Story: Middle Part 28
[[Continuity Note: Alf's off to go bug Damien about him using magic and all.
It's so hard for me to write these next couple of days, and it's going to be so hard for me to make up... I can't get the word count up because I just want it to be over.]]
Alf knocked on Damien's front door. His mum opened the door and smiled at Alf. Mrs Reid was a tall blonde women with hair that curled in waves to her shoulders. Alf had always thought she looked like a movie star. Even if she was just dressed like she was today in a simple skirt and blouse.
"I was beginning to think you two were never going to make up," she told him.
Alf shrugged. "We haven't really, not yet anyway."
"Oh," she looked a little disappointed. "Well, I'll let you go up anyway. I'll assume you're not her to antagonise him further."
"Of course not," Alf shook his head. "But just so you know: it's not my fault that we're not really friends at this point."
Mrs Reid gave him a sceptical look. "Well you know, there are two sides to every coin. And it takes two to tango."
Alf resisted the urge to give her a scathing glance for her spouting of two cliches in a row.
Seeming to notice, Mrs Reid laughed. "Come in, Alf. Damien's in his room."
Deciding to ignore what she'd said before that last statement, Alf entered, removing his shoes and leaving them by the door. "Thanks," he said to Mrs Reid.
"No problem," she smiled. "Hopefully you'll be able to shed some light on his current awful mood."
Alf only nodded at her grimly. He knew what was up with Damien. Or at least, he was pretty sure he did. He padded up to Damien's room quietly. He needn't have bothered being all sneaky about it, though, since he could hear the music blasting from his ex-best friend's room halfway up the stairs. Reaching the first floor, Alf realised that Damien's door was open.
He wandered in, shutting the door before Damien could tell him to go away.
Damien was lying on his back on his bed, seemingly fast asleep despite the fact that his music was turned up far louder than a set of speakers should even be allowed to go. It was beyond the eardrum bursting stage. Alf turned it off.
Though Damien, stirred, he didn't awake.
Alf hadn't been counting on this. He'd been fully expecting Damien to see him and start arguing with him as soon as he entered the room. But here he was, sleeping. That definitely gave Alf the upper hand. He observed the room quietly first, scoping it out for any possible dangers. He didn't see anything, but he wasn't really sure what he was looking for, anyway.
Sighing, he pulled the doona from the bed, hoping Damien would wake that way. No such luck. Damien had always been a deep sleeper. And now that he was a teenager seemingly on the cusp of a growth spurt, his body really wanted him to sleep.
"Damien!" Alf called.
Still nothing.
Rolling his eyes, Alf grabbed his former friend and shook him soundly. Though his neck rolled to an unfortunate, uncomfortable looking position, Damien didn't wake up.
Alf was growing annoyed. This was not part of the plan. Finally, he smacked his friend across the face, and that woke him up.
Of course, Alf hadn't counted on the magic's natural aversion to things which cause pain to the wielder and was therefore thrown halfway across the room, landing ungracefully on the floor. At least he hadn't been knocked out like Rock.
"Alf?" Damien questioned, wearily rubbing sleep from his eyes.
Alf rolled his own. "Yes you idiot."
"What are you doing here? Aren't we not speaking to each other?"
"It was your idea not to speak to each other," Alf inserted.
"Yeah. So why aren't you respecting my wishes?" Damien grunted.
Was this even worth it? Alf wondered. Of course it was worth it. There were who knows how many people now spending fake money, not knowing that it was, slowly ruining the economy, making the Australian dollar worth even less. Yeah, nice going Damien.
"Because you're misusing your powers."
"What powers?" Damien tried playing dumb. But that didn't work on Alf because 1. Alf knew. 2. Alf knew that Damien knew he knew. and 3. Damien's acting skills really weren't very good when he'd just awoken.
"The magical mystical ones that you only recently developed."
The faux stupid expression on his face didn't go away.
"The same magical mystical powers that I have."
Still blank.
"The magical mystical powers that you thought didn't exist when I told you about them. And the reason why this is the first time we've spoken in weeks."
"Oh," Damien smirked. "Those powers."
This really wasn't working out for Alf. Damien was cool-headed, and Alf was the one who was beginning to want to run screaming from the room at the very least. He really was inclining more toward the blow something up level, though.
"Yes Damien," Alf stated, trying to calm down. "Those powers." It was like trying to speak to a five-year-old child who'd been caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar red-handed.
"What about them?"
"You've seen the movies. Read the comics. Watched the T.V. shows. You know what about them."
"Be a pal and clarify, would ya, Alf?"
Inwardly, Alf counted to ten. "Not everyone has magical powers. And because of this, it's not fair to go around using them to your own advantage. Not to mention everyone knows that there's nothing to be gained from material possessions."
"I wouldn't say that," Damien countered. "It got your attention."
Alf's attempt at a scathing glare was pretty good this time.
"What's the big deal anyway? I know, you know, but they don't know. They're perfectly happy thinking that they got all these extra sales."
"This is why you should've taken Commerce instead of Music. Let me put it in non-economical terms. If a butterfly flaps its wings in China, its said that this can cause a typhoon in the United States. The littlest things can have the biggest consequences. You think you've just given a few people a little extra cash. But what have you really done? You deprived someone of the merchandise that you have that you shouldn't have. You've caused extra, replica money to float through the system meaning that the overall value of the Australian dollar is less. It's been down a little in the past week and I'm definitely blaming you. And to top if off, none of it is benefiting you in any way anyway."
"But why does that matter to me? To us? Why did you come here anyway? To sway me to your good light side? Or because now that we've got a little more in common we could be better friends?"
That was pretty much the last straw for Alf. "I don't want to be your friend Damien. I don't want a friend who doesn't trust me. I don't want a friend who doesn't care. I don't want a friend who doesn't mind setting me aside while he runs of into the sunset with the chick."
Damien looked a little upset and unsure. "Fine. Then we won't be friends. And as someone who is not my friend, I'd like you to leave my house now."
"No," Alf said, simply. "Not until you promise to return everything you ever bought with your counterfeit bills."
"I don't think so," Damien sneered.
Alf felt a force pressing upon him suddenly, as though someone was physically pushing. But he stood firm, and knowing that his physical strength wasn't going to last him very long, began pushing back using his own magical power. "I can't believe you'd actually try to force me to leave your room." Alf frowned at Damien who'd fallen to the floor with the force of Alf's retaliation. Alf walked over and stood over him, making sure that he was holding him in place using his magic.
"I don't want to have to threaten you," Alf said. "But are you going to play nice or not?"
Damien's face held cold fear in it, so Alf let him go even without some other form of agreement. "How the hell did you just do that?" Damien asked.
Alf shrugged. "I know people."
"You know people?"
Alf nodded.
Damien sat on his bed and began picking a the bed sheet. "This stinks, you know."
"You didn't have to go around making such a nuisance of yourself," Alf told him, high on righteous glory.
"Well, you weren't talking to me. And I just found out that you weren't a complete psychopath and you hadn't been lying. I thought it was too late to ask for forgiveness. So I tried to forget."
"It's never too late to apologise," Alf told him honestly.
"Then I'm sorry."
Alf nodded. "Okay."
Damien grabbed his pillow, clutching it to his chest like a safety anchor. "I just want to be normal again. For everything to be normal again."
"Well, I guess I wouldn't mind if we were friends again," Alf told him. "Oh, and after you give everything back. You'll have to meet Jessica's parents."
"Jessica?"
"The girl I've been hanging out with the past few weeks. She's a witch, and her aunt's been training me to use my power better."
"Is that how you just kicked my ass?"
"Yeah," Alf nodded. "She'll probably take you on too. I mean, if you've got it, you might as well use it the right way."
"I guess," Damien nodded, then looked up as a thought hit him. "If we're friends again does that mean I have to be friends with Rock?"
Alf laughed. "Rock and I are far from friends at the moment."
"I've been such an idiot," Damien frowned. "But what do you mean by 'at the moment'?"
"I'm trying to change it."
"What? Why?" Damien asked, incredulously.
"Let's just say I think there's more to Rock than he lets on."
And with that, Alf sat on the bed next to Damien and they spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on each other's lives.
[[End scene. My goodness that was so much easier to write than I thought it was going to be! And I think I've hit my word limit for today, too. So pleased.]]
posted by Cedric @ 9:45 pm
