How Bad Can I Be? [Once-Ler Fanfic, Chapter Eight]

Chapter Eight : Coming To An Agreement
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"Come on, people! It's been two months! Would it kill you to at least look at me when I sing to you?"

Once-ler sighed heavily, knowing that his desperate pleas for attention were in vain. He was positive that he had spoken the same words to the same crowd just last week, and they had given him the same indifferent response both times. He was still trying his best to remain unfailingly optimistic about his thneeds, but after such a long amount of time, it was beginning to get difficult to keep the smile on his face. He was starting to feel the strain of his work on his shoulders, and to make it worse, his mother hadn't responded to any of his letters over the past two months. He hadn't wanted to seem clingy or desperate for attention, but he was starting to get impatient. He had figured that she wouldn't reply to any of them -- in fact, he was almost certain that she had promptly thrown them in the paper shredder upon receiving them in the mail -- but it still hurt all the same.

Despite what anyone else said to him, though, Norma was always there to give him encouragement. When they met up for lunch every day, discussing his work, her family, and just life as a whole, she always had something wise to say about keeping optimistic. She would remind him that it was a good thing to have goals, and that with enough persistence he would surely find himself successful one day. Then again, perhaps she was only saying what he wanted to hear. She was an intelligent girl, levelheaded and down-to-earth, and had always been very realistic when talking about her own dreams for the future. It was a little strange to him that she was so wholeheartedly urging him forward, especially given his past relationship with his family. They had only ever brought him down, never content to let him be happy. It was a refreshing change of pace to be complimented and, well...believed in for a change.

Turning to Melvin, he shrugged his shoulders and slowly took the thneed from around his neck, draping it over the mule's saddle. "Tough crowd," he muttered, tugging the brim of his fedora downwards absently. "Oh, well. Sooner or later, they're gonna have to at least acknowledge me. They can't pretend I'm not here forever."

Though that certainly seemed to be the case. The only person he had seen in town that had actually given him any attention was Norma, and though she was a good friend by now and had been his first real customer, he definitely couldn't rely on one person for success. He just had to keep trying, no matter how impossible the task ahead of him seemed. It was that kind of positive thinking that had served to get him this far, after all, and though it was proving difficult recently to keep up that same optimism, he did his best to grin and bear it. He would not give his family the satisfaction of seeing him fail; not when he had already worked so hard, assured them that he would become a success and show them all.

Strumming another quick chord on his guitar, he leaned against one of the columns of the gazebo, staring absently as a spider spun itself a web in the right-hand corner of the roof he stood under. He played his jingle again for what seemed like the millionth time, and he hummed along the song's melody, though it was more to himself than to any specific audience. He was seriously considering just going home early today; his heart just wasn't in the music that he was playing. Even after having lunch with Norma, which usually left him ridiculously chipper, he just couldn't bring himself up to that usual level of energy.

Perhaps it was the strange nightmare that he had had last night that had caused him to be so drained. After all, he was always very sensitive about how much sleep he got. If he didn't get just the right amount of rest every night, he would become decidedly easier to set on edge the next day. While most of the time he managed to keep up a bright, sunny attitude towards life, there were the occassional days when another sharper, more sarcastic side to his personality would show through. He didn't particularly like that side of himself, and normally did a good job of keeping it hidden. He liked getting along with people, though he certainly wasn't afraid to stand up for his beliefs and follow his dreams.

Maybe it wasn't the lack of sleep, but the actual content of the nightmares itself that had him so off his game today. After all, it had been particularly disturbing, odd for someone who hardly ever remembered the dreams he had at night, anyway. He had been strolling through the Truffula Valley -- or, at least, he assumed that was where it was, for nowhere else had those trees -- but it didn't look at all like the beautiful Eden that he knew. It had been a dark, desolate environment, the sky practically purple with a thick, heavy smoke that made it difficult to breathe. All the trees had stood still in their glory, but the tufts had turned from their vibrant shades of pink to pitch-black. In fact, the entire valley had been black, as if someone had poured a giant ink well over the landscape. He had strolled over to a nearby Truffula tree, preparing to chop one down to use the tufts for thneeds. But when the sharp side of his axe had struck into the trunk of the tree, a loud, high-pitched screaming had filled his ears. The tree had been screaming.

He had forced himself to wake up not long after that. Though it had been early that morning when he awoke, he hadn't been able to get back to sleep. The nightmare hadn't been that gruesome as far as scary monsters or other horror-movie cliches, but it had unsettled him. Made him question the use of the tufts for his thneeds. As he had gone about his normal morning routine, though, he had cleared his mind of all those troubling thoughts. Or he had thought so, at least. Even now, as he stood under the gazebo and watched all the townspeople pass him by, he wasn't able to usher the chilling memories out of his mind.

With a soft sigh, he tilted his head back against the column, closing his eyes with exhaustion. Just as he finished playing the song, he heard someone in the distance calling his name. But he had just seen her not an hour ago. Why would she be coming back already?

"Once-Ler! Over here!"

Yet, sure enough, that was her voice, so he slowly opened his eyes and lifted his head, glancing around curiously. Finally, his eyes fell upon her as she rushed into the gazebo, her hair wildly frizzy, her face red. Her eyes were wide behind her glasses, and to say the look on her face was "flustered" would be an extreme understatement. Tugging absently at the hem of her green tee-shirt, she gave him a nervous grin, obviously sensing his confusion as to why she would be back so soon.

"Hey," he greeted with a wave as he strode over to her, the inquisitive look never leaving his face. "We seem to be seeing a lot of each other today, huh?" He smiled at this, chuckling lightly.

She giggled, nodding in agreement as she tucked a curly lock of hair behind her ear. "Y-yeah, I guess so," she replied. She looked up at him, giving him an awkward little shrug before saying, "Actually...I-I have something, um...interesting to tell you."

Raising his eyebrows, he placed his hands on his hips, tilting his head to the side slightly. There was no mistaking the nervous tone in her voice, and that only heightened his suspicions. What could she possibly have to tell him that she had simply forgotten at their lunch together? It looked too important for to have just neglected to mention. Once-Ler cleared his throat, feeling a faint pink blush color his nose and cheeks. Suddenly, he was very reluctant to hear any 'interesting' news that she might have in store for him. Shuffling his feet nervously, he chewed his lower lip and considered for a moment what he wanted to say next.

"U-uh...well, good-interesting or bad-interesting?" he prompted, trying his best to ignore the uneasy note in his own voice.

She shrugged her shoulders, a thoughtful expression on her face as she sighed and admitted, "I-I guess it depends on your interpretation of the word 'interesting'." She looked up at him sheepishly, her glasses slightly askew on the bridge of her nose.

He nodded his head, trying to convince her to go on with her story. He attempted to ignore the rapid thumping of his heart, telling himself quietly that he was merely making a big deal out of something little. This was not a problem. If it were a problem, then Norma certainly would have been a little more upset. Wouldn't she? He had to admit, he was curious to hear what it was that had made her so tense. In the time that he had gotten to know Norma better, he had learned that she very rarely allowed herself to get irrationally upset about anything. When she did get angry, though, she certainly did not hold back, and always let Once-Ler know precisely what was on her mind. Today, though, she seemed so reluctant and secretive. What was going on here?

"Okay, well, I'll try to be open-minded," he conceded, laughing lightly to conceal his uncertainties about the conversation. He took her hand, gesturing over to a nearby bench. "We can go sit down, if you want," he suggested, taking into mind that she looked rather uneasy. He really didn't know how to deal with swooning women.

She nodded, and the two of them headed over to the bench together. She sat down with an unceremonious thud, and Once-Ler sunk into the space next to her, stretching his long legs out in front of him and crossing his ankles casually. He turned to her, raising his eyebrows expectantly, his blue eyes dancing with intrigue. She bit her lower lip hesitantly for a moment, then ndoded her head, encouraging herself to go on. He waited patiently for her to start talking, not knowing what else there would be to say to her, regardless. Brushing a lock of hair out of her face with a soft sigh, she finally looked up at him, a regretful expression etched all over her features.

"Once-Ler," she began quietly, kneading her hands restlessly in her lap, "I think I might have gotten you into a really complicated situation. It's not your fault, I just...said something without thinking, and now...I need your help." He blinked mutely back at her, and she pushed forward with what she needed to say, prompted by the silence between them. "There's this...well, I guess you could call him a friend of mine...Arthur Wiggins, but he and I never really see eye-to-eye. A-anyway, we ran into each other at the library just now, and he, um, asked me on a d-date."

Giving an uncertain little chuckle, Once-Ler cracked his knuckles restlessly and responded, "Well, I hope you're not asking my advice on fashion or anything like that, because I obviously wouldn't be much help. Ehehe. I just throw on whatever fits and whatever's comfortable."

"O-oh, no, it's not that," she insisted, shaking her head quickly and holding up her hands. If he wasn't mistaken, the blush on her face grew even darker as she added, "Actually, um...to avoid the date...I told him that I already had a boyfriend. I-I lied and told him that...you were my boyfriend. And then he invited us to go to some party he's having at his house on Saturday. I-I told him that...that we would be able to go." She looked up at him from under her eyelashes, shame and humiliation written all over her face and shining in her eyes.

His eyes grew wider at this statement, the color draining from his face. His shoulders tensed a little where he sat, and he furrowed his brow, shaking his head slightly in extreme confusion. "Y-you what?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. "Why did you tell him that?"

She sighed with frustration, clapping a hand to her forehead and ducking her head down as she replied, blushing darkly, "I-I don't know! I guess it was just because yours was the first name that came to mind." Slowly lowering her hand, she looked back up at him sheepishly and muttered, "I hope you're not too mad at me."

Once-Ler remained silent, taking a moment to allow himself to mull over this new information. This was certainly something that had never happened to him before, so he wasn't entirely sure how to best approach the situation. Norma was a close friend to him, after all, and it was clear from her behavior that she really did feel guilty and embarrassed for using his name in a lie. As a child, he had been used as his mother's scapegoat all the time; during his teen years, he had gotten smart enough to be able to call her out on it, but he soon had learned that it was useless to do so. She had merely given him that same sickly-sweet smile and made up some excuse from her actions, and then had dropped the subject just like that. Not Norma. Norma was sincere, kind, and there wasn't a doubt in his mind that she had merely used his name accidentally.

Still, this was definitely perplexing. Even if he did assure her that he was not angry with her, what did she want him to do about the situation? He didn't know this guy that Norma was talking about, so he couldn't just march up to him and tell him the truth. Besides, he thought that Norma was quite capable of handling him on her own. Then again, if that was the case, why on earth would she have come to him with this problem? He was hardly the one to go to if confrontation was required, and especially over something like romance. He was fairly inexperienced in that area, and doubted if he would be much help in settling things for her if she requested it of him.

Finally, he shook his head, his voice breathless with surprise as he responded, "N-no, I'm not mad. Don't worry about it. I'm just, uh, really confused here. Why are you telling me all this?" He snorted a little, rolling his eyes good-naturedly as he laughed, "It's not like we're actually gonna go." He waited a moment for her laughter, as well, but when she kept looking at him with that unnervingly serious expression, he cringed a little and added, his voice cracking up an octave in pitch, "R-right?"

She took a deep breath, clamping her lips together and remaining quiet for a moment. "That's," she began again at last, "where it gets interesting."

"O-oh, great," he replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he pushed a hand through his hair. Raising his eyebrows, he gave her a curious look and said, "What are you implying here, Norma?"

Shrugging her shoulders and giving a nervous little laugh, Norma asked quietly, "Well, um...how good is your acting?"

"W-well, I don't know...I did a little drama in high school, but not seriously!" he sputtered, lifting his shoulders in a shrug. His eyes, at this point, were the size of saucepans, his hair disheveled from how many times he had raked his fingers through his bangs. "A-and anyway, what're you suggesting? That we actually go and pretend to be a couple? Just so you can get away with a lie?"

Blushing heavily, Norma cleared her throat and gave a short, barely-detectable nod. "I thought that might work...o-only if you feel comfortable with it, though! I-I mean, I'm not going to force you to go through with this. After all, I was the one who dragged you into this mess. I should clean up after myself, instead of getting my friends to take responsibility."

Just as he was about to agree with her statements, however, a thought occured to him. Maybe this party would give him a brand-new opportunity to advertise the thneed to a wider audience. Surely someone there would be at least one person there that would show interest in his invention. Or perhaps, if he played his cards right, he could find someone who just might be intoxicated enough to listen to his ideas for more than a few seconds before leaving him behind. This would be an excellent chance to really jump-start his career, he had to admit.

And not only that, but the thought of attending a party with Norma, even as just friends, certainly intrigued him. He thought that it would be nice to have the chance to see her in a different light; surely, she behaved differently in front of her family and close friends than she did around him. Not that they weren't close after all this time together, but still, there had to be some people who knew her better than he did. For example, this Wiggins person. From the way that Norma talked about him, he didn't seem like someone that was particularly likeable, but they undeniably had history together. Once-ler had never really seen Norma interact with people other than himself before, and so he was curious to learn a little more about her own life in town. He was positive that it would be interesting to find out.

"You know what?" Once-Ler said after a short pause, lifting his forefinger and wagging it as he smiled and presented his little idea to her. "Actually...this could work out to our advantage, Norma!"

She blinked, her brow furrowing with confusion. "It could? How do you figure that?"

Flailing his hands in the air, out of both mere force of habit and perhaps for dramatic effect, he answered quickly, "W-well, because! Don't you see? At a party, there'll be plenty of people to advertise my invention to! With such a comfortable environment, maybe they'll be a little nicer to me. And then when we actually show up to the party together...well, then, this Wiggins guy will take a hint and leave you alone! It's a win-win all around!"

He watched intently as Norma considered this, a thoughtful expression on her face. Pushing her glasses upwards on the bridge of her nose, she nodded her head slowly, hopefully in approval with his plan. An excited grin tugged at his lips as he stared down at her, wondering what she would have to say about his proposal. He had to admit, the idea certainly had merit. It couldn't hurt to at least try! Or was he merely being too optimistic? He had a habit of thinking that way, after all, and it was hard to shake. He tilted his head to the side slightly as the silence began to drag on for a while. He hoped that he hadn't offended her with his words. He had really meant no harm by his suggestion.

"Hm...well, Once-Ler," said Norma, looking up after what seemed like an eternity and giving him a sunny smile. "I think that this plan of yours...might just work! The party starts at eight o'clock. You could come pick me up at my house, or we could just meet here, if you like."  She paused, then shook her head, not even giving him enough time to answer. "You know what? I like that idea better. Let's just meet up at the gazebo. Okay?"

He quirked an eyebrow, wondering why she changed her mind so quickly, but after a moment, he nodded as well. The excitement shone clearly in his eyes as the two of them shared a quick laugh before he nodded, practically bouncing where he stood as he replied, "Okay, sounds great to me!" He patted her affectionately on the shoulder, practically radiating energy and optimism. "You know what? I-I'm actually...kinda looking forward to this!"

Norma giggled, pushing her slender fingers through her wild curls. "Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see how I feel about it. I've never really been much of a partier," she confessed with a sheepish grin.

"O-oh...oh, neither have I!" Once-Ler admitted, blushing lightly. He rubbed the back of his neck as he continued, his voice filled with amusement, "I never really tended to make the invite list, you know. But that's okay by me. I think most of the people that threw those parties in my high school were bad news." His voice trailed off, his eyes going to his feet for an instant before he looked back up at her with a bright grin. "But who knows? Maybe if we're lucky, we'll give the party some much-needed liveliness!"

"Maybe so," agreed Norma, nodding and giving another light laugh. "Actually, you're probably right about that. Arthur's dad has never really thrown the best parties. I-I've only been to one other one before, and that was when I was six...s-so maybe it'll be better." She bit her lower lip and shrugged tentatively.

Once-Ler laughed, pushing his fedora back slightly on his head as he replied, "Well, I'll find a way to make it interesting, anyway. You can count on me for that!" He smiled proudly, tugging on his raggedy vest and nodding his head assuredly.

Wrinkling her nose and giggling again, she responded, "I'm sure I can."

She beamed up at him for a moment, though the look in her eyes seemed to suggest that she was contemplating something. Just as he was about to ask her what was on her mind, though, she pushed herself forward and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. She was several inches shorter than him, so her head leaned against his chest as she hugged him. He jumped with surprise as she threw her arms around his midsection, staring down at her with shock and confusion written all over his features. After several seconds, he returned the hug, patting her on the back somewhat awkwardly.

"Thank you for helping me out with this, Once-Ler," she said, her tone light and gentle. "I really appreciate it. Especially when I'm the one who dragged you into this childish mess in the first place."

He smiled sheepishly, giving his shoulders the slightest shrug as he laughed quietly and said, "H-hey, don't worry about it. It's not like I have anything better to do. Sit at home, play guitar, knit...crashing a party sounds waaaaaay more interesting." The grin on his face grew wider as he spoke, excitement bursting forth in his eyes. Pulling away gently from the embrace, he patted her lightly on the shoulder and nodded his head. "Anyway, don't worry about a thing. I'm sure that we can handle this."

"Y-you're right," conceded Norma, nodding her head vigorously in agreement. "A little optimism never hurt anyone!" Nudging Once-Ler playfully, she added with a lighthearted giggle, "Okay, then. I guess I'll see you then."

"Yep," he responded with a smile, squaring his shoulders and chuckling. "Looking forward to it, girlfriend," he added teasingly, reaching over and ruffling her hair playfully.

Norma let out a high-pitched little yelp of surprise as he tousled her hair, her hands immediately flying upward to fix the frizzes. She giggled, looking back up at him and winking jokingly. "Me too, boyfriend," she mimicked, giving him one last gentle nudge and an excited wave before turning on her heel and walking off in the opposite direction.

Once-Ler smiled to himself as he watched her striding briskly away, turning around and heading towards his wagon. The entire way home, it was hard to fight the blush coloring his features.