emmett woodhouse has big plans. (emmettapproved) wrote in blackpoint, @ 2014-08-03 02:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | emmett woodhouse, lex knightley |
who Lex Knightley and Emmett Woodhouse
what Clearing the air a little.
when Fridayish.
where Leaving Highbury and out on the streets of SF.
status Complete!
If there was one thing that Alexandra Knightley was very good at, it was pushing her problems down so far in the back of her mind that when they finally resurfaced, it was such a genuine shock that she had a tendency to back into the closest object and fall over. Real smooth like. Like a freaking gazelle. So despite her reservations about what was going on in the show and how it affected her (it didn’t really, but it still did), she managed to purchase a pair of suspenders for her best friend before leaving for the great outdoors.
Lex couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so spacy when she was actually comfortable with where she was and her company alongside her. Everyone had learned by the second day of the trip that she was completely useless unless Emmett was texting her to make sure that she hadn’t fallen off a cliff. It didn’t click, not then. It didn’t click when her friend Shawn went in for the smooch on Sunday night as she departed for bed. Hell, it didn’t even click when she thought about how excited she was to get back home and to get back to work. Of course, it wasn’t as if she disliked what she did. She reveled in it, but there was something more; something underneath the surface that was threatening to come up.
And to that, she said, as if.
No. The truth only hit Lex Knightley when she walked into the offices of Emma Approved, coffee in hand and spotted her best friend nose deep in his iPad. She stumbled backwards into receptionist’s desk, letting out a surprised gasp as she did. Oh, no. Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no, she thought to herself frantically, managing to compose herself just enough to smile and wave as she practically bolted into her office. This couldn’t be happening.
That had been three agonizing days ago, and Lex had barely uttered a word since. So at the end of the work day on Friday, she dragged herself out to the reception area, taking a seat in Mariah’s seat until Emmett finally retreated from whatever he was doing. She chewed on her lip, a nervous tick that still came into play, and had almost got up and just left when she saw his silhouette on the wall. “Hey.”
Emmett found it a lot easier to detach from the show, perhaps even easier than he ought to have. He wasn’t the female version in physicality, sure, but he also hadn’t gotten far enough in his life to become her in a business sense either. So while he knew that it was likely that his path followed hers as depicted, purely by nature of being the genderswapped version of her, he didn’t have trouble viewing it purely as a weird source of intriguing entertainment. Of course, that likely was a part of his overwhelming stubbornness coming into play as well. He couldn’t view himself as a trainwreck, and the one on the screen certainly was one. Even the one he worked for here in San Francisco had her shit far more together.
So really, it was fairly easy to view it from a distance.
Still, he didn’t like seeing that he and the male Lex had gotten so distanced. He didn’t understand why the show’s Alex would stay gone so long, especially when show Emma needed him and was trying to be better. It made his heart hurt in a way that he really didn’t like.
Having Lex gone for the weekend was strange, because he was used to having her around to pick on but crash with. He didn’t really do anything while she was away, his productivity always lacking a little without her around, and he was glad that she was coming back when she did so.
He’d looked up at the sound of her gasp on the morning of her return, his eyebrows lifting in a half-teasing, half-questioning sort of way, and he returned the wave in the same way as he watched her tear off into her office.
And then three days had passed.
It was so weird, and he didn’t know what to make of it. When he came out of his office on that last day, it was to leave for the evening, a few hours after he was meant to. At the sound of her voice, he moved in her direction. “There you are, you weirdo. Where have you been?”
She had agreed to the trip that would’ve taken her away just as she predicted when shit would have hit the fan. She didn’t want to see Emmett, or Emma, or Alex at all when she knew how much it had been hurting them on the screen. The older, genderswapped version of herself and Emmett might have never had to go through whatever the crap was on the screen; they very well may have been able to ignore what was obviously in the past for them, but Alex couldn’t. She had this annoying, nagging feeling in her heart that kept reminding her that this could very well be her future. She didn’t want to be annoyed with Emmett; rationally, she knew that Emmett had absolutely nothing to do with what she had seen on the screen, but her heart didn’t want to listen. Her compartmentalization was failing her, and it was the absolute worst feeling.
“Iiiiii’ve been working, where’ve you been?” she retorted, adjusting her bag on her shoulder as she finally stood up. Lex checked her watch, surprised when its face told her it had been almost an hour since she had sat down. Of course, she was off the clock, but this week had taken its toll on her in more ways than one and now she was apparently losing track of time? It was such an un-Lex like thing for her to do, and it only was magnified the longer she stood in the presence of Emmett. “I missed more than I thought when I took those days off,” she explained. “And as we both know the Statute of Emmettations clearly states that I’m permitted to be left to be productive after any sort of vacation.”
There was a part of Emmett, one that he was truly working to ignore, that had a feeling that Alex was upset with him. At least mildly irritated. He knew, of course, that such a feeling would’ve been irrational and unfair, since he truly hadn’t done what was on the show. It was unsettling, though. He didn’t like when they weren’t on normal footing, honestly. Alex was so important to him, in spite of what he may have said, and he didn’t like the idea that Alex could be upset with him.
“Also working, but not like a little squirrel person,” he responded, lifting an eyebrow. He watched her stand, noticing how strange all of this behavior was for her, and it made him feel even more anxious. “The Statute of Emmettations is more of a guideline than a rule.”
So maybe part of the reason that she’d been ignoring him was that she didn’t want to let him know how much hurt she was feeling. It looked like that may have backfired, if the look on his face had anything to say about it. Oops. He was clearly unsettled, and she was, too. Lex wasn’t used to being so hopelessly awkward around Emmett. Other people, sure, she could handle being a little offbeat. But this was her best friend. She took baths with him when they were little.
“Hey, it’s a guideline that you followed. That makes it all the more cemented as a rule, don’t you think?” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, the curls that she had done that morning still miraculously retaining their shape. “And I don’t want to be a squirrel unless I’m one of the flying variety.” She tilted her head towards the exit of the office, her eyebrow raised as an invitation. “All the other ones are lame.”
Emmett knew her much, much too well and had known her for far too long not to catch on that there was something up with her. And he knew that it had to do with him. One of the last things she’d said to him was that she wasn’t mad at him, right? It didn’t take much to put together that he was the reason she was acting this way.
“Nope. I was just following it for your benefit because you were being a weirdo,” he responded, shrugging. “You could totally be a flying squirrel. I’d buy it.” He moved towards the door with her, holding it so she could go through. “So are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
“It’s because of the hair, isn’t it? Totally the right color for the majesty of the flying squirrel.” She shrugged in response to his question, knowing it was coming, and that it would have been sooner rather than later. She was half-surprised he didn’t say it the moment he saw her sitting in that chair.
But Lex wasn’t good at deflecting from questions; not when it was from someone who knew her better than she knew herself. “It’s been a weird week,” she finally said. “Shawn was touchy-feely on the camping trip and Lena was asking weird questions and I don’t know, I’m just glad that it’s over, I guess.” It wasn’t an outright lie, because those things had been bothering her to the point of distraction. It didn’t help that Lena’s prevalent question had her relationship with Emmett in it.
Emmett looked at her incredulously, rolling his eyes but grinning. “You total dork,” he said, shaking his head. “The majesty of a flying squirrel.” He knew that her skill at deflecting questions was about as good his was, so he knew not to really expect all that much. “It has been,” he agreed, and he observed her when she continued, a little more uneasy at what she described. “Touchy-feely how? Did you punch him?” he said.
She grinned in return, holding her hands up in a well, what do you want from me? kind of way that was so typical for her, she almost felt normal. “You can’t handle all this,” she laughed, a rogue elbow nudging him in the side.
It felt uncomfortable to discuss, but she sort of wanted to talk about it, too. “Like, trying to help me with my gear or holding my hand for a while when helping me over the edge of the cliffs. And I guess me not saying anything was an encouragement because he went in for the kiss Sunday and was all offended when I jerked away. He’s nice and all, but I’m not interested. He got the hint after that.” She ran her hand through her hair, sighing. “It was just off-putting.”
“I’m not so sure anyone could. So much dork, so little time,” he responded, wincing at the rogue elbow and offering a pout in response as he reached to rub at his side. He was uncomfortable with the thought of someone getting touchy-feely with her as well, and he watched her with a concerned expression when she explained. “He didn’t try anything more after you pulled away?” he asked to clarify. “I’m sorry. Men are stupid and do stupid things.”
She stuck out her tongue at him, his words holding no malice. After all, Lex was pretty sure that Emmett really believed her name was ‘Dork’ at this point. “Oh, my god, you’re such a baby. That didn’t hurt.”
Offering a shake of her head at his question, Alex tried to move on from the topic, but doubted it would really shake that easily. Conversations with Emmett tended to branch into anything and everything given time. “He didn’t try to do anything; just ranted to Lena about how the intel she gave him was wrong. Which is stupid, because he could have just asked me instead of being a 10 year old on the playground about it. Anyway. I’m hungry. You hungry?”
It was their love language, Emmett always teasingly said. “So did. You have bony bird elbows. It’s like they’re actually made of daggers. Bony, bony daggers.”
Emmett wasn’t ready to let this go until he had a definite answer as to whether or not this jerk really needed to be punched or not. “Like I said, men are stupid. The ‘intel’ was none of his business anyway. Your friends suck,” he said, making a face. He nodded, shrugging. “I could eat. What do you want?”
“So I’m a magnificent flying squirrel with some bird in my wings. I sound terrifying.” She shook her head as she smiled, ridiculous as it was. “I don’t know why, I eat like 80 cheeseburgers a week.”
She could tell that he was still reluctant to let it go, and in uncharacteristic Lex fashion, she was going to be super feminine instead of acting like a dude. “Hey,” she said gently, placing her hand on his arm briefly, “I’m fine. He doesn’t need to be punched.” With yet another shrug, Lex continued walking, her eyes moving upwards to the street filled with restaurants. “I won’t be going camping with them again, that’s for sure,” she conceded. “Besides I missed everyone here. It’s not fun being away when you don’t have the people you love with you. Italian or Japanese? I could go for anything, seriously.”
“You’re horrific, it’s true,” Emmett responded. “And you eat a hella ton of cheeseburgers, but still. Very bony. So, so bony.”
It wasn’t that he was reluctant to let it go on principle, but rather that he just wanted to be sure that she was okay. It was in moments like these that even more of his genuine love for her came out. When she softened and reassured him, he finally nodded. “Alright. No punching.” He was glad that she mentioned not camping with them again, because he’d have said the same. “You missed me, you mean,” he corrected. “Japanese.”
“Can’t stop, won’t stop,” she sang out, jabbing her elbows in front of her in a show that was both equal parts funny and embarrassing. “At least I’ve got the ultimate defensive weapon. Pow, pow!”
At his nod, she felt part of the burden from the last few days finally ease. It felt like she could finally breathe again, and that was an incredible feeling when all she had done the past week was wallow and avoid any and all emotions that weren’t on a very small spectrum. “Hell, no. You missed me. You’re lost without me, Woodhouse.” Because he was, and so was she, even if neither of them liked to admit it. “Awesome, Alex told me about this new place two blocks over. I can dig it.”
Emmett gave her his patented Look, which was half-judgement and mostly amused. She was ridiculous, but he loved her anyway. It was part of her charm. He was used to it by now. He felt that tension start to ease as well as the conversation shifted, but it wasn’t completely gone, and he figured that had to do with the show. “If that’s what makes you feel better, sugarplum,” he said, rolling his eyes. It was all for show, though, because he really was lost without her too. “You can dig it? Okay, weird 70s Alex.”
The Look was met with one of her own, the one that was so easily used that it became an extension of her vocabulary. She rolled her shoulders back as the tension finally -finally- dissipated and laughed, a real one that came right from the pit of her stomach. “I feel great, lovebug,” she teased. Her feelings for Emmett were complicated in that she didn’t want to damage anything that she had. He was her best friend and that was all that mattered at the end of the day. As long as he stopped trying to set her up, they would be fine.
“Hey, you. You’ll be feeling groovy in no time.”
“So much weird in such a small form,” he said, sighing and shaking his head as though she were some intricate scientific marvel. “I don’t know how you function. I barely function just for being around you for so long. It’s weird by proxy.” He smiled though, after a moment longer of the playful expression. He was relieved that the tension had gone, glad that they seemed to be back on solid ground.
With her boxes for compartmentalizing firmly back in place, Alex was ready to push those feelings deep into the recesses of her mind and leave it all in her head while she spent time with her, as she called him, platonic soulmate. “Excuse you, all this weird is going to get us free alcohol. You drinkin my sake, kimosabe? Because you sure as hell will be."
“I’ll believe it when I see it, weirdo,” he responded, grinning, lifting his eyebrows. “I’m not sure that weird gets free drinks, but you seem pretty cocky, and I accept free things.” He nudged her. “Onward to Japanese, little dork.”