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Post by Brindle Sterling on Oct 28, 2008 13:44:29 GMT -5
"Ooh, you draw! That's good, Dare likes drawing." Brindle wrinkled her nose at herself as she looked aside at Michael. "You knew that," she said, stating the obvious. "He really is good. You should have heard..." Brindle stopped herself then and thought about her words for a moment. She wondered... "You haven't heard him play the guitar, have you?" Probably not, considering he didn't have it anymore, but who knew? Everything had changed so much this summer.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 28, 2008 13:54:36 GMT -5
Michael nodded and smiled, "Yes, I've heard him play and sing. He's really good." His mind was immediately flooded with thoughts of Dare singing that one particular song. It made his eyes soften and his chest warm. "Is that another rarity?" he asked. Though he knew it was as far as recent time went, he didn't know how it had been before everything with his mom.
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Post by Brindle Sterling on Oct 28, 2008 13:58:21 GMT -5
Brindle nodded, eying Michael carefully again. "He stopped last year," she said. She hadn't been able to believe it then, and she had no clue why other than his mom and Silver had gotten sick at the time. She wondered what Michael had to do with his playing again, and could only be amazed that somehow, over just the summer, all this had happened. "He wouldn't play for anything, even left his guitar at home when he came back after Easter break. We all missed it."
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 28, 2008 14:06:50 GMT -5
"So before then he played a lot?" Michael asked, tilting his head slightly. It was hard to imagine a Dare that played often, because of how he was now Michael couldn't really imagine him any other way. He also didn't have much to compare it to; he enjoyed playing the piano, but he rarely did, only when something was really bothering him and drawing didn't help did he play.
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Post by Brindle Sterling on Oct 28, 2008 14:14:41 GMT -5
Brindle nodded. "He'd play for us at lunch sometimes, or after school, or we'd all sing. It was fun. You don't know what happened, do you? He never told us, just that he didn't play anymore." And it wasn't like they could make him, considering he didn't have his guitar with him anymore, but he wouldn't even pick it up when he went back home for vacation. "Markise said he put his guitar in his closet and wouldn't even talk to him about it." That spring had been pretty bad for Dare, and no one knew why.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 28, 2008 14:21:10 GMT -5
Michael looked down. Yes, he knew why Dare didn't play, knew the whole story. But he wasn't going to tell Brindle, he had no rights to, and wouldn't tell her even if he did. It was Dare's to tell, not Michael's. "He had a hard time, is all," he said, bringing his eyes back up to Brindle. He almost wished he could tell her, because it must have been hard to have a close friend suddenly stop doing something they loved without a reason.
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Post by Brindle Sterling on Oct 28, 2008 14:26:08 GMT -5
Brindle watched Michael for a moment, trying to figure out what he was thinking. It seemed like he knew, since he wasn't wondering, too. Brindle wouldn't ask, though. She'd just wondered if Michael knew. "You two really are close," she said, not at all expecting a reply to that. She wondered what had happened, though, how Michael had gotten that close to Dare in a few months when he'd never even told Markise what happened. Not that Markise would have told Brindle if he knew, but Brindle would at least know if he knew.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 28, 2008 15:06:57 GMT -5
Michael couldn't help but smile at that, yes, they were. Each had told the other things they had never told anyone else, it was part of what made their bond so very, very strong. His eyes fell from hers, memories flooding him again. He wondered if she had any idea what it was like, wondered if she would wonder how close they were, how physical they were, like her brother had. "So do you like it here?" he asked, anything to pull away from thoughts of Markise.
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Post by Brindle Sterling on Oct 28, 2008 15:14:56 GMT -5
Brindle shrugged, giving up her practice again to toe at the rock she'd found earlier. "It's okay, I guess," she said. "It's so huge I keep getting lost, though." That was her biggest issue. "The people are kind of like, boring though, no offense," she said again. "Not that I mind sticking out, but I'm used to like, there being a bunch of us sticking out, not just me and Dare." Now that Markise had gone blond again, anyway. "Even my brother's trying to fit in, and that's just weird."
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 28, 2008 15:33:30 GMT -5
Michael firmly ignored what Brindle said about Markise, it was so much easier not to dwell on things when he just pretended he had never heard it in the first place. He wondered faintly why she was so worried about offending him, he had heard so much worse than anything she could probably give out that it didn't bother him at all. "It's not the best thing to stick out here," he said, from personal experience. "I mean..." he tried again, not meaning to put down how Brindle was. "Dressing differently isn't a big deal, but most people just try to stay under the radar."
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Post by Brindle Sterling on Oct 28, 2008 15:38:39 GMT -5
Brindle wrinkled her nose at that. She wasn't about to try staying under the radar. "I don't really care if I stick out," she said, then paused as she thought about it. "Well, to a point, I guess. My hair was a lot pinker a month ago, but I got it stripped before we came. There's a difference between sticking out and being gawked at." And she'd wanted to check Hogwarts out before she decided if she wanted that kind of attention.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 28, 2008 16:30:57 GMT -5
Michael nodded, he understood that, there was quite a difference. "I guess I'm a bit anti-sticking out," he said, thinking. He had spent enough time sticking out that he was tired of it, his past stuck out enough that he had to actually try not to. But it seemed like every time he came close something new happened to get him more notice.
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Post by Brindle Sterling on Oct 28, 2008 16:43:53 GMT -5
Brindle bit her tongue against saying she could tell. Michael's clothes quietly screamed I'm not here, you can't see me. It was the oddest thing thinking of Dare having been attracted to that style, even if Michael himself was way too good-looking. She guessed it had something to do with art, since Michael had said something about drawing, too. "Doesn't being with Dare kind of ruin the not sticking out thing?" she asked, rather pleased with herself for managing to bend her words that way. It didn't sound at all offensive when she said it like that.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 28, 2008 17:21:27 GMT -5
"Yes, it's pretty bad for it," Michael said, smiling and nodding. "It's worth it, though." All of the stares and the whispers, everything was worth being with Dare. He thought that it was completely worth it. However much he liked being in the shadows, it didn't bother him enough to be brought out into the open with Dare to go to at the end of the day.
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Post by Brindle Sterling on Oct 28, 2008 19:15:56 GMT -5
Brindle smiled back, then sighed, unable to really think of anything to say to that. What was she supposed to say to her friend's boyfriend about being with him? That was something that could definitely get awkward. "So you really don't like Markise," she observed. Another awkward subject, but one that was more pressing for her to talk about than how happy Dare and Michael were. She was still getting used to just knowing he was gay.
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