It's Nice To Have A Friend

13 - Falling From Cloud 9

Mallory ran over as Freddy exited the plane. It was pouring rain as she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. "I missed you, Freddy," she mumbled.

"I missed you too," he replied softly, wrapping his free arm around her. "I don't have that much time to hang out today. Family stuff."

Mallory pulled away from him and nodded, watching him closely. Earlier, he had told her that he'd be free all day. "Yeah no, that's okay." She expected him to lean down and gently kiss her, but he didn't.

"I drove here myself, so I can drive you back home. How'd you get here anyway?"

"My dad dropped me off on his way to work," Mallory told him as she took his hand in hers and walked toward the parking lot. He put his luggage in the back of his car before getting in and turning on the radio. He smiled over at Mallory as she hummed softly to the music.

Freddy pulled into Mallory's driveway a few minutes later. He put the car in park before looking over at Mallory who smiled back at him. He raised his hand to her jaw and pulled her into a kiss, deepening it immediately and letting his tongue slip into her mouth.

Everything was perfect. She pushed away the thoughts that his odd behavior was because something was wrong. If something was wrong, he wouldn't have offered to drive her home by himself, if something was wrong he wouldn't have made out with her, and if something was wrong they wouldn't have started to dance in the pouring rain to Stand By Me.

Freddy spun Mallory around one last time before bringing her into a soft kiss. He seemed to linger against her lips as they pulled away. "I should probably leave," he whispered, letting his hands drop down to his sides.

"I'll see you soon, yeah?" Mallory replied as she stepped away, smiling at Freddy. Her smile quickly disappeared as he sighed and looked back at her with his lips pursed. "Right?"

"Mallory, I don't think I can do this," he admitted softly.

Mallory fell silent, not sure what she was supposed to say to that.

"The distance has been hard on me, Mallory. And then you came home and all you can talk about is your school," he started to explain before quickly adding, "You never shut up about Sirius."

"How long have you been thinking about this, Freddy?"

Freddy shrugged, avoiding her gaze. "Since September," he responded like he was embarrassed to admit it.

"And you're just barely bringing it up? If you didn't want to hear about my friends and Hogwarts, then why did you ask?" She narrowed her gaze at him as he averted his to the ground.

"Because I can't handle it, Mallory! We're so far apart and there's no way to meet in the middle! All your friends are boys and at least two of them have crushes on you, and I don't trust them! I don't trust that they won't pull anything on you!"

Mallory couldn't believe him. "You don't trust me?" she asked him simply.

"This"—he motioned between the two of them—"won't work as long as Sirius and James are your friends."

Mallory couldn't believe him. What was wrong with Sirius and James? They were the first people to fully welcome her to Hogwarts. She thought Freddy would've liked them, seeing as they didn't make her life miserable.

"It could work," Mallory mumbled. She crossed her arms over her chest as she remembered that day on the quidditch pitch with Sirius when James and Marlene were screaming their heads off at each other.

"One of the first conversations I had with Sirius was about you. You had forgotten to write me. He told me then that we wouldn't last. I was so angry with him because he had said that. He apologized to me. He apologized for telling me the truth."