Chapter 7 - Festivites: Ending

Chapter Seven: Festivities: ending 
Toby opened the door to his house. Elvira followed him in, dressed in baggy pants and a large t-shirt that she had borrowed from Raymond, being the nice guy that he was. Elvira used a hat that Toby bought at the festival to keep her long hair in so that his parents wouldn’t notice that she looked oddly like a girl. His house was smaller than Allex’s; more homey than his too. It was decorated with many things, such as pictures hung on the walls and wallpaper. Toby took Elvira upstairs, shutting his bedroom door.
“Where are you going to sleep?” he asked.
Elvira shrugged. “On the floor…I really don’t mind.”
“I could sleep on the floor. It’s kinda hard,” Toby said, scratching his head. Elvira looked down at the floor of his bedroom. He was right. Unlike Allex’s house, where everything was carpeted with elegant and expensive carpet, this carpet seemed to scratch at Elvira’s feet. Maybe it was best for her to take Toby’s bed. She felt bad for kicking Toby out of his own bed, but since he did offer it to her, she decided to take it.
“Sure. Why not. Thanks Toby,” she said, sitting down on his bed. She took off her hat, her long blonde hair falling over he shoulders. She glanced around Toby’s room. It was small and cluttered, but had a more comfortable feel to it. She felt more at home in his room. It smelled nice too. The room smelled of newly purchased books (best smell in the world >w<) and of ink. She wasn’t sure where the smell of ink had come from, but as she looked around the small room, she noticed a small laptop and a printer neatly piled to the left of his bed. There was a stack of papers next to it.
“What’s all that?” she asked, pointing to the pile.
Toby shifted his gaze to the pile. “N-nothing,” he grunted, standing up straight and fanning his face.
“You okay?” she asked, looking him up and down. He nodded.
“Yeah, but…,”
“‘But’ what?”
“I need to take a shower,” he said, avoiding eye contact with Elvira. He felt disgusting for some reason, probably because it was hot outside. It wasn’t that it was hot, it was muggy outside, a more humid heat.
“Oh! Go ahead! I don’t have a problem with that. In fact…would I be able to use it after you?” Elvira asked.
“Sure…,” Toby said quietly, turning away. He walked out of the room, sighing.
Once Toby left and went into the bathroom, Elvira looked around Toby’s room. Should I search it? Elvira said to herself, wondering if she should do the same thing to Toby as she did do all of her guy friends. She glanced down at the pile of papers next to the laptop and printer. She sat down next to the pile and picked up the first couple of pages. They were titled Light vs. Merias. Hm…so is he interested in that whole Medieval Era bogus? Elvira said, not believing that Merias actually ever existed. She set aside those couple of pages and dug deeper into the pile, glancing at the pages every once in a while. All of the papers had to do with the incident 200 years prior. Her eye twitched as she neared the bottom of the pile. Why does he have to be so obsessed?! She sighed. There was one paper left on the floor. She picked it up and looked it over, reading it. Her eyes widened.
“What the…?” she breathed. She stared hard at the paper. It read:
 
---These names are those of the warriors of Light from 200 years ago along with their occupations that they had before they were “warriors”:
Angevin Fature: acrobat/performer
Sebastian Ray: unknown
Herv Admerry: mercenary
Rei McKellihan: bodyguard
Evelyn Fulin: unknown
Rose Campell: waitress
Arnett Rowena: none
Kei Morris: pharmacist
Kiki Myonme: protector/bodyguard
Leala Tsomi: mercenary
Naum Edith: none
Brent Cobalt: Innkeeper
Naomi Szuborough: none
Kraen Udze: none
Odette Fature: village healer/diviner
Raissa Laraway: entertainer/actress
Malbeice Turner: magic student----
 
She looked over it again and again. “What…w-why…why is his name here?” she said, staring hard at Malbeice’s name. “It…it can’t be. He can’t be over 200!” she laughed, hitting her head. “How dumb…” She stacked up the papers in a neat pile and set them back where they were. She sat on Toby’s bed. The door to the bathroom unlatched not a second later.
Toby walked into the room, hair dripping and a towel around his shoulders. He was in a pair of blue sweat pants and a black t-shirt.
“Ah! My turn?” she said, standing up. He looked her up and down.
“Yeah. Towels are in the bathroom. Take your pick,” he said, showing her to the bathroom. When she shut the door, his mother walked up the stairs and spied Toby.
“Toby, your dad and I are going out for dinner. You and…and…,” she said, biting her lip, not knowing Elvira’s name.
“Evan,” he said, supplying her with a fake name.
“Yeah…you and Evan will be on your own for dinner. I’m sorry…I wish you would tell us in advance when you bring people over. Next thing you’ll be bringing girls dressed like guys when we go out!” she said, laughing heartily, slapping Toby on the back.
Toby cringed, hoping his mother wouldn’t realize “Evan” was actually a girl.
“Yeah…right,” he said, coughing. His mother, waving, walked down the stairs and exited the house with his father by her side. Toby slowly walked back to his room, stretching his arms over his head. When he reached his room he collapsed face first onto his bed.
“Urrh…,” he groaned. He ached everywhere. Whenever he went outside in the heat he was sore for a while. He always had envied all of the athletes at school, wishing he could stand the heat. “Ngh…it smells…like…,” Elvira? Toby’s face flushed and shot up. He realized she was the first girl that had been into his room. He had never had a girl friend. He rarely had any guy friends. How was he going to handle himself tonight…ignore her?
The phone began to ring, snapping him out of his thoughts. He ran downstairs in order to catch it before it went to the answering machine. He answered it on the fourth ring.
“H-hello?” he said, holding the phone up to his ear.
“Yeah, hi,” It was a boy. “Toby?”
“Yeah…? I’m him.”
“Is Elvira there?”
Toby twitched. “Who is this?” he asked gruffly.
“Allex. Just tell me if she’s there,” he growled. He sounded pissed off.
“Ah…no, why?” he lied.
“Godammit!” he growled. “Do you have any idea where she is?”
“Um…no, she left me…she seemed upset. Did something happen between you guys?” Toby said, smirking.
“Jesus…I don’t know…she got pissed at me for some reason,” Allex scoffed. He could hear Madelyne in the background telling him to get off of the phone. Allex’s voice became muffled. All he made out was “Go with your friends.” and “Meet me back here.”.
“You’re still at the festival?” Toby asked.
“No….so, if you see Elvira…tell her I’m sorry for ditching her after school. Tell her to come home,” Allex’s voice softened. Toby felt awkward talking to him. He could hear a hint of worry in his voice.
“O-okay.” They both hung up. He looked up the stairs at the bathroom door and sighed. “Guess I should tell her when she gets out…” Toby sighed. “What’s with Allex? Did he piss her off or something?”
He walked into the kitchen and opened a cabinet, looking for something easy to make for dinner. His eyes spied a few packages of Mac N’ Cheese. He took those down, hoping Elvira didn’t mind it. He took out a large pot and filled it ¾ full of water and set it down on the stove to boil. He collapsed on the couch and grabbed the remote. He turned the T.V. on and watched the celebrities silently. Normally he didn’t watch things that talked about the stars’ lives, but he didn’t know what to watch. He was a little preoccupied by…the fact that there was a girl in the shower. He stared intently at the T.V., trying to forget this fact.
Upstairs, the door unlatched and Elvira walked out in a towel. She ran to Toby’s room. She had forgotten about grabbing clothing when she went into the bathroom and she held the clothing that she had been wearing earlier. She closed Toby’s room’s door and sighed. She looked through the drawers of his dresser to find some sweat pants to wear. She found a pair of red ones and found a large white t-shirt. She took a small black zip-up sweater and put it on over the t-shirt.
She walked down the stairs, brushing her long blonde hair. Toby was in the kitchen, stirring a pot of elbow noodles. Elvira smiled and waved when she walked into the room.
“’Ey! Whatcha’ making?” she asked, looking over Toby’s shoulder.
“Mac and Cheese,” he said, looking her up and down. “Wait…you’re wearing my clothes!”
“I don’t have anything to sleep in…is it okay?” she said, setting the brush down on the counter next to the sink.
“Whatever…,” he sighed, turning back to the noodles. He stared at them, contemplating whether or not to tell Elvira that Allex had called.
“Did someone call?”
“W-what?”
“I heard the phone ring while I was in the shower. Or…was I just hearing things?” Elvira laughed, scratching her chin.
“Yeah. It…was Allex,” he said casually. Elvira was silent as she stared at him with wide eyes.
“What?”
“Allex called, looking for you,” he answered.
“You didn’t tell him I was here? Right?!” Elvira cried desperately, clinging to Toby’s arm.
“Ah! Stop it! You’re going to make me spill!” he yelled, pushing Elvira off of his arm. “No! I didn’t tell him.”
“Th-thank god…,” she said, sighing. “You scared me for a moment!”
“Are you mad at him?” he asked.
“No…why?”
“I think he thinks you’re mad at him. He told me,” Toby said, trying not to remember about telling her “sorry”. Toby honestly detested Allex. No one knew why, not even Toby. He guessed he didn’t have a good feeling around him; a bad vibe. Yet he didn’t want Elvira to hate him.
“Oh…uhm…no…I’m not mad,” she said, faking a smile. Toby studied her and sighed.
“He said he was sorry for ditching you,” Toby continued.
“Ah…I…I’m still going to spend the night. I need a night to relax,” Elvira said. Toby was silent as he poured in the cheese sauce, the butter, and the milk.
“Okay,” Toby finally said.
Elvira sat down on the couch and watched the T.V.. Toby glanced up at her. Her hair was still pretty wet and it was clinging to her…his white shirt. Luckily she had grabbed that jacket, for if it wasn’t for it, the shirt would be see-through by now. He turned his gaze back to the pot and turned off the burner.
“You want some?” he offered, taking down a bowl from the cabinet on the opposite side of the stove.
“Huh?” Elvira said, snapping out of some trance the T.V. had cast on her. “Oh…sure. Thanks.” He took down another bowl and distributed the noodles and cheese evenly in each of the bowls. He tossed the pot into the sink and stuck a spoon into each of the bowls. He took each of the bowls, on in each hand, and walked over to Elvira. She took one and Toby sat down on the opposite side of the couch. They were silent as they took the first few bites.
“So…how do you think the festival was?” Elvira asked, breaking the silence. Toby shrugged and swallowed the noodles he had been chewing.
“It was alright. If only you hadn’t of gotten lost,” he replied, shoving another spoonful into his mouth.
“Heh…sorry. I don’t know how I lost you though,” she laughed. Toby eyed her, wondering why she was laughing about it when she was crying earlier.
“Mmhmm…you’re sure everything’s alright?” Toby said. Elvira turned to him.
“Why do you keep on asking me that?”
“You seemed out of it earlier.”
“How?”
“God…you were…kinda weird when I picked you up,” he explained.
“Oh…”
“Something did happen between you and Allex, right?”
“No! Why do you keep asking that too?!” she cried, tightening her grip on both her spoon and bowl.
“Allex’s an asshole. Always was and always will be. He’s always been pissing off everyone, ever since elementary school. ‘Specially girls. I think he’s kinda gay,” Toby scoffed.
Elvira blinked. “You seem to know him,” she said, taking a bite of noodles.
“Unfortunately. Somehow, every year, I’ve had one class with him: godamned orchestra. He’s usually either extremely quiet or he gets po’d and lashes out at everyone closest to him. No wonder Jean’s gonna break up with hi-.” Toby’s eyes widened and he glanced at Elvira.
“W-what? What about Jean?” Elvira asked, staring at Toby.
He waved his hand at her and laughed nervously. “Nothing.”
“You said something about breaking up. Is she going to break up with him?” she asked angrily. Toby was silent as he stirred the cheesy noodles.
“You know what?” Elvira said, looking at Toby. He looked up from his bowl. “You’re a lot nicer at home than outside.”
“Huh?”
“You’re more relaxed here. You’re not making a ton of rude remarks as you usually do,” she said, setting the bowl on the short table in front of the couch. She scooted herself nearer to Toby.
“So? I don’t like going outside,” he said nervously, hoping she wouldn’t come any closer.
“You know…I’m happy I met you, even if it meant falling out of a really tall and scary tree,” she laughed cheerfully. “I wonder how long we’ll know each other.” She inched closer to him as he took a few more bites of noodles. “Y’know what?”
“H-huh?” he said, with a mouthful of noodles. He looked at her, realizing she had gotten closer.
“I feel like I’ve known you forever, even though it hasn’t even been a day yet,” she said. “Where are you from?”
“F-furmai,” he said, setting the bowl down on the table.
“Oh…wait…you’re elven?” she said, surprised.
“No…I’m half,” he said, standing up. Elvira looked interested, but Toby walked away from her and walked up the stairs.
“W-where are you going?” she asked, standing up.
“I got to check on my sister,” he said gruffly.
“You have a sister?” she asked, following him up the stairs.
Toby groaned in his mind. He had used that as an excuse to get away from Elvira. It was true that she just wanted to get to know him, but something stopped him from telling her about his past: the fact that he didn’t even know for sure if he Usarian or if he was from Furmai. His parents never told him for sure where he was from.
“Yeah, I do.”
“What’s her name?”
“Sarah,” he said, becoming irritable. He opened the first door. The light was on and a young girl dark brown hair and even darker eyes stared up at the two. She looked in her early teens, about the age of a fifth or sixth grader. She was in a long pink and white t-shirt that ended at the middle of her thighs. She was short, short for her age, making her look even younger than she was. She had a cute face, not too plump and not too skinny. As Elvira watched her, she noticed her dark eyes were actually a deep blue. There wasn’t a thing that connected Toby and his sister. Neither looked at all like the other!
“Toby!” she cried, jumping up. “When’d you get home?” Noticing Elvira, she smiled.
“About thirty minutes ago,” he said.
Sarah puffed her cheeks out and folded her arms across her flat chest. “You could’ve told me! I have something to give you,” she said cheerfully, skipping towards her purple and pink backpack.
Toby smiled and scratched the back of his neck. “What’s it this time?” he said, leaving Elvira’s side to kneel next to Sarah. They seem pretty close… Elvira said, watching Toby as Sarah gave him a picture she drew for him in art class during school. I wish I had a brother or sister.
“Toby?” Sarah motioned for him to come closer. “Is that your girlfriend?” she whispered into his ear.
“What? No!” he said, pushing away from Sarah, his face bright red.
“Aww…that’s no fun!” she giggled, standing up. She walked up to Elvira. She felt so tall compared to Sarah.
“I’m Sarah, his sister!” she said, motioning for Elvira to bend over. “You’d better take care of brother nicely, because if you don’t-”
“Wait, wait…what do you mean ‘take care of’?” Elvira asked.
“You two are going out, right? Toby’s too shy to tell me!” Sarah said. AIE!! She’s so cuuttee!! Elvira squealed in her mind.
“No, we’re not,” she said, smiling. She glanced at Toby. “We’re just friends.”
“Gyah, you two are sooo boring~!” Sarah pouted. She turned and yawned. “I’m gonna go to sleep.” She rubbed her eyes. “Get out!!” she chirped. “Have fun!♥” She pushed the two out of her room and shut the door behind them.
Elvira laughed. “Your sister’s cute,” she said, walking to Toby’s room. “I…I’m going to go to bed.”
“I’ll stay up longer. There’s something I wanted to watch on T.V.,” he said uneasily, walking down the stairs. Elvira looked after him and sighed. She walked back to Toby’s room. She glanced around the room for a final time before laying down underneath the covers of the bed. She pulled them up over her head, closing her eyes.
~
Meanwhile, downstairs, Toby was laying down on the couch drinking water as he watched an old anime series. Being horribly dubbed, the voices annoyed Toby to death, yet he didn’t change the channel. Maybe it was the fact that it was so old, that he felt obliged to watch it. Even though it was old, it had a decent plot. He wasn’t too irritated by the animation either. Even though…he wasn’t even watching it. He was too busy staring at the ceiling, wondering what he was going to do about Elvira being in the same room as him. Sighing, he sat up and looked at the stairs.
“What’s wrong?” Sarah asked. Toby nearly fell off of the couch. He hadn’t seen Sarah come down the stairs, much less felt her sit on the couch. “Gawd…why do you watch this stuff? Watch the more recent anime…or…watch real things once in a while!” she said, shaking her head. “This is all you do! That’s why you’ve never had a girlfriend or any friends at that…”
“Sh-shut up,” he said, still startled. “When’d you come down?”
“Few minutes ago. So…who’s that girl?” Sarah asked. “She never told me her name.”
“She’s Elvira,” Toby replied, laying back down.
“Ahh…mm-hmm…so nothing’s going on between you two, right?”
“No…jesus…”
“How I doubt that,” Sarah chuckled, touching her chin lightly with her index finger. Toby glared at her.
“What’s that supposed to mean?!” he cried, throwing a small throw pillow at her.
“Why’d you do that?! I was just asking!” she said, clutching the pillow.
“You already asked the frickin’ question earlier! You don’t need to ask it twice.”
“Ever think I didn’t hear her?”
“What? But…you answered her!” Toby growled, feeling a sudden flood of sleepiness. He rubbed his forehead. “God…It’s late…please don’t ask me questions.”
Sarah stuck out her small tongue. “But this is the best time for asking questions.” She chirped.
“huh…” he said, peeking through his fingers.
“You overreact. It’s funny!” she said, making a peace sign.
Toby smiled and shook his head. He sat up and ruffled Sarah’s long brown hair. “You’re weird.”
“Heeey! Stoppit~!” she said, swatting Toby’s hand away playfully. Toby yawned loudly and rubbed his eye. “Are you tired?”
“Yeah,” he replied, standing up and stretching.
“Then go to bed.”
“Ah…,” he said nervously. “I-I’m not tired enough yet.”
“Such a lie. You’re just nervous because Elvira’s in your room!” Sarah teased.
“No I’m not!” Toby cried out, defending himself.
“Then go to bed!”
Toby cringed. “Fine! I will!” he said with clenched teeth. He marched up the stairs in a fit.
Sarah smiled. “I hope you two get along t’night~!” she hollered after him.
“SHUT UP!” she heard Toby scream back to her. Sarah giggled, but soon after her smiled disappeared and she sighed.
“I hope he meets someone soon that would like him…,” she said. She grabbed the remote and changed the channel.
~
Toby peeked into his room. It was pitch black and he assumed that Elvira was asleep in his bed, judging by the large lump underneath the blankets. Being careful not to wake her, he took a large brown blanket out from underneath his bed and took one of the pillows that Elvira was not using. He made himself “comfortable” on the floor and wrapped himself up in the warm blanket. Surprising enough, Toby began to doze off and fell asleep in less than a minute. It was Elvira that was awake.

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