Operation Stupid [Connie!]

[Alexander McKenzie]

Connie, meet me at the mall when you’re done work. I’m putting Operation Diamond into motion. Don’t tell Jean. He’ll blab.

... As you can see I never figured out a better code name. Just meet me.

- Lexy

It had been four hours since Alex had sent the email to his best friend. He still didn’t know just how many metric fucktons of stupid were going through his head right now, but for whatever reason, he wanted to go through with it. He stood in the hallway of the little mall, leaning against the wall. One foot was cocked up against it, and his arms were folded. The looks a few mothers were tossing him told him exactly what he already knew. He looked a no-good, drop-out punk. Too bad they didn’t bother to figure out the truth. He was a first year university student about to do something very, very dumb.

He was twenty freaking years old. He wasn’t supposed to be thinking about this kind of stuff already. If he had his head on straight, he was meant to be thinking about frat parties and booze and bedding as many girls as humanly possible. At least, if he was led to believe pop culture. Instead, he was thinking about his future, and his girlfriend, and how the two might coincide.

Maybe his ways of thinking had been a bit skewed since he was a kid. He’d always been one to take the bull by the horns and live out his life as best he could, day by day.

He just needed help. Or courage. Something. Which was exactly why he’d asked Connie to meet him. He’d touched on the subject now and again with his best friend, and now he was really considering getting closer. After his little scare, and the subsequent talk with Ann, he knew now that he’d exposed himself to her. She knew all his secrets, everything about him, and she hadn’t left. Which was why he was now considering this ridiculous mission.

Yet another young mother passed by, tugging her small daughter closer to her as she skirted Alex. He ignored it, glancing up at the ceiling instead. Hurry up, Connie.

[Conrad Manne]

When Conrad got the email at work, he wasn't surprised. Alex had been fretting about this "Operation Diamond" for a while now, even if he was only going through with it now. As his roommate and best friend, he'd been there through the whole ordeal....

And yeah, it was a little stupid, Alex and Ann were way too young, but Conrad was still a little proud of him.

He didn't email Alex back, since he never used email when he didn't have to. But his friend would know that, and of course he was going to be there. He even got Esme to let him leave a little early because he'd already turned in that weeks status report on his findings. On his way over to the mall, the researcher considered calling, but he was already almost there, and honestly, he knew the conversation would include a lot of reassurances, and he wanted to see exactly how freaked out Lexy was.

When he got there, Conrad had to roll his eyes at how a young mother with a little girl in a stroller seemed to cross to the other side of the entry to avoid being near Alex. It really was entertaining, because if he ever had kids, he knew that Lexy would be the one he'd trust to watch them. (And possibly draw tattoos on them in sharpie.)

"Hey, Lexy. You ready for this?" Conrad smiled encouragingly. "And how much do you want to bet that people are going to assume I'm the one buying the ring?" After all, of the two of them, he did look more "respectable."

[Alexander McKenzie]

It wasn’t like Alex was planning to go through with his plan anytime soon. He just wanted to be prepared. There was a difference. A subtle difference, but a difference all the same.

He hadn’t expected an email back, especially because Conrad would know he’d be away from his laptop, and his archaic cell phone didn’t receive emails. So, he just amused himself at the mall, every so often glancing at his watch.

It was surprise to see Connie there before he’d expected him. He grinned and stopped leaning on the wall, heading towards his best friend instead. “What happened? Did Esme let you out of your cage early?” He actually really admired Connie, for graduating college as early as he had, and getting a job in the field so fast. Hopefully he could do the same, once his studies were over.

... That really seemed like a long, long time away.

“... As long as they don’t think you’re buying it for me or something...” Alex certainly didn’t have an issue with homosexuality, but something told him this whole excursion would be a lot more painful if that was the assumption.

He was sort of ready for this. He was armed with money, and the tiny bit of courage he’d worked up. And now he had his best friend. He could handle this.

“We’re heading this way,” he nodded in the direction he wanted to go. As an afterthought, he tacked on, “... You’re sure you don’t mind coming with me?”

[Conrad Manne]

"No, I think if you say 'Ann' often enough, you'll be safe from that." Again, Conrad just rolled his eyes. Alex had enough to stress out about without him teasing him over being homophobic. Though it had been a long while since the last time people had assumed they were a couple, it had happened before.

And anyway, they had more important things to talk about.

"I'm sure. And I resent the implication that I would tell anyone, even Jean." The researcher fell into step with his best friend, and elbowed him playfully in the side. His little brothers might as well have been Alex's little brothers as well, but he knew how to keep a secret, and the best way to do that was not telling Jean anything. "So what made you decide to do it now?"

Conrad was pretty sure he already knew the answer. After all, he lived with Alex and had known about the scare. And if he was in his best friend's shoes, he'd probably be doing the same thing right now. "So where are we going first?" There were two small jewelry stores that he knew of in the mall, not counting the one attached to the tattoo parlor. And though he didn't think Ann would want anything from there, this was Alex he was talking to.

[Alexander McKenzie]

See? That was why he needed his best friend here. To keep him calm, and to remind him that he was being a complete idiot. “Right. Yeah.” It made sense. Not that he really minded it when people mistook them for a couple. Normally it was laughed off. Right now? Last thing he needed. This was hard enough already.

The elbow served to make his step falter, and he had to grin. “Yeah, right.” He was teasing now. “You’re as bad as Jean sometimes.” Still, he trusted Connie to keep this particular secret. Like any brothers, surrogate or not, there would always be incidents of ‘don’t tell!’ followed by an immediate spill of whatever the other wanted kept hidden. Usually that went on when RC and Jean were visiting, and the whole thing devolved into an all out wrestling match, filled with squirming and laughing.

The question gave him pause, though. He pursed his lips, clicking the ring against his teeth for a moment. He hadn’t really outright told Connie about the scare, but he was positive he knew anyway. “Well... I told her. About everything.” Out of habit, he touched his arm, despite the fact it was covered by his jacket sleeve. “And she accepted it. She loves me, I love her.” He shrugged. “It’s not like I’m going to ask her like... tomorrow. I just want to be ready for when it is right.”

With that, he just shrugged at the next question. “I don’t know. Whichever’s closest right now.” He was way out of his depth here, with no ideas on how to fix it. He bought a lot of jewellery, yes. He knew both jewellery stores fairly well, as well as the one attached to Threshold. But this was different. And he wanted to do it right.

[Conrad Manne]

"You're lucky I know you're stressed out, or else I'd take offense to that. I can keep secrets better than Jean. Always." The teasing was gentle, and not really even at his little brother's expense. Yeah, there were times where he didn't, but even then he certainly lasted longer than the little alchemist.

Conrad nodded, quiet as Alex talked around the scare. He understood that nervousness, the fear that you were going to get sick and never get better. He'd looked up the statistics, years ago, and each year Alex went without a relapse increased his chances. But there was nothing he could do except monitor it and wait. At least Conrad had his medicines; it felt like he was able to do something to keep himself healthy. Alex was just waiting.

And he'd shared it with Ann, which was better than Conrad had done with any of his dates since his last serious girlfriend, back in college. "That's great to hear, man." He gave Alex a pat on the shoulder and a genuine smile. "You two are good together." He was pretty sure he'd never actually said that to his best friend before, but it was true. Ann was just perfect for Alex, and the other way around.

He followed his friend into the first of the jewelry stores, a smallish shop with just one older woman working behind the counter. She was showing off a pendant to a woman at the other end of the glass display case, so Conrad turned to Alex instead. He'd probably done some research on this already. "So...what are you looking for, exactly?"

[Alexander McKenzie]

Alex had to smile at the response as he fell back into step with Conrad. “Sorry, bro. You know I’m teasing, right? If I wanted anything broadcast, I’d tell Jean first.” Really, he couldn’t believe his nerves. This probably would have been impossible on his own.

There were reasons that he didn’t go around talking much about his health. He didn’t like the fact that all he was doing was sitting around, waiting. In that way, he was almost a little envious of Conrad.

Sharing had been one of the single most terrifying moments of his life. Every time he’d tried to come clean before, he’d gotten dumped. It had seemed to become the standard, to the point that he didn’t want to be with anyone, let alone tell them. His little plan had worked for a while. Until he’d met Ann. He glanced up to give Connie a wan smile. “Thanks, Connie. That means a lot.” His best friend’s opinion meant the world to him.

Once he was in the store, Alex made a beeline for the rings in the case. Though there was a very obvious display of engagement and wedding bands, that wasn’t what he was looking for. Connie’s question made him smile as he studied the rings. “Not diamonds. Ann would kill me, and I really don’t have the cash.” He knew exactly what he was looking for. “Opals. I want to find an opal ring. Ann really likes them, and it’s her birthstone.” If that sounded lame, he was sorry, but it was what he wanted. He was positive Ann would like it.

[Conrad Manne]

"Plus, there's that whole blood diamond thing." Conrad had done a little reading--he was a researcher, but when he'd tried researching engagement rings, he'd been distracted by the controversy over where all the diamonds came from--so he liked the idea of opals. Plus, they were unexpected. Perfect for Ann and Alex. "That sounds nice. Set in gold?" He looked over the engagement rings on display, though they were still all diamonds, the settings looked more engagement-y. "Do you want other stones, or something?" There was a lot of jewelry there, and it was all a bit overwhelming.

The researcher leaned over the counter, looking at the other stuff on display. No opals that he could see. "Have you talked to her about it?" Though he understood why Alex would want to ask now, they were still just in their first semester of college. "Does she know this is coming?"

[Alexander McKenzie]

“Yeah, that too.” Alex made a little face. He only knew a little bit about that whole mess, and he really didn’t want to know any more than he did. He was sticking with the reasoning that Ann would probably put him in a headlock if he even tried. “Yeah, gold’s ideal, but even platinum would work.” He wasn’t sure if Ann would have a color preference over silver or gold, but most of the jewellery she had seemed to be gold. “Uh... maybe? Maybe those fake diamonds? That zirconia stuff?” He had no idea what it was really called.

Just to be thorough, Alex scuttled over to where a few more rings were laid out for display. Still nothing that looked like an opal. This was getting just a little discouraging. He went back to Conrad’s side, listening to him talk. “... Sort of. I mean, nothing concrete. But enough to inspire this.” ‘This’ was accompanied with a little wave of Alex’s hand at the glass counter. “She doesn’t know it’s coming, though. I was going to surprise her when...” When, exactly? “... When it feels right.” Shrugging, he let his gaze flick over the engagement rings. “Do we need help?”

[Conrad Manne]

"Cubic zirconia, I think. And would she want yellow or white gold?" The rings in the case were all pretty, but he didn't know how much Ann would like them. She wasn't girly; she was tough. (Tougher than Alex, despite all the tattoos.) So Conrad really wasn't going to be much help with the selection. His job was more to make sure Alex didn't get too freaked out about it.

"That sounds cool, then." Maybe they'd wait until they were a little older, which made sense. "And yeah, I don't know what I'm doing either." He looked over at the other and of the counter and gave a small wave to the older woman, who had just finished up with the woman she'd been helping. When she walked over, Conrad gave her his most charming grin and clapped Alex on the shoulder. "This guy is looking for an opal engagement ring, and I'm here to make sure he doesn't get cold feet."

[Alexander McKenzie]

“Probably white. Yellow’s... I don’t know. Too girly?” If he was talking about any other girl, that might have sounded odd. Girls were supposed to want girly when it came to things like this. Again, he looked over the selections, starting to bounce slightly on the balls of his feet. Why was this so much harder than he’d first thought? It really was a good thing Conrad was there to keep him calm.

“Yeah... how is it possible that buying jewellery is so hard when you’re doing it for other people?” Other people that could easily refuse the ring. Alex swallowed, toying with one of his own rings until Conrad’s hand on his shoulder made him look up. He gave the woman at the desk the most confident smile he could muster. “Um, yeah. I wanted to find an opal ring. It’s my girlfriend’s birthstone.” The woman at the counter gave them a quick glance before smiling. “What’s her name?” Alex relaxed a bit. “Ann,” he said with a little smile. She gestured a little further down the glass case. “I have some opal rings down this way. It’s not traditional, but see if you like any of these.” With that, she pulled out a little bed with a good assortment of rings, some with gemstones, and a few clustered in a corner with opals. Alex studied them, instantly attracted to one in particular. “Hey, Connie? What do you think of this one?” He pointed it out. It was small, so the chances of Ann liking it were better.

[Conrad Manne]

"Of course it's hard. This is more important than the junk you put in your face." But the researcher grinned at his best friend as he teased him. Why was Alex surprised this was difficult? It was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime thing, wasn't it? Granted, Conrad hadn't ever bought any jewelry for anyone other than his mom.

He was a bit relieved too when the woman behind the counter seemed so enthusiastic about helping him find the right one. He peered over Alex's shoulder at the tray of rings. They were all really pretty, and he didn't envy his friend's decision. But when he picked out the ring, it really did look like something Ann would like. Pretty, but simple. Not flashy. "I think she'd love it."

[Alexander McKenzie]

“Hey! That takes a lot of thought, thank you.” Alex elbowed Conrad in a playful way. But he was right. This was so much more important. He was glad to have Connie along for the ride. He hadn’t run away, or squeaked when he spoke, or anything he was trying so hard to avoid.

The whole thing was overwhelming, even more so than trying to choose a drawing to have inked onto his skin, or which earring to put in his new piercing. But he knew Ann, and he knew what she’d like. “Yeah?” Alex trusted Conrad, and he was feeling more confident now. “Great.” “Is this the one?” The woman asked the question with a knowing smile. Alex nodded, grinning.

As soon as the purchase was done, Alex came back to Conrad’s side. “Thanks, Connie. Do you want coffee or something? My treat, for dragging you along.”

[Conrad Manne]

The grin on Alex's face said enough. The ring was perfect for Ann, and his friend was happy. This was the perfect outcome for the day. "Sure, coffee sounds great. But I think it should be my treat. In congratulations." After all, Lexy was getting engaged. Somewhat soon, anyway.

[Fin]