Who: Raleigh & Maire [and Brandston] What: having dinner When: Saturday 23 July 2029; dinnertime Where: Raleigh's and Zach's place Status/Rating: incomplete/PG
When Raleigh had invited Maire and Brandston over for dinner, he was feeling particularly lonely. It wasn't that he wouldn't have wanted to spend the time with them, but he perhaps may not have been so urgent about it. Zach had been staying with his sister, and Raleigh was missing him. And he figured that having Brandston and Maire around to distract him from the stress of now having to worry about the status of his relationship would be a good thing.
But even in that short amount of time, things had already taken a turn for the worse. And Raleigh wished that he could go back to the unknowing, because now he knew. And now, he and Zach were over. It was almost too surreal to grasp. And Raleigh was still expecting to wake up from a terrible nightmare. But the trouble was, it couldn't just be a nightmare because he hadn't been sleeping. Last night, after sending angry owls back and forth that brought Zach and Raleigh to their doomed conclusion, Raleigh couldn't sleep. He tried. He tossed and turned, and by morning, he had managed to get in three hours. Granted he didn't have to work today, but he still felt like shite.
Possibly, he didn't look much better either. But at least the house did. Rose had come over the day before to help him clean. And now that Zach's things were gone, since he was here earlier in the afternoon to collect them all, half the house was empty. It felt strange to even be here. Their home of four years was now a house with some of Raleigh's and Brandston's things inside.
But now, Raleigh had to ignore all that. He had invited Maire and Brandston over for dinner. He had to play host. And it wasn't such a horrible thing anyway. He was happy when he got to spend time with Brand. And Maire probably wanted to hear about Greece. And Raleigh did enjoy her company, after all.
It was about the time that Maire was expected to show up, so Raleigh made his way into the den, sitting on the couch that faced the fireplace. He figured they would arrive by floo rather than trying to apparate with Brand. While he waited, Raleigh picked up the lasted Daily Prophet and scanned over the articles, of course only half interested.