Alone Again... Naturally (Rayne/Nate)

[Rayne DiCostas]

"What?" She asked. "No. Merlin, no, I don't like him. And I hate that Evie does." It clicked into place suddenly why he had said it, and she shook her head. "No, Nate. I just mean that she'll be drooling over him all night, until he invariably breaks her heart, and the both of us run to the bathrooms while she's crying... it's just a lot of drama I didn't want to deal with. I figured I'd just be waiting for her in the dorm room, anyway."

[nate]

"...so you can pick up the peices of Evelyn's broken heart for her there instead and not get to have any enjoyment for yourself ....makes perfect sense." It made no sense whatsoever and his tone held a sense of 'not really' type tone.

"Rayne, you know that people have to make their own mistakes and if you try to keep them from learning themselves they'll only resent you for it. Either way she's going to do what she wants to no matter what you say to her until she can see him for what he is by herself. And meanwhile you're going to just lock yourself up wait for it to happen so you can both be miserable together?" He was a strong believer in learning though your mistakes, probably why he made so many of them throughout his life. But her logic just didn't make sense, he was very reasonable and level headed and usually saw through things to the heart of the matter. And he wasn't afraid to tell her what he saw. He was only afraid to tell her what he felt. Two totally different things.

[Rayne DiCostas]

Her brows knit slightly as she regarded him, listening to what he said. Hadn't she just explained how much drama she would be avoiding? Going to the dance would probably be a miserable experience. But she wouldn't be alone... she would have had Nate.

But something else he said struck her. "Of course I'm trying to stop her from making this mistake," she said suddenly. "It's going to hurt like hell when it happens, and everyone but Eves knows it's going to happen. She doesn't deserve to be treated like he's going to treat her... and I'm worried how far he's going to make her go with him before he drops her. I don't want her to have to go through that. Any friend would do the same thing."

[nate]

"I'm not saying you shouldnt' try to stop her.. but more likely she'll just do it anyways.. maybe even because you are trying to stop her. Have you thought about that? Evelyn's not a stupid girl, and you can't protect her from her own choices. All you can do is try to make her see reason but everyone makes a choice. And it's her choice to make not yours. Being a friend means being there to help her pick up the peices and not judging her badly because she may make a poor choice." He paused again... "And you can't protect everyone from every danger. Eventually someone will get hurt anyways and then all you can do is be there to heal the hurts away, give them support when they need it the most." He was speaking from the heart and in the process looked into her eyes so she would know that meant it. Had actually come to this way of thinking long ago.

It was the same way he felt about Rayne in a way.. he couldn't make her choices for her or break down her wall unless she choose to do it on her own. All he could do was be a friend and help support her if she ever fell. Something Rayne obviously didn't understand yet.. that true friends are there to support you in the worst of times as well as the best. But he wasn't going to tell her that, maybe like his own words of advice, she needed to figure that out on her own as well. It seemed both Evelyn and Rayne had some learning to do. Evelyn had helped him earlier, on how to talk to Rayne.. and he knew that anything he said against Rab would only alinate her, instead he would be a friend and be there to help her when she needed a friend.

[Rayne DiCostas]

Any thoughts of saying yes to the dance just for him had flown out the window. She wasn't even thinking about the dance anymore.

He was calling her a bad friend. So she was just supposed to watch Evelyn make a bad decision? What if the Slytherin playboy did sleep with her? She'd be devestated, and she knew Evie well enough to know that she would probably let him do whatever he wanted. When you looked that good, ad you acted that charming, it was easy to push limits with people.

Besides, Nate was a boy. He didn't understand. He didn't know how absolutely crushed a girl could be.

"Right. Well. You be there to pick up the pieces then, and I'll be the one that tries to stop her. Best of both worlds."

[nate]

Nate had not been trying to call her a bad friend, and as she spoke he realized that must be what he thought. Nate sighed, that's not what he'd meant but of course he'd blundered it. He always blundered it, but it didn't really matter anyways. After all she'd already told him she didn't want to go to the dance with him, he had nothing really to loose but trying to be a good friend to Rayne and Evelyn. Nate wracked his brain trying to think of what to say to make her understand.

"Rayne that's not what I meant... I wasn't insinuating you weren't a good friend or anything. I just meant that .." Nate sighed again. "I just meant that sometimes people have to make their own mistakes but she'll survive them and she'll have you around to help her move on and with any luck see the light before it's too late. Not that you shouldn't try to stop her but... why make yourself miserable in the process?"

This definatly wasn't going well, and Nate ran his fingers through his hair. He wasn't frustrated with her, he was frustrated with himself. Why is it that he could never get things out the way he meant them when he was around her?

He paused a moment but before she could speak he said softly, "How about I try to help you stop her? Then mabye neither of you will have to be miserable." It sounded good in his head at least. Though he hadn't the foggiest idea how he was going to accomplish that. But at least he would try if that would make Rayne happy.

[Rayne DiCostas]

Rayne sighed and leaned her head back. "Don't bother. She doesn't want it. She's already made that perfectly clear."

She and Evelyn were already fighting, and it seemed like Eves was giving her the silent treatment because she had insinuated in class that Rabastan would love and leave her... which he would! She loved Evelyn, but what made her think she'd be the girl to change him? Girls could never change boys.

"There's no point, Nate. She doesn't want to hear it." You're right, is what that all meant. And at least if she was at the dance, she'd be there the instant anything happened. "I'd leave the dance the instant she did."

[nate]

He didn't look even remotely smug about her answer, and she didn't ahve to say that he was right. He could hear the unspoken words she left hanging in the air. He wished he wasn't right, but unfortunatly for Evelyn he'd spoken the truth and Evelyn spoke more eloquently what he'd been trying to tell her originally.

Leave the dance? Nate got a confused look on his face when she said that. How would she leave if she'd just said she wasn't going. Sometimes he just didn't understand girls. And this one confused him more than most sometimes. All he could think to say was "of course" ...and I'll be alone in the dorms in case either of you need me to pick up the peices... he thought silently.

[Rayne DiCostas]

Rayne sighed. Why was he asking her to the dance anyway? Well, it would be nice, she told herself. At least she'd be with a friend.

"I'd like to go to the dance with you," she said quietly, her arms still crossed over her chest and her eyes on the floor. "I don't mean to snap or anything. I just know he's going to hurt her, and I'm going to have to kill him when he does, you know." She looked up then and gave Nate an impish smile.

"Want to help plan his torturous demise?"

[nate]

Nate felt a rush of excitement that he quickly stamped down so she wouldn't see it that she'd changed her mind about the dance. "I know you're worried, and I'd be happy to help you with whatever plans you have torturous or otherwise." He smiled at her warmly. She was actually going to the dance with him... he wanted to reach out and hug her and swing her around in glee but he didn't. He just smiled patiently and happily and prayed she didn't change her mind.

Right now he was the happiest man alive and afraid to show it for even a moment for fear she would change her mind if she knew how much it meant to him.

[Rayne DiCostas]

Worried. Yes, she was worried about Evelyn, though even in her thoughts, the word had never crossed her mind. And yet, he had nailed it perfectly.

Well, it wasn't hard to tell that she was worried. Sometimes, though, the phrasing in her head never came out quite right.

She nodded. "Okay. Good. It's going to be very torturous and painful." She smiled again and shrugged. "And as a reward for our efforts, maybe the Yule Ball will be fun. It'll be more fun with you." She said it in a friendly way, but she meant it, and that was huge coming from her.

[nate]

More fun with him? The comment was not lost him completely... but obviously she had meant it as a friend and he was only just imagining things. He wondered if the torturous and painful part was for him or for Rabastan, but he hoped she meant Rabastan. At least Rayne would never fall for him, and that made him happy at least.

He bent over with a grand over-exagerated sweaping bow, "I am at your service, my lady." ...completely and utterly... he added in his head. "What would you have me do first to prove my loyalty to your cause?" .. he'd meant for her little project with saving Evelyn from that man-whore, but he also unspokenly meant his loyalty to Rayne.

[Rayne DiCostas]

Nate was a good friend, if she'd ever let him be. And if she would ever open up about things, she would find out that they had more in common than she ever realized.

Rayne smiled. "I should knight you for a statement like that," she said. "I don't know... bring me the wicked witch's broom?"

(Sorry that's so short)

[nate]

"Should I melt her with water too while I'm at it?" His eyes twinkled with laughter, if she wanted the broom of her enemy he'd find a way to get it too. "And then I can shower you with red ruby slippers and we can go see if the hose elves will do the munchkin dances for us." He was teasing her and he couldn't help it.

[Rayne DiCostas]

Rayne just shook her head and laughed lightly. "Why not? I mean, if Dorothy can do it..." the implied, you can do it, hung in the air.

She knew Nate was a saint to deal with her moodiness, but she didn't know how to apologize for it.

"So I guess we need to coordinate colors or something, right?" She asked. "For the dance. We're supposed to match, aren't we?"

[nate]

"mmm.. yeah I guess so.. I never really thought about it..." he had thought about her in a dress... but he wasnt' ready to share THAT particular thought with her... ever. "What is your favorite color? I think blue would be pretty with your eyes." He hadn't meant to share that either but it had slipped out unbidden. Well it was true.. she would look beautiful with a dress the color of her eyes...

[Rayne DiCostas]

"Blue?" She asked, wrinkling her nose a little, though not in a distatseful way, as his compliment went completely over her head. "Really?" She didn't even know if she owned a blue dress. She had pink, which she despised, but knew looked good on her, and green, and of course black. Maybe she could catch Eves in a good mood and they could go shopping together.

"Okay. If you like blue... we'll go with blue," she said and smiled.

[nate]

Nate saw her wrinkle her nose even though she said she'd ... would pick blue because he liked it. He was a bit surprised by her answer. Green would match her fiery hair, but blue would match her sapphire eyes. " Actually I like green or blue. Why don't you just surprise me, Rayne?" ..and red.. but not for her dress.. he loved her red hair. Suddenly his palms began to sweat a little, his mind had managed to wander again looking at her and his hormones were winning. The though of her in a dress with her hair laying on a .. no he was not going to let himself go there. If he gave in he'd be lost again and he didn't need to act like the fool that Evelyn had pointed him out to be not long ago. He had to stay calm.

He shifted his feet trying to readjust and calm himself down before he made a fool of himself worse than he had already.

[Rayne DiCostas]

"Blue is fine," Rayne said. "I was just... I was thinking of red. Only because blue is Ravenclaw's color, and green is Slytherin's. Or maybe something that wasn't associated with any of the houses?"

She didn't notice his unease. She was completely oblivious in several different ways. Evelyn would probably be rolling her eyes right about now.

"Surprise you?" She asked. She forgot that not everyone hated surprises. She did, and she had a reason to. Her father had made her close her eyes, in the middle of her grandfather's kitchen, and told he had a surprise for her. Being little, she kept her eyes closed, even for a moment after the door had shut.

"Well, fine. But you might end up with me in something pea soup green, and it will be your own fault for telling me to surprise you."

[nate]

Nate smiled a little at Rayne, he'd noticed a very quick and momentary darkness cross her eyes when he'd asked for a surprise but he couldn't fathom why that would be, he must have just imagined it he told himself.

"I wouldn't mind if you showed up in a brown paper bag, it's your company I enjoy the most." It was actually the truth he realized with surprise even at his own words. Yes she was beautiful and yes he liked her as more than a friend... but he adored her most because he liked her company. She was usually easy to talk with once he got over his own nerves. At least.. easy for him considering he was used to talking to firecrackers like Rayne. His Gran had been just like her in so many ways. Yes, he enjoyed her personality the most and it was likely why he enjoyed making her smile. He decided at that moment he was going to do his best to make her smile whenever he could. He hadn't liked that moment of darkness flick across her face, whatever it was.. he wanted to wipe it away and make her smile.