this guy for real?. Allison herself can only nod in response, almost sadly.
"Whoa, I love your shoes!" Toby, oblivious to Allison and Lydia's silent exchange, is seemingly transfixed by the latter's crimson high heels. Lydia is unable to stop the look of content that almost always spreads over her face at being complimented on her appearance - but the satisfaction quickly fades to make way for something else as she regards Toby with a gaze that seems to be at once mildly curious and entirely apathetic.
"Are you gay?" she asks abruptly, in much the same tone one would use to comment on the weather.
"Lydia," Allison hisses, going pink with secondhand embarrassment. Toby, however, seems unperturbed.
"Nope," he replies, still smiling widely. "I'm actually completely straight. I mean, I think. Although," he adds as an afterthought, "I do get asked about it a lot. With that thing about theatre people and how their sexuality is fluid and stuff. It's cool, though. As far as I'm aware, I'm straight as a lance," he jokes.
Allison rolls her eyes at his feeble (and completely unfunny) attempt at humor, but Lydia, surprisingly, laughs.
"Still, I mean - getting straight guys complimenting you on your shoes..." Lydia trails off with a shrug and a genuine smile that Allison is pretty sure she's only seen approximately twice in the past four years.
"Actually," Allison isn't sure she likes the look of the eager gleam in Toby's eye. "I was gonna say - they totally remind me of Dorothy's shoes!"
Allison can't even do anything but stare at Toby open-mouthed. She honestly thought there's a limit to how much of a dork a guy can be, but here Toby Martin is, proving her more and more wrong each and every day.
Lydia, to her credit, recovers with commendable speed, enough to manage a weak: "Dorothy?"
Toby nods, and Allison is forcibly reminded once again of a puppy. "From The Wizard of Oz!" he says brightly. "Hey, Allison -" he turns to look at her - "that should totally be the one we watch first! Are you free tonight?"
She wants to say no, but a voice in the back of her head insists that for all the appearances of oblivious-bordering-on-dumb happiness Toby Martin puts on, he'll be able to see right through her. "Um...yes...?" she says in a lame tone of voice.
"Great! We can do it tonight, then!" he stops short for a moment, frowning. "That is, uh, watch the film," he fumbles. "Not, like, anything else, or...anything..."
Allison arches an eyebrow at his discomfort. "Okay, Toby."
"Okay." Toby recovers quickly. "Awesome! See you in class, Lydia!" he offers said girl his patented wide grin before loping off down the hallway.
Lydia and Allison stand and watch him go in (stunned) silence.
"Allison," Lydia says lightly after some time. "Do I want to know why you're going to watch The Wizard of Oz at Toby's house after school?"
"No," Allison replies honestly.
The next thing she knows, she's sat on Toby's couch after school and wrinkling her nose at what's in front of her.
"Is this going to be what you usually offer up when we watch something?" She eyes the food on the coffee table in front of her with barely repressed distaste - instead of choosing something along the lines of popcorn or chocolate or anything else that is sinfully (but beautifully) plentiful in calories, Toby has instead opted for carrot sticks, hummus, celery, and cherry tomatoes.
"This is what I always have," he calls from the kitchen. There's some clanging about, then he's coming back to join her. Allison squints at him from where she's sitting.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah."
"You don't have anything, like...sweeter? Maybe?"
Allison isn't what one would call a fussy eater, and she's by no means addicted to chocolate, but she's a strong believer in there being times when one should indulge, and that a movie night (or movie afternoon, in this case) is one of those times.
Toby, however, doesn't seem to share her view.
"Uh...we have yogurt and honey, if you want...?"
She blinks. "Uh, you know what, forget it, it's okay."
"Sorry," he tells her, looking sincere as always. "I'll grab something better next time," he offers.
The reminder of there being not just one next time, but twenty-nine next times, is enough to make Allison want to sink into Toby's couch and never again see the light of day.
Jesus, she prays silently as she watches Toby kneel to insert the DVD into the player. Whatever I did, I'm sorry. Just please, get me out of this. Send down a lightning bolt to destroy Toby's DVD player. A plague of locusts. A flood. A drought. Something. Please. I'll go shopping with Lydia for a year. Three years! I won't have sex again until I'm married. I'll adopt a child from Africa and five puppies.
She watches Toby move away from the player, which, sadly, doesn't seem like it's about to be hit by a bolt of lightning any time soon. Ten puppies, she thinks frantically. And a kitten.
"What?"
Toby looks confused. Allison struggles to suppress a flush to her cheeks.
"Nothing," she coughs, realising her prayers had become less silent and more - well, out loud.
He eyes her. "Okay," he shrugs, then leans forward where he sits to grab a carrot stick and crunch into it as he presses play on the remote. Allison stares despondently at the player. It's still functional, as evidenced by the fact that the opening credits for The Wizard of Oz are now running.
"You do realise part of watching a movie involves actually looking in the general direction of the screen, right?" Toby asks with amusement in his voice.
She turns to him with a scowl, because he's seriously not helping with the mood she's in, and considers verbally handing his ass to him on a platter, but decides to let it go, and instead directs her attention towards the plasma screen in question.
Allison has to give Toby credit - as far as musicals go, he's given her the perfect stereotype to start off with, and she does get a slightly attached to Judy Garland's dog. Frankly, though, that doesn't excuse the singing scarecrows. And singing tin men. And singing lions.
Do tin men even exist?
(Stupid question. Tin men probably don't exist, but neither do green witches or flying monkeys, and she's pretty sure yellow brick roads aren't a thing, either.)
But she doesn't have to tell Toby any of this kind of bizarre thought process, so when he asks: "So, whaddaya think?", she doesn't.
Instead, she shrugs. "Okay, I guess. Kind of blindingly boring in parts -"
"Hold on a sec -"
"But overall, bearable," she finishes, ignoring Toby's interjection.
He sits up to stare for a moment, before slumping back into the couch with a sigh. "You're impossible," he mumbles.
"Mm," Allison says, because it's kinda hard to disagree when she's shooting him down as much as she is.
They sit in silence and watch the credits roll. It only takes a few moments for Toby to jump up from the couch, presumably re-energised. "Well, we gotta film the first part of the log now!"
Allison makes a face, unwilling to move from her current position. "I was hoping you'd forget about that," she grumbles.
"Nope!" he beams. "I'm gonna go get the camera before we forget our initial reactions!" And with that, he gallops out of the room with an energy equivalent to that of an entire football team before a cup final. Allison stares after him for a second, slightly in awe and mostly in confusion.
It's kind of weird, because watching a movie - a musical movie - with Toby Martin isn't as bad as she thought it would be. He laughed too loudly at the jokes and even at the parts that she's pretty sure weren't meant to be jokes, and she swears to God she heard him singing along under his breath at some points (or maybe most points), but it was okay. It's been a long time since she's watched a movie with someone and actually paid attention to it, so even though Toby's really annoying at times and just generally weird, she realises that the whole thing was surprisingly okay.
"Okay, I got the camera!" Toby announces breathlessly, waving the aforementioned item in the air. Allison blinks.
"Great," she says, even though it so isn't.
"You can go first, if you want!"
"I'm good, thanks."
"Aw, c'mon, Allison -"
"Toby."
"Okay, fine, how about this? I'll put the camera on its stand and leave the room completely and you can talk and I promise I won't watch it later."
Allison considers this carefully. "You promise?"
Toby crosses his heart wordlessly, raising his eyebrows expectantly. She sighs.
"Fine," she relents.
Immediately, Toby moves to set up the camera for her, and it takes a bit of time, but he gets there eventually.
"Okay, it's all ready," he steps back from the coffee table where the camera is now situated. "I mean, you probably know how to work a video camera -"
"I'm not stupid," Allison rolls her eyes.
"I know! Anyway, I'll just be in the next room," he juts a thumb in the general direction of the kitchen. "Call me when you're done."
"Okay," she replies. There's a pause, before she arches an eyebrow at him and says: "You can go now."
"Sorry, sorry," he begins to walk away. She only turns back to the camera once she's sure he's in the other room.
Staring at it despondently for a minute, and taking another minute to think about how stupid the whole thing is, she reaches over to the camera and presses the red record button. It emits a quiet beeping sound and a red dot appears on the screen.
"Okay, so..." Allison trails off, feeling vaguely stupid. "We watched The Wizard of Oz today."
She's silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. "It was okay, I guess," she says awkwardly after some time.
Focus, Allison. You want a good grade.
She takes a deep breath. "The main difference from the book is that Book Oz is an actual fantasy world, whereas in the film Oz is portrayed to be a world that Dorothy dreamt up. However, even though Oz was a dream, it still taught Dorothy - the protagonist - to value and treasure her home and family, ending with the iconic quote, there's no place like home. Um, hold on..." Allison takes a moment to grab her notebook, which is lying next to her on the couch, and flip to the research she insisted on doing before watching the film.
"The film itself was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture, and the Library of Congress named it 'the most viewed motion picture on television syndication in history', so I guess that counts for something. The message it's trying to teach is good in itself, but..." Allison purses her lips, trying to think of how to articulate her thoughts. "I mean, it tells you to value home and family, right? The Wicked Witch of the West ended up having her sister crushed under Dorothy's house, but she doesn't get any sympathy at all."
She pauses, another thought occurring to her. "I mean, really, all she wanted was to get her dead sister's shoes back! If your sister died, you'd probably want to have something left of her too. And Dorothy wants to kill the Witch just so she can get back home. Not because she's actually evil or anything. It's kinda...stupid."
Allison's brow furrows. She didn't actually realise she was this emotionally invested in a movie about tin men.
"Anyway," she says, remembering she's still on camera. "It was okay. Some of the songs are kind of catchy too," she pauses, before adding, "don't tell Toby I said that."
She decides now is as good a place to end it as any, and leans forward, pressing the small red button on the camera once more.
Relieved at having done her share in video logging for the day, she sighs, running her hand through her hair. "Toby," she calls.
A few moments later, the boy in question pokes his head round the doorway. "Yeah?"
"I'm done," she says, leaning forward to nab a cherry tomato from the dish in front of her (against her better judgement).
"Great!" Toby smiles. "I can film myself doing mine, if you wanna head home or something..."
"Home?" Allison repeats dumbly.
"Yeah, I mean. We're done. Unless there was something else?"
"Oh. No."
"Cool. I'll, uh, I'll walk you out."
He does. At the door, he stops and says: "It was cool, today. I'll, uh, I'll message you about next time, or something?"
"Do you not have my number?"
Toby frowns in thought. "Not sure..."
Allison gets out her phone and the contacts, before quickly typing in Toby's name into the search bar. Sure enough, she gets a result that she's pretty sure was obtained like, five years prior.
"Does it still end in a triple one?" she asks.
"Uh, yeah, that's mine."
"Cool. Then I'll text you and you can text me about..." Allison pauses with some degree of distaste. "Next time."
"Okay. Neat."
"Yep. Bye."
"Bye."
Her exit is speedy and awkward, and Allison actually lets out a breath once she's reached the subway. Her cell buzzes as she's halfway through the journey home, and when she does finally reach the station nearest her apartment (and therefore has signal again), she checks it, and rolls her eyes, because of course.
7:23 PM, Lydia Huntington: How was following the yellow brick road with Toby Martin?
Allison rolls her eyes again, before beginning to type out a response.
7:34 PM, Allison Reed: Not as bad as I thought
She knows that there's probably a plethora of lies she could've said in response, but if there's one person Allison has an honesty is the best policy rule with, it's Lydia.
7:34 PM, Lydia Huntington: ...is that so?
7:34 PM, Allison Reed: Get your mind out the freaking gutter, all we did was watch a movie
7:35 PM, Lydia Huntington: Yeah, well, I guess hot makeout sessions weren't exactly on the cards with you still hung up over Daniel
7:35 PM, Allison Reed: Firstly, don't ever talk about me and Toby having hot makeout sessions again because I think I'm mentally scarred
7:35 PM, Allison Reed: Secondly who said I was still hung up over Daniel??
7:36 PM, Lydia Huntington: I think the fact that you start drooling whenever he comes within a two yard radius speaks for itself
7:36 PM, Allison Reed: I do not
7:36 PM, Lydia Huntington: Okay
7:36 PM, Allison Reed: Lydia.
7:36 PM, Lydia Huntington: Yeah?
7:37 PM, Allison Reed: I hate you
7:37 PM, Lydia Huntington: Oh please
7:37 PM, Lydia Huntington: You love me
7:38 PM, Allison Reed: *hate
7:38 PM, Lydia Huntington: *love
7:38 PM, Allison Reed: *hate
7:38 PM, Lydia Huntington: *love
Allison reaches her front door and unlocks it whilst huffing at her phone screen.
7:39 PM, Allison Reed: Whatever
7:40 PM, Lydia Huntington: :)
The subject of their conversation changes, but Allison's mind stays hooked on what Lydia said. Is she really not over Daniel? It's been months now, but she still feels a hollow pang in her chest when she sees him, and, embarrassingly, her hand itches to reach out and grab his when presented with the opportunity, as though it has a mind of its own. She hates it, because it makes her cheeks burn hot with shame, stupid Allison still hung up over a boy who moved on far more quickly with far less trouble.
Stop, she thinks. Breathe. Because there are more important things right now that she should be thinking about that aren't to do with Daniel Smith at all.
For example: how exactly is she going to get herself through twenty-nine more screenings of musicals with Toby Martin?