Clever Drew

Alexander wasn't really expecting to meet someone like Drew Barrymore in such a scenario.

But then again... he also wasn't really expecting to be hounded by Hollywood personalities.

As such, the increased chances of coming across popular people was a no-brainer. They are participating in a popular people gala after all.

The thing that bothers Alexander a bit is the type of scenario in which he was inadvertently dragged into.

Why'd it have to be those overused "bumping into each other" scenes in romance storylines?

Anyways, that in itself... shouldn't be that weird at all.

The weird thing was little Drew Barrymore quickly being swept up in the romance. Of course, there was also the hissing and catty Milla not far from them.

Jeesh... Why'd he have to be some sort of male lead in a triangle? Can't he just be the spectator and 'onlook' with amusement?

-----

"Uhm..." Drew tucked her already tucked hair behind her hair and hesitantly asked again. "Are you... my prince charming?"

"I hate to break it to you but I'm not your prince charming." Being straightforward was the best option, so Alexander went with that. "Reasons include..."

"One." He even used his finger as a visual aide. "I'm not part of royalty at all. The likelihood of me being a prince would be if I somehow seduced someone with a real loyal lineage like a Wales princess and having tricked her into marrying me."

"Two." Two fingers were drawn up in a peace sign. "I'm assuming that you don't own royalty... so your usage of 'my prince charming' is a bit off."

Alexander had to admit that the second reasoning was a bit nitpicky but he needed to be harsh... to crush a budding romance... even if there isn't.

"Three." Three fingers meant a 'W' and it was drawn up. "Clearly... I'm no prince. I'm not charming either. Anyone who knows me can attest that I'm a cold, emotionless robot. Even I can attest to that."

"So... for the question about me being your prince charming..." Alexander was one to add some concluding remarks to get his point across. "Conclusively and uncontestably, I am not."

That should be enough of an overkill, but...

Contrary to Alexander's hoped-for results, Drew was just amused. "Wow! A prince charming who is also smart!"

"Tsk!" Alexander's signature noise for being thwarted was brought forth.

"Fufu!" Drew sniggered at the boy's annoyance and explanations. "A prince charming isn't just about royalty, silly. It's about the boy from a girl's dreams."

"I don't recall being in your dreams, though." Alexander had a feeling that Drew Barrymore may be a brick wall, so he just went with the flow... for now.

"You're cute..." Drew extended her hand for a greeting. "...and I'm Drew, Drew Barrymore."

"I'm not cute." Alexander fact-checked while shaking her hand as a returned courtesy. Of course, he also introduced himself. "I'm Alex. Alex Creed."

"Alex Creed?" Drew hummed and remembered something. "See? You really are my prince charming. You look like handsome Shinri. That guy was even made by someone named Alexander Creed."

"Tsk!" Alexander finally had the correct someone to blame for this romance setting. It wasn't just romance movies at all... it was himself.

A Mysterious Feeling of Love. Just how many latent feelings of girls would this graphic novel call out? There was Milla already... now he could add Drew Barrymore to that list.

"You tsk-ed again!" Noticing his tsk of uncomfortability, Drew was curious and she even had a sparkle in her eyes as she asked. "Do you... do you happen to be related? Alex Creed, is Alexander Creed your dad or something?"

"Er... nope." Alexander straight-up lied. Admitting would just bring him and Drew deeper into the weirdness that 'this' is. "Haven't heard of him?"

"Oh." Drew was noticeably disappointed but she cheered up. "You really should look him up. His comic called 'A Mysterious Feeling Called Love' is the reason why I'm feeling that mysterious feeling right now."

"Whoah." Alexander had to take a step back. These weren't the typical 80s kids that he remembered to be. "I hope that what you're mysteriously feeling isn't remotely close to whatever you're trying to suggest."

Unfortunately, Drew Barrymore was no typical 80s kid at all.

She was the envy of her generation... she had a dark life that her fans didn't know... and she was incredibly bold when it came to emotions.

"Fufu! Alex Creed..." Drew had her arms tugged into her chest and made it tap as if it was a beating heart. "I, Drew Barrymore, am in love with you!"

It was official! Things had escalated to levels beyond what Alexander hoped things would be. The weirdness had reached too deep and it may be too late to abort already.

Alexander could only come up with whatever comes to mind for now. "Isn't this too fast and you're too young?"

"Aren't you a kid as well?" Drew reasoned. "We'll make it work."

"I hate to break it to you again..." Alexander had to thank his previous reasonings earlier. "...but like I said... I'm a cold, detached robot that doesn't have emotion. I'm like the Terminator. A complete Terminator of love."

"Hihi." Drew grinned with an expression that meant 'you can't escape from me'. "You're so much like Shinri. Shinri doesn't know love as well... but he still figured things out with Hotaru."

"It was so romantic!" Drew melted from her imaginations. "We could be romantic like that as well... maybe even more romantic than them!"

Alexander inwardly cursed himself. Why'd he have to publish such a troublesome romance piece?

That was just supposed to be a simple tester for the romance genre. Alexander suddenly had a feeling that the flaps of those Shinri pages may have much more explosive effects compared to his flapping Chaos Butterfly wings.

Come to think of it, wasn't the Shinri pages considered to be his flapping wings as well?

Either way, Alexander was feeling the effects of his world-ly meddlings now... in the form of the over-eager and "in-love" Drew Barrymore.

"They went on fake dates to see what real couples do." The simplicity of that love story was so digestible that even Drew remembered the plot so well and she really wanted to emulate it. "We could go on real dates, so our romance would be realer than real!"

Alexander could only play the robot card again. He was even considering using a static robot voice for added effect. "Like I said, I'm an emotionless robot. A Terminator that terminates love."

"Fufu! You do know that I'm the kid that kissed E.T. right?" Drew still smirked at that and shrugged it off with her impeccable reasoning. "E.T. on the film set was just a robot dummy. Dealing with a robot you is easy peasy."

"I..." Alexander wanted to rebuke but he can't. This little girl Drew was way too smart and mature than how she looked.

Is this what being a child star does to a child? Or is it clever matureness that was brought forward by her familial situation?

Whatever the case was, he was really finding it hard to deal with this 10-year-old girl that doesn't act her age.

Was this the same exasperation and unrealness that others feel whenever they interact with 10-year-old him?

Such a clever kid. Such a Clever Drew.

As impressed as Alexander was to be somewhat stumped, he still had to clap back.

His pride as the much cleverer and much mature-r person in a ten-year-old's body was at stake.

-----

In any case, the bickering child duo was quite eye-catching in the twilight of this film premiere.

Everyone close enough to hear their ramblings could only shake their heads and chuckle at the weirdness of children.