Chapter Eight: Not All those who Wander are Lost
"It's like this," Pierre went on, with an obvious effort to control himself and speak coherently. "I don't know when I first began to love her. But I have loved her, and her alone, all my life – I love her so that I cannot imagine life without her. I cannot ask for her hand at present, but the thought that perhaps…she might someday become my wife and that I may be missing the chance to – the chance – is awful. Tell me, can I hope? Tell me, what shall I do? Dear Princess!" he added, after a momentary pause, touching her hand when she did not reply.
"I am thinking now of what you have told me," said Princess Marya. "This is what I have to say. You are right that to speak to her now of love…"
Marya stopped. She was about to say that to speak of love was impossible, but she stopped because she had seen by the sudden change in Natasha in the last two days that not only would her friend not be upset if Pierre spoke of his love, but that it was the very thing she most desired.
Count Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace", page 1342
Dawn walked home that day after the Paper Lantern, and was relieved to note that nothing attacked her on her way. The next few days at school were hard, and she took care to avoid Warren however she could. She didn't know if she could handle another confrontation.
She shoved her books up in her locker on Tuesday at noon and prepared herself for another lunch during which she could evade Warren.
"Dawn! What's up?" The voice of Ethan chirped behind her, and she turned around glumly.
"Oh, hey Popsicle." She really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone right now, least of all the cheerful Ethan.
"Where are you going?"
"Lunch."
"I'll come with you."
Dawn forced herself to be nice; she knew he had good intentions and that she was acting like…well, like Warren. And that was the one person she didn't want to be thinking about.
The two of them made their way into the cafeteria, with Ethan chattering all the way. Dawn smiled and nodded at different intervals of conversation, and when he started laughing, she would laugh too; her mind was elsewhere.
"Hey, you want to hear a joke?" Ethan piped, grinning.
Dawn smiled back at him and nodded, totally oblivious to what he was saying.
"Okay, well, there's this guy who goes into a school cafeteria, and," Ethan started to snicker, since he already knew the punch line. However, to Dawn, who wasn't listening to the joke, it seemed like he'd finished it.
"Hahaha!" She laughed, grabbing a sandwich and sitting down at a table.
"…I didn't get to the joke part of the joke." He waved his hand in front of her face, "Earth to Dawn; Earth to Dawn!"
Her head snapped up as she saw he was onto her ruse. She wilted visibly. "I'm sorry, Ethan. I wasn't listening. What were you saying?"
He slid across from her and shook his head. "Never mind. But hey, I had a question."
Dawn nodded and took a bite, muttering, "Yeah?" around the sandwich.
"Well, I was thinking about - " he paused. "You're listening this time, right?" She blushed and nodded, so he went on.
"Do you have a date for Homecoming?"
Dawn shook her head, responding, "I'm not going," before taking another large bite of her sandwich and mumbling, "You know, this cafeteria food isn't half-bad."
Ethan wrapped his fingers around his burrito and shrugged. "Why aren't you going?"
"One," Dawn held up her sandwich and took a bite, chewing it and swallowing before she continued, "no one has asked me. Two," she took another bite and completed the mastication of the portion of food, "most people have already been asked. And three," Dawn finally put the remainder of her sandwich back on her plate and sighed, "the one guy I'd go with already told me no."
Ethan's eyebrows shot up. "You asked Warren Peace to Homecoming?"
"Crap! Is it that obvious I was thinking about him?" Dawn put a hand to her forehead and sighed. "I didn't exactly ask him, but trust me; he wouldn't go with me after what happened last night. But forget that; do you have a date for Homecoming?"
Ethan grinned shyly and waved his burrito dismissively through the air. "Yeah, well, you know, it was my duty to ask a girl, and nobody had asked her, so I just couldn't pass it up."
Dawn laughed gleefully and drilled the information out of her friend, cheering him on about it. It got her mind off of Warren, and she was glad for the distraction.
However, during her conversation, she glanced over to the pyrokinetic's table and was disappointed to see that his eyes were, as usual, fixed on his book. Her inner Hollywood had insisted she would find him staring soulfully after her, but such was not the case.
As she and Ethan finished lunch, they stood and mingled with the rest of the group leaving the cafeteria.
"Going to Homecoming with Popsicle?" A deep voice murmured from behind Dawn.
She whipped around and was almost trampled by the flow of people, so she backed up until she was out the door and into the hall. "No, Warren; I'm not going to Homecoming with Ethan."
He cocked an eyebrow very slightly and crossed his arms. "I heard you two talking about it."
"I didn't know you had a tendency to eavesdrop." Dawn crossed her arms back at him and glared defiantly. She had been crushed at the Paper Lantern and now her hackles had risen in self defense.
Warren rolled his eyes, grabbed Dawn's wrist, and pulled her around the corner where they could talk privately. "Dawn, I - "
"I know you 'don't do relationships', Warren, but I'm not asking for a relationship! I'm just asking for you to - "
"You're asking for me to be your friend." He hissed, emphatically finishing her sentence. She looked surprised, and he shrugged nonchalantly, releasing her wrist. "You said it yourself. I have a tendency to eavesdrop."
Dawn blinked, and her rigid body relaxed. "Oh. So you, um, you saw me…"
"Cry?" Warren almost said it mockingly, but he started to smile.
"Yeah, that." She looked down and scuffed at the floor with her shoe.
"Yeah, I saw you cry, but what I really saw was you overreacting." He punched her in the shoulder like he had done several nights ago at the Paper Lantern. "I told you I didn't do relationships, not that I wouldn't be your friend. If you didn't want me to be your boyfriend, you shouldn't have broken down like that."
"But Warren, I didn't…" Dawn paused and mused over this a moment. "Oh, I see your point. So I guess an apology is in order?"
"Yeah, I'd think so." Warren uncrossed his arms and his slight smile grew wider.
"Well then, I'm really, really sorry - " Dawn was cut off as the pyrokinetic shook his head.
"No, I meant from me. I'm your friend, and I'll apologize for stuff I do to hurt you; just don't call me inhuman this time, okay?" His dark eyes took on the look that Dawn associated with a hero who was about to kiss his female protagonist in a movie, but she knew in the back of her mind that there was no way Warren Peace was about to kiss her. She was, however, caught off guard when he leaned down and embraced her.
Dawn coughed in surprise, but then grinned, wrapping her arms around his back. "I thought you didn't do relationships." She whispered to him, about to start enjoying the extreme heat radiating from him. Suddenly, he released her. "Just don't take that the wrong way." He breathed in her ear and walked off, practically vanishing into the hallway.
"Don't take what the wrong way; the shortness of the hug or the hug itself?" Dawn muttered, perturbed and slightly confused.
But as she walked down the hall to her next class, she had to refrain from skipping with delight. She knew she would be late to Mr. Boy's sidecar basics class – she was still only a sidekick, after all – but she didn't care. Warren Peace had hugged her.
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A/N: There we go; finally another chapter! I hope you're enjoying so far. The next chapter should bring into light a little more about our villian of the story, so know that I'm working hard on making this the very best that I can.
Steven Strait's new movie "Undiscovered" isn't showing at our theater, and may never actually show there; isn't that sad? I'm pondering sending a complaint to the manager. Depriving me of the hotness! I'm going to go sulk in a corner now and write.
Until next time!
Corvaisis
