Letting it go (Anna/Dare)

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"Well, it's obvious you know this Dare guy, so what is it? Is he a living Adonis? Please, I need to know. What's so wonderful about him that Michael wouldn't even try to want to see me anymore?" Anna spoke the jealous words, tilting her head down at the end with embarrassment. She no longer cared if Seth was listening; the need to converse with Dru outweighing the concern of gossip.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare was listening far to carefully to have missed a single word Anna said. His lips spread into an uncontrollably wide grin at her description; a living Adonis. It was all he could do not to sneak a glance at her. He forgot to draw for a moment at that, and it took a minute for the rest of what she'd said to sink in. His grin faded. It made sense that she'd have doubts. He'd had doubts, and he was the one Michael was with now. Dare wanted to say something comforting, even if that would mean breaking his silence, but what could he say? What was so wonderful about him?

[Druscilla Grace]

"He's really nice," Dru said carefully, trying to not watch Dare too much, though her eyes did dart towards him more often than necessary when he wasn't a speaking part of the conversation. "There's really nothing I can say, I've only really met him once." Though she was dating his brother. She wondered if Silver knew, wondered if he knew how all of them were connected. Her and Anna's ex was dating his brother? She was confused, but at least she wasn't thinking about Chase anymore.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna looked up at Dru, trying to hide her disappointment. "Oh. I was hoping you'd be able to give me some insight." Anna paused, chewing on her lip as she tried to word her next question. She thought back to her session with Kane and the dwindling responsibility she felt over the matter. "Did Michael ever...you know, when you were together...do you think he could have been then?"

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Insight. If only Anna knew how much insight was sitting in the room with her at that very moment. But there was no way in hell that Dare was going to say anything. He didn't think it would do anyone any good, not him, and not Anna. Wouldn't it just hurt her? God, he should have left when Dru walked in! He should have told Anna he wanted privacy when she walked in! Dare's head remained low, and his hand resumed its slow shading in of the pattern on his paper. He felt trapped, and all he could do was wait for some sign that he should do something.

[Druscilla Grace]

Dru wondered if Dare knew that she had dated Michael, well, he did now, whether or not he had before. She shook her head, "No, but then, he was really different then, too." She was feeling increasingly awkward, and she couldn't even begin to imagine how Dare was feeling as she glanced down at him again. She wondered how she could change the subject, but it felt like there was no stopping it.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna sighed. "He didn't seem it when we were together, either. We even talked about it once, when Emilian first came. He was very adamant that there was no way he was or ever could be gay. I don't know whether he was lying to himself, or me."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare had to bite his tongue to keep from speaking. He wanted to tell her that Michael hadn't lied to her, that he hadn't known, that it was something that had just happened, but there was no way to say such things without revealing who he was, and if he did, would she even believe him? He knew what his part in this was, and though at the time he'd only been thinking of himself and Michael, it was impossible now not to realize how his actions had hurt Anna. If he was in her shoes, would he believe him? Not likely. He probably wouldn't even listen.

[Druscilla Grace]

Dru looked away from both of them, down at her hands. "I don't know." But her mind was going wild, wanting to talk to Dare or Michael, or both. She just wanted more information, she wanted to know what had made Michael leave Anna, she didn't even really know the whole story, just that Michael had left her for a guy, Dare, and that just didn't make much sense to Dru.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna's shoulders lowered in defeat. She hated this rollercoaster of emotions; any time Michael got brought up, it was like cutting open a partly-healed wound. She wanted to be able to move on, to forget all the unanswered questions and just accept things. It was rare that she found anything but pleasure in her curiosity, but at the moment, all she did was hate it. She had thought that Dru might be able to provide her with a missing piece to the puzzle, but so far, Dru's silence provided no comfort.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

The silence didn't help Dare at all. His conscience was shouting at him to say something, or at least to leave so that Dru and Anna could talk in peace. But he couldn't seem to make himself stand, to put down his quill or close his sketchbook. So he had to say something. Dare cleared his throat lighty and spoke in a low voice.

"If he loved you, and you say he told you he did," Dare began, trying to keep his words as objective and distant as he could, considering how intensely personal they were, "could he have lied to you? Had he ever lied before?" Dare directed the question to Anna, knowing as he did that Michael, if he hadn't lied to Dru, had at least withheld important information. The question served two purposes; one, to tell Anna as well as he could not to blame herself, and not to think less of Michael, and two, because he wondered if his trust in Michael wasn't misplaced.

[Druscilla Grace]

Dru looked at Dare, admiring his bravery, because surely it was hard for him to be in the room with her and Anna, and to actually talk about Michael loving someone else. She didn't speak, because she could barely call her relationship with Michael truthful or honest, he had held back so much from her. Though she was interested in how the addition of Dare into the conversation would change things.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna's head snapped over to Seth at his sudden entrance into the conversation. He raised some valid questions. After a moment's thought, she hesitantly replied, "No, but..." Her gaze fell on Dru and their conversation where she'd first heard of Michael came to the forefront. "I don't think he's ever lied to me. I can't say that his honesty has never been brought to question, though."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare nodded, though he didn't bring his gaze up to Anna's; he knew of some of those times, had questioned Michael's honesty himself, though it had been because of rumors and things he'd heard, not because of anything that Michael had done to him, not because he'd ever caught Michael lying to him. Dare pushed the thought aside and turned himself back to Anna, to forming a reply. "If he's never lied to you, then he didn't lie about that," he reasoned. Dare's hand began to move again, resuming the drawing of vines and leaves, though his original pattern was now buried in the mass of them on the page. He needed the outlet, though.

[Druscilla Grace]

Dru wondered how in the world Dare was talking about it, when he was with Michael. He was being so logical, even while talking about something very personal. "He probably didn't lie, but it wouldn't be the first time that he's made a big change," she added in. Michael had joined the death eaters and left them, two big decisions in his life, Dru supposed, thinking on that line, that it wasn't that big of a jump to think that he could change something else.