lufletcher-archive-blog

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Logan Lerman as Sidney Hall in The Vanishing of Sidney Hall (2018)

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LOCKHEARST, ALTHEA //

Althea was really surprised. He really didn’t know what to exactly do. As drunk as she, she may be only able to instruct him informally than she was sober. At the open area of their suite, she dragged him at the center. “Stand right here,” Right before her.. “and loose all the stiff.” She held his pair of strong arms with her own fairly toned ones once more, doing it’s work, guiding his own to places where they should be and it’s on the upper, just above where her Dimples of Venus laid. “Stay them there.” Her eyes straight to his green orbs. Now with her hands slid up to tie at the back of his neck, she can now begin with the footwork with a soft mutter from her two petals. “Now follow and sway with me.”

His hands snaked round her waist, resting on the small of her back just as she’d instructed. As they swayed chest-to-chest, Lucas swore he could feel her heart beating through their shirts. “You call this dancing?” he asked, head tilted slightly to the side, a corner of his lips quirked up in a teasing manner. Before she had lifted him off the couch, Lucas was acting like a grump, but now, with her blue eyes on his, he couldn’t help but loosen up. Althea was good at that -- at making him soften. Prompted by the smooth music and the heaviness in his mind, he brought his head down, gingerly rested his forehead on hers, and closed his eyes.

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LOCKHEARST, ALTHEA //

As Althea sang her way through the blues that resonated across the hall, she heard him mutter, but inaudible to her. And so she yelled back against the booming music on the stereo, “What’s that? I can’t hear you.” Dancing her way with the sway of her torso and her hands swinging upwards. Soon as the music was nearing to the end, she proclaimed. “I need a partner!” Towards him lying at the sofa, she grabbed his hand pulling him up. “And you are going to be my partner!” It was no question and she wasn’t begging this time. 

Althea was stubborn, perhaps more stubborn than him, but only by a fraction of an inch. Still, the difference was enough to make him reluctantly rise on his feet. Lucas sighed heavily as he followed her wherever she wanted to lead him. “Alright,” he said, standing rather awkwardly with one hand captured by her and the other limp by his side. “What do I need to do?” He wasn’t kidding when he told her he didn’t dance. Even his parents never did -- at least, he never saw them do it. All they could ever do was bicker with each other.

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LOCKHEARST, ALTHEA //

Soon as they got off the elevator, Althea’s arms, tied together at ends, were around his shoulders still. She walked in a manner of zigzags, drunk to the point that a straight line transposed into a curved one. Not too long, they’ve found themselves at their comfort in their suite. She had almost not recognised it at all, but for some reason, she found the stereo without any trouble. Pressed play, a song of good ole Solomon Burke came on, entitled “Can’t Nobody Love You”. It reminded her of her father. It was his favourite. She used to sing it with him as they spent the days back at District 2, preparing dinner whilst singing to that soulful blues from a very raspy radio. She turned up the volume as to intentionally bother him. She swayed herself across the room, singing herself soulfully to the music that played.

Solomon Burke’s hoarse yet smooth crooning was a far cry from Caesar Flickerman’s nasally, overly-eager voice. Whether or not she was trying to annoy him, Lucas didn’t mind that she turned up the radio. He was just staring blankly at the TV screen anyway, trying to drown out his thoughts. Moments after, a female voice blended into the song. Is it her singing? He turned his head ever-so-slightly just to check if his notions were true. So much for barricading her out of his mind. Leaning his head against the backrest, Lucas closed his eyes in drunken bliss and reveled in the melody that came from her lips. “God, I didn’t know you could sing.” What came next was his stupor talking. “It’d be a lot nicer to wake up to your voice every day -- you know, compared to Brutus’ shower concerts.” Brutus and Lucas were Victors’ Village neighbors back in District 2.

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LOCKHEARST, ALTHEA //

All but different types of smiles was expressed by her face. Truth be told, Althea was the happy type of person when it cost to her spewing alcohol just because of a selfish bet they’ve always been challenging each other. And of all the games that they played, she’d won but with a greater disadvantage. Not being sober enough for her to take her reward. Lucky enough, Lucas was there to keep her safely, even if they partly hated each other, even if they constantly fight against each other who’s the better man/woman. As he dropped her, her arm hang over to his shoulder, expulsing giggles between his cheeks. “I don’t care. Keep looking, you punks!!” She said in a thick, The Capitol accent, much like the famous Effie Trinket’s. She turned to him again, her forehead on his temple, whispers on his ear. “I just want to dance.” 

You know how your pupils dilate when you see someone you’re attracted to? The moment she beamed, his orbs did just that. Her lips were teasing petals on his ear. His arm remained firm on the small of her back. He was no Casanova, and only tacky elevator music filled the silence inside the chamber, but for a flicker of a moment, he did want to sway her into a dance. Lucas was jolted back into his senses when the elevator tinged open to District Two’s floor. He abruptly pulled his arm away from her and exited the doors. Inside the suite, there was not a soul, except for theirs. He expected their entourage to be here by now. It seemed as if they enjoyed the party more than Lucas and Althea did. At six-foot-two, his legs were enviously long, and he was able to reach the sofa with ease. He plopped onto the cushions and turned the TV on. He desperately needed to drown out his heartbeat and all its cacophony.

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LOCKHEARST, ALTHEA //

Without a care in the world, she never ceased swaying the night away. So much for what she took made her felt all things with every itch of movement in her body. As notorious as The Capitol’s parties, there was not a moment where she never challenged anyone, but him. Lucas. Bets and battles of all kind made the best of them, their self-serving egotism which has lead them quite inseparable. One in particular was their ‘unattractive but attractive game of wits’. It all comes down to it, seeing herself only as a sister having the best of times with him. Little did she know that there might be a slight chance for her to like him in a sense as compare to a lover. “Wee!! I’m flying!” Althea proclaimed with much excitement, as she was carried by his pair of strong arms. “Is this where the dance floor is? Why is it taking so long?” Fogged by her mind from alcohol content, she muffled at his cheek, complaining, struggling in the process as she was held by his all might. 

Althea, when drunk, was a difficult thing to handle. She was annoying, but amusing at the same time, much like a little girl who’d just finished a Halloween’s worth of candy. Lucas was carrying her as if she were his bride, while her face was nuzzled against his cheek -- the thought alone could eat at the hearts of any true romantic. But then, in his arms, she started to struggle like a lunatic. It was difficult for him to not drop her, as he himself was so drunk his limbs had turned into mush. At that point, it was difficult for him to walk a straight line. At the nonsense she was speaking, he couldn’t help but laugh. “Stop that,” he whispered in her ear. “They’re starting to look.” When the elevator doors pried open, Lucas stepped right into them and set her back down on her feet.

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LOCKHEARST, ALTHEA //

“No!” Althea shook her head, complained in her childish-like behavior, completely under the influence of alcohol. “The night is still young! There’s a lot of people to dance too!” She held him uprightly, her hands roaming on his body like she was his, and he was hers. Of course, not knowing consciously, total complete mess. “Unless you dance with me!” Her eyes, gazing at his own dark orbs now. She couldn’t careless much of the others, but slowly it showed the result of the competitive tension they’ve only ever had. “Come dance with me, pretty pleaseee!” Begging him to stay, swaying her body in motion to the music.

When he felt her hands glide over the muscle and sinew of his chiseled torso, he sucked a breath. The gesture was strange, coming from her, but god, he didn’t want it to end. Catching where his line of thinking was going, Lucas, despite his alcohol-muddied mind, tried hard to chastise his thoughts. Maybe there was something unusual -- an aphrodisiac, of sorts -- mixed into the tray of shots he snatched from that Avox. The idea wasn’t too far-fetched, given the fact that the drinks came from the overly-indulgent Capitol. "No one’s dancing tonight,” he snapped a little too harshly. If his theory about the shots were true, he had to distance himself as quickly as possible from the female. Althea Lockhearst was gorgeous, without a doubt, but the world would have to end first for him to willingly sleep with her. With that thought in mind, he picked her up and hung her over his shoulder. Lucas strode towards the elevator lugging her weight around as if it were the most normal thing in the world.