UPTOWN GIRL, alex p. keaton

xxiii. someone's got a hold of my heart

⇰ 𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟: 𝕕𝕠 𝕚𝕥 𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕚𝕟 ( 𝕔𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣 ) 𝕓𝕪 𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕝𝕪𝕟 𝕞𝕠𝕟𝕣𝕠𝕖

THE TREES IN CENTRAL PARK were now in bloom from the Cherry Blossoms set out in the spring. The faint pink coloring shaded the pair walking along the path together. Looking ahead to the breeze going past the flowers to send them falling around, Arabella twirled in their presence over her own amusement.

Alex turned over to chuckle under his breath over the girl beside him. She returned her gaze up to him, his hands still tucked deep into his pants pockets. "C'mon Mr. Big, I know you're a big ball of tension but—" Reaching down to get him to join in, she swung his arm in her hands to try and get him to enjoy the scene just as much as she was. "You've gotta loosen up a bit."

"I am loose," He corrected her to easily slip away her embrace to hold her hand instead. Seeing Arabella begin to blush over the simple motion, he gestured down to her hand in his. "Maybe you need to loosen up, doll."

She laughed nervously and started to try and ignore the exchange she thought was playing out. Alex smiled over the reaction he got out of her noticing her hand still around his naturally. "Don't try to spin the subject on me," She told him. The back and forth was beginning to worry her to say the least. Sure they could taunt the other to see how long it would take for one of them to start yelling, but this was very different.

"Is he flirting with me?" Arabella asked herself, looking over to the demeanor he had. "He can't be flirting with me? It's— that's laughable."

Noticing the sun coming down, Arabella squeezed his hand to motion over to the shift in tones from the colours in the sky. "Look! We can catch the sunset, c'mon!" Alex laughed over her enthusiasm to willingly follow her along to a small bench in front of the lake. Sitting side by side together she leaned forward in her seat to stare up to the trees and sky overhead. "Sunsets and sunrises are the best sort of paintings around."

Being interested on her take over the subject, Alex turned over to her to await for the explanation that was to follow. "Everything's always changing in the sky, never being the same. Even the colour palettes themselves seem to be similar to the other, but never entirely identical. They've all just mixed together before coming to a close into the night." Arabella sighed in content as he didn't stop her from continuing on. "And then you come into the sunrise. Where all around you the sky is waking up and the trees look more alive, the birds are singing— it doesn't make sense to me how someone couldn't care more about the Earth not looking at either scenes."

Arabella turned over to Alex completely mesmerized by the way she spoke on the subject. Noticing her beginning to flush again over the intimate exchange she tried to ignore the charming look he gave her. "Go on say it," She said to try and get him out of the state of distraction he seemed to be in.

"Say what?" He chuckled under his breath with a nod of approval over the words she just spoke. "Nixon must've thought the environment was important otherwise he wouldn't have created the EPA."

Blinking again in surprise, she awaited an individual to come out from the bushes behind them to call this out as being a prank. "C'mon you're saving up to make fun of me?" Arabella questioned to await from some insult to follow over environmental policies and regulations being entirely pointless, "You can't actually agree with me on that that's— that's some sort of treason to the money crazed boy role you play so well?"

"Trust me, it's terrifying me too. If Jennifer were here she'd have a field day," Alex thought to herself.

Arabella was the exception to any ideal he set for himself. If someone so perfect could even agree with these things, he thought it was worth it for himself to implement the same things into his own beliefs. It was that aura and charm she circled around her with her passions that made it difficult for anyone to not fall for whatever she was trying to explain to them. "She could convince me on becoming more of a liberal at this rate. The very idea of being that close to becoming a Democrat because of one girl seems like a dream and nightmare all in one."

"Well maybe you just don't understand me as well as you thought you did," He told her in confidence, shining down a grin, "Even as smart as you are, I might've bested you in something."

Arabella laughed over to this turn away from the sky and face him. "You think I'm smart? Thought you took me for another uptown girl with no capability to process her own thoughts."

"No, you're the epitome of the uptown girl, that's true," Alex spoke to look down to the Arabella sitting next to him. Her legs were crossed beneath the muted pink dress she had on along with the ribbon laced through her curls. The diamond earrings now paired with the ever present delicate attire she had with the bracelet he noticed to be the same one he got for her, it was easy for anyone to believe on the outside she was just a living doll on her little castle on Carnegie Hill.

But there was the alternate aspect to her personality.

The other side of her that cared about what was going on in the world, about the environment. Who would go ahead on a protest or rally despite others around her finding it unbelievable from her own family's political beliefs. That would be much happier in a little villa in a much simpler life than the material world she'd grown up in.

That was the side he knew always won out. Even with the amount of words of wisdom instilled to her from Audrey Hepburn or Judy Garland, she could have both worlds at once easily but— she was far more than just some uptown girl.

"But you're too special to be labeled that way. You're so much more than that," He explained, looking down to her lips slightly gaping in surprise over him saying this. Growing nervous over his own reactions towards the situation, Alex persisted in expressing his views. Actually admitting the amount of adoration he had over her. "You— You can be the most delicate piece and also have me scared to disagree with you on anything because you've more than likely become an expert on it tenfold."

Arabella blushed as his eyes started to light up over speaking about. . . her. Not about money, not about the stock market, about the girl sitting next to him. "A spotlight follows you everywhere you go without you even realizing it, which makes it terrifying to think you don't know how beautiful and passionate you can be when you talk about the things you love. It's hard to focus on anything else beside you. Even being near you now I—"

Alex stopped himself to notice her slightly sinking in regards to his words. "I've never seen anything more beautiful. And I don't think I ever will." He looked down to her lips again before meeting her eyes in longing. Out of his own emotions, he leant down to pull her into a kiss. Feeling her slightly bring him closer to her with her hand wrapped behind him, he was taken by surprise from her suddenly parting ways from him.

Knowing how red she must've been over the sudden rush that she received, Arabella stepped up from her seat suddenly to shake her head. "I— uh, that was— I gotta—" Too nervous and now shaking over the interaction that had been building up for too long, she ran off in fright.

Alex stood up in his seat to look after where she had run off to. "Arabella, wait!" He lost sight of her despite the chase he went to find her, wondering if he was going to regret admitting how he felt finally.