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Post by Adam McElroy on Nov 5, 2006 14:23:41 GMT -5
"Sounds fun," Adam replied with a smile of his own. "You must have been a close family. Were you? My family always got along with each other decently, but we never really did stuff like that. The closest I got was my father taking me and Scarlet to Quidditch matches; Roxie never wanted to go. She was always funny like that." He shrugged, and turned the subject back to Charlie. "Which ones do you remember the names of?"
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Post by Charlie Sonata on Nov 5, 2006 14:58:08 GMT -5
"Yes...I suppose we were quite close," Charlie said, not taking her eyes from the heavens. She could feel Adam's warmth as he lay beside her, which she found strangely comforting. As she started listing them, she pointed out the ones that she could spot for Adam, "Andromeda. Boötes. And over there - Draco. Cygnus. Ursa Major, and Minor. Hercules, Hydra, Hydrus. Lupus, Vela, Pegasus, and Pyxis. And of course, Orion, and the star signs. There's hundred and hundreds of them. I wish I could remember them all."
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Post by Adam McElroy on Nov 5, 2006 15:41:06 GMT -5
"Lucky, I suppose," Adam mused aloud. "I always wanted to be in a real family family, you know? I guess I'll do that when I'm older, and be grateful for the family I've got." He gave her the smallest of smiles, turning onto his side to face her, head propped up on one elbow. He turned his head up to the sky once more as Charlie recited some names, and his eyebrows rose in surprise.
He was impressed, and seemed at peace, the attack further from his mind than it had been since it happened. "It's pretty cool, though, the ones you remember; you know a lot more than I do." He smiled at her again. "You must have a pretty decent memory."
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Post by Charlie Sonata on Nov 5, 2006 16:13:53 GMT -5
Charlie blinked. They were hardly what she would have called a family family, at the best of times, she thought. He thoughts also drifted to the possibility of one day starting her own family...Did she really want to? She wasn't fond of little kids...but what if they were her little kids?
"I do...well, I did. It all went down hill from about....second year. Why study when you can go party, that's what I always said. You didn't need to be a brain box to have fun..." Charlie gave a small bitter laugh, "Look where that got me...I'm a hotheaded bitch with no friends and a drinking problem...Well...one friend..."
Charlie looked over at Adam, catching some of her smile, which in turn made her grin a little too. It faded quickly, though. Somehow, smiling felt like being disrespectful, like laughing at a funeral, or something. Her hand, however, moved slowly a few inches so it was touching his, oh so gently.
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Post by Adam McElroy on Nov 6, 2006 12:31:04 GMT -5
Adam listened to what she said and smiled again. "Yeah. One friend. But I'm sure you'll... I'm sure you'll get a whole lot more. I mean, come on; apart from Belle and my sisters and all them, who couldn't like you? I like you If you were that awful, I can assure you I'd be running for the hills."
It was kind of true; Charlie was sort of intimidating, but Adam was catching on quite fast that she was a great person- so long as you didn't anger her. He felt the little nudge to the hand, and gently curled his fingers around her own, glancing at her quickly.
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Post by Charlie Sonata on Nov 6, 2006 12:51:03 GMT -5
Charlie smiled softly when Adam took her hand. She gave it the gentlest squeeze, eyes still lost somewhere amongst the stars. And to think, they'd been arguing moments earlier...
"No..." She said, blinking a few times, "I think your sister and that Belle girl have the right idea. I'm an out and out bitch. I complain and I snap and I make snide comments and God knows why - I guess it's just how I cope with things. Sort a 'get them before they get you' thing? I dunno. As for you...I don't know why you put up with me and my many moods...Perhaps you're just sweet like that. Or perhaps you just haven't seen me go all out!"
She even managed to laugh a little at the last sentence. It was true, though. Adam had seen her mad, but he hadn't seen her mad...
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Post by Adam McElroy on Nov 6, 2006 13:01:44 GMT -5
"Look; Scarlet is a bitch too." Adam glanced at her, and added sneakily, "Maybe that's why you clash so bad. But that's why we get along. I am sweet," - talk about modest - "and I guess I know when to get the hell away from you before you go all out. I still need to work on that 'not angering you' thing, but were so different that it works, you know?"
He had begun to speak thoughtfully, eyes closed, more to himself than her, and continued with his babbling. "But it doesn't really matter, I suppose; as long as I put up with you," He smiled. "That's what counts more than all the other confusing crap about why I do. Let's just leave it with, 'I just do'." He was silent at last, eyes open again as he nodded in a final manner. "I just do."
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Post by Charlie Sonata on Nov 6, 2006 13:16:35 GMT -5
"Yeah," Charlie agreed quietly, loosing her concentration for looking at the constellations, "You just do...Thank you."
Charlie looked over at Adam, and warm memories of the night they first became proper friends, when they got drunk on her schnapps, when they kissed...Despite his haggard appearance, she couldn't help but notice how handsome he really was. She never really relised it very much before. When she normally looked at him, all she could see was the bumbling, bashful, clumsy and a little bit cute Adam McElroy. Perhaps it was the moonlight, and the way it glinted off his blond hair, and shadowed his cheekbones, or perhaps it was the seriousness of the situation that they both had experianced. A moment later, she looked away, as it dawned on her she was staring at him, in a more than likely worrying way.
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Post by Adam McElroy on Nov 6, 2006 14:07:50 GMT -5
"Thank you? For what, hm? Liking you? Well," he smiled at her again; he was doing that a lot. "your thank you's a bit late, I have to say; I've liked you since I met you." He was still on his side, head propped on a hand so he could look down at Charlie, his fingers still lazily laced with hers. He caught the staring, mostly because he was staring at her also, and had been for several minutes before she turned her own gaze to him, and said softly, "What?" There was something else added as an afterthought. "You look tired."
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Post by Charlie Sonata on Nov 6, 2006 14:28:31 GMT -5
Charlie turned her head so she could see him properly. If she had the engery, she would prop herself up so she didn't have to crane her neck, but she couldn't be bothered. Again, a ghost of a smile came and went.
"Yeah. I'm absoloutly shattered," she said wearily, "I haven't slept at all since...since...then. I just haven't been able too...understandably, of course. How have you been getting on?"
Charlie's eyes flickered shut again for a moment , and she sighed. Cool night air, fragrant with whatever blossom, or flower grew near the courtyard, flooded her lungs, and for a moment, she felt a little better. Maybe in a few months, she thought. Maybe in a few months, or a few years, it'll be back to 'normal'...Can I wait that long? Can I hold on for that long...?
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Post by Adam McElroy on Nov 6, 2006 14:44:46 GMT -5
Adam sighed, and said hesitantly, "I've... slept. But hardly well. keep getting those dreams that are about being jinxed, killed, or pushed off a building or something, and they make me jolt awake again. I get them every single night, unless I've been drinking. If I've been drinking... I sleep like a log, but wake up worse than ever. It's like I can't bloody win." He shook his head, irritated.
He fell back onto the earth again, back flat against it, hand coming out of Charlie's and landing, fingers spread, over the little tufts of grass and golden leaves that scattered the ground. He stared back up at the stars, realizing for the first time in a while that his eyelids were heavy. They felt weighed down with bricks, or something, and his blinks steadil got slower.
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Post by Charlie Sonata on Nov 6, 2006 14:55:04 GMT -5
Charlie nodded. She'd felt like that before, but she knew that eventually it would fix itself. Or at least, she though to herself as she glanced at Adam, I hope it does. When he let go of his fingers, she felt a little cold. She squeezed her hand shut, and drew in it in close to her chest to keep it warm. Charlie also noticed that he seemed to be getting sleepier, slowing down. She shut her own eyes again, and crossed her arms almost sulkily.
"I do hope you're not going to fall asleep, and leave me all alone here," she said, "How un-gentlemanly of you, Master McElroy."
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Post by Adam McElroy on Nov 6, 2006 15:03:34 GMT -5
Adam opened one of his eyes, both of which he had closed previously, and snorted, one eyebrow raised, "Now, Ms. Sonata, since when have I ever been gentlemanly anyway?" He closed the eye once more, but after a couple of seconds, groaned and sat up, blinking stupidly. "I couldn't sleep anyway. Not only am I haunted, but there's the fact that it's so damn cold out here that I'm scared my eyes'll freeze together if I keep them closed for more than five minutes. At least my headache is numbing..."
He shifted on the hard ground, still sitting up and absent mindedly paying with a little round pebble. He wouldn't have been surprised if their breath had been coming out in little white, foggy puffs.
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