Chapter 15

Myrcella Baratheon POV

Podrick is taking me on a real date tonight, it's our first date as an actual couple. At least, I think we're a couple. He hasn't said it explicitly, but we text a lot and hold hands while walking in the hallway sometimes.

He picks me up from my place, luckily my dad just assumes I'm meeting Sansa so Podrick doesn't have to come in. I'm not ready to tell him I have a boyfriend, especially since I don't even know how serious he is about me.

"Hey," I say, getting into the car. "Thanks for picking me up."

"Of course," he says. "I was thinking of taking you to a casual sushi place down the street, if you're okay with that."

It means a lot to me that he asked if that was okay with me. I haven't told him much about my issues yet, but at least he's considerate.

"Yeah, that sounds good," I say. "Thank you."

"I'm surprised your dad didn't make me come in since I haven't met him yet," Podrick says after we sit down. "I thought he might want me to introduce myself to him."

"He assumed I was with Sansa," I say. "I just didn't correct him."

"Why not?"

"I'm not sure I'm ready to tell him everything yet," I say. "He'll ask too many questions."

"I guess I get that," Podrick says. "That can be awkward."

There's a pause, I'm not sure how to say what I want to say next. "Also," I finally say, clearing my throat. "I wasn't really sure what to refer to you as, so I didn't mention it to him."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," I say, getting really nervous. "I didn't know if you'd call me your girlfriend, so I haven't called you my boyfriend. I didn't know if you wanted this to be casual."

"Myrcella," he says, grabbing my hand from across the table. "I want you to be my girlfriend, I thought that was a given."

My heart is beating so fast. "I just," I say. "I thought it would be really awkward if I thought you were my boyfriend but you didn't think so. I was worried you'd tell the whole school how stupid I am if I assumed wrong."

His face falls. Fuck, I ruined it. "That makes me really sad to hear," he says. "I'd never do that, even if you were wrong. Has Joffrey really messed with your head that much?"

"Him, and the way people treated me at my old school."

Podrick sighs. "Well you don't have to worry about that with me," he says. "I want you to be my girlfriend if you want to be."

I smile at him. "I definitely do," I say. "Trust me, I really really like you."

Podrick smiles, looking relieved. "Then I guess it's official," he says. "Glad we're on the same page."

We have a lovely rest of our date and he takes me home. When I walk into the house after he drops me off, my dad and Joffrey are sitting on the couch waiting for me. It gives me a bad vibe, this can't be a good sign.

"Myrcella," my dad says. "Where were you?"

"I was with my friend," I say. "I told you I was meeting someone."

"Joffrey told me you were with a boy," my dad says. "Is that true?"

I look at Joffrey, he looks very smug. There's no sense in lying about it now. "Yes," I say. "It was just a guy I've been seeing."

"Who?" My dad asks. "And for how long?"

"His name is Podrick, he's in theatre at school. And it was our first date tonight."

My dad's expression softens a little, and I can tell he was expecting worse. "I want to meet him next time you guys go out," he says. "And don't ever hide something like that from me again."

"Okay," I say. "I promise." I glare at Joffrey and walk upstairs. Shireen is waiting for me in my room, I guessed she missed me. She's cute.

"You have a boyfriend?" She asks me when I close the door.

"Yes," I say. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I didn't know how much he really liked me."

"But he does like you?" Shireen asks as I sit on the bed next to her.

"Yes," I say. "And now he's my boyfriend."

"I want to meet him."

"You will next time," I say. "Dad wants to meet him too."

Shireen smiles and we lay next to each other. She quickly falls asleep, I know it comforts her to sleep next to me. I hate that Joffrey told on me, I never understand why he has to be such an asshole. At least my dad took it well, it gives me satisfaction to know that Joffrey didn't get exactly what he was going for. I know he wanted me to get into a lot of trouble, but luckily that didn't happen.

Daenerys Targaryen POV

Cersei, Jaime and I are going to a party with Bronn and Jorah tonight. We'll probably see Tyrion and Oberyn while we're there, I know they said they planned on stopping bye. The party's at a co-op, which is usually fun because they're so much smaller and cleaner than frat houses.

"Do you want to get a drink?" Cersei asks me when we get into the party after paying the cover charge.

"Sure," I say. "I could use one."

Normally I'd say no, but I haven't had a night out in a while. I might as well have a drink if she's going to be crazy. We walk over to get a beer, Cersei pours one for me and herself.

"I'm glad you came out with us tonight," she says. "You've been kind of a buzz kill lately."

I roll my eyes, that's easier than fighting with her. "I could use a night out," I say. Cersei just nods in enthusiastic agreement.

We go over to where the guys are hanging out and stand by them as they keep talking. They're talking about something, but I'm not really paying attention. I think Bronn is talking about some girl he hooked up with recently. Jaime seems down, like he's a little checked out.

"Are you okay?" I ask him. He looks at me. "You seem a little down."

"Just still stressed about Cersei," Jaime says. "You know."

"I'm surprised you wanted to go out tonight," I say. "I thought you were still mad at Bronn."

"I am," he says. "But it's not like I have many other friends, and I like Jorah and Oberyn."

"I'm sorry all this is happening," I say. "I wish we could force Cersei to make better decisions."

"Me too," he says. He looks over to see if she can hear us, but she's talking to Bronn and Jorah. "I just need to keep showing her love and compassion, I know she can get through this."

I roll my eyes. I hope he's right, but I think what she needs is tough love. It's hard for me to give her that, and I think she'd lash out at me if I tried. But I still think it's what she needs, I think she would listen if it came from Jaime.

I eventually walk over to get another beer when Jorah walks over to me. "Hey," he says. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm okay," I say. "Just dealing with some stuff with Cersei."

"Yeah, I heard you and Jaime talking about it a little. I hope she'll be okay, I'm sorry Bronn is being like this."

"Did you know he wanted to hook up with her?"

"Yeah," Jorah says. "He's told me. I don't agree with it, but you know we can't keep our friends from doing what they want. You know that better than I do."

"Yeah," I say. I want to protest, but I know he's right. "I should go find Cersei."

I walk over to where the group was, but now it's Just Jaime, Oberyn and Tyrion. "Where's Cersei?" I ask them.

"I don't know," Oberyn says. "She wasn't here when we came over." Jaime looks concerned, but I can tell he's trying not to make a scene.

I leave them and start to walk around to try and find Cersei. I don't see her, and I'm a little worried. I don't want to have to babysit her, but I want to make sure she isn't doing anything stupid. I go down a hallway and hear something that sounds like someone moaning and Cersei laughing.

I push the door open lightly because it wasn't shut all the way. Bronn is laying on the edge of a bed and Cersei is on her knees in front of him, it's pretty obvious what's going on.

"What the fuck is going on?!" I hear Jaime yelling from behind me. It startled me, I didn't even realize he was following me.

Cersei immediately gets up and Bronn starts pulling up his pants. "Dude," he says to Jaime. "It's not what you think."

"You promised me!" Jaime yells, walking over to him.

They start fighting and Jaime pushes Bronn. Jorah and Oberyn run in and try to break the fight up while Cersei walks over to me.

"Come on," I say to her. "Let's go home."

"Why?" She asks.

"You shouldn't get involved in all this," I say. We call an Uber and head back to the apartment.

"What did you do that for?" I ask when we get into the Uber.

"I felt like it," Cersei says. "I guess it was a thank you to Bronn."

"You know Jaime didn't want you to do that, you knew he'd lash out at Bronn."

"He's not my boss," she responds. "And I didn't expect him to be spying on me during my private moments."

I didn't expect him to follow me either, but I still don't blame him for being mad. We get back to the apartment and Cersei lays on the bed, still in her party clothes. I can tell she's pretty drunk, but not so drunk that she didn't know what she was doing.

"Do you need anything?" I ask her. She just grunts, so I take that as a no.

I don't know what's going to happen when Jaime gets home, or in the morning when everybody's sober. I'm even more nervous for break now, this is sure to make things worse and even more awkward than they already were. At least Jon will be with me, I can at least focus on seeing him and Sansa so I won't have to completely worry about Cersei's drama.

Arya Stark POV

It's early November, which means Thanksgiving break is in a couple weeks. Robb and Talisa are coming into town, so that'll be nice. I'm excited for Jon to come home, and to see Daenerys. It's good that she and Sansa are friends again, at least that's what I've heard.

I'm in my room with Sansa on Friday night, it's a rare Friday where we're both home in the evening. Normally she has cheer or a game. My phone buzzes, and I see that it's Gendry.

Ding. *Hey. Whatcha up to?*

*Just chilling, not much.*

Ding. *Want to hang out? Maybe smoke or something?*

*I'm not sure my parents will let me this late.*

Ding. *Well ask and let me know.*

I do want to hang out with him, there has to be a way that I can. "Sansa?" I ask.

"What's up?" She responds, not looking up from her book.

"What are mom and dad doing?"

"I don't know," she says. "Why do you ask?"

"Gendry wants to hang out," I say. "But I know they won't let me leave this late if I ask them."

"You're right, they won't," she says. "Do you want me to check?"

"Yeah." Sansa gets up and walks over to my parents' room, peaking over to the door.

"They're in there with the door closed, probably reading," she says. "It's almost 10, you know they'll probably go to sleep soon."

"Do you think I could sneak out?" I ask her. "Would you cover for me if I did."

She looks at me and sighs. "Yeah, I will," she says. "Just sneak out the back door, it isn't very loud. I probably won't even need to cover for you, I thought I heard dad snoring."

"Thank you," I say, getting my bag. "Text me if mom and get up and start asking questions." Sansa just nods.

I've never done something like this, but I'm just going to see Gendry. And Sansa's right, the back door isn't loud and it's downstairs at the other end of the house. There's always noise happening around here with how many kids there are, my parents tend to ignore it when it doesn't sound like someone's hurt. Plus, they'd never suspect this from any of us, especially me. I tell Gendry to come and pick me up at the end of the street and head out.

"Your parents were cool with you going out this late?" He asks when I get into the car.

"Yeah," I say. "I just didn't want to wake Bran and Rickon by leaving."

"Do you want to go smoke?" He asks me.

"Definitely," I say. "Let's go to the creek."

We drive over to our typical spot and sit down by the creek. He takes out his cigarettes and lights one for me and him like usual.

"Why did you want to hang out with me?" I ask him after taking a drag.

"I like you," he says. "Why do you think?"

"I didn't know if there was a reason," I respond. "It seemed kind of sudden."

"I don't know," he says. "I was bored, and I was thinking about you."

I smile. "I was bored too," I say. "It was a rare Friday night that Sansa didn't have cheer or a game, but we weren't doing anthing."

"Oh," he says. "You didn't have to come hang out with me if you were hanging out with her."

"It's fine," I say. "I wouldn't have said yes if I didn't want to hang out."

We smoke for a little bit without saying much. I start wrapping my arms around myself, it's chillier than I expected.

"Are you cold?" Gendry asks me.

"A little," I say. "I didn't think it would be this cold."

He grabs a hoodie and blanket out of his bag. "I brought this just in case," he says, handing it to me. "I also brought this blanket if you want to lay it under us."

"Sure," I say, putting on the hoodie and standing up. "You know I still have the hoodie you let me borrow a couple years ago? It's buried in my closet somewhere."

"Oh, I forgot about that," Gendry says as he lays the blanket down and we sit on it. "You can keep it." He puts his arm around me.

"Is this okay?" He asks me. I just nod.

"So," he says after a pause. "How are things with your family?"

"Good," I say. "Thanksgiving break is coming up, so it'll be nice to see Jon, Robb and Talisa."

"Oh, are they coming into town?"

"Yeah, and I assume Jon is."

"I hope he and I get to hang out," Gendry says. "I miss him."

"I'm sure you will," I say. "If not then, then definitely during winter break. I'm sure he misses you, Sam and Tormund."

There's a pause as he lights up another cigarette. "Can I have another?" I ask him, putting my first one out.

"Sure," he says, taking one out and lighting it for me. I hope I can do it myself soon, I've found myself wanting cigarettes when he isn't around now.

We look into each others eyes, even though we can't see each other very well because it's dark. I like this, it's quiet and I feel like I can forget about everything when we're together. I realize I'm not even worried about my parents waking up and finding out where I am, I know Sansa will blow up my phone if they stark questioning her.

I keep staring at Gendry, and eventually I lean in and kiss him. We start making out, it's more passionate than the first time. I like it a lot, he's a good kisser. I wonder if he slept with Margaery when they were dating, and I wonder if he slept with any other girls besides her.

I lay down on my back on the blanket, pulling him towards me so he gets on top of me. "Arya," he says, pausing. "Are you sure this isn't too much?"

"I'm sure," I say. I don't know why he's so hesitant about all this if he likes me and wants me to be his girlfriend.

"Arya," he starts to say between kisses. "I don't want you to feel like you have to do anything with me."

"Shut up," I say as I keep kissing him. "I don't feel like that." I want to keep doing this, I don't know what it is he's worried about.

I move his hands up towards my chest, I just want him to touch me there and I can't explain why. "Can I touch you?" He asks me, as if I'm not the one pushing for it so much.

"That's what I want, idiot," I say to him. He reaches under my shirt and feels my chest for a bit as we keep making out.

Around midnight, I finally get home. I knock on the window when I get up to the ledge outside Sansa and I's room, it's much easier to go up there than it is to get down. Sansa walks up and opens the window for me.

"Hey," she whispers. "How was it?"

"Great," I say. "We smoked and then fooled around a little."

"Woah, what?" She asks. I don't know why she's so shocked.

"He just felt me under my shirt," I say. "Relax."

"Arya!" She loudly whispers. "You're so lucky mom and dad didn't wake up. I heard mom get up to go to the bathroom and I was sure she'd sense something was off."

"Thanks for helping me," I say. "I owe you one." I get in bed after changing to get ready to go to sleep.

"Just try to not get into too much trouble," Sansa says. "I don't want to have to cover for you if you do something really dangerous."

"I won't," I say. "Just don't tell on me or you're dead to me."

"Of course," she says. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

I'm not sure why I'm wanting to do all this all of the sudden, maybe I'm just getting older. I feel a lot older than I am, I can't explain it. I'm having a lot of fun with Gendry, and I'm glad he's okay with not labeling our relationship yet. I like the way it is now.