Skin Deep (Anna/Chase)

[Annabelle Hennessy]

He hadn't even answered her, which made her nervous that she was failing him. She chewed on her lower lip, wondering what he needed, what her role was supposed to be in this scene that was his life. She had about to ask who he wanted to be, but remembered that not knowing what he wanted was what started this whole thing. Perhaps they shouldn't focus on what he did or did not want, but what he already knew he enjoyed. If he could do things he enjoyed, then maybe he'd find what he needed to be happy in life. She squeezed his hand while her other moved to his chin, gently coaxing him back to her eyes. "What's the last fun thing that you did?"

[Chase Firebrand]

Chase had reluctantly allowed Anna to turn his face toward hers. He didn't want to look in her deep chocolate eyes, but he didn't want to look away, either. Not until she asked her question. "The masquerade," he said, then turned his gaze away from her again. It wasn't from anything Anna lacked. It was because he'd been free then, flirting harmlessly with this girl or that, teasing Anna, then taking Dru into the gardens. Chase closed his eyes at that thought. It wasn't something he needed to think about. He'd thought that he and Dru were all right that night. He'd confessed things to her that he'd hardly understood. And it was after that night that she'd pulled away and he'd been lost. He'd bent for her, and she'd broken him. He'd been that weak. Chase squeezed Anna's hand, rebelling against weakness.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna didn't understand how something that was supposedly fun would make him look so miserable. She remembered the night well; her encounter with Chase had been a huge awakening, and meeting up with Michael and Dare was something she couldn't forget. She wondered what else he had done that night. Their run-in hadn't lasted all too long, and she hardly thought that it held enough weight to be the last fun thing he'd done. "What about the Masquerade made it so fun?"

[Chase Firebrand]

Chase gave a nearly inaudible, humorless chuckle at that. It had to be Anna asking him, didn't it? It wasn't like he'd talked to anyone else lately. "I thought me and Dru had gotten somewhere," Chase said, knowing the likelihood that hearing this would hurt Annabelle, but unable to stop himself. "I told her I hadn't been with anyone else in months, practically told her I..." Chase stopped himself there, wincing slightly at the words that wouldn't even come to the forefront of his mind. He let it drop, and skipped over what else had happened in the gardens that night. "You were my only slip-up." His lips quirked slightly, though his eyes were still dim and humorless. "That was fun, too," he admitted.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Practically told her you what? Anna wished to ask, but decided she probably didn't want to know. The words were hurtful to say the least, knowing that he hadn't been happy with everything that had happened between them. Her face turned into a frown as she concentrated on his last words. "What about our meeting at the ball was fun if nothing since has been?" She didn't understand, she'd enjoyed their encounters since the day in the bookstore much more then she had at the Masquerade. Anna thought perhaps he was lying about her being fun to make up for telling her that being with Dru had been his last happy moment.

[Chase Firebrand]

"Different kind of fun, Anna," Chase said. He tried to think of how to explain it to her, but words like that didn't come easy to him. It was one of the things about him that Dru had had no patience for. "We were playing then, you know? It was before I... gave up on everything." He knew that wasn't right, wasn't enough, but he couldn't tell what was wrong with the words. "Have you really had any fun fighting with me?" he asked rhetorically. She had to be able to see the difference.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"Well....no. Not when we were fighting." Anna's cheeks heated as she remembered the moments between them that she had thoroughly enjoyed. She also remembered the night that they had been in costume, that first touch of his fingers against her. Her eyes reflected her thoughts, her whole body tingled at the memories. Blinking, she tried to push the thoughts away, tried to focus on what the conversation was about. After a moment of reflection, she remembered what they were discussing, but didn't know where she had been headed with her line of response. "It hasn't been all fighting though."

[Chase Firebrand]

"For you it hasn't," Chase said under his breath, only just loud enough to be heard. He knew how their physical intimacy affected her. There was no missing those soft, satisfied sighs, the hazy eyes or lazy smiles. There was no forgetting the pliant press of her body against his. "I gave up girls after Dru," Chase said. He'd told Anna, hadn't he? He'd told her that he didn't want it, any of it. He just hadn't been able to make good on his words. He'd always crumbled for her. "I just couldn't say no to you."

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna fought to understand his words, but he wasn't making any sense. If he'd given up on girls, then what did he consider her? and what did he mean he couldn't say no to her? He's the one that had started things to begin with. True, she'd encouraged it, but hadn't he been the one to seek her out even today? "I don't understand, what do you mean?" She voiced her thoughts, looking at him intently as if the answers where written somewhere upon his face.

[Chase Firebrand]

Chase glanced aside at Anna, his eyes dark. "Ravenclaws can be pretty dense sometimes," he said, then sighed heavily and straightened a bit, looking back into the room, away from Annabelle. "I mean Dru f~ed me over so bad I didn't want anything to do with girls, with sex, with anything. I told you no, and you kissed me anyway, and..." Chase gave a low growl of frustration. "And you know the rest," he said. There had been no real coercion on Anna's part. She hadn't needed anything more than those innocently sultry eyes and the wholehearted way she offered herself to him. "I can't say no to you," he said softly.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

His words weren't a big surprise to Anna, they didn't reveal anything that she didn't already know at some level, but they helped connect things a bit in understanding Chase. Her lips formed a thin line at the mention of Dru and sex in the same sentence, their relationship was something that she didn't like thinking about. There were still holes in his logic, or reasoning he'd left out. "You wrote off our whole gender and vowed to a life of celibacy because it didn't work out with one girl?" It seemed a little extreme, especially for someone with Chase's background; especially for someone that didn't believe in love or happily ever afters.

[Chase Firebrand]

Chase hung his head, looking down at the toe of one boot, away from Annabelle. He didn't think it needed said. Wasn't it obvious enough? She had to have read the Daily Prophet by now. Chase was pleading for Dru to return to him, she refused and a full blown row began with name calling, the lot. According to the witness Chase declared how he had been with no one, Dru told him that she was seeing Silver Blackwood and things were over between them.

"It wasn't a pile of unicorn dung," Chase said under his breath. He'd kissed Anna, but he'd still had feelings for Dru. Chase winced slightly at that admission, even if it was only to himself. He didn't want to think about it. He forced it out of his mind.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle missed Chase's reply, since he'd said it to the floor. It didn't need to be said in words though; not denying her statement was as good as agreeing with it. She closed her eyes at the implications. She'd been chasing after a guy that had sworn off women....again. But if he'd been kissing her then he hadn't really given up like he said. Her only hope was that he'd said he couldn't say no to her, and she clung to that thought like a life vest in the middle of a dark ocean. What was holding him back though? Yeah, she'd read that things didn't end well with him and Chase, and he'd confirmed it moments ago, but she didn't think it could be that he was in love with Dru. He didn't believe in love, and besides, that had been months ago. She'd only been broken up with Michael a little longer, and she loved him.

[Chase Firebrand]

Chase didn't break the silence. He kept his thoughts to himself and let Anna think what she would. He couldn't make the admissions to her that he'd made to Dru, it was impossible. It had been just when he'd said things, just when he'd begun giving her everything she'd wanted that she'd left. For good. It was hard enough admitting to himself that he felt any attachment or connection to Annabelle. He didn't want to admit those things, though there was little escape from the knowledge of how close he'd gotten to ending things, and wondering if Anna stringing him along hadn't been all that kept him going sometimes.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna opened her eyes again at the still silence, looking over the defeated form of Chase. "Do you want to say no to me?" She asked softly. He'd brought it up twice in a matter of minutes, and she couldn't let it go. She wanted to just take the words at face value and believe that she had something that was holding Chase to her. But she couldn't just blindly believe. She needed to hear him say that he was choosing to be with her, and not that she was forcing it on him. She pulled her lip between her teeth and prayed that his answer would continue to give her hope instead of destroying it.