Closed; Rude Awakening
It had been a particularly long week and somehow it was only Tuesdays, running from appointment to appointment for showings for the last two days straight. There were a few larger parties set up for the following weekend that needed final venue walk-throughs but she also had a long waiting list of future clients that she was trying to work through
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Anna tugged at his shoulder, fingers pressing into his bare skin. Cormac pulled it away, feigning a laugh, though it came out more hollow than anything. He had forgotten all about this half-assed routine they'd settled on. It was a stupid game they'd picked up after one of those terrible holiday Ministry parties. He liked her well enough. She was smart and funny. But this wasn't sitting right- the schedule they had fallen into, Anna stopping by on Tuesday nights, typically dressed in a long jacket and nothing more. Even now, as she sat on his couch, dressed only in a red lacy nightgown, Cormac was thankful she was wearing anything at all.
He'd fallen into the kiss, he'd admit, the taste of her too familiar for him to push her way and hell, he liked it. He liked Anna.
And for a little while, he'd distracted himself with her kisses, his shirt falling to the floor.
But then the knock came at the door and suddenly it was as if all the color had drained from his face. He liked Anna, alright. But he hadn't been able to get Daphne out of his head. Not for a bloody moment. Until now.
"No-" he said, rising from his seat. "Um- hold on, this is about to get really uncomfortable-"
But he couldn't ignore her. Leave her standing out there in his hallway. So, he grabbed for his shirt, shrugging it on, stumbling with the buttons as he pulled open the door.
"Daphne-"
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"I'm so sorry I'm late," she told him sincerely, taking a step forward to press a quick kiss to his cheek.
As Daphne pulled back to noticed his disheveled look, the way the buttons mismatched and the top few remained completely undone. It wasn't much like him at all actually and she furrowed her brow, more than slightly confused.
"Starting with out me?"
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Cormac clung to the door, trying to ignore the heat settling into his skin when he took in the sight of her, his cheek warm from where she kissed him. Daphne looked absolutely incredible and the smile that tugged at her features, exposing those perfect dimples, it was all he could do not to jump out the bloody fucking window. Before he could say anything though, Anna leaned forward to catch sight of the entry.
"Cormy- who's there?" she asked.
"Erm- hold on, will you?" he asked, turning back toward her briefly. He sucked in a breath before looking to Daphne.
"We said Tuesday?" he asked, brow furrowed as he looked at her. "Like, tonight, Tuesday?"
This was going to be very, very uncomfortable.
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Cormy-.
How completely nauseating. Honestly.
"Yes, Tuesday. As in tonight-" she said, crossing her arms over her chest as she took a step backward into the hallway to put some distance between them again. She had a feeling that she wouldn't be staying very long at this rate at all.
"In fact, Cormy-" she all but hissed, "If I remember, you insisted on it."
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There wasn't a particular inflection to his voice. It wasn't really a question, nor was it really a statement. It was just the words repeated, Cormac's brow furrowing as if something painful caught in his chest. She had crossed her arms over her chest, stepping back and away from him and he didn't miss the tone behind that movement.
It nearly made him wince.
"Look- Daphne, I got confused-" he said, meaning that word in more than just one way. "Can we talk-"
But before he finished he frowned.
"Hold on-" he said, before turning back around, looking to Anna with the blankest face he could muster. "Anna- you need to go home, I'm sorry- this is all absolutely my fault. I will explain everything tomorrow-"
The blond was silent as she rose from the couch. She wasn't an idiot. Not by a long shot. She was one of the most promising young alchemists working with the Ministry. She grabbed her coat, shaking her head.
"Save it, Cormac. I understand-" and with that, she was gone with a pop.
He sighed, pulling his door wide open now.
"Come on- don't stand there in the hallway like that. Please. Let me explain-"
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"How about you explain things to Anna now, go off and find her where ever she popped off to-" she started, holding her ground firmly in the middle of the hallway with her voice dropped down low.
She was fuming now, glaring daggers at him as her heart beat right out of her chest.
"-And you can explain it to me never. Okay?"
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But here he was.
"Oh, come on-" he said, groaning slightly. "Daphne- it was an honest mistake- I just lost track of time-"
Bad answer. Terrible answer.
"I can only half understand why you're angry-" he said then, brow furrowing.
He knew why he felt so torn up. He had known for a while that Daphne was really the only person he wanted to spend any time with. But neither of them had broached the subject, the two of them skirting around anything serious for weeks now. Every time it got heavy, clothing came off and they distracted themselves with what they were good at.
But there wasn't any hiding now.
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But all she saw was a man trying to weasel himself out of a tough situation.
"Only half?" she asked, a dark, condescending laugh rising out of her as she rolled her eyes at him. There were so many things wrong here on so many levels, the list went on for miles and she didn't have the time or the energy tonight to consider dealing with any of them.
Cormac was supposed to be her escape from all of this, the only person she found herself wanting to spend her free time with as they dove deeper into this- whatever it was that they were doing. She hadn't diluted herself into thinking that they were a couple, realizing that they were probably the furthest thing from it at times, barely even making conversation that didn't include their desire to rip each others clothes off.
And yet- well, just four days ago she had been introduced to his parents and he had held her out on that balcony when she vulnerable and overwhelmed, a feeling she wasn't accustomed to. He had calmed her down and made her feel safe and she just really liked the way that he held her-
"Clearly we've been on the wrong page here if you think that you can double book your shags. I don't want to be your bloody second helpings."
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He was already exasperated by this situation. Uncomfortable seemed to be an understatement, apparently, as Cormac fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, fixing the crooked ones, trying to find something to do with his hands while he did his best to avoid her gaze. Her reputation in school had been legendary, her and Cecilia Jacobs- the way they could reduce anyone to tears in a matter of seconds.
He now understood why.
It was bloody terrifying, it was.
"That was not my intention," he said, shaking his head. "Anna got a little confused- and that's sort of how she and I used to-"
He paused, clearing his throat.
"We're just friends-" he explained. "Friends who-"
He shook his head. Nope. That was not going to work either.
"Daphne- what are we doing?" he asked, finally. "We've been sleeping together for weeks- but we've never- well, I don't know what book we're in to even know what page to be on!"
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But then-
Well, she really didn't know what he was asking her now, the white hot edges of rage starting to cloud her vision and it was possible to see past them. Especially when he was fumbling with his shirt like that, a cruel reminder of exactly what she had just walked into.
Still, she wasn't completely unreasonable and knew what a scene like this could cause. The last thing she wanted to do was have her humiliation spilled all over the tabloids- again. So she pushed past him, heels clicking against the hardwood floor as she entered his flat and spun on her heel to face him once more.
"You seem to be the one that has it all figured out, Cormac so why don't you tell me?" she countered, eyebrows raised.
"You're the one who invited me here. You're the one that introduced me to your parents."
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He had to find a way to remain calm, to maintain some level of composure in order to try and soothe her, if he could. Though, by the look still lingering on her face and the edge to her tone, he figured that might take a while.
"No- no, I don't," he said, voice even. "I don't know what we're doing Daphne, that's the point-"
He sucked in another breath, hands stuffing into the pockets of his jeans.
"I introduced you to my parents because I thought-"
He hesitated again, not sure why the words were coming to him so haphazardly, why he was so thrown. He'd talked himself out of these situations before. Never did he feel the need to apologize, though.
"We haven't talked about us," he said, finally, not quite sure how those words were spilling from his lips. "I don't know if we're exclusive, if we're dating, if we're just bloody fuck buddies at this point-"
He took a step forward.
"Are you mad because you don't want to be second helpings or because you thought I wasn't seeing anyone else?"
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She actually wasn't completely sure what she had thought, hadn't wanted to think about it to much because she didn't want to push him too far. Maybe she didn't want to push herself too far after the disaster of a relationship she had let herself sink into.
"No, of course not," she told him, perhaps a little bit to quickly as she faltered, breaking that icy stare she had settled on.
It wasn't like she was seeing anybody else, not for the last couple weeks at least. Even then it had only been once, a drunken one night stand to prove that she was capable of something like that-
Cormac was different. He had always been different.
But how?
"I don't want to be your bloody second helpings, Cormac. I don't want to be the girl you call when your other floosies aren't around. I want-"
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She flipped a switch in him.
"What do you want?" he asked, his voice softer, huskier maybe, as he looked at her, this time his gaze steady. "Because you don't do that, you know- tell me anything."
She had come close, once, when they were in Barcelona. She had told him things he never expected to hear from her. But as quickly as it happened, it stopped. They had gone right back to senseless flirting and ripping each others clothes off.
And maybe that was his fault. He wasn't exactly the most open, or the most welcoming. He'd been used to a certain type of relationship.
Daphne was already trampling all over what he was used to, though.
"How am I supposed to know anything if you don't think you can tell me?"
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Without meaning to, really she just wasn't thinking at all at this point, she took a step towards him.
"I don't tell you anything?" she asked him, more confused than anything else as her resolve began to fade.
Daphne had found herself opening up to Cormac in ways that she would have never expected, feeling more vulnerable than she ever allowed herself to become.
Until this. This was new and it was frightening in an entire different way.
"I told you about my parents. I told you about the war!"
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His tone was soft now, sensing the way her body was beginning to tense. The shaking that interjected with her tone. His first instinct was to hold her, reach out and take her hands in his. It wasn't a typical reaction for him to want to have, but just that quirk in her tone pulled at his chest.
"You shut down even as soon as you opened up," he said. "And I get it- I can't imagine what it was like to grow up the way you did- and I think you're incredibly brave-"
He chewed on the inside of his cheek, trying to find the right way to say this.
"But you and I have been skirting around not talking about what we've been doing since we met-" he said. "And I was alright with that in the beginning- but now I'm not-"
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There was a reason that Daphne pushed forward all the time, burying things that were too tough to handle. It was for this reason, crack in her voice and the tears that sprung into her eyes when she thought about it the awful cards that she had been dealt.
This was a side of her that Terry hadn't even known, a side that Cecilia had only skimmed the very surface of. There were depths there that she didn't even realize, had never explored before.
"I never thought you wanted me to open up to you. I didn't want to open up. Not even to-"
She wasn't going to bring up Terry now, not after all these weeks of refusing to even think about him. This wasn't even about him.
It shouldn't have even been about her.
It was about Cormac and Anna. It was about Cormac and all the other women that she was sure he was sleeping with.
"What do you want from me? Tell me. And tell me how many other woman you've slept with since you met me-"
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