***ALEX***
I wake up on Monday morning with a lot of cold sweat breaking out all over my skin. My T-shirt is stuck to my chest - which is funny, because I could have sworn just a second ago it wasn't even there. Then I remember that my dream is over.
To which I almost want to say thank God. Because I haven't had dreams about Fionna in a long time, and the last thing I need right now is for her to start making guest appearances again. Especially shirtless - and almost completely topless - guest appearances.
I don't know which would make me feel more guilty - expressing pleasure that Fionna isn't really here to get back together with me, or wishing that she were. Either way, I'm very much torn, because I'm feeling both of the above at once.
As usual, however, I decide to bury my conflicting thoughts as quickly as possible. I've learned to do that mostly out of necessity, living in a world populated by telepaths. I would have thought that I'd also learned it was bad for my health, because it would only make me suffer more nightmares.
But for now, I decide to stick to looking and sound normal. Or as normal as possible, anyway.
And the first step is to do as I promised Aron Smythe and help him get some attention for his work of art.
Each day this week, I plan to go into the school library to take a look at Aron's first installment of his graphic-novel project, The Venom Chronicles. It's nothing to do with the infamous comic-book villain, although I can easily see a lot of Spidey's influence in Aron's work. Especially since I helped him write a lot of the story.
Each day, I bring another person with me to see the ten pages on display at the library's front desk. On Monday, it's Paul, who was very touched by the dedication his little brother put in, not only for him, but for his other beta readers.
"To Paul, Alex, Juliet, Gideon, and Luca. Thanks for the tips - I promise I'll ask you for less as time goes on! -A.S." (It's mostly Aron's dedication, but it's not lost on us that our initials are the same.)
Luca takes his turn to smile fondly at the dedication for the first time on Tuesday.
He's followed on Wednesday by Gideon. I grin as I see him smile at the first page, introducing the main character, teenage vampire Jay Cross - I'd suggested to Aron that he name him after Gideon's ex. As he was the only thing that made Gideon's life on Earth remotely bearable, even if he was faking his way through the relationship, he greatly appreciated the little nostalgia trip.
After taking his first reading, Gideon falls into step beside me and Luca as we walk back to the lounge. He assures us that the real Jay Cross is not now, nor has he ever been, a vampire. "If he were," he says, "I'd probably not even have pretended to be interested in him."
"You've never seen the appeal of bad boys, have you?" Luca laughs.
Gideon ruffles his hair. "Aren't you gonna miss this bird's nest when it's gone?"
"I'm not. God, I wish I could get it over with already. You know, it always hurts when I have my hair cut, 'cause it's so thick the clippers keep pulling on it."
"But I love your curly hair," Gideon teases. "It's what makes us twins!"
"Alex is the only one of us with a twin," Luca says in his "that settles the matter" voice. "And speaking of which, you're gonna cut your hair for prom too, right?"
"Of course," I say, brushing my own overgrown mop out of my face - it's been in a ridiculous Carl Grimes style for months, but I've been too lazy to do anything about it. "Not today, though. I gotta finish up my French report."
"Dude, you could've had that done by Sunday," Luca says.
"I blame Juliet," I say.
Gideon leans in close to me, lowering his voice as much as he can. "You haven't been assaulting my old roommate's virtue, have you?"
"Don't worry," I say with a cheeky grin. "Juliet and I, we always use protection."
Gideon laughs so hard he chokes on his own spit. Soon, he calms down enough to say, "Bullshit."
"Yeah..." I laugh, my bluff called. "We're not doing it. Not really. Not yet, anyway."
Speaking of Juliet, the next day, when I invite her to join us, The Venom Chronicles has attracted a sizable crowd to the library as people come to see what all the fuss is about. Along with the others, I stand back as people line up to marvel at Aron's graphic novel. Some page through it with mild to moderate interest. Others get to the point where Jason finally flashes his fangs, revealing his species, and give up in disgust - vampires' reputation, for many, remains in tatters after the cosmic joke that was Twilight.
But one particular freshman's reaction really amuses me. "Is this based on reality?" he asks after reading all ten pages.
Aron smiles at his classmate, his brown eyes glittering with dark, devilish humor. "It was gonna be, but then the lawyers got involved."
The entire crowd, even those who've been hanging around just to keep on jeering, erupts with laughter.
"He's a gem," I say to Paul. "Wish I had a brother like him."
"Why not invite yours over to see it while you're at it?" Paul asks. "Didn't you say something about how he wanted to try writing graphic novels too?"
"I did, didn't I? Well, he gave up on his thing, but I'm sure he'd love this anyway."
And that's how I choose my last person to invite this week.
Gabe definitely needs a little pick-me-up. Other than our birthday weekend, when he'd been unusually chipper while getting a tattoo (he later quipped that it had been a combination of endorphins and caffeine that got him so happy that day), he's been increasingly moody and reclusive. I think the main reason why Gabe's not had a good six months is the same reason why I've been the same way - Fionna's death. Of course, we've both had the support of our friends and lovers, but we both still feel, acutely, the holes Fionna left in our hearts.
But when he crosses the Bridge and comes to Balthazar on Friday afternoon, he's in reasonably good shape. He raises his hood as soon as he comes into the library and, with a small smile on his face, joins the already-growing line, virtually unnoticed. Just the way he'd like it - he's never really been invisible in Heaven before, being a demon in an angel's world.
Gabe likes The Venom Chronicles a lot, too - when he's taken his turn, he simply asks Aron, "When's Number Two coming, huh?"
"Would you believe you're the first one to ask?" Aron says. "My goal is to get it done by the end of August. Just in time for the start of the school year. Everyone got that?" He turns to the crowd, who all nod enthusiastically - today, I guess the haters had more urgent business elsewhere.
"Great to know," Gabe says, clapping Aron on the shoulder.
Afterwards, though, I start to suspect that something is still wrong.
Gabe walks alongside me, his face pensive as I walk down the Bridge, heading for my haircut. "I wonder if I should get another trim," he mutters.
"What? No!" I laugh. "Your hair's practically Jarhead short already."
Gabe's hand goes under his hood to rub his bristly hair. "I dunno...I just think I could do with a little off the top."
"Dude. No you don't."
"You could be right," Gabe says, sticking his hand back in his pocket. "But then, you're just a cheeky bastard, so what do you know?"
"That's the first time in a while you've said that," I say. "Are you sure you're all right, Gabe? Is everything okay?"
"I'm fine," Gabe says stiffly.
That's been his reaction every time I've asked how he's doing since November, and each time I've just let the matter drop. Like I do now as I change the subject.
"Don't tell me Kyle wants you to get your hair cut," I say.
"He likes short hair better on me, yeah," Gabe says. "But we were considering not even going to prom - we were just gonna go off and celebrate the end of the year in more style."
"And you've changed your mind since then?"
Gabe shrugs. "I dunno. I mean, Kyle's a little scared of what people might say if they saw us slow-dancing."
"You sure?" I ask. "Balthazar's not really that bad about it. The school actually got a lot of flak a couple of years ago for denying this one out-and-proud lesbian couple their tickets, though, so that's probably why."
"'Cause the school's run by these fuddy-duddy old pervs who don't mind girl-on-girl but can't stand the thought of guy-on-guy," Gabe says.
I sign up at the front desk, then the receptionist turns to Gabe and asks if he'd like a haircut too. How she manages to not sound snarky or condescending about it is beyond me.
"I guess I don't need anything just yet," Gabe says. "See you tomorrow."
He and I hug goodbye, and the receptionist says, "You two are so cute together."
I blush heavily, coughing a bit in my beflusterment as I hastily inform her that Gabe's my brother, not my boyfriend, and that besides, I'm straight. This must be how the Winchester brothers feel half the time, being repeatedly mistaken for a couple - both in-universe and out.
"I'm sorry," the receptionist says. "Do you get that a lot?"
"Not often, but it does happen," I say. "It's always embarrassing, though, every time."
"I understand. Well, would you like to get your haircut now?" she asks, inviting me into one of those spinning chairs.
An hour later, I emerge from the haircut place with a lot less hair on my head. It's nowhere near as short as Gabe's - that's just not my style - but it almost looks that way to me because I'm so used to my hair being thick and bushy. Now I can see my ears and forehead, and I've even had my hair styled so it's more inclined to stick straight up rather than flop down in a big mushroomy mass. I'm not sure it'll last through tomorrow night, but I can only hope.
Luckily, it does, and by the time I'm suited up on Saturday evening, I have to say, I look bloody damn good. I never thought formal wear really suited me - I look like such a dork in my First Communion photo, for instance - but clearly, being nine years closer to manhood helps.
"I'm almost tempted to switch teams just for you," jokes Luca as he ties his red necktie. Like Gideon, he's going stag.
I straighten my own tie, a white one that shines brightly against my midnight-blue tux. "I guess that means this suit's working a bit too well."
"Does that mean you were not planning to swipe V-cards with Juliet tonight?" Luca asks.
I wiggle my eyebrows suggestively. "Actually, I was. And I was gonna film the whole thing and sell it to Hollywood."
"Sometimes, dude," Luca sighs, "I have real trouble telling whether you're kidding or not."
"That's the beauty of being what my brother calls a cheeky bastard," I say, grinning as I head out into the hall.
We go downstairs, then out the building, walking the long way to the plaza where all the party buses will be arriving to pick everyone up - the sad thing is, even in Heaven, formal wear makers don't think there's a reason to ruin the suit or dress to let out one's wings, so we can't fly to Bearville tonight.
Nevertheless, when I reach the plaza and see Juliet in her dress for the first time, I'm floored by the sight. She, too, is looking at me as if for the first time. Given that we've never seen each other dressed this way before, in a way, we are.
"Wow," I say, taking in the sight of Juliet's slim black dress as I place the corsage on her wrist. "You are just...so incredible." It's the perfect dress for her - it really brings out her black eyeliner, which in turn brings out her greenish-gold eyes, a sign of her mixed blood (it's a demonic eye color).
"That's so nice of you," Juliet says. "Thanks a lot. And you're not half-bad yourself." She runs her fingers through my newly-trimmed hair.
"Sickeningly sweethearts," Gideon says as he stands next to Luca, rocking his own tux. "Where's your brother?" he asks, looking around.
"I dunno," I say. "Gabe wouldn't say whether or not he's still coming."
Demons in suits and dresses emerge from the Bridge and mill around on the plaza, all hanging around in their own groups apart from the angels. I've often wondered why Balthazar and Castledown still insist on holding their proms together if the two schools barely even mingle with each other. Maybe it's just a matter of convenience - there's only about two hundred people going in total.
I'm not too surprised that Gabe is nowhere to be seen among them - but I am a bit saddened. I'd really been hoping he could share in the fun with all of us.
"There you are!" Gabe cries - speak of the Devil. I look up and see him striding through the Bridge's glass door. "Sorry I'm late, Tiger," he says, coming up to Kyle Prado and hugging him tightly.
The buses arrive at this point and everyone gets on. When it gets moving down the road towards Bearville, I lean back in my seat and look at Juliet. "So, you ready to have fun?"
"You wouldn't be saying that if this weren't your first prom," Juliet laughs, adjusting her corsage. "Last year's was pretty boring, actually. Even though we were on the other side of the border."
I smile at her. "Hey, maybe the second time's the charm."
"Maybe," Juliet says hopefully. "I just wish Mia were here to see it. And Steve."
"Yeah," I say, my smile starting to fade. "And Fionna too."
"You still miss her, don't you?" Juliet asks.
"Of course," I say. "But I think I'm doing much better now. It's not like she's on my mind 24/7/365 or anything."
My stomach twinges as I lie. I haven't had any more dreams with Fionna in them since Monday, but I've had a lot of trouble keeping her out of my waking thoughts. I've mostly been preoccupied with trying to figure out why I had that one dream in the first place. Not that I've gotten anywhere on that front. I suck at dream analysis. If Balthazar offered Harry Potter-style Divination lessons, I'd fail them for sure.
"Right," Juliet says with another small laugh. "You don't have to lie to me, Alex. If you still-"
"It's all right," I say, holding up my hand. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
I turn away from her and gaze out the window, hoping she doesn't hear my continued line of thoughts. I really don't want anything to spoil the slow-burning relationship we've got going on. Emphasis on "slow." I'm taking cues from Gabe and Kyle, who've been hoping to have sex for quite a while (at least, so I've heard from the former), but they've held off because Gabe thinks it'll make for a stronger relationship. As of last month, though, Juliet and I are only technical virgins, because, as she put it, "I want our first time to be special. Not a disaster."
Gabe also suggested, last week, that I follow another example of his and Kyle's and get a hotel room with Juliet tonight (he even supplied me with a couple of condoms, because they're easier to buy in Hell if you're underage), and Juliet's already gone ahead and reserved the room for us. I like that about her - she's got a "take-charge" spirit. I'm still not 100% sure I want to go through with it, but I can't say I don't. It'd be the first time for both of us, so what better time to make things really special?
Trouble is, it's going to be hard for us to make things work during the summer and beyond. Unlike, say, Gideon or Luca, Juliet doesn't live close by my place - she lives near LA. And then, next year, she'll be in college while I'm finishing up at Balthazar. At least she won't be moving cross-country or anything, but still, me being in the Sierras while she's in college down south...this summer will be a real test of how well our relationship can hold up.
Theline of buses finally pulls up to the old Pioneer Ballroom in Bearville. Ishake my head to clear out my thoughts, then take Juliet's hand and lead her upthe steps.