unbridled ~ blaise zabini

(2) The Agreement

I glare at his chest as we stand facing each other in the middle of the dorm corridor. "Go away." I say, crossing my arms and refusing to meet his eyes. 

"No. You invited me." he says, smugness in his voice. I continue to glare at his chest. "Go away." I repeat and he responds, voice deep, "My eyes are up here. And the answer is still no."

My anger rises. "Not my fault you're so tall." I shoot back and his hand lightly brushes my chin, tilting it up so i'm forced to look at him. 

"Look, now you can see me." He says coyly and I hit his hand away. 

"I liked it better when I couldn't." I retort. He's never... annoyed me like this before, i'm not sure if annoyed is the right word but it's the one I think of. He's got me all wound up with a couple words. 

I set off at a brisk pace down the corridor and into the common room and he matches it easily, with those stupid long legs of his, "Aw, be careful, you might hurt my feelings." he says patronizingly, bending down to my level as we walk. I swallow a retort and pull the torch to walk through the fake wall into the damp hallways of the dungeons, Blaise right on my heels. 

I stop and close my eyes, almost sensing how close he is behind me. "Please. Please just leave me alone. This is already going to be bad enough as is." I say and his silence is long enough to make me turn around and look at him. 

"What am I here for?" He asks and for some reason my brain can't make sense of this.

"What?" I ask and he responds "What am I here for, if not to help you when things get bad?" I finally meet his eyes. 

The ghost of Ruining Potential must possess me because I respond with "Yeah, I guess that's what friends are for." The second the words tumble from my mouth I regret them, especially when he turns his head to the side with a scoff, jaw working. 

I swallow hard. My muddled brain senses I've done something wrong. Crossed some invisible line... or drawn another. 

"Yeah." He says in a hollow voice and I blurt "Best friends." in an attempt to make this better. He just stares at me, vaguely I register that we're just standing, staring at each other in the middle of the hallway but I can't make myself care. 

"Don't." I blurt, taking a small step closer, this brings out a little emotion in him, a slight furrow in his brow. 

"Don't?" he asks quietly, quizzically. 

"Don't look at me like- like-" I start, then cut myself off and step backwards, away from him. "Whatever." I mumble and turn around, starting to walk. 

"Aurelia-" he starts, then cuts himself off too and I hear his footsteps come closer as I turn the corner. Why does my name sound better when he says it?

"Please. Blaise. Please. Leave me alone." I say, stopping walking again and clenching my hand into a fist, helplessly. 

"Why do you want to get rid of me so much?" he asks and before I can even think, I hear myself say "I don't." the tiredness of my voice embarrasses me.

The air is still. The stone walls are silent. The flames of the torches on the walls are steady. 

"Then why? Why tell me to leave?" He catches my arm and turns me around, I'm forced to look at him. 

The sides of my vision are a bit blurry as I whisper "I don't know. I don't know why."

He starts to truly look at me and I'm afraid. I'm afraid he'll somehow sense the wreck that was this summer. The mistakes. The panic attacks. The booze. The smoke filled bathrooms and screaming matches when I came home at 4 am, or didn't come home for days. I'm afraid he'll see it all, somehow, and want to leave. To leave me and never come back.