It's Days Like This

It simply wasn't possible to stay at home any longer. Today was the day, so many years ago, when her brother Asher had been deemed missing. Her family - even Wyatt - usually spent the day solemn and worrisome. Addie, however, knew that were Asher still available to them, he wouldn't have been the kind to hope they sit around feeling bad for him. It anything, he'd likely make fun of them for doing so. As the hours had passed in silence, her house seemed to be getting smaller and smaller, as if trying to prove that it had her trapped. Deciding she was having none of it, Addie made her way her way to the floo and let herself fly through space to Diagon Alley.

Stepping out of the fireplace Addie suddenly realized she had no plan, nor an idea of what she might look for while she was there. Sighing, she began wandering through the shops, mostly window shopping as she usually would.

At least, she mused, she could distract herself with all of the happenings of Diagon Alley. She particularly enjoyed people watching at times like this, and would do just about anything to stop focusing on Asher. If he was out there somewhere, they would find him eventually. Addie felt that, much like twins were said to be able to feel when the other was hurt, she would know if something had happened, or if he was gone. Thankfully, she didn't, and hoped she was right.

Passing by Flourish and Blotts, she nearly stopped to go in, but shook her head and turned back to the street. As she glanced around, she paused. Addie blinked as she thought she caught sight of someone from school. Her gaze landed on them again and she was certain she knew them. Heading in Kaiden's direction she waited for him to look over so she could flash him a smile in greeting.

One thing was spending time with family, another thing was being harassed by family.

Kaiden was finally able to get away from his family after spending most of the morning with them. He never thought he could get annoyed of his father or sister so quickly. Then again, he never thought he'd have to spend so much time with them both in one room. He was surprised he'd made it through the morning. Of course now, he planned to spend the rest of the day the way he wanted to.

Without telling them that he was going to 'pass' on the rest of the day with them, Kaiden apparated himself to Diagon Alley. He had never been happier to be around total strangers in his life. Now, no one would bother him and he could what he wanted. There was just one problem.

He had no idea what he wanted to do.

The Slytherin stood by Weasley's, looking in at some of the products. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go in and buy some pranking supplies, but his family wasn't known to go in there willingly. Well, most of it. Kaiden had gone in there plenty of times, which didn't please his father. But he just didn't care anymore.

He turned around to find Addie walking toward him and he smiled at her. "Hey Addie." he greeted, trying to talk over the sounds of people talking throughout the Alley.

Before he turned and caught sight of her, Adrienne vaguely thought that he looked about as upset and frustrated as she felt. It had been a few weeks since she had last seen Kaiden, Addie thought looking back. And while he was often quiet around her, she hadn't seen him look quite so down. Except for when she first met him, perhaps. That was a low moment for both of them, much like today. She couldn't piece any ideas together of why today was different for him, though. While she knew him as a person, she didn't know much at all about his history or best friends or family. Slightly disappointed in herself for not asking about any of those things, she walked a bit faster to catch what he was saying.

"Hey, yourself." She replied lightly. Then, more seriously, Addie looked at him before asking, "Rough day for you as well?" If he didn't want to say, she knew he'd probably change the subject or avoid it, as she usually would. But her instincts often told her to ask and look for ways to help. Adjusting her bag, she waited, trusting him to both do what was best for him, and trusting that he would be honest.

"I guess you can say that." Kaiden replied lightly with a shrug. He knew that with Addie, changing the subject wasn't going to work forever since she somehow always ended up getting what was wrong with him out of him. So instead of changing it, he just came out and said what he thought was best without saying too much.

For some reason, Kaiden developed a habit of just venting everything out to Addie. That was something that he'd never done with anyone else.

"What're you doing around here?" he asked her somewhat stupidly but he just shrugged it off. Maybe she would actually tell him what was wrong for once instead of him telling her. Though he knew it might not happen since she always seemed to put everyone else before herself.

[OOC: Bleh, lame post. Kaiden's escaping me today.]

Rather than questioning his response, Adrienne just gave him a tight and rather sympathetic smile. She didn't often expect people to actually tell her what was wrong, but she knew well that even just the thought that someone cared could be good enough to help. After her family had been so distraught at losing Asher - or at least missing him - they had just needed to know that the others were around. Their family friends, and Addie and Wyatt's classmates hadn't asked too many questions but had waited patiently, in case they'd felt like saying anything. Those moments were definitely ones she considered to have changed her perspective on things.

She couldn't say she was surprised when he asked. Addie hadn't exactly thought it through when she'd implied her own problems in her question. Kaiden probably would have gotten it out of her, regardless.

"Oh, well.. I just needed to get away from the house. This day, each year, is pretty bad for our family." Adrienne admitted, unable to look at him. She found that she wanted to share - to not be one of the few people who knew about the burden of waiting and wondering. Looking around, she crossed her arms in front of her chest, feeling like it would help her feel less vulnerable somehow.

"Um," She attempted to explain, "my older brother, Asher, he.. he disappeared a few years back and we haven't heard anything." Looking up at him, she refused to let her eyes water or anything like that. She figured he knew her well enough to tell if she was feeling particularly upset, and didn't exactly want to let the rest of the world know about it.

Her response took him a bit by surprise. He hadn't known that her brother was missing and something told him not many other people knew about it either. Losing a family member - though he hadn't experienced that, at least not that he can remember - was something had to deal with. Especially if there was a chance that the person was still alive.

Kaiden could tell that Addie was really upset, even though she wasn't showing it. Almost immediately a part of Kaiden wanted to just go up to her and hug her for some reason. But Kaiden didn't think she would want that, nor would he actually do it anyways. He just wasn't that type of person, to most others.

"Oh... um..." he tried to reply. "I'm sorry about your brother." he looked away for a moment, feeling stupid that he didn't know what else to say. Merlin, why was he so bad at comforting people? Well for one, he never had to do it before. Though it was shallow and stupid, he was always the one who caused the pain and just walked away. He was never the one doing the comforting.

"I'm sure he'll turn up eventually. How long has it been since he disappeared..?" he asked her softly.

Addie glanced at Kaiden cautiously before he responded. Maybe it hadn't been the best idea to share, as he looked rather uncomfortable with the whole scenario. She nearly apologized for saying anything before he spoke, keeping her from opening her mouth.

Staring at her feet, she felt tears stinging her eyes. Now she had to go and get emotional? How bloody brilliant. Embarrassment only made it worse, so she looked away from him entirely as he asked his next question.

"A few days after Wyatt's first birthday, he left to meet up with.. friends or something. I was eight." She replied, voice rough - embarrassingly so. "There's been no word since." She wanted to believe Kaiden that Archer would return, but how could she when it had been nine years since they had heard from him? It was nigh impossible