Spellbound

Pieces Part 1(Laurent)

"Look, belle, it's not that I don't care about you. You're an amazing woman." Though his words were gentle and soft spoken, filled with the adoration that he spoke of, it still shredded her heart.

"I'm just not what you want." She nodded once, perhaps twice but it didn't feel as if her actions were her own anymore. She didn't feel whole, complete. She felt broken, dropped from the high perch he had helped her get to and all by being supportive. But now, her support was crumbling. "I get it, Lar." She backed away a few steps, arms held up with the palms out in silent surrender. "Hey, why would you want someone like me anyway when you have your choice of thousands of women? You feel how you feel and I can't fault you for that." She backed away a couple of more steps when he reached out to grab her hands with his. "I fault myself for thinking that for one moment, I might have had a chance."

"Cherie, wait-" He reached for her again, only to slip from his grasp like an eel. He was fluid and quick, from years of dancing, but she had still managed to evade him.

"Why, Lar? So you can keep telling me that you don't want anything serious, but in the next breath whisper how much I make you want a family? So you can keep playing this game with me and become involved in relationships with other women? This isn't pinball. I'm not some fucking game you can conquer."

"Fuck." He grumbled to himself as she managed to evade him again, this time, slipping right out the front door of his apartment. The door slammed soundly behind her and nearly in his face. Had he been just a couple of inches closer, he would have been able to reach out and grab her. He would have stopped her from leaving. He sighed heavily, leaning his forehead against the door.

"Everything alright, mon frere?" His Twin asked from the bottom of the stairs looking concerned.

"Non, Lau. Not at all." Larry admitted, turning so that he could rest his back against the door. "I think I fucked up."

He quirked a brow faintly, head tilting similar to that of a cat. "She left?"

"Oui. For good I think this time. She's pissed, Lau."

"Can you blame her, mon frere?"

His brother's eyes snapped up to his face, nearly the same mirror image. He hadn't been expecting Laurent to take Amanda's side.

"You've played her time and again, Lar. You've told her how much you care about her, dropped hints that maybe the two of you could move forward into a relationship, only to pull back and tell her you don't want one." He pointed towards the doorway she had just left through. "That woman was one of a kind and so many of us would kill to have someone like her by our side."

"Mon Dieu, Lau, it's not like that." Larry heaved a frustrated sigh, running the palms of his hands over his face.

"Then what is it?"

"It's-" He couldn't quite get the words out.

"Tell me it's not something as shallow as the way she looks."

"What? No! Absolutely not. I think she's stunning."

"Then what is it, mon frere?" He inquired, folding his arms across his chest but he would wait for a long time because Larry just honestly didn't have an answer.

~~~~~~

Laurent sat across from Amanda at the small quaint little cafe that they had first met in several years earlier. He remembered how he had bumped into her and accidentally spilled her coffee all over her cell phone. It had been completely drowned. Though she had shrugged her shoulders at the incident, claiming that he didn't need to replace her phone, he had done it anyway. He had noticed that she used an Android and for him that just wouldn't do. He had insisted and took her directly to the Apple store down the street. There, he had bought her a brand new candy red iPhone and had slyly programmed his number into her contacts, sending himself a message so that he would have her number in return. A smooth move on his part, he had to admit. Since then, they had hit it off and become very close friends. She was the one he usually turned to when he was having girlfriend issues. She was the one he called the most when he was feeling out of sorts and needed inspiration. Hell, she was the one he had been trying to set Larry up with. But now, that had backfired. Badly. He watched her fingers hug the mug of coffee tightly she held in her hands, staring down at it absentmindedly. It had been weeks since he had last seen her and he had been surprised when she had sent him a text asking to meet at the coffee shop. Now, he sat back in the booth seemingly at a loss for words.