forced | d.m.

23.shambles

April '01 | H E R

"I'm late."

No matter how many times Althea repeated the phrase in her head, it still sounds unreal coming out of her mouth.

She froze for a good ten minutes in the bathroom when she found out not long ago. Literally stood there, not knowing what to do.

This has to be a joke, she thought. Someone is rewriting the script to my life.

Then she cried a little, but couldn't say from what really. Then she tried to drown her face in cold water to reduce the swelling that had gotten only worse after some sleep.

It is possible that she has never once cried as badly in her entire twenty years of living than she did last night. And she's a crier.

Not that she's that shy about it either, but for once she didn't want Draco to see how much of an effect he has on her. It was the nagging uncertainty that wouldn't grant her enough time to rebuild her physical armour. She couldn't wait any longer. Does she feel good that he looks worse than her?

A little bit. Yeah, a little bit.

He falters on the spot, like he has a clue what she's referring to but doesn't want it to be real. "To what?"

"With my period," the words seem to be dragged over sandpaper, somehow worse than the ones before. Mentally, she goes over everything she could have done wrong. She took the pill like she was supposed to. "That never happens to me."

He blanches, going paler than his usual self.

"Oh, okay. Uhm..." he clears his throat, suddenly getting to his feet, wanting to approach but hesitating. Good. His hand runs through his messy hair instead as he tries to think and come to terms with the situation. "Should I call Cornus? I should call Cornus, shouldn't I?"

She swallows a stone, nodding stiffly.

Draco stalls, not immediatly doing as he says. He seems conflicted, which is not much of a change from last night. The storm of emotions in his eyes when he looks at her, when he walks up to her, are too much to handle. "Althea..."

She dips out of the way, looking elsewhere. "I'll be in my study," she chokes out and with that, she wades away, not stopping until her feet enter the threshold of her other safe haven.

Could they be a nervous mess together right now, waiting for the house healer to arrive? Probably. Do they have things to discuss? It wouldn't hurt, but it can also wait. She hadn't planned to talk to him at all today, much less face this... thing.

It did feel good though to make a point of showing that unlike him, she does not hide stuff.

But she's hiding now...

Well warranted, isn't it?

Closing the door behind herself, Althea leans against it. And exhales, deeply. Her nose burns but she's not going to cry again. She's not.

People become their periods late. Husbands do cheat sometimes. And lie. And behave like selfish bastards.

All I ever care about is you, Althea. Only you.

Fuck off. She could slap herself for being so naive.

They had a good run, hadn't they? What was that... one month? Six, seven weeks maybe. Anyone could have predicted that she would be the one getting her hopes up.

God. Idiot.

Blinking manicially up at the ceiling, she pushes off the door before her back slides down and moves over to the desk. On instinct, she thought about writing to her sister Talia. Parchement and quill are waiting, but Althea can't bring herself to pull the chair back and get started.