Sacred Silence | A Tom Riddle Story

37: Date night.

It took her the biggest part of that evening to pick herself back up. She had never cried so much before. Her eyes felt swollen, and her head hurt immensely.

Carrying herself through dinner with Slughorn and her fellow students almost seemed impossible. She was so tired that she didn't really add anything to the conversation happening at the table.
She just watched as Abraxas ended up in a long argument with Rome about the attitude of French people. Rome didn't really have a connection to his family in France, but still put up a fight against Brax's stereotypes. If she had more energy, she would've chimed in and helped him.

'I'm going up,' she mumbled eventually, as she pushed her chair back and left most of her food untouched on her plate. They had been sitting in a small dining hall on the ground floor of the hotel, and the time in between courses felt like hours.
Slughorn looked up at her and raised his hands in disappointment. 'What a shame, Siobhan.'
She heard him call after her that the dessert should be more than enough reason to stay, but she ignored him.

Up the stairs, down the hall and into her room, she went. She just needed to sleep, these last few days had drained her.
Now more than ever, she felt herself missing Juno and Flo. Whenever she was sad, confused, or tired, Juno was always there. Warm and friendly, giving her the only unconditional love she had ever received.

She missed Flo even more, though. She really wanted her friend here, to talk to her about today and what might be happening tomorrow. She wanted to tell Flo about this afternoon. About the way she had been unable to swallow her tears, and ended up in Tom's arms. She had felt oddly comforted and safe.

Sadly, owls couldn't fly that fast, so she was left alone with all her thoughts.

Tomorrow would be the third evening, she thought to herself as she stripped naked once more and turned on the shower in her bathroom. She removed the pins that held her bun in place and let her curls fall over her bare shoulders.

In twenty-four hours, she would be on a date with Tom. Just the two of them, completely removed from either his or her friends. It made her nervous, but it wasn't necessarily a bad type of nervousness.
After today, she felt a little more at ease with him. She just hoped he wouldn't inquire further about her breakdown of this afternoon; she really didn't feel like talking about that. Mostly, because she felt a strong urge to prove to him that she was still strong and steady. That she was worthy and useful, not just a girl looked pretty when she cried.

Turning the water as hot as she could bear, she let it set her skin on fire. It was nice. It drove away some of the thoughts in her head and worked as a distraction for the pain in her heart. She washed away the day and stepped out, looking like a tomato. It was her passive way of hurting herself back into reality.
She would take a long bath tomorrow before her date. Right now, she finally wanted a good night sleep. Something told her Tom and Brax would be more quiet tonight, after seeing her so upset and tired. At least, that's what she hoped.

-

Getting ready for a date was always stressful. It was even more stressful when you were far away from home and on a trip with only boys, where no one could give some womanly advice on what to wear.

Shiv stood in front of her bathroom mirror, still wearing a fluffy white robe, completely lost. She had tried a million different hairstyles, and no shade of pink seemed to be exactly what she had in mind for her lips.
With a groan, she wiped away her lipstick and ran her hands through her hair.

What would Flo say if she was here? She always had the best advice when it came to things like this.
Shiv knew perfectly well how to present herself in a classy, professional way, but what did boys like? Most of her gowns were long and left a lot to the imagination. Her make-up was always light and subtle because her father thought women who wore too much of it were provocative and tried too hard. Opinions that had been drilled into her mind for so long, she didn't know how much of them were true.