So. . . . . . it's been a while. And I know this isn't the story most of you wanted me to update. But I've been so busy with classes that I haven't had much time to write. That and the fact that during my writing courses I learned that I could write so much better than I have been. Going back through my work has been cringeworthy. Sometimes I just don't know if I'm even very good at this. Whatever, hope you enjoy. I'll try and get more chapters of this and FOAC up soon.
-E-R-A-G-O-N-
When he arrived in the basement Saphira was stretched out across a couch and Arya was sitting with her knees to her chest in a chair. He lifted Saphira's feet off the cushion before sitting down and letting them drop back onto his lap.
"What are we watching?"
Saphira grabbed the remote and un-paused the screen.
"Just wait."
When the movie started he grinned and looked at Arya.
"Good choice."
A small smile played across her lips and she shifted slightly. He spent the entire movie trying to keep his eyes off of the beauty sitting in the chair near him. As the credits for Edge of Tomorrow played across the screen, he looked over to see that Saphira was already asleep. When he met Arya's gaze he found her watching him. He cocked his head and nodded towards the movie case.
"Up for another?"
"Aren't you tired?"
He shrugged and slid off the couch.
"Not really. You?"
Ok, maybe that wasn't completely true but she didn't need to know the real reason.
"I'm fine."
Yes!
"What do you want to watch?"
"You choose."
"That's super unhelpful."
"Yeah."
He turned and narrowed his eyes at her.
"If you don't suggest some ideas I'm putting in something stupid."
She smirked at him.
"I am a much more patient person than you are. I think I'll manage until you finally give up."
He raised his eyebrows.
"Is that a challenge?"
Another shrug and he grinned.
"Oh, it's on."
He searched for a movie he thought she might find aggravating. The problem was, she was right. He really didn't want to watch anything that would drive him crazy. Sighing, he pulled out a classic and slid it into the DVD player. Kids movies were always a good bet. Instead of returning to the couch and risking waking Saphira, he sat on the floor and leaned against the metal, glass topped table that rested in between the chair and the couch.
Lion King started to play and he snuck a glance back at Arya to find a little smile on her face. He turned away quickly, pushing away the image that forced its way into his mind. He wanted to kiss that smile then and there. To just, get up an— Dammit! Why the hell does she have to be so beautiful! They were only halfway through when his eyes started to droop.
Despite having told her he wasn't tired, he was having a hard time staying awake.
The problem with that was that when he gets tired, he doesn't get cranky, he gets slap-happy. Of course this happened at the exact moment of the Hakuna Matata song. He started chuckling and then began to sing along in a high pitched voice. At the moment where Timone stops Pumba, Eragon spoke loudly over him.
"And I got downhearted. . . . Everytime that I FARTED! Hakuna Matata, what a wonderful phrase!"
He continued on with the song until it was over before remembering exactly where he was. He slowly turned to look at Arya and was shocked to see her grinning.
"Really now, Eragon?"
He shrugged against the table.
"So maybe I'm a little tired."
"A little?"
"Oh, shut up. I bet you can't sing a whole song in a Disney movie."
"You're probably right."
He was a little disappointed she didn't take the bait. Of course, her being that open with him would probably lead to him getting up and kissing her. He'd regret it when she beat the hell out of his face, but all he could think about was what she might taste like. They watched the rest of the movie in silence except for when Eragon decided it would be a good time to sing or quote again.
Each time he looked back sneakily to see if she was smiling again, but it seemed she'd regained her composure. Either that or she knew he was looking. The latter was probably the most rational of the two. At some point near the end he fell asleep against the table. Little did he know that Arya stayed up for another several minutes just watching him. Before she went to her guest room, she silently stopped at his side and lowered him to the ground. Thereby making sure he wouldn't have a horrible kink in his back from sleeping in such an awkward position.
He awoke to somebody shaking his arm. Blearily opening his eyes, he found Saphira standing over him. He turned away with a groan.
"Eragon, you are the hardest person to get up. You sleep like a dead cow."
"Thanks."
He mumbled. Saphira sighed.
"Fine. I figured you'd want to join me on my mission to get to Arya before she wakes but I guess not."
He shot up.
"Coming."
Saphira laughed and they headed up the stairs to the first floor, then started more quietly up to the second.
"So I went in to wake her up the morning before this and she caught me. See if you fare any better."
"Oh, I'm an expert at stealth, I got this."
"Prove it."
"Maybe if you'd be quite I could."
She shoved him slightly. When they reached the top of the stairs he moved even slower, avoiding making any noise. Or at least trying to. Muffled creaks sounded from below his feet in certain places no matter what he did. Each one caused him to cringe. Finally he reached the guest bedroom and he turned the knob, nudging the door open with his shoulder and peering in. What he saw took his breath away and left him standing there for a few moments.
Arya was relaxed; her raven black hair was splayed out below her and her face was serene. He seriously believed he'd never seen anyone more gorgeous in his life. She was perfectly peaceful and unguarded. He wanted to sit there and stare at her for hours but he heard a whisper to his left. Looking back he saw Saphira glaring at him in annoyance and amusement. With a highly exaggerated expression, she pointed at him and then at the room, telling him to move his ass.
He rolled his eyes and entered the room quietly. Inching forward, he got to the side of her bed in less than a minute. Gotcha. He reached out and suddenly her eyes were open. A hand grabbed his wrist and twisted while another went to his throat. Nails dug into his flesh in a way that made it almost impossible to breathe.
Arya sat up and stood inches from him, mixed emotions in her eyes. The wall that he always saw there was still having trouble finding it's way back in place. He saw anger, fear, confusion, and he would swear on his life there was desire in those beautiful emeralds. They stood there for a moment, the fact that he couldn't breathe escaping his conscious thought because, even if her hand hadn't been there, she still would've taken his breath away.
He heard as her own breath hitched and her eyes looked away. As swiftly as she'd grabbed him, her hands were gone and she was a few feet back. When her eyes met his again they were cold and anger seemed to sear his skin. All other emotion had drained from her expression. At that point he'd started to get light headed and stumbled before remembering to suck in breath. Eragon sucked in air and bent down, gasping.
That's when Arya looked to the door to find Saphira in the middle of covering the fact she was laughing her ass off. Arya looked apologetically back at Eragon before taking a pillow and chucking it at Saphira, hitting her squarely in the face.
Eragon straightened when he was finally able to breath normally again. He glared at Saphira and then looked at Arya questioningly.
"What did you think I was in here for?"
She seemed to flush before quickly gaining composure.
"Nothing. Saphira, what the hell?"
Saphira continued to laugh as Eragon and Arya glared at her. In between gasps she replied.
"I. . .knew . . you. . .you'd . . . like, flip. . .out." Another fit of laughter. "You . . should've. . seen. . . you're face!"
She waited till she was more calm before continuing looking at Eragon.
"Yesterday when I came to wake her up for school she like, leapt out of the bed and almost chucked me against the wall. I figured she'd be even more abusive with you. Turns out I was right."
Both victims glared at her and then Eragon grabbed another of Arya's pillows, the wonderful scent not escaping him, and chucked it at the conniving blonde. Arya picked one off the floor and chucked it too as Saphira disappeared with a laugh. Eragon exchanged a single glance with Arya and they reached an agreement. A small smile played at Arya's lips.
Each grabbed a pillow and ran after Saphira only to find she'd locked herself in her room. Eragon chuckled and ran down the stairs. He came back up seconds later with two paper clips bent into odd shapes. Pushing them into the lock he quickly unbolted the door and Saphira screamed as they came in wielding pillows.
She was standing on her bed and had three pillows in her hand in a haphazard manner. They went after her immediately as she tried to fend them off. It was quick work disarming her and then they spent the next minute hitting her as she laughed and curled into a ball. Finally stopping, Eragon looked across at Arya to find a real and amused smile on her face. Her eyes caught his and for a moment she just looked. When she returned them to Saphira he did the same. He dropped his pillow to the ground.
"Maybe this'll teach you to stop messing with us. I'm going to have to file a restraining order against Arya if it is kept up."
Saphira looked at her door.
"How did you get in?"
Eragon shrugged.
"Picked the lock."
"Where did you learn to do that?"
"Murtagh."
Saphira looked a little disapprovingly at him before chuckling.
"Even with all this abuse it was still worth seeing that show play out back there."
Eragon glared at her, amusement showing.
"I never expected that from you. It was just cruel."
"You could have easily just said no. Instead, you charge up the stairs and fling open her door. Maybe you shouldn't be so gullible."
"Whatever! You said you had a bet going with her that you could wake her up before she got up herself! Why would I believe you were lying!?"
Saphira just laughed and shook her head in annoyance, smoothing her fingers through her blonde locks.
"You messed up my hair!"
"Good!"
She stuck her tongue out at him and them rolled off her bed.
"Eragon, you need to go home and change, then you're driving me to school. I will not be riding on that, thing, again."
"You're such a baby."
"Shut up."
He looked at Arya as they both headed out of Saphira's room.
"I feel like my lessons should start now."
She smirked and shook her head.
"No, because then you can decide after that that you don't want to go to the concert."
"But I'll obviously want to learn everything and that will take more than one ride."
"You could just be lying right now. There is no way I can be sure you're telling the truth."
He wiped the smile off his face and turned abruptly, making her stop inches from him.
-A-R-Y-A-
Her heart stopped and her breath caught in her lungs as his penetrating eyes searched hers.
"I swear that I will uphold our deal." The truth in his eyes was blatantly obvious, especially being this close. The intensity of his gaze made her skin prickle. Suddenly humor entered them again and he stepped out of her personal space, continuing.
"Besides, if I tried to back out you could kick my ass. I'm too scared of you to do that."
She faked a smile and backed up a couple more inches. Her heartbeat was drowning out all other noise as she tried to calm herself down.
"Fine."
Suddenly Saphira poked her head out.
"Wait! Then who is going to drive me?"
"Roran will give you a ride."
"That is soooo super awkward!"
Arya tried to forget what had just happened and turned to smirk at Saphira.
"Serves you right, maybe you'll think twice about messing with me while I sleep."
Her face turned serious and Saphira seemed to catch on. She was serious. When Eragon had come into her vision, she'd had no reaction but terror. Terror at the fact he was in her room. Terror that she had no idea what on earth he was doing there. And an irrational fear that he was there for a single reason.
What scared her most was that if he did something, she didn't know if she could stop him. If she would stop him. Everything in her had longed for him at that moment and she'd had no control over herself. That hadn't happened in a very long time. Why she had just agreed to let him ride with her she had no idea. She had to make good on her deal right? At least that's what she told herself.
Eragon left quickly and was back within ten minutes wearing jeans and a black zip up jacket. He looked sexy and she turned away quickly, back to Saphira who was in the process of eating a toaster stroodle. Eragon motioned for the blonde.
"Roran says it's fine for you to ride with him if you hurry."
Saphira glared at both of them and then stalked out the door with her backpack slung from one shoulder. Arya led Eragon to the garage and grabbed her helmet, pushing it into his hands. He stepped away.
"No it's cool. You wear it."
"Eragon, I am not going to be liable if you get killed. Try the helmet on."
He grinned at her cheekily.
"You don't trust your driving skills?"
"Oh, no, I trust myself. I just don't trust you're ability to not act like Saphira did."
He feigned hurt.
"How could you doubt me? I am probably the calmest person on this planet."
Rolling her eyes she walked over to her bike while he shoved the helmet onto his head.
"In your dreams."
He snorted.
"You have a tiny head. This thing is breaking my fricken skull in."
"It's supposed to be tight."
He tried to shift it on his head.
"Not this tight."
She straddled the bike and turned it on.
"How would you know?"
He lifted the visor and grinned.
"Because I've loved bikes since I was a kid. I know all about them. I just haven't had the opportunity to learn to drive them."
She revved the engine and then turned to find Eragon standing like a gangster.
"How do I look?"
"Like an idiot. Get on behind me. You need to get a feel of how the bike moves before you ever get a chance to drive it."
He dropped the visor down so she couldn't see his eyes as he walked forward. Something she was definitely grateful for. She had an idea of what he was thinking and she didn't want it written blatantly in his gaze. He slid on behind her carefully, as if afraid of something. She smirked.
"Put your hands on my waist and hold on. Do not shift you're weight on turns. I'll do it. Just keep steady and try not to pee on my seat."
His strong hands splayed across her waist. Luckily the engine disguised the loud exhale of breath from her lungs. Even through her shirt, his fingers stirred something in her. A fire soared through her entire body and she gritted her teeth to ignore it.
"Basically, the entire left side of the bike is for shifting, while the right side is for gas and braking." She twisted the right handle, revving the engine again. "Right handle is for gas. You twist it towards your body. She motioned to the front brake "This is the brake for your front tire. My right foot controls the back brake." She kicked up the stand and pulled the clutch. "This is your clutch." Arya dropped into first gear and the bike rolled forward. She kept a slow pace as she continued to explain. "Left foot shifts the gears. This bike has a Quick Shift System but that's not something you need to learn right now. Neutral is a half click up from first." She pointed to the kill switch. "To turn the bike on, this needs to be in the 'on' position. Then you turn the key. Make sure you are in neutral before you hit the ON button. You need to disengage the clutch before starting the bike. This bike is fuel injected which means that it doesn't have a carburetor. And not having a carburetor means that it doesn't have to heat up before you can ride it. The kickstand cannot be down when you put it into gear. Make sure to kick it all the way up with your left foot."
By this time she was on the street. He interrupted her there.
"I know how to drive a stick but I feel like this will take some getting used to."
She nodded.
"The reason it's harder than a stick shift is because as you shift gears, you are also having to steady the bike. In a car all you have to worry about is shifting."
"Got it."
"When you're actually driving I'll explain to you how to turn and shift your weight but for now we need to go. I'll probably be late as it is."
"Sorry."
"It's fine."
Arya gripped one of his hands and pulled it so his arms were around her. Before he could ask why, she shifted up to second and then third right after, shooting forward. She slowed as they reached the stop sign that led out of the street, but didn't stop. Turning right, she felt him move.
"Don't shift your weight against me, you'll over exaggerate and we'll die."
"My bad."
She shifted again and sped up again. They reached the next light and she turned her head.
"I have no clue how to get to your school."
He leaned even further forward, coming into her peripheral vision.
"Turn left up here at Lancer Street."
The next ten minutes as they drove she never forgot his presence at her back. The entire ride her heart beat erratically and she found it hard to focus. Finally, they reached his school. The students outside looked in awe as she drove into the circle drop off. She saw a couple of the kids who had played soccer with them and looked down. This is so awkward. Eragon seemed to stay seated longer than necessary before he leaned forward.
"Thank you."
He stood and lifted himself off the bike. Chatter sounded throughout the crowded area and she forced herself to ignore them. When he removed her helmet the noise of the people around them grew. He handed her the helmet and caught her eyes. Betraying nothing, she smiled slightly and took the helmet from his outstretched hand. Sliding it onto her head, she nodded her goodbye and took off at what some would call an irresponsible pace.
She didn't look back as she turned out of the parking lot.
-E-R-A-G-O-N-
He watched her as she sped off, wishing he were still sitting behind her. He felt like he was on a high and he didn't want to come back down. The moment he'd put her helmet on he'd been totally distracted by the power of her scent. It surrounded him, took over all his senses, and made everything else hazy. He chuckled. I feel like the dude from that Charlie's Angels movie Saphira made me watch. The creepy one who sniffed their hair. Seriously, is anyone supposed to smell that good all the time?
Somebody collided with him as he turned to head inside. Looking up he saw the smiling face of Baldor.
"She gave you a ride? She must like you."
"I wish, but actually we just made a deal. She teaches me to ride that bike and I have to go to a country concert."
"She likes country music?"
"No, but she knows I hate it."
Baldor laughed.
"Sucks dude."
"Yup."
His other friends crowded around asking questions. None of which he answered as his heart was still racing a million miles an hour. He would go to a hundred country concerts if he was able to do that even just once more. It was euphoric and mind numbingly incredible. Seriously, if he had that reaction just sitting there, how on earth was he going to stay focused while driving. Suddenly this was seeming like less of a good idea.
Too tired to respond to reviews. Next time, sorry.