More Than That

Chapter 28

a/n

3 chapters in 24 hours? what am i doing? who the hell has this much time on their hands?

anyways.....

The door opened to reveal a rumpled, sleepy-looking Fred, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Sage?" he asked confusedly, making him sound even more sleepy.

"Is George here?" she asked, her mind only focusing on getting inside his room.

"No, he's at Luna's." He removed his hand and seemed to fully take in her appearance, tiredness leaving his face and being replaced with concern as he scanned his eyes over her runny makeup, red-rimmed eyes, and wrinkled dress. She felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment - she was not looking her best at the moment. "Sage, what's wrong?" he asked and pulled her into his room, shutting the door behind him. His face then suddenly turned more serious, darkness taking over his eyes. "Did Theodore do this?".

She shook her head dismissively in response, not having enough energy at the moment to really give him an answer or tell him what happened. "Sorry, can we not talk about it right now? I just really wanted to see you."

Any anger disappeared from Fred's face as he nodded sympathetically and pulled her into his arms for a hug. It was shocking how much relief she felt when wrapped in his arms. She didn't like to think of herself as shallow and had never been the type of girl who needed a boy to be super strong, but she was very glad at the moment that Fred was as muscled as he was. Being wrapped in his strong arms brought her mind a physical sense of safety that was hard to find anywhere else.

"Of course, Sage. You're always welcome here no matter what, you know that" he said softly into her hair before giving her one final squeeze and pulling away. He left his hands resting on her shoulders and looked at her with a question in his eyes. "Is um- how was everything with Theodore?".

Sage grimaced and shook her head, turning to look at the ground. She couldn't help but be a bit ashamed, Fred had warned her away from him multiple times and she hadn't listened. She had just assumed that he was still bitter from their old rivalry in their older years. That really hadn't been the case.

"Hey, we don't have to talk about it," he said and massaged little circles into her shoulders with his thumbs.

Sage nodded gratefully and leaned forward to rest her forehead on Fred's chest. "Thank you," she mumbled to the ground. Fred just reached up to thread his fingers into her hair in response. "For always being there for me," she added. "I don't deserve it."

Fred removed his hand from her hair and gently grasped her chin between his thumb and pointer finger, angling her head to look up at him. "Of course you do, Sage. You deserve the world."

Sage didn't say anything, just held eye contact with him as she looked up at him and he looked down at her. At that moment, it felt like they were the only two people in the world. The only thing she saw was his dark brown eyes surrounded by deep red eyelashes and all she felt was the safety that she felt in his presence and in his arms.

She stood up on her tiptoes to press their lips together, their mouths slotting together in a practiced motion. The only thing her mind told her at the moment was that she was exactly where she was meant to be.

However, the feeling was soon ripped away from her as Fred softly grasped her face in his hands and pulled his lips away from hers.

"Sage," he said disapprovingly. "We shouldn't do this."

She frowned up at him. "Why?". When he didn't immediately answer, she continued on, rambling on in a way that she could never control. "If this is about Theodore, I swear you have nothing to worry about. I was being really stupid and I'm so sorry if I messed this up I didn't even like him, I just had this idea of him in my head that I-".