let's talk. [ebony; closed]

[Jeremy Halpsen]

His face was emotionless as he waited for dinner to end. His housemates paid no attention to him as they stuffed their faces full of food. Nobody spoke to him. Nobody looked at him. As usual. It didn’t bother him at all. In fact, he preferred it this way. If they didn’t talk to him, he wouldn’t have to stick around for dessert. He wouldn’t have to wait around while listening to mindless chatter about how good the dinner was. As soon as dinner ended, Jeremy would be able to leave the Main Hall to go to the Daphne Tapestry to meet with Ebony. He couldn’t say he was excited. In fact, Jeremy felt almost empty. He didn’t know what would happen during this meeting with Ebony. That’s what he saw it as. A meeting. Ebony was angry at him, for something he’d kept from her for her own safety. But she didn’t see it that way. She saw it as a betrayal.

Jeremy, for about five minutes, had his gaze fixed on the Dovenbell table, his eyes peeled for Ebony. He caught a couple of glimpses of her, but even with his increased sense of sight, he couldn’t see through people. So he kept his ears peeled for Ebony’s voice. He caught snippets of her conversations. Nothing too interesting. Mindless chatter about the ball, about upcoming events, classes, et cetera. She didn’t mention anything about him, which Jeremy found himself glad about. He had a feeling Ebony’s friends would do more than just protest to her seeing him. Jeremy’s own dorm mates didn’t understand why he was fascinated by her. Jeremy didn’t feel the need to explain his fixation with Ebony to his dorm mates. No matter how many times he tried to explain it, they wouldn’t understand.

It seemed like years before the headmistress finally announced that dinner was over and that dessert had begun. Students weren’t required to stay for dessert, a fact that Jeremy was happy about. He stood the minute the headmistress finished announcing dessert. The minute he stood, his dorm mates fixed suspicious looks on him. “Where are you going, Jeremy?” Jeremy met their suspicious gazes with an emotionless one of his own. “For a walk”, he said, before turning on his heel and exiting the Main Hall. The Daphne Tapestry was on the third floor. It wouldn’t take him too long to get there. As he walked up the stairs, Jeremy shoved his hands into the pockets in his robes. His thoughts were racing all over the place. What would he say to Ebony? What would she say to him? What would be the outcome of this meeting? Jeremy wasn’t so sure he wanted to see her now. He didn’t want to have to look in her eyes. He was afraid that she would have the same look of betrayal she’d had when he’d seen her in the library.

As he turned onto the third floor corridor, Jeremy’s mind played the scene in the library over and over again. That look in Ebony’s eyes… it frightened him. If she had that look in her eyes when he saw her today, Jeremy didn’t know what he would do.

He reached the Daphne Tapestry. Ebony wasn’t there yet. He breathed a sigh of relief, and leaned against the wall beside the tapestry.

[Ebony Braedan]

Ebony was staring at her food, a full plate and it looked amazing but she just couldn't bring herself to eat it. She was sick with nervousness. A nudge from Medea shook her out of it and she looked up to find Chase watching her carefully too. Ebony rolled her eyes, as soon as dessert was announced she stood up. "I'm not hungry. This headache is killing me. I'll see you two later" She rubbed her temple slightly, headache as if! Turning on her heel, she left the main hall. In her letter, Ebony had said to meet by the daphne tapestry, down the hall from the bottenstein common room on the third floor. Since dessert had just started, not many students had left, a couple of the older ones but it was nice and quiet.

Walking quietly up the stairs she tried to think of what she could say to him. He had lied to her, he couldn't have said anything in the beginning. Ebony had been betrayed in the worst way she thought possible. What was the point in trusting someone when they did that?! On the second floor, she looked up the next flight of stairs, what if he was already there? Would he be early? She took a hesitant step forward, flicking her hair back and taking a deep breath, her name was Ebony Braedan she wasn't some wimp!

The last step came all to quickly, and she was on the third floor, down the corridor was the daphne tapestry and right in front of it was him. He was leaning against the wall looking the way she probably was. She strode confidantly over to him, he looked just the same as always. Even knowing he was a vampire didn't change anything, apart from finally answer a few questions. "Glad to see you here" Her previous confidence dissapated, as she stood in front of him wondering whether to just go ahead and say it.

Her gaze lifted from the floor into his eyes, if she looked carefully, there was the slightest chance that he was wearing contacts. Although Ebony couldn't see for sure, "If I .. were in your position" She paused, "I would've told you as soon as we had our first conversation and not a moment later" Ebony frowned, folding her arms and looking away. It was too intense, standing in front almost staring him down as she proved him wrong.

[Jeremy Halpsen]

“Glad to see you here.”

He looked up as he heard the familiar voice. There was Ebony, standing in front of him, her gaze fixed on the floor. All of a sudden, Jeremy didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to hear what she had to say. He wanted for everything to go back to the way it was, before Ebony had known him. She was happier then. She didn’t have to deal with having a vampire friend. She didn’t have to deal with having her mother disapprove of the boy she was spending time with. And Jeremy didn’t have to deal with the disapproving looks Headmistress Braedan sent his way every time she saw him at a meal. Life would be so much easier.

And then he was angry. Angry at Ebony’s mother for telling Ebony about his being a vampire. Angry at himself for not being the one to tell her. Angry at just about everything. His hands balled into fists, and his attention was drawn back to Ebony as she started to talk again. “If I … were in your position, I would’ve told you as soon as we had our first conversation and not a moment later.” Jeremy arched an eyebrow, a look of disbelief on his face. She would have told him during their first conversation? When they didn’t even know each other? When there was every chance that Jeremy (had he been human) would have run away screaming? Really?

“Well you and I are very different people, Ebony Braedan”, Jeremy started, pushing himself off the wall. He took a few steps closer to Ebony. “You say that if you were a vampire, you would have told me the minute we had our first conversation. Ebony, our first conversation was in the Main Hall, surrounded by people. People who I don’t think you would want knowing about your vampirism. And if you’re talking about the conversation we had in the forest, well… I had just finished hunting. That deer you saw, I killed it. Do you really think, had I told you that I was a vampire then that you wouldn’t have been afraid? Afraid that you may have ended up the same way that deer did?”

Jeremy took another few steps towards Ebony. He was standing directly in front of her, now, perhaps a foot between them. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you”, he said, “But I didn’t know you. I didn’t know if I could trust you. I had every intention of telling you, when I’d figured out if I could trust you.” Jeremy’s face softened, and he hesitated a moment before taking Ebony’s left hand in his right. “It means nothing now, but… Ebony, I’m a vampire. And I am truly sorry I didn’t tell you outright.” He laced his fingers through hers, lifting his gaze to look Ebony in the eye. “How can I make it up to you?”

[Ebony Braedan]

Ebony watched his face lift to meet hers, then grow angry. Frowning at him, she folded her arms her eyes flicking down to his hands balled up, he needed to calm down. Then he pushed away from the wall, closer to her. She tried to keep calm, hearing her heartbeat speed up as she wondered what exactly he was going to do. Walk off and leave her? Curse her for being a nosy little witch?! Ebony gave a firm nod, of course they were different people, otherwise things would have turned out differently.

She rolled her eyes, she wasn't meaning in the main hall, she meant in the woods. "Of course I would've been afraid! But I would've gotten over it. It's not a person or anything, it's just a deer. I probably would've run away but news like that can scare a person. If they can't handle it then obviously they shouldn't be told in the first place!" Ebony remembered that conversation in the woods, they had talked for quite a time then, it was nice in a way. At least, she preferred that to being surrounded by crowds of people who kept looking at them with the weirdest look on their faces.

She had forgiven him. How could she not? Yes she was annoyed but that didn't mean they still weren't friends. At last he calmed down, taking her hand through his, Ebony gave a small smile. At least they trusted each other. She could assume there were no more secrets he was hiding now. "I know" Ebony replied, with a shrug. How could he make it up to her? Ebony didn't know. "You could always say you won't lie to me again? That we'll stay friends. Except..." She shrugged again and sighed, "I don't know if I can keep those promises either, so I hardly think that's fair".

Ebony glanced around, "We're friends though right?" She wasn't sure if they were more than that or not? Should they keep it on the down low for now? She didn't know whether to ask him outright, at least she had said whether they were friends that was a start.

[Jeremy Halpsen]

“I won’t lie to you again, Ebony. I promise you”, Jeremy said, frowning as she said she didn’t know if she could keep the same promises. What could she possibly have to hide from him? “I’m not asking you to keep any promises, Ebony.” And then Ebony said the words that made Jeremy’s heart sink and his face fall. “We’re friends though right?” Friends? Jeremy had thought they were so much more than that. Or on their way to becoming so much more. They’d only known each other for a short time, but in that short time, he’d let Ebony into his life more than what he’d let anyone else. The only other person who knew everything (well maybe not everything) was Nate. Thankfully he didn’t have the same funny feelings for Nate that he did for Ebony. That could be awkward…

Jeremy did his best to put a small smile on his face, and nodded gently at Ebony. “Yeah. We’re friends”, he said. He looked down at her, thoughts racing through his mind. Ebony looked a lot like her mother. If you put them together, they could pass as sisters. But mind-wise, just how alike were they? Jeremy wasn’t sure if he could trust Ebony with his secret of being a vampire, given his parents couldn’t trust the Headmistress. Didn’t that kind of thing run in the family? Jeremy frowned slightly, and then cleared his face of any emotion. “The only thing I ask of you, Ebony, is that you keep my vampirism a secret”, he said.

[Ebony Braedan]

Ebony shrugged, she didn't know what to say in return to that. She was disappointed that he agreed with her, she was half-expecting him to quickly disagree and ask why she thought that. It didn't matter, that could always change later. Although, friends was better, go in slow, it was always better. Ebony wasn't sure how much Jeremy would trust her with the secret, would he tell her things? Or was she just some friend that knew his secret and he was counting on not to spill? She nodded slowly, "I thought that was a given" Ebony muttered.

She didn't know whether to take the secret as a promise, wasn't that the basis of a secret, that you promised never to tell? She was keeping a promise, one that she really hoped she could manage to keep. Her mother wasn't able to keep her trap shut for her, but it wasn't as if Ebony would go around blabbermouthing. She had a little more decorum than that. Especially as they were considered friends now, it was odd, Ebony couldn't picture herself being friends, more than friends that was definite, but anything less just didn't quite fit.

If that was what Jeremy wanted, than she wouldn't come in between that. He had other friends, other girls she bet that he liked. Ebony wasn't the only witch in the world, and he wasn't the only wizard. However, Ebony didn't want to go out there, she didn't see the point, she was in an uncomfortable position. Who to trust. It was similar to the situation Jeremy was in, who could he trust with his secret? Except his was a little more scary, people would most likely want him out of the school, who would want a vampire in a school full of children. Although, she wasn't sure she could understand if her mother didn't want him there why did she allow him in the first place. Money played a part, but if it was that important, then why did she accept him?

Ebony would stick by Jeremy, even if everyone did find out about his vampirism somehow, it wouldn't be from her. "As if I would tell anyone!" She looked around the corridor, it was still empty. "You haven't killed anyone though?" Ebony asked, she was curious, it was only natural. What if he had? Could she bear to be in his presence? Stupid question. Ebony knew the answer.

[Jeremy Halpsen]

Jeremy watched Ebony’s reaction to his saying they were friends. Well, in all truth, she’d said it first. Jeremy had thought that they were something more than that, or at least on the way to becoming something more than that. He didn’t know what to think anymore. He wanted them to be something more than just friends, but he wasn’t exactly sure what Ebony wanted. He couldn’t read her mind. And he wasn’t about to come outright and ask her what she thought. He just wasn’t that guy.

And besides, what if Ebony wanted to be nothing more than friends? After all, she had other guys that were much more suited to her. Jeremy was sure he wasn’t the only male in Ebony’s life. In fact, he was one hundred percent certain that other people would have made their interest in Ebony known. Why wouldn’t they? She was an extremely pretty little witch.

And then, Ebony was talking again. Jeremy focused his attention on her, a small frown on his face. “As if I would tell anyone!” Jeremy’s frown deepened. Had he offended her? He hadn’t meant to. He just wasn’t sure whether she was like her mother in that she wouldn’t trust him because of his vampirism. He was sure there would be more than just Ebony’s mother who would want him out of the school if his secret got out. And there was Nate… Nate had made his hatred towards vampires quite known. Jeremy was afraid of losing Ebony. But he was absolutely terrified of losing Nate. Nate was the one person who had attempted to get to know him, and Jeremy was forever grateful for that. What in the name of Merlin would he do without Nate?

And then Ebony asked him a question that shocked him. “You haven’t killed anyone though?” Crap. Jeremy looked down at Ebony. He hadn’t killed anyone, no. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t come close. And he’d done his fair share of damage within his neighbourhood. It was hard to live in that place, filled with judgmental friends of his mother. They didn’t know about his vampirism, but they knew something was wrong with him. They put it down to mental illness. Of course they did, they couldn’t explain it any other way. Jeremy held back a sigh, realising that Ebony was still waiting for an answer. “No, I haven’t killed anyone”, he said, but I’ve come close.

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