Let's Go To The Movies! (Arkady)

[Deleted]

Alright, well it was good to know that she could see logic, and while the movie had obviously really bothered her, at least she could agree that if there really were zombies about that they would know.

Or not.

Looking away from Dusty, Arkady rolled his eyes as she started rambling on about some stupid zombie conspiracy. Honestly, sometimes he did wonder about her, though he was certainly grateful for the renewed annoyance. He was getting far too close to... not being annoyed by her and that was simply not a good thing.

It was a great relief when he could turn to her with a fond and reassuring smile while this time knowing inside it was all fake.

“Have you heard of people disappearing?” he questioned in a pointed manner. “Even if we haven’t heard about zombies, if there was a whole conspiracy about them then we would have at least heard of people going missing. I don’t think you have anything to worry about, ma chérie.”

[Dusty Fae]

Arkady did have a point. As much as she were worried ‘bout zombies tryin’ ta eat ‘er she s’posed that if’n people’d been disappearin’ they’d a heard about by now. Unless no one knew that people were disappearin’. What if someone were only takin’ people that no one cared about or that lived alone with no friends or family or nothin’.

Good lord, her imagination were runnin’ faster’n a wild horse gettin’ away from a wild fire in the underbrush out in the desert. She needed ta reign it in. Arkady were right. Zombies weren’t real. She hadn’t heard o’ people disappearin’ ‘cause that were silly. ‘Course people weren’t disappearin’ off the street and no one were tryin’ ta hide zombies. That were awful silly.

Dusty nodded at Arkady. “I s’pose you’re right,” she told ‘im, tryin’ ta sound convinced and she hoped she did sound convinced. But she’d better change the subject just in case. “What’s ma chérie mean?” she asked, tryin’ ta pronounce it just like Arkady had, though she weren’t even close. “Do you speak French?”

[Deleted]

Arkady wished he could believe that she was buying his logic this time, but it was still pretty obvious that she wasn’t entirely convinced and was only dropping the subject to pacify him.

Note to self: never take Dusty to another horror movie.

Knowing his luck she would become fascinated with this stuff and grow suspicious that he was a werewolf of something stupid like that. He always did know how to pick them.

Bringing the hand he held up to his lips, he kissed the back of it and smiled at her. “Of course I am,” he replied, bringing their hands back down between them and continuing to walk. The smile faded, though, when she asked him to translate what he had said. He wasn’t used to trying to translate terms of endearment into English; everyone he had ever used them on before now had been French, and to be honest... it was sort of embarrassing. Maybe it lost it’s meaning by having to translate, or maybe translating made it more real; he wasn’t sure why it made him uncomfortable, but it did. Furrowing his brow slightly, he rolled the words over in his head, trying to come up with the best English equivalent despite himself.

“It means ‘my dear’, or darling... or sweetheart,” Arkady offered awkwardly, before shrugging it off with one shoulder. “I lived in Paris all my life.”

[Dusty Fae]

Arkady kissed the back of ‘er hand and she liked that. That were a gentlemanly thing ta do and Arkady were provin’ ta be a gentleman. Well, mostly a gentleman. But he were more of a gentleman than a lotta men back home so she didn’t mind much.

And then she went and made Arkady feel uncomfortable askin’ ‘bout what he’d said. And it made ‘er feel bad ‘bout not speakin’ French. She didn’t even take French here at school. She took Spanish, even though they were teachin’ it all wrong. It weren’t anythin’ like the Spanish the cowboys spoke back home.

It made ‘er feel a little uneducated actually ta not understand. The words sounded so nice and flowy but she had no idea what they meant. But she wanted ta know what it meant. If’n she’d called ‘im somethin’ from back home she’d probably have ta explain. Besides, she’d asked the question and she couldn’t take it back now.

He had called ‘er ‘my dear’ or somethin’ like that. That were awful sweet. Arkady were just the sweetest sometimes. And well it were no wonder he spoke French if’n he’d grown up in Paris. “Paris? Well no wonder,” she said softly. “What’s Paris like? Is it beautiful? I read about Paris once. It sounded real nice.”

[Deleted]

Arkady was practically cringing just waiting for some sort of exclamation about how sweet he was, or an ‘aww’ at the very least, but neither came. Surprisingly, Dusty just accepted what he had called her and moved on without comment. To be honest, he wasn’t sure how to take that. Did she just find his life in Paris more interesting, or did the ‘lovey’ little words mean nothing to her?

More importantly, why was it bothering him anyway?

“Oh, sure, Paris is great if you have the money to enjoy it,” he replied without thinking. It took him a second to realise that she could easily read into that, if she was intuitive, and figure out that he didn’t have the money. Or maybe she would just take it as a general statement. Hopefully. “It is beautiful,” he continued quickly. I haven’t been many other places, but there’s no other city like it, from what I hear.”

People seemed to associate Paris with romance, the City of Love. He wasn’t sure where it had gotten that name, though he certainly had had his own share of luck there. Maybe it was the music, or the fashion, or maybe it was really only for the people whose heads were held too high to see the gutters others lived in.

“What about your city? I can’t say I’ve ever actually heard of it.”

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty did find Paris fascinatin’. Well, she found most places other’n ‘er own town real fascinatin’. But that were because they had things ta do other’n just the ordinary things. And other places were beautiful. Sure, the desert had its own beauty, but sometimes a girl gotta outta all that sun and dry air. She wished she could she Paris.

But that didn’t sound like Arkady, the way he said that. Yah didn’t have ta have money to enjoy life. She and Momma didn’t have a whole lot and it never stopped them from enjoyin’ life and enjoyin’ places. But she were awful glad ta hear that it were beautiful. And there weren’t any place like it. “Someday I hope I can visit Paris. I’ll get my momma somethin’ nice.”

And then Arkady were askin’ ‘bout her home. She smiled. “Los Avalos ain’t a city. It ain’t big enough yet. It’s in the desert out West. It’s awful warm all the time. I ain’t never even seen snow ‘fore I came here.” She loved Los Avalos through to ‘er very core. “The desert looks real nice after it rains. The cactus all bloom. It’s real nice.”

[Deleted]

So she wanted to see Paris. Well, it was good to know she wasn’t one of those small town girls that never wanted to leave their home towns, nor their “momma” behind. Not that Paris was small, but Arkady had met many girls there that seemed content to never set foot out of the city. It was all well and good, but sounded rather boring to him. He wasn’t necessarily big on adventure, but mundane life of a working stiff just wasn’t for him.

“Maybe... we could go there sometime,” he offered a bit hesitantly. Time to win some points, offer to take her home and meet the family and see the big city of Paris. Girls always loved that sort of thing. “I could get some time off work in a few months, and we...”

He thought of saying that they could take a vacation together, but he didn’t want to sound too eager either. He doubted she was the type to scare away easily, but he had already moved a little fast tonight and this might be a bit too fast. So instead he trailed off and looked away, clearing his throat a bit nervously. Better to let her think he was sort of nervous or embarrassed about the whole idea, or even scared. Either worked in his favour.

And then she spoke of her home and it was his turn to praise it. Los Avalos was a tiny town in the middle of a desert that was ‘awful warm’ all the time?

“It sounds...” horrible “great. I’d like to see it sometime.” About as much as I’d like to chew off my own arm.

[Dusty Fae]

Well o’ course Dusty wanted ta go see Paris. It were exotic and different and beautiful. Los Avalos were great, but Dusty wanted ta see other places. Los Avalos weren’t the only place in the world. And even though she loved it best there were other places she’d like ta see. And in these other places she could be whoever she wanted. She weren’t just the daughter of a Saloon Girl.

Oh good lord, Arkady was sayin’ that maybe he’d take ‘er ta Paris. She hoped that weren’t ‘cause she said she wanted ta go. She hadn’t meant ta make it sound like she were askin’ ‘im ta take ‘er. She’d never wanna do that. She had better manners’n that. Her momma’s raised ‘er better’n that. She knew better’n to impose on someone. That just weren’t polite. And as much as she’d like ta go ta Paris with Arkady that weren’t exactly proper. Back home that coulda been seen as a marriage proposal, though Dusty it weren’t. But when yah said yah wanted ta take a girl off to exotic places…well that implied somethin’…

Dusty blushed and looked down. She wouldn’t think ‘bout that. Well, she’d try ‘er best anyhow. And now Arkady were actin’ like ‘e were nervous or somethin’. And now she had ta think o’ somethin’ ta say. “Well, uh, that would be nice. But only if you wanted ta take me. I wouldn’t want yah ta think you had to take me. I wouldn’t wanna impose.” She rubbed the back of ‘er neck awkwardly as she rambled nervously.

But Arkady said he thought Los Avalos sounded great. Dusty thought it were great, but she’d been born and raised there. It were different. She hadn’t told ‘im ‘bout any o’ the bad things like duststorms or rattle snakes appearin’ almost outta nowhere or even ‘bout shootouts and bandits. Honestly, Los Avalos were only a nice place sometimes. “I don’t think you’d like it,” she told ‘im honestly. Most outsiders didn’t. “It ain’t always a nice place.”

[Deleted]

Dusty really wasn’t like any girl Arkady had ever met before. Not only did she not jump at the chance to go with him to Paris, but when she said she only wanted to go if he wanted to take her, she was saying it with complete honesty, not with the coyness he had come to expect from girls. Usually they played hard to get, wanting boys to beg, or tease, or... other things, or they were just far too easy and practically threw themselves at him. Dusty wasn’t even somewhere in the middle of these two options, she was in a category all her own. Her honesty and just how purely genuine she was made her hard for him to predict; he wasn’t used to girls like her, not at all.

“Of course I do. Want you,” he replied, letting the words linger there between them for a moment before pretending to just realise how what he had said might be taken. “To come with me. To Paris. Sometime, I mean.”

He was practically stuttering, it was such a disgusting little show, but if it did the trick then he would have to suck it up and deal with it. He wasn’t about to act like a complete sap, though, but he was finding it harder each minute to keep his own characterisation straight. Was he a nervous wuss when it came to anything important involving their ‘relationship’, or a smooth talker? It seemed to change by the moment. He was having a hard time keeping track of who he was pretending to be, who she wanted him to be, and who he really was...

“Not always a nice place?” Arkady repeated, raising an eyebrow at her. Wow, she really knew how to make him feel welcome. It sounded like she didn’t want to take him home. Ever. Not that he ever planned to go, but it seemed kind of important that she want to take him home to meet her ‘momma’. “Well, maybe I’m not always a nice guy.”

He was grinning as he said this, a little twinkle in his eye, but the truth weighed heavily on him.

[Dusty Fae]

Arkady wanted her? What was ‘e sayin’? He wanted ‘er in what way? Dusty were a little confused. No boy had ever said they wanted ‘er, ‘less o’ ‘course they meant in that way. The way they always did when they found out who ‘er momma was. But, oh, he hadn’t meant that at. He meant to come to Paris with ‘im. Well, then, that were an alright way ta want ‘er. Good lord, even that sounded improper.

“Oh, well if’n you want me to come then that’s diff’rent. I’d love ta come with you sometime,” she told ‘im softly. She did wanna go ta Paris with ‘im. Paris were supposed ta be a magical place, the city of love or somethin’ like that. And it’d only be appropriate ta go with ‘er boyfriend.

Oh, the way Arkady repeated ‘er statement made it sound like she’d meant somethin’ she hadn’t meant to atall. “Oh, that ain’t what I meant,” she hurried to say, her eyes wide with the realization. “I just meant that ‘cause it’s in the desert there are lotsa dust storms, and there are bandits and thieves. It’s a dangerous place Arkady. That’s why I carry weapons. I wouldn’t wanna take you there and then have somethin’ happen to yah. Honest.” With ‘er free hand she crossed ‘er heart.

“And I don’t think you could ever not be nice.” She meant that too. He’d been so nice to ‘er that he couldn’t be anythin’ but nice.

[Deleted]

In one way it didn’t matter if she accepted or not. He never intended to actually take her to Paris; by the time he was able to get vacation from work and school to actually go his whole plan would (hopefully) be over and executed, and they wouldn’t be together anymore anyway. He would be notorious, popular, and she would be humiliated. She would hate him.

Just as he hated the pang the very thought of that caused him.

“Good,” he said simply, giving her hand a squeeze.

The lights of town were gradually moving behind them, though definitely not as quickly as he thought he should want them to. But it was understandable he would want to put off going back to the school. It wasn’t that he wanted to spend more time with her, but the fact that his brother was waiting back there now instead of the blessed solitude of the last few months.

Then suddenly Dusty was off and rambling again. Apparently she had completely missed the joke behind his words, the teasing nature of his tone. She thought that he had been serious, or that she had insulted him or something. It was kind of cute, to be honest, how quick she was to explain and make sure she hadn’t upset him. Until she said that last line

It just seemed to drive everything home.

Everything she thought about him, everything she knew, it was all a lie. The person she liked, this great guy who was nothing but nice to her, who taught her to dance and passed notes with her and sat with her at lunch... that was who she thought he really was, that was the kind of guy she could fall for.

He wasn’t that guy... but the scariest part, the part that terrified him was that he could be and, once in a while, even worse, he actually enjoyed playing the role.

Stopping in his tracks, Arkady turned and faced her, taking both her hands in his. It needed to be said, she had to hear it, and no matter what happened, in this moment he just had to be honest.

“You’re really amazing, you know that? If you ever believe or remember anything I say, let it be that.”

Amazing could mean so many things, could be so true for so many reasons, and right now he just might mean all of them.

[Dusty Fae]

Arkady seemed ta just accept ‘er answer, which were probably well and good. The more she thought ‘bout Paris the more she were thinkin’ ‘bout things. Like if’n ‘e took ‘er ta Paris she probably meet ‘is family and she weren’t sure how she felt ‘bout that. If’n they’d been courtin’ back home they’d probably known each other’s family. Not knowing what Arkady’s family were like was kinda strange. She didn’t know anythin’ about them. But Arkady were so nice that ‘is family were probably the same. She ain’t got anythin’ ta worry ‘bout.

Dusty hoped that Arkady knew that she meant what she’d said, ‘bout not wantin’ ‘im ta get hurt or anythin’ in Los Avalos. He didn’t know the West like she did. He could get hurt and then ‘is family would probably hate ‘er for takin’ someplace where he could get hurt in the first place. And she didn’t want that. No sirree. Not atall.

She were a little surprised when Arkady stopped and she stopped real abrupt like too. She hadn’t expected such a reaction. She thought he’d just agree or say he understood or tell ‘er that he’d like to visit her home anyway. None o’ that seemed ta warrant stoppin’.

But then he said those words and ‘er heart seemed ta stop fer about half a second. She was amazin’? He thought she was amazin’? And best part? She could see that ‘e meant it. He meant what ‘e was sayin’ to ‘er. She could see it in ‘is eyes and ‘er heart seemed ta melt a little. There were so few people in ‘er life that believed in ‘er that it almost didn’t seem real when someone came along who did. “Why are you so nice ta me?” she asked, ‘fore she could think about the words. “Why, Arkady?”

[Deleted]

For what felt like forever following her question, Arkady contemplated the answer. Why was he so nice to her? Because his plan required he be, the whole thing hinged on it. He was nice to her because he needed her to like him, and for her, and everyone else for that matter, to believe he liked her back. So he was nice to her... for now, at least. Soon enough she would see just how ‘not nice’ he could be. Perhaps far too soon... for the both of them.

Leaning forward, he kissed her softly on the forehead. “Because you deserve it,” he replied. The worst part was that he was starting to believe it. He had been telling himself since Halloween that Dusty was unhinged, that she deserved the humiliation and heartbreak he had in store for her, but the more time he spent with her, the more he got to know her, the more he was beginning to understand who she was and why she had reacted that way. It was certainly not advantageous to his plan. At all.

Having regained his composure, at least outwardly, Arkady pulled back and smiled warmly at her. “You’re probably the nicest person I’ve ever met. No, I know you are. Why shouldn’t you be treated the same way?”

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty weren’t sure why she’d asked Arkady that. People here were nice, that was all. People back home were nice too, just not to her. But they were nice to each other. Well, most o’ the time anyway. But she just weren’t used ta people always bein’ so nice to ‘er. It were unnatural. It were…too good ta be true almost.

And she most certainly didn’t deserve it. Did she? No, people’d always said that she didn’t deserve nothin’ ‘cause she were a child o’ sin. She and ‘er momma would rot in hell one day for their sins. Momma had said that it weren’t true, none of it, but sometimes a girl couldn’t help but believe it when ever’body else thought it were true. She couldn’t possibly deserve it. I mean, Dusty always tried ta be nice ta other people, but that were because that’s what the preacher’d always said were the right thing ta do. And she tried to be nice, though sometimes she weren’t always so nice ta people who weren’t nice ta her.

No, she couldn’t be the nicest person Arkady knew. There were lotsa other people who were real nice too. She couldn’t be the nicest he knew. And why should she treated so nicely? Arkady had no idea who she actually was. He’d probably think differently if’n ‘e did. “If only you knew.”

[Deleted]

If only he knew? Well, that was certainly cryptic. Tilting his head to one side, Arkady’s brow furrowed slightly as he regarded Dusty. If only he knew what? What sort of dark secret could someone like her possibly have hidden away? Had she really gone off on someone like she had on him the first time they’d met, only maybe the first time the guy hadn’t been so lucky? She carried these weapons around... how often did she use them? Or was it something else?

He shouldn’t ask, he knew he shouldn’t ask. There was the possibility it was something really stupid that she jut thought was important, something that would only make her look shallow or naive or silly, in which case it would be good for him to know. On the other hand, it could be something deeper, something that would give him more insight into her character, something that he might find... not unappealing. In that case, he was much better off no knowing.

In fact, he was better off not knowing in either case, he was better off not knowing any more about her than he already did. It was easier to play the game if she was just some two dimensional, throwaway character that he knew nothing about. The more he knew about her, the more human and fully formed she became, the harder this was getting, because she wasn’t the horrible, crazy person he had originally painted her as.

The scheme had been so much easier when he had thought of her that way.

“If I only knew what?” he asked. Against his better judgement, even though he knew it was a mistake even before the words left his lips, he asked it anyway.