Chapter 3 - Chapter Three- Here and Gone

Chapter Three- Here And Gone

Gemini awoke the next morning, not to her father prodding her in the side, but to a warm breeze sifting in through her window and the hot summer sun falling across her face. She squinted as she sat upright, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and scooting over the edge of her bed. The wall clock she had rested atop her dresser read half past seven.

Her father was already up and unpacking in the living room. A small pile of newspaper and boxes sat in the corner and she watched as he gently set pictures of their family on the mantle above the fireplace.

“Good morning, Gem. Do you want to help me nail up some pictures? The hammer and nails are over there on that box. No, on second thought, go out to the van and get the end tables for the couch.” He said as she stepped up beside him to look at the photographs. Each one was facing slightly towards the middle where a glass sphere containing a single preserved lily sat reflecting the light from the morning sun.

After she had returned from fetching the end tables, Gemini set about to help her father hang up the rest of the pictures. When that was done, a few new friends from work were called over to help carry all the heavy furniture into the house and Gem was released to her willow until the job was complete.

She hurried back into her room, snatching up her bag and bolting up to her hammock. She had to draw something else today. Something to take her mind off the boy. She was to meet someone else at six that day and she needed to get him out of her thoughts. She set the pencil to a blank sheet of paper and began to draw. Soon, the image of a woman in a rocking chair formed before her. This woman was cradling something in her arms. A baby. Long sheets of silken hair fell down one side of the woman's head, the other half tucked behind her ear to reveal her face. She was beautiful, with high cheekbones, a perfect jaw line, and a calm smile lighting up her face. `Mummy' Gem labeled below the picture before turning the page.

There was a noise from below and she shifted her notebook so as to get a good view of the garden below her. The boy was out in his yard watering a small clump of flowers. He looked up at her, then, seeing her gaze on his, turned away quickly to tend to his job.

She giggled silently and dropped the pencil she had been holding. It bounced off several large branches before falling square into the garden below her. Staring down at it, she debated crawling down and retrieving it herself, or calling over to him to throw it up instead. This would, after all, be a good way to get a conversation started.

“Oy!” She called through the branches, scooting onto the edge of her hammock and brushing a lock of stray hair out of her face. “I dropped my pencil, do you think you could grab it for me?”

The boy looked startled having been addressed by her and quickly hurried over to where she was pointing. After a few moments of searching, he located the pencil and climbed up on the stone wall to hand it to her. This, of course, was pointless seeing as she was up near the very top of the tree and he couldn't have reached her if he had tried.

“You can come up if you want.” She laughed, seeing him pull back his arm to throw the pencil at her. “If you're not busy that is.”

“Sure, just a sec.” He grinned as he began scaling the side of the tree. She laughed at the sight of him struggling to pull himself up and around the branches protruding from the rough trunk.

Once he was nearly to the hammock, she reached her hand over the edge to help him up. Feeling his hand grab hers, she pulled hard, his head popping into view, shortly followed by the rest of his body.

“Nice place you've got up here.” He said nervously as he seated himself on a thick branch facing her.

She nodded, looking around at her hammock. “Thanks. I like it too. Erm…”

“Oh, uh, here's your pencil.” The boy said quickly, handing her the pencil she had dropped. He let his eyes shift to the notebook in her lap. “Are you drawing something?”

She looked down quickly; hoping the page wasn't open to a picture of him then shook her head. “No, I was earlier. But now I'm not. No… Just finished. Yeah, er, yeah.”

He laughed at her for a few moments before starting again. “Can I see any of your drawings?”

“Sure, uh, let me find a good one.” Said Gem, flipping the pages carefully so that the boy wouldn't catch sight of the sketches of him. Coming to the picture she had done of her mother, she handed it to him.

“That's amazing!” He said, smiling as he looked down at the notebook. “How long did it take to draw?”

She thought for a second. “About five or ten minutes.”

“Wow. It would take me forever to get one of my drawings to look like that. Do you draw a lot?”

“Yeah. It helps pass the time.” She laughed as he handed the notebook back to her.

“Do you think you could draw me?” He asked, posing jokingly.

She smiled, biting her lip as she set the tip of her pencil to a blank page. “Sure.”

As she drew they talked.

“So… How do you like London?” The boy asked, stretching into a comfortable position across his branch. He watched as she continued to work on the drawing, not even looking up at the question.

She shrugged. “It's good I guess. I haven't had much of a chance to get to know a great deal about it yet. I've been up to the school though. It seems nice enough.”

“Really? That's cool. How old are you then?”

“Eighteen. I'm gonna be nineteen on August 23 though.” She said as she worked to sketch the piece of hair he had falling between his eyes before he brushed it away.

He beamed. “That's the day before my birthday! What a coincidence. Yeah, I'm just a day younger than you then. Do you have any siblings?”

She felt her stomach clench. “No, my mother died after I was born, my dad wanted a son but he got me instead.”

“I'm sorry,” he said sincerely, a look of apology spreading across his face. “That must be hard. I have three little sisters and one little brother who's only a little younger than me. Still got both parents too.”

It was silent for a moment save for the scratching of Gemini's pencil across the paper.

“Hm…” she let her eyes flash from the drawing to the real thing. “Do you have any hobbies?”

He thought for a moment. “Unicycling I guess.” They both laughed. “It's fun, yeah, kinda hurts though. And I play the guitar, pool, football...” he began ticking things off on his fingers. “I like to swim and ride bikes and draw… Yes, I think that's it. Oh, and acting too…”

“That's quite a bit. You sound busy, do you have a job or anything on top of that?” Gem laughed, sketching the finishing details into the drawing.

The boy looked down suddenly. “Yeah, uh, no. No. I don't have a job. No.” He looked up sheepishly hoping she hadn't noticed his hesitation. She though was still staring intently at the notebook in her lap and smiled as she handed him the final result.

A near exact replica of him smiled back from the page as he took it from her. “Bloody! It's me! Oh, this is brilliant! Thank you.”

She beamed. “Hey, I thought you said you were a drawer too. Think you could do me?”

“Yeah. But I warn you; it won't be near this good. I can't do hair that well… Or girls. But I'll try.” He said, taking the hat from his head and placing it haphazardly on hers.

The next three hours flew by at an almost ungodly speed, the pair thoroughly enjoying themselves with talk and drawing and climbing around in the willow, neither keeping track of the time. As Gemini sat perched on a thick branch someways up, she flung a piece of stick at the boy then scurried to safety behind a curtain of leaves. Bracing her arms against the barricade to strengthen it for an incoming ambush, she caught sight of her watch.

5:37

“Crap!” She shouted under her breath, remembering the date she had planned. “I'm sorry, it's 5:37 and I have to be somewhere. I had fun though; it was good getting to know you. Maybe we can hang out some other time.”

“That's ok, I have to go too. But yeah, thanks for the picture and everything.” He smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he did so.

¤¤¤

Back in her bedroom, Gemini strolled over to her vanity in an almost dream-like state. She couldn't stop thinking of the boy. He was perfect! And funny, and nice. She shook herself mentally. She was on her way to a date in half an hour; she had to get a hold of herself. Stepping in front of the mirror she noticed that the hat the boy had put on her earlier was still in place.

She smiled at her reflection and adjusted the hat tenderly, letting her fingertips linger transiently on a break at the tip of the bill. The hat itself was dark blue in colour with a lighter blue emblem of sorts on the front. After a moment's pause to admire the effect of the colours with her deep blue eyes and black hair, she left the vanity and pulled open the wardrobe in the corner in search of her jacket. Once she retrieved this from beneath a pile of clothes near the floor, she put it on and slung her art bag over her shoulder.

Out in the living room, she found her father still busy with unpacking and murmured a quick goodbye so as not to disturb him.

¤¤¤

Unlike the school and Maui's house, the movie theatre was quite a bit farther away than Gem had expected. After a few wrong turns and a stop to ask a man at the grocers for directions, she finally arrived before the front doors of the theatre. Maui, Dan, and Rupert were nowhere in sight, and, checking her watch, Gem found that she still had several minutes till their projected arrival.

Paying for her ticket, she sat down on a bench against a wall in the lobby and thought momentarily about pulling out her drawing pad and finishing up a small sketch of the boy she had been working on at the high school. Deciding against it, she folded her hands in her lap and stared at her feet. The sound of a door being opened and money being pulled from a pocket could be heard from across the room and Gem looked up to see the boy taking a ticket the cashier had offered and turning to towards the bench where she was seated.

There was a moment of hesitation as they looked at each other before he came to sit beside her.

“Strange.” He laughed, slipping the ticket into his pocket. “What movie are you seeing?”

Gem thought. “Here and Gone, I think… ”

“Strange-er. I'm going to see the same movie. As soon as Maui and Dan show up that is. They're supposed to be hooking me up with someone. You waiting for anyone?”

“Maui and Dan?” Gem choked, recognizing the names and the set up. “Wow, um, I know this a bit of an off the wall question, but you wouldn't happen to be Rupert would you?”

The boy looked shocked. “Yeah… Crap… Then you're Gem. Well this is odd. Why didn't we figure this ou-” He was cut off though as the door opened again and a voiced called from across the room.

“Gem! Rupe! Hey guys!” Maui beamed, bouncing over to where they sat and standing in front of them. “You've met now. That's good!”

Gem stood up, Rupert quickly following. “Yeah, hey, Maui. Remember when we were talking yesterday and I said I had only met one person aside from you here?” Maui nodded. “The one who beamed me in the head with the tennis ball?” Maui nodded again, not appearing to be following Gem's train of thought. Gem pointed to Rupert.

Dan walked over with their tickets to help his girlfriend. “They've met before now.”

“Oh! Oh, that's neat!” Maui grinned, leading the other three into the movie theatre and into a row of seats near the front. Though Maui and Dan talked until the movie started, Gem and Rupert sat in awkward silence, neither of them looking at each other, each choosing to stare absently at the floor or any spare bit of space not containing the other.

As the movie started, Gem became uncomfortably aware of a sound coming from beside her and turned to see Maui and Dan draped across each other and not particularly bothering to keep quiet about it. She squirmed in her seat, grabbing edgily at the armrest below her fist. Rupert turned to her and opened his mouth to speak but, catching sight of his friends a few seats beyond, chose to turn away and back to the movie.

Being that this was a double date, Gem found herself feeling slightly pressured by the two and hoped desperately that Rupert wasn't thinking along the same lines as them. It was after all just the first date and whether or not they even held hands was a concept completely up in the air. Plus, she still had James! She looked to him only to find him staring absently back at her and blushed, turning back to the shadowy floor below her feet.

Though the couple beside her failed to discontinue their antics throughout the rest of the movie, Gem felt relieved to find that Rupert hadn't made a single move, and with only half an hour left in the theatre, she began to doubt that anything at all was going to happen. This thought seemed a bit depressing and she had to admit that she had been secretly hoping for him to at least hold her hand, in any case she had discovered that he wasn't the pushy sort and smiled inwardly to herself.

Suddenly, she felt something brush against her arm and looked down to see Rupert's hand reaching nervously for hers. Her heart leapt and so did Dan.

“This is the best part here!” He beamed, leaning across her. “This is where the guy dies!” Rupert quickly pulled back his arm and crossed it with its counterpart defensively.

A few people behind us let out unappreciative mutters and shook their heads angrily.

¤¤¤

As they left the theatre ten minutes later, Gem couldn't have been madder at Dan for what he'd done. To think, Rupert had almost held her hand! She could only hope that she would get another chance.

“Well that was a good movie.” Maui said happily, squeezing Dan's arm and smiling.

Dan nodded. “Yeah, what'd you guys think of it?”

“It was alright.” Gem said, trying to sound pleased. “You were right when you said it was like `Harry Potter'”

Maui laughed maliciously. “Speaking of which, you still haven't seen that have you?”

“Wait, you haven't seen `Harry Potter' before?” Rupert asked, astonished. “That must be why… No, don't watch it then. It sucks.”

Dan and Maui let out incredulous laughs and Gem just looked between the three of them.

“Don't listen to Rupe, Gem. He's just a bit pissy because the lead character is better looking than that one red headed co-star.” Dan chuckled, opening the front door for his friends and stepping outside as well.

Oblivious to what exactly they were going on about, Gem started off away from them down the street that she had come on. “I have to go now, guys. Thanks for inviting me to watch the movie with you. Maybe we can do `Harry Potter' some other time.”

Rupert caught up with her halfway down the block, looking a bit hot in the face and shaking his head as he walked.

“So why do you hate `Harry Potter' so much? Is there something wrong with it?” Gem asked nervously, questioning an explanation for the argument outside the theatre.

Rupert shrugged. “I dunno. I don't hate it or anything… I just don't think you should watch it.” Gem raised an eyebrow. “Uh, it's… The actors! Yes, that's it… I don't much care for the one who plays Ron Weasley.”

“He's my favourite character though.” Gem pouted, unconvinced.

Rupert thought. “Well he won't be once you watch the movie. He's a bad actor and fairly unattractive. No, just don't watch the movies.”

Gem opened her mouth to retort but figured it better to leave the dispute there. After a few minutes of silence between the two, Rupert turned to Gem and then looked down at the notebook sticking out of her art bag.

“Do you have any other drawings in that?” He asked, pointing to it.
Gem looked down then folded the flap of her bag down defensively over the visible pages. “Yes, why?”

“Well I was wondering if I could look at them maybe… Are they all of your mum?”

“No, just the one is.” Gem said, crossing her arms in front of her. “And no, you may not look at them.”

Rupert grinned mischievously. “Why? Is there something bad in there?”

“No! There's nothing `bad' in it. The pictures just suck, that's all.”

“Right. And what would you do if I did this?” Rupert laughed, grabbing quickly for the bag. Before he had even reached it, Gem was off and running down the street. He caught up with her and grabbed her upper arm as it flew back behind her, spinning her around to face him and grabbing the other. She let out a cackle and fell limp in his arms. Dropping her in surprise, Rupert soon found that he had been tricked and watched as she continued running towards her house.

She made it two branches up on the willow tree by the time he caught up with her. Lashing out, he grabbed the closest part of her to him: her left foot. She kicked and her shoe came off in his hand as she scrambled back up to the top of the tree and into her hammock. Resting her back against a limb-free branch protruding up from behind her, she waiting for Rupert to finish his climb. A branch snapped below her and she looked down to see him struggling upwards, still clinging on to her shoe. As he reached where she sat, he handed the shoe back to her and smiled, putting on a mock-proper voice.

“I believe you've dropped this, Miss.”

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