Chapter 6

Yasmin had become an enigma to Bill. One moment everything was fine, and the next she avoided him. He had tried to talk to her about it but she just kept saying that everything was all right. It strongly reminded him of Charlie and Louise, and now he truly understood how Charlie must have felt.

"I know something's wrong." It was the second time in a week that he had brought it up, and once again Yasmin had stubbornly claimed that everything was fine. "You've been acting strangely lately."

Yasmin hesitated before speaking. "I know, and I'm sorry that I haven't told you before."

"Has something happened?"

"Yes... I know I've been acting strange lately, and the thing is... I've met someone else."

Bill only looked at her, trying to understand what she was saying. Someone else? When, why, who?

"Will you let me explain before you start screaming at me?" she asked.

Bill just nodded, incapable of speaking. He felt empty, and her words echoed through his head. Someone else, someone else, someone else... But somehow he wasn't surprised. She had been spending a lot of time 'with friends' and 'alone' lately, not telling him where she went and what she was doing.

"You're a really sweet guy and I like you a lot, but only as a friend," Yasmin continued. "And I think that it's not fair to either of us if we'd stay together for much longer."

Only as a friend, only as a friend, only as a friend... Somewhere inside Bill wanted to know who this guy was, but he didn't ask. After all it was better not to know.

"I guess you're right." What else was there to say? He could scream at her, accuse her, ask her all kinds of questions, but what good would it do? He would get some answers to his questions, but did he really want to know? No, he didn't.

"I understand if you're mad at me, you have every right to be. But I hope that you still want us to be friends."

Bill nodded without saying anything. He watched Yasmin rise from the couch.

"I'll see myself out."

Bill remained on the couch. It was over. Over. Yasmin had found someone else, and had left him. He buried his face in his hands. The emptiness inside was still there, and he couldn't stop the tears. Bill, who never cried, cried for two hours straight. The fact that he had been dumped for another guy was... well, he didn't know any good word for how he felt other than humiliated and angry. He was angry at Yasmin, at that guy, and he was humiliated because of the fact that he had been dumped for another. It was not supposed to be this way!

He had to talk to somebody. Nikki. He quickly wrote her a letter and got Ramses.

"Now hurry, this is important."

Nikki received an owl at twelve thirty AM. It tapped its beak against her bedroom window, and she quickly opened it to let it in.

"Hello there, Ramses. What have you got for me?"

The owl landed on her desk, and Nikki took the piece of parchment. She was getting used to this.

"I'll read Bill's letter and write an answer for you to take back."

Nikki seated herself on her bed.

"I really need to talk to someone, and I was hoping you could see me sometime this week. Any day would be fine with me, but do you think that we could meet at twelve o' clock, during my lunch? We can meet at the restaurant. Please send Ramses back with your reply ASAP.

Love, Bill"

Nikki turned the parchment over, grabbed a pen and wrote her reply;

"I can see you tomorrow, if that's okay with you. I'll be at the restaurant at twelve o'clock. Send Ramses back and tell me if you won't be able to make it tomorrow."

Love, Nikki"

"Ramses, take this back to Bill."

Wondering what Bill wanted, Nikki attached the parchment to his leg before he took off. It must be something important if he owled her in the middle of the night and wanted an answer as soon as possible.

She had just gone to bed when Ramses appeared outside her window once again. Nikki let him in, and got Bill's reply.

"Tomorrow will be fine. See you at twelve outside the restaurant.

Love, Bill"

"Well, that's settled then. I don't need you to take an answer back," she told Ramses, who immediately took off.

What was it that he wanted to talk to her about? It must be urgent if he wanted to see her as soon as possible and she hoped that nothing terrible had happened.

Bill hurried through the streets of Muggle Cairo. It was five minutes past twelve, and he was grateful that Nikki had been able to see him on such short notice. She was already standing outside the restaurant, smiling at him as he approached her.

"Hi. What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well... Is there anywhere else we can go? I'd rather not discuss it in the middle of the street."

"I've got the keys to the restaurant. There's no one here at this time of day."

"Great."

Nikki unlocked the door and let Bill inside. "Would you like something to eat?"

"No thanks, I'm not hungry."

"Okay." Nikki lead Bill to a table at the far back of the restaurant. "Here, sit down and tell me what's happened."

Bill swallowed hard to keep himself from crying. He did not want to cry in front of Nikki, but it was really hard not to. "It's Yasmin," he managed eventually. "She broke up with me."

"Why? When?" Nikki asked, looking shocked.

"Yesterday. Said she'd found someone new." Now he really had trouble keeping his tears under control, but he forced himself not to cry.

"I'm so sorry... I thought you two loved each other."

"So did I, but apparently she was of another opinion," Bill said bitterly. "It just feels so..." he trailed off.

"Unfair?"

"Something like that, yes."

Nikki started rubbing his back. "I know how it feels. And you wonder what you did wrong."

"Yeah. I really thought we had something, but instead she ran off with that git." Bitterness surged through his body again. It wasn't the first time a girl had broken up with him, but it was the first time he had been left for another guy. How could Yasmin just throw away what they had together? Was their time together suddenly not worth anything to her?

"What did she say when she broke it off?"

"Not much. That I'm a great guy and that she still wants to be friends with me. And so on. You know the drill."

"If there's anything I can do to make things better, just tell me."

Bill smiled faintly. "It's enough that you put up with me being miserable."

"No problem."

Talking to Nikki actually made Bill feel better. He needed someone who listened and let him talk, and even if she could not offer any specific help he was grateful that she took time and listened to his problem.

Eventually he rose from the table. "I should be going. Thanks for listening."

"Any time. Are you going back to work?"

"Yup. See you."

"See you."

They hugged before Bill took out his wand.

"Easier this way," he said before Disapparating.

As he got home that night he collapsed on his bed. He had managed to keep a straight face the whole day, but now tears streamed down his face, and he did nothing to stop them. He felt miserable, almost as if someone had torn his heart out of his body. It wasn't fair!

Even if he was upset he didn't blame her for what had happened. This was not the first time someone had dumped his or her partner for someone else, but it still felt like he was the only one in the whole world who had gone through something like this.

When alone again, Nikki thought about her conversation with Bill. She hated seeing him sad, and would make sure to be there for Bill if he needed someone to talk to, even though it was hard to know what he needed to hear. She wouldn't say that it would pass; from experience she knew that wasn't what you wanted to hear when you just had been left.

The situation Bill had suddenly found himself in made Nikki recall some of the boyfriends she had had, and the break-ups with them. Some had been painful, but she had been able to move on. It took time, but she knew that Bill eventually would forget Yasmin, as she had forgotten her previous boyfriends.

While working, Nikki pondered if there were ways for her to cheer him up. She could take him out and do Muggle things, perhaps show him Muggle Cairo. If he wanted to be cheered up, of course; maybe he just wanted to be left alone. Should she just wait until he contacted her again? Yes, that was probably best.

On his lunch break on the fourth day after the break-up Bill spotted Yasmin coming towards him and some of his co-workers whom he had lunch with. They hadn't seen her since the day she had broken up with Bill, and rumour had it that she was being transferred. Where or why no one really knew.

"Look who's coming," Tod said.

Bill groaned. "What does she want?"

"Probably to shag you, just for old time's sake," Lars said.

Yasmin came up to them. "Hey guys. Bill, have you got a minute?"

"Yes, if it's one minute. Lunch ends in ten minutes."

"I'll be brief. Could we go somewhere else?"

Bill followed her. Once out of earshot for the other guys she stopped.

"I came say goodbye. I'm being transferred, maybe you've heard that."

Bill nodded.

"Look... I'm sorry for what happened. I loved you and I think that we would have been great together if I hadn't fucked things up. Anyway, I just came to tell you that I've gotten a desk job, so you won't see me around anymore."

"Good luck."

"Thanks. Good luck to you too, with whatever you'll do. And if you ever want to talk you know where to find me. But I've got to go now. See you."

"See you."

Bill did not know if he should feel relieved by the fact that Yasmin would not work as a curse breaker anymore. Now he would not see her every day, and that was good, but at the same time he knew that he would miss her.

Nikki stepped out of the shower. She was getting ready to go on a date with Bill, and she was nervous. Lately things had been... well, not like they used to be. They had spent a lot of time together after Bill and Yasmin's break-up, and they almost acted as if they were a couple even though they had not discussed it once. It was just natural; they did things without wondering what was going on. It was as if things were simply supposed to be that way.

What was strange was that she didn't have any other feelings for him. She could honestly say that he was just a friend and that she was not in love with him, and as far as Nikki was concerned she was happy with things being as they were. She had never experienced something like this before, and she liked the fact that they could act like a couple without being one. Things were supposed to be this way; uncomplicated and natural. They were just a two good friends who had taken things a small step further.

But what to make of the fact that they had begun to hold hands and cuddle as if it was something natural? Friends did not do that, did they? Since they hadn't discussed it Nikki assumed that they were friends and nothing else, and it was not normal for a couple of friends to act like that. Only couples held hands and cuddled like that, and sometimes she wondered how it all had begun. And why? What reason did they have to hold hands and cuddle if they were just friends? No reason at all, she knew that, but maybe they just needed someone to hug from time to time. That was what everybody needed, and why would she and Bill be any different? And as long as they enjoyed it she couldn't see why there would be any problems.

She dressed and put on a bit of make up; after that she just had to wait for Bill. Meanwhile she took the opportunity to read a few pages in a book she had borrowed from Christine, and she jumped when she heard the crack that indicated that Bill had Apparated.

"You should send Ramses and tell me when you're about to arrive," she said and put the book down.

Bill smiled innocently. "Sorry. But shouldn't you be accustomed to me Apparating by now?"

"No. It's not natural to be able to vanish and then materialise somewhere else within seconds."

"To us it is," Bill said and sat down beside her. He put his arms around her, and she leaned against him.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"If you are."

"Yep!"

Nikki took Bill to a pool hall. He had never played pool before, and she looked forward to introduce him to one of her favourite leisure time activities.

Bill looked at the tables and the people playing. "So that's what I'm supposed to do?"

"Yes," Nikki announced happily. She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards a table.

"Come on."

She got the balls and the cues. "So, this is what you do."

They spent two hours playing, and to Nikki's delight Bill enjoyed pool, even if he confessed

that he thought it was a strange sport. After the game they decided to head back to Bill's place, and it was not long before they were curled up on his couch. Nikki lay with her head on Bill's lap, and he raked his fingers through her hair.

Eventually he spoke. "I had fun today."

"That was my plan."

"I really appreciate this, you know. You doing your best to cheer me up."

"Don't mention it, that's what friends are for. How are you feeling, by the way?"

Bill thought for a few seconds. "Good, actually. At least most of the time."

"I'm glad to hear that. And it will get better, I promise."

"I know. It's just hard... I've never been dumped for someone else."

"Sucks, huh?"

"Yeah."

"I bet he's not half as nice as you. And when she realises that she'll come back."

"I don't know if I want to give her a second chance. I still have feelings for her, but I doubt I would take her back."

"Why not, if you've still got feelings for her?"

"Weasley pride, I suppose." Bill gave a half hearted smile. "No, I don't want to try again, and know that she might dump me again."

"Good decision. It's never fun to go around just waiting for it to happen."

"You've done that, huh?"

"Yeah, when I didn't know what else to do. I really wanted to be with the guy, and even though he had left me once I did my best to keep him. And of course it didn't work."

"He left you again?"

"Yeah. But enough about that. I'm just glad you're okay."

"At least I will be."

"Good." Content Nikki shifted into a mroe comfortable position and closed her eyes. Bill continued to caress her hair, and as they sat in silence she felt herself drift off to sleep.