Chapter 9

Arya Stark POV

I decide to call Gendry in the afternoon the day after the party. Sansa is with Myrcella, and I need to get out of the house. We also haven't hung out since we broke up, and I miss spending time with him.

"Hello?" He says when he picks up the phone. "Arya?"

"Hey," I say. "Do you want to hang out?"

"And do what?"

"I don't know, go smoke or something," I say. "Unless you're busy, then that's fine. I just wanted to get out of the house."

He pauses. "Sure," he says. "I'll pick you up in 20 minutes."

I walk downstairs and grab a water bottle, Bran and Rickon are down there playing a game.

"Where are you going?" Bran asks me.

"To meet with Gendry," I say. "I need to get out of here."

"I thought you guys broke up," Rickon says. "Or are you back together?"

"We're friends still," I say, taking a sip of my water. "Not that it's any of your business, by the way. Who are you, Jon?"

Bran laughs and I head outside just as Gendry is pulling up. I get into the car before my mom notices, my dad isn't home and my mom usually doesn't care much.

"Hey," he says, driving away from the house. "What's up?"

"Not much," I say. "I need to smoke."

Gendry chuckles and we drive to the creek. We sit in our usual spots and light up our cigarettes. "Is everything okay?" Gendry asks me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I say. "I was just going crazy being inside and having no one to hang out with, and my brothers were irritating me to no end."

"What were they doing?"

I roll my eyes. "It's not important," I say. "Just grilling me and being annoying preteens."

"Makes sense," he says. There's a somewhat long pause. "I've been playing guitar more."

"Oh, really?" I ask. I knew he played a little and he didn't really tell anyone about it. "Are you ever going to play for me?" He never did when we were dating. I didn't really ask, I knew he was really private about it.

"Maybe," he says. "I'll think about it. It's actually been really helpful to do that, it relaxes me."

I wonder what songs he plays and why it helps him so much, I really would like to hear him play someday.

"We're okay, right?" I ask him.

"Of course," he says. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"I know I caught you off guard when I ended things," I say. "I didn't mean to, I just wanted to rip the Band-Aid off."

"It's okay," he says. "It did catch me off guard, though. I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt or that I didn't miss you still, but I'm glad you were honest with me."

"How can you miss me? I'm here, aren't I? We're hanging out right now."

He chuckles. "You know what I mean," he says. "I miss being with you."

"Well, we could still do that," I say. "We could do some of that stuff right now if you wanted, I'm totally down for it."

He sighs. "Arya, I can't," he says. "I know it would be fun, but we can't go there if we aren't together. It wouldn't feel right for me."

"Okay, that's fine," I say. "I just thought I'd ask since you said you missed it."

I'm glad Gendry and I can still be friends, I'm glad it isn't too awkward. It was a little bit at first, but at least we can still hang out one-on-one without it being too weird. I was worried we wouldn't be able to be friends like before, because of him and not me. He seemed to be more invested in the dating relationship than I was.

I get why he declined hooking up, but he could've just said no thank you without it being a big thing. Whatever, I'm fine with just being friends. I'm glad we can still do that. I hope he eventually plays guitar for me, but if he didn't do it when we were together than he definitely won't now. He's never really been one to open up.

Cersei Lannister POV

Dany is sleeping over again tonight. It's the day after the party, she ended up crashing here and Jon took everyone home. I'm surprised he didn't get all pissed off at that since they're basically attached at the hip at this point.

"So did you have fun last night?" I ask her as we're cleaning up the living room.

"I guess," she says. "You know, I feel like I'm outgrowing all my high school friends lately."

"I can tell," I say. "I don't blame you for feeling that way since you were off babysitting Sansa for a while."

"I wasn't babysitting her," Dany says. "Ramsay was being a jerk, so I was helping her."

"She needs to grow up," I say. "We all have to deal with our exes sometimes."

"He literally assaulted her," Dany says, tying off a trash bag. "She has a right to be upset and to still have that affect her."

I roll my eyes. "She's so dramatic."

"I wish Jaime hadn't invited him in the first place," she says. "I told him he shouldn't."

"Well he's right," I respond. "You can't dictate who he invites to our house and who he hangs out with."

"I know," she says. "I just thought he had more respect for Sansa than that."

We finish cleaning up the living room and Dany heads to my room. I walk by Tyrion's room and hear him and Jaime talking in there. They sometimes hang out in there together, and I decide to eavesdrop to hear what they're talking about.

"I was smoking outside last night, and I started talking to Coach Tarth," I hear Jaime say. "She came to pick Theon up."

"That's really weird," Tyrion says. "Was it weird to see her since you're so used to seeing her as a teacher basically?"

"A little, but she actually seems really cool," Jaime says. "She's not that much older than us."

"Would you hit that?" Tyrion asks.

"Shut up," Jaime says, laughing. "I just said we had a good conversation, it doesn't always need to go back to that."

"Hey, you're the one talking so much about just an off hand conversation."

"Okay, she's really pretty," Jaime says. "I never noticed it before, but she is."

"So you do want to hit that," Tyrion says. "I knew it, you can't hide anything from me."

"I never said that," Jaime says. "But she's so tall, and I do love that."

"Yeah?" Tyrion asks. "I don't blame you."

"I kind of want to ask Theon for her number," Jaime says. "But you can't tell Cersei."

"I would never," Tyrion says. "I'm not an idiot."

"Thank you, brother."

There's a pause of silence and Tyrion suddenly opens the door, he looks surprised when he sees me. I'm surprised, too. I didn't hear him walk towards the door.

"Are you eavesdropping?" He asks me.

I scowl at him. "None of your business, asshole." I shove him lightly in the shoulder.

"Hey!" He yells. He starts to come towards me, but Jaime calls him back into the room so the fight doesn't escalate.

I walk away from Tyrion's room, I'm so angry. I know Jaime didn't say he was going to do anything with Coach Tarth or that he was even going to see her, but he never told me anything about this. I wish I had known he talked to her.

I walk into my room and Dany is in there on her computer. I shut the door particularly hard behind me, which makes her jump a little. "Are you okay?" She asks me.

"Yeah," I say, sitting on my bed and hugging my knees to my chest. "I'm fine."

"Cersei, tell me what's wrong." She turns around to face me.

I take a deep breath. "It's nothing," I say, turning away from her. "Just drop it."

I can't even tell anyone why I'm so mad. Jaime would never start seeing another girl, he would never dare do that to me. I know I get jealous easily, but I can't help it. Jaime and I are bonded for life, and he knows that.

Sansa Stark POV

I'm sleeping at Myrcella's tonight, I needed a break away from my family. My dad informed me that we're going camping for Fourth of July, he didn't really give me a say in the matter. I guess it'll be fun, but it's not something I'm overly excited about.

Myrcella and I are hanging out in her room, Shireen might come hang out with us later. "So what else are you doing this summer?" Myrcella asks me.

"My parents want to take the family camping for Fourth of July," I say. "It's been a while since we've taken a trip like that."

"Oh, that sounds like fun."

"Eh," I say. "I wish I could bring you, but I think they want it to just be a family thing."

"I get that," she says. "Pod and I are going out of town for Fourth of July too, actually."

"Oh, really?" I ask. "Do you need to say you're with me?"

"My dad is actually letting me go," she says. "Pod's parents are coming with us, he just doesn't know they're going to let us share a room by ourselves."

"Oh, that's awesome," I say. "Where are you going?"

"The beach a couple hours away," Myrcella says. "I'm really excited."

"Oh, yeah. We went there as a family a couple sunmers ago."

"It'll be a lot of fun, and really romantic."

There's a pause. "Surely your dad has to know you've slept with Pod, right?" I ask Myrcella. "You've been together a long time, and you guys are clearly in love. Anyone who sees you together can tell."

She blushes. "I think he has a hunch that we've had sex," she says. "I just don't think he wants to think about that too much, he definitely doesn't want to endorse it."

"Makes sense, that's how most parents are," I say. "But I don't think they had any idea that Arya and Gendry slept together."

"Oh, definitely not," she says. "Gendry would be dead by now if anyone in your family knew."

I laugh at that, but I know she's right. "I'm going to get some water." I get up and walk out of Myrcella's room.

I walk into the kitchen and immediately see Joffrey. I start to turn around, but he stops me. "Sansa," he says. "It's okay, you don't have to go."

I turn around and get a glass for water. "Hi Joffrey," I say. I start to pour myself some water. "How are you?"

"I'm alright," he says. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Oh, yeah. I've been pretty busy, I suppose."

"Oh yeah, Myrcella says you've been pretty busy with modeling stuff," he says. "I know she wants to do that too, but I keep telling her she really doesn't have what it takes."

"That's not true," I say. "She's so much prettier than me." I truly mean that, Myrcella is one of the most beautiful girls in school now.

"No, you're gorgeous," Joffrey says. "Myrcella's also way too fat."

"I'm not doing this," I say. "I'm not going to listen to you talk about her like that, it's not even true."

"I'm not talking about you," he says. "You should be happy I'm being civil with you, you're lucky that's even happening. I could ruin you if I wanted to."

I pause, how did I ever go out with him? How did I ever listen to the stuff he said and still like him? I walk into Myrcella's room, and I think she can sense something happened.

"Hey," she says. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I say. "I ran into Joffrey. He was being a dick, but what else is new?"

"I'm sorry," she says. "I'm glad you still come over, even when your ex is here."

"It's okay," I say. "I'm just sorry I didn't listent to you when you warned me about him."

"I understand," she says. "It's okay, it is what it is. Now that you're away from Joffrey and I have Podrick, we're both in much better situations."

I guess she's right, I shouldn't dwell on the past so much. Why am I running into my exes so much this weekend? I knew this was a possibility, but I didn't think they would both decide to be complete and utter dicks. I can handle Joffrey by himself, and I can prepare for Ramsay. I can't handle them both, but I wish I could. I wish I was strong enough.