7Something Real
Summary: She's the Queen of all things Romantic Comedies. He's the idiot that tried to get away with stealing a line out of two of them. Oops.
She was mad. He'd known it before he'd arrived, sure, but seeing it for himself in person...
Yeah. She was mad.
He kept his eyes on her as he proceeded up the footpath to her front door. She was standing with her arms folded across her chest, her weight leaning on her left leg, and her right foot tapping out a steady beat against the welcome mat. Her eyes were narrowed at him, and when he came to a stop in front of her, he noticed that their usual dark blue colour had been replaced by an icy grey.
Not really something he felt was at all encouraging.
"Hi," he said with a small smile. "How are you?"
"Let's skip the small-talk. What are you doing here?"
He took a deep breath. It was now or never. "I came to apologize. I know I can be a jerk, and our fight was just one of the many times in which I've shown my stupidity, but I love you and I want you and I'm sorry."
She eyed him carefully. "And what about what you said? About being better off without me?"
"It was a lie." He took a step toward her. "I was angry and I just wanted to say something that I knew would hurt you. The truth is, yes, I can live without you. The difference is, I don't want to."
If it were at all possible, she looked madder. Enraged, even. Like she wanted to kill something. Or someone. Probably him.
"Wh-what?" he asked, her sudden change in demeanor making him falter.
"I cannot believe you!" she yelled. "You stole that line right out of a movie."
He frowned. "What line?"
"That crap about being able to live without me, but not wanting to." She poked him in the chest. Hard. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice?"
"What are you talking about? And stop poking me!" He grabbed her hand before she could poke him again. She wrenched it free a second later.
"That's what Jennifer Aniston's character says to Mark Ruffalo's character at the end of Rumor Has It," she said, shaking her head back and forth. "I cannot believe you would actually plagiarize a script just to get back together with me. You really are a jerk!"
"I did not plagiarize a script."
"Yes, you did. What, would you like me to prove it to you?"
He let out a groan of frustration. "God, you are such a pain in the ass!"
Her mouth dropped open in shock. "Oh, very nice! That'll get you back in my life, for sure!" she said acidly.
"I came over here to apologize to you, but you just can't help picking a fight, can you?"
"I am not "picking" anything! I'm stating a damn fact!"
He took another deep breath, only this one was to calm himself down. "I did not steal that line."
"Yes, you-"
"I did not steal it!" he all but screamed.
"How much do you want to bet? I am the Queen of Romantic Comedies, mister. Trust me when I say you do not want to go up against me when it comes to the RomCom."
"Are you even listening to yourself? God! All we ever do these days is fight!" he yelled. "We get into a fight and then you tell me how arrogant I am, before I tell you that you're being a pain in the ass. Which you are, most of the time, by the way!"
"Oh my God!" Her arms fell to her sides, her hands clenching into fists. "You just did it again!"
"Did what?" he seethed, already regretting his decision to drive the fifteen minutes to her house to apologize. So much for being the bigger person, he thought glumly.
"Stole a line right out of a movie. That's pretty much the exact same thing Ryan Gosling's character says to Rachel McAdams' character in The Notebook. What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Alright, that's it," he said, throwing his hands up in the air. "I give up."
"I beg your pardon?"
"You heard me! I. Give. Up. I'm done. I can't win. I can never win. Not with you. Miss I-Think-I'm-So-Goddamned-Perfect."
"Let me get this straight: not only did you come over here to parrot back at me lines you blatantly stole from movies - and not even admit to stealing them! - but now you don't actually care enough to make the effort to work things out? That's what you're saying?"
"Didn't I just say I can never win with you?"
"It's not about winning or losing. You don't care enough to tell me something real, you give up after only five minutes of trying, and now you're mad at me?"
He put his hands on his waist and glared at her. "I'm mad at you for picking a fight when I was trying to apologize. But hey, you want something real? Okay, fine. This is what's real. You are a pain in the ass most of the time. You're always yelling at me-"
She opened her mouth to interrupt, but he slapped a hand over it.
"No! No, I'm not done yet, and until I am, you're going to stay quiet and you're going to listen. As I was saying - you're a pain in the ass and you're always yelling at me about one thing or another, and frankly, I'm sick of it. Yes, I can be a jerk. Yes, I can be arrogant. Yes, sometimes, I just don't think. But guess what, babe? I never claimed to be perfect. I'm just me. Lounging on the sofa in front of the TV, drinking beers with my mates on my days off, not cleaning the dishes immediately after I've used them - God forbid! - me. You wanna know something else? You're not perfect, either. Far from it, in fact. You can never just sit and relax. You care too much about what other people think about you when all you should care about is what you think of yourself. You can never just accept an apology, and you have the most stupidest rules I've ever heard of. I mean, no feet on the sofa? What the hell is that?"
He removed his hand from her mouth, took a deep breath and blew it out. "But... I think we're perfect together and for each other. And I want you. I think I'll always want you. Even when you're pissing me off."
She looked shocked, which made him feel all kinds of satisfied. HA! he thought triumphantly, how d'you like them apples?
He watched as she quickly recovered and looked away, discreetly trying to wipe the tears out of her eyes. Seeing the familiar action made him smile. She never did like crying in front of other people. Even him.
"See," she said, her voice sounding nasally, as she failed in her attempt to appear calm and collected. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"
He stared at her for a few seconds before throwing his head back to laugh. Pulling her to him, he wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her hair. "Will you invite me in, now? It's freezing out here, you know."
She pulled back to look up at him. "I'm sorry, too," she said quietly. "About the fight and about making you think I wanted you to be perfect."
"I know, and I really am sorry... for everything."
She stood on her toes and kissed him, pouring her forgiveness into it, and then stepped back to lead him into her house. In her books, as far as romantic lines go, his was definitely number one on the list.
Author's note: Something random that I happened to dream about the other night. Me and my dreams, huh? Hope you like it, and as always, thanks for reading :D