FicWad

Chapter 3: The Relationship


"That really sucks," Theresa gripes, and Jay agrees. They are just coming out of their door from their classroom, grumbling unhappily about the amount of homework Chiron has given them to do tonight. As they are about to head down the stairs to the exit doors on their way to the dormitory, they hear Neil's voice talking to someone just around the corner.

"...And so I said to him, 'I taught him the meaning of mean...'"

To their surprise a female voice giggles in response to Neil's speech. When they peek around the corner and into the hallway, Jay and Theresa notices right away Neil leaning against the brick wall in a proud, macho stance. Standing next to him is a young girl with an amber-color hair with blond streaks, and wearing a pink top and a blue short skirt. It didn't take much to see that this girl is completely smitten with Neil. Every time he flashes a bright smile at her, she blushes and giggles some more.

Hearing the approaching footsteps, Neil looks up and notices Jay and Theresa coming toward them. "Oh, hey guys!" He chirps happily. "I want you to meet Stacy. She just moved here a few weeks ago!"

"Hi Stacy, I'm Theresa," the redhaired teen says cheerfully. She gestures toward the serious-faced young man at her side, "And this is Jay."

"Hello," Stacy replies bashfully.

"Nice to meet you," Jay politely holds out his hand for her to shake it.

Neil glances at his wristwatch, frowns slightly and grabs his duffel bag off the floor. "Uh, say, Stacy I gotta go. My agent is expecting me for a shooting session this evening," He says, inclining his head forward at his newly found friend, "I'll give you a call sometime and perhaps we can hook up later." He gives a slightly indifferent shrug and walks away.

"Sure, I'll like that. Bye Neil!" Stacy calls, waving to the blond teen.

"Wait for us! We're coming with you, too!" Theresa hollers to Neil, "We need to fill you in about the team meeting you missed last night!" Neil stops halfway down the hallway and rolls forth and back on the balls of his feet impatiently.

Theresa turns to the amber-haired girl. "It was nice meeting you Stacy," She says with a warm smile, "Perhaps we can hang out sometime too?"

"Ah, ok." The new girl smiles politely, looking a bit uncertain.

"Take care, Stacy." Jay says with a wave and a nod. Neil looks over his shoulder briefly, wave at Stacy goodbye and continues down the hallway with Jay and Theresa walking besides him.

Stacy takes this opportunity to examine Neil's backside, admiring the view. She smiles to herself, basking in the fact that she had secretly hoping to find a decent attractive guy within a few weeks of arriving at this new school...and sure enough, she did! He's much better than most guys she dated in the past. What makes it even better is that Neil is a professional model. He even mentioned how she has the legs of one! Stacy sighs happily. Already she is imagining the months ahead in which she will be spending a great deal of time dating Neil and getting to know him and his friends better.

Yes, she indeed feels very lucky right now.


OoOoOoOoOoOo


TWO DAYS LATER...


Yawning hugely, Archie takes his attention off the TV, leans back on the arm rest of the loft couch and peers up at the wall clock.

"Hm, it's almost midnight. Neil's late coming back from the movies," He turns around to look at Atlanta sitting next to him with a cocky smirk. "What do you think what he's doing right now?"

Atlanta chuckles. "Maybe he's taking Stacy for a romantic stroll along the beach?"

Herry, sitting cross-legged on the floor and leaning against the side wall, let out a loud guffaw. He turns his head away from the TV to look at Archie and Atlanta with a wide grin. "Or maybe they have gone to a late-night ice cream parlor to share a Banana Split Sunday?" The brawny teen says in amusement.

"Naw, you know how those things would just ruin Neil's precious figure!" Archie exclaims with a mischievous grin. He stands up and, with one hand on his hip and the other hand up in the air; he puts on a relaxed stance. "Oh, no, I wouldn't want to spoil my perfect form!" He mimics in the best Neil voice he can mustered, flipping the hand down in an effeminate way. Herry and Atlanta howl with laughter so loud it brings Jay, Theresa and Odie out of the kitchen where they are fixing late-night snacks to investigate what the ruckus is all about.

"What's so funny?" Jay wants to know, glancing curiously at their still giggling friends in the TV room, "I can hear you laughing all the way down the hall from the kitchen!"

"Oh we were just debating on whether Neil took Stacy to the beach or to the ice cream parlor!" Atlanta answers, still snickering.

Theresa raises an eyebrow and looks quickly at the wall clock.

"It's midnight already? I thought Neil was only going to take Stacy to a movie tonight!" She says in surprise. "I wonder where they can be."

"Well, maybe the two of them decided to extended their date and, uh, go somewhere romantic afterwards?" Jay suggests, trying to keep a straight face over the irony of his words. Atlanta sputters into her hands, and Archie and Herry grin at each other, winking knowingly.

Odie rolls his eyes. "Ah, need I remind you guys that this is Neil we are talking about!" He points out.

Archie nods and becomes sober and gruff. "True, the most romantic place Neil could have taken Stacy would be the Hall-of-Mirrors." He says quite seriously.

All six teens burst out laughing.

The front door swings open and Neil breezes in through it. Noticing everyone practically rolling around on the floor in a laughing fit, he stops dead in his tracks and stare at them with a slight frown on his handsome face.

"Uh...hello guys? You didn't have to wait up for me, you know." He says in a vaguely perturbed tone.

"Hardly, we were just talking," Odie snorts, adjusting his glasses and trying to act nonchalant. Neil raises his eyebrow and gives him a suspicious glare.

Deciding to address Neil directly, Jay clears his throat to attract his attention. "Where did you go Neil?" The team leader asks, mostly out of curiosity. "Thought you were only going to see a movie with Stacy tonight?"

Neil blinks at him, and then his face clears up. "Oh, yeah. We did...it was a double feature." The blond teen answers in a matter-of-fact tone. He shrugs and lets out a big yawn. "Well, I'm off to bed. Night guys." With that said, Neil walks across the living room towards the stairs.

"What movies where playing in the double feature?" Atlanta calls out to him.

Without glancing backwards Neil waves his hand tiredly in response. "Oh, they were called 'None of your Business' and 'Tell you Another Time'." He says, and without another word he heads for the bathroom upstairs leaving the other teens to gawk at him. They look at each other, unsure what to say...and then they break out into a laughing fit once more.


OoOoOoOoOoOo



It has already been three weeks and Stacy is simply giddy that her relationship with Neil is going so well. The only thing that bothers her is the fact he hasn't tried kissing her yet. If she were in a relationship with any other guy, he would have gone to the second base with her already.

Right now she and Neil are on the roof of the dormitory one late afternoon, sitting comfortably in the large Adirondack Classic folding chairs next to each other, studying for exams later this week. She lifts her head from her geology book to look over the railing, enjoying the spectacularly panoramic view of the entire city. It's nice to finally see the place where Neil lives! Earlier she had told Neil she wanted a chance to study together, so he invited her to his place. Most likely he wanted to show her off again to his friends who live at the dormitory, but she doesn't mind it at all - she rather like being the center of the attention. After briefly greeting his friends Neil had suggested that he and Stacy come up to the roof to study by themselves - so here they are. Stacy smiles happily to herself.

But something is missing. There is still so much more Stacy wishes to know about Neil. Every time they had one of their casual conversations it usually ends up with Neil talking animatedly about his modeling career. Not that's a bad thing, but she longs to know him on a more personal level. She can tell Neil is somehow keeping secret from her, but she is unsure what it is.

The one thing Stacy notices is that Neil hasn't ever asked anything about her. She usually ends up having to ask Neil a few times some personal questions about himself, hoping that he would take hint and be compelled to ask about her... and he gets to raving happily about his own person and how great he is, how handsome he is, and so forth. That's fine, but Stacy wishes he would rave about HER, too!

Sighing, Stacy looks over at Neil who is studying an English book. How calm and content he looks, not to mention quite attractive too! He almost looks like he's posing for a photograph, but Stacy assumes it's a force of habit, considering that he's a model and all.

It doesn't take Neil long to feel he is being watched. He looks up and sees Stacy's lovely blue eyes blinking dreamily at him, her long lashes batting and her glossy lips curling up in a bright smile. He returns the smile for a moment, then turns his attention back to his book and continues reading. It's not that Neil really needs to study; he usually relies on his luck to get him through the class exams anyhow. But now that he realizes Stacy is not taking her eyes off of him, Neil finds it a bit distracting to keep studying.

Again, Neil lowers his book and look at Stacy rather quizzically. He frowns when he notices on her pretty face a smudge of chocolate from a homemade cookies Athena had offered them earlier in the afternoon.

"Um, you've got some...chocolate..." the blond model clears his throat, trying discreetly to point at his face to indicate that she's got something on her face.

"Where?" Stacy asks with an embarrassed and stunned expression. Nervously she tries to wipe her face with her hand.

Quickly Neil pulls out his mirror from his pocket and hands it to her. "Here," he says gallantly. Stacy takes it and uses it to check her face out rather anxiously.

"Oh, how embarrassing." She mutters almost to herself, taking her handkerchief out to wipe the chocolate splotch away.

Neil shrugs. "It happens sometimes. That's why I always carry a mirror around."

As Stacy finishes cleaning herself up, she notice the richly detailed gold rim around the three reflecting glasses. Glancing down, she notices the small monogrammed picture of Neil himself hinged from the bottom of the middle mirror.

"It's a very lovely mirror." She coos with admiration, stroking her fingers gently around each frame.

Neil looks pleased. "I guess I could lend it to you for a while..." He pauses suddenly, as though realizing what he had just said. Feeling hesitant but still trying to be gallant about it, he gives a nervous chuckle. "But I would like it back when you are done though."

Stacy's eyes widen. "Really...? Thanks! I'll take good care of it." She cries joyfully. Folding the three sided mirror and Neil's self-portrait carefully, she places it gently into her purse.

"So, uh, what do you want to do now?" Neil asks in a slightly nervous tone, scratching the back of his head self-consciously.

Stacy looks at him, thinks about it and has a bright idea. "Um..." She put her book aside and leans slightly closer to Neil, "W-would you like to kiss me, perhaps?" She offers in a shy, and yet, flirting manner.

Neil goggles at her, too stunned to say anything. It's not the first time someone wanted to kiss him, but usually it would have to do with modeling for a certain romantic shot with another girl. But then again, they are merely close shots - and not even real kisses either! However, the more he thought about her offer the more he becomes intrigued by it. This could be a chance to experience in kissing someone other then his own reflection for once. With a cocky smile, he turns to her.

"Sure," he says. He gets up, moves to Stacy's chair and sits down right next to her.

Mimicking other romantic model shots and movies he seen over the years, Neil places one hand smoothly around her tiny waist. With his other hand touching the small of her back, he presses her gently closer to his body. He felt like a real professional and has done this a thousand times over.

Stacy's head is swimming with emotions, lost in the moment of about to be kissed by the most attractive guy she has ever met. Her heart starts pounding so hard that it feels it could just burst through her chest. She attempts to keep her cool as Neil lowers his head closer until their lips begin touching.

At first the kiss starts small and tentative. Before long the kiss gradually increases as Neil subconsciously slips his tongue into her mouth. Stacy lets out a soft whimper of happiness before responding likewise. Such rapture! She feels very heady indeed.

The door to the downstairs suddenly opens and Jay steps out through it. At once he notices Neil and Stacy embracing each other tenderly and locking lips like there's no tomorrow. Jay's eyes nearly pop out with astonishment. This is one scene he isn't expecting to see!

"Whoa...!" He gasps, just loud enough for new lovers to hear.

Startled, Neil and Stacy both open one eye and look over to see who dared disturb their intimate moment. Upon seeing Jay they hastily break off the kiss, and Neil gives Jay a mildly annoyed look. "Can I help you, Jay?" he said in a rather stiff tone.

"Oh, uh..." Jay stammers. He struggles to regain his thoughts, shakes his head bemusedly, and walks a short distance across the roof toward Neil and Stacy with a sheepish smile. "Ok...um, we were just wondering if you two wanted to see a movie we just rented."

"What kind of movie is it?" Stacy asks with enthusiasm.

"It's King Kong, the latest version." Jay answers.

"That's the one with the dinosaurs?" The amber-haired girl exclaims, "Cool, I love that one!"

Neil peers down at Stacy then back to Jay. "We'll be right down." He says with a hint of resignation.

"Ah, ok then," Jay nods. Then, not knowing what else to do, he starts to walk backward. "Well, we'll see you downstairs, then...whoops!" He had bumped into the wall next to the open door. Cursing under the breath at his uncharacteristic clumsiness, Jay all but flees down the stairs closing the door behind him.

Neil shakes his head and sighs. "That dude needs to work on his exits."

"I think we embarrassed him," Stacy giggles, her eyes twinkling with amusement.

Neil snorts. "Yeah, well, it's like he hasn't seen anyone kiss before!"

"Um, perhaps we should head downstairs then and watch the movie with your friends." Stacy suggests bashfully. Reluctantly she begins to move away from Neil and head for the door.

Neil licks his lips and grins widely. He had to admit to himself that he enjoys the taste of her cherry flavored gloss on her lips. "Wait..." he calls out softly to her, and pulls her back to him before she could take another step. "Perhaps I could kiss you one more time before we head downstairs?" He purrs into her ear.

Stacy looks at Neil and smiles. "Ok..." she replies and lets out a small giggle.

This time Neil lifts his right hand and strokes her cheek, gazing intently into her eyes. Then he leans in to kiss her once more.