A/N: Sequel to "Her Refusal".

Disclaimer: Don't own.
Warning: Spoilers for "A Family Holiday".

His Refusal

Her arm looped into mine and she leaned against me, her head on my shoulder, her body so close to mine. And she asked me a question.

"Does this mean we're boyfriend and girlfriend?"

I was cool with the whole thing where she was an EVO for the past four years of her life, but she doesn't seem to understand how deep things run with me and Circe.

The way Bev is, she likes to put things out in the open. She's a blunt girl with a one-track mind and her heart set on certain things. She liked me. I knew that. I respected that. I mean, what's there not to like? My charming smile? My amazing eyes? My perfect muscles? I'm the whole package!

Which is why I sometimes felt the need to throw around Circe's name and mention the beach a lot and talk about Tuck and Cricket sometimes, hoping that she'd catch on.

She didn't. Hence her asking the question.

I'm not interested.

I, like Bev, can set my heart on something, have a one-track mind, don't like to stray from something, and have a tendency to fall hard and fast. But it wasn't for Holiday's sister. I loved Circe. Nothing was really going to change that, not the distance, not the lack of communication. Circe was definitely the one. It was Circe or nothing. Bev was like Annie, a side project, a pit stop.

Circe. Circe was the real deal.

I'm not interested.

But I couldn't say it that way. You don't just say, "Hey, no, I don't like you, I already sort of have a girlfriend who's not really my girlfriend who's awesome and amazing and I love her and not you, so yeah, sorry, no..." I couldn't just say that.

But I didn't want to date Beverly either.

Circe, not Beverly, Circe. Definitely Circe.

Even though she's in Hong Kong with my best friends and stuff and possibly getting together with Sqwydd...

I didn't want to think about that.

"Listen..." How do you put "I'm not gonna be your boyfriend" in nice terms?

She went a little stiff beside me. She didn't say anything. "Are you still interested in Rebecca?"

Part of me was glad that was the assumption she was making, but I was still offended that even after constantly talking about Circe, she still wouldn't recognize the fact that I kind of sort of had a girlfriend who wasn't really my girlfriend. I still had some hopes. Kind of. Sort of.

"No no no." I wasn't going to lie to her either, although Holiday would've done nicely. But then Holiday would explain the Circe situation and I'd be accused of lying somewhere along the line and I'd get beaten upside the head with a purse. That's how it usually goes. "It's just that... I'm not ready for something serious right now." Yes, I'm a filthy liar. Bite me. "I'm a hero and stuff... You deserve someone who can take better care of you. I can't. I have too much work to do." I am a filthy, rotten, stinking liar. And a single man. The scale is balanced.

She pulled away a little bit and looked at me with those eyes in an innocent and pouting way. "Oh, o-okay," she mumbled, pulling her arm out of mine and straightening her shirt, not making eye contact with me.

"I'm sorry, just now's not a good time." Translation: I'm in love with someone else.

"That's alright." She seemed to perk up a bit, a smile gracing her soft features and her head tilting slightly to one side. "I understand."

I ran one hand through my hair. Man, life was tough. Why wouldn't Circe just make things easy on me? Seriously. The girl was always being so difficult... "You do?" When she nodded, I continued. "Thanks, Bev. I just know that you deserve more and now's not a good time for me. Things have to settle down a little before I can think about anything real."

She nodded again. "It's fine, Rex. I get it." And she then walked off like nothing had happened, the whole incident forgotten, everything said and done.

I let out a sigh, all the pent up stress leaving.

Man, I missed Circe.

A/N: More relaxed than the other part, but that's how it is since it's Rex. Review?

~Sky