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 Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 3:13 pm
What luck that his new best friend's birthday would come so soon! Things only seemed to get better and better since his move to Destiny City. He had great friends, a great school, and great things to do. Big cities were way better than tiny ones, hands down!
In all of his excitement, Pasha almost had run out of time to create the best birthday gift for her, but he'd pulled through. After many painstaking hours spent, said present was carefully wrapped and cradled in his arms, handled more delicately than it really deserved.
Even more thrilling than the present was how they were celebrating: another sleepover, yay! He sure hoped that there would be lots of cake for them to eat, because he wasn't sure what to do at a birthday party where there was no cake. And he didn't want to be awkward in his new best friend's house, because then she might not like him anymore. It would just be a terrible thing all together, so cake was pretty crucial.
The nearer he got to her house, the more impatient he became. He wanted to see Audrey's reaction to his present, and wanted hugs when he got there. It was lucky that he reached her house when he did - an implosion of sheer glee might have otherwise occurred. Without any hesitation, he hopped up her front steps and knocked on the door, rocking back and forth from his heels to his toes as he waited for someone to open it. It was almost like trick-or-treat, but way, way better, he thought.
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Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 3:27 pm
Hearing the doorbell, Audrey uncurled from her bed and all but threw herself face-first down the stairs to get to the door. After the day she had just experienced, only Pasha and his incredible cheeriness could save her birthday on a whole. This led to the humorous sight of the birthday girl careening and slipping across the wooden floor in her fuzzy socks.
With a loud BANG, she slammed into the front door, giggling slightly. She'd loved doing that ever since she was a little girl, and would continue to do it until she flew through the front door. Thankfully, she wasn't very big! Wrenching the door open, she stood there wearing her Meadowview High Mathletes hoodie and shockingly gold PJ pants. To grace it all, were the incredibly pink slipper socks. They'd been on sale that day.
"Pashaaaaa~~ I am so happy you're here, you have no idea!" Grabbing the boy by his arm she pulled him inside for the hug she'd been needing. He loved hugs, he wouldn't think it was weird!
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Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 3:58 pm
Hm, she must not have been waiting right at the door to answer it when he arrived. Well, not everyone could be as over-enthused as he was, he supposed. Patiently, he waited for what turned out to only be a few more seconds before he heard a crash against the door.
Oh god, oh god. There was a monster in ther-
"Audrey!" he squealed into her shoulder, hugging her tight. Much better than a monster by far. When he finally broke away, he beamed up at her, holding the present out for her to take (and hopefully open at lightning speed). If she shook it, and he almost hoped it would happen, she'd hear that there were multiple components to the gift - or it was something that needed to be assembled.
"I really hope you like it! I worked really hard to make them perfect. 'cause you're my best friend and everything."
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Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 4:37 pm
Presents? Oh yeah! She'd gotten an amazing new monitor (almost 30 inches!) to mount on her wall from her parents, but she'd never really gotten anything else before! Gleefully, she turned the package over in her hands, inspecting it carefully. The paper was handmade, and covered liberally with glitter and glue and shiny sequins. All in all, it was quite perfectly Pasha.
Beaming at him in delight, she carefully tore only part of the paper, so that she could keep it hidden somewhere very deep in her room. Somewhere nobody would see it and tell Nealite about it. Inside were even more colors, in the shape of what initial ideas suggested a frame. Plopping down on the stairs, she pulled it right out, and absolutely stared.
It was the gaudiest, tackiest, most ostentatious thing she had ever seen. Neons everywhere, not a single matching color! Audrey absolutely loved it. For nestled inside the frame was a picture that they'd taken on their ice-cream outing, faces mashed together. Proclaimed at the top were big letters: BFF. Best Friends Forever!
For the third time that day, tears flooded her eyes. But these tears were absolutely as happy as Audrey could possibly be, and she threw herself at the smaller boy for more hugs. "Pasha, you really are the best!" Sniffling and bending to pick up the paper that had dropped when she hopped up, a flash of silver caught her eye. It was a delicate chain, to which a small homemade potion bottle was affixed.
Smiling still, though somewhat rueful, she immediately put it on. "Now I won't have to worry about being sick or anything! They're the best presents ever! Thank you so much!" Pasha really was the best person to have around when you needed cheering up, that was for sure!
"Want to show mom? I think she's making dinner or something. Cake's in there too!"
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Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 5:32 pm
Reverting to wide-eyed rainbow owl form, Pasha chewed his lower lip as he sat in complete silence and watched her open her gifts. First came the framed cell phone picture (which was also his mobile background); his heart sank a little when she looked like she was about to cry. Maybe he should have bought her something fancy for her computer after all. He worried over it until she launched into more hugs, turning his doubt into giddy laughter. She really liked it!
"You're even more the best," he insisted, waiting for her to discover the second part. There were fifteen and a half prototypes of jewelry that he'd gone through before deciding on the simple health potion bottle. Somehow, it seemed most relevant, considering how she seemed so unhappy that first day they met. The potion itself was just colored water in a bottle, but he hoped that it might really have some magical healing powers. Or at least maybe it'd make her feel better if she wore it and remembered happy times.
"Yeah! I have to get hugs from her, too. Because I said I owed her more last time, remember?" Oh, he'd almost forgotten the cake! After all of that worrying. "Cake?! What flavor? Ooh, it has icing, right?"
There was no time to waste! He tugged on her arm, his tiny form pulling her only slightly, probably just because she was wearing socks.
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Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 8:07 pm
Her mom was going to have a cow, it'd be absolutely fantastic! The somewhat dreamy Kansas-bred woman was almost never paying attention to the world around her, so for adorable little Pavel to go barreling into her for hugs was almost always startling and unsettling for her. Audrey found it personally hilarious.
Slipping and sliding gleefully along, the new potion bouncing on her collarbone, the birthday girl hooted her way into the kitchen using her friend like a tugboat, towing her along behind. The socks were especially washed and polished to slide across the floor as easily as possible. Audrey usually had a death wish where the floor was concerned.
"It's awesome cake!" Sliding, she caught herself on the counter and nearly fell squarely on her bottom, giggling. Right now, she was more akin to a seven year old than a seventeen year old, but she didn't care. Birthdays were for fun! "It's got the confetti sprinkles inside and then lots of chocolate on top. I love chocolate."
Spotting a large manila envelope on the counter with her name, she picked up an idly eyed it. When she saw the name at the top, her expression turned quizzical. "What the heck is Barren Pines College?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:50 am
He did, of course, release her when they got into the kitchen to go launch himself directly into a (theoretically) big hug, whether he mother was ready for it or not. When he finally released the probably terrified woman, he immediately turned his attention back to Audrey - he liked her mom too, of course, but she took priority. Because she was the best. And it was also her birthday.
"Confetti and chocolate! Yum!" He bounced in place again, growing impatient as he tried to place just where the cake was hiding in the kitchen. They would need to light candles, sing happy birthday, have Audrey blow out said candles, and then cut slices. All at lightning speed, because his tummy was beginning to growl.
But when she picked up the manila envelope, his big smile faded a little. A college? He was curious, but something seemed off. "Umm, I dunno! I haven't ever heard of it...maybe it's somewhere really far away or something?" Only one way to find out. "Open it, open it, come on!"
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 12:12 pm
Giggling at his owl eyes searching in vain for said cake, Audrey shook her head. "Dinner first, cake later! Mom's making her best spaghetti, which is my favorite, of course!" Twirling and slip-sliding over to the table, she plopped heavily into a chair. Had she been any chubbier, she might have actually snapped the poor old furniture in two. Thankfully, she was quite tiny!
Wedging her pinkie into the crisp manila flap, she jerked and it opened with a tearing sound. This continued down the line until she could pull out the mass of papers within, the first being impressive letterhead with her name on. Grinning at being so very important, Audrey read off the sheet.
"Dear Miss Collins, we at Barren Pines College have always been dedicated to the truly gifted of Destiny City and it surrounding area. Having noted your excellence in mathematics, we would like to offer you a place in our school for the new semester starting immediately. Transfer has already been arranged, and awaits only your admission paperwork to finish the process."
The smile that had lit her face had dimmed somewhat, but still remained at the compliments. At least someone had recognized she was gifted! Audrey'd known for awhile now. Charonite sometimes seemed to remember, but she wasn't going to think about them tonight!
Looking up at her best friend, she shrugged and put it down. "I guess they want me to change schools? Sounds like a nice place. Boarding school, paying for everything. Dunno." Awkwardly, she tried to gauge his reaction. Talk about bad timing!
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:21 pm
Of course there would be dinner first. Sometimes Pasha was so silly. His mom frequently was too busy to pay attention to his meal components, so it was a good thing he at least had "real food" somewhere. He put his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands, watching her with the most neutral expression he could muster. He was pretty sure he knew what this would all mean, but maybe it wasn't anything definite yet.
"How fancy!" he remarked, chewing on his lip. Was this how his best friend felt, when he'd announced that he was moving away to an interesting new school with interesting new people? Pasha knew that it was certainly nothing personal, and it was obvious that this college had sought Audrey out rather than vice versa. But even if she were the one who wanted to transfer, he couldn't blame her for that. He knew she excelled with all of the crazy numbers, and that was a pretty important skill.
All that aside, he was her best friend. He was her friend that was supposed to stick with her through everything, even if it wasn't the most pleasant. And there were still phonecalls and IMs. Her expression told him that she wasn't really sure about this, and wasn't really sure what he would think, and he was going to have to fix that. Hastily.
He flung his arms around her in a hug as big as the one she'd given him when he arrived, crawling into her lap so he wouldn't topple the chair. "I'm so happy for you! You're gonna do so great! And everyone will envy your awesome math skills, and they'll all want to be your best friend!" He pulled back in a moment of ultimate seriousness. "But you already have one of those, okay?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 6:07 pm
"PFF! I didn't have a best friend before you, and I won't have one after." That was absolutely, one-hundred percent absolutely true. "Besides, it can't be that far away from town, I'm pretty sure I've heard of it before." Hadn't she? The more she stared at the envelope, a better vision she got in her head of this shiny new, amazing campus. Shrugging it off, she tossed the envelope back on the counter, and beamed at both Pasha and her mom.
"Bad things later, good things now! C'mon mom, we gotta get through the pasta so I can get the cake and the hats, and all the other cool things I wanna do!" She was sure that she had a list. Audrey had downloaded one off the internet earlier today, just in case! Hair braiding, nail painting, truth or dare! Could you do truth or dare with two people?
Well, she was going to find out!
Digging into the steaming bowl placed in front of her, Audrey almost regressed to the bad manners of childhood, and had to swallow before she sprayed food everywhere while talking. "Okay! What do you want to do first after cake? We can go upstairs and watch a movie or we can do like makeover stuff. Do you know how to braid hair?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 6:40 pm
Part of Pasha wished that he could say the same about his history of best friendships, but he couldn't. Instead, he just didn't say anything at all - maybe if he just continued to mention his best friend back home in an entirely offhanded manner, she would think she was the only one.
He could have two as long as they were never in the same place at the same time, right? He had the feeling that Audrey might be okay with this, but Phineas was as envious as the color green. Which was funny, because he really liked blue.
"It probably isn't! And I bet they'll let us visit and stuff. I mean, they'd have to, right? Otherwise it's like kidnapping or something." As she mentioned that she was relatively sure that she'd heard of it before, he tried hard to remember ever hearing about the place. Maybe a couple of times, before he'd moved here...?
"Okay, okay! I'll eat as fast as I can without getting a tummyache!" He ate his spaghetti like any five-year-old would, clumsily wrapping the noodles around the fork and accidentally putting too much in his mouth at once. It was a good thing that there were only BFFs here. "I know how to braid hair! And put in ribbons. And do eyeliner, and paint nails. My friend back home showed me, 'cause he loved doing all of that stuff. Can we do that next, can we? And then we can be all pretty when we watch the movies, like truly fancy people!"
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