|
|
Post by Brindle Sterling on May 22, 2009 20:32:07 GMT -5
Brindle's lips were quirked with the effort of not laughing, or even grinning. When she knew she wouldn't, she said, "Thank you for answering anyway." Her eyes laughed, and she jumped back to their previous topic before he exploded with blushing. "So do you know who's going to watch your dog yet?" she asked. He hadn't said, but that didn't mean anything.
|
|
|
|
Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on May 22, 2009 20:44:41 GMT -5
Michael looked up finally when he thought he had his thoughts, and his skin, under control. "No, we don't," he said, shaking his head. "We haven't really started asking people yet." He raised an eyebrow at her. It wasn't hard to get the impression that she wanted to, it was a thought, wasn't it? But she didn't have anywhere to stay. His mind jumped to the guest room, but that would be so awkward...
|
|
|
|
Post by Brindle Sterling on May 22, 2009 20:49:34 GMT -5
"Who, me?" Brindle asked innocently. She looked at Michael with innocent, guileless eyes, even if that was exactly what she'd been angling for. Her mind didn't make any connection between staying with them, then watching their dog, and all the things Michael had been blushing over only moments ago. She didn't know or think about what Dare and Michael did behind closed doors, nor the likelihood that she'd be an interruption, or at the least a distraction.
|
|
|
|
Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on May 22, 2009 20:52:43 GMT -5
Michael smiled and shook his head, then focused on the leaf he was now picking apart. "You'd have to find somewhere to stay up to then, first," he pointed out. "And ask Dare." He hadn't given any thought to who it would be, but he he would have to teach whoever watched the shop how to take care of the animals there. They were just as important as Elouai, even if he wouldn't miss them as much.
|
|
|
|
Post by Brindle Sterling on May 22, 2009 21:07:12 GMT -5
Brindle tried not to pout again. Apparently she wouldn't be crashing with them until the ceremony, and she knew her parents wouldn't let her stay in like, the Leaky Cauldron, even if they could afford it. Even if she somehow got Markise to stay, he'd told her his shop had work and storage rooms over it, not an apartment. She sighed. If she couldn't come, she'd push her pride down long enough to beg her dad for money to send a present. She gave Michael a shrug. "I'll see what I can do," she said.
|
|
|
|
Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on May 22, 2009 21:11:28 GMT -5
Michael looked over at her and licked his lips. There was no way he would invite her to stay with them for the month between the end of school and the ceremony, not unless Dare said it was okay or she mentioned it. "I'll talk to Dare," he said finally. He didn't know how she would take that, but he would mention at the very least her taking care of Elouai. If Dare brought up the idea of her staying, then Michael wouldn't argue. He felt bad for not mentioning it, though, but it would be so strange to have someone else staying with them for that long.
|
|
|
|
Post by Brindle Sterling on May 22, 2009 21:42:10 GMT -5
"Thanks," Brindle said. She didn't want to guilt him into it since she'd caught his first response. You'd have to find somewhere to stay up to then. She wasn't sure whether Michael meant he'd talk to Dare about her staying or about finding her somewhere else, but either way, she wasn't going to complain. She wouldn't know where to even begin finding somewhere to stay for a month.
|
|
|
|
Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on May 22, 2009 21:48:10 GMT -5
Michael didn't know what else to say, so his mind went to what had become his default thought; the ceremony. He had long since stopped considering it a wedding, and ceremony just came to him so much easier now. "I really hope you can stay," he said absently, "You and Markise, both." They didn't have enough people on their guest list to lose two people because they couldn't or didn't want to stay.
|
|
|
|
Post by Brindle Sterling on May 22, 2009 21:52:39 GMT -5
Brindle winced slightly at the mention of her brother. "Markise has been a little crazy lately," she said. She wouldn't make his apologies for him, but she really wasn't sure she'd be able to do anything. She worried about Markise and had since he'd come out at SWIM, but it wasn't getting any better. And Michael didn't know where he was.
|
|
|
|
Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on May 22, 2009 21:55:40 GMT -5
Michael nodded slowly, "I think everyone has been. But...I still want him to be there." He was Dare's friend, had been his friend for so much longer than Michael had known Dare and it only seemed right to have him there. "I mean," he looked back up and attempted a smile. "It's not like we're entertaining a crowd of fifty where we won't miss one person being gone."
|
|
|
|
Post by Brindle Sterling on May 22, 2009 22:07:51 GMT -5
Brin gave Michael an attempted smile back. "There's no way I'm repeating that to Markise," she said, hoping it sounded lighter than it felt. She could see the look on his face if he imagined he was crowd filler. He was having enough issues with Dare and Michael as it was. Or at least he had been the last time he'd actually talked to her. "I'm not trying to be a pessimist, but I don't know how to get him to stay. He's been wanting to leave since like December." When Ariel had done whatever it was that Markise wouldn't tell her.
|
|
|
|
Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on May 22, 2009 22:13:06 GMT -5
Michael had the impression that what he said came over much worse than he meant for it to, but he didn't have time to reword it before she was saying something else. "I would talk to him, but I don't think I would do much good," he said, looking up at her apologetically. "I...I can talk to Dare, though, maybe he can help."
|
|
|
|
Post by Brindle Sterling on May 22, 2009 22:29:37 GMT -5
Brindle nodded, looking down at the fallen leaf she was tearing to shreds. "If anyone can talk to him, it's Dare," she said hopefully. She didn't repeat any of her concerns, but they were still there. He'd asked Mama to find him an apartment! She couldn't imagine he was coming back if he did something like that.
|
|
|
|
Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on May 22, 2009 22:46:27 GMT -5
Michael nodded in agreement and looked over at Brindle's hands. "So you don't know why he wants to leave?" he asked, though he already knew the answer. And he also remembered Markise coming back from the club that one night, though he had never really been told what exactly happened to make Markise end up like that. He just knew Ariel was involved, and when Ariel was involved, it was never good, as far as he was concerned.
|
|
|
|
Post by Brindle Sterling on May 22, 2009 23:02:14 GMT -5
Brindle glanced up at Michael before returning her attention to the leaf, little more than a stem by now. She dropped it and picked up another. "I have a lot of guesses and some things I'm pretty sure about, but he hasn't told me or anything. I just remember a lot of the things he's complained about, and some of them seem more likely than others." She looked back up at Michael, wondering if he knew anything. She doubted it, since one of Markise's complaints had been that Michael hated him. And that Michael was a wuss, but she'd never admit to having heard him say that.
|
|
