Manhattan - Upper East Side - Rooftop Terrace & Garden
Characters
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| Siobhan Knight | Harper Donovan |
Siobhan turns her phone to silent and shoves it in her purse, coming away with another handful of crystal dust as she does so, the moment she's in the taxi cab. The witch doubts that Jenna will be trying to contact her, and she doesn't want to talk to Chance or Quin, though she highly doubts the latter will be calling her either. Honestly, she just wants to go and disappear for a few hours and pretend like it hasn't been a horrible morning all around.
Her parents are both at work and Chris is out with his friends, so that means she does have the apartment to herself. Tossing her phone on her charger and pointedly ignoring it for the rest of the morning, the witch takes another shower. She takes the time to heal a few of the worse burns and files away the thought of talking to her mother about healing the rest later. For Chance too, but later. She's not in the mood to have to explain things or review the morning's events again.
Siobhan is hurt. Hurt that Jenna could jump to the wrong conclusion so quickly, hurt that she wouldn't listen. She's hurt that Quin seemed to think that Siobhan might be a danger to or hurt his new friend when Siobhan knows the girl is a werewolf and the only way the witch could take her wouldn't be in a fair fight of hand-to-hand. She's pissed that the wolf girl found their pain funny. She's confused and not trusting her magic because while she thinks she didn't break the pipe in the kitchen, it seems to be the only explanation given the broken bits of quartz in her purse.
Power overload.
When she's this upset, Siobhan withdraws. She goes radio silent and goes to ground. She'll either dance it out or hide in Mrs. Danforth's rooftop terrace … or both.
Today, she needs both. She throws on a sports bra, a pair of dance shorts and with her hair back in a ponytail and armed with her iPod, she's off to the terrace. Clara, the housekeeper welcomes her with a smile and Siobhan manages to fake it through the greeting and the cheery chatter. It's not until she's alone on the terrace that she sits down next to one of the flowering trees and lets the tears come. Hot, sticky and suffocating until she forces herself to work through them.
There's an open area on the terrace, and Siobhan plants herself there. Cranks up the music and begins to improvise a dance of her own, a mixture of ballet and jazz and hip hop, just to work the energy and frustration out of her body.
~
Harper has gotten a strange text from his twin, and he's been staring down at it for a good thirty minutes as he's been checking out usual haunts. He didn't think to check Mrs. Danforth's terrace first and foremost, because the cryptic message said, 'Meltdown emergency. I pissed Shiv off.' When Jenna upsets Siobhan, the other girl takes to shopping, or dancing. So he checked Fifth Avenue first and foremost.
Then he went to her apartment, and got no answer.
He's talking to Clara when he hears the music upstairs getting louder and quickly asks if he can head upstairs.
~
Siobhan doesn't think that anyone is going to come looking for her. Radio silence is just that: she's out of touch and assumes that she'll stay that way for a good while. Sure, her nearest and dearest know where to find her, but considering it's Jenna who's put out with her and she doubts the sorcerer will care enough to look, the witch is safe.
For that reason, she's not paying attention to the doorway and has her eyes closed as she wiggles and grinds, steps and twirls to Katy Perry's 'Part of Me.'
It's a sad shame that she's not paying attention to what she's doing because she's not going to remember half of her improvised steps later.
~
Harper stands there silently, watching his girlfriend move. It reminds him that he's not a great dancer, and he hopes that she doesn't drag him out onto the dance floor for any of the faster songs at that Ball. He allows her to keep dancing for a good minute before he walks out onto the terrace proper.
He makes a wide circle around her and then stands where he knows she'll be able to see him once she opens her eyes.
~
Harper isn't left waiting long. As the song crawls to an end, Siobhan takes a final step and twist, turning a bit and opening her eyes.
Surprise flashes across her face, and she just stares at her boyfriend for a beat. A million questions flutter through her head, among them are wondering what he's doing there, if he's been looking for her and why and then she looks away.
Squaring her shoulders, she marches over to the iPod dock and lowers the volume. "Whatever Jenna told you, she's wrong. That's not what happened." While there's a trace of anger and petulance in her voice, mostly Siobhan just sounds tired and hurt.
~
"So she didn't piss you off?"
Raising his brow, Harper grins at her. "You do realize I can't answer that many questions so quickly, right? So let me answer the important one. I've been looking for you, because Jenna said you were upset. I haven't spoken to her since the cryptic text she sent me. I came to see if you were alright."
Moving toward her, he holds his arms out for her.
"Want to tell me about it, Flutterbee?"
~
Siobhan stares at him, trying to wrap her mind around that.
"Jenna sent you?"
Not to berate her or break up with her but because Jenna was worried about her. Does that mean her best friend came to her senses and realized that Siobhan isn't a cheating slut whore?
She walks into Harper's open arms, resting her head on his chest. The witch wraps her arms around him and sighs, though she doesn't answer right away. There's too much to talk about it, and the accusation still stings even if Jenna did send him after her.
~
"She was worried about you, Shiv."
Harper holds her close, having no idea what's going on between the two women. It doesn't matter to him. What matters is that she's safe. "A cheating slut whore?"
Biting the inside of his cheek, he tries to keep from laughing. It fails, but at least the sound is muffled. "I can't see Jenna calling you that."
~
"She didn't have to. I'm pretty sure she was thinking it."
Siobhan plucks idly at the back of Harper's shirt, trying hard not to burst into tears again over it. Evidently Jenna came to her senses but … it was so easy for her friend to go there and Siobhan isn't over the hurt from that.
"I …" Siobhan looks up at Harper, heaves a frustrated sigh and trails off, lowering her head to his chest again. She doesn't even know where to start. The potion? Chris's phone call? The explosion? The burning? The shower? Jenna, Quin, the girl, the rude laughter, the insult added to earlier injury? It's all a jumble of thoughts and emotions, and Siobhan tries very hard to rein them in and not overwhelm Harper.
"Chance and I screwed up a potion and it exploded. It started burning our skin so Chance threw us both in the shower and then Jenna showed up and she assumed that I was screwing him and that I'd do that to you or to her and then Quin's little wolf whore started laughing at us and he acted like I was going to go all Bronx and kick her ass and I probably exploded the pipe in their kitchen because I'm a screw up with my sorcerer magic" Once she starts, it comes out in a rush the words bubbling over as the tears start anew. Siobhan barely pauses, just wanting to get it all out and done with before she loses it completely.
~
"I don't think Jenna would ever think that of you, Flutterbee."
Harper gets a pretty good idea of what's going on from her thoughts, but they're jumbled. "Okay, so you exploded a potion, you jumped in the shower with Chance, and Jenna walked in on the two of you." Rubbing her back softly he whispers, "I can see where she might get the wrong idea from that, can't you?" He knows that he might've jumped to the wrong conclusion at first.
"Quin has a little wolf whore? What happened to him and Jenna?"
Beat.
"You are not a screw up with your sorcerer magic. You are just learning it. I remember you weren't that hot with your witch-fu when you first started either."
~
"No," Siobhan sniffles stubbornly.
"Maybe at first, but she wouldn't listen. She just threw it back in my face. 'I wasn't the one in the shower with Chance.' " Siobhan mimics Jenna's voice through her tears with the last. "It hurt because that's not me. I'm not like that and she should know better and I love you and I don't want any other guy and I wouldn't cheat on you ever or do anything to screw this up." It's mostly stream of consciousness speaking and Siobhan doesn't quite realize what she's just confessed.
"I don't know … but he took her to Vegas with him and she was wearing his clothes and hanging all over him."
Beat.
"She laughed. Jenna was upset, I was upset and the bitch laughed." Yes, Siobhan knows she's probably being unfair with the name calling, but despite how hurt she was, she still didn't like the girl laughing at Jenna. "I told her to stop and then Quin acted like I was going to start a fight with her."
Beat.
"I broke their pipe, Harper!"
~
"Was she hurting, Flutterbee?"
Harper wasn't there, so he's got no clue of the circumstances. It is quite possible that his sister was hurt, and lashing out at the wrong party. He's watched her do it before when she gets overly emotional. "Well technically, she wasn't the one in the shower with Chance." Giving her hair a playful tug, he begins to lead them over to the bench that's settled beneath the large potted tree. He's about to scoop her up and set her on it when she goes into the stream of consciousness babble.
"Breathe, Siobhan."
Beat.
"And think about what you just said."
He's not upset with her. In fact, he's smiling.
"I don't think that you broke the pipe. That was either just a coincidence, or something else was going on. Remember that large wave on the boat? You didn't do that either. You may be both witch, and sorcerer, but that doesn't mean you can just make things like that happen without spells."
~
"I …" Siobhan pauses. She doesn't know for certain. She wasn't there for whatever Jenna was being indignant and chastising Quin over, but she knows her bestie really likes the werewolf, so finding another girl hanging on him like that couldn't have been fun.
"Probably," Siobhan admits quietly. She doesn't look at Harper, finding her feet more interesting. Now she's feeling guilty and embarrassed because she should have realized that there was more going on.
She's quiet for a few moments after that and then …
There's another rush of embarrassment and Siobhan squirms, shifting her weight from foot-to-foot. She hesitates, because she never meant to say that and confess that, not so soon when saying it might send Harper racing in the other direction. Squaring her shoulders though, she lifts her gaze to his. There is a spark in her eyes, challenge or defiance maybe. She's still a bit emotional herself. "I do."
Beat.
"And I don't." Want any other guy or want to mess this up.
Siobhan holds his gaze, not backing down. "Maybe it wasn't me, then what was it?"
~
"Probably," he agrees. Which means he's going to have to talk to his sister later as well. Harper doesn't mind when she falls silent, and he doesn't move away from her either. Look at how fast he's running in the other direction.
"Good. Because I didn't want to hear you say that if you didn't mean it or weren't aware you'd babbled it out." Pressing his lips to the top of her head, he grins down at her. "You too, Flutterbee. You know that, right?"
No, he's not actually said the words yet. He won't, not when she's this emotional.
"By your estimation there were two spell casters, an empath, and two werewolves in the same location. It could have just been an abundance of supernatural abilities in one location. Either that, or there was a problem with the plumbing."
~
The witch opens her mouth and closes it. Her shoulders slump and she looks down again, wiping stray tears from her cheeks. It's as if getting it all out the way she did has purged her just a bit of her hurt and frustration. Not that there isn't still a lingering sting from the slaps to her pride, but she'll get over it … eventually.
"No. Yes. I don't know." Honestly Siobhan hasn't thought about how strong his feelings are. She hasn't let herself do it. Despite her bravado and the facade she puts up, Siobhan has her moments of insecurity. She wraps her arms around him again and leans against him. "I do now." No, he didn't say the words but what he did say is good enough for her, for now.
"I should apologize." To Jenna. To Quin. Possibly to that wolf though Siobhan is still not happy that the girl had the audacity to laugh with everything else going on.
"Thank you." For coming after her. For putting up with her. For wanting her at all which she's such a huge flake and supremely high maintenance.
~
Once she's got her arms around him, he swings her up and sits himself on the bench. Cradling her in his lap, he whispers, "You do now." He know that she's hurting, that it'll take a while for that to go away, but the point is that she's calmed down enough to see things through the eyes of other people there.
"You should, and you can once you've calmed down a little more." Tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, he presses a kiss to her cheek. "Jenna will understand why you're upset, once she calms down. I'm sure you two will be back to giggling and girl gabbing by tonight."
Beat.
"Any time. It's what I'm here for."
~
"I'm not the only one at fault," Siobhan sulks. She may have gone bitchy and hostile to Quin's friend because even though she was hurt, she was defending Jenna.
Also, she doesn't like being laughed at. She lived it too much when she went through her 'ugly duckling' stage and it always still smarts.
"What if I don't want to?" Siobhan asks quietly, plucking at the front of his shirt with idle distraction. "What if I just want to curl up in your arms and stay that way the rest of the night?"
~
"Considering that it's not noon yet, I think my legs would fall asleep," Harper teases lightly, pressing his lips to her forehead. "I know you're not the only one at fault, Flutterbee. I also know that Jenna texted me after she texted you."
Beat.
"Why don't we walk back to your house in a bit, and I'll make you an omelet for breakfast. Three egg whites, a bit of lean bacon, some OJ, and whatever else you want to eat?"
~
"I didn't know that." Of course she didn't. She was avoiding human contact so she wouldn't be miserable and feel worse.
Beat.
"I like the sound of that. Breakfast." Siobhan snuggles down against him. "Stay with me today? Sleep with me?" If it were anyone else, Siobhan would scrambling over her words, trying to explain what she meant. It's Harper, however, and she knows that while he may tease, he'll know the meaning. He calms her and soothes her, being close to him helped as much as his words did; the witch wants to curl up around him and just sleep away the rest of the stress until she's ready to face the rest of the world.
~
"I know you didn't. That's why I came to tell you. She's been texting you for a while."
Harper watches her snuggle down, and grins. He knows that a relationship shouldn't be so perfect or easy, but they've known each other their entire lives. "On the couch, in the main room. After you finish breakfast. The last thing I want is a big talk with your father if he finds us in your bed."
~
"I'll turn my phone on when I get home."
Beat.
"After breakfast." Siobhan tilts her head back and kisses the underside of his jaw.
"Deal."
