Artie Abrams felt awful, just awful. Ginny had been riding on his lap to classes and kissing him and he didn't feel like he loved her anymore. He didn't have the courage to tell her though, and he hated how guilty he felt. He didn't dislike her, he thought she was a very lovely girl and that she was very funny, and he didn't want to hurt her.
But with every single dispassionate kiss, he felt like Ginny was catching onto him. He didn't want to take his chances with their dissolving relationship becoming sloppy.
"Ginny?" Artie asked apprehensively. They were in the middle of a very rowdy Charms class, and he had a particularly strong rush of courage and very stupidly thought that he had to do it right then. He hadn't yet realized he'd be sitting next to her the entire lesson, and that it would be very awkward.
"Yeah?" she asked, not looking at him. She was trying to make a pillow do back flips all the way into a box in the middle of the room, and no one but Hermione Granger had done it yet.
"I have something I need to get off my chest." Artie said, his vicious determination flying away fast.
He didn't know what he was doing anymore. His mind was a mess. He looked over at Luna, who didn't even seem to be paying attention to the lesson. She had been like a ray of hope to him lately. When little problems like homework or his almost nonexistent social life or the fact he was falling out of love with his girlfriend consumed his mind he would look over at her, looking so peaceful and at ease with life, and he would relax too. He wanted to talk to her more, but whenever he thought about rolling over to her, his palms would start sweating and he would hear his heart pounding in his ears so he would turn away and distract himself with something else.
"What's up?" Ginny asked. Her pillow did a few back flips, but then seemed to get tired and flopped over on the desk again. She scowled at it.
Artie felt himself starting to sweat. He always did when he was nervous, and he hated it. The words he was trying to say got caught in his throat, they jumbled and chocked him.
"I- I uh, I think, we should…" he looked around the room desperately, looking for something to make the situation better. Ginny was looking at him curiously now. But he saw Harry Potter, glaring daggers at him then more softly at Ginny. His friend Ron noticed and then Harry looked as though he was wildly explaining something to him. Ron looked confused and unconvinced. Artie swallowed. Ok, so Harry liked Ginny. Or something. How did that help him?
"Ithinkweshouldtakeabreak," Artie said, looking up at Ginny. She seemed to get the gist of what he was saying, but it seemed she wanted the specifics because she leaned towards him a bit and said, "What?"
Artie closed his eyes and thought about Luna. He took a big, deep, calming breath. He was a man. He could do this. This was going to be the first of many breakups, he had to start somewhere.
"I think," he said calmly, looking at her with a steady gaze, "That we should take a break. Maybe… for a long time."
"From our relationship?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow. Artie pursed his lips and nodded. Ginny sighed and looked at her pillow.
"I really didn't want to mess this up, but…" Artie said, but Ginny cut him off.
"You like someone else," she said, more calmly than he had expected. Artie was flabbergasted.
"What?" he asked.
"You like Luna Lovegood, a lot. It's kind of noticeable… I've actually been expecting you to break up with me for a while and… you know, yeah. You really do like her," Ginny said with a little shrug.
Artie looked up at Luna, trying for some sort of conformation. He wanted to know if that was true or not. That time, Luna actually noticed him. She looked at him and smiled, completely disregarding her work for two seconds and focusing all her attention on Artie. His heart started pounding and he had to fight back a painfully large urge to smile. He turned back to Ginny, who had her head in her hand and was waving her wand feebly.
"If it makes you feel any better, I think Harry Potter likes you," Artie said, trying to sound comforting. Either way, Ginny did look slightly more cheerful the rest of the lesson.
After his break-up with Ginny, Artie had told himself all day, you're going to go talk to her, you're going to go talk to her. He tried to figure out why she made him so nervous. Maybe it was her selective use of logic, as compared to the way he used it all the time. It might be the eerie way that she didn't seem to need to blink as much as other people. Maybe it was that the only person she seemed to hang out with was the biggest boy in Ravenclaw, Dave Karofsky. Artie knew him and thought he was okay, but still didn't think that he should hang around Slytherin's so much. In his opinion, they were generally a bad influence.
That night in the common room, he was pressuring himself to make his move. He knew they were in the habit of getting up and leaving, probably to talk to people of other houses. But they were still there, later than usual tonight, and Artie was clenching and unclenching his hands around the armrests in his wheelchair. He finally just tried to drop his nervousness and took his hands off his armrests and put them on his wheels.
"Hey guys," he said with a smile when he rolled up. Dave Karofsky looked a bit protective of someone entering their little group, but Luna smiled to herself.
"Hello, Artie," she said, not looking up from the essay she was completing. There was a smudge of ink on her nose. Artie thought it was adorable.
"Have you met Dave?" she asked, sounding perfectly curious. Artie looked up and smiled at Dave, who seemed to be relaxing.
"Yeah, I have. We're in the same dorm," Artie said with a little nod. Dave looked down at Luna.
There was a brief pause before Artie said, "What you working on?"
Luna stared at her essay in mild frustration and her nose scrunched up a bit.
"An essay for Snape. I'm not very good at any of his classes, see. He's too mean to the other students for me to concentrate," Luna said, strangely calm. Artie nodded.
"Yeah. He's kind of harsh to the Hufflepuff's and I don't like to generalize houses but I don't really think they know how to fight back," Artie said with a shrug.
"Uh, we actually know a Hufflepuff girl who could take Snape," Dave said with a little smile, finally jumping into the conversation.
"Well cool! Like I said, I don't want to stereotype a whole house," Artie said with a shrug.
They were finally relaxing into the conversation and were all finally comfortable talking to one another. True, Dave did lean in protectively to Luna when he saw some of Artie's more entranced looks, but the night went along very smoothly.
At least Artie thought so, as he stared dreamily up at his dorm ceiling, his heart still beating a bit faster than normal.
000
Santana was a bit nervous. She had been nervous all day, from morning until night. She was meeting Dave tonight and they would be completely alone from the very first time they met. But they both agreed that it would be better if they started to talk about their relationship issues in private. Santana, however, got ahead of the game that morning.
She walked up to Kurt Hummel in the Slytherin common room that morning as he was reading a book on boggarts, dementors and other fear-inducing magical creatures for Snape. She sat down right across from him and just grinned devilishly, not saying anything. Even though Kurt was ignoring her, she knew that he had noticed her. After a good thirty seconds of just sitting there, Kurt closed his book and looked up at her, apparently very annoyed and not hiding it at all.
"Can I help you?" he asked irritably, looking like he wanted to hex her. Santana kept grinning.
"Hey. Kurt Hummel, right?" Santana said in a falsely breathy, sweet voice. She cocked her head charmingly and swayed a bit in her chair. Kurt wasn't falling for her sweet routine. He had watched her acting like a jerk to other students for six years and though they weren't really friends, he had seen her 'sweet' routine.
"That's me," Kurt said, still completely unamused.
"Remember that one time when you taught my friend Brittany that French song?" Santana asked, still smiling. Kurt didn't even bat an eyelash. Santana took it as a yes.
"Well, I still haven't repaid that favour. See, my friend and I have this deal and believe it or not, it involves you."
"Oh no," Kurt muttered, letting his head fall into his hand. Santana wasn't disheartened, and she was going to make everything work out whether Kurt liked it or not.
"Now tell me this, do you remember that Herbology lesson you had with Dave Karofsky?" Santana asked, suddenly sounding a lot more threatening than sweet. Kurt raised an eyebrow at her.
"Yes… I do," Kurt said, slow and cautious. He didn't know what she was trying to figure out, but he was wary around her. "But I don't see what this has to do with Brittany or repaying a favour."
He looked at her skeptically.
"Well, if you remember Dave, you'll find out exactly how everything goes together," Santana said, very cheerful again. Suddenly, a very tired look swept across Kurt's face. He leaned into Santana, grateful for the little table between them.
"Are you trying to set me up with Dave?" Kurt asked, his voice lower and slower than his usual quick, snappy, high-pitched voice. Santana leaned in as well.
"Depends. Does he have what you want in a boyfriend?" she asked, looking mean again. He glared at her.
"I've met him once Santana. He's nice. He's handsome. I wouldn't mind talking to him again. But I don't know him," Kurt said. He sighed and leaned back a bit. "I'll tell you what, Santana. I'll let you try and set Dave up with me. I have been thinking about him lately and I would like to talk… so do whatever you want."
"Wait, you're giving me free reign with your romantic life?" Santana said, almost in disbelief. Kurt nodded seriously.
"Pretty much." he said. Santana let out a little breathless laugh.
"Okay, I'm tempted to make both your lives a living, embarrassing hell, but for Dave's sake, I won't. See you soon, Kurt," she said before getting up and leaving. Kurt rolled his eyes and just opened his book back up, reading as though nothing had happened.
But as her and Dave's meeting approached, Santana was growing a bit jittery. She even snapped at some first year Ravenclaw's in Spanish for walking too close to her in the corridors. They looked a bit concerned for her as well as themselves as they walk away. She walked almost jerkily to the Room of Requirement. When she got there, she walked three times back and forth in front of the empty wall, thinking about their usual meeting room and Dave. The door blossomed into view and she walked in. Dave was sitting there, practicing his Transfiguration homework. Santana walked in and sat across from him. Their eyes met and there was an extremely awkward silence.
"Okay, I think we can both agree that you help me first," Santana said bossily. Dave's uncomfortable look was wiped off his face to be replaced by an indignant one.
"When did I ever agree to that?" he asked angrily.
"I did for you since I talked to Kurt for you this morning," Santana said, giving him a triumphant look. He blushed, and she recounted everything from her encounter with Kurt, playing up the bit about Dave being handsome just a bit more than necessary and leaving out the part about Kurt catching onto what Santana was doing and her new deal with him. Dave sat shifting a bit in his seat, which was something Santana knew he did when he was uncomfortable, but he was also obviously trying not to look too extremely pleased.
"Okay, so help me with Britt!" Santana said impatiently right after her story was finished. Dave looked up at the ceiling, hoping inspiration would fall from it and hit him on the face. He had never had to try and impress a girl before, even if it was through someone else.
"Well… how long have you known her?" Dave asked, scratching the back of his head, still gazing at the ceiling. Santana looked at the wall thoughtfully.
"Since we were like, seven," she said. Dave looked a bit surprised; he didn't know they had known each other for that long.
"How long have you liked her?" Dave asked. It was Santana's turn to feel a bit out of place.
"Since we were like, seven," Santana said, determinedly staring at the wall on the right side of Dave. He didn't know what to say to that, so he just pressed on with the questions.
"Is there anything in particular she likes?" Dave said. Santana looked at him like he just said something stupid.
"Be specific." she snapped.
"She likes cats, right?" Dave said, now speaking as if Santana was an overemotional four year old. But inspiration dawned on Santana's face.
"Yeah!" she said enthusiastically, but then her happy expression was exchanged for a downtrodden one right away. "But I can't just get her a cat. That's really sudden," she mumbled, looking down.
"Well, like, get her used to getting presents first. Like, don't spoil her rotten, but, like, pick her a flower, then buy her a nice hair clip or something, then get her a cat collar and she'll be all 'What the hell?' but then you'll get her a cat and it'll be really cute… or something…" Dave said, trailing off. Santana grinned.
"Cool idea," she said. Dave grinned. But then he stopped smiling, looking at his friend seriously. "You should just talk to her too."
"What?" Santana asked.
"Talk to her. Like… I dunno… buy her a cat and then come out to her and then ask her out. But over time. Like, put a day in-between them all. Or weeks, whatever. But you can't just buy her a cat and expect her to love you."
Santana knew Dave was right, but she just mumbled, "You couldn't even come out to yourself. What do you know about relationships?"
Their little meeting ended soon after that comment, and Santana lay awake that night, wondering what kind of flowers Brittany liked.
