02: YOU STILL HAVEN'T ACCEPTED MY THREE YEAR-OLD FRIEND REQUEST
« ...but she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within. »
Sun 15.23, Toby Martin: heeeeey allison!! ive got the musical we should watch next! evr seen beauty and the beast??
IT IS THIS text that has been the bane of Allison's existence for the past two days.
The truth is, yes, Allison has seen Beauty and the Beast, but the last time she did so, she was six. As in, less than half the age she is now.
"This is not okay," she groans to herself. "This is so far from being okay that I don't even know what it is."
"Torture? Terror? Indescribable pain?" Lydia offers, sitting down next to her on the bed.
"Something like that," Allison sighs. "I think the word I'm looking for is Disney, actually."
"Disney," Lydia repeats slowly.
"Yep."
"Well, I am completely and utterly lost, but, luckily for you, I'm not going to let that stop me from giving you the actually half decent manicure that you are so desperately in need of," she announces, extracting her nail polish collection from the drawer in her bedside table. "What colour?"
"Whenever I pick a colour, you still end up painting my nails with the one you chose instead," Allison points out, raising a brow.
"True," Lydia hums in agreement. "But I like to make you feel like you have a choice."
"Even when I don't?"
"Especially when you don't."
"Okay...that reddy-orange one."
"Great choice!" Lydia beams, plucking the pale pink bottle from the box. Allison fights back a smile, rolling her eyes instead.
Fifteen minutes later, and Allison is in full-on rant mode, with Lydia painting her nails and silent but for the sympathetic noises she emits every now and again. It's a role reversal that occurs probably with the same frequency of a lunar eclipse.
(The last time this happened was, predictably, after her and Daniel broke up. Lydia listened to her talk for two hours straight without saying a word. Allison can only imagine how much self-restrain that must've taken.)
"...like, musicals is one thing, but Beauty and the Beast? Really?"
"It's probably not going to be as bad as you think," Lydia says, examining her work on the nail of Allison's index finger closely.
Allison splutters in incredulity, looking utterly betrayed. "Seriously, Lydia? You're siding with him?"
"I'm not siding with anyone. I'm just saying. Beauty and the Beast was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture in ninety-one," her best friend informs her, once again displaying her superior knowledge on everything ever. "It can't be all bad."
"Lydia," Allison groans, dragging out the vowel sounds. "It's Disney! It's always bad!"
"Bullshit," Lydia pauses her work to point the nailbrush in Allison's direction accusingly. "You just don't believe."
"Since when have you ever liked Disney?"
"I don't. It's pathetic. But not as pathetic as your whining."
"Well, you're welcome to go ahead and take my place!"
"No can do," Lydia has the hints of a smirk playing on her lips. "This is your bad karma, Reed. You're just gonna have to grin and bear it."
Allison sighs and watches Lydia paint her nails in silence for a few minutes, before a thought occurs to hre. "Who'd you get paired with for English, anyway?"
"Oh, no one," Lydia says lightly.
"No one?" Allison repeats, eyes narrowed.
"Well, someone," she corrects. "But no one of importance."
Allison sighs. "Lydia."
"Mm?"
"Who's your partner?"
"Does it matter?"
"Well, I don' t know! If it's so irrelevant, what's the problem with telling me?"
"There is no problem!"
"Then who is it?"
"...Emmett Knight."
Allison blinks. "Him?"
"Yeah."
"What's wrong with him?"
Lydia shifts uncomfortably. "He's..."
"He's?"
"...a nerd," Lydia says in a voice barely above a whisper.
Allison stares at Lydia for a long time, before bursting into laughter. Her best friend scowls.
"I...you...that's...what's wrong...?" she finally manages between fits of laughter.
"Oh, look who's talking," Lydia snaps. "Remind me again who was calling Toby a theatre geek five minutes ago?"
That's enough to shut Allison up, but not to wipe the smile off her face. Lydia looks far from amused.
"What?"
"Nothing," Allison says, although the widening of her grin implies otherwise. "Just..."
"Just...?"
"Emmett's pretty hot, right?" the smile has reached Toby-like proportions now. "I mean. For a nerd."
Lydia can only gape at her wordlessly, and Allison pats herself on the back for a job well done. It isn't often she leaves her best friend speechless.
"He's not hot!" she says finally. "He's not even vaguely hot! He's just a sarcastic asshole!"
"Hm," Allison hums. "Don't you have a thing for sarcastic assholes, though?"
"I have a thing for hot assholes," Lydia corrects. "And half the time, Emmett doesn't even know he's being an asshole. He thinks he's funny. 'I'm the comic relief in this beautiful partnership, Lydia'," she imitates the boy in question crudely.
"I don't know, he seems pretty nice," Allison shrugs, honest now in her appraisal of Emmett.
"That's what he wants you to think," Lydia retorts grimly.
"Aren't you being a little melodramatic?" Allison says in an amused tone of voice.
"No," she replies, sounding for all the world like a three year-old. "But at least his IQ is above forty. Although barely."
"Lydia, it's between you and him for valedictorian this year," Allison points out.
"And I don't know how in hell that's even a thing," Lydia huffs. "I swear to God, I lose brain cells just by talking to him."
"Okay," Allison replies, patting her friend's knee. "Whatever you say."
"You're a bitch."
"You love me."
"A whorish bitch."
"You still love me. Slut."
"Tart."
Allison doesn't bother responding this time, instead reaching for a pillow behind her and whacking Lydia's midsection with it. Her friend gives her a withering look, as though slightly insulted at the mere suggestion that she would retaliate to such an immature blow, but Allison holds it, and a few seconds later, Lydia's reaching for the other pillow on her bed.
✦
The next time Allison sees Toby, she's already been hunting him out for the best part of half an hour, and her walk towards him is fast and powered by irritation. Her step falters slightly when she catches sight of Daniel standing next to him by his locker – Toby's tall stature originally hid him from view. She decides quickly that she isn't going to let it stop her, heading towards the two of them with renewed vigour.
She stops short in front of them. She sees Daniel notice her first, smiling in greeting, but doesn't even look at him, choosing instead to ask with rude abruptness; "So when are we doing this?"
Toby blinks, looking for all the world as though Allison had practically dropped out of the sky and landed in front of his locker. Slowly, he lets the shocked expression unfurl into a wide smile. "Hey, Allison!" he greets enthusiastically.
"When am I coming over?" Allison likes cutting to the chase when it comes to Toby Martin. The less time spent having to be surrounded by his overly sunny aura, the better.
"Um, tomorrow, maybe?" he offers a second later.
"Dude," Daniel interjects with a frown.
"I thought we were going today?" Toby returns, somehow inferring an entire objection from one monosyllable.
(Daniel has never been the most articulate of boys.)
"I thought you were gonna come watch soccer practice tomorrow, though," Daniel whines petulantly. Allison resists an eye-roll. What is it with boys forcing people to come watch them exercise? She doubts Toby has much of an interest in watching his best friend getting hot and sweaty.
(A small voice in the back of her head reminds her that she used to be a regular spectator at soccer practice. She ignores it.)
Surprisingly, Toby only shrugs. "Sorry, man," he says. "Kinda gotta get on this project."
"You didn't even tell me what you're doing, by the way," Daniel points out. Allison can't help raising an eyebrow. She'd expected for Toby to tell anyone and everyone about how he managed to convince her to go on a musical spree with him, but if he hasn't told Daniel, of all people, she could draw the most likely pretty accurate conclusion that he hasn't told anyone.
"Nothin' interesting," Toby waves off. Allison's other eyebrow goes up. Dodging the topic, now? Seriously?
"Toby, can I talk with you for a second?" she says tightly.
"Um, sure," he's returned to his regular innocent puppy-dog persona, but Allison isn't buying it. Grabbing his arm less than gently, she drags him to the other end of the hallway, checking to make sure Daniel is well out of earshot.
"Care to explain what just happened there?" she hisses.
"What?" Toby looks innocent. Allison doesn't fall for it.
"You know what?" she snaps.
He sighs, running a hand through his hair. "Okay. Have you told Lydia about what our English project is?"
"Yes, actually," Allison thinks back to her heart-to-heart with Lydia over manicures only a few days ago. Sure, she found it a little weird (maybe a lot weird), but she was far more accepting than Allison had been anticipating.
"Okay, well," Toby's brow furrows as he tries to articulate his thoughts. "This is probably going to take a pretty long time, right? Like, at least a month."
"Yeah, but we have the whole semester."
"True, but most people in our class are going for something a little more...short term."
"Your point?"
"My point, is that if Daniel finds out that I practically forced on you a project idea that meant you coming to my house every couple of days for a month or two, he might think something was...going on."
"Going on?" Allison repeats dumbly.
"Yeah," Toby looks distinctly uncomfortable. "Like, I don't know...you know...something," he finishes helplessly, his sentence no less vague than it was before the clarification.
"That's - that's stupid," she shakes her head. "Why would that – why would it – I mean, why would it even make a difference for him?" she tries to sound nonchalant, but can feel her heart rate speeding up a little despite herself at the thought of Daniel upset at the mere prospect of her having other romantic relations.
Toby shrugs. "It's a bro thing, you know?"
"A bro thing?" Allison repeats his words again, this time with vague distaste.
"Like, you shouldn't take a bro's ex-girl. Doesn't really work out that way."
"Firstly, I am not anyone's girl," she says, giving Toby a glare that could curdle dairy. She smirks inwardly at his involuntary wince. "Secondly," she raises her eyebrows. "I wasn't aware that Daniel has a habit of seeing romance where it doesn't exist," she gestures between the two of them. "And will not exist," she adds for good measure. "Ever."
Toby blinks. "Okay," he says slowly. "You make a good argument. But I'd rather not tell him anyway."
"Hiding things doesn't exactly make for the foundations of a good friendship," Allison points out. "Especially hiding things from your best friend."
"I know," he sighs. "Look, I'll tell him at some point, okay? Just...not right now."
She shrugs. "Whatever. Your problem. So, tomorrow?"
"Yeah," Toby nods, looking relieved at the change of subject. "But do you mind coming a bit later? I know I turned Daniel down about the soccer thing, but I feel kinda bad already," he explains with a helpless smile.
This time, Allison does roll her eyes, realising with a jolt that she feels far more comfortable around Toby than she did just now around Daniel.
Of course I feel more comfortable about him, she thinks. He's not my ex-boyfriend. Not to mention, Toby's dorkiness sometimes makes her feel like she has the upper hand. Kind of...not in control, per se, just with more say. Or something along those lines. She doesn't know.
"Allison?"
This is weird. Why is she thinking so much about this?
"Allison?"
Probably because it's to do with Daniel. She's always overthinking when it comes to him.
"Allllllison..."
She guesses that's why they broke up. She was always thinking things through, and he was always more of a spontaneous person. She thought that the differences between them would mean it worked well. And for a while, it did. Then it didn't.
"Aaaaalllllliiiiisoooooonnnn...!"
"Did you just sing my name?" she asks in disbelief, snapped out of her thoughts.
Toby merely grins, not looking even close to being embarrassed. "Maybe."
"Okay," Allison narrows her eyes. "Don't ever do that again. Ever."
"Sorry, Allie," he replies, grin only widening. Allison's eyes narrow even further, but now the look in them is bordering on homicidal.
"What did you call me?" she asks in a dangerously low tone of voice.
"I may have called you Allie," Toby retains his smile, but there's a hint of nervousness to it, now. To his credit, Allison's glower could most likely drill a hole through the freshman's locker that they're currently standing by. "I mean, it's just a possibility. A very, very, improbable possibility...?"
"Toby," Allison says, sounding remarkably calm in spite of the fierce look on her face. "Do not call me that again, unless you have a very sincere wish to lose your genitals. Have I made myself clear?"
"As crystal. Allie."
There is a loud crash as Toby is sent flying into a set of lockers with a groan about how he thinks he may have dislocated his shoulder and if he has, Allison is so paying for the treatment. She rolls her eyes, but silently marvels at how easily Toby is knocked off balance.
(All she did was shove him, after all.)
She walks him back to his locker after telling him to man up and also to text her a good time for her to come over tomorrow, and gives him a casual wave, but doesn't stop to even acknowledge Daniel. Part of her feels like it's a little rude, especially since he said hi to her the other day when she was with Toby, but hey, if cold indifference is going to help her move on, she'd rather do that (and maybe when she's over him they can be like those weird people who stay best buddies even after breaking up, whatever).
She makes a beeline instead for Lydia's locker, and blinks when she sees a tall male figure standing near it. Her best friend, it seems, has already found a new flavour of the month.
Surprisingly, however, Allison is mistaken – the tall, skinny frame belongs instead to one Emmett Knight.
"What have I said about talking to me in school?" Allison catches Lydia's furious hiss and suppresses a laugh.
"But I don't have your number," Emmett points out. "Or your email. And I'm pretty sure you still haven't accepted my friend request on Facebook. Even though it's been, like, three years."
"Yeah, well, most people would've taken the hint by now," Lydia retorts, still whispering fervently.
"Whatever. My point is I actually have no way to contact you. Like, at all. So, much as I hate to deplete your 'social status' – "
" – I don't know why you're using that mocking tone of voice, at least I have social status – "
" – I still wanna get a good grade on this project. And I know you do, too."
Allison chooses this moment to clear her throat. What ensues is a complete mess, with Lydia somehow falling on Emmett in shock and Emmett stumbling over his own long limbs in a valiant attempt to keep both of them up (which, luckily, succeeds). As soon as Lydia has regained her balance, they both spring apart as though burnt. Allison snorts.
"Allison," Lydia tries to say in a dignified tone of voice.
"Hello, Lydia," Allison says, two parts amused and one part strangely unimpressed. "Emmett," she acknowledges the boy next to her best friend with a nod. He offers her a half-smile, breaking eye contact quickly by bringing his eyes to the floor, and tucking his hands in his pockets, clearly embarrassed.
"Emmett was just leaving," Lydia says, shooting the boy in question a pointed look.
He opens his mouth, looking like he's about to protest, but the next look Lydia gives him is so venomous it could make plants wither, and he quickly closes it. "I'll talk to you later," he mutters.
"Not if I can help it," she replies sweetly. Emmett rolls his eyes but says nothing, choosing instead to give Allison a small wave before walking off, presumably to seek out the rest of his "disgustingly dorky clique", as Lydia dubs them.
(Personally, Allison's never had any problems with Emmett or his friends. In fact, on the rare days that Lydia is ill – not often since she prides herself on her attendance record – she sometimes chooses to eat lunch with them and enjoy their at least half-decent company, rather than put up with the insufferable people Lydia chooses for 'friends', who should really be called 'Annoying People in Lydia's Annoying Posse That Occasionally Make Allison Want To Smash Her Face In With a Sledgehammer Because They're So Annoying'.)
At any rate, Lydia is very annoyed that her English partner chose to actually talk to her in public, like, in front of people, and doesn't hesitate to tell Allison so.
"We had an agreement!" she growls.
"Oh?" Allison quirks a brow.
"Yes! We said, no talking out of lessons, in front of people, and if we had to talk about anything, we'd do it in the library. In that weird corner nobody goes to. So nobody could see us."
"And...how exactly was he meant to tell you that he needed to talk to you in the weird corner of the library that nobody goes to, when he doesn't have your number, your email, your Facebook, and he isn't allowed to converse with you in public?"
"I..." Lydia trails off, frowning at having such an obvious flaw in her plan. Allison smirks. The second time outwitting Lydia in as many days. She must be on a roll.
✦
"How was watching Daniel play soccer?" Allison dips a stick of celery into the dish of hummus (Toby didn't exactly keep to his promise of better food) and congratulates herself on how even her voice sounded when mentioning her ex-boyfriend.
"Eh, you know," Toby shrugs, following her lead and chomping into his own hummus-covered celery stick. "Mostly boring."
"I know the feeling," Allison agrees. True, watching Daniel get hot and sweaty was always nice, but she was never a huge fan of soccer.
"Anyway," Toby grabs the remote from its place by the bowl of cherry tomatoes on the coffee table. "Shall we?"
"Might as well get it over with," she replies reluctantly, finishing off her celery stick.
The next hour or so is mostly filled with a lot of eye-rolls from Allison, a lot of excited talking from Toby, and a hell of a lot of déjà vu. Allison almost feels like she's a little kid again, watching Belle fall in love with the Beast. Unbidden, a memory comes to the forefront of her mind of being presented a Belle dress as her birthday present by both her parents one year. It kind of hurts, to be honest, remembering how it was before the angry calls and the shouting matches until one in the morning and the messy divorce. But watching Belle get her own happy ending is different. Remembering how attached she actually was to the movie is different too.
It's...nice. Surreal, kind of weird, but nice.
"Oh my God!" Toby exclaims as soon as the credits begin to roll. "That was awesome! Was that not awesome, Allison?"
"Toby, I don't think the words Disney and awesome even fit in the same sentence," Allison replies, trying to hide her amusement at his childish excitement.
"Seriously?" he asks incredulously. "You seriously went there? Allison, Disney is awesome! Disney is the definition of awesome!"
"Okay," she replies, in the type of voice one uses to talk to small children.
Toby pouts. "You're annoying. You just don't have faith."
Allison blinks, recalling vividly Lydia's words from their manicure session. You just don't believe.
"Whatever," she rolls her eyes.
"Okay, we have to be quiet now," Toby tells her earnestly, suddenly dropping the volume of his voice to a hushed whisper.
"Um...why?"
"Ssh!"
"Toby..."
"Because, Allison! This part of the credits is when they start playing the pop version of Beauty and the Beast, the song!"
"There's a pop version?" Allison asks, horrified. The introduction for said song starts to blast itself out of the speakers connected to Toby's television, and she starts to feel anxious. There shouldn't be pop versions of Disney songs. It shouldn't be a thing.
"Ssh! Not really a pop version. Just, the commercial version. It's a duet between Peabo Bryson and Celine Dion!"
"Okay, I'm kinda glad I don't know who the guy is, and sometimes I'm still kind of ashamed that I know who Celine Dion is."
Toby turns to her, thunderstruck. "You're ashamed? About Celine Dion? Ashamed?"
The look on his face is so genuinely shocked that Allison feels obligated to backtrack. "I mean..." she says lamely.
"Don't," Toby sniffs. "Don't even speak to me. Just...listen to the song."
So she does. And it's actually quite nice. Maybe it reminds Allison a lot of things before the divorce, but she thinks to herself that it's okay. And she's going to let Toby do the video log on this one, because she isn't really sure what to say on it from an analytical point of view, but that's okay too. Because they're listening to Celine Dion and the other guy sing. And it's nice.
_____________________________________________________________
a/n: okaaaay so here's the next chapter!
that was stating the obvious i'm sorry
a lot of ppl seem to love lydia and allison's friendship so i hope u liked more of my bbys here (((lydia is by fAR my favourite character i have ever written)))
also whatchu think of emmett???? before anyone asks YES he was named after emmett forrest from legally blonde (& legally blonde the musical) i dON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY OK I LOVE HIM IN THE MUSICAL AND I LOVE THE MUSICAL
anyway this chapter is dedicated to eke because even though she commented on the chapter before last, she was a bro and somehow read my mind about toby calling allison allie, which i'd been thinking about but not really sure i liked it and then she commented like "TOBY SHOULD CALL ALLISON ALLIE!!!" AND I WAS LIKE FUCK YEAH SOMEONE ELSE AGREES WITH ME
ok i know that was a long and boring story im sorry
vote and comment blahblahblah
but only if you liked it of course otherwise never mind
love you all!
- mariam
ps: yES THE CELINE DION/PEABO BRYSON VERSION OF BEAUTY AND THE BEAST IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE SONGS OK DONT TT JUSTD FGEM E
[cough]
don't judge me
pps: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST IS ACTUALLY A STAGE MUSICAL LIKE IT WAS ADAPTED FOR BROADWAY IN 1994 AND BASICALLY IT'S AMAZING