Chapter 19

Jaime Lannister POV

Cersei comes in at 11 a.m. the morning after the Halloween party. I was worried about her at first, but I figured she just went to stay at Bronn's place for the night. We make awkward eye contact when she walks in, I'm on the couch trying to get some work done on my computer.

"You're back," I say. "Have a good night?" There's a lot of tension in the air, it's really awkward.

"I suppose," she says, getting Ibuprofen from the kitchen cabinet and taking a couple of them. "My head is pounding."

"Did you stay with Bronn?"

"Yeah," she says. "Sorry, I meant to tell you. I hope you didn't wait up."

"I didn't," I say. "I figured you were with him."

She pauses and looks at me, I think she expected me to be worried about her like I always have been. I don't think she expected that to ever fade away, no matter what happened or what ever she did.

"So you didn't even think to text me and ask?" She says. "I could've been dead."

"You were with Bronn when I left," I say. "If you can't trust your boyfriend to protect you, then you need to reevaluate that relationship."

"So because I have another guy in my life, you just don't give a shit anymore?" She asks. "Now that I'm not fucking you?"

"Cersei, come on," I say. "It's not that at all, don't be ridiculous."

"Well, that's what it seems like," she says. "I know you aren't that keen on me dating Bronn to begin with."

"I'm not, but I trust your judgement if you feel safe with him."

That's a lie, I don't trust her judgement at all. I haven't for a long time, but I need to make her think I do. She's so confusing, she wants me to leave her alone but she also wants me to be protective of her? I don't get her, at least Brienne is straightforward with me.

"You've certainly changed," Cersei says. "I would never have guess you trusted my judgement."

"Well I do," I say. "We're adults now, we're growing up."

"Whatever," she says. "I'm taking a nap." She goes into her room and shuts her door.

I go into my room and dial Brienne's number, but she doesn't answer. A few minutes after getting her voicemail, my phone buzzes and I see that it's a text from her.

Ding. *Hey, sorry I'm at the gym. It's super loud in here so I can't really talk.*

*No worries. Sorry, didn't mean to bother you.*

Ding. *It's okay, you didn't know. So what's going on?*

*If you're busy, we can talk later.*

Ding. *No it's fine. I can text.*

I'm nervous to send the message I want to send, but I know the only thing worse than sending it would be not sending it.

*Did you want to see each other over Thanksgiving break? I wanted to ask since it's coming up soon.*

Ding. *Sure, I've really liked talking to you lately.*

That makes me smile, I actually feel giddy for the first time in a while.

*Okay, sounds good :). I was worried you'd say no.*

Ding. *Well that's why I wanted to talk for a while before deciding, I wanted to make sure you weren't so wishy-washy anymore ;).*

*Not this time, and I'm sorry for what I put you through over the summer.*

Ding. *It's fine, we should just move on and have a fresh start.*

*Agreed. I'll let you know when we're heading back to town and what we think our plan is. Maybe we can talk on the phone before then?*

Ding. *For sure :)*

*Cool 3*

I'm happy with how things are progressing with Brienne, maybe we can actually try being in a relationship this time. I know it's a messy situation for anyone to get into, I'm just glad Brienne is mature enough and willing to consider it.

I'm still in love with Cersei, I think I always will be. I don't think those feelings will ever go away. I want to help her, but I feel like she doesn't want my help or anyone else's. I feel like trying to be with Brienne is the only way I can move on and end this long chapter of my life that is my toxic relationship with Cersei.

Arya Stark POV

I slept in Robb and Jon's old room last night, Sansa and her friends were up late being loud. I don't mind them usually, but I kinda didn't want to be around Margaery. At least I didn't have to see her, so it wasn't too awkward.

I go back to my room after I hear Margaery leave, I look out the window and see her walk to her car. Myrcella is still here when I walk into Sansa and I's room. I don't mind that, I really like her.

"Hey guys," I say as I walk into my room. They pause and look at me, I can tell that something's up since they don't usually keep stuff from me. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Sansa says. "Everything's fine, Margaery just left."

"I know," I say, sitting on my bed. "I was waiting for her to leave."

"I figured," Sansa says. "I'm sorry, she was just a little drunk after the party so I said she could crash here."

"It's fine," I say. "I know you guys are still friends and it's really okay."

"Thanks, Arya," she says. "You don't have to say that, I get it if you hate her."

"I don't," I say. "But I don't like her either."

"That's fair," Myrcella says. "We wish you could've come to the party."

"Me too, but I get why I wasn't invited if it was mostly college kids."

"I'm sure Podrick would've been fine with it if you asked," Sansa says. "You just didn't ask."

"It's really fine," I say. I take a pause, hesitant to bring up what I'm about to. "Was Gendry there?"

"Yeah," Sansa says after pausing. "He's Podrick's roommate and his best friend, so we figured he'd be there."

"Yeah, makes sense," I say. "Then it's probably good that I wasn't there. I'm not sure it's a good idea for me to see him, or if I can even handle it."

There's another pause. "Was it awkward between him and Margaery?" I ask. I'm not sure why I'm bringing their dynamic up, but a morbid curiousity in me wants to know.

"Actually no," Myrcella says. "Quite the opposite."

"Myrcella!" Sansa whispers sternly. "Shh!"

"What?" I ask. Myrcella turns beet red.

"I'm sorry," Myrcella says. "It's nothing, I shouldn't have said anything."

"Come on, what?" I ask. Sansa takes a deep breath and buries her face in her hands, she knows me well enough to know I'm not letting this go.

"Margaery and Gendry started talking again at the party," Sansa says. "Apparently it went really well, they were flirting."

"Oh…" I say. "Okay."

"She told him to call her when he got the chance," Sansa says. "I didn't want to tell you because I knew it would hurt you."

"It's whatever," I say, shrugging and trying to sound chill about it. "He's single and can do whatever he wants."

"I'm sorry," Myrcella says. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

"It's okay," I say. "Really, it doesn't effect me at all."

There's a long pause, it's clear that there's tension in the air now.

"For what it's worth," Sansa says. "Even if he does call her, I'm sure nothing will come of it. They had a really toxic relationship, I can't see them working it out a second time."

"I don't want to talk about it," I say, a little snappier than I intended. "I don't care."

"Okay," Sansa says. "I'm actually excited for the holidays this year, what are you doing Myrcella?"

"I probably will go see Shireen," Myrcella says. "Especially if it's just her and my uncle."

"What if they go to your dad's house?" Sansa asks. "Would you go there."

"I wouldn't be against stopping by," Myrcella says. "Especially to be there for Shireen."

"Wow, I'm surprised," I say. "You're a better person than I would be."

"I know she has a big heart and loves everyone," Myrcella says. "If she wants to see my dad and siblings, I need to be there to protect her from them."

"She's so young," Sansa says. "I worry about her."

"Me too, you have no idea," Myrcella says. "She's still so young and naive, even after everything Joffrey, Tommen and my dad have done to her."

They keep talking, but I'm still thinking about Gendry and Margaery. I really shouldn't have asked, but Myrcella really shouldn't have said anything to begin with. I hate that I'm thinking about guys so much, I never used to be like this. This is why I hated the idea of dating and was so opposed to anything girly.

I know this isn't a big problem, especially compared to what Myrcella's been going through. I just hate thinking about Margaery, she's older and so much prettier and more experienced. I could never compete with her, even if I wanted to. I should've known that all along.

Sansa's been listening to Olivia Rodrigo's new album a lot lately, and the song "Lacy" immediately made me think of Margaery. I'd never tell Sansa that, though. I'm so embarassed that I feel this way. I never thought I'd be jealous of another girl like this, especially over a guy. I hate that I'm so jealous of her, and I hate that I can't hate her.

Gendry Baratheon POV

I'm really surprised Margaery and I hit it off again as well as we did the other night. It felt familiar, but also new in a sense. It felt like we know each other well because we do, but it also felt like we're different people now than we were when we were together.

I decide to call Margaery after I get home from work. She wanted me to call her, but I didn't want to seem too eager. I'm sitting on my bed, and I dial Margaery's number. Anxiety washes over me as I realize she might be in class, I don't want to bother her.

"Hello?" She says when she answers.

"Hey Marge," I say. "Are you busy?"

"Not at all," she says. "It's good to hear from you."

"I had a good time the other night," I say. "It felt good to catch up."

"Really?" She asks. "I'm surprised you wanted to talk to me, I assumed you wouldn't want to."

"Why?"

"Just considering how things ended between us," she says. "I know it got kinda nasty."

"Yeah, it did," I say, taking a pause. "But I'm glad all that's behind us and we can be civil with each other now."

"Me too," she says. "I'm glad you actually called me."

"How are you? How's school?"

"It's going good," she says. "I've been working on more models lately and getting a lot more practice."

"That's amazing," I say. "I'm sure you're very talented."

"Thank you," she says. "I know I'm pretty good, I'm better than a lot of people in my class."

"At least you're humble about it," I say jokingly. "That's always a good trait to have."

She chuckles at that, and there's another pause. "Would you ever want to meet up for coffee or something and properly catch up?"

It takes me a couple seconds to respond, I really didn't expect that. "Oh," I finally say. "Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"I don't think it could hurt anything, we're both single and we had a good talk the other night," she says. "But only if you want to."

"I'll think about it," I say. "I'll text you about it soon if that's okay."

"Yeah, for sure," she says. "Have a good day, Gendry."

"Bye, Marge."

After we hang up, Podrick knocks on my door. "Come in," I say. He pushes the door open, it was already cracked. "What's up?"

"Who were you talking to?" He asks. I'm not sure why he cares, he's acting like there was something suspicious about the conversation.

"Why do you ask?"

"It just sounded a little flirty," he says. "Was that Arya?"

"No," I say. There's a pause since I'm nervous to tell him. "It was Margaery."

"Margaery Tyrell?" He asks, as if there's another Margaery. "Your ex-girlfriend, Margaery?"

"Yeah," I say. "We got to talking at the party the other night and we apologized to each other for what happened when we broke up. She said she wanted me to call her."

"Are you sure that was a good idea?"

I get up and walk into the kitchen, with Podrick following me. "Come on man, don't judge me," I say. "I just wanted to talk to her, what's the harm in that?"

I go and get a beer out of the fridge and open it, taking a swig. "Well, how did it go?" Podrick asks me.

"It actually went surprisingly well," I say. "There wasn't toxicity or jealousy, it felt like we were friends again."

"You guys didn't have a great relationship and you had a really nasty breakup," Pod says. "I'm just surprised, this isn't really like you."

I pause and drink a little more of my beer. "I guess I'm just lonely and not sure where to go after losing Arya again," I say. "I'm just trying to move on."

"I get that," Pod says. "I just don't want you to get hurt or put yourself in a toxic situation."

I take a pause of silence again, unsure if I should even say what I was going to say. "Margaery asked me out again."

"What did you say?"

"I said I had to think about it and I'd let her know," I say, he gives me a look. "You're judging me."

"I'm really not," he says. "I know it's tough because you were in love with Arya, I just don't want you to make any rash decisions that you regret."

"That's why I told her I'd have to think about it," I say. "I'll let you know what I decide."

"Please do," he says. "I'll try to help in any way I can."

"Thanks man."

I understand why Podrick's concerned, I really do. Normally I wouldn't think meeting up with Margaery would be a good idea, but I am lonely and we did have a good conversation. I think I will meet up with her for a short coffee, what harm could that do?

A/N: The next couple chapters will be Thanksgiving! I know you guys have been asking for it, and it's finally here! I just hope you like it…