There's Room in Your Heart for Both of Us
I'm taking a Creative Writing class at university. I finished and posted my first text to the class blog, but then I figured I might as well bung it here because I have some things to say that greatly bother me but that I can't say in the class blog.
There's Room in Your Heart for Both of Us
Fandom: Original fiction.
Date Finished: September 11, 2012.
Word Count: 1149.
Genre: Gen mostly, although romance is discussed.
Rating: G.
Contains: A semi-polyamorous relationship of a sort.
Warnings: None.
Author's Notes: This is ostensibly original fiction, but in fact the setting and the characters I have in mind are related to Tales of Symphonia. I will probably edit and expand this story to make it fit in the ToS world later. (And correct the language. I'm aware there are British and American colloquialisms mixed together. *sigh*) I'm interested in polyamory and asexuality and they've been on my mind of late; it probably comes through in this piece! I don't like the fact that I didn't get to include the third character, Jay, at all here -- but this bloody thing was already getting to be too long as it was. So, I realize how creepy/bossy/manipulative Nadia may come across as in this piece, but it's not supposed to be that one-sided, the decision to turn the relationship polyamorous. If/when I get around to editing this piece, that's the first thing I'm going to fix. For now, I just wanted to say that I am not happy with the implications that are there. I'm aware of the issue and wish to address it... just not at the moment. I've been up for far too long polishing this version. x_x
Summary: Nadia is in a happy relationship with Matt, but she is growing tired of his tendency to favor her over his best friend with whom he has an extremely close bond.
It would have been cute and amusing had it not been so exasperating, Nadia thought. Her boyfriend Matt was sitting across the table from her, playing idly with a cup of coffee in his hands, but his thoughts were clearly elsewhere. Nadia didn't need to follow his gaze to be able to tell what -- or rather, who -- he was looking at.
"You are allowed to talk to him, you know," she said after a few moments. She smiled when her voice startled Matt from his reverie. "Oh, don't look so shocked, I know what you're doing."
To her disappointment, Matt looked, of all things, guilty.
"I--I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you." He glanced at the cup he was holding and took a sip before grimacing at the bitter taste.
"I haven't even said anything in the past three minutes. Besides, I really don't mind." She drank the rest of her tea before she gave her boyfriend a fond and long-suffering look. "You miss him. Stop acting like a moron and go spend some time with him, Matt."
Matt gave her a careful, guarded look. "Why?"
"Because he misses you too and because you're being an idiot," Nadia said. "The fact that you're dating me does in no way mean that you must stop spending time with your best mate. I'm rather insulted you seem to think I'd mind."
Matt looked away, but he was drumming his fingers restlessly against his coffee cup.
"My ex, she --" Matt trailed off and sighed before trying to voice his thoughts again. "She took exception to me spending so much time with Jay. I'm just -- I don't want to cause another relationship to crash and burn for the same reason. I've learned my lesson."
"Your ex was jealous, that's why the whole thing between you two fell apart," Nadia said. "She was a fool. She didn't think there'd be enough room in your heart for both her and Jay, and that's about as far from the truth as you can get."
"I thought it was pretty universally accepted that if you have a girlfriend or boyfriend, then they should always come first," Matt said neutrally. "So I can see why she was upset about the whole thing."
Nadia regarded him quietly for several moments. She tried to keep her expression level and not reveal to Matt that she was currently fantasizing about throttling his erstwhile girlfriend for making him feel bad about the peculiar friendship that he had with Jay.
"She's not important anymore," Nadia said at long last, forcing herself to unwrap her fingers from around the mug she had been clutching. "I'm not her. So please, don't try to be someone you're not and cater to the whims and wishes of someone who should be forgotten."
"Isn't that how we learn and grow, though?" Matt asked, his voice too quiet and subdued for Nadia's liking. "Make mistakes, repair the damage and then try not to make the same mistakes again?"
"Sure, but the only mistake you've made, in my opinion, is that you dated someone that insecure to begin with." Nadia leaned forward in her seat. "Do you know why I asked you out in the first place all those weeks ago?"
Matt was clearly taken aback by the question. "Uh -- because you liked what you were seeing?"
"That's probably closer to the truth than you'd think," Nadia said. "I spent weeks debating whether to ask you out or not. In that time, I grew pretty good at reading you and Jay both. You're a wonder, Matt, you really are; you're charming, handsome, reliable, caring, all kinds of marvellous things. But there's something that's missing now. You don't... glow with that inner light you used to have."
"That's an unusually poetic thing for you to say," Matt said.
"Don't try to weasel your way out of this conversation, you're rubbish at changing the topic," Nadia told him. "I mean that you and Jay have a relationship that is unique and important to you. He brings out something in you that even I can't touch. You don't want to ruin or lose that kind of friendship just because you've started dating someone else."
"You make it sound like I should be dating him and not you." Matt gave her a wry, searching look before he sighed. "Not that you'd be the first one to tell me that."
"Lucky for you, doofus, I can make a distinction between platonic and romantic feelings," Nadia said and smirked. "I'm pretty sure you could throw anything -- a man, a woman, or some kind of bizarre alien from outer space -- in Jay's path and it wouldn't so much as cross his mind he could be attracted to it. That doesn't mean your relationship with him is any less important than the one you have with me."
"You --" Matt was staring at her with an expression of awe on his face. "You're a marvel, you know that?"
"Yes," Nadia said and laughed. "Now, off you go and talk to your best friend and make arrangements to spend the night doing ... whatever it is that you two do. Watch football? Play chess? Collapse in bed together and talk until you both fall asleep?"
Matt had been pushing his chair back, but he stopped dead in his tracks to glare at her. "Really not helping with the whole 'I'm not dating him' thing, Nadia."
She merely laughed, a weight lifting from her shoulders when she noticed that Matt was actually going to take her advice for once.
"Get going, numbskull," she said. She found that she couldn't stop smiling, but then, she wasn't trying very hard. "Oh, and give Jay all my love."
Matt snorted, but there was a smile on his face and that familiar fire back in his eyes now that he seemed to have stopped worrying (at least for the moment) about losing either his best friend or his girlfriend.
"I love you," he said as he leaned over the table to give her a quick kiss. "You're an amazing woman."
Nadia ruffled his hair affectionately. "I know. Have fun tonight."
Maybe she should have been more bothered by her boyfriend being so obviously preoccupied with thoughts of someone else, but all she felt was elation. Finally, everyone could get what they wanted and no one would be left out.
Besides, Nadia mused as she got up and left the cafeteria, having Matt out of the way for the evening meant that she could finally finish reading that wonderfully trashy romance novel she had picked up a week ago. She grinned to herself and began to whistle a cheery tune under her breath as she made her way home.
Oh, yes, her life was perfect.
There's Room in Your Heart for Both of Us
Fandom: Original fiction.
Date Finished: September 11, 2012.
Word Count: 1149.
Genre: Gen mostly, although romance is discussed.
Rating: G.
Contains: A semi-polyamorous relationship of a sort.
Warnings: None.
Author's Notes: This is ostensibly original fiction, but in fact the setting and the characters I have in mind are related to Tales of Symphonia. I will probably edit and expand this story to make it fit in the ToS world later. (And correct the language. I'm aware there are British and American colloquialisms mixed together. *sigh*) I'm interested in polyamory and asexuality and they've been on my mind of late; it probably comes through in this piece! I don't like the fact that I didn't get to include the third character, Jay, at all here -- but this bloody thing was already getting to be too long as it was. So, I realize how creepy/bossy/manipulative Nadia may come across as in this piece, but it's not supposed to be that one-sided, the decision to turn the relationship polyamorous. If/when I get around to editing this piece, that's the first thing I'm going to fix. For now, I just wanted to say that I am not happy with the implications that are there. I'm aware of the issue and wish to address it... just not at the moment. I've been up for far too long polishing this version. x_x
Summary: Nadia is in a happy relationship with Matt, but she is growing tired of his tendency to favor her over his best friend with whom he has an extremely close bond.
It would have been cute and amusing had it not been so exasperating, Nadia thought. Her boyfriend Matt was sitting across the table from her, playing idly with a cup of coffee in his hands, but his thoughts were clearly elsewhere. Nadia didn't need to follow his gaze to be able to tell what -- or rather, who -- he was looking at.
"You are allowed to talk to him, you know," she said after a few moments. She smiled when her voice startled Matt from his reverie. "Oh, don't look so shocked, I know what you're doing."
To her disappointment, Matt looked, of all things, guilty.
"I--I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you." He glanced at the cup he was holding and took a sip before grimacing at the bitter taste.
"I haven't even said anything in the past three minutes. Besides, I really don't mind." She drank the rest of her tea before she gave her boyfriend a fond and long-suffering look. "You miss him. Stop acting like a moron and go spend some time with him, Matt."
Matt gave her a careful, guarded look. "Why?"
"Because he misses you too and because you're being an idiot," Nadia said. "The fact that you're dating me does in no way mean that you must stop spending time with your best mate. I'm rather insulted you seem to think I'd mind."
Matt looked away, but he was drumming his fingers restlessly against his coffee cup.
"My ex, she --" Matt trailed off and sighed before trying to voice his thoughts again. "She took exception to me spending so much time with Jay. I'm just -- I don't want to cause another relationship to crash and burn for the same reason. I've learned my lesson."
"Your ex was jealous, that's why the whole thing between you two fell apart," Nadia said. "She was a fool. She didn't think there'd be enough room in your heart for both her and Jay, and that's about as far from the truth as you can get."
"I thought it was pretty universally accepted that if you have a girlfriend or boyfriend, then they should always come first," Matt said neutrally. "So I can see why she was upset about the whole thing."
Nadia regarded him quietly for several moments. She tried to keep her expression level and not reveal to Matt that she was currently fantasizing about throttling his erstwhile girlfriend for making him feel bad about the peculiar friendship that he had with Jay.
"She's not important anymore," Nadia said at long last, forcing herself to unwrap her fingers from around the mug she had been clutching. "I'm not her. So please, don't try to be someone you're not and cater to the whims and wishes of someone who should be forgotten."
"Isn't that how we learn and grow, though?" Matt asked, his voice too quiet and subdued for Nadia's liking. "Make mistakes, repair the damage and then try not to make the same mistakes again?"
"Sure, but the only mistake you've made, in my opinion, is that you dated someone that insecure to begin with." Nadia leaned forward in her seat. "Do you know why I asked you out in the first place all those weeks ago?"
Matt was clearly taken aback by the question. "Uh -- because you liked what you were seeing?"
"That's probably closer to the truth than you'd think," Nadia said. "I spent weeks debating whether to ask you out or not. In that time, I grew pretty good at reading you and Jay both. You're a wonder, Matt, you really are; you're charming, handsome, reliable, caring, all kinds of marvellous things. But there's something that's missing now. You don't... glow with that inner light you used to have."
"That's an unusually poetic thing for you to say," Matt said.
"Don't try to weasel your way out of this conversation, you're rubbish at changing the topic," Nadia told him. "I mean that you and Jay have a relationship that is unique and important to you. He brings out something in you that even I can't touch. You don't want to ruin or lose that kind of friendship just because you've started dating someone else."
"You make it sound like I should be dating him and not you." Matt gave her a wry, searching look before he sighed. "Not that you'd be the first one to tell me that."
"Lucky for you, doofus, I can make a distinction between platonic and romantic feelings," Nadia said and smirked. "I'm pretty sure you could throw anything -- a man, a woman, or some kind of bizarre alien from outer space -- in Jay's path and it wouldn't so much as cross his mind he could be attracted to it. That doesn't mean your relationship with him is any less important than the one you have with me."
"You --" Matt was staring at her with an expression of awe on his face. "You're a marvel, you know that?"
"Yes," Nadia said and laughed. "Now, off you go and talk to your best friend and make arrangements to spend the night doing ... whatever it is that you two do. Watch football? Play chess? Collapse in bed together and talk until you both fall asleep?"
Matt had been pushing his chair back, but he stopped dead in his tracks to glare at her. "Really not helping with the whole 'I'm not dating him' thing, Nadia."
She merely laughed, a weight lifting from her shoulders when she noticed that Matt was actually going to take her advice for once.
"Get going, numbskull," she said. She found that she couldn't stop smiling, but then, she wasn't trying very hard. "Oh, and give Jay all my love."
Matt snorted, but there was a smile on his face and that familiar fire back in his eyes now that he seemed to have stopped worrying (at least for the moment) about losing either his best friend or his girlfriend.
"I love you," he said as he leaned over the table to give her a quick kiss. "You're an amazing woman."
Nadia ruffled his hair affectionately. "I know. Have fun tonight."
Maybe she should have been more bothered by her boyfriend being so obviously preoccupied with thoughts of someone else, but all she felt was elation. Finally, everyone could get what they wanted and no one would be left out.
Besides, Nadia mused as she got up and left the cafeteria, having Matt out of the way for the evening meant that she could finally finish reading that wonderfully trashy romance novel she had picked up a week ago. She grinned to herself and began to whistle a cheery tune under her breath as she made her way home.
Oh, yes, her life was perfect.