Peppermint; Draco Malfoy [2]

TWENTY-NINE

ALEXIS' P.O.V

"Draco Malfoy. We need to talk."

I need to get this over and done with. No more waiting. No more wasting time.

"About what?" he asks. He shoves his hands in his pockets and looks down. He always plays clueless when things get serious.

"You already know. Go and wake Theo up for me, will you?" He shoots his head up and frowns. "I need you to send him up before Madam Pomfrey lets me go."

"What for?"

I sigh. "Just do it. You can get changed while I talk to him. Hopefully, I'll be out in time for breakfast."

He nods and walks away without a second glance. I know he's bothered but he's got nothing to worry about. I'm the nervous one. What I'm about to do next is going to hurt.

While I wait for Theo, Madam Pomfrey unwraps my bandage and gives me a fresh uniform, without my house tie. My other clothes were pretty much ruined which sucks. I really liked my blue jumper.

By the time he gets here, I'm dressed and almost as good as new. Knowing what I'm about to say to him makes me feel strange. I've spent what little years I've lived devoting myself to other people, making sure they're okay while I forget about myself. And now I'm about to do the opposite.

"Hey." I walk over to him and give him a big hug. I rest my head on his shoulder as he embraces me back.

"I'm so sorry..." he whispers into my hair. I hug him harder.

"Nooo, don't be. It's my fault. I seem to have a habit of getting myself into these kinds of situations."

"Yeah well, I'm sorry I didn't try harder to keep you away from Potter. He's no good for you. I should have been better, I – I should have protected you more –"

I stop hugging him and grip his arms. "Theo, don't do that! It's not your fault – at least, that part isn't." I overlook his objection to letting me hang out with my friends. It's only in his Slytherin nature to associate my pain with the golden trio. "But there is something I need to tell you."

I take his hand and direct him to my hospital bed so we can sit down. I open my mouth to start but he speaks first. "Lexi – Alexis, I need to tell you something too. It's really important." He's really pale and it throws me off guard.

"Oh uhm okay. Sure," I say.

He sighs. "First, I want to say sorry again. I've been a shit boyfriend, I know." I flinch at his language. "I just, a lot has changed between us and I didn't know how to deal with it. Which is why I think we, uhm..."

He looks down at his hands as his voice trails off towards the end. I have a very bad feeling about this. "We should what?" My voice wobbles.

"Break up."

I gasp inwards. I didn't think he'd do this. I mean, I was going to do this. It should have been me, not him. What reason does he have?

"You don't like me like that anymore Lexi. You know that. And you can't hide it anymore."

I bite my bottom lip. I hoped he wasn't going to say that. "Theo... It never meant to happen. I don't know how or why. I mean he hates me, for goodness sake. I tried to prove Professor Trelawney wrong but I guess she was right. I mean, not to that extent, but you know."

"You're so funny. He doesn't hate you. Quite the opposite actually." As he says the last sentence, he looks away. I can hear the hurt in his voice. "He finds it hard to express his emotions. He's had a hard life. But uh, what did you need to tell me?"