Wistful Thinking (Anna/Markise)

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"Mhm." Anna agreed again, staring unfocused at a point in the sky light years away. She was dreading returning to the school scene for another year, yet excitedly anticipating finishing her studies. "I've been thinking a lot during the summer, and I'm going to do whatever it takes not to repeat my mistakes last year...." It was impossible to change her past, so she wanted to focus on her future. "I knew Chase was a mistake even before I let him in, I can't go through another Chase. Or Michael. Or whatever the next guy's name might be. I think you should slap some sense into me if I even mention a guy's name."

[Markise Sterling]

Markise looked aside at Anna now, one pale brow arched. "I tried that with the last one," he said pointedly. He'd given her every reason he could think of to stay away from Chase, and she'd written that she loved the guy. It was ridiculous. "If you'll actually listen to me this time, maybe I'll try. No slapping, though. You're a girl, if you hadn't noticed." Whether she was totally joking or it had been a slip of the tongue, Markise didn't feel like even pretending he'd do something like that.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna actually smiled at that comment and lifted her head to glance at Markise before plopping it back into its previous position. When her thoughts turned specifically to Chase, the smile vanished and she tried her best to mask the hurt with resignation. "It was too late with, him. By the time I'd befriended you, he'd already captured me under his manipulating spell." Every relationship she'd ever had started out decent enough, but they all ended up being dysfunctional in one way or another. "I think I need to run the opposite direction if a guy so much as smiles at me." It might sound like she was joking, but that was what she fully intended to do.

[Markise Sterling]

"What if he's nice?" Markise asked. "What if he's not Chase? They can't all be bastards, right?" It didn't occur to Markise that he'd said exactly the opposite last term, that he'd claimed all men were horrible, including himself, and that it was better to stay away from them. "Most of them are, yeah, but there's a good one somewhere."

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"I dated a nice guy once....." Anna said blandly as if she were talking about the weather. "He left me for his current husband." Without missing a beat, she mostly jokingly added, "All nice guys are gay I think, even if they don't know it." She didn't really believe this, but then she really didn't believe she'd miraculously see her nice Prince Charming this year ride up on a white stallion and whisk her away to a 'Happily Ever After' either. If she wanted her future to amount to anything more than dependency on a guy, she needed to start standing up for herself and focus on her future by studying.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise made a face at that. "Michael's so not good enough for you," he said. Michael wasn't good enough for Dare either, not by a long shot, but there was nothing he could do about that. "You need someone with a sense of humor and a backbone," he added, glancing down at Anna as though appraising her. "They weren't strong enough for you," he finished.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna looked over at Markise amazed that he was actually in favor of her finding someone good enough to date. She was convinced that no such guy actually existed on the school grounds so it was a moot point. Sick of beating her lack of love life to death, Anna glanced around to make absolutely sure they were completely alone before quietly teasing him. "Sorry, but the only guy I've talked to lately with any sense of humor or a backbone is you. And, as you've already pointed out, I'm a woman, and you don't quite fit all the criteria for my ideal guy."

[Markise Sterling]

Markise feigned offense at that, but his eyes were laughing enough to give him away. "I'd say you could go out with me anyway," he told Anna, thinking for a moment as he spoke, "but I'd pull a Michael, and you don't need a cheating bastard like me." He reminded himself that she couldn't know he was seeing anyone, afraid that if she visited his shop for a change, she might figure it out. And he didn't even know that Anna had seen Ariel that last night at the club.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

“But Honey, sweetie pie, surely I told you we already are an item?” Anna said in a mockingly sweet voice, throwing out her best lovestruck look. Anna couldn’t hold in a giggle as she remembered the next article. “Oh wait, I forgot the Prophet changed its mind on that and decided that I was a lesbian and just using you. It’s a shame really, I think I’d make a horrible lesbian…” It was so ridiculous that she had to wonder just how they came up with their ‘sources’ of information.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise rolled his eyes. "I'm heartbroken that you dumped me," he said. "Were you even going to say anything?" She knew he didn't read the Daily Prophet, though he'd never told her it was part of DareandMichael's boycott of it. He either overheard things, or didn't know at all.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle sat up so she could converse properly now that the conversation was back in full swing. "I'd Never dump you!" Annabelle exclaimed with a wink. "If we broke up, it had to be you leaving me for someone more worthy of your dashing smile and incredible eyes." It was obvious that she was teasing him, but the words rang true nonetheless. She'd always admired his eyes and thought it was so unfair how long his lashes were. She couldn't help but be glad that he was a guy and they weren't competing for the same people to date.

[Markise Sterling]

"Don't toy with me, Anna," Markise said, a touch of melodrama to the words. Dashing smile. His lips quirked uncontrollably. He'd been called a lot of things, but never dashing. "Like I said, I'd just break your heart. If you know what's good for you, you'll run and never look back." He couldn't help thinking about Ariel, about the fact that he was already with someone, and wondering if Ariel had come this way and turned around because he wasn't alone.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna let out a light chuckle at the image that came to mind. “You could be such a Ladies Man you know…. I’m glad my heart isn’t in danger from you, you’re right it would get crushed for certain.” Annabelle smiled sincerely, toning down her full-on teasing for a moment. “You know, that’s what I like about you so much… You’re always looking out for me. I think you’re the last person on earth that would ever hurt me.”

[Markise Sterling]

"You're my friend, Anna. That's what friends do. Besides, you've got family, right? You're all real close and everything?" That was the impression he had, anyway. She'd been overprotected and cared for, and she was fairly normal, if anyone could be defined like that. She just had self-esteem issues, something he had, too.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"Well yeah, We're pretty close. But I was excluding blood relations from that statement." She nodded, adding her disclaimer a little too late. She knew not everyone had that, but for her family was a given and it didn't need to be said. She looked up at Markise, trying to remember everything he'd said about his family before. "You're close enough to your family too though aren't you? How did they take it when you decided not to stay with them over the summer?" She had worries about how her own parents would react on the same issue so she wanted to learn whatever firsthand advice she could from someone that had just gone through it.