Chapter 19: A Stubborn Refusal
Ginny was checking her watch impatiently. She actually wanted a chance to eat dinner before her 7:30 detention. She'd been pacing around in front of the broom closet for eight minutes now, and the despicable blond was nowhere in sight. It was 6:22.
Of course. Of course he'd do something like this – refusing to accept her refusal. How very Malfoy. The prick.
She was flipping the box open and closed anxiously, the clap of the closure oddly satisfying, when she heard steady footsteps coming toward the little side hallway. Sure enough, there he was: the ferret himself.
As soon as he was close enough to reach out, she thrust the box toward him. "Take it back, Malfoy," she insisted, the impatience audible in her voice, as well as the stubbornness.
He glanced down at her outstretched hand, slowing his (already unrushed) strides, and finally coming to a full stop a few inches short of her fingers. His expression had gone from cautiously neutral to irked. "You want me to say I'm not sorry?" He asked. It was obvious he was trying to hold back his sneer.
The redhead wanted to fold her arms across her chest, but the earrings were still there, the box feeling heavy in her hand, as he refused to take it. "Well you aren't," her voice was a bit more snarky than usual, her eyes narrowing to a glare. "Just take them back; I'm not about to be bought off." She pushed the box toward him again, and he instinctively took a step back.
He looked from the box to her, seeming to be calculating something. Finally, as though he just couldn't resist, a smirk appeared on his lips. "Why would I need to buy you off?" He took a couple of steps and leaned against the wall opposite the closet, his arms crossing over his chest as he drew a foot up to rest against the wall, the picture of nonchalance. "You were the one who sprained my wrist."
She looked to the aforementioned wrist, but it seemed perfectly alright. She was expecting some smarmy comment about how she should be apologizing to him, but none came. So Ginny furrowed her brow in suspicious confusion, looking back to his face. "You-" She was starting to doubt herself, now. She'd been drunk. What had he done, again? But as she remembered, she became more confident in her rightness. "You-" how could she really describe it, "You assaulted me," she managed, annoyed that she had to use that word.
His pale brows lifted. "Look, I said I was sorry." It was obvious he was choosing words carefully as he continued, but his voice stayed mostly smooth. "I'll admit what I did wasn't… polite. And… I probably could've stood to be a bit more… chivalrous," he tiptoed around the meaning of his words, even as Ginny glared at him. "But it wasn't assault. We were both drunk, I was misreading things as signals—I didn't mean… it was a misunderstanding."
Something was starting to tug at the corner of Ginny's mind. A misunderstanding. She'd thought that before. But – how could she possibly compare this to what had happened with Stephen? That had been… so different. So much…
Worse, she thought, but quickly corrected herself: so different. Stephen was a decent guy, who she'd lead on with the way she'd been kissing him, and touching him, and the things they'd talked about – he had reason to be confused about the whole thing. But Malfoy was… Malfoy. She'd never sent any sort of mixed signals.
He didn't do what Stephen did, though, she reminded herself. What Stephen did- nope, she wouldn't think about it. She had no reason to think about it. But in comparison, Malfoy was just… handsy. A little rude and handsy. And she'd been able to deal with him, no problem. Could she chalk it all up to drunkenness, though? Assault came from lack of consent, and, being drunk, she was certainly incapable of giving consent.
"It was still-"
If that was assault, so was that night with Stephen.
The thought stopped her words in her throat.
Bloody Malfoy, getting in her head with something completely unrelated. He didn't even know what she was thinking about and he was still fucking with her – unintentionally! She wanted to strangle the bugger.
"Just take them back." She insisted, throwing the box on the ground. "I'm done here."
Why was her throat doing that choky thing with all the soreness? Fuck that shit, she didn't cry over this sort of thing. She was fine. She had nothing to be upset over, even. She should be angry – cursing Malfoy's name – she was cursing Malfoy's name!
Ginny forced herself to focus on the blond instead of on- on the camping trip. Malfoy. Just get mad at Malfoy. What sort of weakling had flashbacks, really. She was over it. She was so much more angry about being bought. She was more angry that he'd somehow 'misread things as signals'-
Wait.
She faltered, and very nearly tripped on her way up the stairs to Gryffindor tower.
If he'd thought those were signals… and he hadn't been trying to…
Her face contorted into a look of confused disgust: had Draco Malfoy been hitting on her?
What kind of crazy person hits on a girl by accusing them of asking for attention?
The kind who knows girls that think that's attractive.
She'd seen girls like that sort of attention. She didn't understand it. But it still happened. And that night… well, it was a fancy dress party. Everyone knew girls dressed provocatively at those parties in order to provoke a response - that's why it was called 'provocative.'
She hadn't been dressed provocatively, though.
Ginny, are you actually saying that what you wear determines how people are allowed to approach you?
Her self was right: she was being a hypocrite.
But…
"Ugh!" Ginny chucked her pillow into the corner of the dormitory she'd been pacing around for the last fifteen minutes. This was all so confusing! Why were people so confusing.
Ginny; the answer came to her like a whisper on the wind, everyone is different.
For some reason, the thought calmed her. Maybe it was just the subtext. Every person was different. Every situation was different. There was no catch-all solution. And she didn't need to find it. It was like a weight lifting off her shoulders at the same time as some indignant part of her slumped in defeat.
And that was when her reminder charmed for her inevitable detention.
A/N: Haven't gotten a chance to write, so I'm trying to hold off on posting. But, as previously stated, reviews are the best motivation. So please review! I'd love to know what you think, what you'd like to see or know, anything!
-Turner
