A Chance Meeting

Part 9

Chance sauntered in the next day, smile already firmly on his face. He took one look at Sara's sleeping form and began to turn around when she spoke.

"Wait," she croaked, in the I-just-woke-up tone of voice. "Don't leave."

He turned back around to face her, and his eyes twitched with unspoken mischief. Slowly, he walked over and grabbed the chair, then swung one of his long legs over it, pen and paper resting in his hands.

What today buttercup?

"Buttercup?"

Yeah, because these hospital lights make you look yellow and sick, but you're still my happy little flower.

Sara bit back the saddening words that flew to her tongue, instead saying, "Oh, so now I look yellow? And I'm a flower- so I must smell good. Maybe this hospital smell won't affect me after all." She finished this off with a beguiling grin, hoping he hadn't noticed her momentary pause.

It didn't work, but, fortunately for Sara, he interpreted it as something different.

Well, I didn't say that... He trailed off, and Sara's eyebrows quirked upwards as she read on. And did it really take you that long to come up with a retort? You must be getting senile already. Poor, poor old Sara.

"Why you little-"

She flung an arm towards him in an attempt to grab Chance, but he scooted out of her reach before she could wrap her fingers around his shirt. A grin spread across his face as sparkling laughter poured out of his mouth, and Sara started to laugh too.

"What?" she gasped. "Scared to fight a senile old lady who can't even get out of bed? Come back here and fight like a man."

She pulled back her arm and folded it onto her chest with her other one, trying to hold back the giggles, but to no avail. Chance came cautiously closer to her and slowly lowered himself into the chair, muscles taut as if he was going to have to run quickly away from her. A nervous smile had replaced the careless grin.

Are you okay? he wrote. You seem a little... nutso today; pardon my Gibberish. Anything I can do for you to get you away from the Cliff of Insanity?

"Well, first off," Sara said, taking deep breaths to calm the heart monitor and appease the anxious nurse who poked her head in the door, "I am not close to the cliff of insanity, and I'm slightly hurt that you thought so."

You're not close, you're scaling down it.

Sara looked up from the paper and slowly turned her glare upon Chance. He pretended to shrink away from the mock malice in her eyes, and she narrowed her eyes a little further, just to get her point across. Then she continued.

"And secondly, you're a bit of a jerk, you Jerky McMeanface."

Chance threw his head back with a howl of laughter and Sara watched him with blank eyes as his own green ones danced in the light.

A minute later, still chuckling, he quickly wrote some words on his paper and handed it back to her.

Sending one last glare at him, she quietly looked down at the paper.

Jerky McMeanface? That's the best you can do?

She sighed and rolled her eyes, looking up at him with exasperation. "And what would you have said, Mr. High-and-Mighty? Please tell me so I can bow down to your greatness and wordsmithing ways."

He smirked and Sara sighed again.

"Keep it clean. I am but an innocent young girl who hasn't been exposed to the real world yet." He stuck out his lower lip, pouting because of her refusal to allow him to cuss. She fought the smile growing on her face. "And here I was thinking you were a good kid. Tsk, tsk."

He winked at her, momentarily closing one vibrant green eye to the world. That's what they all think, buttercup, until they really get to know me. Do you want to get to know me better?

Sara's eyes widened at his seeming innuendo and her heart skipped a beat. He smirked at her, and she felt a little more at ease as the familiar rhythm of the pen moving across the paper returned, and he was no longer looking at her with his piercing green eyes.

Not like that, wierdo. I was thinking more along the lines of Truth or dare, except we'd only do the truth parts. Is that okay with you?

Sara looked up at him and started the game off.

"Last name?"

Cooper. You?

"Lockwood. Favorite color?"

Spearmint green- it's more of a blue than pistachio. What's yours?

"I've always sort of liked the dark color of black- the way it's so soulless and just seems to suck the life out of everything." Sara monotoned. Chance's eyes widened and she burst out laughing. He then glared at her, gently slapping her wrist as her chest heaved with giggles.

Not. Funny. he wrote, and from the quick slash of the pen, she could tell he was annoyed. His narrowed eyes and slightly more aggressive stance also helped. I'm going to tickle you if you do that again.

"What," she grinned. "Saying that black sucks life out of everything- including me?"

Sara couldn't hear it, but Chance growled deep down in his throat and glared at her threateningly as he leaned in closer. As he moved his hands up to rest on the bed, she made a sound that seemed to be the child of a torrid affair between a giggle and a pterodactyl screech. She curved away from him, her ribs arching as far away as physically possible. A slightly sadistic smile stretched across his face as his fingers slowly walked closer to her, and a nervous bubble of laughter escaped from her mouth. Sara tried to scoot away, but she was easy prey to Chance, trapped on the bed and unable to run away.

"Okay, let's just think about this," Sara pleaded, her voice tinged with hysteria. "You could not tickle me, and we could be best friends, or-"

Sara was cut off as he began to tickle her, wiggling his fingers over her body. She laughed, begging him to stop so she could take another breath. Chance laughed along with her, his fingers shaking as he did, but never pressing into her; he seemed to be taking extra care to not hurt her.

"S-s-stop!" she exclaimed, laughing hysterically. "G-get away f-f-from me, you big meanie!"

With a shove that was a bit pathetic, Sara managed to push Chance away, his laughs still echoing in the room and silent bursts of air puffed through his mouth in laughter. Sara took deep breaths and smiled at the slightly bewildered nurses standing in the doorway; a small wave from Sara relaxed their faces and tiny smiles crept onto each of their faces as they exited the room.

"Sooo... favorite animal?" she asked in the following silence, trying to interrupt it before it gets awkward.

Chance laughed and began to write his answer.