Missing (Markise/Anna)

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle hadn't missed his statement about Saturday, but Markise had distracted her with his other comments about his ex until he brought up going to the club. She swallowed the implications, not liking the path her mind made connecting them meeting on Friday, then arriving back at Hogwarts on Saturday. She licked her lips, stalling for a second before asking the question she couldn't let go.

"So you.... and him..." It was hard, she knew they were gay and what it implied, but it was something completely different thinking of all that it implied let alone verbalizing it. ""Were together again..... all night?" She wasn't judging him, and her voice was that of the Anna that had to rationalize everything. "I mean, where did you guys....sleep?"

[Markise Sterling]

Damn. Apparently she had caught that. Markise felt heat steal up the back of his neck, not from any real shame at the parts of that night and day that he could remember, but... it was hard not to be flustered with the obvious discomfort in Anna's voice.

"Separate rooms at the Leaky Cauldron," Markise answered. Allegedly. The night was a complete blank for him, and Ariel had been in the room when he'd waken up. Markise mentally shook his head. With as bad as he'd been, doing anything probably would have been a physical impossibility. "We didn't even kiss," Markise added.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"I didn't mean to assume. It just sounded like you two had gotten back together for the night." Anna winced at her wording, thinking it made Markise sound either shallow or desperate, which isn't what she'd meant. She blushed and bit at her lip, trying to correct herself. "Sorry, I guess I just have had sex on the brain." She didn't mean it as the actual act so much as everything else that led up to it, the things she actually knew about.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise shook his head at Anna's assumption. He couldn't blame her for it, considering the way it sounded. "It's fine," he said. He almost opened his mouth again to say that they'd gotten a room there after clubbing before, but it had been a room, and things had happened then that he didn't want to deal with. "I wasn't in any condition for a Portkey, is all." And yet he wished he'd taken one on Saturday morning instead of trusting the f~ing Knight Bus.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"Do you....stay out often?" She had thought that he always came back as he did when she'd ran into him, just before the gates closed. Now however, she wasn't so sure. She didn't like the sound of him being in no condition for a portkey, and wondered just how drunk he had gotten. Anna debated for a split second before adding, "Because you drank to much?"

[Markise Sterling]

Markise glanced aside at Anna, then returned his gaze to the fire, shaking his head. "It's only happened a few times." Well, maybe just a couple. Markise wasn't sure whether to count that night with Mano, but he didn't feel like having to explain a correction, so he let it lie. "I've only gotten too drunk to get back on my own twice, and both times I was with... him." He only just stopped himself from saying Ariel. "He pissed me off and I wasn't thinking. It was pretty stupid." And yet he didn't regret it, that second time at least. The first time he wished he'd just gone home instead of sitting at the bar getting drunk enough to forget Ariel while he waited for him. The second time he wished he'd just gone to Mano's again. At the time he'd still been waiting for Larten, but hindsight was 20/20, wasn't it?

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"You deserve better." Anna copied Markise's earlier statement without even realizing it. She put her hand on his knee and watched his reaction. Anna couldn't help think that if she couldn't find a decent guy to love her, what were the chances that Markise could with an even smaller pool to pull from. A frown came across her face at the thought, hating that they were both miserable when it came to relationships.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise rolled his eyes. "I know," he said, then patted her hand lightly as he looked back at her. "That's why I dumped him, and that's why we haven't been together since." At least he was following his own advice, at least when it came to Ariel. He didn't want to even think about the others. "You deserve better too, Anna. I'm going to keep saying that until you believe it." He only just stopped himself from saying that it was better to be alone than to sell out. That would be hypocrisy, especially when he'd been thinking about going back to Mano so much lately.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna wrinkled her nose at the thought, only half teasing in her self-depreciation. "You might get sick of saying it. Maybe I should just go join a convent or something." She didn't want to think about being with another guy right now. She couldn't imagine having feelings like she had with Chase for anyone else. She cocked her head to the side, wondering at her odd train of thoughts. "Do you think they'd let me still be friends with you?"

[Markise Sterling]

Markise arched an eyebrow. "I doubt it," he said. "If there's a hell, my place is reserved." Markise's lips quirked wryly and he looked away from Anna. He leaned back into the couch then, and his hand rose to toy with a strand of hair, twirling it lightly around his finger, releasing, and repeating. "I'm the remorseless sinner your parents warned you about, Anna." He might regret specific instances, but he'd come to accept himself long ago.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"I'm not an angel either. I doubt they'd even take me, even if I converted to Catholicism, which would never happen." Sure, Anna believed in God, but that was about as far as she went with religion. The only thing she had going for her was that she was technically still a virgin. Even not wanting to be with any other guys wouldn't push her to becoming a nun - she liked her books too much and doubted they read anything other than the Bible. Besides, she was a romantic, and still believed in love no matter how many times it proved to be harmful to her health.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise looked aside at Anna, but made no comment. Her idea of not being an angel was probably quite a bit different from his own, and he didn't feel like opening that can of flobberworms. "I'm sure you're a seething ball of sin, Annabelle," he teased lightly. His tone alone had to make it abundantly clear that he thought no such thing.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna laughed at Markise's comment even if it bothered her a little. She knew she was still much more innocent than most people at the school, and had always thought that it was a good thing. Why then, did she now think of being a good girl as a negative thing? It wasn't anything Markise said, but something that had changed within her in the last few months, most likely because of her relationship with Chase. She didn't want to think of Chase again, and decided not to comment, changing the subject instead. "So when are we going dancing again?"

[Markise Sterling]

Markise wrinkled his nose at her question. "I'm avoiding the Bloody Mary right now. I'm not exactly getting along with everyone there." Dare, it was Dare. He knew that Dare watched the dance floor from that little booth of his, and he wouldn't be able to relax even a little thinking about that. So he'd been pouring a week's worth of energy into one night, a week's worth of frustration and need all into a few hours' worth of drinking and dancing.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"Oh." Anna tried not to look as deflated as she felt. As soon as the thought had popped into her head she thought it would be the perfect distraction. She tried to think of all the people Markise would know there, and who he would be avoiding. The person that came to her mind was Michael. Was he hanging out with Dare while he worked now? If that was the case, Anna wasn't too sure she would want to go either. "I guess we'll have to find something else then."