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Cleo De Nile was a lot of things. A bitch, a queen bee, captain of the cheer squad - and the sole person inhibiting Deuce's mind for the past three weeks.
And no, Deuce did not think it was fair.
It would have probably been able to be handled better if he was just daydreaming about fucking her, but his mind really loved fucking with him, so his fantasies could start out with Cleo straddling him, super sexy, but then they'd flicker to the Egyptian mummy kissing him on the lips with her dazzling smile or intertwining their fingers, and it made him feel all funny and warm inside.
He did his best to avoid her, he started even showing up late to casketball practice, because he could not fathom seeing her in that teeny tiny uniform again.
He had it downright horrendous for the Egyptian mummy.
Normally, if he was crushing this hard on someone, by the third week he would have made some move or asked them out. But there was a huge roadblock problem stopping him from having any advancements towards Cleo, and that was that she was dating his co-captain of the casketball team; Clawd Wolf.
So he was stuck suffering in silence, and hoping to everything that it'd leave his existence.
It was almost inevitable whenever he'd lie in bed at night, awake and thinking of something stupid, like how soft yet cold Cleo's hands would be if he held them in his own. They were smaller and dainty, Deuce noticed, but they were adorned with rings and jewelry. Did Cleo like rings? He figured she did; and he wondered if she'd like it if he bought her one as a gift-
Then he'd clutched at his bedsheets, turning over with a huff when he realized he had been fantasizing about Cleo's hands for about an hour. It was pure torture.
It didn't help that even if he tried to avoid Cleo, she sat right in front of him for Biteology class, so everytime she'd come in he'd get a noseful of her sweet thick poison rose perfume and he'd feel like throwing up. Or Cleo would giggle at something her zombie friend moaned, and his cheeks would grow hot and he'd feel light-headed.
One time Cleo swept all her hair to in front of her shoulders for whatever reason (probably found a split end) and he got a perfect view of her bare shoulder blades and back and Deuce's tongue felt ten times swollen in his mouth . For gods sake, Heath even had to jerk him back to reality.
He was doing a fine job of making a fool of himself when not around her, so he didn't even want to try to talk to her. The laidback gorgon swore to himself he could deal with this on his own.
But today was another day of dealing with his rampant crush. He had made it through casketball practice without bumping into Cleo, and the team was just wrapping up practice, and going into the locker rooms to change.
He was just putting his uniform back into his locker and changing back, when he realized he was missing his gym bag. The other players were already heading out and it was just Clawd waiting for him.
"I think I dropped my bag in the gym." Deuce yawned, "Go ahead and leave without me."
Clawd slung his bag over his shoulder with a nod, "Alright. I'll leave the door open for ya." It just made Deuce feel guiltier seeing how good of a friend Clawd was to him, and here Deuce was having sinful thoughts about his ghoul.
He heard the footsteps of his large werewolf friend fade out as he slung his own gym bag over his shoulder. Deuce finished putting everything into his locker and shut the door to the boys' lockeroom.
The gym was still dimly lit, but he knew the lights would shut off soon, which he didn't mind but he knew it meant that everything would be locked up.
Now to find the bag, the gorgon let out a sigh as he searched between the bleachers. About fifteen minutes passed when he found it, but alongside it was another gym bag stuck between one of the bleachers.
It was too girly to be from the casketball team's, so he figured it was from the fearleaders. He held it up to have a closer look, and as soon as he did, he got a sickly familiar rose smell and the sight of a golden 'C' embroidered on the side.
Before he could put two and two together, he felt the light clacking of heels as someone else entered the gym, and let the doors slam shut at that.
The voice made his blood rush to his cheeks, loud and booming.
"Oh my Ra, I probably just left it in the gym." Pause, "If I don't find it you can just look for it tomorrow, ta-ta, Ghoulia." Then the sound of a phone being hung up.
He was hidden by the bleachers, but he felt like throwing up right about now.
Why her? Zeus strike me dead.
Deuce felt like just hiding and praying that she'd leave, but it seemed like her clacking heels were just getting closer every passing second.
"Hey!"
Deuce turned and made eye contact with the ghoul that had been unknowingly torturing him for the past few weeks, her face twisted into a sour frown and her hands on her more than ample hips.
"What do you think you're doing? Get your hands off my cheer bag!"
He paused, and because it seemed the world did not want to swallow him up hole at this moment, he was forced to deal with this.
"Uh, I'm sorry, I was just - I found this, I wasn't - uh, here." Deuce dropped the bag into the Egyptian princess's outstretched hand as he jumped down from his spot on the bleachers, and unconsciously got a closer look at her face. He tried not to get distracted by the way the light caught the gem on her cheek.
She took it, her grimace softening a bit as she stared at him. The snake-haired boy wished she'd stop because it was making his legs feel like jelly.
"What are you even doing here? Alone?" Cleo asked after a while, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
Deuce tried to ignore the painful thumping in his chest. Pull yourself together, Gorgon!
"I was just ... looking for something I left here. I found it, though." He rubbed the back of his neck and hoped he wasn't being too awkward or that his face wasn't as red as it felt.
"Whatever." Cleo said, "Are you heading out right now?"
"Yeah." Deuce was just dying for this interaction to be over, "I uh, couldn't find it. I'll just go."
The mummy didn't reply as she just turned on her heel, and he got that whiff of poison rose that made his stomach feel queasy. Did she bathe in that stuff?
Deuce quickly followed because the thought of Cleo taking a bath was one he did not want to have while around her.
As she approached the gym doors, the gorgon right behind her, she tried pushing them open. But they didn't budge. Cleo made a groan with her mouth as she tried shoving them open.
"Ugh, I think the door is stuck. Deuce, help me." She commanded, and the sound of his name on her lips shouldn't have made warmth coarse through his body, but it did.
But he had other things to worry about, like getting the gym doors open. Deuce tried with all his strength, but it stayed shut.
"I think..." he gasped out, "...it's locked."
"Well that's just great." Cleo cried, crossing her arms as she tried one last time. She let out a deep breath through her nostrils, "Whatever, it's fine, I'll just call Clawd to come unlock it for us. He should be here sooner."
She leaned against the door, pressing the ICoffin against her ear as she let it ring. Once, twice, thrice... and then his voicemail came.
Cleo growled and hung up, "Oh, that boy is so unreliable." She complained, "I'll call Ghoulia then."
Ghoulia picked up, and while Deuce was half-heartedly listening to the mummy rant, his mind was mainly focused on how he'd be stuck in here with Cleo for gods know how long. The ghoul that make his heart race and his gut feel like it was doing backflips.
And lest he forget, she was taken.
He was pulled out of his thoughts as Cleo hung up on her zombie friend, "Ghoulia's coming, but she'll be a while." She told him, frustrated, "Let me try Clawd again."
In the midst of Cleo calling her boyfriend again, the lights in the gym shut off with an eerie ambience. It seemed to really startle Cleo for some reason as she yelped, and dropped her ICoffin on the floor with a crack.
"Wh-what's happening? Why did the lights go off?" It wasn't pitch black by any means, but it was still dark enough. Deuce could feel the mummy trembling beside him.
"It's automatic, the lights here turn off at seven." He said, and reached out for Cleo, ignoring the fluttering in his chest, "Are you okay?"
Cleo seemed to step away from him, "I-I..." Her breath caught in her throat, her arms wrapping around herself. Deuce's heart twisted in worry. It looked like she was having a panic attack.
She crouch and picked her phone off the floor, flicking the power button frantically. "... my ICoffin won't turn on."
Deuce reached a shaky hand to place on her shoulder, ignoring how the mere touch made his hand burn, "Hey, that's fine. Ghoulia's already on her way over here."
"It's not that!" she said snappishly, and it made him flinch. Cleo glanced up at him, "You. Where's your phone."
It sounded more like a demand. Deuce slid his hand off her, "Out of battery." He got it out of his gym bag just to check, and sure enough when he tried powering it on the low battery symbol flashed and then disappeared. "Are you okay?" he asked again.
"I can't ... be in the dark." Cleo grit her teeth, leaning against the wall.
He got the implication.
"Don't tell anyone." she whispered. Her voice was so meek and broken compared to the loud and booming nature of her usual voice that it broke his heart.
"I won't." Deuce said firmly, and hesitated before taking her hands into his own larger ones. They were small and shaky and soft.
"Just look at me, okay?" He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles, "You're fine... uhm..." Deuce hoped that the pounding of his heart was not as loud as he could feel it was. When her bright blue eyes met his, standing out against the darkness, wide and owlish, he swallowed thickly, the words getting caught in his throat.
He must have stood there gaping for a while, because Cleo's brows furrowed, "Deuce-?"
"Uh... oh! Sorry, you're just..." he trailed off, not daring to finish. "Uhm, close your eyes."
Cleo seemed a bit weirded out, and he couldn't blame her. "What?"
"I-It's not weird! Just-!" He squeezed his own eyes shut so her pretty face wouldn't distract him, "-tell yourself that the only reason it's dark is because your eyes are closed."
"Alright..." came her soft voice. Deuce's eyes flickered open, seeing her own eyes shut like he said and her lips parted and he thought about how easy it would be to cup her face and kiss her then and there-
He stopped himself before he could think of anything else. He wouldn't take advantage of her.
"Okay... so then... tell me ..." Deuce started, "... about your day. How was it?" He was trying to distract her, and hopefully it would work. He didn't like seeing her cowering and afraid.
"It was fine." Came her reply, "I had a clawculus test today, I definitely aced it." Her voice was still shaky, but Deuce encouraged her to keep going.
"Oh, Clawd gave me flowers, but they were nightshades!"
"You don't like nightshades?" Deuce hummed thoughtfully, and grinned as he saw her hands ease up in his grip. Not that she'd be able to see it.
"I'm allergic. I was sneezing all afternoon." Cleo continued, her face contorting to frustration, though her eyes were still shut, "I told him three times already, but he never listens!"
"What flowers do you like?" Deuce urged, "What are your favorites?"
Cleo paused for a second, "Roses." she replied, "I love roses."
Deuce's heartbeat was still growing crazy, his cheeks were still hot and his hands were still tingling; but it he was also easing up around her. And he unconsciously tucked that information of Cleo's love of roses away. (and maybe he imagined himself gifting a bouquet to her and she would throw her soft arms around him and press those plushy lips to his cheek, but that's neither here nor there.)
But they stayed like that, as Cleo ranted to Deuce with her eyes squeezed shut, and her hands in his grip.
It was about half and hour before the gym door cracked open and a familiar inquisitive zombie groan echoed.
Cleo pulled away from Deuce, and he found himself immediately missing the mummy in close proximity to him.
"Ghoulia!" Cleo cried, "What took you so long?" her zombie friend gave a moan in response, but the Egyptian Princess just rolled her eyes, "What-ever."
She grabbed her gym back, and in the light Deuce could see her turn and glance back to him, "Uh, Ghoulia, go put my cheer bag in my locker." Cleo dumped her stuff into the stout zombie's arms.
As she groaned and waddled away, Cleo fully faced Deuce with a smile on her painted and very kissable lips. It made his heart swell to see it directed at him.
"I don't give thank you's." She told him, "But you were very helpful, back there."
Deuce gave her a goofy grin, his cheeks rosy and his stomach twisting, "Thanks."
"You're welcome." she said, "But if you tell anyone about that, I will place a curse on you and your family for three generations."
"I wouldn't dream of it." Deuce said, adjusting his shades, and as he saw the slightest red tinge on her mocha colored cheeks, his smile grew three times wider.
The mummy turned on her heel, and gave one last once-over with her eyes, "See you around, Deuce." her voice was husky and it went straight to his groin, embarrassingly enough.
He didn't really care if he looked like he'd been struck by Cupid's bow right then, as he watched those hypnotizing hips saunter away lowly.
"Bye." the lovestruck gorgon said, and let the smell of roses waft away.
BONUS:
Cleo met back up with Ghoulia, and until then she didn't notice that she may have had a dreamy smile on her face. Until the nerdy zombie pointed it out with a knowing grin of her own, moaning something that made the princess go red.
"Oh shut up, Ghoulia." She huffed, albiet good-naturedly crossing her arms, "I have a boyfriend, you know." But the gorgon's toothy smile never left her mind.