Annoyances (DEREK)

((OOC: hope you don't mine I think I godmodded a little.. ))


Ari sighed. She FINALLY had a minute to herself. Ari surprised herself. She thought that having a boyfriend who was completely obsessed with her would be fun. But it totally wasn't. Being with DEREK was worse than she imagined getting a dementers kiss would be. It was soul sucking and energy draining. And she barley had enough time for Matthew who was her best friend, between her studies and DEREK. She had finally managed to get away, and had escaped to the Ravenclaw tower for some piece and quiet. Normally she didn't like the tower, but at this point, Ari was desperate. Yes she appreciated DEREK, but she wasn't sure the relationship would last. Which she knew would crush the poor kid. Ari sat down, and got out some parchment to work on an essay. It wasn't like her to work on homework, but DEREK would track her down if she where in the great hall, kitchens, and he would wait for her if she stayed in the common room, and that would not only annoy her, but other people as well.

She sighed. She had gotten exactly one letter from her parents basically asking if she was ok. DEREK had gotten her to speak so she assumed that that was enough detail to put in the letter. And then she had gotten 45 letters from aunt EVELYN. One pretty much every meal and every week. She decided to write back but managed exactly two words before breaking down in tears. She wrote "I'm fine", on the parchment and sent the letter back with a very upset Cassie (the owl) who received no treat. Instead of starting her essay, she be game intrigued with her surroundings, and decided to draw a picture of a hawk that landed on the ledge. During her white board days, she got practically good at drawing. She was no Picasso, but she was pretty decent if she said so herself.

Ari enjoyed her few moments of alone time. As she would probably be found here in another ten minutes or so. It was like the kid had a radar and she had a GPS chip located in her. He could find her anywhere. For a while she had a little nook in the library that she had discovered. After a couple days of hiding out there, he had found her. Ari was a little annoyed. Because when he found her, he would go on and on about her and how awesome she was. Which was true, but it was only fine coming from her. She missed the annoyed look on peoples faces she would get when she started going on about something they wouldn't care about. But it was different now. And she totally understood how other people felt. It wasn't for long when she realized what tower she was in. The Ravenclaw one. She said, "ah shit" out loud, and gathered her things. Because DEREK was a Ravenclaw, and it was almost curfew, so he would be Coming along any minute. And just like she thought, when she started to go passed the Ravenclaw common room door, there he was. And she bumped right into him.

Derek liked Ari a lot. But at the moment, he didn't think that their relationship was going that well. He barely saw Ari - he was ever so slightly suspicious that she was avoiding him, because even when he searched the entire castle, she was ridiculously difficult to find. If he didn't know any better, he would think that his girlfriend didn't even like him. And since he was a total dreamboat, who could have just about any girl in his year - at least, in his pretty high opinion of himself - it seemed like a bit of a waste of time to be spending his time chasing after the one girl who didn't like him. Because surely everybody else did. Sure, when he'd asked a Slytherin who he'd known was pretty fiery and selfish, he knew that it wouldn't be that easy to make sure she liked him, but this sometimes felt like it wasn't even worth it. And it wasn't just her weird attitude that made him doubt the relationship. While he still thought she was really pretty and all, he wasn't sure she was really the type of person he'd want to have a serious relationship with in the future. That was to say, Derek didn't imagine they would last any longer than a couple of years. Even if she was a more mature, sensitive person, she didn't seem quite as wonderful as Derek had first thought. Nonetheless, he wanted to restore the really nice relationship they'd had at the start of the year, where Ari didn't avoid him all the time and act even more selfishly than usual.

Today, he hadn't even bothered going in search of Ari. It wasn't that he was giving up on earning her attention, but he'd had a lot of homework and letter writing and studying to get on with, so instead he'd gone straight to the library after he woke up. Apart from a couple of breaks for lunch and tea, Derek had stayed there all day, often glancing enviously out of the windows to where other students frolicked in the rare sunny weather, but focusing on the work. In his first few years at Hogwarts, he'd done his homework as soon as he got it, but now he spent so much time either with or looking for Ari, he had piles to do, all stuff he'd left until the last minute. After he'd got through most of the mandatory homework, he did a little studying and wrote home to his parents. By the time he'd finished all that, it was almost curfew, so Derek headed back to the common room, burdened by a pile of books and parchment half his height. He was exhausted - he'd probably just go straight to bed when he got there.

When he reached the top of the tower, his arms aching, he could just about see a glimpse of red behind all the stuff he was carrying. Since there were very few gingers at Hogwarts, Derek was immediately hopeful that it could be his favourite redhead, and it was. Slightly shocked to see her willingly there, her looking for him instead of vice versa. "Ari!" he greeted enthusiastically as he approached. "What are you doing here? Looking for me, I mean? Is something wrong?" His mind immediately flew to the worst case scenarios, but he stopped his frantic thought train quickly, looking at Ari to see what was going on and mentally calming himself down while trying to keep a cheerful smile on his face.

Ari forced a smile. Was anything wrong? Despite the fact that her once favorite aunt abandoning her, nothing was wrong. Despite having barley seen Matthew at all in the past couple of weeks? Nothing was wrong. Ari was pretty lonely and besides trying to avoid Derek, she almost forgot she didn't even like him. She hadn't seen much of her friends lately. Arwen seemed to have gone and hidden behind a rock. She hoped the poor girl was alright. She hoped Matthew hadn't gotten himself burned up from one of his ridiculous fire spells. And yet, here she stood in the Ravenclaw tower trying to avoid her RAVENCLAW boyfriend. She facepalmed herself mentally at that one. Her smile turned a bit more real and genuine. She saw the gears working in his mind as he was analyzing their terrible relationship, which was mostly her fault. The idea of dating him seemed fantastic at first, but he was just so dang clingy. She decided to answer his questions, "I was just... umm...waiting for you actually. I'd hoped you hadn't gone to bed yet."

Was that a good lie? Would he buy it? She didn't know. She leaned against the wall and just watched his facial expression. Should she just break up with him? She wasn't sure. She felt really terrible at that moment for avoiding him all the time, but if only he wasn't so damn clingy. She took his hand, and smiled at him. She asked, "I was just coming to see if you were ok." There, that would take all the attention off of her. She slapped herself. Was she sick? Ari loved attention! She could see his brain working and analyzing everything she was doing and saying. She wondered what it was he was thinking, but at the same time she didn't want to. One of them would get hurt in the end, and she knew it. She did feel kind of bad. After all, he was the one who made her speak again. He was the one who was there for her when she needed it. Matthew was too, but Derek was there in a different way. She couldn't explain it, but it was different.

She said, "I was just drawing and I had started a letter to my parents letting them know about me talking again. Not that they would care or anything." She had almost started a letter to Aunt Evelyn, but then remembered that she was eternally pissed at her for leaving. She wanted to tell Aunt Evelyn all about the crapy year she had been having. How Matthew seemed to had disappeared, how her relationship status had changed, and how just tired of everything Ari really was. She remembered the last time she had seen Matthew. They had skipped a class, and played tic-tac-toe on her white board. Had it really been that long? She missed him so much it almost hurt. She wondered if that was the reason she was avoiding Derek. To go and try and find Matthew. She ran her hand through her hair and sighed. She shouldn't be torturing this boy. It simply wasn't right. She was just too afraid to admit it.

Derek's face remained straight, but he raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. Ari never looked for him. Ari didn't seem to like him, much really, and tended to avoid him like the plague. Maybe that was what he was. A plague, a grotesque thing that was holding her back and getting on her nerves. But he liked her. Even though she clearly didn't feel the same way about him. When he was little and he thought about the beautiful princess he was going to marry one day, it hadn't been like this. Sure, Ari was beautiful, like the princess, and she came from a magical land with fields and old castles, like the princess, but the princess was supposed to like him. And the plan had never been to save the princess and ride off with her into the sunset, because the princess didn't need him - feminist power, of course - but they were supposed to love each other. And that wasn't what was happening with Ari here. Ari seemed to hate him, like he was the villain, and she was waiting for a real prince. Maybe one that had seen Frozen, or actually understood her a little bit.

Sighing almost silently, very surreptitious, more in a gesture of self-pity than anything else, he looked up at her, totally unimpressed. Whether he was okay? "Why wouldn't I be okay?" Ari was the one with the problems, that wasn't okay for various reasons. Derek was just a happy little Scottish boy that she didn't worry about because there was no reason for a girl like Ari to be concerned about him. "Ari, are you alright?" he added after a second, wondering whether she was trying to elicit some sort of concern or sympathy from him more subtly than usual. It wouldn't surprise him, quite honestly. But he really ought to get on with this, do something or say something that would lead to the end of this delightful conversation so he could go back to the common room and write his Ancient Runes essay, which would be a hell of a lot more interesting than this.

Alright, he'd better do this. "I'll be laconic, Ari - that means concise, by the way - so we can both get on with... whatever." Biting down hard on his lip, he stared at her a bit hopelessly. She was a paragon of beauty, and even though he didn't quite feel as he had at the start, he couldn't deny that he never wanted to say what he planned to next. If he didn't break up with her, she'd be unhappy. It must have been a blunder on her part, saying yes when he'd asked if she'd be his girlfriend, and it needed resolving. Perhaps... he could try and get her to be honest, rather than having to do it himself? For goodness sake, why was he such a wuss. "Ari, do you want to break up with me?" he blurted.

No. She wasn't ok. Not only had her best friend seemed to have disappeared, her aunt left, her relationship with DEREK was just awkward, and her parents didn't seem to give as single care that she was speaking again. Her life was a mess, and having a boyfriend didn't seem like such a good idea. Especially one like DEREK. She looked down looking guilty. He knew automatically that she was full of shit when she was acting concerned for him. Which was why they wouldn't work. A girlfriend and boyfriend are supposed to be concerned for one another's feelings. Not the opposite. DEREK was supposed to pay attention to her. She guessed that that part was her own fault. Ari hadn't even given DEREK a chance. And when she had, it was way too much that she couldn't handle it.

Ari finally had the courage to look at him. He was nice, thoughtful, and great. But he wasn't the one for her. Tears slid down her face. She didn't realize it would be this hard. They had been through so much, and he had helped her a lot by getting her to speak again which was amazing on his part. She just hoped this wouldn't ruin their friendship, but for some reason, she thought this was the end of Ari and DEREK. Even as friends, and that hurt her. If Matthew ever showed his stupid face again, DEREK was her only friend. The only person who could stand to be around her. Ari didn't understand why. Everybody should want to be around her. But for some reason they didn't.

She sniffles and found the courage to speak when she wiped the tears from her eyes. She said, " you've been great. But I don't really think I'm mentally ready for a boyfriend right now. With my aunt, and Matthew, and my parents. There's just a lot going on. I wish things could be different. And I hope we can still be friends?" She looked up at him hopefully through her red blood shot eyes that where still brimming with tears. Their fate as friends was all up to him. She wouldn't blame him if he never talked to her again. She said, "I think we worked better as friends. I'm so sorry DEREK. But thank you for everything and again I hope we can be friends." Their fate rested in his hands. And for once, Ari wasn't worried about herself.