𝑠𝑜 𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 | theodore nott

𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘦 | 32

"HI THEO," ASTORIA offered him a shy smile as she opened the door to her dorm. he greeted her with a quick nod in reply, not noticing the frown that flitted across her face.

she offered him a spot on her bed, which he took, fidgeting his legs in the awkward silence they were in. finally, astoria spoke. "so..." she began, her voice tense. "what were you doing that other day when you said you were busy?"

"oh, i um.." theodore paused. "i was finishing an esssay for mcgonagall." truthfully, he just hadn't felt like meeting her that day. with astoria, it wasn't the same as it had been with nat. after he'd broken up with nat, astoria had come up to him and confessed that she'd grown fond of him, and so he'd thought, why not accept?

after all, she was the one who'd saved him from going further with natalia. mentally, he shook his head, cursing himself for even thinking of her anymore.

his girlfriend seemed to accept the feeble lie as the truth. slowly, a tad bit too cautiously, she moved toward him and leaned forward to give him a kiss. theo began to panic. why didn't he want this?

at the last second, he turned his face away from hers, refusing to meet her eyes. 

finally, when he chanced a glance at her, he saw tears filling her eyes.

"astoria- i..."

"no, i'm sorry," she said, turning away to hid her face from him. "i'm just gonna go to the bathroom for a sec."

sighing at himself, theo waited alone in her room, absentmindedly bouncing one of his knees. suddenly, astoria's phone lit up with a notification that read 'mclaggen'.

not that bastard again, he thought, moving closer to her phone. what if astoria was cheating on him? it wouldn't be the first time.

he was surprised when he took astoria's phone and it accepted his face ID. in the back of his mind, he wondered when she had adjusted that. 

finding mclaggen among her contacts, he read the most recent message. then the next one. and the next.

mclaggen - astoria
(messages are in reverse order)

mclaggen
i can't get the girl to like me

------

astoria
shut the fuck up
just get it done

mclaggen
whatever m'lady wants

astoria
i can't take it anymore
it's time

------

mclaggen
yeah

astoria
just to check:
after you find everleigh in the
hallway and do whatever,
i message theodore
telling him she's cheating?

------

astoria
i js
i want theodore to like me.
nothing else matters.

mclaggen
i can feel that you still
don't want to do this to
your friend
but know that it's the only
way

------

THEODORE'S HEART POUNDED in his chest as he replayed the scene in his head. natalia falling to the ground in tears. the way his friends had all protected her even though she was the one who had been "cheating"...