Whovian Writer Wolverine

Not really a legit piece of story fiction, but a fun read for my friends. This will hopefully cheer up Rebecca and make sure that today is a better day for her than yesterday. 

Now for a little reveal….I got this prompt from Lifeonvega. Yup, she knew about this all along!!! I hope you enjoy this too. :)

“I’m sorry I’m here so late,” Rebecca apologized profusely for what felt about the millionth time.

                “Really,” Kyle replied calmly, “it’s no big deal.”

                “I just feel bad about it,” she continued, “because you were waiting around campus all day.”

                “Like there’s nothing for me to do on campus?” he asked sarcastically, with a chuckle. “I’ve got Cam to talk to,” he smiled, “and Jeremy and Jenny,” he said, pointing to a section of the living room where I was helping put up decorations on the wall. Currently, I was diligently attaching poster strips to the back of last year’s basketball poster, which, of course, was a signed copy. That thing would, no doubt, be worth a fortune now. I looked up from my work, noticing as Kyle gently wrapped one arm around Rebecca pulling her close against his side. He tilted his head down, lightly kissing her on the forehead, whispering softly “it’s ok.”

 I was tempted, for a moment, to tease him, and tell him to get a room if he wanted to do all that mushy stuff right now. Yet, I restrained myself, knowing full well that the gesture was more companionate than romantic; and, furthermore, that it was one I myself would likely imitate under similar circumstances. Indeed, Kyle was only doing what a good boyfriend should. That didn’t stop the fact, however, that neither he nor Rebecca seemed to be working, while I, meanwhile, was faced with a seemingly endless supply of new posters, pictures, stickers, and even a set of basketball trading cards.

The stickers now ready on the newest addition to the wall, I stood up and carefully centered the poster before finally pealing the backs off of the stickers and attaching it. As I did so, I looked over my shoulder, only to see Kyle lean in, his lips now far too close to Rebecca’s own for there to be any doubt about what was coming next.

“I think, Kyle,” I said, interrupting the couple before Kyle could give his girlfriend so much as a quick peck on the lips, “that Rebecca wanted your help moving the desk into the bedroom. “

“Right,” Rebecca replied, in a tone that clearly indicated she had forgotten. She and Kyle broke apart and headed towards separate ends of the desk.

I sighed, turning around, stepping back and admiring the newest addition to the wall, before looking at the daunting pile of remaining pictures scattered on the floor. I reached back for the brim of my Michigan cap and pulled it off for a moment, wiping the sweat off my brow with the other hand. I didn’t feel like admitting that all this moving in was much harder work then it appeared. Yet that was the truth, of the matter; especially considering that every blank wall in the apartment apparently had to be covered in decorations.

“I saw the craziest thing this morning,” Kyle began, breaking the silence as he and Rebecca lifted the table. Seeing Kyle turn his head in my direction for just a second, I quickly put my hat back and picked up another picture from the floor, pretending not to be tired.

“What?” Rebecca asked, as her voice faded slightly into the distance upon entering the bedroom.

“Some person standing around where that big M is…” Kyle began as he set the desk down, and walked back into the living room.

“You mean the diag?” Rebecca asked from behind.

“Yeah, whatever you call it,” Kyle shrugged. Rebecca shot him a slight, unthreatening glare, which made Kyle pause for a moment, but he ultimately continued on.

“So this person was dressed as Link from the Legend of Zelda and was playing an ocarina,” he finished.

“Oh, yeah,” Rebecca nodded, “Jenny and I have seen that before. It’s funny.”

“Dude! It was sweet!” Kyle exclaimed with a wide smile and a little laugh. Rebecca laughed back, somewhat nervously. They were now standing there, aimlessly, looking silently into each other’s eyes.

“Kyle, why don’t you come help me with these posters!” I called back to him.

“I’m helping Rebecca!” he spat back, somewhat angrily, breaking eye contact with Rebecca and looking directly towards me.

“It’s fine,” replied Rebecca, who had already moved to grab another box of her own things off the floor. “It’s my stuff,” she said, picking up one of the boxes and moving towards the bedroom.

“No, I’ll get it,” Kyle said, reaching out for the box, but Rebecca turned away.

“Go help them with the decorations,” she commanded.

Kyle nodded, and turned around, looking straight into my eyes with an unmistakable look of irritation that I cannot pretend I have not seen many times in my life before.

“Jeremy!” Kyle whispered as soon as Rebecca was out of the room, but with the speed and urgency of a yell. He walked up close to me, using his height to look down into my eyes threateningly. I backed up, focusing my own gaze and shooting him a grin of feigned innocence that, if I am honest with myself, I had perfected by using Kyle’s own technique. The silence both of us strived for at that moment was quickly broken by the sound of raving laughter beside us.

“What’s so funny?” Rebecca asked as she exited the bedroom, finding her best friend standing against the wall unable to control the noises exiting her mouth, while her boyfriend turned his glare towards her.

“The two of them,” Jenny stammered through her laughter. “Kyle’s all mad because Jeremy keeps stopping him from kissing you. So they’re having this staring contest.”

“I never said!” Kyle began, but the blush that appeared on his face told all. In no time at all, the color on his girlfriend’s cheeks matched.

I crossed my arms and gave a short chuckle. “Come on, man,” I said, now clearly in the more authoritative position than my embarrassed friend. “We’re moving these girls in to their apartment; it’s really not the time.”

 “Oh, knock it off!” Kyle sighed with irritation. “Come on, Jeremy, you and Jenny have been in here all day.”

“No, we haven’t,” I replied. “We had lunch with you.”

“Other than that,” Kyle argued. “Seriously, bro, you can’t tell me that during all this time, you haven’t even given her at least one kiss?”

“Actually,” I said, looking over at Jenny to confirm. She nodded in agreement. “I’m pretty sure I haven’t.”

Kyle just looked at him, dumbfounded.

“I was going to, before I left, obviously,” I replied, all too casually, shooting Jenny my smile for just a moment, before turning back towards and ever more irritated Kyle. “But really, I’m here to work, It’s not all that exciting.”

“Well, maybe not for you,” Kyle complained. “You guys get to see each other all the time!”

It was then that I realized, perhaps, why the room was silent aside from our arguing. Even my girlfriend had stopped laughing, and she was not one to do that often. I sighed. It was hard to remember that Kyle, living in Indiana, maintained a long distance relationship with his girlfriend. No wonder it seemed like they still blushed every time their hands came in contact with one another.

Not that this was any excuse for them to act like lovebirds instead of working as hard as Jenny and I had been. (Although, in fairness, Rebecca seemed to be doing her share of contributing.)

I was pondering how to respond to this situation, when, fortunately, Jenny stepped in. “Kyle,” she began. “I know you don’t get to see Rebecca a lot, but we are here to get moved in. Besides, the sooner we move in, the sooner you can give her the present you bought her and I’ll make sure Jeremy doesn’t interrupt you after that, ok?” She shot me a certain look that, unfortunately, made me concede.

Rebecca now seemed frozen in place. So she had no idea, then, that Kyle had bought her a gift. I wondered to myself what she’d think of it. Hopefully, she’d like it. I was unsure what to make of it, myself, though I guess it seemed only appropriate.

“You didn’t have to buy me a gift,” she finally said.

“I had to get you this one,” Kyle grinned.

Rebecca smiled back, but not without a slight roll of the eyes. Kyle’s answers, she seemed to realize, were always like that.

The rest of the evening was fairly productive. Rebecca finished settling in, and then the two aided Jenny and I in finishing up the decorations. With four of us working together, it went by fairly quickly, though, given the amount of wall space Jenny was intent on covering, I believe this may be more a statement about the good company than the actual speed at which we progressed.

The only small argument which erupted from that point forward occurred when Jenny pulled out her strangest set of decorations yet, a set of stuffed toy mascots for each of the schools in Big Ten. (Though I must admit, while I was taken aback at first, and the buckeye toy made me feel sick to my stomach, it was somewhat endearing to see her surrounded by and enamored of childhood toys.) She stood there with the toys on the floor, her Michigan slippers stomping firmly on the buckeye and the Spartan, while she cradled the wolverine in her arms, trying to decide where to put her collection. While she thought, Kyle bent down and grabbed the Hoosier (a smiley cartoon boy in an IU sweatshirt), and proceeded to proclaim that it deserved a position of great honor in the house. The lopsided argument which ensued consisted primarily of Kyle placing the stuffed toy everywhere from the dining room table to the kitchen countertop and the TV stand while Jenny, Rebecca, and I rejected each suggestion. Whether he still remembered his statement about giving the Hoosier “a place of honor” when he finally threw the toy on Rebecca’s bed, or whether he had merely given up at that point and had tossed it on the nearest soft object was debatable. Either way, Kyle’s final suggestion was met by three sets of raised eyebrows and one furious blush, which eventually elicited a cry that would be repeated all night of “I didn’t mean that!” and a second set of flushed cheeks.

It was nearly one in the morning by the time that we had finished, but before Kyle or I could leave to return to Cam and I’s apartment, he had to give Rebecca her gift. He had hidden the gift cleverly, sticking it casually in a kitchen cabinet that he had agreed to be responsible for. The gift was wrapped in shimmering blue wrapping paper and a yellow bow, though Kyle warned Rebecca as he sat next to her on the couch that the wrappings were deceiving.

Wondering what the gift could possibly be, Rebecca opened the gift faster than usual, accidentally ripping some of the wrapping paper that, according to Jenny, she was generally careful to keep intact. When she had opened it I waited for a reaction. So did Jenny. Most of all, so did Kyle.

She looked at it for a moment, then turned to Kyle and asked, “when am I supposed to wear this!?”

Kyle looked at her, at first somewhat in shock, then looking somewhat hurt. He is, for all who know him, sensitive for all he acts tough.

Then Rebecca added, with a smile she tried to hide, perhaps as an after though, or perhaps after further reflection, “It’s nice that you bought it for me, though.”

“I wanna’ see,” Jenny said, and she held up the Indiana #13 jersey.

“Well, you wear it whenever he plays a game that’s not against, Michigan,” Jenny said, bluntly, answering the question that Kyle probably should have answered himself.

“I’ll just feel weird just wearing it around campus…” Rebecca replied.

“Come on,” Jenny reasoned with her. “He’s your boyfriend. At least he didn’t buy you a pair of candy cane pants.”

Kyle looked over at Jenny for a second with a worried look on his face. I was positive at that moment what he had been considering for a Christmas gift.

“True,” Rebecca said, with a small laugh.

“So…” Kyle asked, looking at her nervously.

There was a moment of silence. 

“You don’t have to wear it, if you don’t want to…” Kyle began.

“Oh, she’ll just throw it on when she watches the Indiana games,” Jenny smiled, interrupting. “I mean,” she laughed slightly, “we’ll definitely be watching.”

“Yeah,” Rebecca agreed, and smiled. She looked back down at the jersey then back up at Kyle. “I like it,” she said finally.

I looked over to the side for a moment, thinking, before adding, “It reminds her of you, that’s for sure,” I added, feeling the need to say something. I suddenly heard a small cough from Jenny. That’s when I turned back towards the couch and realized that Kyle had been about to kiss Rebecca yet again. Oh yeah, we had promised to let them have one kiss, hadn’t we? “Alright, fine,” I said, and watched as they leaned towards each other once again. Likely just to spite me, Kyle clearly deepened the kiss and pulled Rebecca into his arms. Oh well, I thought looking over towards Jenny who also had no interest in this public display of affection. We could find our own way to get back at them.