A Random Corridor

[-sigh- I will be in bed by then tomorrow. Saturday or Sunday, I suppose. <3 ]

[THE PARTY IS THIS WEEKEND, YES? -waits impatiently for krack to end-]

[Sunday, I won't be on. Saturday, I can maybe be on in the morning and some times in the afternoon, but I'm packing that day too, so I'll be on and off.]

[Aw man. Yeah, party starts this weekend. Fleur, I'm gonna PM you 'bout that tomorrow, but now I need to force myself to go to bed.]

[Okay! SLEEP TIGHT!]

"Oh, God." He said, holding back a smile. A magnifying glass. Really. Well, he had to admire her attempt to make a joke out of a truly bad situation. "I really hope I never drunkenly do anything with a man." He frowned, "Do you really think he would blame you? You thought he was with a man. You were hurt, you wanted to feel wanted, am I right? I'm sure if you explained it to him he'd understand."

Faye begins to laugh when imagining Teddy having a drunken escapade with a man. She holds back a gag. "I hope it you never drunkenly do anything either. If you ever do, do not tell me. Don't ever tell me unless you want to be covered in stomach acid!" she says sternly, pointing her finger in a disciplinary way. She frowns at the mention of Scorpius blaming her. "Unfortunately, Ted, I think he isn't as forgiving or understanding as you seem to think he is. When he found out about my infidelities previously, he didn't take it well at all..."

"I definitely don't want to be covered in stomach acid." He agreed, "And Faye, Scorpius loves you. He certainly has an odd was to show it sometimes and I think he should avoid alchohol in the future, but he does love you. I think, given the choice, he would rather know than not. I sure would. Sure, he'll be mad. You messed up, he has the right to be angry, but he'll forgive you." He stopped, not wanted to seem like he was Scorp's fan or anything. That sure wasn't true. "All in all, it's your choice. Do you think you can face him, talk to him, while you keep him in the dark? If you can, go for it."

[That...was beautiful. I you can still be best man. Yep]

"I know Scorpius loves me, but...I don't think my recent actions can show that I love him. He certainly won't take them as such. I know it's best for me to tell him, but I'm afraid. I'm afraid that if I tell him, I'll lose him. Isn't it better to be with the person you want to be with, then to end it over something stupid and be with someone you may not ever love as intensely? It doesn't...it doesn't make sense," she muttered. Teddy's last comment confused her. "I...I've been doing well with it at the moment. If I pretend it never happened, it's easier. Does that make sense?"

Teddy sighed, "I don't know what to tell you, Faye. Of course you're afraid, any sane person would be. You can pretend it never happened, but the longer you wait, the angrier he will be. And you don't want to be stuck three months or even years from now looking back and saying 'Man, I wish I had told him then.' You don't want to look back and regret this forever." He frowned, getting a little too deep for his liking. What is it with these hallways? "You know how people say there's the easy way and the hard way? How many times it the easy way the right way?"

Faye bit her lip and thought everything over for a couple minutes. "You're right. I don't want to be forced to tell him later on that I fucked up. What do I do now, though? It's already been awhile and he's going to be so pissed at me. I mean, I was so angry at him for what he did with Gellert and my confession is far worse...." she exclaimed, wanting nothing else but to rip her hair out. She was not happy with this deep conversation. "Never. The easy way is never the right way. Fuck. I guess...I guess I'll tell him, but I doubt it'll end pretty."

Teddy smiled sadly, "It may not end pretty, but I'm sure you'll move past it. You guys seem like a really tight couple. I would know, I got punched for you." He rubbed his nose absently, "On to happier topics, how is did quitting smoking go for you? You pulled it off, yeah?"

"Yeah, sorry about that whole being punched thing. He is a tad violent..." Faye says with a small laugh, glad that Teddy switched the topic. "I did quit smoking successfully and I haven't felt better. My lungs are quite clearer now. Feels good. You?"

"Well, I did kinda bring it on myself. I do that for some reason." He laughed, "Yeah, I quit smoking. I think Vic was about to kill me too, so it was perfect timing." He looked back the way he had come, surprised to find out that is is quarter to three Sarah Standard Time. He must be going. "Well, it's been... fun." He said delicately. "Good luck with Scorpius."

"Thanks, I'll need it. Glad everything's working out for you and Vic!" she shouts out as he leaves, not caring about the time. She was used to staying up late anyhow.

Scorpius is walking down the hallway, all la dee da dee da, when he spots Faye ahead. He grins, but freezes when spots a head of turquoise hair. THAT JERK. It's just like his picture. He watches as Teddy leaves, then walks over to where Faye is. "I would say that it's dangerous to be in the hallways alone at night, but it seems you've got that Lupin boy keeping you company."

"He's a friend and, just so you know, I was wandering the halls alone at night until he showed up. I live dangerously!" she says with one eyebrow raised, wondering why on earth he would be concerned about Teddy. She pushes off the wall so she's no longer leaning and smiles. "He has a girlfriend, you know. You don't have to worry about him harboring feelings for me anymore."

"Yes well, you never know who is wandering the halls at this time. There are some truly awful guys out there, like my cousin Lucius. You do not want to cross paths with him. Ever," he says. "And well, just because the kid as a girlfriend, doesn't really mean anything, does it? People, unfortunately, have fidelity problems. I wouldn't put it past him to still have some sort of feeling for a gorgeous girl like yourself."

"Creepy blokes don't scare me, Scorp. I know karate, yeah!" Faye says in a lame tone. Lame Faye is lame. A lump appears in her throat when he mentions Lucius and she rubs the nape of her neck. "Y-yeah. Lucius. He... um...." she pauses as he continues, wondering when there will ever be a good time to bring this up. He brings up 'fidelity problems' and her stomach flipflops, her arms suddenly feeling quite heavy. God, why did he have to be so nice when she was about to confess that she was a huge slut? "Look, Scorpius..." she tries to get her word in, but he keeps talking and eventually she can't take the pressure. "IsleptwithLuciusthenightoftheSlytherinpartybecausehetoldmeyouleftwithGellertandIwasdrunkandIwasupsetanditdidn'tmeananything!" she said all of this in a shout and at a very fast pace. Once she finished, she breathed heavily as if trying to catch her breath and her eyes started to water. Why was she upset? She didn't have the right to be upset.

Scorpius stares at her for a moment, unsure of what to think or say. He swallows the lump in his throat before muttering, "You slept...with my cousin? Are you... are you fucking kidding me Faye?" he asks. "I can't... I can't even... You trusted what he said, you trusted what he told you over everything you know about me. That's just...that's fucking peachy," he says, letting out a slight huh. "What next?" he asks, his tone increasing in volume as he continues. "Going to go and fuck my other cousin, Draco? Maybe go for the family set, eh? Or no, how about Flint. Yeah. He deals with sloppy seconds. I mean, I know Viktor and Regulus I don't have to worry about. I just...how could you?" he asks, the question much quieter, almost pleading for an explanation. "I know...I know we said that everyone fucks up and makes mistakes. But...this is...this," he says breaking off and shaking his head.

Faye didn't know what to say. Every single thing she thought of she pushed away because she didn't think it was something he wanted to hear. She probably looked like a complete idiot standing there with her mouth opening, then closing, after every few minutes. Everything was suddenly extremely fast paced and she wanted to run down to the Slytherin dormitories and hide in her room for as long as she could. If she could do it for her whole life, she most definitely would. Teddy said it'd be fine. Teddy said maybe he'd see past it. He wasn't. He wasn't. Teddy had been wrong. Faye could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate, but she would NOT cry. She couldn't. She took a step back when he raised his voice. "I was drunk - I didn't think about it - you were seen leaving - I didn't..." her voice was hardly above a whisper. One hand rose up and rubbed her right eye, wiping the tears away before they could fall. No crying. "No...I wasn't...I wouldn't..." Her head started to ache. She didn't know how to explain it. There wasn't a rational explanation because at the time she wasn't thinking rationally. "I don't know why I did it," she said with her voice no longer shaking, "I know that it happened and I know that I never meant for it too. I know that I only did it because I thought you were with another man and that hurt. It hurt far worse when I was drunk and he was there and comforting and I - I don't know. I don't know why I did it. I just...I just did..."

"Well, I suppose you really don't know me as well as you thought you did. I would never...with a man...no," he says, disgusted by the thought. He wonders how much Firebeer she must have consumed to have believed that. And with Gellert no less? Merlin no. Never. "I love you Faye, I do," he says, his voice softening slightly, "but how many times are we going to be playing these games? We're fine for a few weeks, then shit like this hits the fan. I can't... I can't keep hurting this way. I gave all of my trust, you'd think being faithful is asking too much. Maybe, maybe you were right when we first met. We're too similar to make something like this work. It's fine though, you know?" he says, his voice stiffening. "Go do whatever you want now. Don't worry about it. Go be the carefree girl you once were. The smoking, the drinking, grinding up on random guys. I suppose that maybe in the end, we were always meant to say goodbye."

Teddy was wrong. He had been so wrong. She never should have said anything. She never should have done anything that stupid in the first place. There were so many things she never should have done. The list went on and on and she couldn't believe any of it. His voice faded out and all she could hear was the loud thumping of her heart echoing in her ears. It was over. It was over. He was ending everything. Her breathing quickened and she shook her head once to bring her hearing back and away from her own organs. Her stomach flopped and she almost forgot how to breathe. At least, it felt that way. She remembered when they first met. She remembered all the times she cheated on him. She remembered when he grabbed her after choosing Gellert. She remembered when they decided to wait. She remembered the Room of Requirement when they decided to stop their waiting. She remembered when they were in the kitchens acting like goons. Her head throbbed with pain and she closed her eyes, biting down hard on her lip to hold back tears. "I understand. I - I'm sorry," she said softly, her hands gripping tightly to her arms as she hugged herself, "I didn't mean any of it. Maybe...maybe I was. Maybe I'm not..." she paused and remembered what he said at the wedding reception about them changing, her heart tearing as she said what she was now forcing herself to believe, "...maybe I never changed like you said I had." She stopped and opened her eyes to look at him, unsure of what else he wanted to hear from her. His last words felt like a knife through her chest and the pain seared throughout her entire body. She couldn't show it. Her eyes watered defiantly, but she held them back with all her might. "I'm sorry I'm not - I'm not better for you and I'm sorry - I'm sorry it has to end this way," she whispered when she started to tremble, her words breaking apart with sobs. There was no way she could stay here anymore and she pushed past him, walking as fast as she could away while her hand swept furiously across her eyes to wipe away the tears that were streaming down her face. At least he wouldn't see her cry.

And now Faye is gone.

Scorpius finds himself unable to protest to what she says. It was exactly what he had implied, and he doesn't find himself disagreeing to her claims. Tease? He didn't think that she was quite one anymore. After all, what she did wasn't done with the purpose of frustrating him. It was done out of anger, confusion, revenge. It was more so her actions that hadn't changed at all. How she handles problems and certain situations that arise in her life. He can't continue to stand by her, tell her it's alright that she messed up and fucked another guy. What kind of person would he be if he sat back and let her do that? He finds himself leaning against the wall, his head falling into his hands after she leaves. Her sobs echoed through his head, making him want to run down the hallway, pull her into his arms and comfort her. But no. That is problem. His difficulty in letting her go and his love for her blinds her actions. Part of him worries what is going to happen next. Is he going to see her again sometime, his love for her overruling the common sense in that they're not right for each other? He thinks for a moment what good this place is for him. He doesn't have many friends, for many distance themselves from him because of his last name. Sure, he has Viktor and Flint, but that's only two out of many students. He'd hardly be missed if he leaves. There are so many other places he could go, places where maybe he can succeed in something greater than what Hogwarts has to provide. Pushing himself off the wall, he quickly heads back to the Slytherin Common room, hoping he doesn't encounter Faye on his way.