| He snorted. �Oh yeah, the highlight of the day for sure. Why does one strain of fruit flies have red eyes, while their counterparts are black?� Mera laughed. �Those, and many more questions are answered on today�s edition of Bio Quiz, with your host � Mr. McGregor!� If there was one thing Mera could honestly say about Vartan O�Reilly (though she could say many) it would be that he was always making her laugh. In fact, that�s what had brought the two of them together in the first place. Vartan and his father had moved to town only a few months earlier, and though Pacey�s brother Doug spoke often of their new deputy and his young son � she had never paid attention. Over the years she had gotten used to Doug�s ramblings about new deputies. In his eyes they were either complete failures, or they were real winners. Rick O�Reilly had been fortunate to fall into the latter of the categories. The day she�d met Vartan, Mera had been in a super bad mood. She had made plans with Jeff for the evening prior � only to have them broken when she�d been coerced into babysitting for Pacey�s friends� Joey and Dawson�s children. Dawson had been called to Hollywood � some faux paux with his new film. And Joey had previous committed herself to a top notch charity event. On any other day, Mera would have been ecstatic to watch the kids � but not when she had made other plans. So that day following had been one full of frustrating bad luck. She had forgotten about a short math quiz, a number of questions in her English text, and had missed Jeff on the early morning ride to school. Lunch period had only seemed to compound the horrid day. She had been standing in line at the cafeteria, about to load a tray of pink Jell-O onto her tray, when it had tipped. From behind her, she felt a body fall heavily into her. The tray had clattered to the floor, spilling its contents every which way. She�d turned around, ready to ream out whoever�d caused this catastrophe, when she�d seen him. Tall, blue-green eyes wide with embarrassment, brown hair curling slightly at the ends. When his eyes met hers, she had immediately changed her expression. �Oh, god�� he had begun. �I�m so sorry. I � uh, I�m such a klutz sometimes, and I�� She had shrugged. �No problem.� When she bent down to retrieve the contents of the lunch, he�d gone with her. Picking up lettuce leaves, he�d quipped, �Well, I suppose if you wanted a tossed salad�� Since that day, she had kept running into him throughout the school. It was their third meeting � discovering they were locker neighbours � that he�d introduced himself. �Vartan O�Reilly,� he�d said, quickly adding, �that�s what happens when the French marry the Irish.� �Mera McPhee,� she�d supplied, immediately. �And I think I�ve met your father.� She had gone on to explain how her �uncle� Doug had introduced her to Rick O�Reilly on one of her visits to the �cop shop�. Over the next few weeks, she had joined him for lunch more than once. Jeff was busy with the cheerleading and pep squad tryouts, and she often spent lunch working. But Mera hadn�t minded. It gave her more time with Vartan. They had both been unusually forward with their pasts � and how it had affected them. When he�d told her his mother had recently died � she had told him much as she knew about her own mother. And how she�d come to live with Pacey here in Capeside. So far, though, their relationship was mostly plutonic. When Jeff�s busy social life allowed her free time, she hung out with Mera and Vartan. She liked him as immediately as Mera had � and had no problem with sharing her best friend with him. Mera hadn�t actually thought anything of her friendship with Vartan until Jeff had brought it up one evening. �Seriously, Mera,� she had said. �He totally digs you.� �What?!� She�d done her best to appear shocked. �How can you tell?� �Oh, it�s wicked obvious.� Jeff had outlined the �obvious� signs. �Well, he looks directly into your eyes when he talks to you. And when he�s talking about you, which � trust me � he does, his eyes light up unnaturally.� Jeff � ever the romance expert � had assured Mera that Vartan most likely wanted to ask her out, but was simply waiting for the right time to do so. She also figured he was intensely shy. So it was on this belief that Mera had many times unsuccessfully attempted to broach the dating topic with Pacey. The night prior she had finally managed it. �Mera?� She snapped back into the present. �Sorry,� she shook her head. �Late night?� Vartan shot her another of his adorable half smiles. �Out raving it up, gallivanting with Jeff Cavanaugh from party to party, hoping�� �Stop!� She said, through peals of laughter. �You know that isn�t true. I was looking after Dawson and Joey�s kids, and trying to study. And avoid Pacey as best I could.� Vartan caught the sudden downshift of her eyes, and lowered his voice. |
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