Chapter Four
"Hey, Rox, do you remember what I told you about Elle the other night?" asked Rose, suddenly as the two cousins were checking a patient who was asleep.
Roxanne looked up from holding the patient's wrist, checking the pulse. "Yeah, what about it?"
"It's just got me thinking," said Rose, putting the chart she was reading under her arm. "Do you think Seth feels the same as her? They are in the same position."
"I don't know, Rose," said Roxanne honestly. "But they're not in the same position really. This was a shock for Elle, and Seth already knew about Scorpius."
"He knew about him but he's never met him," reasoned Rose, frowning. "It's like he's never quite been real until now. What if he's silently comparing himself to Malfoy but doesn't want to tell me?"
"Are you silently comparing them?" asked Roxanne seriously, crossing her arms.
"No, of course not," lied Rose, knowing that she'd pretty much compared every man she'd ever met to Scorpius and probably always would. She also knew though that Seth was so much better for her in those comparisons. "I just don't like the idea that he is feeling inferior or something. Elle sounded really upset."
"Maybe you should ask him," suggested Roxanne. "It sounds as though Malfoy isn't going away."
"What are you two girls gossiping about?"
"Sorry Mrs Addison, we didn't mean to wake you," smiled Rose, looking at her elderly patient. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm feeling fine, but now I'm awake it doesn't mean you have to stop talking," replied Mrs Addison, a mischievous look in her blue eyes under a fringe of wispy white hair. "You've just got to catch me up first."
"Well, Healer Weasley is wondering whether her fiancé feels insecure now that her ex-husband has turned up," grinned Roxanne.
Rose rolled her eyes. "You should ignore her and get some rest, Mrs Addison."
"I know what you're going through," said Mrs Addison, ignoring Rose's suggestion of rest. "I've been married twice in my life, and the love of my life was my second husband. He was a great, kind man but he couldn't help but be jealous and insecure."
"What happened?" asked Rose intrigued. "Did he get over it?"
"Of course he did," smiled Mrs Addison. "It wasn't necessarily jealous over the man himself but more upset that he wasn't the first. He thought it wasn't as special to me as it was to him because I'd already done it all before. I'm sure your fiancé will come around, how could he not, with such a beautiful girl like you?"
"Thank you," said Rose, smiling warmly. "I never had a proper wedding before so it's the first time really for me as well."
"It's not the wedding, it's the little things," winked Mrs Addison. "Decorating a new house together or having breakfast in bed."
"Just talk to him tonight," said Roxanne firmly. "One of your other patients got moved to another ward and you've still got to check on him. I'll look after Mrs Addison, I think she'll be plenty good company. Oh and I think Mia wanted you for something."
"Mia, you wanted me?" asked Rose, automatically picking up the patient's chart and scanning it. "There doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary."
"That's because there isn't," said Mia, taking the chart off Rose and hanging it back down. "I wanted to ask whether you and Seth were free tonight."
"I can't speak for Seth but I am," answered Rose. "Why what were you planning?"
"Albus and I wanted to invite you round for dinner," smiled Mia. "A stress free evening with good food and wine."
"That sounds like a really good idea," sighed Rose. "Seth is usually home before me so if he's there we'll come and if he's not I'll send an owl. What time would you like us to come round?"
"Around seven-ish?"
Rose smiled. "So you and my cousin are throwing dinner parties together now, eh? It sounds like it's getting pretty serious now."
"We've been talking about moving in together," blushed Mia.
"I'm so happy for you," said Rose, gently. "Merlin, I think this must be the first time Albus and I have been in happy serious relationships simultaneously."
"How was work?" asked Seth, as she stepped into their apartment. She dumped her bag onto the kitchen counter before joining her fiancé on the couch. He was still in his work robes, with his feet up on the coffee table and a book on his lap.
"It was the usual, long tiring work day it always is," said Rose, with a chuckle. "Were you planning on doing anything tonight?"
"Apart from spending it with my beautiful fiancé, absolutely nothing, why?"
"Very good answer," smiled Rose. "Albus and Mia have invited us to dinner tonight."
"They're throwing dinner parties already?" quipped Seth, grinning.
"That's what I said," chuckled Rose. "They're also thinking about moving in together now."
"That's really great," replied Seth. "It's good when everybody's in happy relationships."
"Are we?" asked Rose, seriously, nervously waiting for Seth's response.
"What do you mean?" frowned Seth, turning his body so his full attention was on her. "Are you not happy with me?"
"No, no, no that's not what I meant," said Rose frantically, grabbing his hand. "Of course I'm happy with you. I've just been thinking. Scorpius's girlfriend Elle was talking to me the other day and she admitted that she's really insecure and worried about my past with him. She wanted assurance that there were definitely no feelings between us. Ever since he came back, you've been worried about how I feel and that I'm okay but I've never asked you how you feel about it."
"I'm not going to lie, Rose, I'm not happy about it," said Seth frankly. "Sometimes I wonder whether or not you're as excited as I am about getting married because I know you've done it before. I know that you and all of your family describe your relationship as a disaster but it sounded like a whirlwind romance."
"Of course I'm excited about marrying you," protested Rose. "I married Scorpius on impulse. I never got to plan it, or wear a wedding dress, or enjoy the experience. And it was a disaster, we argued all the time, practically hated each other."
"True, so you ended up hating each other, but at the beginning it must have been thrilling," reasoned Seth. "You were young, thought you were in love, rebelling against your parents. Sometimes I think you'll look at him and remember what that felt like, that you'll want it again. You'll want to feel the exhilaration I can't provide you with."
"At that time in my life I was really unstable, and so was he," explained Rose. "I'm not sure it was ever love. We were bad for each other because we needed fixing. You're right; it was exciting. Lust isn't love though, and no matter how much we kidded ourselves it wasn't going to work. When I look at Scorpius now, I feel angry and hurt, but it's definitely not love."
"I'm sorry," sighed Seth. "I must sound really insecure but he used to be just a story and now he's very real. He's also an extremely attractive man."
"Not as good looking as you," said Rose, with a reassuring grin.
"Thanks but I know he's in a different league," said Seth dryly. "I've heard your female cousins talking about him before. They agreed that no matter how much he hurt you it had to have been worth it due to how good he must have been in bed."
"Oh," mouthed Rose, before staring at him sympathetically. "I'm sorry you had to hear that."
"I get it," said Seth. "Everybody has exes, it's just that you have a slightly more complicated past. I'm not marrying your past or who you used to be, I'm marrying you."
"If I could erase what happened, I would do," said Rose, squeezing his hand. "If it meant that it made you feel better."
"Without him in your past, you wouldn't be the girl I love now," said Seth warmly, before placing his lips over hers. Rose sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"We've got plenty of time before we've got to go out," winked Rose mischievously, pulling his mouth back to hers.
"Rose, I am so sorry," exclaimed Mia, as she swung open the apartment door. Rose looked at her in bewilderment but her friend left no pause for her to ask questions. "I didn't know, I swear, Albus thought it would help, the stupid ma-"
"Mia, please," interrupted Seth firmly, putting up his hand. "What's wrong?"
Mia took a deep breath before staring at Rose sympathetically. "Erm, well the thing is, you're not our only guests." Rose narrowed her eyes before walking through the door past Mia with a scowl on her face. She knew exactly why Mia was scared of her reaction but it wasn't her that needed to be; it was her darling ex-husband and her dear cousin. Elle and Scorpius had been sat on Al's couch, drinks in hand but being polite people they stood up as other guests arrived. Rose ignored everybody else and marched up to that darling ex-husband.
"I'm sick to death of this Malfoy," exclaimed Rose, infuriated. "Stop not telling me things. If I'd have known, I certainly wouldn't have been wasting my evening with you."
"Oh good evening to you too, Rose, you're looking as beautiful as ever," said Scorpius charmingly, as though he hadn't just had an angry redhead shouting at him. "And as for me keeping this from you, I couldn't, as I didn't know either. I'd also prefer if you used my first name as well, after all, you used to be a Malfoy too."
"And I couldn't wait until the day I wasn't," snapped Rose, rolling her eyes. "As for not knowing, I don't believe you. I don't believe a word that comes out of that lying mouth of yours."
"I'm not lying, Rose," sighed Scorpius, knowing she wouldn't believe him.
"He's really not," added Albus, as he walked in from the kitchen and handed Rose a drink. "This was my idea."
"What?"
"I asked Mia to invite you to dinner, and I invited Scorp to dinner," replied Albus firmly. "The only person who knew the real plan was me."
"Why would you do this to me?" asked Rose incredulously.
"Because as it turns out, the world does not rotate around you," said Albus, causing his cousin's mouth to drop open in shock. The pair were close and rarely had a bad word to say about each other. "I've always kept my friendship with Scorpius private because I didn't want to upset you and the family but he's back now and he's my best friend. And so are you. If either of you put me in position where I have to choose, I'm going to fall out with both of you."
Rose frowned. "I'm sorry, Al, it was just an unwanted surprise that's all."
"That's the politest way you could ever put it," quipped Scorpius, earning himself a glare from both cousins. "Sorry, I'll play nice."
"I suppose before there was ever a Rose and Scorpius you always argued anyways so this is probably the best I'm going to get," sighed Albus.
"My first dinner party and I'm going to have to play mediator," said Mia, pulling a face. Rose grinned and slotted her arm through hers and led her to the table with a "there, there,". Albus resigned himself to sitting down next to them and Elle joined them with a shy smile. There was an awkward pause as Scorpius and Seth still stood, eyeing each other up. Albus raised an eyebrow at her.
"We've never properly been introduced before," said Scorpius cordially, offer his hand. "Scorpius Malfoy."
"Seth Murray," replied Seth, firmly shaking his hand. "The new guy."
"Good luck with that," smirked Scorpius.
"Shut up," groaned Rose.
"She's always perfectly pleasant with me," said Seth with a smile.
"Fair enough," said Scorpius good naturedly, and the two men sat down to looks of bemusement from everybody else. "What?"
"I expected a bit of a pissing competition to be honest," said Albus confused. "You know, cause he's doing your ex-wife."
Rose's eyes widened. "Albus! I'm your cousin."
"Rose, at Hogwarts I had to put up with every male teenager talking about you or asking me to make you go out with them," said Albus matter-of-factly. "That and you weren't exactly quiet about it either. I've become immune about talking about your sex life."
"It doesn't mean my ears have," muttered Rose.
"Sounds as though you were very popular at school," commented Elle, taking a swig of wine.
"Too much for her own good," chuckled Al, merrily talking away regardless of Rose's glares. "I was actually happy when she ran away and shacked up with Scorp, I knew out of all the boys, I could trust him."
"And look how that played out," said Rose, pouring herself another glass of wine. Al shot her a warning look before going into the kitchen briefly to bring out their meal.
"Wow, Rose go easy, you never have more than one glass of wine," said Mia teasingly, although her soft brown eyes were concerned.
Scorpius scoffed loudly, and everybody looked at him strangely. "What? She used to drink more than anyone."
"A lot of things change," said Seth diplomatically, and the couples ate their meal more subdued than before.
"I know I said it early but seriously Rose you've drank a lot, maybe you should have a glass of water," suggested Mia helpfully.
"I'm fine," grinned Rose, her head gently swaying. "I could actually do with some more wine."
"Maybe not," said Al, vanishing the remaining bottles of wine with a flick of his wine. "Before you do something you regret."
"Well, it's about seven years too late for that piece of advice," laughed Rose heartlessly. Everybody could sense a shift in the mood. This was no longer light teasing or playful banter.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Scorpius, his voice eerily quiet.
"Just saying that the last time I made a drunken mistake, it was in marrying you," said Rose, drunk or sober she had never been one to stand down from Scorpius when he was angry, although she knew a lot of people would. If he got angry, it was a quiet brooding anger which made people feel uneasy. You never knew what he would do.
"Don't you dare, Rose," shouted Scorpius, slamming his hands down on the table making everybody jump. "You know as well as I do that you were perfectly sober that night and it's what you wanted. I don't care if you regret it or wish it never happened, but it was not a mistake."
Rose raised her eyebrows in an arrogant manner as if to say 'what do I care?', and downed what was left in her glass. She didn't shout back. Her head was fuzzy from the wine, and she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep her emotions in check. It had all got too serious for her. She knew she had reacted to what he had said with indifference but inside she was ashamed because she knew he was right. She also knew that she was too stubborn to say so.
"Perhaps we should call it a night," advised Seth, attempting to end the awkwardness in the room.
"Yeah, I have an early start tomorrow anyway," added Elle, avoiding Rose's eye. Whatever jealousies and insecurities Elle might have had, had been replaced with something akin to pity.
"Me too," said Mia, placing a hand on Rose's arm. "I think Rose definitely needs to sleep this off." She didn't even bother debating the fact; her friend was right.
"Don't let her disapparate home, Seth," said Scorpius suddenly. He had been pacing near the couch in his own world, but he had stopped at the mention of Rose's name. "She's not very good at concentrating when she's drunk. Her magic goes more off than what you'd think. Sorry, you probably already know this."
"Actually, I've never seen her drunk before," said Seth, furrowing his brow.
"Oh," replied Scorpius surprised. "Well then you definitely should know. It's not pretty when she splinches."
"We have some floo powder," said Albus, always prepared.
"Well, I think it's safe to say our first dinner party could have gone better," said Mia sarcastically, as she slipped her hand into her boyfriend's.