Protégée (George Weasley)

Chapter Twenty-Six

"So you two aren't a thing anymore?" Nicolai said,  before slumping against the backrest of her seat, "Just like that, George? Just like that?"

"Apparently," he said nonchalantly, averting his gaze back to the Charms essay that he was writing. Since her interaction with Lisa, he didn't really know who to consult about his dilemma. There was always Fred, but he didn't feel like being called a dumb idiot, as his twin brother would inferably do. After all, he had promised to treat him the way George had treated him when he had that girl trouble with Florence all those years ago. Lee Jordan wasn't too good either, as he too, would probably call him stupid.

So he was left with Nicolai. But he was very wrong to assume that she would not call him out on his bullshit. If anything, he should have expected her to be the most likely to call him stupid. Seeing the look on her face after his lackluster reply, he braced himself.

"George Weasley. You are stupid."

There it was. He closed his eyes momentarily, before inhaling deeply, "Of course."

"Well, am I wrong? I don't think I am." She said, a verbal invitation to challenge her judgement. George remained quiet, the brunette ready to give another go at him, "She tells you all about her big problem, and the way it's making her feel.... and you respond by giving her...another problem?"

George pursed his lips together, Nicolai flailing her arms in exasperation, "See, stupid?"

"You're seriously giving me grief for how I feel?" he replied, "How would you feel if Florence said she'd ditch you for Xander because he has seniority over you."

Nicolai glared at him, "Xander does not have seniority over me. The three of us became best friends at the same time."

"He has seniority over you. A whole day if I'm not mistaken—"

"Okay you know what? That's not the point. That scenario isn't even remotely similar to what you're going through," Nicolai shot back angrily, "You say you like this girl but you can't seem to give her the tiniest bit of understanding when she tells you that she needs some time apart to be able to mend things with her best friend."

"It didn't sound like she was just asking for some time." George retorted, "It was like she was trying to drop me completely.

Nicolai rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time, "Men don't listen. Men never do."

"I'm sorry but I just don't see how I was wrong for walking away like that." He replied, setting his quill down on the table.

"Because she didn't need that from you!" Nicolai half yelled, earning her a round of shushing from Madame Pince, who glowered at her from the front desk. Nicolai shot her an irate look before turning back to George, "What she needed from you was for you to say that you'll give her the time that she needs, and that you'll still be there. Yes, she needed to walk away from you for a bit but you leaving kinda made it seem like you were giving her an ultimatum."

"I was not giving her an ultimatum."

"You technically did give her an ultimatum. Walking away like that basically implied that you were asking her to choose between fixing a relationship with her best friend or building a relationship with you."

"I didn't give her that ultimatum, Noel did."

"No. Noel didn't give her that ultimatum, you did. Yes, Noel acted like a bag of dicks by making her feel like it was entirely her fault for making him suffer emotionally as if she was deliberately playing with his feelings. He just got carried away with his emotions but his main agenda was just to tell her how he felt." Nicolai explained, now sitting on the very edge of her seat, trying to lean as close to George as possible, a serious look on her face.