fudge ripple and trail mix
Story: Timeless { backstory | index }
Title: Don’t
Rating: G
Challenge: Fudge Ripple #8: annoyance, Trail Mix #2: around the corner
Toppings/Extras: none
Wordcount: 690
Summary: Adam Kirby proves to be a brave man within a week of his arrival.
Notes: Pre-abduction. Just for fun. Oh, I do love to write Dragon!Adele...
The scientists of Newson Labs were generally so far beneath Miss Merritt’s notice that they were, in some existential and universal way, above it. There was a new Chief Scientist in the building beginning just days ago, although Miss Merritt had hardly noticed the change. Chief Scientists came and went in Newson Labs: none of them seemed to last terribly long before some misfortune meant that they had to leave the living realm extremely quickly.
A lot of the Chief Scientists were not big on socialising, which suited Miss Merritt just fine, because neither was she. Of course, their latest green-nosed Cambridge graduate just had to be different. Adam Kirby. He was so damn keen. And so damn... blonde. It was the lightest shade of natural blonde that Adele had seen on anyone over the age of three.
“Good morning,” he’d say pleasantly as they passed in the morning-“Good afternoon,” if it was afternoon. And he’d smile at her. Such a sunshiney smile, too-and it wasn’t just her. He smiled at everyone. He even smiled when he was alone, just humming his way along the corridors and smiling like he knew some little secret nobody else did. It gave Adele the creeps, not to mention a bit of rage. How dare he smile?
And the small talk.
The weather, the prices of things, how he was doing, how she was doing. Endless, pointless, meaningless drivel! She made it quite clear that she could scarcely tolerate his presence, but he never seemed to understand her subtle hints, such as glaring at him so hard that nuclear radiation began emanating from her sockets, or answering every question with, “I don’t care.” And he was meant to be smart. And one day it happened...
“Say, Adele,” he said, smiling (again!) at her as he clicked about on a computer in the labs. All she had to do was bring down a message from Newson, that was all. And he had to rope her into these conversations. He stood up and turned to her, not even hesitating in the face of her extreme eye-rolling. “Want to go out for a drink sometime?”
She stared at him as though she had been slapped.
“Excuse me?” she demanded rudely: he could not possibly have...
“There’s a nice little place just ‘round the corner. Cass’ coming, too. I read somewhere that getting to know your co-workers improves morale in the workplace...”
Finally, his voice died a little. The look on her face could have turned Hercules to stone, even when reflected in a goddamn shield. Adele had a certain way of glaring that made the phrase ‘death stare’ sound far too fuzzy and sweet. It was a look of such raw and open disgust that it rendered most people helpless even to move. And still, Kirby opened his mouth to daringly continue on-
“I just think it’d be nice to-.”
“It would be nice, would it?” Adele snapped, finally managing to grasp a hold of the trillions of repulsed responses that had blocked up her brain momentarily. She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t go treating me like I’m some sort of equal to you, Kirby. As if I would ever go for drinks with a little worm like you!”
Her usually dispassionate, somewhat robotic voice inflated with emotion towards the end, and Kirby detected some slight issues going on behind her darting eyes.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to... I was just being friendly,” Kirby said, still offering her that smile that she seemed to find so offensive, even though it was diluted somewhat with uncertainty. Adele by this point looked as though a blood vessel were about to burst.
“Would you like some advice?” she suddenly asked in a viper soft voice, advancing a step menacingly. Despite his bravery in the face of Adele’s glare, at this physical gesture he found himself stepping back-more than once, as she continued to walk forwards with threats in her eyes, until he found a wall behind his back. And she was a good five inches shorter than him, too. She leaned closer, eyes sizzling with anger. “Don’t.”