‹ Prequel: Pretty Bird

Pretty Bird; B-Sides

Holly/Curtis.

The sun was setting over the horizon, painting the rolling green hills of northern England red and gold, the lush green grass shining through in the absence of the rays. From their small, comfortable Sheffield home, Holly sat still on the back porch, their tiny garden giving them the perfect view of the sunset before them. She was barefoot, a rare and welcome change for such normally cold weather, the rough wood gently scratching at the bottoms of her feet as she rested them on the wooden steps. The backs of her legs felt the soft scratching of the wood too, since she had also taken advantage of the nice weather by wearing one of her favorite sundresses; a strapless thing with a dark blue and white pattern. Her dark hair fell lazily past her shoulders, keeping the chill off of her bare skin there for the time being, the night also bringing the typical cold temperature. Her eyes were heavy, filled with some kind of unexplainable emotion as she watched the sun sink away from her view, traveling to go wake up another part of the world while wishing her world to bed. She kept her eyes on the sun painted clouds as her arm came up, her chin resting in her palm as her elbow balanced on her knee. Suddenly, her boyfriend joined her, jarring her from her reverie with his slightly loud steps on the wooden steps as he sat down next to her, his long skinny arm wrapping itself around her shoulders as he brought her close into his side.

"Are you alright?" He whispered, completely disregarding the sunset and looking down at his girl, his long fringe falling into his face and blocking the sunset from his view.

"Mhm." She hummed, not even opening her mouth.

Curtis frowned slightly at her mild response, his ego slightly hurt. He was expecting something more from her; maybe one of her signature smiles or even a small kiss on his lips.

"I'm just watching the sunset." She finally said, still not taking her eyes off of the scenery.

"It's pretty." Curtis commented, looking forward at it. He squinted, leaning forward as if that would help his less than satisfactory vision.

"You can't even really see it." Holly said softly, as if she didn't want Curtis to hear.

"What?" He turned towards her, leaning his good ear closer to her. Her plan obviously worked well.

"Nothing. I just agreed with you." Holly finally brought her eyes from the sunset and turned to her boyfriend, trying to muster up the most convincing smile she could.

He didn't say anything, just looked down at her, their eyes meeting and creating eye contact as he tried to study her face.

After a few silent seconds, Holly broke the eye contact, shaking her head slightly and flipping her hair off of one of her shoulders. "I wanna go inside." She muttered under her breath, keeping her eyes downcast as she attempted to sit up from her seat on the wooden stairs.

"Wait." Curtis commanded, his hand pressing on top of hers, pinning her hand to the small wooden porch they were sitting on.

"Do you need something?" She asked, still refusing to look him in the eye. Her voice conveyed all her emotion though; she was slightly annoyed.

"I..." His voice trailed off, his hand still pinning her hand to the porch as if she would at any moment try to run away if her let her free. "I just miss you, Holly. I feel like we haven't talked in a long time."

"...We're talking right now." She said matter of factly, obviously trying to skirt her away around Curtis' obvious true meaning.

"You know what I mean. You've been so distant. All we do is eat dinner together these days, and you don't even talk to me then. You're always busy doing something all of a sudden. Tell me what's wrong."

She looked up at him again, forcing that same fake reassuring smile onto her face as she leaned towards him, kissing him gently on the lips. "Everything's fine, alright? Now please let me up so I can figure out how we're going to eat tonight."

Curtis just stared blankly into her eyes, trying his best to read her. She used to be an open book to him, a book with a worn cover and a bent spine, something he enjoyed reading every single second of every single day. These days though, her eyes were about as blank and boring as a college history textbook. He finally gave up, lifting his hand off of hers and sighing loudly, watching her with painful eyes as she got up and smoothed her dress out. She didn't look at him as she walked out of the garden and back into the house, the back screen door slamming behind her with a loud click.

Now alone, Curtis let out another long, discontented sigh, resting his elbows on his knees, his hands out in front of him. He clasped his hands together, studying the creases and lines in his hands and fingers, trying desperately to figure out Holly. Things had been so different lately, ever since the doctor's appointment. While Curtis had always had to see the doctor regularly for all of his life, the lifestyle was different and foreign to Holly, no matter how tried to grow accustomed to it. If there was one thing Curtis knew that Holly didn't, it was that doctors never gave him good news.

A half hour had passed, Curtis still sitting outside alone, the sun long gone under the rolling hills. Holly appeared at the door way, her eyes falling onto Curtis' back, his thin hoodie keeping him from absolutely freezing in the cold wind.

"Dinner's ready." She finally said, making him jump from the shock of her voice shattering the silence. "I just got you water, is that alright? We're out of soda."

"Yeah, fine." Curtis said under his breath, getting up from his spot on the steps and into the house, the difference in temperatures in the two spaces making him instantly shed his hoodie in the house.

He followed her into the kitchen, sitting down at the table, at the seat with the tall glass of water, with ice cubes. Holly hated ice cubes. It was the one way he could always tell which seat would be his. He only sat alone for a few seconds before Holly came to the table, carrying a large bowl of hot, steaming spaghetti.

"It's vegetarian. Sorry." Holly said, setting in the middle of the table and sitting down at her seat, the seat across from him. Curtis just shrugged, leaning forward over the table to grab the spaghetti. This was the normal routine, the sickening and stale course of actions both of them had grown into doing. Curtis would sit, Holly would get the food, and let him serve himself first. Holly was always too giving like that, never thinking it was a big deal to let Curtis go first.

The minutes passed slowly and awkwardly, as always. Both of them stared down at their plates full of spaghetti, Holly's hand resting on her water glass while Curtis' were in his lap, his fork set down just moments before.

"So..." He started, jarring them instantly out of the dinner routine.

"So what?" Holly asked slowly, looking up at him as if he was crazy.

"Just please tell me what's wrong. Please, Holly." He pleaded, his eyebrows raising as his eyes gazed at her hopelessly.

"You should know." Holly finally said after a pregnant pause, her hand letting go of her water glass and falling into her lap, her eyes downcast. "You're crippling yourself. And you don't seem to care half as much as you should."

"Crippling myself? What are you on about?" Curtis now gave her the awkward look, before his mind flashed back to the day at the doctor's office. "Oh." He sighed, rolling his eyes. "Stop being so dramatic. I'm fine. I get on well enough."

"You can barely hear me unless I'm right next to you, and even Lee has been worrying. And your vision has always been shot. You can't even see out of one eye! What if something happens to the other one? And then you can't hear and you can't see!"

"Then we'll have to get a golden retriever, wont we?" Curtis whispered, a small smile escaping and finding its way onto his lips.

".....What?" Holly spat, glaring at him.

"You know, a service dog. We can teach it to turn off the lights for us so we don't have to get out of bed!"

Curtis' crooked smile stayed on his face as he stared expectantly at Holly, waiting for her angered glare to crack and for a smile to appear on her lips, only to be followed be a giggle, marking her defeat. It was the way he always used to clear up fights in the past; a good joke always seemed to work well for him. This time though, she just glared from across the table, before immediately standing up, and picking up her bowl of half eaten spaghetti.

"You're so funny, Curtis." She spat under her breath, turning away from him and to the sink. Her bowl met the counter with a crash, her back still turned towards him.

He just sighed, standing up from the table too. "Holly...I was just trying to make you not mad at me."

"No! You don't care, Curtis! Why the hell don't you care!"

"I do care! But there's nothing I can do!" He finally felt his patience give in, his voice now rising to meet Holly's screams. She turned around to face him, that angry look still very present in her eyes.

"You're going to go deaf, Curtis! You won't hear anything!" She repeated, as if he didn't know already. He just scoffed, his hair falling into his eyes.

"What would you like me to do about it, Holly? What would you like me to do!"

She just stared at him, the anger seething through her body as they both stood there on opposite ends of the kitchen, their voices just at the cusp between yelling and just strained conversation. Finally, she opened her mouth to speak. "I want....I want you to take care of yourself."

He just stared at her for a while also, before his hands reached up, covering his face. "I do the best I can."

Holly just rolled her eyes, leaning back on the counter behind her. "You just pretend it doesn't exist."

"I've actually been thinking about it." Curtis whispered, all the anger completely out of his voice. He looked down at his shoes, before looking back up at Holly, who seemed to not look too mad anymore either.

Holly stayed silent, her big brown eyes now full of emotion as they focused on her boyfriend, who seemed to look so small and confused in front of her.

"I think I need to quit the band, Holly." His voice was barely audible as he brushed his fringe out of his eyes, staring at her intently. He needed to see her reaction; it would make or break everything.

"Quit the band..." She repeated under a heavy breath, looking down at the tiled kitchen floor before turning her eyes back to his. "Curtis, you can't."

"I want to be able to hear as long as I can." He shrugged, as if it wasn't a big deal.

"But, this is your dream! You love this. You've always wanted this."

"Maybe it's just not meant to be. Divine intervention or something, I don't know..." He trailed off, walking across the kitchen, to where they were face to face. "I thought you'd be happy. I won't be gone for so long."

Holly outstretched her arms, Curtis falling into her embrace as if it was second nature. Her arms wrapped around her waist, pulling him close as she rested her head on his chest. He brought his arms around her as well, pulling her close as he rested his chin on her head. "Nothing will change for you." He whispered into her hair. "I'll just be home more. And that's a good thing. Don't you worry about anything else."

"I love you." She whispered into his chest, pulling him as close as she possibly could. "I'll support whatever you want to do."

"And I have to make sure I hear your voice for as long as I can." He smiled weakly, slowly leaning his head down, she stood on her tip toes, both of them meeting for a tender, gentle kiss. "Everything will be alright, Holly."

"I know..." She sighed, going back to her position of resting her head against his chest. "I guess I'll have to get good at video games now, won't I?"

Curtis let out a small laugh, kissing her forehead. "Right right. I need someone to give me a challenge while Matt and Lee and them are touring."

"I can kick your ass any day." Holly smiled wide as she spoke, breaking away from Curtis, taking his hand. "I challenge you right now!"

"Game on!" Curtis laughed back, as they both walked into the living room, the x-box wheezing and humming to life minutes later, filling the air along with their playful laughs.
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:)

Next is Tom and Caroline!