A/N: Written for the fabulous Mystii :) I hope you like it!
and after time i can't accept
you're still the song on my breath
you're not easy to forget
('don't want to fall' - the narrative)
So this really isn't her style. Falling in love is for girls like Parvati, girls with fires in their eyes and bows in their hair. Careless girls, flirty girls, girls who giggle when they walk down the hall.
Padma doesn't giggle. She finds it stupid. Padma is terrified of fire. She preferes water, calm and cool, much like herself. Padma doesn't wear bows. She likes tidy braids. Padma is neat, Padma is sweet, Padma is intelligent, Padma is quiet.
Padma doesn't fall in love.
And she doesn't want to (she thinks). Boys only break your heart, she's seen it with Parvati and Blaise and Lilith and Michael. Love most definitely isn't for Padma.
But Terry, oh Terry, Terry is diffferent. Not a charmer, like Michael, not an arse, like Malfoy or Nott, but not boring either, like Kevin. Terry is...sensitive. Terry understands. He doesn't heap her with red roses, he doesn't write long love letters, he doesn't give her jewelry. But he is there. He sees practical, sensible Padma, but at the same time he sees pretty, lovable Padma, with starshine in her eyes. And he knows what she wants, what she really wants, not things, but help, advice, a hand to hold.
Terry lets her be herself. Terry doesn't compare her to Parvati. Terry accepts her flaws, Terry gets her. And she should, really, they've been friends for years now. Terry knows her better than anyone else, except Parvati, of course.
But-but-but-stop! She's not supposed to fall in love, remember? She needs to let go before things get serious, before they start spinning out of hand. Padma hates it when she can't control things. And love, love is definitely something she can't control.
So she tries to pull away, she tries, oh she tries. But by then it's too late.
She's fallen.