Ansel Rubick's Story

The rythmic beat of Ansel's alarm clock interrupted her dreams. She didn't wake up at first, accepting the sound as a part of her sleeping reality, but quickly realized it was out of place in her fantasy, in which James was the knight in shining armor atop a glorious white steed, and her the beautiful princess in a flowing gown.

As she resurfaced in reality she swatted blindly at her alarm clock, ending up knocking it to the ground, tearing it out of the outlet, but ceasing the annoying sound none the less. Slowly she slid to a sitting position, rubbing at her eyes, her jaw stretching open in a yawn. She slid out of bed and padded to the bathroom. She was always sure to rise an hour before James usually did, thus allowing her time to complete her daily rituals before his began, so that she could watch said rituals take place.

She began to unbutton her shit, yawning again as she did so, tears forming under her eyelashes. She wiped at them before letting her pajama top fall in a heap at her feet, quickly followed by her pajama bottoms. Her gaze found the mirror and she shifted slightly, taking in her reflection. Her lip twitched in irritation and she took a step forward, fist falling on the glass.

"You're disgusting. Disgusting. He'll never like you." She growled at the paralell image of herself, her fist tightening against the mirror. She took a step back, hand unfurling. She glanced down at her fingers and shook her head. "No, I don't have time for that now." She removed the last remaining articles of clothing on her person and entered the shower.

Ansel exited the shower and wrapped a towel around herself, finding some relief in the way the steam fell across the mirror, shrouding her reflection from view. She walked back into her room, throwing her closet doors open and letting the towel slip off of her waist and fall at the back of her ankles. She leafed through the articles of clothing stowed inside.

"Hm...what could I wear to impress James today?" She murmured, putting a finger to her lips in contemplation. After a long moment of deliberation she selected a yellow sundress that gave way to frills at the waist-line. She tugged the piece of clothing over her head and chased the wrinkles out of it with her fingertips.

After her morning routine was completed she pranced to her window, parting the curtains slightly and retrieving a pair of binoculars from beneath her bed. She seated herself by the window, in her usual spot, and peered through the binoculars, scanning the window of the house beside hers. She couldn't help the thrilled smile that crossed her lips as she leaned forward to get a better view into James' house.

Ansel knew that people would consider her actions creepy. That was why it was kept a highly guarded secret. But the thrill of watching the object of her affections in his natural environment was too much to pass up.

As she peered across the gap between their homes she noticed something was different. The light in James' room was on and it didn't appear he was in his bed. "That's odd..." she murmured, setting the binoculars back down. "James is never up at this time." She kicked the binoculars back under her bed and tugged the curtains closed, walking over to her alarm clock which now lay strewn across the floor. She jammed the plug back into the outlet and turned the clock over to look at the neon green number stamped across the screen. Her face fell as she read the time. "Oh no...oh shit. I slept in!" She shot to her feet and made a dash for the door.

Ansel threw the door to her house open and cleared the stairs in a single leap. As soon as she hit the morning air goosebumps rose on her bare arms. She skidded to a halt. Oh no, it's cold out here. What if James thinks I'm weird for wearing this in the cold. Or- oh God! What if he thinks I'm cheap or something? Her thoughts were interrupted by another.

The imaged played out in her mind, her shivering against the cold and James approaching her and laying his coat over her shoulders. Her cheeks brightened and she beamed. Oh yeah, it's perfect! She continued on her route to the park, knowing James visited there often in the morning. She passed Tarri and Ennosuke, smiling a little and waving.

"Good morning." She greeted as she passed. She crossed the street and entered the park, stopping as she spotted James. Her cheeks flushed, though it clearly wasn't the cold's doing and she slipped behind a tree. She smiled softly, clasping her hands together against her fluttering heart. She began plotting the best course of action for approaching him.

Carefully she emerged from behind the tree, breathing steadily to calm herself. She followed the sidewalk that flanked the bench James was seated on. As she reached him and paused, she put on a bright smile. "Oh, hello. Good morning, James. Do you...mind if I sit?"

James jumped, trembling, turning to loo at Ansel with wide eyes. He slowly relaxed once he realised it was only that crazy chick who lived next to him. She was wearing a t-shirt. Must have been cold or something. Maybe she liked being cold. It didn't concern him. He sighed.

"Morning," he said, his voice cracking with disuse, "Go on." He moved far to one edge of the bench so she didn't sit anywhere near him. He pulled one knee up to his chest, and rested his mug on it, finger still hooked through the handle. He exhaled. It was chilly, but not cold enough for his breath to fog the air.

It was painfully obvious that Ansel had a crush on him, and James shuddered, knowing that no one could ever know about his secret. He bit his lip nervously, chewing it hard. He knew that in the end, it was inevitable she'd ask him out and it was inevitable he'd say yes because he was that kind of person and in the end, it was much safer than trying to keep his secret on his own. She could function as something to prove that he wasn't gay.

Even if he was. It would get him punished worse if anyone ever knew. He had to hide it, of course. That's why it was a secret.

Ansel was beaming like mad on the inside, but on the exterior she maintained a soft, friendly smile.

"Thank you." She said as she lowered herself into the bench, as close as she could come to James without touching him. She cast her eyes downward, smile remaining on her face, her cheeks alight with a fierce blush, though any on looker would assume the cause of this was the weather. She fidgeted with her hands nervously, gathering the courage to speak. Come on Ansel, don't screw this up. You don't want him to think you're a loser. Say something interesting.

Before she could piece together the words to speak her thoughts were interrupted by another voice, one that belonged to a female.

"Uhm...hi. I'm...well, I just moved here and..." Ansel's eyes snapped up toward the girl who had approached them. She didn't recognize her, but by her introduction and the moving truck she had noticed outside one of the houses earlier she assumed this was the new neighbor. She had long, thick brown hair and blue eyes. She was pretty, Ansel noted. And that wasn't a quality she wanted the other girls in this neighborhood, the girls that James encountered regularly, to have. The girl heaved a sigh as she spoke again. "Do you mind if I join you guys?"

Ansel's eyebrow twitched slightly but she put on a warm smile and nodded.

"Of course." Dammit! I finally had time alone with James and then this bitch has to show up! If she so much as looks at James I swear to God I'll turn her bones to powder. Despite the angry thoughts zapping in her head, Ansel continued to smile pleasantly as she moved closer to James to allow room for her on the bench. Her shoulder brushed against James' slightly and her cheeks turned a shade brighter.

"Well, I guess it's because I love talking to people. Talking to people is so much fun!" Ennosuke smiled and clung to his smoothie, sipping gently and looking around, giggling when she poked his nose. "Good morning!" He greeted to Ansel as she walked past, watching the other people. Yawning softly, he saw his brother emerge from the door, long hair draping over his shoulders, soft smile plastered to his tan face. "Hello Tarri, hey Ennosuke. Ennosuke, I'm going out for awhile. I'll be going grocery shopping. Have fun.

Ennosuke waved to his brother and smiled. "Sayonara, Kanda nii-chan!" He called out as his brother drove out of the parking space and rode off. Turning to look at Tarri again, he giggled. "Brother's really nice to me." Smiling, he looked out over the road and shivered slightly from the breeze, but it wasn't that bad. He could deal with it.

James looked blankly at the newcomer girl, eyes flashing with distrust and nervousness. He knew Ansel, and even if she was a bit creepy, he knew she wouldn't hurt him. He didn't like newcomers, especially random strangers who asked to sit on benches with him. He didn't speak up, though, kept his head down and his eyes fixed on the ground. He brought his knees up this chest, sipping at his tea, listening to the girls talk instead of responding to them. He just let his eyes follow a line of ants on the pavement while the girls did their whole socializing thing.

"Um...I'm Emily." The girl said timidly.

"I'm Ansel. It's nice to meet you." Ansel spoke, voice dripping with forced friendlyness. She didn't want to seem like a bitch in front of James, after all. She stole a glance at the sole male occupant of the bench. The fake smile plastered across her face melting into something more genuine. "Um...so James..." she spoke, not looking him directly in the eye, but instead focusing on the cup from which he was carefully sipping tea. "How have you been?"

James gave a nervous smile, too many eyes on him at once for him to feel entirely comfortable. He took a calming sip of tea, answering first to Ansel because he knew her better and she didn't make him as nervous. Two pluses there. "I've been good," an obvious lie, he'd spent the last week inside with his mother, thus the moderate sprinkling of bruises across his body, "And you, Ansel?" He looked over at Emily, who was eyeing him carefully. Eyeing him a guarded, so precisely strictly friendly manner that he was sure she was hiding something.
"Oh. I. Uh," he stumbled over his words, "I'm sorry but I can't say I remember you." That was it. She was trying painfully hard not to flirt. Fine. Okay. Well. As long as he didn't blow his cover that was fine. He gave her his best attempt at a flirty smile, though he could really only turn it on around guys.

"Hi. Um, so your name is James, huh?" Ansel's smile fell and she narrowed her eyes as the other girl adressed James. "You live near my house, right? I've seen you a couple of times." To say Ansel didn't approve of this girl interracting with her James was an understatement. What if she developed a crush on James? I mean, it wouldn't be that far fetched. James was perfect. What girl wouldn't want him? Or, even worse. What if James fell for her? If it were up to her, Ansel would probably tie James to a chair and lock him in her room so that he couldn't interact with anyone but herself. Afterall, he didn't need anyone. Anyone but her.

"I've been good." James answered her first.

"Good!" She responded enthusiastically, though she knew this to be a lie. She spent enough time spying on him to know that much.

"And you Ansel?" He asked. Ansel's heart swelled in her chest. He said my name. He said my name!

"I've been good, too." Ansel smiled, trying to keep her voice from quivering with excitement.

"Oh. I. Uh, I'm sorry but I can't say I remember you." He responded to Emily, just before giving some weird smile that Ansel couldn't make heads or tails of.

EMILY ALEXANDER

"Oh. I. Uh, I'm sorry but I can't say I remember you." James said and gave her a weird smile. She wasn't sure what that meant. "Well, I've only been here a couple of days anyways," she said and nervously moved a bit further away from the girl who was giving her a killers look. Of course, she had to find a more discrete way to make new contacts here - people were obviously not used to talking with strangers here. "I just moved from Chicago," she said as if she had to explain her (to them) weird behaviour.

It was getting really uncomfortable for Emily. That girl... there was something creepy about her. Emily looked down at her feets. Maybe she should just go before that girl decided to actually kill her. "I'm sorry if I interrupted you guys in the middle of something..." she said and fiddled with the sleeve of her jacket. "It's just that I don't know anyone around here." She could feel how her cheeks turned red. This was so embarrasing. Back in Chicago, she had been a wild outgoing girl. But the incident with Jake and the fact she didn't know anyone around here, made her all shy and kinda... frightened. She hadn't thought about the chance that they might think she was weird for talking with them.

Great. Now she was the weird new girl.

James bit his lip. Okay. Emily was definitely new and Ansel would probably play along. Also, his flirty smile had failed. So. So he needed to prove to Emily he was the straightest crayon in the box. He took a slight deep breath and slid an arm around Ansel's shoulders, his free hand raised his tea to his lips to hide a few nervous little twitches of his mouth.
"Ansel and I were just spending the morning in the," his voice started too quiet to be convincingly confident, "the morning in the park. You're not interrupting anything."
He kept his head down, voice remaining soft and passive.

EMILY ALEXANDER

The guy slid an arm around the girls shoulder and took another sip of his tea. Great, they were dating.
"You're not interrupting anything." He didn't sound convincing. Shit.

"Uh, I'm so sorry" Emily bursted and got up from the bench. Her face was as red as a tomato now and inside she was cursing at herself. Why did she have to be so socially awkward? "I didn't realise you two were dating.." she explained and tried to smile, but ended up making a weird cringey face. "Uhm, I should..." she glanced around and then pointed to one of the houses, "I should probably go now... Uhm, I.... well, see ya." Emily then turned around as fast as she could and started walking away from the couple and out of the park. "Oh my fucking god!" she mumbled and walked with stiff legs over the road. It was weird just to leave like that, she knew that. But it couldn't really get anymore embarrasing could it?

As she walked past someone's garden, she saw a man working. A cute husky was lying next to him under one of the trees. She smiled at them and then walked, almost ran, back over to her new house. Why don't I just shoot myself? she thought as she opened the front door and threw her coat on the floor. "Emily! Where have you been?" her mother asked her when Emily walked through their kitchen. "I was just in the park," she mumbled and walked up stairs. "I certainly hope you haven't been out all night Emily Alexander! I know all about you and your sneaky little friends back in Chicago! But that's changing now young lady!" her mother yelled up the stairs to her - she always yelled. Emily sighed as she sat down on her bed. "I know.." she mumbled and then grabbed her phone. Maybe she should text Monica.

Ansel's heart nearly stopped when she felt an arm snake around her shoulders. She whipped around to look at James, eye wide and face impossibly red.

"Ansel and I were just spending the morning in the-- the morning in the park. You're not interrupting anything." What's he doing?! Does he actually...does he actually like me?! Her mouth moved but she couldn't push any words out. She was only vaguely aware of Emily leaving.

"J-James..." She finally choked.