Re: Sidewalk Interlude - 9:15 a.m. (Dinah, Fred)
"Dinah, I don't know what to say. I'm sorry. I thought you guys could just.... just apologize and... m... make up... I didn't know. I didn't know."
The phone went off in her hand. She looked down and, without meaning to, read the message Eric sent. That just made it all worse. She quickly thrust the phone back into Dinah's hand and shook her head -- hard.
"I've gone four years without one," Beauty said, instinctively trying to make Fred feel better. "I suppose it's..." But the words fell flat and useless in the air between them. Her desperate attempts to politely smile were only succeeding in preventing a very powerful frown.
She passed a slender hand over her eyes, then dropped her hand back to her side. "What did he do to you, Fred? How do you know so much about him?" It wasn't said combatively. Beauty genuinely wanted to know this woman's story.
The knowledge that Eric was with Lestat in her bookstore with Errol began to weigh heavier on her. She didn't want to be out on the sidewalk two storefronts down while Errol was forced to entertain two strange vampires. She swallowed. Surely with Lestat there, things couldn't get too out of hand. Surely Lestat would keep things under control. Lestat had always been her friend. As for Eric... she just didn't know. She hated that her faith in their friendship had been shaken by the witness of two women she'd only recently met.
But there was proof of Eric's continuing...misdeeds... there in Dinah's hand. She couldn't dismiss it.