Close Encounters of the Ex Kind

[Chris Strongheart]

"Sky," Christine said quietly, waiting for him to look at her. "I'm going to head back." There was something defeated in the way she sounded, the way she looked at him. She quietly walked past the pair, trying to maintain her composure before shattering outside, tears streaking down her face as she ran back in the direction of Red Fountain.

[Bloom]

By the time she realized what was happening, it was too late to stop it. Landing hard on the floor the second time since she’d been back, Bloom grunted, but made no other indication of the pain. The humiliation far outweighed it. Not only had she just made a complete idiot out of herself in front of Sky, but in front of his new girl too. She was probably laughing to all beat hell on the inside right now, wondering how she could have ever thought that Bloom would be competition for Sky.

Keeping her head bowed and her eyes closed, she didn’t bother to try to pick herself up or clean up the mess. She just wanted to sit there until they left, or until something, whether it was her body, her pride or her heart, stopped hurting. As painful as that had been, she had the feeling the first one would win out.

“Oh yeah, I’m just great. I totally meant to do that,” she replied lamely to Sky’s question. This would be an event that she would welcome memory loss to forget, but just as she was thinking this, something surprising happened. Christine excused herself from the store.

This did not bode well. If she was confident enough to leave Sky there, alone with Bloom, then the spell must be much stronger than expected.

[Sky]

Torn between going after Christine and staying behind to help Bloom clean up the mess, Sky quickly decided that it probably wouldn't be the smartest thing to do to leave at that moment. Not when the owner of the shoppe seemed to be heading straight toward them with not such a friendly look on his face. Quickly rising to his feet, Sky hurried over to the irate man and said, "Don't worry, I'll put everything back just as it was-"

Unfortunately, the man's temper didn't seem capable of being soothed. Instead of the grudging acceptance of his offer that Sky fully expected, the man launched into a furious tirade about how the chocolates were ruined and how he couldn't possibly consider selling them to his other customers.

Fighting back the urge to roll his eyes, Sky interjected with forced courtesy, "Of course, you couldn't sell them to anyone else. My apologies for thinking otherwise, sir. I'll . . . I'll just buy them all. Full price." Sky finished with a thin smile, relieved when this seemed to satisfy the owner.

Sighing, Sky walked back toward Bloom before he resumed his former position on the floor and continued stacking boxes of chocolates. Shooting her a wry smile, Sky shook his head and said with a chuckle, surprised at his ability to laugh when only moments ago he had wanted to run as far away from Bloom as possible, "People can be so unreasonable sometimes. In any event," having organized the last of the boxes into a neat pile, Sky rose to his feet, "at least I now have in my possession enough chocolate to feed an army. Who else can say that, hmm?"

[Bloom]

When Sky suddenly stood up, Bloom was sure that he was about to chase off after Christine like a loyal puppy, but he didn’t. Instead he faced down the store owner, took everything the man had to throw at him, and then offered to pay for the mess she had made. She felt her heart skip a beat. He really was a hero. Her hero.

Cheesy much?

Shaking herself out of her funk, something that was so much easier with Christine gone, Bloom got to her knees and began cleaning up some of the boxes. When Sky returned, she looked up at him with an embarrassed smile, her cheeks almost as red as her hair. She couldn’t help but laugh, though, at his statement.

“And what a loyal army they would be! What better payment could one ask for?” she replied. Without even thinking of it, she held her hand out for him to help her to her feet. She didn’t trust herself not to cause another catastrophe at the moment.

[Sky]

The thought not even registering in his head to not help Bloom to her feet, too deeply ingrained in his mind were the rules of etiquette, Sky immediately took her outstretched hand and helped her up. However, one thing had changed that Sky was very much aware of - something that caused him a certain amount of sadness, to his immense surprise. Had this circumstance happened in the olden days, Sky wouldn't have hesitated for a moment to tease Bloom affectionately about her flushed features but now he politely ignored those telltale signs of embarrassment - something that directly contradicted what he had silently sworn never to do to Bloom during their encounter at the lake. Treat her like he would treat any other girl. Any other girl, he would have pretended not to notice her blush because that was the polite and courteous thing to do. And now that was the position he had demoted Bloom to. Just another girl.

He should have been pleased. After all, if he treated Bloom that way that had to mean that he was over her. So if that was the case, then why did he feel so crummy for doing such?

Mentally sighing, Sky forced himself free of his disturbing thoughts as he again turned his attention back to Bloom. Still, it was too late; his mood was ruined by his thoughts and his humor had vanished. Giving Bloom a thin smile, Sky ran a hand over the back of his head as he said, "You like chocolate, right? Why don't you take these back with you to Alfea and share them with your friends? I'm sure they'd love it."

[Bloom]

This was so not fair. One second they were smiling and joking and the next they were right back to the awkwardness. She hated this. She hated this more than anything. It just wasn’t fair.

It’ll get better. I just need to be strong and do what needs to be done. Everything will be fixed soon enough.

“Oh, I couldn’t! You bought them all because I’m such a klutz. I couldn’t take them,” she said. She wanted that lightness back, just a moment when everything felt... normal. “What would people say? They’d think I purposely sabotaged the display knowing that you would be the hero that you are and buy it all and then I’d make off with all the profits. Nuh uh, no thanks.”

[Sky]

At Bloom's quip, Sky couldn't help but smile a little. He could see what she was doing very clearly - that she was furiously trying to back peddle to a few moments ago when the tension between them had lifted momentarily - and to tell the truth, he appreciated her attempt. The simple fact of things was that Bloom was going to keep being a part of his life now that she was back. Once Brandon was returned to his normal state, which he had no doubt would happen soon enough, Sky knew that his best friend was going to be back to being with Stella 24/7. And since Bloom was back now, Sky knew that the sun fairy would be latched onto her like a leech. Which meant that if he ever wanted to see Brandon, he was going to have to deal with seeing Stella . . . and that meant seeing Bloom. A lot. He might as well try to make things less awkward between them. That meant that he was going to have to clear some things up with her - like how the fact that they were not a couple anymore was not going to change - but somehow, Sky couldn't bring himself to broach that subject at the moment. Instead, he settled on a soft laugh as he remarked, "Nope, there's no use fighting me on this; I insist that you take them. If it'll make you feel better, I don't even like chocolate that much so if you take all these boxes off my hands, you'd be doing me a huge favor."

[Bloom]

It was so good to hear him laugh. She’d always loved his laugh.

“Well, in that case, how could I refuse?” she said, smiling brightly. Soon enough, though, the smile began to fade. She didn’t want this conversation to end, because she knew as soon as it did she’d loose him all over again. He would say his goodbyes and go find her. It was going to be like this every time they met until she was able to break the spell. They would have their moments and then she would have to let him go and another little piece of her would die inside. But maybe it was a good thing. No matter how much it hurt, maybe the more she saw him, the more she reminded him of what they had once had, the easier the spell would be to break. Their love could conquer it, she knew it could.

“Thanks, Sky, for being my knight in shining armour once again,” she said, the humour more forced this time and clouded by truth. “And I’m sure the girl’s will just love you for this.”

[Sky]

Choosing to ignore her comment about his being her 'knight in shining armor,' Sky instead pounced on her latter comment. With another laugh, he said in a conspiratorial whisper, "Just tell Stella to go easy on it, okay? Give the other girls a chance to get their hands on a few pieces before she gobbles up the rest." It was no secret amongst anyone who knew Stella even only slightly that she could eat. And eat. And eat. Sky laughed as he continued, "You know, I bet you if you could get her to share her secret on how she manages to eat twice as much as any normal person but still look better than all of them - her words, not mine," Sky said with another laugh, holding his hands up in mock defense, "then I bet all the other fairies at Alfea would be willing to pay a fortune to learn it."

Shaking his head at the thought of Stella's quirks, Sky had to hand it to the fairy for giving him so many laughs - even if she wasn't aware of it. At this thought, Sky felt his smile fade. Sure, he and Stella had never really been friends per se - a fact that had been especially highlighted when gossip had first begun to swirl about a potential romance between him and Chris and Stella had staunchly turned her back on him out of loyalty to Bloom - but he still liked her. He could see that she was a good person and deep down, he was very relieved that Bloom had a friend like her to help her adjust to life without memories of the last few months.

Clearing his throat suddenly, Sky then shot Bloom an apologetic look as he said vaguely, "I probably ought to go now; I'll see you around, all right?" Hesitating for a moment, Sky then said, "Well, okay . . . I'm just going to go pay for these . . . so . . . bye."

Flinching at how awkward of a goodbye that was, Sky was grateful that he had turned his back in order to make his way to the register before Bloom had been able to catch the look on his face.

[Bloom]

Leaning in a little as Sky whispered, Bloom found his laughter to be infectious. When she laughed, it wasn’t light and airy and polite, but loud and unashamed and genuine. It was all so true! Stella could eat anyone out of house and home and not only still be hungry, but not even put on a single pound. All girls back on earth would kill to be able to eat even a fraction of what Stella did and not pay for it later.

“It’s really amazing. A word of warning, though: don’t ever try to deny her food. It’s not pretty. I can try to hold back some of the chocolate, but the consequences could be horrible,” Bloom replied, absentmindedly rubbing a sore spot on her hip as she spoke. If ever a girl needed chocolate right now, it was Stella. With everything that was going on with Brandon, Bloom wouldn’t be surprised if she ploughed through the entire stash without batting an eye.

When Sky suddenly cleared his throat, Bloom’s eyebrows lowered a bit in confusion before everything came rushing back. For a moment, she had been able to forget; she had been able to believe that things were just like they used to be. It had been so easy, and if nothing else, she now knew that things could easily go back to how they had been. Just remove the spell and everything would be right again.

But still... ouch. Most abrupt goodbye ever.

“Sky, wait!” Bloom called, rushing forward and grabbing his arm. “You, uh, you never answered me before about Brandon. We’re trying ever means of magic that we can to cure him, but maybe all we need is a little, old fashioned intervention to help him get his memories back. Just a few of the most important people to him: his best friend and his girlfriend,” she said, lowering her eyes a little. “I don’t have to be there...”

She wanted to be there to support Stella, but this was for Brandon. Sky had to be there, as did Stella. Bloom was just his girlfriend’s best friend, and his best friend’s girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend. But that didn’t mean she didn’t care about him.

[Sky]

At Bloom's reference to Brandon's current canine state, Sky visibly winced. Bloom was right. Somehow, they had to find a way to help him. Brandon was a good guy and he certainly didn't deserve to be left for an indefinite amount of time as something he wasn't meant to be - and worse, to be stripped of his memories.

Stripped of his memories. Just like Bloom. She hadn't asked for what happened to her either and Sky knew at that moment that it was just as much his duty to help restore Bloom's memories as it was to help restore Brandon's. No one should have to go through life without their memories; sure, it was sometimes fun to joke about how he wished he could forget that certain embarrassing things that had happened to him, but if that also meant having to forget all the memories of the good times, well, nothing could convince him to give them up. Sky certainly knew that if something like that happened to him, he sure would hope that his friends would do everything they could to put things back to normal.

Which was why he couldn't reject Bloom's request. And he certainly couldn't tell her that she couldn't be there for the 'intervention,' as she had called it. Because if she saw Brandon regain at least a few of his memories, perhaps it would give her some comfort that all wasn't hope wasn't lost for her.

"No, you should be there," Sky finally answered with a slow nod of his head. "Because if the intervention doesn't work and Stella has to face yet another dead end in getting him back, then you should be there to comfort her. Somehow, I imagine you'd do a better job of that than me," Sky added with a faint smile. "And besides, you're Brandon's friend too. I'm sure he would be very flattered to know that you cared enough about him to want to help."

[Bloom]

Bloom grimaced at the thought of how Stella would react if they tried this and it didn’t work. She was working so hard, night and day, barely sleeping or attending classes. They had to find a solution and fast.

The situations were different, obviously, but Bloom felt that she at least knew a little of what Stella was going through. Both of them had lost their boyfriend’s due to a spell, and both the boys had found someone else. She wouldn’t give up hope, though. She still had this dream that one day, she and Sky and Stella and Brandon would get their fairytale weddings. They would raise their children together and get their happily ever after. And possible there would be a cheesy sequel to follow where their kids, now grown, would fall in love as well. Isn’t that how it happened in the movies?

It meant a lot that Sky didn’t view her as just a tag along, though. Sure, she wasn’t the girlfriend or the best friend, but she did care about Brandon. She wanted to be there.

“I’ll run the idea by Stella and see what she thinks then I’ll, uh... give you a call?” She hated feeling like she had to ask permission to call him.

[Sky]

"Sounds great," Sky answered, giving Bloom a brief smile. "Just let me know the time and place and I'll be there."

Hesitating for another moment, Sky then gave a quick nod of his head as he said, "Okay then . . . later?"

Beginning to walk away, Sky paused once again, mentally debating whether to turn back around and try to finish their conversation in a way that wasn't so . . . abrupt. Because even though things were not exactly relaxed between them, they had had a few moments a while ago when things had felt almost normal. And it was because of that fact that Sky hated to just walk away with just an uncomfortable 'see you around,' followed off by an even more uncomfortable period of silence. Doing that would just completely override the progress they had made toward making things between them less awkward. And the last thing Sky wanted to do when he went to have that intervention for Brandon was to have to go back to square one with Bloom. He'd much rather jump over the awkwardness and perhaps just try to be friends.

Friends.

That was all he could really offer Bloom these days and though that somehow didn't seem fair to her, that was life, right? Still, he liked her and if he could have his choice, he'd like to keep her in his life - especially if she had somehow turned back into the person she once had been.

His mind finally made up, Sky turned part way around as he coughed slightly. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he then said, "Hey, Bloom . . . I . . . I just wanted to tell you that it's good that you're back."

Ducking his head, Sky stared down at his feet before he looked sheepishly back up at her. "Yeah. That's all I wanted to say. So . . . I'll see you at that intervention, okay?"

Waiting for her to give her assent, Sky then made his way to the register, paid the owner, and then quickly left the shoppe. Perhaps if he hurried, he could catch up with Christine and try to explain things.

[Bloom]

And just like that he was dismissing her. He couldn’t get away from her fast enough! At this rate, she didn’t think her heart could even sink any lower. If it wasn’t already to her feet, it had to have caught on her ankle bone or something. This wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair and she just wanted to curl up with the whole stash of chocolate and stuff herself full and cry herself to sleep.

Holding her hands over her stomach as if she could hold down the ill feeling that was creeping up on her, she was surprised when Sky was the one to turn back this time. Looking up at him, she couldn’t hide the hope in her eyes anymore than she could hide the loss of it when it was suddenly shattered. It’s good that you’re back. That was it. He didn’t say that he was glad she was back, or happy to see her again or relieved that she was okay. It was just good that she was back.

“Thanks,” she replied weakly, doing a miserable job of hiding her disappointment. “Yeah, I’ll see you then.”

Pretending to be engrossed in her candy shopping once more, she secretly watched as Sky paid out and practically ran from the shop without a second glance back. Ouch. Well, this had been a completely disaster. All it had proven was that she couldn’t do this alone. She wasn’t strong enough and it hurt too much. She needed help, someone that could be at least partially impartial; someone who didn’t let her heart rule her head; someone who could weigh the options, think logically and come up with the best solution.

Only one person came to mind.

“Could you possibly shrink all those down to about yay big?” she said to the clerk, holding her hands out to gesture to a certain size. She didn’t want to have to make a second trip. One was way more than enough.