| Details for Doesn't Mean We're Back Together |
| Summary: | Briar and Kaiden admit that despite logic and reason, they miss each other. |
| Date: | April 1st 1938 |
| Location: | Hufflepuff Common Room |
| Related: | Anything Briar Kaiden related. |
| Characters |
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Spring Break! Kaiden Sykes can be found standing in the Hufflepuff Commons with a hand on his hip, thinking something over quite heavily. This is always a bad thing. The young, dashing and incredibly handsome Hufflepuff Hero stares down at two shirts, obviously at a loss for which one will make him look the prettiest.
Briar has been watching Kaiden for a little while now. With this perplexed look on her face. "You know Sykes, the common room isn't your closet…" She does walk over and tap her favorite of the two shirt. "Wear that one." Then she hefts herself up to sit on the back of the couch. "So who are you off to meet? You only get that sort of thinking face when a girl is involved."
"Oh, no. It's nothing like that. I'm only taking a handful of outfits back to choose from. Trying to decide which one of these makes me the prettiest." He picks up the one that she indicated and wrinkles his nose at it, his lips quirking to the side. "You sure about this one?"
Briar rolls her eyes a bit, "The Prettiest. You sound more and more like your sister every day. Yes, I'm sure about that one. It's the shirt you were wearing…" She trails off as it was the shirt that ended up on the floor at the Three Broomsticks their first time. So yes, she's realizing why she picked it out and is drifting off.
Obviously not remembering or choosing to stuff those memories aside, Kaiden just raises an eyebrow and looks back to the shirt, "I'm sure you're right. You always had a way of making me look my best." He clears his throat and folds the shirt over his forearm and looking off into the boy's dorms.
Briar smiles a little bit, she's feeling a little uncomfortable. But she's also trying to keep things at least friendly. "So what are your plans for the break?"
"Umm…I'm not really sure. Probably spend the whole thing drinking and going to parties. Y'know, teenager things." Kaiden offers a shrug and sits down on the couch, looking up at Briar. "How about you?"
Briar brightens up a bit thinking about her plans for the break. "Oh, mostly going to the movies and a display at Kews Gardens. Low-key stuff. You know me." While she will party happily, she doesn't exactly do the party girl thing.
"Oh, yeah? That sounds like a good time, actually. Consider me jealous." Kaiden grins and drapes the shirt across his lap before he lays back and steeples his fingers, "So, how's life been treating you, Briar?"
Briar smiles a little sheepishly. "Well, sounds like you've got a good time planned too. It should be fun though. Xander's not been to the Kew Gardens, they've got a couple of Corpse Flowers on display. So it's right up his alley." To his question she smiles a little and gives a shrug. "It's treating me pretty well. I'm leaning towards staying next year too now. Might as well, right?"
"You're…taking Xander?" At this revelation, Kaiden sits up and wrings his hands, "Well…that'll be fun, I guess." The boy clears his throat and looks up at her, "Yeah, you should definitely stay. No reason not to."
Briar lofts up her eyebrows at his reaction. "What? Yeah. We're going together. Not really a uh… date thing. We just got talking and he likes the morbid shit, I like the plant shit, this is something that's mixed both. Thought it would be cool. He can smell what a corpse smells like without the whole someone having to die down side." She tilts her head. "You okay? Was that jealousy?"
"Of course not! Why would I be jealous?" Kaiden stands up, waving his hands and letting his shirt fall to the floor. "I mean…it's been like forever since we dated." He takes a deep breath and looks back to her for a moment before he bends down to pick up his shirt.
Briar continues to watch him fumble about with her brows raised up. "Cause you're sort of wigging out since you found out I was going with Xander. I'm glad to hear that you think a couple of months is 'like forever'. So you would be completely fine if it was a date - date then?"
"Yeah, that's fine. Whatever." At this moment, Kaiden is pacing back and forth, shaking his head. His movements a stark contrast to his word. He stops and throws his hands into the air, "I'm going to my bunk!"
Briar blinks and can't help but chuckle a little. "Kaid?" She stands up to step in front of him. "You're doing that whole, not saying what you really mean thing. I think. You're acting pretty upset." She gingerly offers up the other shirt to him.
Kaiden sighs and drops his hands to the side before he actually looks Briar in the face, "Well, I am upset, Briar." He gulps a bit, out of frustration more than anything, and says, "I still care about you, Briar. I wake up and you're the first thing that pops into my head. I still…think about getting something for you everytime I'm at Harkiss'." He reaches up and brushes the hair from his face, letting slip another sigh of exasperation.
Briar sighs, a soft sigh of relief. "Was that so hard?" She asks with a smile. Tilting head she tries to maintain eye contact with him. "I thought all of that was forever ago though." She approaches him a bit more. "You used to be able to tell me anything. Why couldn't you tell me that… forever ago?" Her voice is rather gentle and pleading. Only a bit of her frustration making it to the surface, mostly it's just hope that it means he's going to start talking to her again. "Quit sighing like thinking about me is the worst thing in the world, would ya?"
"But it is the worst thing in the world. I mean, you've got mister blue eyes now and I'm just the dumb kid who screwed you over that one time." He rests his hands on his hips. "I'm happy for you, though. If Xander makes you smile and treats you right, then that's good enough for me. You deserve it."
Briar squints at him and shakes her head in disbelief. "You don't hear so good when you're in jealous mode. Xander is just a friend. He's been very nice and has helped me feel good about myself again, yeah. But I don't 'got mister blue eyes' and you're the dumb kid who screwed me over a few times actually. Not in the sexy way either. But you're the dumb kid who I still care about. I can't hate you, despite trying. What I said to you… I've never said that before, and I said it so late because I was going to be damn sure I had it right. I've been sick for months - I'm fat now…look at me. Stuffing my face with brownies. Trying to forget you. Xander does make me smile and he does treat me right. But we aren't together, and I'm not in love with /him/." She reaches up to wipe away at a tear that sneaks down her cheek.
Crying woman. Brain…not work. Kaiden tilts his head to her and goes for the hug. He'll keep it strictly platonic for now, hands moving to rest between her shoulder-blades. "I'm really unsure as to what this sort of situation calls for, so I'm just going to continue hugging you for a little while longer, okay?"
Briar sniffles and sad-giggles at his admitting ignorance of what to do and she just nods and nuzzles her face in his neck and doesn't seem to mind the hug, or that it's going to last longer. Her fingers often digging in just a little bit more just a little sign of gratitude and comfort in the act.
Kaiden runs his hands up and down her back, patting here and there to try and make everything all better, "I miss you, Bri. I miss you, a lot." It's all he says for the moment, as he decides that words tend to be the thing that get him in trouble and that being the silent comforter is probably a better choice for him.
Briar can be felt practically melting when he says those words. "I miss you. So much." She sobs a little before catching herself and she makes a hard swallow. "Sorry, I sound so stupid." She hates that he makes her the sobby girly girl she's always promised herself she'd never be. "It's been so lonely. Xander's the first to really step up and try to be a friend. So please don't be mean to him."
Kaiden reaches up to brush some hair from her face and tug her chin up so he can see her eyes. "I'll be the nicest guy in the world. I'm good at it sometimes." He offers her a soft smile followed shortly by a sigh of content.
Briar's black eyes are all puffy from crying but she does look him in the eyes as she swipes a finger under her nose to wipe away the dangling tear drop from the tip. "You can be. The Kaiden I know. He's who I miss. My best friend. I wasn't prepared - I thought we could go back to being friends if we broke up. But then…there was nothing and you were being so mean…" A couple more tears roll down her cheeks. "You swatting at my hand when I was just trying to take care of you…" She explains when he was last being mean to her. "I can't take it Kaiden. I want to hate you so much. But I can't. You are the biggest asshole sometimes… but I can't help how I feel. Jack might have been my first in bed, but it's always been you you big dumb oaf."
Kaiden takes over as the tear-wiper-away-er and nods to her as she speaks, "There's not an excuse in the world to make up for what I did." He quirks his lips to the side and drags his thumb slowly across her cheek before he gives it a soft pat, "I'd…I'd really like to kiss you, if that would be okay."
Briar sniffles and her lip trembles when he tells her what he'd like to do. She nods, but as he comes in for the kiss she lifts up a hand so her fingers cover up his lips and she looks into his eyes. "This doesn't mean we're getting back together tho…" She needs to make that clear before she removes her hand and practically lunges to close the couple of inches distance and mash her salty with tears lips against his.
Kaiden nods into the hands and just sort of mumbles something that sounds like 'of course'. As he's about to elaborate…BAM! Briar to the face. He doesn't seem to take offense at being cut off, though and just sort of enjoys the moment for what it is. His hands move to less platonic places, but nowhere that would permanently scar a child that might happen to stumble upon them.
Briar gives his lip a little nibble and even a bit of a nip before she leans back to take a bit of a panting for breath. "Dammit." She mumbles, what's the source of her curse isn't clear.
"What?" asks Kaiden with just an ounce of worry and a furrowed brow. "What's wrong?" The boy tilts his head and gives her face a once-over. It is a nice face, after all.
Briar gives his chest a mild thump. "You have the shittiest timing. I was just about ready to get over you…" She smirks and gives his shirt a bit of a tug, indicating she'd like some more of that kissing thing.
"What's the term? Fashionably late or something?" Kaiden grins at the tugging of his shirt and takes her hands in his, giving the back of each of them a kiss. "Take some time. Think it over. I will be doing the same thing while I finish packing, okay?"
Briar chuckles and gives her eyes a playful roll. "You posh Sykes' thinking everything you do is fashionable. I can tell you one thing right now. You call yourself prettiest again, and I'm so gone. I don't like 'prettiest', I like real."
Kaiden offers Briar a smirk and nods, "Real? Got it. Now…" He presses a short, tender kiss to her lips and draws his head back, "…I'm going to go get packed." He flashes her a wink and begins walking to the boys dorms.
Briar nods and waves after him with a smile. She does think one thing is important to say for him to think about. "I'm still going to do the stuff with Xander." She looks to him closely for a reaction before she'll finally let him get and move to go into the girls dorm herself.
"It would be rude not to. I mean, you've already made the plans and all. Just make sure you pencil me in for dinner at some time." He turns and walks backwards, offering up that famous lopsided grin of his to Briar as he disappears into the boy's dorm.
Briar looks very relieved when he's very cool about it. "Yeah, right. Sure, you know where I live. Parents are actually home though. So don't send an owl. Okay?" But she does seem very game to going out with him on what sounds like he wants to be a date.