Change of Plans--A Heart no Kuni no Alice FanFiction

Part 05: Settling In

Elliot seemed determined to try and get me to say something during our walk to Alice's room.  Now that he realized I wasn't a threat and a girl on top of that (though I didn't see how that made me any less of a threat), he was actually much nicer.  His demeanor had become rather cheerful and easy-going, though I still didn't trust him as far as I could throw him.  He had only managed to get a few grunts and monosyllabic answers out of me so far.

"Geez, Ron!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air in frustration.  "Are you always this sulky?  Or this untalkative?"

"Only around people I don't trust," I muttered, "or when I'm annoyed."

Elliot grinned at me.  "Ha!  I got you to say more than one word!" he crowed.  I tried to glare at him but found my lips twitching up into a smile.  He seemed so pleased with himself that I just couldn't help myself.  "Hey, you smiled too!" he said, his eyes twinkling with glee.  I snickered despite my irritation--it was kind of amusing, I had to admit.

"Yes, I am quite capable of doing both, thanks very much," I said.  "I just choose not to very often."  As I spoke I looked up directly into Elliot's face.  My stomach suddenly plunged into the floor, leaving an odd tingling feeling in its place.  I hadn't thought about it before (no, seriously, I hadn't, considering that I had been more worried about him killing me...), but he was actually kind of handsome.

His wavy, dark blonde hair came to just about his shoulders, and I noted again that his ears were the same color.  But what really caught my attention were his eyes.  I don't normally dwell on eye color (which is strange, considering that I make a point of looking people in the eye), but I found myself briefly ensnared in his dark violet eyes.  I looked away from him quickly, glowering back at the ground.  I had only looked at him for a few seconds, but it had felt like an eternity.

"Really?" Elliot asked, and it took me a moment to realize that he was talking about my comment about not smiling very often. "Not even around Alice?  Of all the people to make you laugh, I'd think it would be your best friend."  I knew that he was looking at me with bewilderment but I didn't look back up at him for fear of him seeing my burning cheeks.  Am I blushing?  How embarrassing...

I shrugged.  "Most of the time she can," I admitted, "but on my bad days the most that she can get out of me is a twitch."  I slipped my hands into my pockets, throwing my head back and observing the ceiling rather intently as we walked.  Don't look at him, don't look at him, don't look at him...  "I haven't had much to smile about for the last three months though, so it's not really a big deal."

I saw Elliot look at me sharply out of the corner of my eye.  Okay, okay, I admit it--I looked at him.  "Has Alice been gone that long in your world?" he asked in surprise.  "I knew that time flowed differently there, but still!"

"No, it's just been a month."  I tilted my head toward him.  "When Alice was abducted, my brother had already been missing for about two months.  Like I said--hard to find stuff to smile about during that time."

"Ah, I see," Elliot said gently.  "Were you two close?  You and your brother, I mean."

"Yeah, we--"  I stopped.  Why on earth was I telling this to a complete stranger?  And a stranger that I didn't trust on top of that?  I frowned and glanced away from him again, focusing on the floor this time.  "We are," I finished shortly, trying to make it clear by my tone of voice that I wasn't going to talk about it anymore.

Elliot was silent after that, and seemed to be mulling over this tiny snippet I had carelessly let slip.  The silence dragged on and I could tell that he was trying to find a way to fill in the increasingly awkward silence.  I didn't care--I liked the peace and quiet.  My thoughts began to wander as I stared blankly off into space.  It wasn't until Elliot tapped me on the shoulder that I came back to reality.  "We're here, Ron," he told me as we stopped in front of a wooden door labelled "Alice's Room."