Real Self
Severus fiddled with the buttons on his dress robe. He felt ridiculous, really. As Tobi had so helpfully pointed out earlier, he had much worse things happen to him. However, the formal attire felt awkward on him, and he honestly just hoped he looked passable.
"Ready to go, Sevvy?" Tobi asked from behind him.
Without turning, he mumbled, "Yeah…" He straightened his robes for the fourth time (he was so flustered that he was counting?) and heard Tobi sigh behind him. "What?"
"Would you pay attention to me if I looked like her?" Tobi inquired, saying "her" with enough distaste that she was obviously referencing Lily.
Severus turned around to reply when he froze.
Tobi had hopped up onto the top of the sofa and laid down along the back. She had hiked her dress up above her knees and cradled her head in one hand. Her face looked disconcertingly like Lily's, and her lips were an absurdly bright red. When she spoke, the whole common room turned to stare at her… for too long…
"Get down from there!" Severus hissed, shoving Tobi off the back of the couch and onto the cushions. She landed in a ruffled and disconcerted mess. She gave an exaggerated pout, which only emphasized her gaudy lips…
"What? That is what she looks like," Tobi protested, flipping her flaming red hair. "I've heard love makes you blind or whatever, but-"
"No," he quickly interrupted, "it's not that. People were staring at you."
As soon as the words had left his mouth, he knew he was in trouble. "Well, I'm sorry if I'm embarrassing you. At least you're honest-"
"No!" he exclaimed in frustration. Nothing he said was coming out right. "You can do whatever you want, and it wouldn't embarrass me. I don't even mind that much when you tease Lily. I just don't want people seeing you like that. They don't see Lily when you look like that; they see you, and they look at the wrong things, and-"
"Are you trying to protect me from a vicious crowd of peepers and pervs?" Tobi finally interrupted with mild amusement in her voice.
"Yeah," Severus weakly responded. Somehow, despite his bumbling, he had gotten through… sort of. "You could say it like that, maybe. Just please pull your back dress down, at least?"
Tobi laughed and abided. Still lying on the sofa, she straightened herself up a bit and smiled up at him. "Now, am I pretty enough?" she teased.
"You look better as yourself," Severus quietly told her.
"Okay, fine," she grumbled as she changed back to her normal appearance. She grinned up at him with white-blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, and pale, spotless complexion.
"No," he hesitantly spoke. He suddenly felt… shy? "Your real self. You don't need to pretend to be Lily, or a Slytherin, or a Phoenix, or anyone else. You're my best friend, Tobi. You're prettiest when you're yourself."
Tobi blinked, and silently morphed into her real face: short, ruffled brown hair, muddy green eyes, and freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose. She carefully avoided his gaze. "I'm not pretty," she quietly disagreed.
"Tobi, when you're yourself, you're beautiful," he assured. He wondered where the confidence in his voice came from. None of this felt real to him. When did Tobi ever need reassuring? Where were his words coming from? "Freckles and all," he added.
This caught her attention, and her gaze snapped up to him. "Really?" she inquired. Her eyes, finally her own, looked huge and vulnerable in the dim green light. There was surprise, and something deeper that Severus couldn't recognize. Then, she blinked, and it was all locked away inside of her. "Come on. We wouldn't want to be late." She hopped up and started for the door.
Severus tried to figure out what had just happened between them for a moment before he moved to follow her.
Losing Severus Snape
Severus had been bracing himself all that night. No, he had been bracing himself ever since anyone had mentioned that there was going to be a prom. It still hadn't been enough.
He thought he was going to die.
Tobi had been careful to arrange for a table as far away as possible from Lily and James (Catherine had taken care of it, he supposed with a sick feeling), and she had made sure he was facing away from the couple, but it wasn't enough. She had even whirled his chair around right before it had happened to no avail.
Lily had kissed that two-faced, bullying git. It wasn't like she had let James kiss her… No, she had leaned over and kissed him smack on the lips, and James had turned bright red. JAMES.
Severus' world had just ended.
Tobi awkwardly fiddled with her drink. Up to that point, she had quite graciously ignored Severus' sneaked glances (although, he had noticed her blanch once out of the corner of his eye). After his reaction to the kiss, however, she bore a mixture of sadness, pity, and something that almost looked like disappointment.
He knew he had probably just ruined her evening. She always got so tore up when she knew she couldn't help him. He had to try to right it just for her sake. It was the last day of school, after all, and he didn't want her to remember it like this.
"Tobi-" he began.
"You should just let her go, you know," Tobi suddenly and sullenly informed. "She's with Potter, now, and look at her. She's happy. She's not the Lily who hid under bushes and went ice skating with you and thought Potter was a git. She's changed since then, and so have you. She just knew when to let go."
"Don't you think I've tried to let her go?" Severus desperately responded. "I've tried so hard, Tobi. I just… can't."
"Yes. You. Can," Tobi earnestly countered. "Part of love is chemistry or whatever, but the rest is a choice. You can choose to let her be happy with Potter and leave it be-"
"But I can't!" Severus replied. "I know she's happy. That's why I've never told her that… never told her. I'm fine with just being her friend. I tell myself that it's better this way, but every time I see her with that git-"
"After today, you'll never even have to see her again!" Tobi pointed out. "You need to move on. Getting stuck on her is just going to eat you up. Change sucks when it happens, but it sometimes, it's for the best, and you just have to go with it. You're so blinded by her that someone might be heads-over-heels for you, and you'll never notice."
"It doesn't matter whether I notice or not," Severus glumly responded. "I wouldn't be able to appreciate her. At the most, she would only be a distraction for me to get over Lily, and that's not really fair to her, is it?"
"Well, at least you're honest," Tobi quietly and dejectedly remarked. She was silent for a moment before correcting him in the same voice, "It could be a guy, you know. That likes you, I mean."
Severus tried for a smile, but his mouth didn't want to respond. "At this point, I think it's pretty obvious that I'm not homosexual." Lily's name passed through both of their minds, and Severus tried to chase it away with a hasty: "I don't think you would mention it if she was a guy."
"It's someone you know," Tobi informed, tucking a loose stand of brown hair behind her ear. It promptly fell away again. "Someone you might be friends with."
"I don't really have any female friends," he answered. Even while pitifully depressed, she still managed to send him a semi-pointed look. "Oh, no… Catherine is not my friend."
Tobi moaned and hid her face in her hands.
"Jenna?" he inquired. "Tammy?" He tried to think of some of Tobi's other female friends…
Tobi ran a hand down her face and sat up straight with a sigh. "You're hopeless," she declared with surprising conviction. "You're not going to get over her."
It was almost more of a statement than a question, and even if it was a question, it was rhetorical. He answered, anyway. "No…" He never thought that one simple word could ever make him feel so defeated.
She stood up and pushed her seat in. "Everyone can choose to give things up and move on. It's hard, and it hurts, but it can be done. See? I'll prove it. Severus… I am officially giving up on you. I always knew that you loved her, and that I would have to settle for second, but… Well, all this time, I've held out on you, tried not to push you, ignored all the dumb, heartbreaking things you said because you didn't know any better… gosh, just hoped that maybe things would be different if you just noticed… And tonight, I actually almost thought that maybe…"
She trailed off for a moment, looking hopelessly lost. Severus was flooded with shock and guilt as the memory of the common room flashed through his head: Tobi staring at him with huge eyes as he told her she was the best as herself, even calling her beautiful… He had only meant to make her feel better about herself, but later, it was obvious what it had sounded like. Had he really…? All this time…? He thought he might puke.
Tobi collected herself with another sigh and lifted her chin. "But honestly, I've kind of always knew that you would never see me like that, even if I couldn't admit it. Well, I'm admitting it, now. Lily, the ungrateful, irritating monster that she is, stole your heart a long time ago, and I'm never going to get a piece of it. I can see that, now. Yeah, saying it out loud doesn't making it feel any better, and it's going to hurt for a while, but it's not going to hurt for forever. People move on, Severus, and I'm choosing to move on from you."
With that, she turned and started to leave. Severus hastily stood up, knocking over his chair. "Tobi-!" he desperately started. Let them all stare at him. He didn't care, anymore.
She stopped and faced him one last time. "See?" she softly inquired. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" Her voice cracked at the end, and her eyes glistened with unshed tears. She quickly whirled around and plunged away from him into the crowd.
He started after her, but he couldn't bring himself to follow. There was nothing to say to her, because everything that she had said was true, and she had known it for a long time. "You're so blinded by HER that someone might be heads-over-heels for you, and you'll never notice." How had he not seen it? By trying to get Lily back, he had lost Tobi.
The worst part was that he wasn't sure which was worse.
Your Contract is Terminated
Tobi stumbled through the crowd, determined not to cry. She had promised herself that she wouldn't cry, couldn't cry…
Eyes blurry, it was still easy for her to find Sebastian lurking in the back of the room. He was still a good head taller than most everyone else. She shuffled over next to him and proceeded to bang her head into the wall. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
She felt Sebastian watch her for a while. Then, he caught the back of her head and gently turned so that she faced towards him. She paused for a moment before bumping her head into him, instead. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Sebastian held perfectly still and let her do it. Never flinching, he let it go on for a minute or two before he spoke. "Should I kill him?" he inquired in a voice devoid of emotion.
Tobi stopped and took a step back. "You were watching," she accused without much fury. She felt empty. He didn't bother denying it, so she continued. "Where's your date? Shouldn't you be with her?"
"She left me at the door," he simply responded.
"Oh," Tobi responded. That sounded like a very Catherine thing to do. The whole "date" thing had always sounded too good to be true. "That's not very nice of her, but it still doesn't give you an excuse to spy on me."
"I'm your Demon Boy," he responded. "It's my job to watch you."
There. That was enough to spark some anger. Sometimes, she forgot that he was only nice to her because he had to be. She could fix that, though. "Well, I relieve you of your duty," she retorted. "You are no longer my demon. You're released from the contract. I don't need you, anymore. I'm done with Hogwarts. Tomorrow, I'm outta this place, and I'll have no use for a demon slave. I've got a Dark Lord to kill, a fortune to make, a world to conquer… Having a demon just makes me too obvious. You're a cliché, really, so I'm done with you. You're no longer bound to me. You're freed. Now, get lost."
Each word she spoke cut into her, but she forced herself to finish. She was doing him a favor. He didn't have to follow her around, anymore. Oh, she was just going to ruin everything that night, wasn't she? Well, Catherine was pretty indifferent and wouldn't ask irritating questions. She might not even notice that Tobi was a train wreck-
It was at that point in her thoughts that she looked up and realized that Sebastian hadn't moved. "Didn't you hear me?" she snapped. "Go away. Get lost. Scram. Shoo. Bye-bye."
He still didn't budge. However, he did get a very queer un-Sebastian-like expression on his face. "No," he finally spoke.
"What did you just say?" Tobi demanded.
"No," he more forcefully replied, but his strange face did not change. "You freed me, so I don't have to do what you say."
Tobi blinked, and all of her rage was gone. "What?" Tobi softly inquired. She hated the weakness in her voice, but she had to ask. "You're not going to leave me…?"
"I wouldn't leave you," he gently responded. He moved to wipe a tear from her eye but thought better of it. Instead, he stepped back like she might bite him if he pushed his luck. "Unless you wanted me to."
For a moment, she was breathless and lost her entire vocabulary. Something flashed through his eyes (Hurt? Sadness? Disappointment?), and panic surged through her. She did the only thing she could: she launched herself at his stomach and threw her arms around him. "I don't want you to go," she told his shirt, "but I don't want to make you stay, either."
Before she could even finish, he was hugging her back. He brushed her hair away from her ear and whispered, "Why would I leave you, Shorty?"
As strong as Tobi thought she was, she couldn't help it. She broke her only promise to herself.
She cried.
No Kitty, No! Bad Kitty!
"If this is what Sebastian looks like, I hate to see what you did to Snape," Catherine declared. A loud click bounced off the corner of the room.
Tobi turned around. She had stopped crying pretty quickly. It was embarrassing. She was supposed to be invincible Tobi, not a blubbering girl who lost her date-slash-ignorant-crush-slash-best-friend-who-had-been-corrupted-by-the-dark-arts. However, she hadn't had the heart to fix her makeup, so she probably looked like a raccoon. Up to this point, it hadn't mattered; she had just plopped into a chair in the back of the room and leaned on Sebastian, who decided to take it upon himself to protect her from the rest of the world. Facing Catherine, she realized with mild surprise that she should've fixed it.
Catherine slowly lowered her Polaroid. When the picture rolled out, she smoothly slid it out and tapped it with her wand before it could develop. Instantly, it burst into flames and crumbled away into ashes. Catherine then gave Tobi a hard look. "Snape?" she calmly inquired.
"I told him that if I could get over him, he could get over Lily," Tobi quietly informed. She didn't like the intensity in Catherine's eyes. "Oh, and he might have said I would only be a distraction."
Catherine's grip on her wand left her knuckles white. She whirled around and started to leave.
"Um… Where are you going?" Tobi inquired.
Catherine turned around. "To kill him," she matter-of-factly replied. Her voice was calm but icy, and fury danced in her eyes.
Tobi decided that a furious Catherine was terrifying because:
1. Catherine was never more than mildly irritated.
2. Catherine was not the kind of person who lost their head when she got angry. She carefully examined a million ways to kill you before picking the most efficient, painful one.
3. Catherine was never angry. About anything. Ever.
This stated, Tobi wasn't worried. "You know, Sebastian said the same thing," she commented.
"Good," Catherine responded. She then strode off to make good on her word.
Tobi let her go for a few meters before wondering if Catherine was actually serious. Tobi glanced at Sebastian, who appeared mildly concerned. Uh-oh. She froze in horror. "Kitty?" No response. "Kitty!" Nothing. "OH MY GOSH! KITTY!" she wailed. She raced after her and desperately clung to her arm. "No! Kitty! You can't kill him! He didn't actually say it like that! KITTY! He didn't know, and he was my best friend, and I'm only halfway over him! Killing him won't make me feel better!"
Catherine stopped and sighed. "Alright," she muttered.
Tobi sighed in relief. "You scared me for a while, there," she admitted. "You really weren't going to kill him, were you?" Catherine did not respond. "OH MY GOSH-"
"I won't kill him," Catherine promised. She sighed. "Are you sure you're alright?"
Tobi looked away. "Yeah…" Something in Catherine's gaze softened, and Tobi was being crushed… in a hug? Catherine was hugging her? "Kitty…?" Tobi demanded.
Catherine pulled back. "Yeah?" she inquired.
"You hate hugs," Tobi informed.
"Yes, I'm well aware," Catherine dryly informed.
"Well, you just hugged me," Tobi continued.
Catherine sighed in mild exasperation. "Oh, thank you. I didn't know that," she answered, but her sarcasm wasn't as biting as normal.
"Do I look that bad?" Tobi demanded.
Catherine snorted. "No," she answered, "but you sound terrible."
"Thanks," Tobi replied, rolling her eyes. "I think I'm going to go back to banging my head against the wall."
"You'll kill your brain cells," Catherine stated.
"That's the point," Tobi answered. "To stop thinking."
"But you won't stop thinking," Catherine protested. "You'll damage your ability to recall factual data without suppressing your depression at the loss of…"
"Geez, you sound like he died," Tobi remarked. Then, less enthusiastically, "Can we please just drop it?"
Catherine nodded. "I will if you promise not to hit your head on the wall, anymore," she declared.
"Fine," Tobi replied. "I'll hit my head against Sebastian some more."
Catherine looked between Tobi and Sebastian and decided that she did not have an adequate response. Instead, she began to rifle through her the pictures she had taken. If there was anything in the world that Tobi hated most, it was when people ignored her (especially on purpose). Catherine was exceptionally talented at it.
"Gimme those," Tobi demanded, snatching them away from her. Catherine groaned but let her look at them. "Ha, ha," Tobi commented at a picture of Alice and Frank. "You've been photobombed."
"What?" Catherine curiously inquired.
Tobi flipped through them with faint amusement. "Uh-huh," she responded. "Bliss is in the background of all of these."
"What?" Catherine repeated. She pulled the pictures away and stared. "Okay, Tobi, that's not funny. How did you do that?"
"I didn't do it," Tobi admitted. "If I did, it would be me. Or maybe Susan. Definitely not my evil-taking-over-the-world rival."
Catherine shook her head. "That's insane," she muttered. "How did she even get in?"
"One of the seventh years must have taken her as their date," Tobi mused. "I highly pity them." Catherine groaned and stared at the ceiling. "What?"
Catherine picked up her camera. "Give me something to take a picture of," she instructed.
"My illustrious self?" Tobi suggested.
"You look like a raccoon," Catherine bluntly informed.
"You said I looked nice!" Tobi complained.
"I may have maybe lied a little," Catherine admitted. "Now, what should I take a picture of?"
"You shouldn't," Tobi responded.
"Why not?" Catherine inquired in confusion.
Tobi grinned and snatched the camera away from her. "Because, there's not a single picture of you in there-"
"There's three," Catherine automatically corrected.
"-with you and your date," Tobi finished. She shoved Catherine towards Sebastian and snapped the shot before she could make a comeback. Catherine tumbled back into him, but he quickly caught her before she landed on the floor.
"Thank you," Catherine responded, straightening her dress and muttering something about killing the person who invented heels. She swiped her Polaroid back. "Do you know part of why I love photography?" she suddenly queried.
"I dunno," Tobi admitted, watching the picture develop with evil glee.
"I can make sure I'm in none of the pictures," Catherine responded.
Sebastian gave an appreciative half laugh, half snort. Catherine glanced at him in surprise but did not comment. Instead, she looked at the picture as Tobi snickered. "Beautiful," Tobi informed. "I'm keeping it forever."
"Ugh," Catherine groaned. She distastefully watched the picture version of herself fall back into Sebastian, who carefully caught her and lifted her to her feet. She fixed her dress again before glaring at the viewer. When Sebastian offered his arm to her, however, she sighed and obliged with a grim acceptance. Picture Sebastian smirked at her discomfort, causing Catherine to bear a reluctant half-smile.
Real Catherine passed it to real Sebastian, who looked at it with uncharacteristic amusement. "Happy, now?" she demanded as she glared at Tobi.
"Bliss is in the background," Sebastian informed, passing it back to Catherine.
"What?!" she almost yelped. Tobi could help but laugh. Catherine's face turned white. "But- she was on the other side of the room! I checked!"
"It's magic, Kitty," Tobi teased.
"Oh, you are not funny," Catherine responded, thrusting it at her. "Keep it."
Tobi pocketed it before returning her search through the photos. "Aha!" she commented upon finding the picture of her and Catherine from earlier in the evening. "Would either of you happen to have a quill?" Tobi commented.
Catherine surprisingly did. "You're going to autograph your pictures?" she almost skeptically inquired as she handed Tobi the quill.
"Naturally," Tobi answered. "I have a magnificent profile, you know." She thought for a moment before doodling on the picture and dramatically signing her name at the bottom. "There you go."
"Our Friendship Doodle?" Catherine inquisitively read. The picture had Tobi smiling enthusiastically (with a gorgeously drawn mustache that her picture self was admiring) and Catherine with more of an "Ugh… Tobi…" smile (probably because of said mustache). Around them, Tobi had scribbled adjectives. "Really?"
"What?" Tobi demanded. "You are boring. And indifferent. And-"
Catherine face palmed. "You called yourself a 'clingy dumb blonde'."
"What?" Tobi repeated. "I'm clinging, and I've got nothin' in my noggin."
Catherine sighed but decided not to press it. Instead, she looked around. "Tobi… Where's your jacket?"
Tobi looked around, as well. "On my chair," she gloomily informed. "Next to Sevvy."
Catherine sighed and made a rather horrible face that she only got when she realized her self-righteous self would force her to do something distinctly unpleasant to ensure the survival of the human race. "I'll get it," she sullenly announced.
"You hate Severus, don't you?" Tobi suddenly realized.
"Well, he did break your heart like five minutes ago-" Catherine teased.
Tobi dismissed her. "No, not just right now," she replied. "You've always hated Severus."
"'Hated' is a strong word," Catherine neutrally responded. "And 'always' is a bit excessive."
Sebastian was shaking slightly, and Tobi realized he was trying not to laugh. "Wait? How did Sebastian figure this out before me?" she demanded.
A burst of laughter escaped Sebastian. Catherine shrugged. "He actually listens?" she offered. "I think he's known the whole time." He nodded in confirmation.
Tobi shook her head in disbelief. "Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded.
Catherine looked semi-guilty. "He wasn't my friend," she slowly and carefully replied. "And it wouldn't have changed anything. And you were kind of smitten with him since third year."
"I was not!" Tobi denied, mostly just surprised that Catherine ever noticed. Catherine seemed to have been much less indifferent than she appeared under her heartless appearance. "Sixth year," she corrected.
"Fourth," Catherine countered.
"Fifth," Tobi conceded. "And who in the world says, 'smitten'?"
Catherine gave an apologetic smirk. "I know," she admitted. "Be right back." She plunged into the crowd towards Severus.
"Smitten?" Tobi repeated after she was out of hearing distance.
"She's trying to cheer you up," Sebastian explained.
"But-"
"She knows that you'll reject any pity," he informed, "so she's trying to make you feel better without letting you know that she's trying to make you feel better. She likes to help people while irritating them so much that they never realize what she's done. She won't admit to it, though."
"I can see that, maybe," Tobi responded. "But it isn't helping."
"She made you smile," he pointed out.
"She did?" she inquired. "Oh. She did…"
After a few minutes of awkward silence, Catherine rejoined the pair with a rather uncomfortable face. "Found it," she declared, tossing Tobi's jacket at her.
"What took you so long?" Tobi demanded. Sebastian elbowed her from behind. "Hey! I was teasing her! She knows I love her! Right?"
Catherine moved to face palm but hesitated about an inch from her face. "I will find the Egyptians who thought cosmetics would be a good idea," she quietly but viciously swore, lowering her hand.
Tobi smirked a little. "You are a terrible girl," she informed.
"You just now noticed?" Catherine retorted.
"No," Tobi assured. "I'm just making sure you knew."
Catherine stared at the ceiling as if it would give her some sanity back, but she was smiling just a little bit. "Oh, I had to put in a request or two," Catherine informed, "which is part of what took me so long."
"Catherine!" Penny called, swerving through the crowd. "There you are. We need some help-"
"Be right back," Catherine promised.
"Hotel California" ended. It was followed by "Lean on Me", "Bridge Over Troubled Waters", "Here Comes the Sun".
Tobi cocked her head. "Do you think she's still trying to cheer me up?" Sebastian gave her an incredulous look. "Oh, it's not that obvious." Moments later, "Imperial March" from Star Wars blasted through the crowd. "Okay, now, it is."
The pair sat there for a moment or two in companionable silence.
"Well, this night was a bum," Tobi declared. "Although, I'm not surprised. School parties are almost always terrible."
"At least red heads aren't my type," Sebastian offered.
Tobi nodded. "Yeah…" she agreed. "No souls. Demon's worst nightmare." She waited a moment before taking the bait. "So, what is your type, exactly?"
"Brown hair and freckles," Sebastian informed with surprisingly little hesitation.
"So you do like Kitty!" Tobi declared, hopping out of her seat. She grinned and grabbed his arm. "Well, come on! Don't let her-" She broke off at his growing smile. "What…?"
"I'm laughing because you're amusing, Shorty," Sebastian teased.
Tobi folded her arms. "Don't call me that," she responded.
"You didn't yell at me when I said it earlier," Sebastian reminded.
"You did?" Tobi inquired. She thought back. "I was having an emotional breakdown! It didn't count."
"Whatever you say, Shorty."
"Just because you're insanely tall, doesn't mean I'm short!"
"No, it doesn't," Sebastian agreed. Tobi sighed in relief. "You being short makes you short."
"Ugh…" Tobi moaned as she snuggling back up against him. "You're impossible."
She felt Sebastian laugh as he put an arm around her. "You are impossible," he informed.
"Maybe," Tobi admitted. She could feel his gaze. "Okay… definitely."
Freckles
"Go on, Sebastian," Tobi prompted. "Tell Kitty about your true feelings for her."
Catherine arched her eyebrows. This would not be good.
"I think you are nice person," Sebastian declared, "whether you admit it or not. I'm glad that you are friends with Tobi."
"Well, thank you…?" Catherine bemusedly responded. She wasn't sure how to respond, especially since it was clearly not what Tobi was expecting to hear. "You're nice, too, I guess… Definitely my favorite of Tobi's friends."
"Okay…" Tobi responded. "I guess we'll have to take this slower than I thought."
"Take what slow…?" Catherine cautiously inquired.
"Tell her, Sebastian," Tobi insisted.
Sebastian gave Tobi that look he got when someone was missing the obvious. Catherine realized with some amusement that over the years of trailing after Tobi together, she had picked up on a lot of Sebastian's mannerisms. She didn't exactly count Sebastian as a friend, but she didn't dislike him, either, which was probably a pretty remarkable feat.
"Tobi, he doesn't like me," Catherine declared, breaking the silence. It was easy enough for her to piece the clues together.
Tobi looked mildly disconcerted but didn't ask how she knew what was up. "Yes, he does," she argued. "He admitted it earlier. He said he liked a brunette with freckles."
Catherine stared at Tobi in disbelief for a moment or two. "Should I tell her?" Catherine inquired.
"Tell her what?" Tobi demanded, hands on her hips.
Sebastian, still grinning, gave a slight shake of his head- "no".
"Nothing," Catherine responded.
Tobi glanced incredulously from Catherine to Sebastian. "This is just proof that you love each other," she declared, trying to purposefully rile Catherine up.
It worked. "Really? You honestly can't see that-"
"Oh… He's already told you?" Tobi guessed.
Catherine groaned. "Tobi, we're not-"
"Oh, yeah?" Tobi demanded. "Explain why you're not all red. Normally, whenever anyone suggests romantic anything, you get really red and flustered. Compliments from boys make you shut everyone out. Compliments from girls who maybe aren't the straightest make you go into panic mode. Just mentioning the word 'date' made you freak out, but Sebastian asks once and you're all-"
Catherine felt herself start to turn said red color as she defended herself. "I've already explained this," she protested. "He needed to get in to the party, and you-"
"You like him," Tobi sang.
"Up until now, I wasn't really flustered because I'm pretty sure I know who he actually does like!" Catherine finished, hating that she sounded somewhat frantic. "She has brown hair, freckles, and isn't me."
Tobi looked unconvinced. "You've admitted that he's probably the only boy you've never hated," she countered. "Your personalities are compatible, and he admits to liking brunettes with freckles, which you are."
Catherine slowly backed away. "There's more than one brunette in the school," she tried to reason. "And just because he likes that type does not mean that he likes anyone in particular right now…" She desperately looked to Sebastian, knowing her argument was failing to impress Tobi. "Are you done enjoying my suffering, yet?" she pleaded. She hated being mortified. "Please, just tell her."
Sebastian had been laughing silently the entire time. "I am sorry," he apologized to Catherine. Looking at Tobi, he shook his head again.
Tobi paused and looked deflated. "So, you don't like Kitty?" she inquired.
Sebastian's amused look clearly was answer enough, but he verbalized it, anyway. "No. While I enjoy her sarcasm, I do not feel for Catherine in any way that could be considered 'liking' her. I believe this to be entirely mutual."
Tobi cocked her head and made a face that meant she was probably running through a list of brunettes from their year. "But… that doesn't make sense…" Tobi protested. Then, she turned to Catherine. "How do you know who he likes?" she demanded.
Sebastian's grin only grew. "She actually listens?" he quoted.
Catherine felt the heat leap back into her face and struggled to force it back down. Normally, she wouldn't have reacted like that… The combination of mortification and sleep deprivation must be getting at her. She was even starting to rhyme. Tobi, luckily, only rolled her eyes. "How amusing," she sarcastically replied, before returning to her conundrum.
Catherine almost laughed. It couldn't be any more obvious unless Sebastian said it, which he seemed to have no inclination of doing. "You know-" Catherine began.
"Shut up," Tobi muttered, deep in thought. With each passing moment, Sebastian's smile only grew. "Oh, stop looking at me like that!" Tobi complained. "I can't think when you do that!"
"Are you saying you're not used to his demonic smile?" Catherine teased, also struggling not to laugh at her.
"Lame," Tobi responded. "I'm honestly disappointed in you."
"Sorry," Catherine apologized with a yawn. "I'm just tired."
Tobi thought for a moment more, and Catherine stared expectantly at her (broken only once when Catherine stifled another yawn). Then, it seemed to strike her. "I have brown hair," Tobi realized. "And freckles."
"Yes," Catherine dryly informed, but a smile was breaking lose. "You do."
"Bassy!" Tobi protested, smacking him playfully in the arm. "You're not supposed to flirt with a grieving person."
"I never said whether it was you or not," he responded.
"You're grinning, though!" she insisted. "And Catherine is, too."
"I never said it, either," Catherine teased. "I just agreed with you that you fit the criteria."
Tobi bit her lip and turned to Sebastian. "Am I or am I not the person you were talking about?" she demanded, hands on her hips again.
Sebastian smiled playfully. "I guess you will have to find out, won't you, Shorty?" he replied.
Catherine did her best to smother her laughter. Tobi eyed her. "Traitor," she denounced.
Catherine held up her hands. "I'm sorry…" she apologized with a smile. "You two are just so cute together…"
It was Tobi's turn to look mortified. "I- You- Just-" she stumbled. She took a deep breath and started over. "What have you done with the real Catherine?"
Catherine smirked. "She died after seeing herself in a dress," she teased.
"Knew it," Tobi teased back. "Otherwise, you would have noticed that Sebastian was acting weird."
"He's not acting weird," Catherine responded. "Differently, yes, but you make that sound bad. Besides, if he doesn't say anything, it's not my place to ask about it." Tobi stared at her. "Fine. Why are you acting differently?"
Tobi responded (as Catherine predicted she would), even though she had directed the question towards Sebastian (mostly to be polite-ish. She still felt it rude even with Tobi's permission, but Sebastian seemed to pick up on the empty gesture and smiled to show that he wasn't offended at all).
"I freed him," Tobi declared.
"From what?" Catherine cautiously inquired. "Oh, the whole demon-enslavement-thingy."
"Yes," Tobi dryly responded. "The 'whole demon-enslavement-thingy'."
Catherine fought the urge to shrug (when she was tired enough, her filters shut off. Which meant she blushed unnecessarily and couldn't stop awkward laughter in time. Plus, make demon jokes about her friend's best friend slash possible love interest. While not using complete sentences). "I'm… happy for you, I guess…?" she offered. She doubted that it would even change much.…
Tobi's pov was the only one I really explored from start to finish on prom night. Originally, these segments were supposed to be interrupted with everyone else's story, but Tobi's felt the most compelling to me. I mean, she finally loses her crush/ bff, then finds out her friends really do care about her, and then finds out that maybe she was just as blind as her Sevvy was. Tobi is usually used as mysterious comic relief, but I think this is the moment where her glamour finally falls and the real girl shines - compassionate, strong willed, but deeply insecure. She would kill for her friends but never really believes that she deserves the same. While this is her saddest moment, I tried to give her some sweetness, too.