[ Denial, Revisited ]-[ For Katie's Eyes Only ;) ]

[Charlie Sonata]

Charlie grinned into her fresh glass of brandy and lemonade, barely suppressing a careless giggle. Alexys Prso hadn't changed a jot since they had last part. Still the same ridiculous old charmer...though this time, there was no sign of his lanky friend. She didn't ask why Serphius wasn't around. She didn't care, to be honest. That boy had been the reason they'd broken up, and Felicia's brother or not, she didn't care for him much. Thumbing the lip of her glass, she looked back at him again.

"So what've you been doing with yourself? I hardly see you around anymore."

Alexys paused, tongue playing with the back of his lip stud a little as he tried to come up with an answer. He shrugged, and drank from his tall glass of Bacardi and coke.

"Well, to be honest, I've been doing bugger all. I spend most my time in Paris, you know? This place," he said, and gestured around him, "Well, it's a bit lame, don't you think?"

"A bit lame? Oh, thanks very much," Charlie replied, faking insult with a laugh, "This is my usual haunt, I'll have you know."

The two Lioanos laughed like old friends, and shook their heads as they drank. They sat up at the bar, side by side with their backs to the room. Charlie was looking as dazzling as ever in a silver mini jersey dress and white wedges, her long blond hair pulled into a loose side pony tail. White beads hung from her neck, and large white hoops from her ears. Alexys, on the other hand, was wearing white too. From the waist down, he was clad in spray on white drain pipes, and green baseball shoes. His t-shirt was green too, and he was wearing one of his trademark jackets - the blue one, this time.

Charlie couldn't guess for the life of her what had prompted Lexi to start talking to her again. It was rather fun, but she couldn't help but think what Adam would think if they saw them like this - laughing and joking, slightly tipsy, and a bit cozy. She carefully didn't mention him to Alexys as they chatted, just as he didn't mention Serphius.

"Do you want another drink?" Alexys asked, noticing that Charlie's glass was almost empty now. She nodded, and reach to pick up her glass, fingers accidentally brushing hers. He hesitated, smirked, and took her glass quickly before beckoning the bar man, "'Nother round here for the lady, please."

[Adam McElroy]

For once, gasp, Adam McElroy wasn't in his usual (at least, what had previously BECOME usual) mood. You know, the mix of moody, pathetic, rather short-tempered, the-world-and-everyone-in-it-are-so-out-to-get-me-cry teen kind of mood, when he moped around silently, wishing for someone to appear and cheer him up and then when they did, silently begging and willing them to just fuck off.

But not today. Today it was like it had... I don't know. Stopped raining on him all the time. Life was looking surprisingly decent from this angle, whichever angle 'this' was, and Adam was enjoying it. It was great to feel a little hope, as if the glass really was half full, rather than half empty.

I mean, even though he'd lost his girlfriends, one sister was becoming increasingly more depressed, the other seeming pretty sick right now (yes, physically AND mentally), his ex-best-friend had a better girlfriend than him, he had no friends at all, his ex-best-friend had a better life than him in general and he still had a yellowing bruise on his forehead, life was going fine. Just great. Oh yes.

But the male had really gotten sick of being inside that day, and had decided to go out on the 'town'. The 'town' being the bar deep in the school's grounds. How very adventurous of him, I know. But it was far better than staying inside all night, in the common room, pretending to read some boring book while just trying to get to sleep at all.

So he was out, donning a plain black shirt and jeans, opening the door of Shaded Nights and stepping inside, into the warmth.

{HAHA LAME. xP}

[Charlie Sonata]

Another peal of laughter came from Alexys and Charlie, drawing glances from those closest to them. As the drinks kept flowing, the volume increased until they were probably the loudest at the bar. Shoulders bumping, heads together, you'd be forgiven of thinking these two were a couple as they whispered and cackled and swigged drinks together. Lexi had his jacket off, and slung over the back of his stool, and Charlie had taken her hair down. She leaned forward, and pressed the glass she was holding to her lips. She grinned, and held the glass up.

"To a renewed friendship," she declared, and Alexys snorted with laughed, but raised his glass anyway.

"Hear, hear," he chimed, almost sloshing his Jager Bomb all over his hand. Grinning, he licked the sticky mixture off his fingers, and leaned casually against Charlie as he done so. She smiled too, and leaned against him, clinking their glasses together. Pleasantly drunk, pleasantly amused, they were happy together for once. It was indeed a nice change - she wasn't thinking of Felicia and Adam, and he wasn't thinking of Serphius and Cove.

That's how it was, of course, before Charlie happened to glance round, and notice who had just came in. Her face couldn't help but fall a little, and she turned back to Alexys quickly, and smiled again. Lexi had caught her look, and glanced over too. He frowned a little - he vaguely knew Adam, seeing as they were both in seventh year Lioano together, but he didn't understand Charlie's slightly annoyed expression. Lexi shrugged it off, and turned back to the bar. Sipping down his yummy drink, he nudged Charlie. she smiled reluctantly, but kept her head down.

Oh dear, oh dear.

[Adam McElroy]

Adam strolled over to the bar, looking around a little but barely noticing anyone of importance yet. In fact, scratch that; barely noticing anyone very familiar at all yet. Leaning against the counter, he tapped his fingers lightly on the surface, to the beat of the music thumping in his ears. "Hey, can I get a- can I get a-" He then felt eyes on him, and glanced up, along the pretty crowded bar.

It was then that he saw two somewhat familiar faces. The one was male, and he felt a light stab of jealousy, jealousy that shouldn't even have been there, after all this time. Alexys Prso. The male might not recognize him, but Adam knew a face. He was the one that Gabriella Monroe had been rumoured to be kissing. That rumour that had hurt him more than it should have. That rumour that pretty much sparked the beginning of the end of him and Charlie. And now he was here again.

Did they just know the same women, or something? That, or this was karma for something he didn't know he'd done. Apart from having two women at once, of course. There was that.

The other person sitting next to the male was, looking, basically, as drop-dead gorgeous as ever... well. Take a guess? Charlie Sonata. Who else would it be? She always disappeared from his life for a while, only to pop straight back in again the moment he was in a decently good mood. Or, in the case that she had popped up when he and Gabriella were in that argument... 'the moment he was in the middle of something very important'.

Tearing his light eyes away from her, he continued his sentence. "Can I get a... a beer, please?" Yeah. Not very daring or creative, maybe. But seeing her had practically emptied his head of anything imaginative that he might have previously wanted.

[Charlie Sonata]

Charlie bit her lip softly, and forced herself not to glance over at Adam every five minutes. Well, wasn't this just wonderfully awkward? She ran a hand through her hand, and smiled at Lexi. Sod's bloody Law that Adam would show up just as she was getting reacquainted with an old ex of hers. She downed the rest of her glass, and sat it back on the bar.

"Mm, music lessons!" Alexys suddenly said, waving one hand around distractedly. Charlie raised an eyebrow at him, "Are you taking them?"
"With Professor Perv?" She asked in reply, before nodding, "Yeah, I believe so."
"Awesome, awesome. What group are you in?"
"Err...The piano one. Is that the first or second group?"
"The first! Great, we're in the same group together!"

Charlie smiled half-heartedly, and nodded again, playing with her empty glass. She didn't even know if she wanted to go to those dumb music lessons anyway.

"Yeah, yeah. Great." She answered, lamely. Boy, Adam showing up sure had put a cock-block on the whole 'good evening' thing she had going. Alexys frowned, and cocked his head slightly, sitting his drink down.
"You feeling alright, Charl?" he asked, "You look a bit...off."
"Oh no, no, I'm just dandy!" she said immediately, perking up with a big grin. Never mind all this moping around, she though. It's ridiculous! Charlie touched his arm softly, and pointed over her shoulder, "I just got a little distracted, that's all. Would you excuse me for a second? I have to go do something..."

And with that, she slid from her seat, leaving a bemused looking Lexi to get another round of drinks in. Charlie made her way along the bar, and delicately perched upon the stool closest to Adam, crossing her bare legs. She smirked.

"Alone tonight?" she asked, brows raised. A flick of her hand caught the bar man's attention, "Bartender, a martini please."

[Adam McElroy]

Adam was about halfway through his drink when Charlie made her way over. Well, she was bound to come over soon enough, he told himself, as she sat on the stool beside him. He found himself tipping the bottle up and greedily draining almost the entire last half of it at her words, and then put the bottle to the counter after with a loud, ringing tap, which was partly drowned out by the loud music.

Then his pale blue* eyes flicked to the bartender as the man obediently got Charlie's drink for her. He watched him for a minute, not particularly wanting to face or talk to Charlie at all right then, before he sighed, and turned to face her, taking a sip of his drink and finishing the last bit off. He dropped the bottle onto the bar, and then pushed it away, towards the bartender.

Those eyes flicked across the pretty girl beside him, what she was wearing, her face, her smirk... who was seated a little way behind her waiting for her to return with the drinks. Then he replied, with a shrug, and a sideways flick of the eyes. "Yep, alone." I was alone, at least, he added afterwards, in his mind. "I see that you're not." It didn't come out mean- at least, it hadn't meant to, if that was how it sounded. Just weary, with another shrug.

{*I'm sure he has blue eyes. >_> Can't be bothered to check.}

[Charlie Sonata]

Charlie leaned forward on the bar slightly, and smiled to herself again. Well, well, where had this little bit of attitude come from? Wasn't much, but it was a start. She picked up her drink, and sipped it, watching Adam interestedly over the glass rim. Sitting it down again, she uncrossed and recrossed her legs.

"You could say that," she said pleasantly. She had came alone though, which always felt weird. It just wasn't fun to go out by yourself. Sure, you meet new people, get talking and stuff, but that was hard sometimes. Didn't always happen. She wondered why Adam was here himself. Slyly, she continued, "Gabriella not fancy a night out?"

Alexys, still sitting himself at the other end of the bar pursed his lips. What was she doing? It was taking ages. Did she know Adam well? Maybe she fancies him, he thought lamely. He didn't know about Charlie, Adam and Gabriella. In fact, he could barely remember Gaby at all - just a kind of pretty close-up blur.

[Adam McElroy]

"Can I get another one of those, please?" Adam asked before Charlie said much else, indicating his empty bottle to the bartender, who swept it quickly up and took it away. Just as Charlie pretty much confirmed that she wasn't alone in the bar (which he had known, of course) the barman arrived back to them again, setting the drink down with a slight flourish, before going off to serve someone else further along the counter.

Adam paid him, and then looked back to Charlie. At her mention of Gabriella, Adam let out a laugh, with a mixture of bitterness and slight amusement. He had been waiting, just about counting the seconds for that subject to come up again. He'd known she wouldn't be able to leave it alone. They'd been in each other's company for, what, a minute? Maybe less? She was already trying to make him, well... uncomfortable. But that was Charlie. He shouldn't have expected anything less.

"I wouldn't know," he replied to her sly question, with a shrug. "I haven't seen her for a while." Where was Gabriella, anyway? Perhaps she'd gone on an early holiday or something. He'd heard she was rich somewhere. He doubted that she was just avoiding him- if she was, on the other hand, she was doing a very good job and staying unnoticed. The Lioano male lifted his new bottle. and took a sip, waiting for whatever was going to come next.

[Charlie Sonata]

Charlie twirled a lock of her loose golden hair round her finger, and sighed, watching the barman work away, serving customers and cleaning up. She had a feeling that this was what they called the 'cold shoulder'. Sitting up straight again, she took her martini and drained it in one - not including the olive of course.

"Yeah, of course you haven't," Charlie cooed sweetly, sliding from the stool, and smoothing down her silver mini dress. She cocked her head, and winked at him, "Well lover, I'll leave you and all your friends at peace. You know where you can find me..."

With that, she sauntered back to Lexi, running her hand lightly across Adam's back on the way past. She greeted the dark haired Lioano with a soft kiss on the cheek, and a glance over his shoulder at the boy she'd just left. She gave a little laugh, and picked up her new drink.

"Sorry about that," Charlie chirped, "Just some unfinished business that needed taking care of."

[Adam McElroy]

The slightly sarcastic, sickly sweet way Charlie spoke on her first sentence had his jaw set, and his eyes narrowed slightly as he sipped at his beer, eyes away from her. How did she always manage to piss him off? Even when he was in the best mood ever, she wrecked it. There seemed to be no halfway point with that girl, either all the way or not at all. She either made him want to totally kill her, or made him want to kiss her and forget everything else. Both feelings he'd experienced about twice.

And it was oh so frustrating.

Charlie's hand down his back made Adam shudder lightly against her touch, though if it were out of discomfort or anything else, he wasn't quite sure. She left, then, and he had to admit that he watched her all the way back to her seat, where she kissed Lexi's cheek and grinned, like she didn't have a care in the world, laughing away there with Alexys. She looked back at him and he scowled. God, was he sick to death of this... if she hadn't got anything decent to say to him, then why didn't she leave him the hell alone? Why didn't she stop... why couldn't she just stop driving him up the wall?

Downing the rest of the beer quickly he stood up and took a deep breath, marching over to where she sat like a soldier going to war. Once he was there, he leaned down and said angrily in her ear, so that she could hear over that loud music, "Would you... would you stop doing that, Charlie?! You can't just see me and get on with things, can you? You always, always have to come over and have a go. Sometimes I just wish you'd get the heck out of my life, Charlie." That would have sounded cruel and harsh had it been out of anyone else's mouth, but this was Adam.

Adam McElroy. The boy standing there and scowling like he'd just had a tantrum. He turned and went to walk away.

[Charlie Sonata]

Charlie had expected Adam to come over at some time, but didn't think he'd follow right behind her. She didn't flinch or lean back when he spoke into her ear, her only reaction a slow spreading rather nasty looking smile. Alexys stood up, squaring up to Adam, though he was quite a bit shorter.

"Hey, hey," he said, holding his hands in front of him in warning, "You want to watch your tone when you speak to her."
"It's alright, sweety," Charlie said, touching his arm. Reluctantly, he sat back down, "I'll handle it."

Charlie sat down her drink carefully, and slowly stood up, still grinning. Oh, she knew how to push his buttons alright, and it was really quite fun to do exactly that. Hands on her hips, she tilted her head to the side a little, leaning closer to Adam.

"What's the matter Adam?" she murmured, "Can't hold your drink? What was that - two whole beers? Oh, you're slamming them back tonight. And can't a girl come say hello to her...favourite boy...without being accused of 'having a go'?"

Charlie laughed again, slowly and deliberately reaching out to brush a little flint of Adam's black shoulder. She was close enough to be able to feel his body heat. Lexi watched with a confused and mildly irked expression on his face. She looked like she was getting quite friendly with the other Lioano to everyone else in the room. Her lowered voice meant only Adam could hear her.

"Oh, and this whole...foot stamping thing you got going," she said, "Really isn't doing it for me, you know?"

[Adam McElroy]

Adam was turned sideways when the other male stood, and he spun straight back around again. Ch'yeah. Fiery temper of his? Being pushed. It took a lot, but shit had happened in the past year, and now he was being pushed hard. He was in Lioano for a reason other than a love of sports, you know. Seriously. "Do I?" he had sneered snappishly back. "Do I?"

Then Charlie was right up in his face, which, in the past, was something he wouldn't have minded very much at all. Today, though? Today he just wanted to push her away and leave. Like he always did. But heck, no. She was speaking and it was pissing him off. She didn't need him in the slightest- she had Lexi, and whoever the heck else she messed around with. Why'd she do this to him, then? For fun? Hell, she was more dark and twisted than he'd thought.

Blue eyes* narrowed at her as she spoke, and he barely noticed Alexys taking a seat once more. "I can handle my drink just fine, Charlie Sonata," he shot back with the slightest snarl, his voice loud (well, it was normal, actually, it just sounded loud compared to her quiet words), even though they were so close that he could barely think without her hearing, let alone yell. "And yeah, girls can; just not you. You don't say hello; you slyly stab me with your whispers and your touch until I nearly lose my fucking mind."

Well then. There you go. Nicely said, Ad.

The male's eyes were narrowed to the point that you could see only black, with the occasional flash of blue when the club's multi-coloured lights ran over them. "You think I care what you think, anymore? God, Charlie. You're more conceited than I thought." He shook his head, with a cold little laugh that didn't spread to his eyes at all. "Y'know what? Just leave me in peace. That's all I came over here to tell you, okay? You see me in classes, in here, anywhere, just don't bother coming over."

He laughed again. "I genuinely loathe our meetings, nowadays. Yep, my fault I fucked things up with you, blah fucking blah. Just stay away from me, 'kay? I'm done." He waved his hands, dim in the little light that there was. "With this. All of this. You." And then he turned to leave. He knew she wouldn't be heartbroken about whatsoever- she'd laugh it off and have fun with someone else, because she was Charlie.

And he was sick of her.

{*HAH. I KNOW HE HAS BLUE EYES, NOW. I SOOOO CHECKED. =DDDD}

[Charlie Sonata]

<sup>Charlie had a million and one biting remarks she could have hissed in reply. Hundreds of belittling, nasty, sarky little sly snipes that could shoot a poor boy down at forty paces, but she held her tongue - well, there's a first time for everything, isn't there? She even managed to suppress a vitriolic cackle, and hold still that devilish little smirk. As Adam turned, and started to leave, Charlie turn to Lexi, and kissed his quickly on the lips with poignant apologetic look. She was sorry to do this to him, but this opportunity was just too perfect to miss. She waited until he was a few steps away, preparing herself. The timing had to be just right if it was to work - if it was going to work at all.

Suitably teary eyes, Charlie rushed forward, dashing infront of Adam to block his getaway. She grabbed his arm, careful not to dig in her neat nails. For a hesitating moment, she didn't say anything, just held herself close to him, and bit her lip softly.

"Adam!" she said, "Wait, just hold on a second. Don't...Don't go, please, not yet. I'm sorry okay? I'll swallow my pride, and...and just don't hate me! Please, Adam, I...really like you...This could be my chance to make a clean break, after the whole Felicia thing...I'm sorry."</sup>