Chapter 11

Gendry Baratheon POV

I love Arya so much, but it's starting to hit me how young she really is. She never acted her age with how mature and independent she is, but her parents still have so much control over her life. I feel like we've reached an impasse, and I'm not sure how to proceed.

I'm thinking about everything when Podrick walks in the door from class. "Hey," I say. "How was class?"

"It was fine," he responds. I think he can tell something is off. "Is everything okay? You seem down."

"Can I ask your advice?"

"Sure," he says, closing the door and setting his bag down. "What's up?" He sits down next to me on the couch.

"Arya's parents don't want her to see me anymore," I say. "They decided that yesterday."

"Oh wow," Podrick says. "Why?"

"They caught her smoking," I say. "And they think I'm a bad influence. They also decided I was too old for her."

"It seems a little late to be worrying about that," Podrick says. "It's weird they just decided that now."

"Yeah, I agree," I say. "I thought if they were going to say that, they already would have."

"So what do you need my advice on?"

"I just don't know what to do," I say. "I feel like I'm making things worse for her. She wants to start sneaking around again, and I just really don't want to get her into more trouble."

"Do you want to keep going out with her?"

"Of course, I want nothing more than that," I say. "I just feel like maybe we should wait until she's older. I love her so much, but I just feel like I'm getting in her way."

Podrick pauses and sighs, he leans back on the couch. "I think you know what you should do," he says. "Or do I need to spell it out?"

"I should end it," I say. "But I don't want to, I really don't want to."

"If you really feel like being with her is hurting her, then you're staying with her for selfish motives," he says. "I know that isn't your intention, but you should end it if you love her and you think that will be better for her."

"You're right," I say. "I'm going to go call her, it's best not to drag it out."

"Good luck."

I get up and walk to my room. I sit on my bed and dial her number. I hate this, I really don't want to do this. I just think maybe her parents have a point, and maybe we should wait until Arya's older to try dating again. I want her to be able to live her life without me holding her back

"Hello?" Arya says when she answers.

"Hey," I say. I'm shaking. "It's me."

"What's up?" She asks. "Is everything okay?"

I sigh, this is going to be so painful. "I don't think we should see each other anymore," I say, starting to tear up. "I just think this is hurting you more than it's benefiting you."

There's a long pause, I can tell she's surprised. "What?" She says. "Gendry, this doesn't make any sense."

"I know it seems like it doesn't," I say. "But my biggest fear is hurting you, or holding you back. It seems like I'm doing both."

"But you're not," she says. "You're not doing either of those things."

"I know it doesn't feel like that," I say. "But of we kept seeing each other, I would just be worried that you would get into trouble when you got home."

"You know I'm not a baby, Gendry," she says. I can tell she's getting upset. "How many times do I have to tell you that?"

"I don't think you are," I say. "But you're still 15, and your parents still have some control over you."

"And your going to let that stop you?" She asks. "Do you not love me anymore?"

That makes me actually start crying. "Arya, I love you so fucking much," I say. "I just want to give you space to be yourself without me holding you back."

She starts softly crying, I can tell she doesn't want me to hear it. I wipe a tear from my face. "I'm sorry," I say. "I hate that I have to do this."

"You don't," she says, sniffling. "But if you want to, I respect that."

She hangs up and I start crying. Podrick knocks on my door. "Come in," I say. He walks in and looks at me sympathetically.

"How did that go?" He asks me.

"Terribly," I say. "We both cried, and she thinks I just don't love her anymore."

"I'm sorry," he says. "I wish I could help more."

I shrug. "It is what it is."

I wish Arya understood that this isn't something I wanted to do, I hated every second of that. I believe I did the right thing, but that doesn't mean it hurt any less. Podrick and I watch a show and order takeout together to take my mind off things, but it doesn't really work. I'm worried I missed my second chance with her, but I also believe we'll find each other again if it's meant to be.

Arya Stark POV

I can't believe Gendry broke up with me, I really didn't see that coming. I thought we could work through anything, I didn't think this obstacle would be enough for him to just give up on me. With how much he's chased me over the years, I never expected he'd do something like this.

I hope my parents are happy, they're the ones who caused this. I hate crying, but I can't stop. This hurts so much more than I ever imagined it would. I never wanted to be this girl, I never wanted to be sitting on my bed crying over a guy. This is why I avoided dating in the first place, to avoid having feelings like this.

I'm still crying when Sansa walks in from cheer practice. "Arya," she says when she sees me. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" She immediately puts her bag down and sits next to me on the bed.

"Gendry broke up with me," I say quietly, wiping my face. "We just got off the phone."

"What?" Sansa asks me, sounding shocked. "Surely he didn't mean that."

"He said he felt like he was hurting me by staying with me," I say. "He didn't want me to get into more trouble, and he said he felt like he was causing that."

"But you chose to be with him," Sansa says. "You knew the risks, and you wanted to keep dating him anyway."

"I know, that's basically what I said," I respond. "But he feels like he needs to look out for me, I guess. Which is so stupid, how many times do I have to tell him I'm not a baby?"

"Did he sound upset?" Sansa asks. "Or did it seem like he was looking for an excuse to end things?"

"He was very upset," I say. "He was crying, and so was I but I hope he didn't notice. He told me he still loved me, it was all very confusing."

"Well maybe he really thought he was doing the right thing," Sansa says. "Maybe he really thought this would be better for you."

"He has no right to decide what's best for me," I say. "That's not his job, that's my job."

"I know," she says. "I know it's frustrating, but I think you should sleep on it before you do anything crazy or decide that you hate him."

"I could never hate him," I say. "Even though I really want to right now."

Sansa comforts me and we hang out in our room until mom calls us down for dinner. Of course Meera is here, I'm so pissed that Bran still gets to date her when he's younger than me.

I pretty much eat in silence, I think my parents can tell I'm upset. I think everyone can, actually. I just don't feel like talking or pretending to be happy right now. I shouldn't have to, and I swear I'm going to lose it if my parents get onto me for being quiet and upset.

I walk into the kitchen to put my plate in the sink, and Bran walks in shortly after. "Hey," he says. "What's up?"

"Nothing," I say, turning to look at him. "God, how are you taller than me?" He grew so fast over the summer, it's crazy.

He just chuckles at me. "Are you okay?" He asks. "You seem quieter than usual."

"Gendry and I broke up," I say. "Mom and dad didn't want me to see him anymore."

"Why?"

"They think he's a bad influence because of his age," I respond. "Apparently I'm too young but you can date Meera, it's ridiculous."

"I'm not sure it's the same," Bran says. "Meera and I grew up together, and we're the same age. I've known her since we were 4."

"It doesn't seem fair to me," I say. "I'm just so upset about the whole thing."

"They caught you smoking?" Bran asks. "Is that what started this whole thing?"

"Yeah," I say. "They smelled it on me."

"I'm sorry," he says. "I know I threatened to tell on you for that, but you know I never actually would've."

"That's good to know," I say. "I would've killed you."

"Yeah, I know."

"So what's it like having a girlfriend?" I ask. "Is it everything you imagined?"

"It's honestly not that different," he responds. "We do the same stuff we did when we were friends, we just kiss now."

"Ew," I say. "Is Rickon jealous?"

"Yeah, for some reason," Bran says. "He never even liked Meera like that, so I'm not sure what's going on."

"I don't know, guys are weird," I say. "Maybe it's a subconscious competition thing."

"I don't know, he's crazy," Bran says. "I'm sorry about Gendry, I hope it ends up working out okay."

"Me too," I say. "I'm just really upset more than anything else."

Bran gives me a sympathetic smile before walking out of the kitchen. He seems like he's finally growing up and having more mature moments than he used to, which is nice to see. Don't get me wrong, he's still an asshole. He just seems like he's at least starting to get a decent head on his shoulders, it's nice to see.

I hope it works out with me and Gendry too, but I'm honestly not sure at this point. I'm really tired of people trying to make decisions for me, and Gendry doing that too makes me even more angry. I do love him, and I wish he would see that he's not hurting me like he seems to be so convinced that he is.

Daenerys Targaryen POV

I'm at work rolling silverwear when I look over from the hostess stand and see Cersei flirting with the head bartender again. She's supposed to be rolling with me. She's been doing this a lot, I'm worried it'll get her in trouble. She finally walks away and walks back over to the hostess stand where I am.

"What are you doing?" I ask her. "You know we were told to roll silverwear since it's slow."

"I'm just trying to get to know people," she says, starting to roll silverwear with me. "This will benefit both of us, you know."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah," she responds. "Don't you want to get free drinks from time to time, too?"

"Not really," I say. "I'm not sure drinking on the job for our very first job is the best way to go."

"God, you're a buzzkill now," Cersei says, scoffing. "Are you going to snitch to the manager?"

"Of course not," I say. "Even if I wanted to, I don't need that drama."

"Good, because I don't either."

I figured this would happen, I just hope her behavior doesn't escalate. I'm sure it will, I know her well enough by now to predict her behavior. I hate that I'm so negative about her, but it's honestly the truth.

…

We leave work at the end of our shift and head to Cersei's car, we're getting a snack from a food truck. I'm so tired of seafood at this point. The restaurant we work at is good, but it's just getting a little bit old.

"How are things going with Bronn?" I ask her as she starts driving. "Are you still seeing him?"

"Yeah, we've had sex," Cersei says nonchalantly. "We established that we're dating, but it still isn't anything serious."

"Are you guys exclusive?"

There's a pause. "I'm not sure," she says. "If I meet another guy I want to have sex with, I'll ask him first."

That surprises me, honestly. That's way more consideration than she's ever shown Jaime. For how much he's done for her, she really does treat him like shit. I feel like she also treats me badly, but he definitely has it worse. I know it's incredibly complicated with them, but I wouldn't have put up with being treated like that for so long.

We get to the food truck and sit down, it's at the same outdoor food truck park where Jon and I went on a date recently. It's a nice area, we order our food and sit down at a bench.

"God, I'm starving," Cersei says. "I didn't eat much on my break."

"Why?"

"I'm so fucking tired of the food there," she says. "Plus, it's greasy and disgusting."

"Yeah, but I at least had a salad," I say. "I'm sick of it too, but I can't just not eat during an entire work shift."

"How are things with Jon?" She asks me after a pause. I'm honestly surprised she cares.

"Pretty good," I say. "He's been kinda going through it with his dad, though."

"How so?"

"Apparently his dad is going to tell him more about his mom when we go home for Thanksgiving," I say. "Jon is really nervous about it."

"I get that," Cersei says. "He really knows nothing about his mom?"

"Hardly anything," I say. "But his dad told him his mom died during Labor Day Weekend."

"Holy shit, really?"

"Yeah," I say. "Apparently she died right after he was born."

"Damn," Cersei says. "Seems like a pretty significant detail to leave out."

"I agree," I say. "He stayed at my place that night because he was so upset."

"I get that," she says. "I'm sorry, that must be a lot for him to deal with."

"Yeah, it is," I say. "I wish I knew how to help him more, all I can really do is listen and try my best to comfort him."

There's a pause as we get our food and start eating. "So how is Jaime taking it that you're with Bronn now?" I finally ask.

"I know he's not happy, because he worries about me and he thinks Bronn is bad for me," she says. "He needs to get over it, I can take care of myself."

Based on past behavior, that isn't the case. I'll never say that to Cersei, though. She can't even see it. I agree with Jaime that Bronn isn't good for her, but there isn't really anything we can do at this point. I hate to acknowledge it, but if anything happens to Cersei, she dug her own grave at this point.

I know Jon may not want me to be telling her all of this, but it feels good to vent to someone who isn't so close to the situation. Cersei is still my best friend, despite how rocky things have been with us these last couple of years. Hanging out with her felt good, we actually sort of talked like we used to. It felt like we could worry less about all of the drama in our lives and just talk to each other, even if just for a few minutes.