Veronica 'Still a Virgin' Avery (ladylessons) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-02-21 01:14:00 |
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Veronica hadn't slept. How could she, in the midst of everything that had gone on? She'd roamed the hallways of the estate slowly, careful to not disturb her parents. She checked on Louis four times during the night, carefully tucking his arms back under his sheets whenever they were out. She tried to read the novel she was going through but gave up, closing the book and setting it on a little table. The only book she kept open was her journal. She wanted to hear from Aquila. At four in the morning her mother caught her in the hallway and sent her to bed, where Veronica sat staring out of the window until she saw the Daily Prophet owl flying to her home. She grabbed at the newspaper and read the article as quickly as she could, trembling at the idea of terrorists bombing Hogsmeade. She dropped it and then read it again and again until her father came behind her and took it out of her hands. Veronica watched her father read it, her eyes pooling with tears. She was terrified that Rodolphus Lestrange would die. Terrified that possibly someone had just not let her know that Aquila was dead. No, she told herself. It would have said. "Veronica," said Augustine Parkinson. "We will need to cancel your party." Georgia Parkinson was in the room in a minute. "No, Mr. Parkinson, is it really necessary?" "As long as Rodolphus Lestrange is in critical condition we are not going to be celebrating anything." He gave Veronica's arm an awkward pat. "Even Nicki understands that." "Of course, Father," said Veronica. She couldn't imagine having a party in the midst of such an attack. She sniffed, not from sadness of the canceling of her party. "I will send out some letters," muttered Georgia Parkinson, clearly not happy that the party was cancelled. "Veronica, use that journal of yours to let others know." "Yes, Mother," said Veronica. Veronica spent the remainder of the day going over budgets with her father. Aquila did not come to see her for their walk, and she made an excuse for him when her father and mother inquired about it. She took Louis and Posie out by herself, pretending that everything was perfect and she didn't have the slightest care. But she was struggling to continue her pretense. He had forgotten her birthday, and had not contacted her to let her know if he was safe. She rested on the reclining in the sitting room, going over layouts for the magazine. She and Julianne still had to determine a name... But it was much easier to think about than wondering if perhaps Persephone had been right, in a roundabout way. Was Aquila planning on calling off the engagement? Was he so displeased with her? Veronica twisted her engagement ring, worrying it and biting her lip as she watched the diamond glitter. "Goodness," she said, her lashes heavy with tears. Aquila was not usually notorious for having a wretched memory. Usually when he forgot things, whenever that needed to happen, it was usually just because he actually wanted to forget about it. If he didn't want to remember something that was going to happen in a few days, he could purposely think about anything, and everything, else. It was simply a habit he had picked up as a child to help shun away some of those angsty opinions and overly exaggerated (in the mind of a child) events. There was a part of him that seemed to sense something was wrong. Not something with his friends. Not something with his family. No one was getting hurt, no one was dying, no one was two steps away from committing suicide. But there was something, and the fact that this 'something' existed was driving him utterly insane, so much so that his pace was rushed and his large steps were angry. This 'something' did not come to him when he closed his eyes and felt that swirl warping around his body, sucking him in, pleasantly ruffing his hair onto his forehead. It was not there when he initially opened his eyes, but after a few seconds, which felt heavy with daunting tension, something was starting to click together. The house felt cold, but he ignored it. His steps were suddenly small, timed, less erratic than before. When he entered the sitting room, still looking a bit lopsided and ruffled, his eyes soared across the room and settled on Veronica. His Veronica. She was supposed to be his Veronica. Veronica looked up and saw Aquila. Her eyes went wide and she wiped the tears away as fast as she could. She tried to put all of the papers in their proper places without looking, and finally just folded them all together and stood, straightening her dress and trying to put the spring of curls on either side of her head into their proper place. "Hello," she said, stepping forward, blinking her eyes until she felt confident that there wouldn't be any evidence of crying. "Aquila, I was so worried about you." Aquila had never really formed a solid opinion on crying girls. He knew that everyone cried, supposedly, but seeing a girl cry never really seemed to do anything but make him stare, even if he was the one who was bringing the tears. Sometimes he wanted to just walk off and ignore it. Other times he felt the tiniest urge to rush forward and do...something, anything, whatever was necessary to make those salty tears go away. In this situation, however, he did not look away from Veronica; he simply blinked at her a few times and watched her small hands wipe hurriedly at her face. Maybe it was best to pretend nothing had happened. When she started moving, Aquila did the same, stopping once they were close enough, close enough for him to be tempted to reach out and pat her arm. But he didn't. "There's no need to worry about me, Veronica," he muttered, raising a dark eyebrow and tilting his head a tiny bit. "Are you ill? Or just...upset?" "But there was the attack," she said. "And I hadn't heard from you all day. And it was my bir..." She stopped, forcing a smile on her face. She lifted her hand as though she wanted to touch him but she stopped and put it back and held her two hands in front of herself. She felt that the distance between them was much greater than geographic. "I'm not ill," she said. "Not at all. Although I haven't slept." She pursed her lips and tilted her head down. She wondered if she ought to let him know that it was her birthday, but then she wanted to know if he truly had forgotten, or if he merely had been busy and unable to see her. Yes, there was an attack. But he knew how to take care of himself, didn't he? He didn't need to sit around and wait for others to help him, especially not when he could be helping himself. There was no reason that Veronica had to think that he wouldn't be able to handle things during an attack, either. Those thoughts flooded through his brain, like little waves of the ocean. Colourful little waves of something that didn't start to fade until Aquila studied her face silently. So very, very silently. Aquila had heard what she said, and that had been all he needed to hear before it all made sense again. But, instead of addressing that issue immediately, he instead moved his face closer, so close that his lips were right against her ear. One of his hands came up and the very tips of his fingers touched her cheek. "You should sleep," he murmured. "And you know why? You're getting old." He was joking, of course, though he sounded completely serious. It was his way of trying to tell her that he knew it had just been her birthday and that he hadn't actually sought out a way to outwardly tell her on time. Veronica's nervousness grew the longer that he stared at her, and she was about to say something else before he moved closer to her, spoke in her ear, finally touched her cheek. The touch instantly relaxed her enough so that her hands no longer clenched the other, and instead rested peacefully against her lap as she stood. She inclined her head gently against his hand, letting out a relieved sigh. "Aquila," she mumbled as he told her that he was growing old. It made her a little uncomfortable, for she was a year older than him. That was one of the things that Veronica did not enjoy dwelling on when it came to Aquila. She had, after all, thought he only considered her as a matron before he had finally approached her to court. "You're terrible," she said. She didn't mean it, and her tone made it obvious. She slowly moved a hand out to rest on his shoulder, her face still against his cheek. Veronica let her arm rest on his shoulder for a few moments longer after he removed his hand from her cheek. She blushed slightly, twisting a bit of her dress. "Oh," she said. "The magazine. There is quite a lot to do. I need to go over layouts and determine how often we will publicise. I believe that we will go with monthly, however. What do you think, Aquila?" She paused for a moment, and then finally looked at him. "Oh, and... I saved some cake for you. In case you wanted some." She wanted to ask him where he had been and what he had been doing, but she didn't have the courage. Veronica was easy to make blush, or so he had noticed as they spent more time together. Usually he liked to see the colour rush to her cheeks, as she looked quite nice when she was flushed. "I can imagine that there is a lot to do. There always seems to be something that needs to be started to redone. I think that once a month is good - maybe twice a month, but anything else might be too difficult to keep up with." He wasn't an expert, but that sounded about right. Aquila's breath left his lips slowly, as though he was trying to to waste a few extra seconds. He reached for the top button on his brown leather jacket so he could slip it through its hole. "Sure," he responded. "That would be nice. I suppose something sweet wouldn't hurt, especially considering I haven't had such a thing in awhile. Did you enjoy it?" "The cake was very nice," Veronica said. She snapped her fingers and a house elf came sprinting towards her. "Get Mr. Avery's cake please," she told the elf, who sped off to do her bidding. "Yes," Veronica said. "And then with everything for the wedding..." She stopped, her lips clamping together firmly. She might not have wanted to get married as quickly as they were, but she had wanted to become engaged to him. And since, as far as she knew, Aquila had known that everything was going to come together as quickly as it was, she did not want him to think that the speed that their nuptials rushed toward them displeased her. "Not that I am unhappy about that, of course. It is exciting to work on our wedding. But..." She paused again. "Oh. About tomorrow. I'm sure you'll agree, and my parents were most insistent. But we've had to cancel the engagement party." She was hesitant to make eye contact with him, afraid that he would be upset with her for some reason or another, but she finally managed it. When the house elf appeared, Aquila narrowed his eyes at it, as though it had done something wrong by simply appearing. He was never the sort to want to run over and kick the house elves - he could leave that to those who actually deemed it necessary to do such a thing, but more the sort to glare at the creature and mutter impatiently at it. But Veronica had treated it nice enough, so he stopped glaring and continued breaking the buttons free so he could slip his jacket off his shoulders. The wedding. His wedding. Their wedding. His face was stony, like a statue in a London art museum, as he listened to her continue on about it. "A wedding does take a lot of preparation. But I think you're better at planning such a thing than I am." That wasn't supposed to be an insult, but it almost came out sounding like one, as though he was too important to sit around choosing colours and patterns. "Canceled?" he snapped, turning his head sharply to look at the woman. He held her gaze, daring her to look away before he did. "When are we supposed to have the party, then?" he asked, sounding as stony and stiff as he suddenly appeared. When the house elf appeared again with his cake, he shoved his jacket down at it without looking away. "Yes, of course," Veronica said, pretending as though she didn't hear the insult in his words. Because she did. When he snapped at her, Veronica's shoulders went stiff and she was, indeed, frozen before him. "I'm sorry," she said after a long pause, finally lifting one of her hands. "I didn't know that it would make you so upset. I would have asked you, except that my parents were very insistent. Everyone is so worried about Rodolphus that it... Well, don't you think it is the proper thing that we ought to have done?" She spoke timidly, her words dying away on her lips as the house elf returned. The poor thing tried to balance the cake and also his jacket, but since Aquila had thrown it so quickly it managed it only halfway -- the sleeve of his jacket getting a little smear of pink frosting. It was very like him to snap over the little things - that was the sort of person he was. He was the sort of person who couldn't really let a lot of huge things bother him because they were just that, so huge. But those little things, those were the little things he noticed more than he wished he did and those were the things he often found himself feeling anger towards. Sometimes it was jut the snapping, like what had just occurred, and sometimes his face would get red and he would shout such words that a fine upstanding gentleman should never mutter, no matter what the circumstance surrounding it was. "I'm worried about Rodolphus too, you know," he muttered back, his dark eyebrows tightening together. Oh, her parents were terribly worried about Rodolphus, were they? Of course that meant they had the right to change things without telling him first. His body twitched when he noticed a smear of frosting on his jacket, on his very expensive jacket, but instead of lecturing the house elf and calling it a useless filthy creature, he instead reached down and snatched the plate of cake up and into his right hand. He wasn't even hungry, least of all for cake, but he'd eat it nevertheless. "I'm so sorry," Veronica murmured. She touched Aquila's arm, nervous at the way his brows knit together. "Of course you are. They know that. Nobody would doubt that you were upset about him." Her mouth tightened at the elf. "Go and punish yourself," she said, leaving it up to the elf to determine what he ought to do. "Here, Aquila," she said, her hand still on his arm. She led him toward the couch. "Why don't you sit down for a moment?" Aquila didn't like dealing with certain people when someone he was close to was injured or on the brink of death - it made him feel useless, in a way, like he was simply parading through life like a shadow and not participating in it. He hated that feeling. He hated it more than Veronica would probably never know, no matter how much time they spent together. The idea of the elf punishing himself didn't exactly make the dark haired man feel any better, but at least he knew that the creature would learn to be more careful with such valuable possessions. "Okay," he said, taking a deep breath, one that calmed that ticking nerve in his brain. He allowed her to lead him and then promptly sat down, tugging at her to follow a second later. "Sit with me?" "Certainly," Veronica said. She sank down gracefully into the couch. Her posture was perfect, although the only thing Veronica wanted to do right now was to run or, better yet, fly. She hadn't been on her broom in almost two weeks and it made her anxious and unhappy. Perhaps, she thought, fighting to keep a frown from her face. If I might fly, just a little, I might be happier. Or that might come after she married Aquila. She rested her hand on his arm, as though to reassure herself that he could make her as happy as her parents told her he would. "It's all rather remarkable," she said, in an effort to make conversation, "That we will be married in five week's time." Oh, to be a married bloke. It had its perks, didn't it? It was supposed to make a bloke happy to know that he had a woman who belonged to him, to him and no one else. When this thing had initially started, he had remained wordless, like a statue. As time had rolled on, rather quickly it seemed, he was more willing to voice his opinion on the matter, even if it couldn't change things, at least in a negative way. But it could be worse, couldn't it? After they were sitting, Aquila turned his head and simply stared at Veronica like he tended to do so very often. She was lovely. Beautiful, even. She came from a good family, her blood was pure, she didn't snap back...she could give him everything he needed after that whirlwind (as he was sure it was going to be that) of a day was over and the stars and the moon took their place in the glittering sky and declared that their first official and complete day as a married couple was starting. "It certainly is," he agreed, offering her just the tiniest of smiles. "I can hardly imagine what we will do once it's over and there's nothing to plan anymore. But I suppose there is always something that needs planning, especially these days." Veronica tilted her head down as he stared at her. She didn't mind him watching her, especially if she thought he approved of her. Veronica would much rather Aquila watch her and be happy than scowl at her and look upset and annoyed. She was still unsure how much she was allowed to touch Aquila. The rules that her parents had been strict on -- that she never touch a boy for any reason unless they were dancing -- didn't apply any longer with Aquila. She wore his ring on her finger and they were to be married. He had even kissed her when they became engaged, and Veronica supposed that this sort of behavior was allowed. Certainly, her mother had not been shocked when Veronica confided in her that they had kissed. "I am sure there will be many things," Veronica said, sounding upbeat and positive. "The world has become such a much happier place, well, overall." Things weren't so good with the recent explosion, but soon there would be a good man as Minister instead of the foolish Bagnold, and the world would continue to be a much happier place. By the time they had children... She blushed a little at the thought, even though Aquila hadn't said anything at all. Well, the world would be a much better place to raise a family in now than it would have been a year before. It was almost as though he had forgotten about the plate of cake resting in his hand, which was resting on his knee. This was almost how they got to know each other - by the silent staring. Was she the sort of person who always had to interrupt the silence with a bit of silly rubbish? Or was she the sort of person who could allow a calm and content silence to wash over them in this way without having to interrupt it? That was one of the things he had wanted to first learn about her, and it was actually one of the first things that had pleased him about her. He liked intimacy, strangely enough. He was a bloke and blokes liked to touch their women, albeit behind closed doors when stuffy family members weren't there to screech in horror, but he also knew how to keep his hands to himself when he had to, at least until it was proper to do those things that would only make their parents wrinkle their noses. They rarely kissed. They held hands a bit. Touched faces sometimes. He had not seen all of her that he wanted to see, but he had seen enough to know that it was worth the wait, the wait of five short weeks. After remaining silent for a bit so he could take a polite bite of the cake that was weighing down his wrist, he swallowed it and reached up his free hand so he could tap at the cheek facing her. "Kiss?" Veronica's cheeks went scarlet again as he tapped his cheek and made his polite request. She pursed her lips together, her lashes lowering. "Certainly," she whispered. She squeezed his arm and then turned his cheek so that he might easily kiss her cheek. She did not mind at all, and she found it charming that he requested the chance to kiss her, instead of seizing it without her allowance. Although she would not dream of denying such a simple thing. Somehow he got lost in these moments, even when he had just been ranting and raving to himself before about how annoying the house elf was and how the engagement party was canceled and how someone he was close to could leave this world at any moment. But still, as he leaned his face forward and let his lips touch her cheek, it was done so delicately that he could've been kissing something close to exploding, like a balloon filled too tightly with air, and making a mess. It lingered for a few seconds, a few nice seconds, before be pulled away again and took to tasting another bite of cake. "Lovely." Veronica wasn't sure if he meant that she or the cake was lovely, but she decided to take the compliment for herself. She sat there for a moment and then leaned closer to him. "Might I kiss your cheek?" she said, touching it gently, just as he had touched hers. His lips were tingling in a very good way - it was the sort of tingle that made him actually want to just sit there with her and discuss things, all things, until there was nothing left for them to discuss anymore. "Of course, as I'd feel a bit empty if you decided not to," he spoke, sounding ten times more calm than he had earlier. He titled his head ever-so-slightly, like she had done, and smiled. Veronica was still blushing but she pressed her hand against his shoulder to support herself as she leaned over and then pressed her lips against his cheek, letting them linger there for a moment. She closed her eyes and then leaned her forehead against his temple before she pulled away from him and set her hands in her lap. "I am glad you came to see me today," she said. Aquila almost wanted to laugh, just because he was suddenly finding himself a bit more cheerful than he had been when he first arrived and in the previous two or three days, but she would probably think he was laughing at the way she kissed his cheek or the way she rested her forehead against him in a way that made him feel as though they possibly could have really known each other for longer than they did. "Soon I'll be seeing you every day," he responded, nodding his head and reaching up to attack an itch he had on his neck. "Do you think you'll like that?" "Yes," Veronica said shyly. "Of course I do. And we can take our walks around your home. I think Posie will like it there, don't you?" Veronica needed to be preparing things for the move to Aquila's home. She had to get linens and other things. She knew that she ought to go over there for the express reason of determining how to be the lady of his house, but the idea of it still alarmed her to some degree. Not marrying Aquila, but being in charge of a whole household. What if she made a terrible mistake and ruined something with mismanagement? As he scratched the itch on his neck, she lifted one of her hands up to gently touch his hair, smoothing that which had become ruffled. "And will you like that, Aquila?" It was certainly going to be interesting to have more people at his house. It was pretty cold and quiet, and least usually. Not that Veronica moving in was going to make it louder every day, but there would be that additional person there to strike up conversation with and make those noises that come along with daily activities. Would it be difficult for her to be away from her family? Would it be difficult for him to adjust to living with someone who didn't know him as well as his family did? Those were questions that could only be answered as time ticked away, however. Aquila had forgotten that his hair got rumbled on the trip over there, but he quite liked knowing that Veronica was there to straighten it out for him. "I think I will indeed like that, Veronica," he nodded, sounding hopeful, surprisingly. "Just five more weeks..." "I'm glad," Veronica said. She let his hair go and sat with her hands in her lap, not touching him as she had been told. She might not be able to fly about on her broom with Aquila nearby, or, really, because she was engaged to him. But that didn't mean that everything would be unhappy. Certainly, it couldn't be. |