Letting it go (Anna/Dare)

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle ran her finger along the book's spine, caressing it as she continued to give it her full visual attention. She had no desire to meet either of their eyes after the comment that was obviously not welcome. "I wasn't here that much longer. I came to try and read to forget my own problems. Seth was telling me about drawing when you walked in." Which didn't exactly help me forget about Michael or anything else. She added to herself.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare lifted his head again to look over his shoulder at Dru, giving her as innocent a smile as he could muster. The only thing that kept him from packing up and running was knowing that, at the very least, Dru didn't know about him and Michael. Dare gave a light shrug, as if to say, you didn't interrupt much, then went back to his drawing, though a bad feeling continued to nag at the back of his mind.

[Druscilla Grace]

Seth? Dare had given a fake name and everything? Dru was curious, now that she had told her story, but didn't ask, she could always find him later and figure out what was going on. "What's going on with you?" she asked, glancing over at Anna. If she had known any of what was going on, if she had read the Prophet, she wouldn't have asked. As it was, she had unknowingly opened a very bad subject in the company she was in.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna was unable to decide where to start first, not knowing if Dru had heard anything. She glanced up at Seth, not liking talking about personal things in front of a stranger, but he appeared to be ignoring them again in favor of his artwork. Looking over to Dru with a frown, she took a minute to think of what to tell her before spilling. “Haven’t you heard? Michael broke up with me just after the Masquerade. I’m still dealing with it all.” She tried to force a smile, as she decided what all to tell her. “He said he loved me, but there was some other guy too. It’s just hard to deal with.”

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare stopped breathing for a moment at that. His head drooped slightly farther over his sketchbook, sending his hair across his face in a curtain. He tried to focus on his drawing, or maybe he just tried to look like he was focusing on it. The second after Anna's words stretched out in glaring silence so strong that the sound of Dare's own heartbeat was deafening. The motions of his quill became automatic, and he wished fruitlessly that he'd left sooner, even as morbid curiosity whispered that it was glad this wasn't happening without his witness.

[Druscilla Grace]

Dru's eyes widened, "I didn't know you guys broke up, how long has it been?" Then, the rest of Anna's words sank in, but there was some other guy. Her mind jumped to an immediate conclusion, though not the correct one, and a confused look came over her face, "Another guy?" She hadn't seen Anna as someone that would be with another guy, not when she and Michael had seemed to be going so well.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna nodded, biting her lower lip at her slip-up until she decided that Dru aught to know also, having dated Michael in the past. She tossed a glace at Seth and lowered her voice slightly. "I figure you should know too, since you guys have a history as well. I guess they're dating now, I don't really know, I haven't talked to Michael since. Kane, the councilor, said him turning gay has nothing to do with me, and I'm trying to believe that."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare was thankful for the shield of his hair as scorching heat spread across his cheeks and the back of his neck. This didn't sound good for him. This sounded like he should pack up now and excuse himself, choose retreat as the better part of valor and run with his tail between his legs. However, Dare's curiosity had a firm hold on him; he wanted to know, wanted to hear the other side, and this was his only chance. But Dru was here, and Dru knew who he was. If Anna mentioned names, he didn't know if Dru would keep quiet. Dare leaned ever slightly farther over his drawing, which was no longer following the imaginary path of the one he'd drawn earlier. It was just something to keep his hand busy, and to give the impression that he wasn't trying desperately to listen through the pounding of blood in his ears.

[Druscilla Grace]

Dru listened, but it took her a second for everything to sink in. "Wait, Michael's gay?" she asked, surprised, that wasn't what she had expected, that was even more surprising than the idea of Anna cheating on Michael. Dru glanced over at Dare and dropped her voice, feeling bad that Dare was out of the conversation, but he seemed to be just fine drawing, "Who is it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, though she still didn't quite believe that Michael was gay.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna tried to think back to when she'd heard the news for the first time, wondering if she had been as shocked as Dru. How she'd been told was completely different, and Anna had initially felt anger at Michael's poor choice of words instead of the shock she probably would have experienced otherwise. She was surprised at Dru's question, wondering what difference knowing the name of the other person made, it hadn't changed anything for her. "Well the only time I met him he was in costume. You know it's ironic, I really liked them at the ball when I didn't have a clue who they were and they were just random amusing people. It's disturbing to look back and know that it was really my boyfriend and his boyfriend, someone named Dare, that I was teasing. "

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

At Dru's question, Dare's quill had stopped, and he'd been half a second from packing up and beating a hasty retreat when Anna had started talking. She hadn't answered immediately, and so he'd experienced a moment of false calm where he'd decided he could stay until the next lull in the conversation, then excuse himself properly. Unfortunately, he hadn't gotten that far. At the sound of his name, Dare shrank even closer to his page and started insanely minute details with his quill, waiting with every nerve in his body tensed for Dru to give him away.

[Druscilla Grace]

Dru's eyes widened and her eyes flickered over towards Dare. She just barely stopped herself from saying something, but then understood why Dare had given the fake name. Silently she cursed herself for asking the name, it had just been a natural need to know, she liked to know names, it was a big part of knowing what had happened. Her chest tightened, and her heart pounded awkwardly in her ears. Her eyes turned back towards Anna, an are you sure look in her eyes.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna followed Dru's gaze towards Seth and back. She hadn't thought much of it, having done the same herself, until she saw the question in Dru's eyes. "What?" Annabelle questioned. The silence had been filled with more than shock. Annabelle could sense something, but was unsure what it was.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dru hadn't said anything; Dare could only assume she'd made the connection, but how long would she stay quiet? How long could he really get away with being a silent observer? And still, Dare had the strong feeling that if he left now, things would be said in the room that he could have prevented by being there. So he stayed, less in hopes of correcting anything the girls said than in hopes of preventing them saying those things through his presence. Dare scratched at his page, filling in one tiny leaf after another with shimmering silver ink, unable to concentrate any longer on actual drawing.

[Druscilla Grace]

Dru couldn't help her eyes as they strayed over to Dare again. She didn't think it would have been right to have said that it was him, not when Anna was there, but she definitely wanted to talk to him or Michael soon. "Nothing, just surprised." She went silent again, back into her mind as she tried to keep herself from flat out telling Anna that the guy that Michael was apparently with was sitting there in the same room.