The X-Project

Callie and Fred make a trip to a video store before returning to the Mansion



It had taken Fred a while to gather himself up enough to ask Callie to come with him to grab a flick. He hadn't really been able to talk to her for a while, between Yvette and his...thing...with his Dad. He was sure she'd be uncomfortable with him after his destruction of the TV (which he'd managed to replace), but she seemed as energetic and positive as ever. It made Fred almost incapable of _not_ smiling whenever he stole a glance over at her. And after the whole thing with Inez in the gym...Fred could use the night off. As he walked the aisles of the movie rental store, he kept running into a conundrum: how to pick a movie they would both like...

Fred was currently looking at the Cult Classics wall, rubbing his chin contemplatively...


"Hey so what's your feeling about indie flicks," Callie asked as she came bouncing up behind him, two movies in hand. "They have Donnie Darko and Run Lola Run." She knew her tastes veered onto the esoteric side, and so she decided to try and keep it a little more on the approachable side. Those movies were at least ones that more people had heard of at least, not her usual choice of 'things no one has ever heard of before.'


"I just watched Donnie Darko, like a week ago....but I could watch Lola a thousand times..." Fred caught Callie bouncing up and couldn't keep the aforementioned smile off his face. He knelt in front of the wall and scooped up a pair of DVDs, "You ever catch Soylent Green? Heston at his best before he got all, uh, gunny..."


"Ooooh," she sidled up next to him to glance down at the DVD box. "I have not. But dystopian movies are always good. I warn you, I might try to start a philosophical discussion while watching them." Callie looked up at him and smiled. She hadn't seen to much of him lately, so she was definitely excited to see him now, even if that meant watching a movie she didn't care for. Fortunately she was genuinely interested in watching this one.


Fred grinned broadly at Callie, and carefully tucked a stray ribbon of her hair back behind her ear. He'd take any excuse to touch her, he thought, and turned back to the DVDs to hide his blush. He chuckled and held up another DVD to Callie, trying to hide his face, "Then again, there's always the remastered edition of....GAMERA," he said, with as much cheesy inflection as he could muster.


Uncontrolled laughter bubbled out of her, and she quickly covered her mouth to contain the volume. "How about we save that for next time?"


Fred stood up and held Run Lola Run and Soylent Green in his hands, still smiling at his own joke, "No reason we can't have both, right?" he said, and held out his hand towards the register, so as to lead Callie that direction...


In an act of supreme self-confidence Callie decided not to follow that hand, but rather laced his fingers between hers and started to pull him toward the register. She had no idea how he would react, but she never would if she didn't try. "I am long overdo for a movie marathon. And if these aren't enough I have a pretty big collection, but most of them are in different languages."


Fred smiled goofily and let his hand tangle around Callie's. Then, careful to control just how much force he was exerting, gently pulled Callie back towards him and softly kissed her. When he he pulled away, he simply said, "Movie marathon it is."


There was a mental squeal and a goofy smile to match Fred's as Callie turned her face away. She could feel herself turning bright red, but in a good way. "That sounds perfect," she declared, pushing her hair out of her face and looking up at him. "I make great popcorn?"


"What a coincidence: I eat good popcorn," Fred walked with Callie toward the register, removing his wallet to pay for the films. He picked up a few two liters of soda along the way, and pointed a thumb at the candy in front of register, "You feeling any candy?"


"Not really," she said as she lost her balance for a moment and leaned against him before straightening up. "I still have a bunch of stuff my dad gave me for Easter." Yes, there was still some left, which was surprising given the number of mansion residents who she had shared it with. But then again, it had been a lot of candy; more than enough for her to eat.


Fred put a tentative arm around Callie as she leaned into him, and handed the employee behind the register the money for the two movies. As that and the sodas were being bagged, he looked to Callie, "So, which do you wanna do first: organized cannibalism, or boyfriend saving through extreme aerobics?"


Wow. This was entirely unexpected, but quite nice, Callie thought as she leaned back into him as they walked. She contemplated their choices. "You know that's a tough decision." Not really as it didn't really matter which order they watched the movies in. They were probably going to watch both of them. "Hmmm I'm going to cast my vote for multiple lives and lots of running around?"


Fred nodded as they walked out together and opened the door of his beat up truck for Callie, "Lola it is." Fred went around his his side and hopped in, and turned the key until the older truck's reliable engine gave a loud growl of life. After he glanced to make sure Callie was buckled, he threw the truck into gear and they were off.

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The aroma of freshly made kettle corn filled the room as Callie settled in at the foot of the bed to watch the movie she and Fred had picked out. Julian was absent from the room, and Callie made a mental note to thank him with cookies later. It's not that she didn't want to see Julian, especially with all that was happening with him right now, but she was feeling selfish and wanted to spend time with just Fred. She figured she could allow Julian to join them after the first movie, with Fred's accord of course, but not just yet.

"I've probably seen this movie like a dozen times," she said off-handedly as she held out the bowl for him. "My friends and I."


Fred leaned against the bed as he sat next to Callie, offering her a cup of soda as he began the DVD on the sizable TV that had found its way into his and Julian's room, "I caught it a couple times. It's no Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, but it's definitely in my Top 50..." Fred was sort of a connoisseur of eccentric things such as odd movies and the like, and it really showed now that he had found a kindred spirit in these sort of things...


Callie wrinkled her nose as she accepted the soda and took a sip. "I'm not a big fan of Guy Ritchie, but maybe that's because I'm one of those people who prefers foreign language films. You know, 'if it doesn't have subtitles it's not any good,'" she teased nudging him slightly.


Fred stuck his tongue out, "Some early German and French stuff, and pretty much anything from Japan before the seventies, but otherwise, you gotta lotta hogwash sayin' a whole buncha nuthin..."


"And Hollywood is any different? At least it's sounds pretty in French and Italian."


"Yea? And a Gremlin looks prettier dipped in gold...but at the end of the day, you still have a shitty car, yea?" Fred said, and raised an eyebrow to Callie and snagged some of her popcorn.


"Ma gli italiani conosce l'amore," came the retort as Callie popped a few kernels in her mouth and chewed, looking quite proud of herself.


A bolt of lightning went through Fred as he heard Callie speak in her flowing Italian tones, and he almost choked to death on a handful of popcorn as he turned a fairly unpleasant shade of scarlet.


"Fred are you okay?" Callie scrambled up, ready to take action if she needed to. She had gone through CPR training last year, and hoped she wouldn't have to use it now. "Are you choking?"


Fred waved Callie off, and hit himself in the chest a bit to clear his throat. When he finally returned to his proper color, he gave her a sheepish grin, "New rule: you're never allowed to speak to me in Italian. Nope. Never. It's...I don't think I could hear that and not...need a very cold shower and...just..heh..." he blushed again, obviously embarrassed by his reaction and subsequent tongue stupidity.


She was caught between wanting to laugh and blush at his reaction, now that she knew he was okay that is. So instead of choosing she did both, giving an awkward little giggle and hiding her face as it turned a shade rosier. "I'm sorry."


As the DVD was still going through the trailer drawl, Fred took the opportunity in front of him: He moved a bit until he was face to face with Callie and said, "Don't be," before giving her a quick peck on the lips.


Her face brightened up as Callie smiled broadly. "Okay," she whispered. "But no more Italian?"


Fred felt his blush come back a little as he responded, "Well...maybe...every once in a while..." he said, with a humorous little flippancy in his inflection...


"I promise not to do it while you're eating?"


"There we go. Compromise rules," he said as he leaned back and put his arm around Callie as the movie began.