Grow a Pair (Reece)

[Olivia Baker]

Liv just shook her head not knowing what to say. Why she kept him around despite his goal in life being to embarrass her was beyond her... because she still did... and she somehow felt weird when he wasn't around. 

"Ok." She said as she closed her door eyeing him as he messed up her perfectly made bed and grabbed her Ukelele off the wall. "Hmmm." She strummed it thinking about what to play him. 

"You really don't deserve a show." She chuckled nervously, "And I'm not promising it'll be pretty... my songs are usually pretty dumb." She rambled taking a breath. "ok." 

She strummed a few more times before opening her mouth to sing... a pretty song coming out. 

A long time ago, in a story so old

There was a beauty and and a beast, or so I’ve been told 

They were these two strangers, two lonely souls 

But it’s not what you think, no, here’s how it goes:

Lets start with the Beast, he was ugly and scary 

Pathetic and poor, and horribly hairy 

The outside was rough, but once he smiled 

You could see that he had a heart of gold inside

The Beast loved a Beauty, this pretty little thing 

She was the fairest of them all, and she could dance and sing 

But unlike the beast whose love shined the best 

She loved herself, never cared for the rest

La Belle et la bête (the beauty and the beast) 

Quelle tragédie (what a tragedy) 

Elle est comme le jour (she is like the day) 

Il est comme la nuit (he is like the night) 

Il est amoureux (he is in love) 

Elle ne se soucie pas (she doesn't care) 

Vont-ils mourir tout seule? (Will they die alone?) 

On verra (We'll see)

One day the beast found the Beauty ”Perfection” 

Sitting by the lake (making love to her reflection) 

The Beast then decided that it was the time 

To tell the pretty Beauty of his feelings inside

He stepped out from the shades with a flower in hand 

Said bravely: ”My lady, the fairest in this land, 

I might not be a prince, but my heart beats for you!” 

Oh the Beauty just laughed, so cold, so cruel

”You smelly old fat hairy pig”, she said 

”You thought I could love you? I’d rather be dead!” 

Still laughing she turned and danced to her home 

Leaving the Beast, heart-broken, alone

La Belle et la Bête…

While the Beauty lives all by herself still today 

The Beast learned his lesson and changed his ways 

He found that true beauty cannot be seen 

And that things are most likely not what they seem

She hummed several more beats before ending the song, flopping onto her bed out of breath. "Happy?" She asked looking up at him. "Now go ahead and make fun of me." 



------

((song can be heard here : also not my song)) 

[Reece Morgan]

Lying on his side, Reece made sure he paid attention without looking like a creeper staring at her. He rolled his eyes and waved his hand for her to start playing.

He hadn't expected her to have talent, mostly because she couldn't be smart, pretty and talented. It was unfair. But of course...the girl had to prove him wrong.

The song itself was already a work of art. The words were deep, deeper than he understood, clearly. And then there was her voice. It wasn't crispy clean but the little inflections were what made it sound so...captivating.

He found himself staring at her as she spoke again. Blinking, he sat up straight on her bed and cleared his throat. "How...did that come about?"

[Olivia Baker]

She shrugged, "I don't know." She chuckled, "I just woke up one day humming the tune and then wrote it... it's stupid." She sighed as she pulled herself up to sit next to him, her arm brushing against his as she tried to read him. He seemed impressed which gave her a big dose of confidence that could only cause trouble.

"I know it's kind of a dumb song." Ok, she was fishing for compliments. But she wanted him to dote on her and be impressed and amazed and all of that. She knew she didn't suck.

[Reece Morgan]

The first time she insulted herself, Reece frowned. The girl must surely know how talented she was, mixing two languages in one song. And singing it well. Incredibly so. He was seriously feeling a tad envious that this pretty and smart girl also had other talents outside of her face and intelligence. What couldn't she do?

"It's so not a dumb song. I can't write songs for shit. And I'm betting my IQ is higher than yours. Sorry to say." He shrugged with a smug grin. "Seriously though, that musta taken some brain juice." Reece pointed out. He reached out and patted her on her shoulder. "It may not mean much but I liked it." He admitted.

[Olivia Baker]

She rolled her eyes and sighed. Again with the IQ. It felt as if he was sent to remind her that she was disappointing her family. "Yeah brain juice I should be applying to practical things." she said as she looked up at the stars on her ceiling. She knew they were dumb but one of her brothers had mailed them to her when she first got to Hammel all those years ago, they were comforting in a way. 

"You're lucky it comes so naturally to you... the book stuff... I mean it used to for me but I honestly have to work so hard to keep up sometimes." She admitted, it was the first time she'd said it out loud. "I mean if it weren't for me being able to slow down to get more time for homework I'd likely be riding the short bus around," She tried to joke and glanced over at Reece. She was talking too much.  


"Sorry... this is all probably wayyy too much information." She grabbed a pillow and threw it at Reece to lighten the mood. 

[Reece Morgan]

He hadn't meant for the joke to be insulting. He never actually means any of his jokes to be taken too literally. What was the point of a joke then? But he wasn't aware that he had insulted her and so he went on with his smug grin. "Oh please. There are more important things than being book smart." He pointed out. "Did you not watch Harry Potter? I mean, Hermione Granger may have been the smart one but who had all the fun? Ron Weasley. And Harry Potter, minus all the dying obviously but...there you have it."

As she spoke, Reece couldn't help but feel like they were stepping into a more intimate territory. Why has this been a recurring theme with this girl?

"Nah it's cool." He shrugged and looked away from the girl before sliding off the bed. "Okay...I think that's enough entertainment for me for one day. Hey, I'll see you around yeah?" Reece grinned lightly and ruffled Olivia's hair. "Bundle up girl. You're too skinny to go around bare armed like that in this weather." He teased and made to walk out of the room.

Typical Reece. Typical dumb ass Reece.

[Olivia Baker]

Liv looked over at him as he started to collect himself dumbfounded. What? "You're leaving?" She asked sitting up. Had he not just come all the way over to see her? Had they not gotten into an argument over some stupid threesome thing and then made up just to have him... leave? Seriously?

"Fine." She said slipping off her bed to open the door for him. 

"You know." She started feeling an unusual rush of bravery "I don't know what game you're trying to play with me but it's getting a bit old."