WHO: Michelle Blanchard and Gregory Marple WHEN: Christmas holidays, December 1979 WHERE: Main Street SUMMARY: Gregory runs into his friend Michelle and finds out that she’s in love WARNINGS: There’s quite a bit of singing.
Michelle put on her snow hat and - “Bye Mom!” - walked out of Blanchard Drug. It was dark outside, but Christmas lights brought a glow to Fall City that was part of the Holiday’s magic. It felt good to be out and breathe in the crisp air, after working hours at the very busy drugstore to help her parents. Heading down the sidewalk, Michelle, true to herself, began to sing without even realising it. Not a Christmas carol, no! Sick of the omnipresent Christmas music at the pharmacy, the sixteen year old girl had set up a radio in the backstore to play her own mix tapes. “If you change your mind, I'm the first in line. Honey I'm still free. Take a chance on me…” she sang, the ABBA tube that was on before she left.
“That's pretty good.” Gregory smiled. He had stepped outside Carson's, bag in hand to being the walk back home. It was cold and a bit of a trek in the snow but honestly he didn't mind all that much. The crunch of the snow, the chill to the air staved off by a quick pace. There were worse walks. “I could probably bring up the baseline for you.”
Surprised to be caught singing, Michelle turned to see who was talking. “Gregory!” she called out, happy to see the older boy. “It’s good to see you. It’s been so long,” she said with a large smile. “When did you get back?” She hadn’t seen him since summer, before he left for college. He must be back to visit his family over the holidays.
“Yeah, a few months.” He chuckled easily. Familiar faces, old stomping grounds, there was a comfort to that after having been in what felt like a big city to him. He caught up to walk alongside Michelle for now. “Just yesterday though. Picking up some things for ma for dinner. Very exciting stuff.”
“It’s nice of you to help her out,” Michelle said, happy that Gregory walked alongside her. She’d have stopped to have a chat with him, but in this weather, it made more sense to talk as you walked. It was a good thing that he needed to go in the same direction. “How do you like college life? Does it live up to expectation?”
“Oh, you know, it's all sex, drugs, and rock and roll.” He smiled bright and gleaming even in the snow. The chill left his cheeks feeling bright. “Or homework, studying, and no sleep. Whichever sounds more exciting.”
His answer brought a laugh to Michelle’s lips. “I’ll assume it’s somewhere in-between, then,” she said, before pulling on her snow hat to better cover her ears from the cold. “Weather must be much nicer in California,” she added, wondering how it was to live somewhere you never needed a snow hat. “You must not have missed this kind of weather!”
“Somewhere.” He flashed a charming grin. His college life was perhaps not as exciting as some but it certainly wasn't boring. “It's definitely very sunny.” His nod followed along. “But sometimes you just want a nice snow. It seems almost magical. Until you have to shovel.”
“Hum.” Michelle raised a dubious eyebrow. “It’s nice for Christmas, I’ll give you that, but otherwise… I don’t know many people who’d stick with snow over the Californian sun.” She did not hate winter, like some did, but she felt it would be better worth it if she lived closer to ski trails or other winter sports venue.
“Well at least it's usually just rain.” Still he couldn't deny the appeal of California sunshine. It was nice to be home though. Gregory nudged a shoulder against her playfully. “What about you? Get into anything exciting while I've been gone?”
Snow, at least, was pretty. Rain was just… gray, cold, damp, depressing. Michelle didn’t waste too much thoughts on the subject though, for the older boy had switched topic. “Oh well, compared to University of California…” she said, her tone amused. “I doubt anything happening here could live up to what you’re used to now.”
Yes, she did enjoy teasing him.
“But if you really want to know, football season was fun.” Michelle hadn’t missed a game and, while she cheered for the whole team, she couldn't help if it was louder when that Arquette boy was on the field…
Not that she’d tell Gregory Marple about that.
“Was it now?” Gregory grinned brightly at her, as if she had just shared some juicy and delicious secret. But maybe she inadvertently had. “I hadn’t heard that we did all that well. What kept your interest, since it wasn’t the score?”
“Hey! The team held its own, it wasn’t a terrible year,” Michelle protested, perhaps a bit too strongly. She felt a duty to defend the team. They’d worked hard. Gus Arquette, especially; anyone could see that he’d given all he had. It was remarkable just how much effort he’d put into the game - and not just effort, but also how much fun he had on the field. His smile... radiated.
Not that she’d tell Gregory Marple about that.
“I feel like terrible is a word I've heard batted around.” Gregory used his free hand to playfully scratch at his chin. His grin stayed mischievous. “Unless you were keeping track of a different score?”
“They worked hard, very hard,” Michelle insisted, trying to hide a pout that was showing its ugly head. “It was a transition year,” she added, shoving her hands in her winter coat’s pockets. “You know how it is with school teams.”
“Oh yes, a transition year. To make up for my absence.” He mused playfully as he looked down at her. “So, Shelly. Which part of the transition was most exciting for you?”
“You are so full of yourself, Gregory Marple!” Michelle exclaimed. “Is that what university does to you? Is it?” she teased, laughing. “But you should have seen a game, you’d have seen how much effort they put into it. Arquette, for one, would always give it all he had.”
“What else would I be full of?” He laughed before his eyes twinkled bright at a name. So. A transition indeed. “Oh? Which Arquette? Tell me about him.”
Michelle tried very hard not to roll her eyes. “Gustave, of course.” Levi was too young to be on the football team yet. “He improved so much over the season, you’d be impressed.” She was.
“Gus Gus is making a good show on the field?” He cocked an eyebrow playfully. “Oh really? What would impress me?”
Her face lit up under the snow as she remembered Gus’ proud smile as he celebrated a successful play with his teammates. “Well, he’s a running back, you know. He’s done very good on the handoffs from the quarterback for rushing plays, and he’s improved so much on his blocks. Oh, and he’s doing well on passes from out of the backfield, too.” Her infatuation was clear as day.
“Mhm, mhm.” Gregory hummed along as she went on. As she finished up he leaned in, a warm baritone. “All you need is love.”
“What?!”
His grin went wider as his song went a bit louder. “All you need is love!”
“No!”
“Ok, ok. would you like this better?” He asked before launching into. “You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs.”
At that, Michelle laughed. Well, McCartney was better than to keep arguing, right? “I look around me and I see it isn't so,” she joined in. “Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs. And what's wrong with that? I'd like to know.”
“I'd like to know...Cos here I go agaaaaaaaain.” Gregory crescendoed up, stepping ahead and turning around to face her and staying in the songs tune. “Yooooooooou. Looooooove. Guuuuus.”
Michelle should be upset, but she laughed. Here they were, out in the snow, singing silly love songs, and Gregory was calling her out on her crush for Gus Arquette. “Gregor-” She tried to protest, but she couldn’t, it was drowned by more laughter.
“Yooooou. Looooooove. Guuuuus.” Gregory continued, his grin growing as his voice dipped to hit the low note.
“Oh, shut it,” she finally managed to say, as her hilarity quieted. “Don’t go around shouting things like that.”
“I'm not shouting I'm singing.” Gregory laughed. “And I have the voice of an angel, thank you very much.”
“An angel!” Michelle pretended to choke on the words, her cough as fake as can be. “An angel wouldn’t go and spread rumors.”
“They're not rumors when they're truuuue.” Gregory crooned.
“Stop dipping in my Kool-Aid, Marple!” Michelle was not laughing anymore, getting upset by his insistence. Couldn’t he just leave it alone? She didn’t need everyone in town to know that she fancied Gus Arquette.
“What?” his grin practically split his face, stopping in place to look at her. “Are you saying you’re not?”
“What is it to you? You don’t have a girl in California so you have to bother me?”
“Maybe I’m invested in young love.” Gregory answered with a whimsical sigh.
She stomped her foot. “Arumph. Yeah, right.” There was no denying the skepticism in her tone.
“Are you saying you're not in love?” The twinkle returned.
“You won’t leave it alone, won’t you?” she sighed, looking down, pushing her chin in her winter coat to protect from the chill. They’d been walking in the cold for a while now, and she was getting frosty.
“Why should I?” His nose wrinkled and only a bit from frostbite.
“For my sake?” She made the best sad puppy eyes that she could. “Because I don’t want the whole school to talk about me pining after Gus Arquette?”
“If you admit it, I won't have to gossip.” He pointed out.
“If I admit it, promise that you won’t talk about it,” she relented. “At all.”
“Pinky swear.” Gregory shifted the bag in his hand to hold up a pinky.
Getting one hand out of her pocket, she entwined her pinky with his. “You better keep your word.”
She swallowed.
“Fine, you’re right, I do like Gus. A lot.”
“Young love.” Gregory sighed playfully as he squeezed her pinky and then let go. “Are you going to tell him?”
She had a sad smile as she put her hand back in her pocket. “Oh no, he doesn’t think of me like that.”
Now that got a look of surprise. “Did you ask him?”
She did not reply, merely shaking her head. Gus was gorgeous and hilarious, but level-headed and practical when needed, and he played on the football team; he could have any girl he want. Why would he take interest in her? Wasn’t he laughing with Patty in lab, who was batting her eyelashes at him as if she were in a sitcom? If Michelle was partnered with him, instead of Patty, it might make things easier, but she couldn’t just go and ask him, out of the blue...
“Well then you don't actually know, do you?” Gregory countered. “Fortune favors the brave, Shelly.”
“Hmm, mhm.” That was easy to say for him, he was not the one who’d go and unveil his heart. Michelle dug the toe point of her boot in the snow, moving the white - well, not so white now that it was on the sidewalk getting trampled over by passersby - powder around.
“Just remember.” He smiled, leaning in to start singing again. “All you need is love.”
“Love is all you need,” Michelle joined in, shivering a bit as she looked up from the hole she’d been digging in the snow. “Alright, well, this is fun, but I’m getting cold - and so are you, I’m sure. It was nice to see you again.”
“As always, Shelly.” he gave a wink. “Careful, if you don’t go and confess your love maybe I’ll have to steal your heart one day.”
“Ha! In your dreams,” she teased him.
“Well, I’m going that way,” she pointed towards her street, which was in the opposite direction from his, as they both well knew, “so… bye! Enjoy your holidays!” And then, with a quick hug, she walked again.
Still singing.
“All you need is love, love… Love is all you need!”