How Bad Could It Be

Chapter 2

A/N: Once again, I don't own anything except the characters that were never in the Lorax movie.

"So, how come you never told me about Mr. Tall, Dark and Lanky back at work?" Maria asked as they were heading back to Kat's apartment.

"Last time I saw him, he wasn't so tall," Kat said in deep thought, remembering how she and Once-ler used to be the same height.

"Going to need a little more to go on than that," Maria said, snapping Kat out of her thoughts.

"Okay, Once-ler and I were betrothed in Grade School."

Maria stopped in the sidewalk on hearing that.

"Betrothed?!" Maria exclaimed.

"You want to shout that a little louder, I don't think they heard you in Canada," Kat said, turning to Maria and rolling her eyes.

"How do you expect me to react when I hear that your parents forced you to get married?" Maria said, lowering her voice but still having a tinge of panic as she continued walking.

Kat nervously laughed.

"No, the betrothal was our idea," Kat explained.  "When Once-ler and I saw Godzilla: King of the Monsters, we knew we wanted to get married when we grew up.  So we always joked that we were betrothed.  I guess I should have found a better way to word that."

"Yeah, you should've," Maria said, calming down.  "What do you mean you came up with the idea when you saw Godzilla: King of the Monsters?"

"Don't tell me you haven't seen it."

"Keep in mind that I'm not as fluent in geek as you are," Maria said, putting her right hand out and checking her fingernails.

"In the movie, there were two people, Dr. Serizawa and Emiko, who were betrothed to one another by their parents as children," Kat explained, trying to remember as much as she could about the movie.  "It didn't work out because she loved another man, Ogata.  Which was stupid because Serizawa's way cooler even if Ogata's the better looker of the two."

As Kat was describing the movie, she got lost in her own little world until a light tan hand was waved in front of her face.

"Hello, Earth to Kat," Maria said.  "Hate to distract you from your day dreaming but I'd really like you to finish the story sometime this year."

"Sorry, it's been a while since I've seen the movie and I don't have an eidetic memory," Kat explained sarcastically.  "Ever since then, Once-ler and I always joked that we were betrothed."

Then Kat put her hand on her chest and lowered her voice as deep as she could get it.

"And now, out of all of the diners in all the towns of all the world, he walks into mine," Kat said.

"Did you just go from Godzilla to Casablanca?" Maria asked.

"Both movies have a few things in common," Kat said blushing.

"Like what?" Maria asked doubtfully.  "They both have giant monsters destroying a giant city?"

"No, they both have men who do what's best for the woman they love even if it means having to give her up," Kat explained with a dreamy sigh.  "It's so romantic."

"I'll say one thing, you definitely have a creative mind to make that connection," Maria said.  "Still, don't get your hopes up about finding a guy like that."

Kat snapped back to reality as she opened the door to her rundown apartment building.

"I know that," Kat told Maria getting annoyed while she checked her mail.  "It's just fun to imagine it."