Post by HailStorm on Oct 14, 2003 13:27:27 GMT -5
As promised: a silly, short stand-alone ficlet in which Josie is given some much needed advice about the Vaughn/Lucas conundrum. Nothing in this fic should be taken serioulsy, especially not if you're religious. This isn't realism, people ;D. Feel free to leave any feedback or questions in this thread, there won't be a part 2 or anything.
There are lots of things I don’t like. Tons. I don’t like cheerleaders. I don’t like cats. And I don’t like being woken up in the middle of the night by strange glows. I didn’t know that until very recently - last night, actually - never having been subjected to that particular irritant. At first I kept my eyes closed, afraid it was morning coming sooner than I’d expected. But the lack of Corrine bugging me to get up told me that this was not the case. I was more than a little creeped out. I was starting to formulate Lucas-style theories about aliens studying us while we sleep. But, me being me and me being curious, I couldn’t resist opening my eyes and seeing for myself. So that’s what I did.
As soon as I opened my eyes, the glow faded a little, enough for me to look into it without my eyes hurting, anyway. The thing that was giving out the light looked sort of human shaped. The more I looked, the more the glow faded and the clearer it became that I was actually looking at some sort of weird glowing man. Obviously I was… a bit upset at seeing a man in my room in the middle of the night. Especially a freaky glowy man who was probably some sort of alien or even a weird future-person who’d come through the wormhole to get me… When I realised that I really was thinking like Lucas I remembered that if it was the middle of the night then this was probably a dream. Nothing real about it at all. Now that was a relief.
“Ah, you’re awake then.” The man, who incidentally looked vaguely like he might be related to Marshall, stated bluntly. His voice was… wasn’t normal. Well, it was but there just seemed to be more of it. It wasn’t loud or deep or anything in particular, just more. I don’t know how to describe it. Obviously I took too long trying to explain this to myself because he gave me the sort of look Corrine gives me when I’m doing my homework on the last minute.
“Hello? Anybody home?”
“Who are you? What do you want?” Well done, Josie. He didn’t expect you to say that…
”I am…” he paused for effect, ”Your Guardian Angel!”
“Yeah, right. And I’m Marie Curie. Get out!”
”I can prove it, you know.” he said, sulkily patting his pockets, looking for something. Well, he didn’t look like an angel to me. What kind of angel wears normal clothes? Surely he should be in some sort of robes. And shouldn’t he have a halo? And wings? Okay, so being an angel would explain the glow…
”Aha! Here!” He showed me this piece of old paper or parchment. It wasn’t in
English or any language I’ve seen before. But somehow, I managed to get the gist of it. It was a sort of ID. It had his picture. And mine. It said that I had been placed under his supervision and care and that he had to keep me from any ‘great evil’ and dispense advice in times of need. Huh. Where had he been?
“Right. Fine. So you’re my guardian angel. A great job you’re doing of it too. Now if you’d care to explain why you’ve never helped me out in the past and why you’re here now…”
”I’m here to dispense advice. You need it, kiddo.” I didn’t like his tone. Who was he to be familiar with me? And he hadn’t answered my question.
“I’ve needed advice in the past. You weren’t there then. And I don’t need any advice now. I’m fine.”
”But I was there Josie. I’ve been looking after you all your life; I just haven’t spoken to you. In the past you’ve never needed my advice. All angels, Josie, have special fields as it were. Some give advice on finance, some on intellectual or inspirational matters. My speciality just so happens to be, ahem, affairs of the heart.” Oh no. I didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or mad or… or… Right then, I was mad.
“I don’t need your ‘advice’. I’m fine. I’ll work it out myself.”
”Oh, I know you will, kiddo. I’m just here to give you a little guidance. Talk through the possibilities etcetera, etcetera, blah blah blah.” Geeze, this guy was smug.”
“But I don’t want…”
“So let me see…” he cut me off! Right in the middle of a sentence. I wondered if I’d be eternally punished for strangling an angel. ”You’re torn between two… suitors (is that the word you people use?) and are not sure which of the pair you should choose You don’t know which one, if either, is the true object of your affection. Am I right?”
Well he wasn’t wrong…
”Do you want to tell me what happened? In your own words?” he was starting to remind me of the annoying councillor we had in one of my old schools. One who woke up with a bucket full of spiders in his bed…
“Well, I have these two… friends, right? Vaughn and Lucas.” He nodded, he knew this already, “And… for quite a while now I’ve kind of… sort of… liked Vaughn. In that way, you know? But I didn’t really tell anybody. I didn’t even really tell myself… But then there was this scene thing I had to do in Drama, with Lucas. From Romeo and Juliette…”
“Ah, yes, I got into quite a bit of trouble over that little incident…”
“You got into trouble because I acted out a scene from a play?”
“No, I got into trouble over the double suicide of two teenagers in Verona.” I chose to ignore any more interruptions.
“And we were supposed to do this kiss. But I didn’t want to. I mean, he’s Lucas! I just didn’t… I just couldn’t imagine… Lucas… But then he and Vaughn got their minds switched around. So Vaughn was Lucas and Lucas was Vaughn and things started to get… confusing. Well, Vaughn’s mind being inside Lucas’s body made me, well, not mind… okay, want to do the kiss. But when I did… it was weird. Like kissing both of them. But I still like Lucas, I think, even though they’re back in their own bodies. And I still have feelings for Vaughn.”
”Yes, I see, I see…” He was making notes in a clipboard, “Well, which do you think you like the most? Purely by looks alone?”
“Well Vaughn is gorgeous. Anyone would tell you that. But Lucas, now that I’ve kissed him, he’s also kind of cute. He has nice eyes… But then again, so does Vaughn.”
”So they’re evenly matched?”
“No! Yes! No! Arrrrgggghhh!”
”Appearances are immaterial. Don’t worry about it, kid. Who do you have a better relationship with?”
“Ummmm. Well Vaughn and I argue a lot. But we have so much in common. I mean, he knows how it feels to grow up with only one parent. With only one bad parent. And we have fun, sometimes. But I have fun with Lucas too. You see how difficult this is?” He tried to look sympathetic. But he still looked smug, stupid angel, thinks he has all the answers.
”Do you want my professional opinion?” Well, duh.
“That’s why you’re here.”
”Join a Convent. If you want an easy life then you’re looking in the wrong place. Neither of these young men is going to make things easy for you.”
“Great. That helps.”
”However, the lesser of the two evils is probably Vaughn. Lucas, as I’m sure you know is just a stubborn, obsessive and bloody-minded as you, however well he hides it. If you chose him then you’d constantly be locked in battle that neither of you would win. You’d come out of the relationship jaded, cynical and you’d have lost a very good friend. If you choose Vaughn, there will be trouble. There will be trouble with his father. There will be trouble with that abhorrent little wench (pardon my language, please) Madison. There will be trouble with jealousy, trouble with lying and trouble expressing strong feelings. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And I’m quite sure that it is not a train.”
“I still don’t know…”
”You will, in time.” he smiled, ”Now go back to sleep. And tell your roommate that she snores…”
There are lots of things I don’t like. Tons. I don’t like cheerleaders. I don’t like cats. And I don’t like being woken up in the middle of the night by strange glows. I didn’t know that until very recently - last night, actually - never having been subjected to that particular irritant. At first I kept my eyes closed, afraid it was morning coming sooner than I’d expected. But the lack of Corrine bugging me to get up told me that this was not the case. I was more than a little creeped out. I was starting to formulate Lucas-style theories about aliens studying us while we sleep. But, me being me and me being curious, I couldn’t resist opening my eyes and seeing for myself. So that’s what I did.
As soon as I opened my eyes, the glow faded a little, enough for me to look into it without my eyes hurting, anyway. The thing that was giving out the light looked sort of human shaped. The more I looked, the more the glow faded and the clearer it became that I was actually looking at some sort of weird glowing man. Obviously I was… a bit upset at seeing a man in my room in the middle of the night. Especially a freaky glowy man who was probably some sort of alien or even a weird future-person who’d come through the wormhole to get me… When I realised that I really was thinking like Lucas I remembered that if it was the middle of the night then this was probably a dream. Nothing real about it at all. Now that was a relief.
“Ah, you’re awake then.” The man, who incidentally looked vaguely like he might be related to Marshall, stated bluntly. His voice was… wasn’t normal. Well, it was but there just seemed to be more of it. It wasn’t loud or deep or anything in particular, just more. I don’t know how to describe it. Obviously I took too long trying to explain this to myself because he gave me the sort of look Corrine gives me when I’m doing my homework on the last minute.
“Hello? Anybody home?”
“Who are you? What do you want?” Well done, Josie. He didn’t expect you to say that…
”I am…” he paused for effect, ”Your Guardian Angel!”
“Yeah, right. And I’m Marie Curie. Get out!”
”I can prove it, you know.” he said, sulkily patting his pockets, looking for something. Well, he didn’t look like an angel to me. What kind of angel wears normal clothes? Surely he should be in some sort of robes. And shouldn’t he have a halo? And wings? Okay, so being an angel would explain the glow…
”Aha! Here!” He showed me this piece of old paper or parchment. It wasn’t in
English or any language I’ve seen before. But somehow, I managed to get the gist of it. It was a sort of ID. It had his picture. And mine. It said that I had been placed under his supervision and care and that he had to keep me from any ‘great evil’ and dispense advice in times of need. Huh. Where had he been?
“Right. Fine. So you’re my guardian angel. A great job you’re doing of it too. Now if you’d care to explain why you’ve never helped me out in the past and why you’re here now…”
”I’m here to dispense advice. You need it, kiddo.” I didn’t like his tone. Who was he to be familiar with me? And he hadn’t answered my question.
“I’ve needed advice in the past. You weren’t there then. And I don’t need any advice now. I’m fine.”
”But I was there Josie. I’ve been looking after you all your life; I just haven’t spoken to you. In the past you’ve never needed my advice. All angels, Josie, have special fields as it were. Some give advice on finance, some on intellectual or inspirational matters. My speciality just so happens to be, ahem, affairs of the heart.” Oh no. I didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or mad or… or… Right then, I was mad.
“I don’t need your ‘advice’. I’m fine. I’ll work it out myself.”
”Oh, I know you will, kiddo. I’m just here to give you a little guidance. Talk through the possibilities etcetera, etcetera, blah blah blah.” Geeze, this guy was smug.”
“But I don’t want…”
“So let me see…” he cut me off! Right in the middle of a sentence. I wondered if I’d be eternally punished for strangling an angel. ”You’re torn between two… suitors (is that the word you people use?) and are not sure which of the pair you should choose You don’t know which one, if either, is the true object of your affection. Am I right?”
Well he wasn’t wrong…
”Do you want to tell me what happened? In your own words?” he was starting to remind me of the annoying councillor we had in one of my old schools. One who woke up with a bucket full of spiders in his bed…
“Well, I have these two… friends, right? Vaughn and Lucas.” He nodded, he knew this already, “And… for quite a while now I’ve kind of… sort of… liked Vaughn. In that way, you know? But I didn’t really tell anybody. I didn’t even really tell myself… But then there was this scene thing I had to do in Drama, with Lucas. From Romeo and Juliette…”
“Ah, yes, I got into quite a bit of trouble over that little incident…”
“You got into trouble because I acted out a scene from a play?”
“No, I got into trouble over the double suicide of two teenagers in Verona.” I chose to ignore any more interruptions.
“And we were supposed to do this kiss. But I didn’t want to. I mean, he’s Lucas! I just didn’t… I just couldn’t imagine… Lucas… But then he and Vaughn got their minds switched around. So Vaughn was Lucas and Lucas was Vaughn and things started to get… confusing. Well, Vaughn’s mind being inside Lucas’s body made me, well, not mind… okay, want to do the kiss. But when I did… it was weird. Like kissing both of them. But I still like Lucas, I think, even though they’re back in their own bodies. And I still have feelings for Vaughn.”
”Yes, I see, I see…” He was making notes in a clipboard, “Well, which do you think you like the most? Purely by looks alone?”
“Well Vaughn is gorgeous. Anyone would tell you that. But Lucas, now that I’ve kissed him, he’s also kind of cute. He has nice eyes… But then again, so does Vaughn.”
”So they’re evenly matched?”
“No! Yes! No! Arrrrgggghhh!”
”Appearances are immaterial. Don’t worry about it, kid. Who do you have a better relationship with?”
“Ummmm. Well Vaughn and I argue a lot. But we have so much in common. I mean, he knows how it feels to grow up with only one parent. With only one bad parent. And we have fun, sometimes. But I have fun with Lucas too. You see how difficult this is?” He tried to look sympathetic. But he still looked smug, stupid angel, thinks he has all the answers.
”Do you want my professional opinion?” Well, duh.
“That’s why you’re here.”
”Join a Convent. If you want an easy life then you’re looking in the wrong place. Neither of these young men is going to make things easy for you.”
“Great. That helps.”
”However, the lesser of the two evils is probably Vaughn. Lucas, as I’m sure you know is just a stubborn, obsessive and bloody-minded as you, however well he hides it. If you chose him then you’d constantly be locked in battle that neither of you would win. You’d come out of the relationship jaded, cynical and you’d have lost a very good friend. If you choose Vaughn, there will be trouble. There will be trouble with his father. There will be trouble with that abhorrent little wench (pardon my language, please) Madison. There will be trouble with jealousy, trouble with lying and trouble expressing strong feelings. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And I’m quite sure that it is not a train.”
“I still don’t know…”
”You will, in time.” he smiled, ”Now go back to sleep. And tell your roommate that she snores…”
The End
