Fanfic: Pay Attention
Requested by kirstenxashley HERE
Title: Pay Attention
Fandom: Twilight
Character: Quil, OC
Rating: PG
Summary: Quil somehow ends up at prom with a girl who's not Claire.
Disclaimer:: Doesn't belong to me.
Quil doesn't pay attention to much of anything. He seems to think only of Claire, and since the day he saw her he's never really looked at another girl. That's why it surprises him when he actually notices the one who's sobbing in the corner.
Maybe it's because crying is something so familiar to him, now. Now that his world revolves around a toddler, and toddlers cry. It's a reflex reaction.
It's lunchtime and the hallway is empty except for him, and her, folded up on the bottom stair. His stomach growls menacingly, but instead he finds himself ambling over to her and taking a seat by her side.
She looks up and when she sees him, she starts. Whether its from shock at his sudden presence, his intimidating size, or something else, he doesn't know. He hears her swear under her breath.
"You okay?"
She wipes at her eyes, nods twice. "I'm fine."
Quil figures getting caught crying is pretty embarrassing, and maybe he should leave now that he's done his duty. But he figures maybe being embarrassed is better than being alone, so he stays.
He doesn't know her name, although he should in a school this small. "I'm Quil," he offers.
She looks up at him, incredulous. "I know who you are, Quil." She seems kind of hurt.
He feels like an asshole, but he has to ask. "What's your name again?"
"Taylor."
"And why are you crying?"
"It's stupid."
"So what?"
*
Actually, it is stupid. Her boyfriend had dumped her abruptly two days ago and now she doesn't have a date to prom.
Of all the ridiculous things to cry about.
But he listens sympathetically for awhile, and he thinks it's because she reminds him of Claire. She seems young, the way she's letting it all out. He imagines that Claire might look something like her one day, skinny and angled, with her elbows and knees poking out.
She never really stops crying, and she blubbers for a good long time about how I really loved that asshole and how can he do this to me?
And then that turns into how am I supposed to find another date so soon? and Are you going with anyone? and finally if I go with someone like you, he'll be so jealous he won't see straight.
And when Quil hems and haws about finding a polite way to refuse her, she only starts crying harder and stutters. N-Never mind. I shouldn't have asked. I'm so stupid, as if you'd go out with me... Forget I said anything.
And after all that, he still doesn't want to go. But she looks so profoundly miserable that he finds himself agreeing to it.
*
He figures he might as well go to a prom once, for the experience of the thing. He'll never get to take Claire to her prom; he'll be old, and she'll be too much of a teenager to want him there.
He makes sure Jared and Kim are going, so he'll at least know someone there. Embry and Jacob will just not shut up about the whole thing, but he ignores them because he agrees with them and it's better not to think about it.
He spends as little as possible on some cheap, smelly piece of rented clothing, and he picks her flowers from his mother's garden for a corsage. It's sufficiently awkward, and when they arrive in the gym, decorated in something like toilet paper, Taylor promptly disappears.
He sees her once more throughout the whole evening; apparently they have to dance at least once. After that she's off somewhere, while Quil sits in the corner, ignoring Jared and Kim's public displays of affection and counting down the hours until this night ends.
And so that's prom.
Title: Pay Attention
Fandom: Twilight
Character: Quil, OC
Rating: PG
Summary: Quil somehow ends up at prom with a girl who's not Claire.
Disclaimer:: Doesn't belong to me.
Quil doesn't pay attention to much of anything. He seems to think only of Claire, and since the day he saw her he's never really looked at another girl. That's why it surprises him when he actually notices the one who's sobbing in the corner.
Maybe it's because crying is something so familiar to him, now. Now that his world revolves around a toddler, and toddlers cry. It's a reflex reaction.
It's lunchtime and the hallway is empty except for him, and her, folded up on the bottom stair. His stomach growls menacingly, but instead he finds himself ambling over to her and taking a seat by her side.
She looks up and when she sees him, she starts. Whether its from shock at his sudden presence, his intimidating size, or something else, he doesn't know. He hears her swear under her breath.
"You okay?"
She wipes at her eyes, nods twice. "I'm fine."
Quil figures getting caught crying is pretty embarrassing, and maybe he should leave now that he's done his duty. But he figures maybe being embarrassed is better than being alone, so he stays.
He doesn't know her name, although he should in a school this small. "I'm Quil," he offers.
She looks up at him, incredulous. "I know who you are, Quil." She seems kind of hurt.
He feels like an asshole, but he has to ask. "What's your name again?"
"Taylor."
"And why are you crying?"
"It's stupid."
"So what?"
*
Actually, it is stupid. Her boyfriend had dumped her abruptly two days ago and now she doesn't have a date to prom.
Of all the ridiculous things to cry about.
But he listens sympathetically for awhile, and he thinks it's because she reminds him of Claire. She seems young, the way she's letting it all out. He imagines that Claire might look something like her one day, skinny and angled, with her elbows and knees poking out.
She never really stops crying, and she blubbers for a good long time about how I really loved that asshole and how can he do this to me?
And then that turns into how am I supposed to find another date so soon? and Are you going with anyone? and finally if I go with someone like you, he'll be so jealous he won't see straight.
And when Quil hems and haws about finding a polite way to refuse her, she only starts crying harder and stutters. N-Never mind. I shouldn't have asked. I'm so stupid, as if you'd go out with me... Forget I said anything.
And after all that, he still doesn't want to go. But she looks so profoundly miserable that he finds himself agreeing to it.
*
He figures he might as well go to a prom once, for the experience of the thing. He'll never get to take Claire to her prom; he'll be old, and she'll be too much of a teenager to want him there.
He makes sure Jared and Kim are going, so he'll at least know someone there. Embry and Jacob will just not shut up about the whole thing, but he ignores them because he agrees with them and it's better not to think about it.
He spends as little as possible on some cheap, smelly piece of rented clothing, and he picks her flowers from his mother's garden for a corsage. It's sufficiently awkward, and when they arrive in the gym, decorated in something like toilet paper, Taylor promptly disappears.
He sees her once more throughout the whole evening; apparently they have to dance at least once. After that she's off somewhere, while Quil sits in the corner, ignoring Jared and Kim's public displays of affection and counting down the hours until this night ends.
And so that's prom.