Aphrodite and Cupid

It was raining today. Only a few days into the new school year and it was already like the last bits of summer sunshine had already surrendered to the oncoming fall. It had been raining more or less steadily since breakfast, sending Gisele to the library in her free block instead of outside to the lawns where she normally preferred to pass the time. It was kind of nice in the library. The smell of thousands of books mixed with the distant patter of rain on the roof and windows made the cold and drafty castle seem unusually cozy. Gisele had missed her home away from home in the last couple months and she was now enjoying herself by seeing everyone again and indulging herself in petty gossip. 

Right now the Ravenclaw sat at one of the libraries tables, leafing through an astronomy book. It was her favorite class and the only one she read about for pleasure outside of class. She liked the idea of an endless universe, teeming with life of every shape a size. Colors never seen before. Sounds never heard. She liked the idea that she was so insignificant that whatever mistakes she made didn't really matter in terms of the universe. But she also allowed herself to fantasize that she was more beautiful than anything that could be found in any world. If she so desired she could be the goddess of beauty, wisdom, and power. Though perhaps not modesty. These thoughts of magnificence rarely teased her mind and when they did she immediately felt guilty, knowing in her heart that she was nothing more than a silly sixteen year old girl. 

Gisele flipped to a page that showed a picture of the goddess Aphrodite next to her planet. It was an old ink drawing but the curves on the body were so soft and beautiful you still couldn't help get drawn into her image. Gisele ran over the picture with her thumb, as if seeing if she could feel her smooth skin and fanned out hair. She couldn't. Gisele looked up and saw someone put a book back onto a shelf before walking down the aisle and leaving the library. Gisele realized she had opened her mouth to call a greeting to the girl but no words had come out. Lately Melissa Finnigan had that effect on her. 

Shaking off her short term daze she brought her eyes back down to the page in front of her. Suddenly Aphrodites sensual curves reminded her a little too much of her Gryffindor friend and she flipped the page rapidly. She had Millie had talked a little so far in the year but hadn't had the change to hang out like they used to yet. She felt a distance between the two of them. Gisele liked to blame that distance on a certain Trenton Thomas but, more likely, it was due to the sad longing in her eyes that Gisele sometimes wore. But the problem was there shouldn't be any longing there. It wasn't normal. She and Millie had always been with benefits so why was it suddenly such a big deal to her now? Why did her heart take a little leap whenever they touched? 

Gisele shook her head a little, clearing her thoughts and forcing them back to the text in front of her that described the best time to pick rosemary and sage based on the planets locations. 

OOC: outfit

"Gisele. Gisele!"

Lately, Franki's little Ravenclaw friend had been even worse than Franki had noticed her to be last year. Here the Slytherin was, repeating her friend's name over and over, and still the girl's fantasy continued- and Franki could guess who the fantasy concerned. Franki had had her suspicions, but such evident proof as what was unfolding before her shrewd eyes... Gisele could not lie about it any longer surely.

Franki sighed, looking down at the blank parchment which contained her notes on Potions, but she did not have her Potions book. No way was she borrowing the library's filthy copies, and no way was she going all the way back down to the dungeons to scrounge around for her book and probably not find it.

Had Gisele's hearing and brain not been so impaired currently, Franki was sure she could have gotten the book from her. She looked over at Millie decisively and leaned forward, saying into Gisele's ear. "Ah, that's fine, love. Don't worry yourself. I'll go ask someone else."

She got up and hurried over to Millie, quickly asking if she could borrow her Potions book. She was given the book and she thanked the Gryffindor before hurrying back to her table with Gisele. She sat. "Potions book. Millie let me borrow hers. Gotta love her, huh?" she said, rather obviously.

Gisele didn't hear Franki's voice until she felt her warm breath by her ear. She frowned at the tone in the other girl's voice. It sounded almost cocky, like she was absolutely sure that she knew something that Gisele didn't. This caused an immediate discomfort to fall over Gisele and she watched the blonde walk over to the retreating form of Millie. She watched them for a moment as the Gryffindor handed the Slythirin a textbook of sorts. As Franki turned to leave Gisele ripped her eyes away from them and back to her own book, suddenly embarrassed about having been watching in the first place.

Gisele heard Franki take the seat across from her and she looked up out of courtesy to welcome her. The blonde was already talking. She had the same tone to her voice as before but the more Gisele listened to it the more she realized that it was not with malicious intent. There was definitely a knowing in her voice that put Gisele on edge but she seemed to be more pleasantly amused by it that anything else. But what could she possibly know about? As she finished speaking the awful realization came over Gisele. Could someone have noticed? No, she was always so careful in her fleeting gazes. Besides, they didn't mean anything anyway.

"Yeah. Millie's cool." Gisele mumbled, not sounding nearly as nonchalant as she would have liked to. Millie and Gisele had been best friends since first year.. something that sound have commanded more of a compliment than 'cool'. But the fear than Franki had somehow managed to grasp at the thing that Gisele herself still denied was more than enough to make her want to downplay the seriousness of their friendship. Besides, it wasn't like they were truly best friends anymore. Gisele seemed to hardly see the Gryffinfor girl anymore. Over an entire summer they had seen eachother once. And that was by mistake at an open invitation party. They talked mostly in passing and there was always a distant look in Millie's eyes when they did even that. Things were falling apart and Gisele didn't even know what was broken.

The dark skinned girl looked up at Franki, giving her a small smile, and trying to erase the look of guilt that was stamped all over her veela face.

"Yeah. Millie's cool."

Franki's eyelids slid down to half mast; her irked nature had to be obvious to her silly oblivious friend now. Poor Gisele. She thought she was pulling a fast one on everybody else, keeping such a secret from friends and family and the general population. She thought she was noticing all and no one was noticing her. Well, one had caught on, and she was sitting right in plain sight, and yet the Ravenclaw remained oblivious.

Franki sighed. "Riiiight," she said, setting the book down before her and opening it. She leafed through the pages glumly, already bored with the work set out before her. "It's been less than a week and I'm already sick of school. Is that terrible- or is that extra terrible? I think it's hardly my fault, really." Franki was known to prattle on when she was bored and if Gisele didn't stop her soon, she never would.

"Did you do the potions essay? I'm completely stumped." She spotted a dog eared page and turned to it. Millie had drawn all over the page. Franki burst into laughter and tried another ploy. "Lookie here!" She pushed the book to Gis. "That Millie- what a character, huh?"

Franki started rattling on about school and such and Gisele couldn't help but smile. She was the same way most days.. you had to cut her off early or she would never stop. But her subdued mood today was enough to make her a much more willing listener than speaker. She enjoyed listening as Franki spoke and heard the music in her tone and pitch. There was no doubt that Franki was a pretty girl, just thankfully not Gisele's type. Oh god. Did she have a type?

The potions book was pushed at her and Gisele looked down to examine it. She couldn't help but crack a smile. When she was younger she had done the same thing to her textbooks. It was easy for Gisele to memorize almost anything she read, leaving her with a very short attention span in her classes. Dealing with boredom had become her specialty. But the smile didn't last.. It was so painfully obvious what Franki was poking around right now. She obviously suspected something. Why else would she be so determined to shove Millie's name into conversation?

Lowing her voice to a whisper, Gisele snapped - "What's your deal, Franki?" out of frustration. But she immediately felt bad. The poor girl probably hadn't meant any harm by it. Maybe she didn't even suspect anything. Maybe she was just being friendly and knew that Millie and Gis were good friends, making the Gryffindor girl an easy topic of conversation. Maybe Gisele was just being overprotective and crazy. Maybe.

Franki could not define subtlety, honestly. For a girl hiding so much of her own fears and insecurities, she was receptive to those of others, and could never really find an appropriate way to lightly introduce the topic. She had known for awhile now, and remaining silent and unobtrusive about the subject had been a surprising victory to Franki. But now, things seemed so obvious to her. What no one else had picked up on, was slapping her upside the head and she did not understand how Gisele could be offended by her brash, outright hints.

"What's your deal, Franki?" was the breaking point, the thing that tried Franki's frayed patience. She let out a long sigh, and snapped her book. "Come off it, Gisele!" Her high-pitched voice carried across the silent library, earning the hissed warnings of Ravenclaws and the librarian. Luckily, these warnings were swift and decisive, effectively forcing Franki to take note of her situation, surroundings, and her volume. With this new found self awareness, she continued on.

She leaned towards the Ravenclaw, whispering, "You're not exactly known for your millions of encounters with men. Hell, I'm more of a reputable tease when I haven't been looked at in months. You seem wholly uninterested in anyone, until a certain giggly Gryffindor steps into the room. Am I wrong?"

The more Franki spoke, the more terrified Gisele became. No one had ever said it so clearly to her before and admitting to what she knew was true terrified her. Millie was one of those things that lived comfortably in the back of your brain - always there, but never anything you have to deal with. She liked it that way just fine.. Gisele wasn't ready to have this situation become a reality. So in an amazingly shrill voice she shrieked - 

"Yes!" 

The Ravenclaws and librarians shushed at the pair again, extreme annoyance written all over their faces. Gisele then quivered, composing herself as best as she could. Like Franki, she lowered her voice to almost a whisper and leaned a little closer to the other girl. "Yes." she insisted again. "You are wrong. Just because I don't whore myself around doesn't mean I don't like boys." Lies. She did whore herself around and she didn't like men. "I-I.. Millie and I are friends. That's all. I don't like her." Gisele hit her hand lightly on the table to emphasize the point. "And you're completely crazy for suggesting it." She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. Even to her the words sounded forced and false on her lips. 

It was that very realization of how much she wanted what she said to be true that made her really think. So Gisele slowly uncrossed her arms and with an expression of defeat on her face her whole body seemed to relax. "Holy shit. I like her." Giseles bottom lip began to tremble slightly in shock. "Franki, I like her. I like her a lot." Gisele leaned forward in defeat and lay her face in her hands. She felt her eyes water and wet the inside of her palm. Tears for the Gisele that she could no longer pretend to be. 

Franki was unimpressed with Gisele's argument. Franki sat back with an unconvinced look- arms crossed, cheeks puffed, lips pouted out, eyes narrowed. Her entire expression sarcastically screamed Yeah, right, I TOTALLY believe that. Gisele pressed on, though, probably attempting to kill two birds with one stone and convince the two biggest critics of the idea that she had no feelings for Melissa Finnegan. Franki would never believe it- even if Gisele ran off and married a Cambodian super model and publicly denounced any feelings for Millie, Franki would never be convinced. She had already made it up in her mind that Gisele liked the Gryffindor, and she had already been too big a fan of the potential relationship to give up now.

Perhaps Gisele spotted all of this. Perhaps her own reasonings finally appeared to her in all of their inherent weakness. It took only a second or two after she had retired from her tirade for her to fall apart. First, physically. Her defensive position loosened as she became to vulnerable for weakness. Her expression displayed the dawning of truth in her mind before they reached her lips. She finally spoke the words Franki had already considered to be fact.

Gisele retreated within her hands and Franki let out a small sigh, reaching forward to catch one of the girl's hands and pat it sympathetically. She smiled, saying, "Isn't it better to have said it, though? I won't tell anyone. I'm here for you, dear."

Gisele glanced up as Franki spoke, not pleased with what she heard. Although the blonde's words made sense in theory, she just couldn't understand exactly what Gisele was feeling at this moment. The secrets she had just admitted had been meant to be locked away forever, deep inside her. This year she had made up her mind to crush them into the deepest of oblivion where they would never be seen again. Saying it out loud suddenly made everything much less containable. There were now other factors besides her own stubborn strong will to contend with.

So the brunette just shook her head slowly, unwilling to meet her companions eyes. "I don't need any help." she said, though her posture of pained venerability suggested differently. Gisele was far from willing to accept this girl's sympathy. They had never been close and she wasn't the first person that Gisele would have chosen to go to for advice on her non-existing relationships. Franki had always been nice enough but she had a nasty little habit of collecting secrets. Gisele didn't want this stored away in someone else's brain.

Unfortunately, it didn't exactly look like Gisele had a choice in the matter. Franki was here. Therefore she had just became the single most important person in her life.. At least this second. But that didn't mean she had to like it.

Franki looked at the girl, her sympathy becoming more and more sincere as she realized that the truth had failed to do its duty and set the Ravenclaw free. Franki had gone through situations like this many times before, and usually, people burbled on and on about their issues and how happy someone was finally there to help them out. And all of the ones that had been out-ed in the process usually cried, and they had always hugged her. Gisele's distress brought on concern in the blonde.

Gisele was shying from the help Gisele had no idea she needed. "Don't need any help? No, you don't need it, sure, because you're a smart girl. You know how to handle yourself- but some people could notice, and a wise girl would want the help. You need someone to warn you when your obvious; someone to discuss meanings of words and expressions of said subject with; and someone to help lighten the burden from you. And here I am- offering it like a fool who has no idea what she's in for." Franki grinned. "Trust me, though. I do."