Some "Serious" Business

[Tierney Harper]

Tierney brushed her fingers idly over the slightly dusty shelves of Zonko's Joke Shop with a wistful sigh. She hadn't just been pranking Landon to ruin his reputation. Even as a child she had always been a mischievous one who enjoyed a good joke now and again. As she grew older she lost most of that desire, but by no means had she lost all of it. Pranking Landon had reminded her of how much she missed her (mostly) carefree childhood and now that she had once again stopped the trouble making she found herself missing it more.

It was like an addict getting a taste of their vice. It was dangerous and she couldn't afford to go back to that. Even if she could it would never be the same. She wasn't a child anymore really and by the end of the next school year she would definitely no longer be a child, but a married woman.

Her face contorted into a pained grimace and she sighed again, but it was more morbidly accepting than wistful now. A glint of light in the corner of her eyes caught her attention and curiosity changed her expression again as she pushed aside thoughts that were more than a year away and approached the shining box that had shone and captured her attention. She picked it up and examined it, trying to figure out what it did, but there was no outward signs of the prank at all.

More curious than before she kept it with her as she continued around the store for some classic joke items she knew she'd find a use for. She'd ask the clerk later if they knew what it did. She wasn't foolish enough to open it and find out for as much as she loved a good joke not all prank items were "good" - some were actually vengeful and horrific.

The dark-haired girl stopped briefly near the windows and bent over some fake wands to inspect the various results each one produced, a sly grin on her face as she spotted some which looked similar to a wand a classmate of her used. Her hair fell into her eyes and she huffed, pushing it back behind her ears and cursing the fact that her mother didn't want her to cut it.

"But, darling, your hair is lovely! Not to mention that its tradition that the women in our family not cut their hair unless it becomes a hinderance!" Well it was a hinderance! Always in her way and just... hanging there. It wasn't pretty and styled and shiny and perfect like hers was... but no, she wouldn't think about that ditz or the idiot who kept talking to her even though she was clearly bad news.

'It's none of my business,' she thought bitterly and once again tried to push sour thoughts aside by distracting herself with good-natured joke items.

[Landon Rederick]

Though Landon was pretty smart, he wasn’t a big fan of classes. He felt confined and couldn’t wait until he was done and was out in the “real world”. That’s why he really enjoyed his trips Hogsmeade. Time away from those dark walls. Time that he didn’t have to study. He could go out, spend a little money, and socialize with his classmates. He’d skipped a bunch of them when Tierney started messing around with his reputation, but this time around things seemed a little better. He was actually starting to enjoy his life again. Though, oddly enough, a little something was missing.

The first month of Fall term seemed to be a busy one for Landon, and not really because of school. By no means was he slacking, but he’d seen a peak in his social life in recent weeks. A few girls started being flirty again and he didn’t hesitate to flirt back. And Landon was making more of an effort. He kissed a few, made out with a few, all for show. He knew that Victoria was watching him and he was going to show her that she really didn’t need her in his life. Or so he thought. The minute she saw that he was fooling around with other girls, she started throwing around that irresistible charm that she was famous for. Next thing he knew, Landon was hanging out with her all the time.

Landon and Victoria were laughing together, walking hand in hand through Hogsmeade. She was telling a story about a summer she had spent in Prague with her best friend Tiffany. They were definitely not together again, but they were just enjoying each other’s company. These were the times that Landon had enjoyed with Victoria when they were together, but they had eventually been outnumbered by the times she’d treated badly. Landon tried not to let her get the best of him. So far so good. Nothing was going to happen between them again. They could just be friends, right?

As they walked they came upon Zonko’s Joke Shop. Victoria wasn’t into things like that. She believed she was more sophisticated, more mature. She would always chastise him and tell him how immature he was whenever he joked around with her. But as they were passing he swore he saw Tierney in the window. He stopped walking an stared in. Yup, it was her. In Landon’s experience, Tierney in a joke shop could only spell trouble. Though, he hadn’t done anything wrong recently. In fact, they hadn’t even seen much of each other since the start of the new term. Landon figured it had to do with the fact that classes were just keeping them busy. They had interacted on occasion and she didn’t seem angry with him. No reason for her to prank him.

“You’re not going in there are you?” Victoria turned and whined to Landon was he stopped walking and peered in the store. “Not for long,” Landon replied as he let go of her hand. “I just see an old friend in there. I won’t be long. Promise.”

“Fine,” Victoria said as she started to walk away. “Just don’t buy anything. I’ll meet you in The Three Broomsticks. I’ll let you buy me a butterbeer,” she called behind her. Landon turned his attention back to her as she left, knowing that she consciously switched her hips as she walked. It was attractive in a shallow sort of way. He turned back around and jogged toward Zonko’s. When he pulled the door open, the bell above dinged, announcing his presence. “Hey T,” he called to Tierney. He walked up next to her to get a peek at what she was looking at. “Haven’t seen you in a while…” Beating around the bush. What he really wanted to know was… “So what brings you to Zonko’s?”

[Tierney Harper]

Speak of the devil and he shall appear...

Or really this was more like 'think of the devil', but the point was the same. She had been moping - no, thinking, just thinking - about Landon and Victoria and who appeared outside the window within sight? None other than the sickening duo themselves. She inwardly groaned and tried not to pay them any attention. They weren't worth her time, honestly.

Still, she couldn't help some morbid part of her that wanted to watch Landon suffer in the stupidity that was "Vicki". She was such a damn tramp and it was as good as stamped to her forehead... or her lower back where most 'tramp stamps' were actually located. Not to mention she was a manipulative bitch. It had taken Tierney all of one near run-in with her to figure that out, but she had always known Landon was a bit slower on the uptake. If she had known about their past though?

Oh, Tierney would have flipped. Honestly, if she knew that he knew what the girl was like and he allowed her to walk all over him again? There would go any minuscule bit of respect he had earned from her. Though he was likely to lose that anyway the way he'd been traipsing about making out with practically every girl he set eyes on. She didn't doubt there was more than making out involved sometimes either. It turned her stomach to see him going back to those old ways and know that for a moment there she trusted him, but all along she was just another one of those girls...

She watched the exchange between Landon and Victoria and knew the girl had given him orders. She snorted in disdain. She was the only one allowed to boss the kid around and get away with it. And half the time she didn't because Landon usually had no issues arguing with her, but with Victoria he just rolled over like a good, mangy little mutt. It disgusted her so much she turned away and decided to be done with them both, but no... he had to waltz through the door of the shop just after, calling out to her and acting like there was nothing wrong in the world, though everything was wrong with it.

Tierney froze up. When he mentioned not seeing her in a while she was so tempted to icily snap back in a petty and rather undignified way that that was because the love sick fool was always drooling after queen bitch. Even in thoughts she didn't deserve capitalization. It wasn't a title, but a fact. “So what brings you to Zonko’s?” Glad that her back was mostly to him, as she had turned when he came in for just such a reason, she relaxed her facial muscles and tried to rally some diploma. She was above petty and undignified. She was above Victoria. She would not let that girl and this fool reduce her to such horrifying levels.

"Oh, nothing. Just going to prank this really annoying kid..." Try as she might the bite of her tone still lingered on the words, though not so much as they would have a moment ago. For all he knew she could be angry thinking of the kid she was going to prank, but if she had been vague enough perhaps he'd fear that kid would be him. 'Ha,' she thought, with a derisive mental snort, 'As if I'd waste my time on him again!' And she wouldn't. He was no longer worthy of her pranks. Still, she didn't have to let him know that. She could make him suffer a bit...

"He's really very worthless! Arrogant, stubborn... useless. A waste of space, time, and air." Sound enough like Landon? She thought so... "To be honest, he's not quite worthy of my pranks, but at the same time perhaps some humility would do him good, take that ego down a notch and remind him of how he should behave. I fear it's a lost cause though as it has been before."

Her eyes flickered over him, but instead of the usual warm, and dare she say lustful gaze she usually had, it was a bit colder and guarded, showing almost none of the fact that even pissed at him as she was she couldn't get her mind away from the late nights or between class breaks they had spent together. This was his power, this was why all those other girls allowed him to walk all over them - his fucking charm! Well Tierney was no fool to be swayed. She knew better and unlike them she was capable of remembering what a pig he was and would not overlook it.

"What are you doing here? Your girlfriend certainly didn't seem like she wanted you in here." She managed to barely stress the word, but it caught in her throat momentarily as she tried not to sound bitter - no, not bitter, disgusted. She'd never be bitter about it; she didn't want to be his girlfriend.

Walking around him to the counter, she waited for the clerk to come out, tapping her foot impatiently and wanting to make excuses to Landon to leave so she didn't have to deal with him or give away the fact that she was growing more and more disappointed and disgusted by him every minute. She didn't know why she wanted to hide it. Eventually she'd dislike him so much she'd be unable to stand the thought of him and thus they'd go back to their old ways of ignoring each other except a cold glare here or there or the occasional biting insult. He was bound to find out eventually, so why on Earth was she trying to hide it from him for now... like she wanted to make this time of truce stretch to its limits.

It was pointless and she knew it, but she couldn't bring herself to open up about her distaste. Even though every thought screamed to insult him and drive him off and be done with it, something kept her silent, pretending to be civilized and indifferent (as well as she could) and she didn't like it.

[Landon Rederick]

It wasn’t like Landon had been avoiding Tierney over the past month. He figured that they just hadn’t crossed paths. Though he did often wonder why she hadn’t contacted him and asked him to meet. Their arrangement had been working so well over the summer. The fact that they hadn’t seen each other (and that she didn’t seem to care) really bothered him. But soon he became distracted and he soon had a reason to pretend not to worry about it. With Victoria around, Landon had his hands full. She constantly desired his attention. However, he thought about Tierney quite frequently. But when it seemed like she had better things to do than spend time with him he made it appoint to make himself seem too busy too.

Landon’s ears perked up when she mentioned that she was planning to prank someone. What poor soul was going to be on the receiving end of her torturous pranks? Having been one of those people he honestly felt bad for whomever it was. He knew what it was like to never get a break from it. Just when you thought she was done with you she had another trick up her sleeve. But so long as it wasn’t him he was fine. It wasn’t him, was it? Couldn’t be… He hadn’t done anything to upset her. Or, at least, not that he knew of. Though he had been spending a lot of time with a lot of different girls and she had made it clear that she thought that behavior was unacceptable.

He listened to her describe the person and every adjective she used was one that she had used to describe him at some point or another. But there was no way that she could be plotting against him again. He hadn’t really done anything to deserve it. She said it was okay for him to see other girls. He hadn’t done anything outside of the guidelines that she had set. And she was the one who put a stop to their late night rendezvous. He would’ve been there in a heartbeat had she asked, but she never did. He even felt unwanted.

Come to think of it, maybe he had done something wrong that he was unaware of. Maybe that’s why she hadn’t been asking for them to meet up anymore. But what could it have been? She really seemed annoyed. Regardless, Landon was determined to get to the bottom of this. He refused to be tormented again. He cleared his throat, slightly nervous. “Wow. What did this person do to get you so mad?” Hopefully she would spill. He wasn’t betting on it though. He knew her. And if it was indeed him, she would probably draw it out and torture him as much as she could. Perhaps he should just stop trying to guess and brace himself. Maybe he could even get her to change her mind.

“Girlfriend? Who? Whaaaat?” Landon was silent for a moment. She couldn’t possibly be talking about Victoria. They weren’t giving off relationship vibes. And he wouldn’t be caught dead in a relationship with her again. At least, that’s what he keeps telling himself. “Vicki is not my girlfriend anymore. Don’t know what gave you that impression. So it doesn’t matter if she wanted me to come in her or not. I am her, aren’t I? I didn’t know it was a crime to come say ‘hi’ to friend.”

[Tierney Harper]

It took so much effort for Tierney not to roll her eyes and tell Landon to bugger off. She was in such a bad mood suddenly that she didn't even want to hear it. She didn't want to listen to him talking. She didn't want to be reminded further of what an asshole he could be. It's not like she was in denial. She knew he was an asshole and not to be trusted. She just... didn't want to hear it.

Sighing quietly, Tierney looked over at Landon as he asked what the kid she was pranking did and then continued to say Vicki wasn't his girlfriend and got all defensive. She snorted at him and rolled her eyes openly. "The perpetrator was simply a royal arrogant womanizing bastard." Actually, the kid just had nothing nice to say about anyone except themselves. She had overheard the kid say something derogatory or simply disgusting about almost everyone including their so-called friends. They seemed a lot like Victoria to Tierney... or what she guess Victoria was like.

"Don't get your boxers in a twist, Rederick." Try as she might not to scowl, her lips slipped briefly and then she rubbed the back of her neck and put on a very fake smile. "I didn't say it was a crime to say 'Hi' to your friend. I just said it didn't seem like Victoria wanted you in here. Where in there am I saying it's a bad thing to see your friends? Honestly, if anyone said something like that it looked to me like it was Victoria so why are you yelling at me?"

To say all that with a smile was difficult, even when the smile was false. "I don't want to fight, Landon. I just asked what you were doing here and you could have easily answered that you came here to see me, or a friend, or whoever - whatever." She fumbled for the words. She assumed he came in there to see her, he had talked to her first and well, she was the only one in the shop really.

Tierney looked to the counter and hit a little bell. Where the hell was the damn cashier? "Oh come on..." She muttered under her breath slowly.

[Landon Rederick]

OoC: blah post. Whatevz. Anyway, what's the time difference between here and London? I feel like I should know this by now. And I wanted to have this posted the last time I talked to you, buy my sister was being a poop about the computer and my laptop is dead...again.

Landon didn’t care much for drama. He didn’t need enemies and he had no desires to fight with anyone. But because he had a temper, he had to make sure to avoid conflict with people to stay out of trouble. Right now, Tierney was making that very difficult for him. He’d done nothing wrong, yet she was going to attempt to turn his life inside out yet again, just when things were settling down for him.

“What the hell is your problem?” he hissed. Landon didn’t want to cause a scene by yelling but he was really starting to get angry. “I didn’t do anything to you and now you’re in here buying stupid shit to bother me with. I thought we were good now. I thought we were friends.” Possibly more. But he didn’t say that because he didn’t want her to think more of it than what it really meant. Yeah, they were more than friends, but it wasn't too much more. She knew that though, but you never knew who might be listening.

“Enlighten me, Tierney. Tell me what it is again that I did wrong. Because I’m always the problem.” Landon sighed heavily and looked around the store. This is not what he imagined happening when they walked in here. He thought that they would exchange a few nice words and maybe even arrange to meet up sometime. But he quickly became aware that it wasn't that they had been missing each other. She clearly had been avoiding him. For what reason, he had no clue. And he wanted to find out. Now.

When it came to girls' feelings, Landon was a little slow on the uptake. Sure, during intimate moments he could make them think and feel unimaginable things, but otherwise, he was clueless. But Tierney had him learning a little. After she had confronted him about his ways, she’d indirectly forced him to be a bit more sensitive and to really understand the way he was treating women. Landon furrowed his brow and pinched his forehead in thought. He took a minute to really think about everything to see if he could really figure this out. The last time they hooked up was...right after Victoria showed up. He didn't mention her...but he did mention other girls. Was she still mad about that? Things were starting to click. She had been avoiding him.

Whatever the reason, he needed to figure it out because the more time he spent away from her, the more awkward about it he felt. He was more at ease with it before he knew that she was intentionally avoiding him. He hated to say it, but he felt a little hurt. "And while you're explaining that, you might want to explain why you've been avoiding me." He gently grabbed her hand and pulled her to the back of the store. She could pay for them later. Hopefully she wouldn’t buy them at all. “Look, I didn’t come in here to pick a fight with you. I just want to know what's going on. Help me out here. I can't know that I did something wrong if you don't tell me. I honestly thought we were on the same page here." He crossed his arms over his chest, muscles defined under his deep green cashmere sweater (that brought out the blue in his eyes), as he awaited her response. It wasn‘t cold enough for a coat but it was just nippy and wet enough for an excuse to wear his new sweater and some dark jeans.

[Tierney Harper]

“What the hell is your problem? I didn’t do anything to you and now you’re in here buying stupid shit to bother me with. I thought we were good now. I thought we were friends.”

Tierney was so close to slapping Landon upside the head, but then he utter the word friends and she merely closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Contrary to your beliefs, Landon, the world does not revolve around you and you are not always the target of everyone's attention be it good or bad. You are also not the only womanizer in the world, unfortunately. We'd be too lucky if that were the case."

"And while you're explaining that, you might want to explain why you've been avoiding me."

Ding, ding, ding! Sometimes Landon was much more perceptive than he was given credit for. Tierney knew there was intelligence somewhere in that pretty head of his - after all, he was a Rederick and while they may not always be the nicest, they all had smarts to some degree. Plus, the boy managed to pass his classes - though passing classes and being perceptive were two very different forms of intelligence. A part of her was happy he noticed, though a larger part of her cursed her clearly poor acting skills.

'Well, there's one career I shouldn't be pursuing.'

So now what should she tell him? That she was avoiding him because of his girlfriend - sorry, she wasn't technically his girlfriend, but close enough. Or how about that she was avoiding him because he was going back to his old ways and she refused to associate with him when he was like that? Or perhaps that she felt herself getting too attached and wanted to pull back before falling for a womanizer like him. She couldn't do that, she wouldn't allow herself to get hurt and in the end that would be exactly what happened.

Was she really falling for him? No, no. It was the hormones talking. Yes, that was it. Scratch that last idea.

"I'm trying to put distance between us." That much was true. Now for why... "You're rebuilding your reputation - the reputation I destroyed. How odd and detrimental would that be if we were seen together? I realize we haven't been seen together yet, but the more popular you get the more likely it would be to happen. I can't afford that happening and you couldn't either."

Plausible? She sure as hell hoped so. It sounded a little cold, but it was better than the truth... which was what exactly? Tierney didn't even know, but she knew her cold, bitchy response was better. Though really she was never one to care about social status.

Tierney tried to avoid looking at Landon, letting her eyes roam the store and see the cashier finally emerging from the back. She allowed her gaze to fall on Landon briefly and felt a familiar tug in her chest which she pointedly ignored. The craving she got as she glanced at his lips though was a little harder. 'Last time... just one won't hurt,' with that thought she leaned in and pressed her lips firmly against the boy's. Her hands instinctively curled around the fabric of his shirt at his hips and pulled him closer. Before she let herself get too carried away she pulled back, placing one more quick peck on his lips and then turned toward the counter to pay for her items which the cashier had already rung up.

"6 galleons even, miss." Tierney nodded, trying to hide a blush as she realized the man had seen Landon and her. She handed over her money and took her bounty. Just as she reached the door she looked back to Landon and gave him a small smile, "Bye." Then she turned and exited the store, praying he didn't follow after her... kind of.

[Landon Rederick]

Under other circumstances, Landon would have been relieved to hear that he was clear from torture. However, everything that Tierney said next made him forget that they were even in the joke shop and why he was arguing with her in the first place. He didn’t even bother snapping back at her comment about the world revolving around him.

Landon should have expected Tierney to react this way regarding his recent ‘behaviour’. She’d never liked the fact that he was with more than one girl at once and it’s what had gotten him in trouble with her in the first place. However, he’d definitely toned it down since then and she did say that she didn’t really care what he did when he wasn’t with her. He wouldn’t even be doing it if Victoria wasn’t around, but he figured it would be the only way to show her that she couldn’t control him anymore. But he couldn’t tell Tierney that. She wouldn’t understand and would probably just berate him for it.

“That has probably got to be the most ridiculous thing I think I’ve ever heard you say.” Landon almost laughed. Yeah, he got that she didn’t like it when he was hooking up with multiple girls, but that crap about them being seen together was completely off. “Do you really expect me to believe that T? We have always been careful and made sure that we were away from everyone. And even if we were caught, which we wouldn’t be, people wouldn’t put it past me…just saying. And since when do you care about protecting your reputation?” He could tell that she was lying. None of this was adding up. Tierney always called him on his bullshit, regardless of what it was. But this time she just didn’t say anything and made sure to evade contact with him. There must be some other reason why she’d been avoiding him.

What happened next he definitely did not expect. He hadn’t even realized that Tierney was kissing him until she’d pulled away and before he knew it she was walking out the store. Did she really think that she was going to let her walk away from him like that? He’d barely seen her in the last month, much less kissed her. He could faintly feel her lips on his as he stood in the store stunned for a few seconds before turning and jogging after her. He didn’t know what it was about her that kept him running back. Any guy treated the way she had treated him wouldn’t be giving her the time of day. But passed all of that, there was something about her that enthralled him. He liked to chalk it up to hormones. She was kinda like his forbidden fruit and he craved her when he knew he shouldn’t. She wasn’t his type. (Though practically anything with a vagina was his type.)

After being deprived of her for so long, a kiss was all it took to shake him up. He missed her laugh and her smile. He missed her playfulness. She wasn’t like any of the other girls. She made him want to be a better person. She was the reason he’d changed. He hated disappointing her. He didn’t understand the reason he felt the way he did, but he wasn’t going to leave her alone until he got some real answers and until she really understood what she was doing to him. “Tierney, stop,” he said as he caught up to her. He took her hand and pulled her behind him down the nearest alley and backed her against a wall. “Don’t lie to me,” he whispered in her ear before letting his lips trail down her jaw. The kissed their way up and down her neck and brought them up directly in front of hers, but didn’t kiss them. His eyes traced her face as he contemplated what to say next. He wanted to make every word perfect so that she understood completely.

“I know how I can make you feel.” His hand fell to her hip. “I can tell by the way your eyes flutter closed when I touch your skin.” He slipped a finger under her shirt and let it barely graze the surface of her skin. “I know you like when I’m aggressive.” He pushed his hips into hers, all the while keeping his lips so close to hers. “So do us both a favor and tell me the real reason you’ve been avoiding me. Know one else can make you feel the way I do, T, so stop torturing yourself.” And me, he thought. He didn’t know if he was crossing the line because he didn’t know if there was really more to the story. She could really be telling the truth, but he didn’t want that to be it. He didn’t want things between them to stop, no matter how nonchalant he seemed. He hadn’t even realized how much he missed her until she kissed him. “I’m not going to close our deal, until I know that there is absolutely nothing I can do to fix it. This wasn't just about you.”

OoC: So I feel like this was crap so you have to let me know if you like it or not...regardless of what time it is!! For whatever reason, I feel really self conscious about this one.

[Tierney Harper]

There wasn't anything Landon could do to change her mind... 'Except that,' she thought dismally as Landon came after her, pulled her into an alley, whispered in her ear, and began kissing her jaw and neck. By the time he pressed his hips into her she had to bite her tongue to keep from moaning. Normally she wasn't nearly so sensitive, but this was Landon and for some reason every word he said was right... he made her feel like no one else could.

She did her best to keep stone-faced and calm, but damn that boy was too experienced for his own good! No doubt her eyes had clearly glazed over; she felt that wistful expression that accompanied it on her face. Quickly she pushed it away and swallowed the lump growing in her throat. "There's nothing you can do, Landon."

If only her voice had sounded as firm as she had planned. It didn't.

He was making this so very difficult. After their kiss a moment ago her resolve was already faltering so this close proximity and his hips against hers was driving her mad. There was only one thing to be done - play his game. Kind of.

"Cocky bastard," she mumbled before she pushed her hips back against his and planted her hands on his chest, massaging lightly all the while pushing him away from her and her body away from the wall. "It was fun while it lasted, but your social status is changing and as you said earlier, if anyone saw us together they wouldn't put it past you to be with me, I would be just another one of those many girls who fell victim to your charm, which we both know is bullshit."

With a soft smile she brushed her fingers through his hair; she really loved his hair and she would miss it. "I don't know how to explain this to you. I know what you're like; I know you have trouble being with one girl for any length of time. Already you're exhibiting a change and going back to that and our agreement is only facilitating that regression. Besides that, my morals won't be ignored any longer; they won't let me be a part of that you. They won't allow me to be another one of the many girls you see because I'm not one of them, Landon. I said earlier, I know you. I know what you're like and thus I can't trust you in some ways."

Ouch, that sounded a bit harsh. Quickly she rushed to soften the blow, "I can trust you with my life, but I can't trust you with my feelings or with loyalty. I know - who am I to talk, I cheated on my damned fiance, and that does make me feel terrible mind you, so I wouldn't blame someone for not trusting me. I feel I shouldn't be trusted after what I did, but for that same reason I can't trust you." She paused and moved a step away, pinching the bridge of her nose, "I know I'm not making any sense. I can't explain it!"

"All I can tell you is that I can't keep up our arrangement anymore. Go find a girl to date and be happy while you still can. I know you too well, but with any luck there are still a few out there who are blissfully unaware or in denial of your womanizing ways. Hopefully the girl you want still is. Victoria should be, right? I mean she hadn't been here for it after all. Assuming you want her, she'd probably be perfect." 'Ramble, ramble, ramble! Shut it, Tierney!' Despite her thought, she continued, "Please, just promise me you won't go back to how you were, okay? You're worrying me. I told you before that this behavior is unhealthy and will cost you the one girl you'll really want - really love - if you keep it up, but if you date someone long term and establish a more reliable and trustworthy facade then perhaps you can fix your reputation and fool the rest of the female population into trusting you."

She winked, trying to lighten her dark words, but she felt no cheer. She felt no amusement. Briefly her heart tugged at the thought that this was really goodbye. It was silly - she didn't like him - but still she could have sworn her heart ached as if she was breaking up with a boyfriend. Very silly indeed. "Anyway, um... give me some time and space. I want to be friendly with you; I don't want to be enemies again unless you return to being a womanizing ass, but I can't just jump to being smiles, pleasantries and whatnot from what we were."

Suddenly, she felt tears spring to her eyes. It startled her and she looked away, hoping he hadn't seen. Her throat was tight too and she knew it would be difficult to talk evenly before she got herself under control. It really was like a breakup, one done by force and prematurely, not because the relationship had run its natural course. To further hide her tears and buy herself some time, she turned back, but quickly hugged him before he could clearly see her face. Taking a few deep breaths only made her want to cry more.

She was being absolutely ridiculous!

This time as she pulled back and left she basically ran. She pressed herself into the crowd and took off at light speed so Landon couldn't catch her. Somewhere between town and the castle she had broken down and began to cry, but it didn't stop her. She didn't even slow down until she reached the girls' dormitories where Landon couldn't go. She collapsed on her bed in a heap and flat out wept like a big baby for no reason.

Well... at least no reason which was plausible to her, one she would actually consider.