Dusk and Desire - A Mattheo Riddle Story

Chocolate, Wine, and Brown-Skinned Best Friends

"How was your holiday?" Aditi asked as soon as she slid into step beside Nora.

"Abysmal. Yours?"

Her friend wrinkled her nose. It seemed she'd put on a bit of tan during the break. Her family had gone to Dubai on holiday rather than celebrate a stuffy holiday at a table hardly speaking, as Nora's had. "Fun. But I thought I was going to murder my younger brother if I had to hear him go on about his girlfriend any longer. Was your family... okay?"

"I suppose." Okay was about the best word to describe the Rosier Easter that Nora had been forced to sit to. But it was better than terrible, she figured, so she counted herself lucky. Mattheo's threats from Nora's last holiday at home still lingered over her relationship with her brother. Nora couldn't bring herself to tell Christopher that they broke up just in case it meant that he reverted back to his asshole self. She and Chris still weren't friends by any means but he'd been... cordial to her. He'd given her back the notebook he'd stolen and at one point, the two even played Quidditch together. It was odd not having him act like an utter asshole but even Nora could admit that he was nice at times. They'd probably never have a perfect sibling relationship but this might be the closest she'd get to one.

As for her mother, Nova Rosier was either high off Valium or some other muggle drug or in the kitchen, silently watching as the two siblings moved about. At one point, she'd asked Nora about her studies but the conversation hardly lasted for five minutes before Nova excused herself to have a cigarette, her hands shaking as she jiggled the lighter the whole time.

On the Easter holiday, Imani came over and played a three-way game of Quidditch with Christopher and Nora while her mother overcooked a meal that they all had to pretend was decent. Nora usually wasn't nice for the sake of niceness but her mother was at least sober so she kept her mouth shut and counted her blessings.

It wasn't a perfect holiday but she supposed none were, not in worlds like hers. Hell, if she were normal, she probably would have never given Mattheo Riddle a second glance. Women without issues didn't exactly choose men like him.

Her heart hardened at the thought of his name. Nora was no longer moping around but it didn't mean she was anywhere near forgiving him and she probably wouldn't be for a long, long time.

"You're thinking about him, aren't you?" Aditi asked. Even though they'd spent several days apart, her friend could read her within milliseconds. Perks of being friends for years. Days could go by and you could still fall into step with them like it had only been a few moments.

"How did you know?"

"Because your face does this weird thing when you think about him now. It's like half-constipation, half-total adoration."

Nora sighed. That amount summed up how she felt about Mattheo. She was angry at him and she wanted to take a beater's bat to his skull but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't hate him. She couldn't even stop loving him, not yet at least. And trust her: she'd been trying ever since she found out about that stupid bet. "That sounds pretty accurate to what's going on inside of me," she grumbled.

Aditi laid a hand on her arm, squeezing it gently. Nora stiffened because she hated physical contact with just about everyone but she was working on it. She might not let some of her other friends hold her like that but Aditi was her best friend so she'd shove down her discomfort if she needed to. "Nora, don't hate me but—"

"What kind of way to start a sentence is that?"

"The kind of way someone who is about to tell something her best friend isn't going to like would use," Aditi said with a glare that would probably only be scary to a cake that dared to be caught in her path. "I know that bet was stupid—"