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The glass of wine from earlier hadn’t been enough to ease Pluto’s racing mind. He remained awake long after the others had already gone to sleep, standing quietly near a large floor-to-ceiling window. Hidden from the starlight above and outside by a large velvet curtain, he took a slow drag from his cigarette. It was still somehow lit despite his dissociation.
Pluto took a few more puffs of his cigarette before putting it away. Turning back around to observe his friends, careful to not wake them, he tiptoed away from the window and toward a reading nook. From what he could see, Lenore was snoring and appeared to be almost drooling. Berenice’s eye makeup was smeared and her hair was a mess. Duke’s shirt was stained. He looked like he might awaken with a hangover in the morning.
Eulalie had been watching him the entire time from across the large room. She stepped closer to where she sensed Pluto, smiling softly to herself. He was already near the nook and the large velvet curtain shrouding the open sliding windows.
“I thought I’d find you here,” she finally said. Of course, Pluto was startled. Luckily, he made no noise and none of the books stacked around them fell when he flinched. It would have sucked to wake the others up, especially considering the long day that they’d all recently had. He’d already made a promise to himself to not allow any disturbances to their sleep.
What is she doing here? He thought as Eulalie’s voice echoed through his throbbing, drunken mind. He grabbed onto the topside of a wooden table next to the nook. So many questions played through his mind. Why isn’t she sleeping in the dorms? Why is she talking to me?
Pluto couldn’t make proper sense of his feelings toward Eulalie. He wasn’t even sure if it was ever worth caring about. All he knew was that being near this girl was both thrilling and terrifying. He also knew that he wanted her. Badly. Unfortunately, he also felt a compulsion to stay away. With Eulalie, all logic ceased to exist. It was pure instinct from there on out. Oh, how he hated this…
“Um. Yeah,” Pluto replied, his voice quiet. He was suddenly glad to have put the cigarette away. He shifted slightly, moving to carefully set some books aside before sitting down with a tired sigh. Enough of the books were out of the way, and he’d cleared more space. The chances of waking their friends up had also significantly lessened. “One of those nights.”
“Want to talk about it?” Eulalie asked, careful not to pry.
Pluto flinched. “N-no. I-it’s okay. Thanks,” he said, stuttering and awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.
Eulalie had to admit that she probably wasn’t privileged enough to have access to Pluto’s innermost thoughts. She wasn’t even all that close to Pluto, having only interacted with him directly a small handful of times. Everyone knew better than to push Pluto when it came to opening up about his innermost feelings. Yet, Eulalie had always felt that there was more to him than what first appeared. This aura of mystery made Pluto all the more appealing, though she’d have never admitted it aloud.
Pluto gently dragged his fingertips along the edges of some hardcover books, an attempt at self-soothing that he could barely contain. He looked up at Eulalie from where he sat, eyebrow raised. “Why are you still awake?” he asked her.
“Couldn’t sleep, either,” Eulalie replied. “I wanted to slip away. Go on an adventure somewhere. Thought it’d be empty here.”
A small chuckle emanated from Pluto’s throat. “You too, huh?” he asked. He’d been certain that Eulalie had gone to bed a lot earlier. She’d seemed very disinterested in joining Duke and Lenore’s drunken game of charades.
Eulalie shrugged, her auburn hair falling over her shoulder. It was so dark in the room they were in that Eulalie couldn’t see Pluto’s reddened face. He’d almost become one with their environment if not for the sudden gleam of the starlight on the rivets of his oversized jacket.
“I did take a short nap if that’s what you wondered.”
“Fair enough,” Pluto replied, reaching over to open one of the books stacked beside him. He flipped through a couple of pages. It was then that he realized that the room that they were in was originally a very old part of the Nevermore library. It had been shuttered and closed off to the students many ages ago, but somehow not completely. The occasional ghostly spectre still roamed past. “But you knew I was here.”
“I guess the smell of tobacco made it easy to find you,” Eulalie replied. She still couldn’t get a good look at Pluto, but at least there was a small smile in her voice. She could only hope that Pluto wouldn’t take offense to her remark.
“S-sorry,” Pluto muttered, suddenly embarrassed. Do I stink? He was amazed at how he was already feeling so painfully self-conscious. It was rare for Eulalie to talk to him at all. Pluto hid behind his hair as he looked down at his feet. For a moment, he looked exactly like a disappointed housecat.
“I know it’s bad,” Pluto eventually said, now standing up straighter and smiling earnestly at Eulalie. He hated that he stuttered so much when he was nervous. He was trying his hardest to hide the anxiety. Then he gave Eulalie an apologetic stare. Not that she could see him from where she stood or anything. “Don’t like doing it around you, either.”
“Guess it’s something carried over from your past life.” Eulalie looked down at her hands, wringing them briefly before placing them behind her back. She wedged herself against the wall, flattening herself against it. She didn’t want to make Pluto uncomfortable, especially not when he was already beginning to show some vulnerability.
Some of the clouds from earlier in the night appeared to have parted. Pluto couldn’t help but sigh and look up at the open ceiling. Light from above softly illuminated his face now. “Some habits are just…” A pause, then a bitter scoff. “Really hard to break.”
The tobacco addiction wasn’t exactly something that Eulalie particularly felt the need to judge. Pluto still looked stressed and it was regularly said by the others that his singular eye contained a multitude of stories. Eulalie could tell that he was on the run from something, even in this temporary life of purgatory.
Whether Pluto was avoiding a part of himself or something else entirely that existed outside of him, it wasn’t something she had the answers to. Still, Eulalie chose to say nothing about Pluto’s bad habit. Some people just had their preferred ways of dealing with things. It was a truth she’d already come to accept. It bothered her very little that Pluto was a smoker. It added to his overall charm.
“It’s okay,” Eulalie replied, her voice soft. “I never thought less of you.” She glanced over at Pluto, noticing the glimmer of light on his skin. It was still mostly dark in the abandoned library and she could almost hear what she thought might be purring. Though she stood across from Pluto, her back still against the wall between the shelves, they were somewhat close. She chuckled softly, looking up at the sky now. The stars were so beautiful. Eulalie was suddenly grateful to have gotten to share this moment with Pluto. He was still seated beside her, observing her with an intensity he knew would potentially get them both into trouble if he wasn’t careful.
The impulse to reach forward to run her hand through his dark hair was growing stronger for Eulalie, but she continued to restrain herself. She recognized this moment as a small weakness, not wanting to give Pluto the wrong impression. He didn't seem the type to attract much attention, but Eulalie still noticed that around her, Pluto genuinely felt shy. Eulalie smiled at him again, her eyes glistening as she held his gaze. Then she looked down and away, reaching a hand up to move a strand of her hair away from her eye instead. She was almost certain that she was the main reason for his anxiety.
Pluto’s gaze was still invisible to her despite their closeness in physical proximity. He now watched Eulalie with a fond expression, his anxiety at bay but continuing to thunder deep beneath. His blushing never wavered. He sensed something from her, though he remained uncertain of what that might be. All the same, he was grateful that it was dark in the large room. You are too pure for this wretched place, he thought. He wanted so badly to grab Eulalie’s hand. He desperately wanted to plead with her to go away with him. These were all incredibly ridiculous thoughts. Pluto didn’t know where they were coming from. Suddenly, he felt like he needed to be held.
It was true that he had to find a way out of Nevermore Academy. Although he wasn’t sure if he could trust the rebellious Lenore to light the path toward freedom, he knew that with the beautifully mysterious Eulalie at his side, nothing would ever be the same.