fandomtownies | The Perk, Wednesday Evening

Entry tags:

The Perk, Wednesday Evening

Given the number of books Allie had read since she'd come to the island, it was surprising that it hadn't happened earlier.

She'd found a copy of Dusk.

The blurb on the back of the book had piqued her interest and she'd brought it to the Perk to read while she enjoyed the smell of a cup of coffee.

Of course within a few chapters, enjoyment had turned to a mixture of horror and bafflement.

But she couldn't stop turning the pages.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Emily was around for a nightly coffee. No reason really, other than deciding she couldn't drink herself to sleep every night.

"Hey Allie," called the girl over as she approached. "What's the book about?"

"Sparkling vampires," Allie replied, shaking her head. "Who still go to high school."

Alice ~~NOT EMILY NEVER EMILY~~ raised an eyebrow at that. "Mind if I sit?" She was sitting anyway.

"Doesn't sound too bad so far?"

Allie used her foot to push a chair out in invitation.

"I don't know. Maybe I was expecting more. The girl at the bookstore talked it up like it was this great epic romance," she explained. "It's not. It's creepy."

Sitting down, Alice took a sip of her coffee.

"Elaborate? Something can be creepy in lots of ways."

"He's watching her sleep for one." She closed the book and set it aside on the table. "And she's just blah. I just don't see what's supposed to be so interesting about her."

"Which I know, isn't really creepy. But I was expecting more from the book by the way the girl raved about it."

"That's creepy, all in all. It seems to lack any plot?" Alice wasn't a big reader, but she at least thought she knew a thing or two about a good story.

"You know how fans are," started, although Alice herself had no idea of how fans were.

"The most basic plot ever. She likes him, he likes her but oh no, he's a vampire!" Allie said with a wry twist of her lips. That story line might hit a little close to home. "I'm not sure they're going to get the happy ever after."

"Well, at least she knows he is a vampire. They probably solve this somehow. That's how books go, right? They do meaningful things."

At least good books did that, Alice was sure of it.

Yes, she did. Unlike Zeke, who didn't find out about Allie until the worse possible time. "They do, and more often then not, they have the happy endings you don't see in real life." Gee Allie, feeling a little bitter?

"I don't think all books go that way." Surely there were more realistic ones. "Or is this about something else?" Alice, sharp as a knife.

Allie gave a half shrug and looked away for a moment. "There was guy. A human guy. I'm a vampire. It was never going to end well."

"Ah." She didn't need for more details. "Sorry about that."

Sharp as she was, she still sucked at being sociable.

Another half shrug. "It's okay. It happened. He's safe there. I'm here. Life goes on."

"So what have you been doing with yourself lately? I haven't seen you around much," said the somewhat introverted bookworm.

"It indeed goes on." That was all she was going to say on the matter.

It was Alice's turn to shrug. "I have been enjoying being alone I guess. It got boring." Which that mean she was going to go into hiding once again soon? Maybe not. "Sorry about that. I need to work on...being around people."

"Games on your phone if you're bored," Allie suggested, only half kidding. "You can lose hours. If not, I'm always around at night. It'd be nice to have some company."

"I don't really play games." Or anything. "Company sounds good. Any easy way to find you? And while talking is fine, we could arrange something else." She had thought about this before, but didn't know enough people to actually ask. "Say, you are a fighter, right?"

"Now that I have a phone, that's probably the best way to find me. Usually once I'm up, I'm out, roaming the island for a few hours." Despite the fact that the way home seemed to be closed off, she still worried that one day a rabid was going to make its way across the causeway. A nightly patrol seemed the best way to make sure that didn't happen.

"I can hold my own with a sword. Guns, not so much. There wasn't much point," she explained. "Ammunition was too tightly controlled. Plus, they'd hurt a vampire, but nine times out of ten, they wouldn't kill them."

"I guess we can use that." It made sense, and Alice wasn't going to make this difficult for her.

"I could use a sparring partner. Blades are okay, I guess. Maybe teaching someone how to use a bow or crossbow would help me waste time. Interested?"

"Hell yes," Allie grinned. "I've been practicing the forms Kanin taught me, but it's not the same as working with someone."

Mike had worked hard on house stuff all day, and felt he'd earned himself a Perk treat or two, even if he'd have saved more money just using the coffee maker at home.

He'd also just wanted to be outside the house for a while. So, he was here. And hey, so was someone he knew.

"Seriously?" he asked with a chuckle when he saw what Allie was reading. "Is that what I'm making you a bookcase for?"

Allie laughed and shook her head. "No, I'm burning this with fire when I'm done with it." And that was saying a lot given the way she cherished the books she'd accumulated here in Fandom.

"I keep turning the page, thinking it's going to get better. But it doesn't."

"I only saw the movie," Mike said, because he didn't really read too much, "but that's pretty much the impression I got, yeah. It's a losing battle."

She couldn't imagine trying to watch the ridiculous dialogue and angsting play out on screen, mostly because she'd never experienced the joy that is bad movies and drinking games. "It probably is a losing battle, but I'll keep fighting on. I'm not going to be defeated by a book," she said with a laugh. "No matter how bad it is."

She was so missing out on things by not knowing about bad movie drinking games.

"Well, you're a braver person than I would be," Mike decided, toasting her with cup of coffee the barista had just put on the counter for him. "There's a lot of things I'm willing to soldier through, but painfully bad entertainment? Not one of 'em. Not without booze, anyway."

You can't miss what you never had. Hopefully someday someone would take pity on her an introduce her to the joy of bad movies.

"Not brave, just more appreciative of the opportunity I guess," Allie shrugged. "I spent too many years with just a handful of books. At this point, a bad book is still pretty good just because it's a book, if that makes sense?"

"Yeah, I guess it does," he agreed after taking a moment to consider it (or to pay for his coffee and his huge muffin). "You're making up for lost time. probably can't do it with just great classics. That'd get heavy quick."

"Exactly. Plus, I'm still learning in a lot of ways. So sometimes stuff like this is a little easier to understand," she replied.

"But enough abut bad books. How are you? What have you been doing lately?"

"Nothing too interesting," Mike... lied, as he wandered over to her table. Talking about Christmas has turned weird since all the stuff with Derek and Laura, and he didn't want to talk about that. So, easy things. "Just a ton of work on the house, really."

Unlike certain werewolves, Allie didn't make it a point to listen to people's heartbeats, so she had no clue he was lying. "How's that coming along? Need any help with anything? Not that I know all that much about repairing things properly, but I'm pretty good at lifting and carrying."

Mike smiled. "Thanks, but we're not really at lifting and carrying phase. More like stripping old wallpapers, that kind of thing. Probably gonna invite people over when it's time to paint stuff, though."

"Okay," she nodded. "Count me in. Even if I've never painted before. How hard can it be?"

"Well, the fumes might make it more difficult," Mike offered. Before reconsidering. "But with the likley group of helpers, I might be the only one who really has to worry about that."

Because they were either supernatural, or Laurie, who he didn't trust to help with actual painting. She'd probably be handling drinks.

"I'm pretty sure I can handle it," Allie assured him. After you'd been covered in the stink of zombie guts, some paint fumes were nothing.

"Yeah, I figure pretty much everyone but me will be okay with that." Although he'd pay good money to see Derek high on paint fumes, if he was honest. "So, good. You'll be invited to our painting party. Once we get to that. Which I'm hoping will be soon because it'll really help... make the house look, y'know, more like people live there."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Perk, Wednesday Evening

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject