Pulling Strings - Theodore Nott

42. Run Rabbit

"No. I haven't been avoiding you, why do you say that?"

Thomas' eyes narrowed into tiny slits. She could see by the tightness in his shoulders and the stiff smile on his face that he did not believe her. Which...fair, because she had indeed been avoiding him.

But he didn't need to know that.

At any rate, she watched as he forced his expression to soften, and sat down next to her on the bench. It was a warm day out today. Even though it was March, you could already start to feel that the freezing temperatures were something of the past. Now, the bit of sun that could be seen in the sky was heavily appreciated.

That's why she had initially found herself sitting alone in one of the courtyard benches. There were no outbursts of colour or birds singing, but despite that, Ophelia found that she enjoyed the open air.

"Oh, I don't know...perhaps because it's been over a week since we last talked?" he joked, or at least tried to. She couldn't shake the feeling that it was devoid of any real lightness.

Something had clicked for her, in the past days and since their last conversation, something that wasn't...good. Ophelia found herself suddenly re-analysing every interaction they ever had and trying to keep the feeling of something being wrong, away from it. To no avail.

Nothing was really wrong with Thomas, but, considering the ugly feeling their last conversation had sparked on her, and topping it all off with both Phineas and Theodore warning her to take care around the boy...

Well, she would be a moron to not think that something was off.

Not to mention, her mind was too preoccupied with other issues. Important matters like keeping up with her school work, working on mending her lately rocky relationship with Anna and, of course, trying to keep her heart from beating out of her chest every time she was near Theodore.

She considered herself to be doing a good job. Since he last approached her during Apparition lessons –when he had finally sunk the knife deep enough to permanently wound her— she had not stumbled upon him too many times. It was unavoidable in the classes they shared —Potions had been a disaster yesterday— but apart from that, she was managing. When they were in the same room and she didn't have the obligation to stay, she made herself scarce. When they accidentally bumped into a corridor, she lowered her eyes to the ground and kept on walking.

She didn't want him to be forced to have another...lapse of judgement.

She almost groaned out loud at the memory.

"Wow, okay...I think that is my cue to leave, no?"

The voice next to her, Thomas, forced her to acknowledge that she had lost herself in her thoughts. Had he been talking all this time while she was...pondering? Worse, had she made that noise out loud?

She rubbed a hand over her eyes, colourful blobs broke through the darkness and she took a steady breath before speaking. "No, sorry that was—It wasn't directed towards you." She forced a smile on her face and met Thomas' dark eyes. One of his eyebrows was quirked upward but he didn't speak, he just stared at her, as if waiting for her to continue.

She sighed. "I'm just...with a lot of things lately, my mind doesn't seem to be able to turn off even for a second." It was a weak excuse, she knew, but it was the best she could come up with right now. Thomas, thankfully, seemed to buy it. Or at least, pretend to.

He hummed, taking her words into consideration. "You're in luck then," he plastered a big smile on his face. "Because I have just the thing to get your mind off things!"

She tried not to show her unenthusiasm over the idea. She just wanted to be alone. To be alone and to wallow in her problems.

To just sit here, with the sun hitting her face, and wonder why she had the misfortune to develop feelings for the most emotionally unavailable boy in the whole school.