Who: Evan Rosier and Cecilia Hooke
What: Evan learns about Cecilia's little secret
Where: Random party/Evan's flat
When: Tonight
A night alone--it was exactly what Cecilia had been craving for the longest time, and tonight she finally got to have her wish. A night alone meant no acting proper, no putting up veils of ladyship, being able to let loose and dance and drink and be crazy, all of which there were far too little of in her life lately.
Not to say that she didn't enjoy her time with Evan, of course. It was just--bloody hell, she
did have to retain so much more propriety and poise around him, which was fine and simple on any normal day, but lately... Merlin, it'd just been crazy. She was stressed, between the impending N.E.W.T.s and worrying about when her boyfriend was going to find out the truth about her and drop her on her arse for it (that had been on her mind a lot as of late; not even Valentine's Day had managed to quell her anxiety), and she needed to get away from it all. Just for one night, she told herself. One night and then she was going to go back to being good daughter, epitome-of-charm-and-grace Cecilia, no questions asked, just... one night. She needed this one night to be away from the people she knew and loved, and to indulge in the darker, less-and-less visited side of herself.
She had been in luck when one of her many casual socialite friends had announced that they were going to have a party during the Easter holidays. It would be the perfect outlet, a laid-back environment away from the rules and regulations of society where she could let loose for a while. She would only have a couple drinks, then Apparate home--see, she was even setting limits for herself--and everything would be fine.
She had been stupid to underestimate her lack of willpower.
Not counting the incident with Nick, it had been forever since she had really, truly drunk. Forever was what it felt like, too, when she had taken that first shot of tequila--and then there was the second, and the third, and then there were the glasses of vodka, and the people there on the couch with her just kept mixing new things, and what was she to do? It was like an overwhelming thirst had suddenly overtaken her, a thirst she hadn't felt in a long time, and by the time the clouded thought to stop, to maybe take a break passed through her mind, she was already far too gone to do anything but push it aside with a laugh.
It was a loud laugh, far louder and more amused than it should have been in any normal circumstance, and she leaned into the side of the bloke next to her--and he laughed too, and so did all the other people in their little corner gathering and she had no idea what was so funny at all, but she did know that Unnamed Bloke was handing her another full glass of an amber liquid. She took it, hand fumbling just slightly to grab the glass, and grinned impishly as he egged her on, encouraging her to down the whole thing.
Fuck all the rest, but this felt
good.
Cecilia wasn’t the only one who needed a night to themselves. It was true, that he never got to see Cecilia very often, but this month was just…it was fucking crazy. He couldn’t believe how
wrong everything had gone, and how quickly everything had happened. It was never supposed to turn out like it had, and Evan couldn’t stop thinking about it. He knew that he was partially responsible for Juliet getting as sick as she was, since he had been part of retrieving the vile in the first place. Now, Evan wasn’t someone to dwell on the past, or kick himself and punish himself for his mistakes ( fuck, the Death Eaters did that well enough for him ), but when it came to someone he actually gave a shit about? Yeah, he dwelled a bit.
Sitting back in his chair, his eyes scanned the area, watching as teenagers stumbled about, drinking half their weight in alcohol before they went up to one of the rooms upstairs to do whatever the fuck they were going to do. He had a feeling that most of them wouldn’t remember anything the next day. It was ridiculous, in Evan’s mind. It would be hypocritical to say that Evan had never gotten drunk before, because it had happened
many a time, but he usually had a
reason for drinking. A
legitimate reason to want to feel nothing at all, to go completely numb. What did these little shits have to complain about? Tests? Hm. Sure, he remembered the pressures of Hogwarts, and N.E.W.T.S, but he doubted that drinking would really
help their brains hold the information taught in their classes.
He really didn’t even know why he had come. Maybe it was because he needed to get away from everyone who reminded him about the Virus, and he needed to stop thinking about things, for just a little while. But he was growing tired of the atmosphere around him. This wasn’t his type of place at all. So, finishing off the last of his drink, he placed down the glass and rose to his feet, his hands going to pull down on the front of his jacket before he grabbed behind him for his coat. His good friend, who had invited him in the first place after running into him at Hogsmeade, leaned over as he saw him getting ready to leave.
”Leavin’ so soon, Rosier? Party’s only jus’ gettin’ started, mate! Stick around an’ have some fun” Evan shook his head lightly, adjusting the sleeves of his peacoat. “I think I’m all funned out, Mich.”
”Awright, have it your way, you ponce. But jus’ remember that there’s plenty of girls here for your choosin’! You’re missin’ out.” Evan rose a brow and turned to him. “I can assure you that there isn’t a girl in here I’d choose.” At that moment, a girl stumbled forward and crashed into Evan, a drink in her hand. She laughed loudly, and gripped at his jacket. “
I think I fell.” “Well, at least you’re still able to
think, I’ll give you that much.” “
You’re cute.” Evan scoffed and handed her off to his friend. “You take her, she’s all yours.” He adjusted his jacket again and started heading towards the door, listening to a group of people laugh at what he assumed was something not funny at all. Moving around a few more people, he turned around as he heard someone trip and fall behind him, glaring down at the idiot who was too drunk to stand up. He was about to turn around again but he heard a voice that drew his attention. His brows furrowed as he looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from, and if he was imagining it.
But no. He really wasn’t, because his eyes focused in on Cecilia just moments later. No, he really
had to be imagining it, because Cecilia wouldn’t be that fucking
stupid. His feet brought him closer to her, watching as she professionally downed the hard liquor, his arms crossing over his chest as he leaned his shoulder against the nearest pillar of the house, just a few feet off to the side. Everyone else seemed
impressed, and
glad that she had downed the alcohol, but Evan?
Fuck, he didn’t even know. He was a lot of things but
happy was not one of his current emotions. No, not even close. As everyone else clapped for her, he bit at his lower lip and then turned his eyes back to her, not having been seen by her yet. Oh, but that was about to change.
“Take a bow for your adoring fans, Cecilia.”
Even through her muddled, hazy thoughts, deep down there in what brain cells were left in the alcohol-soaked mind of hers, when Cecilia heard that low voice coming from off to her side, she knew that she was in deep shit.
Fuck.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck
fuck! What in the
hell was Evan Rosier doing there, at a party like that? He wasn't--! Okay, no, she
knew her boyfriend and he did
not go places like this--it was--
shit, she had to be imagining it or else she was about to die. She was about to die, because if it wasn't of shock and fear and embarrassment, it would be because
he would kill her.
God damnit, this was exactly why she had gone out alone, gone somewhere she knew--or thought she knew at least--that he wouldn't be. Cecilia never wanted Evan to have to see her like this, not just because her drinking was less a less than ideal trait, but because of the way she knew she got when she had been partying like she was. She wasn't in her right mind, she was stupid, she just--it wasn't good. This wasn't good.
In a rush, she attempted to get up from the couch, only to nearly trip and fall as she realized too late that she was moving too quickly for her own sluggish responses to keep up with. Somewhere in the background, she heard shouts of protest, boos, from the people she was leaving, asking where she was going, yelling taunts to try and draw her back. But her thoughts were far away from her new 'friends', and all focused on the blond man that was leaning against a pillar meters in front of her.
Cecilia stumbled up to where Evan stood, unable to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach but prepared to try and make the best of this very obviously dismal situation. She could at least
act as if she hadn't been doing anything wrong. "Wha--what the 'ell are you doing here?" she asked him, speaking much louder than was necessary.
His eyes didn’t move from her, even after the crowd had started to yell for her to come back. No, he kept watching Cecilia, watching her stumble around and try to gain her balance as she got closer to him. Even from where he was standing he could smell the alcohol on her breath.
Why she was practically screaming at him when he was so close, he didn’t know…but hell, he was certain that she wasn’t sure why she was yelling either. She probably wasn’t too sure of anything at this point.
“I could ask you the same question…but I have a feeling thinking of the answer could be a bit
strenuous for you at the moment, so I’ll just assume you know Jess. You can nod if that’s correct, but do try not to fall over, since I’m sure that all of your new little friends are far too fucked up to catch you.”
Was he being harsh? Probably. But he was just disappointed, and he knew how much she was humiliating herself by acting the way that she was. There wasn’t any dignity in getting completely shit faced and acting like that. She couldn’t even
stand, and he was really resisiting the urge to just grab onto her so she wouldn’t fall over.
Cecilia furrowed her brow as she tried to digest the words that were coming out of Evan's mouth--it seemed like he was speaking so fast and saying so much and it was difficult to keep up. A few seconds of staring at him confusedly, however, and a look of understanding dawned upon her face. Cecilia nodded, smiling despite the difficulty when she could hear the anger in his voice. She was in such, such huge shit. "Ohhh yeah, I know Jess," she told him, each word unwittingly exaggerated. "Who do you know? I didn't expec' to see
you here!"
She felt a dizziness overtake her all of a sudden, then, and with one more stumble in her place, Cecilia gave up and leaned against the wall next to her. She brought a hand up to her forehead and closed her eyes tightly, trying to regain control of her senses--fuck, this was really bad, she was really bloody drunk if she couldn't stand up straight for ten seconds. How many drinks had she even had, anyway? She knew she hadn't counted, but it had to have been a lot if it was affecting
her--it took a whole hell of a lot of alcohol in her blood to get Cecilia Hooke smashed anymore.
It took a good minute, but when she remembered Evan standing there, she forced herself away from the wall again and smiled, a bit weaker this time, hoping to Merlin that she didn't just fall over, if nothing else. "You look like you're leavin'," she observed.
“Mich.”
His answer was short and to the point, not bothering to reply to her first comment about how she hadn’t expected to see him there. It was reasonable, for her to not expect him to be in a place like that, because he did tend to stay away from trashy crowds. Actually, Evan usually stayed away from people in general, unless of course he needed something from them, or needed to be on good terms with a particular set of people. Then he was a social butterfly.
He stuck his lip between his teeth again as she leaned against the wall. It was usually something he did when he was annoyed, and it prevented him from saying something he might regret later to the little shits who were sitting around, still trying to get her to sit back down. It wasn’t that he was worried about ‘hurting their feelings’ or making them upset, because he couldn’t have cared less about that. He just didn’t want to make a big scene.
“A very astute observation.” He straightened himself out, no longer leaning into the pillar. She seemed to think it was a good idea to try and straighten up as well, since she pushed away from the wall she had been supporting herself on, swayed a bit, and then fell forward. For one brief moment he thought about letting her fall to the ground, but his body had instinctively moved forward to catch her around the waist, straightening her out before he pulled his wand out of his pocket. “Now
we’re leaving.” With that, before she could argue against him, which he
knew she would, he apparated the both of them from the house to his apartment. He held onto her tightly, not wanting her to slip, but let go of her as soon as their feet touched the ground, letting her stumble back onto the couch that was behind her.
Even if she had had the time to protest to Evan's quick decision to Apparate, Cecilia had to admit that she probably wouldn't have been very effective. She couldn't hold herself up on her own two feet, much less fight off his hold. As it were anyway, by the time Cecilia really began to realize what was happening, his apartment had already materialized around them and there was no arm around her anymore and she was stumbling, falling--
--"Mmph."
That was the disoriented sound that came from her mouth as she hit the soft cushions of his couch, slumping forward slightly in defeat and staring down at the floor with hazed-over eyes.
It was a floor she had seen before, it was... it was
his floor--and
his couch. And oh fuck, it was all become clearer by the second now, and. And... She felt her stomach drop as she, with great effort, pushed herself upright again, leaning back against the cushions for support and taking in the familiar surroundings of Evan's apartment. Just when she had thought that this situation couldn't possibly get any worse.
The fake, innocent smile that had been on Cecilia's face just seconds before was nowhere in sight now, the only expression crossing her one of hard solemnity and cold, defensive anger. What else could she do? If the fight was coming, it was coming now, and she had better be prepared for it--or at least, as prepared as she could be when she was completely pissed.
Turning her eyes up to catch Evan's equally harsh ones, she wondered if there was any possible way that she could talk him out of dropping her on her arse. No--probably not. Not to say she hadn't been expecting and fearing it for months now. Purebloods like him, like her parents... they didn't have the patience for the imperfections of purebloods like her. All it took was one look at the severe disappointment on his face, and she knew that it couldn't be long until--god damnit, she didn't want to think about it.
"So go," she spat, looking away quite suddenly. "Ream me out and tell me what a damn mess I am so I can get the hell out of here."
Evan didn’t say a word for a while, but just stared down at her, watching her adjust herself on the couch and take in her surroundings. He wasn’t quite sure where else she had expected him to bring her, but she did seem a little bit shocked that she was sitting on his couch. He sure as hell didn’t expect her to be happy about it, since she hadn’t been ready to leave the party just yet. It annoyed him that he even thought that she would have wound up passing out on a couch with beer or some sort of hard alcohol dripping down her shirt, next to someone she didn’t even know. It wasn’t even whether or not it was a
guy or not, that wasn’t even the
point.
Her words made him raise a brow, his hand going up to unbutton his jacket, rolling his shoulders back to let it slide down his arms as he casually made his way to place it on the back of the chair behind him. He stayed quiet, before he turned around and lowered himself down infront of her. His head shook as he looked up at her, and it was really hard to tell what he was feeling since his eyes almost
always looked so harsh and cold. Right now they didn’t have a softer quality to them like that usually did when he was looking at
her, because right now he wasn’t happy to be around her. He wasn’t in a good mood and he wasn’t going to pretend like he was just to
amuse her or make her feel better.
“And where the fuck are you going to go?” He paused before he tilted his head just a bit. “I’m not going to talk to you while you’re like this. I’m not going to waste my fucking breath, because I have
too much to say. Too much that you might not even
remember tomorrow. So no, I’m not going to
ream you out or tell you what a mess you are, because I’m sure you already know. I didn’t bring you here to talk to you or
scold you, I brought you here so you wouldn’t do anything
stupid like try to apparate on your own. I’d like to think you’re smarter than that but right about now I don’t know what to think.”
Even when she wasn't looking at him, Evan somehow made her feel like she was being scolded by her father. It didn't take sobriety to let her know that she was it was the most embarrassing thing she'd ever experienced.
"Yeah, well, if trying to convince yourself I'm smarter than that s'what gets you through the day, go ahead 'n think it," she answered. "It won't make it any more true." And it was the whole truth, as she knew it--she wasn't smart at all. Not just academically--although that had always been
painfully clear--but just with normal common sense. If she wasn't so damn stupid, she never would have picked up a drink in the first place, and she wouldn't have gotten drunk, and she wouldn't have become a goddamn first class alcoholic by fourteen and wouldn't have to live with the secret that she was an enormous disgrace to her family, no matter how well she hid it. Which apparently wasn't very well, nor was a secret anymore, not after tonight. She didn't even know if Evan would tell her parents or not, but even if he didn't, that still meant the most important person to her to
not find out had found out. And who was to blame? Herself and her stupidity. If she hadn't picked up that first drink, she wouldn't have been sitting there in the first place.
It would probably amuse a lot of people to know how much Cecilia Hooke really hated herself. The
really funny thing was, though, that she hadn't thought she could hate herself any more than she already did--until now.
Hah, what a joke. Her life was a fucking
riot.
"I don't know where th' fuck I'm going to go, Evan, but I know wherever it is'll be far away from you," she slurred furiously. It wasn't even fury at him, but herself--that it was still aimed, through her tone, at him was an unfortunate side-effect of her current lack of self-control. "At leas' if I leave and go off and collapse somewhere it'll mean not havin' t'wake up from this
here."
Evan felt his jaw clenching as she spoke, though he didn’t flinch no matter what she said. His eyes narrowed slightly though, watching her curiously as she struggled to form words in her drunken state. It was a miracle that he could still understand what she was saying with the way she was talking right now. He let another few moments of silence go by before his eyes dropped to the floor, his hand moving up to rub at the side of jaw as he thought. “I’m not going to let that happen.” He dropped his hand down and looked back up at her. “I’m going to give you a choice, Cecilia, so listen
very carefully.” He paused again to make sure she was listening, wanting her to be
looking at him when he spoke.
“Because I brought you here, you’re now my responsibility. And I’m sure as fuck not going to let you wander out of here to pass out in a fucking
ditch somewhere. So here’s the choice you have to make. You can stay here, sleep this off, and go home tomorrow morning. Then we can talk about this when you’re coherent enough to understand what I’m saying. Or…there’s the other option. The option that makes me stop giving a shit what happens to you. I take you back to the party, you drink yourself into a fucking coma, and I’ll rest easier knowing that I at least
tried. But I do warn you that if you choose the latter than I’ll know you really weren’t worth my time at all. Choose carefully, because I’m not one to make negotiations. And if you choose neither, and you still walk out that door? Fine. But don’t expect to walk back through it again.”
He wasn’t used to
caring. He should just let her storm out of here and go on with his life, knowing that she was really nothing more than a child. But he did. He fucking
cared about her, but he wasn’t about to deal with this shit. He wasn’t about to deal with her destroying herself.
She was looking at him as he spoke, if only because she couldn't digest all that he was saying when she wasn't giving him her full and undivided attention. Her frown grew deeper as he continued to go on, about...
options and staying there or--or he wouldn't care and never coming back and--god damnit, she hated this so much. This was the last way she had expected to end the night, and it was getting less and less ideal by the second, if she had even imagined that to be possible.
So basically, she stayed, woke up and let him yell at her in the morning, and after that dealt with an undecided fate as far as things with him went. Or she went back, knowing that things were over, and drank away his loss until she couldn't feel it anymore. Or she left, once again knowing that things were over, and didn't even
get to drink his loss away. It wasn't a hard decision to make, and yet it felt that way--it was pride, she decided, pride being combatted by the overwhelming desire to never let Evan slip out of her fingers if she could help it.
Cecilia hung her head and pushed the heels of her palms into closed eyelids. He had better realize that he was the only--
the only--person that she would ever even consider giving up her pride for. The
only person that she would stick around to be screamed at to get a second chance with. He was the only person that she cared enough about in this world to do that for, the only person that she absolutely couldn't stand leaving her.
"Whatever," she muttered, her voice tired, resigned. "I'll stay."
He got a strange a sudden rush of relief as she gave in and decided to stay. To be honest, he wouldn’t have known what to do if she hadn’t. Would he have actually let her go? Probably. That was the agreement, right? That would have been her choice. But he knew that it would haunt him until the next day, wondering if she was really alright or if she was hurt, or…
No, he couldn’t even think about what else could have happened to her. He knew too well that people made horrible mistakes when they were drunk. He was one of them. Just another reason why he was so fucking pissed off that she was so careless.
“Fine.” He rose to his feet, and stood infront of her. “You’ll stay in Kal’s room…if you can make it there.” With that, his hand went out to help her get up from the couch, even though his shoulders shrugged as he did so. “Or, you can stay here on the couch.”
She took his hand reluctantly, very slowly pushing herself up off the couch. As she struggled to stand up straight, she stumbled into him once, only holding on for a split second before pushing away, taking her hand from his. Cecilia didn't want to lean on him any more than she already was, and she
was going to make it to Kalista's room on her own if it killed her.
Somewhere deep down, she was slightly upset that he had made it clear that she wasn't staying with him, but--well, she hadn't expected anything else, nor did she want anything else in the long run. It would be bad enough to wake up from this in this apartment, much less next to him.
Cecilia did manage to make it down the hall finally, collapsing onto her friend's bed in a heap the second that she was out of Evan's sight. She kicked off her shoes, but didn't bother to even pull up the covers or borrow a shirt to change into--she was too tired, too drunk, too overloaded right now to even care. It took seconds for her to curl up into a ball around one of the pillows and let sleep pull her in.
Once Evan was sure that she had gotten into the room alright, he took his own course to the room on the other side of the apartment, opening and closing the door behind him. His back leaned against it as his eyes shut tightly, sighing heavily as he tilted his head back to thud against the wood, opening his eyes again to stare at the ceiling before he pushed away from the door and moved towards his bed. Even
he didn’t bother to change as he laid down, watching as the fan above spun slowly. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to sleep, since he had far too much on his mind, but he needed
some sort of rest.
A few hours passed before he looked over at the clock. It was 5:50, and he had somewhere to be at 7. Sighing, he got up from his bed and made his way into the bathroom to take a shower, trying to wake himself up. He then proceeded to get dressed, letting his hair fall into his face as it dried. After a few more minutes, he went to the kitchen, poured a cold glass of water and grabbed something out of the cabinet, mixing it in with the clear liquid. It was supposed to relieve a hangover, and he had a feeling that Cecilia’s was going to be anything less than massive when she woke up. He left it on the counter, charming it to stay cold since he knew she wouldn’t find it in the fridge. Grabbing his coat that was still on the chair, he slipped it on and grabbed his wand, pausing as he debated on checking up on her.
No. He just…fuck it, she’d be fine. If she wanted to go in the morning, that was her choice, but he knew he’d be back in just a few hours. With the state she was in, he had a feeling she would be sleeping until noon, maybe later. With that in mind, he apparated out of the apartment, needing to distract himself from thinking too much about what could happen when he got back.
He wasn’t looking forward to this at all.
