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Post by Mavrick on Jul 18, 2008 14:05:07 GMT
Life had been good for Linden since all the drama of Hogwarts the year before. That had more than mostly to do with the fact he now lived as a muggle. Sure the odd charm or two tidied up the apartment he shared with his brothers. They lived uptown in a very nice three bedroom loft. The combined salaries of the trio of Scotts was enough for them to upgrade and get some more room. The neighbours may have moved out due to all the parties and noise, but they hardly cared. Keith was working in the Ministry and earned a fair wage. Ryan, even with a kid to care of, made his rent and bills on time, and Linden lived off his gigs, which were slowly becoming more often, and more lucrative.
Lead guitarist in a band who consisted of friends since childhood, knew Linden was a wizard, hell they'd even been interested in introducing muggle influences into the wizard music scene. But that had been put on hold when Linden decided he'd like to keep his ass out of that area, and his reasons were kept tight lipped. But the group was doing well, from a garage band with gigs in shitty little underground clubs, to advertised gigs in clubs that packed 500 capacity.
And Linden could swear there were that many in there tonight.
The stage stood above the moving crowd, who enjoyed their mix of rock, punk and pop rock and Linden played while his mate Alex sung, Roger hammered the drums and Jay hit the bass. Providing backup vocals and joining Alex in guitar riffs had the crowd plenty exhausted and excited by the time their set was almost up. With a bunch of unattractive guys, even guys at their level had no problems getting girls. The problem was amplified by the fact that all the band members were good looking guys, and the female fan base could almost be considered stalkers by some... not that Linden cared.
When the set finished and the DJ brought up some of the hottest tunes Linden and his mates cleared off the stage and packed their gear before heading out into the crowd of girls to sign autographs and pick one or three for the night. Linden however was stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what he could only consider a ghost. Even with the music and pushing and shoving girls, the world went quiet, and after blinking and realising she was still there, he mouthed her name.
'Amy'.
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Post by sonrisa on Jul 18, 2008 14:30:38 GMT
There were days when Amy Lyndon needed a detox from the world of ickle Hogwarts students. Sure, she loved knowing she was making a difference and all that bull that accompanied entering the teaching profession, but there were few days that went by that Amy didn’t want to strangle at least one of the students she was teaching, particularly when her classes got into the upper years. Apparently, they thought themselves incredibly clever every time they asked her to pick up something that they had ‘dropped’ on the floor. She had brushed it off the first few times, but really, the need of the male teenage population to stare at her arse was beginning to wear on her.
So, while all the students were snug in their beds on Friday night, Amy had gone out for the best source of stress relief she could think of: clubbing. And not only had she gone somewhere she was certain she would not run into any of her students, but somewhere where she wouldn’t have to worry about running into anyone she knew. Muggle clubs had become her safe haven these days, though there were often rather slim pickings as far as the men were concerned.
Tonight had been no different at first. Having come two seconds away from hexing a seventh year’s genetalia into oblivion, she had slid her way into the club, surprised to see a live band playing. It was near the end of their performance, but Amy didn’t need much time to recognize the familiarity of the voice echoing throughout the room, and she needed even less to realize exactly who the voice belonged to. With wide eyes, Amy stood frozen as she watched their set come to an end, hardly registering the new music beginning to play. Part of her wanted to cut tail and run, but another part of her, a much larger part, in fact, wanted to watch him, to see what had happened to him in the time they had spent apart.
Shoving aside an older man who had chosen to invade her personal space, she wasted no time in elbowing her way halfway through the mob of girls to get a good look at him. He looked the same, perhaps, if humanly possible, a bit messier than usual, but still good. She managed a weak smile as she remembered forcing him to go and straighten himself up before walking to class with him, but that smile vanished as soon as she realized he was not simply looking out into the mob of girls, but was looking straight at her. Her lips parted in surprise, swallowing nervously as she debated what she was supposed to do in this situation. Act like she hadn’t seen him, maybe? Run like hell? Grab on to the nearest guy and pretend to have come with him?
In the end, Amy didn’t get to make much of a decision. Her body, seemingly of its own accord, had begun making its way to the front of the crowd once again (though perhaps the well placed elbow to the gut of the girl who had shouted out her proclamation of love for Linden had a bit of her own will behind it).
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Post by Mavrick on Jul 18, 2008 14:40:53 GMT
He pushed past a few people, a couple of girls who found it rather unfortunate, until he was right in front of the one who he'd truly messed up with.
A girl he'd truly, loved.
"What are you doing here?" He yelled above the music and commotion, his tone surprised and curious, a far cry from angry and demanding. The sound now, seemed amplified, and he wanted space, and quiet to talk to her. He lightly grabbed her hand, guiding her back through the crowd he'd just pushed through to get to her, and despite the cat calls and all manner of other calls, he didn't stop until he'd taken her into the backstage area and straight into their dressing room.
"Jeez Lin, that was fast," Jay said with a laugh as he finished changing clothes.
"You're hillarious Jay, now get out before that bass is up your ass."
Jay, clearly seeing that Linden was not 'bringing in a girl' but was also serious, made haste in getting out, leaving the music a pulsating dull in their chests, and the crowds all but quieted.
"What are you doing here?" he repeated once more with his curiosity, lest the yelling.
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Post by sonrisa on Jul 18, 2008 14:54:38 GMT
Though Amy had heard Linden singing on stage, it still caught her off guard to hear him speak- or rather shout- to her. After their split, neither one had seen each other, let alone spoken to each other. Amy had almost expected him to be different- look different, talk different, act different, but the first two had apparently not changed in the least, and it sent her back to a time when their relationship, if nothing else, had been very different, before- well, she wasn’t going down that road just now.
Jolting at the familiar shock of his touch, Amy looked down at their hands, before being dragged off to Merlin knew where. She let him drag her, though, glaring daggers at his cheeky (but admittedly attractive) bandmate as he left the room.
She hesitated at his question. She knew why she had come to the club, sure, but she sure as hell didn’t have the slightest idea what she was doing here, in this room with him. “I- I go to Muggle clubs a lot,” she answered, cursing inwardly at her stammer. “But you-“ she began, suddenly remembering that she had never, ever heard Linden talking of wanting to play in a Muggle band. “What are you doing here?”
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Post by Mavrick on Jul 18, 2008 15:02:44 GMT
Oh she had such a way of turning the subject back to him so quick a hummingbird wouldn't notice. He hopped up on a bench, where more make-up inclined people would sit to apply a face, simply provided a seat for Linden's worn jeaned butt. He kicked a chair out a bit to use as a foot stool for one leg while the other hung, a few inches from the ground. He let Amy choose where and how she would stand or sit.
"I guess that's because it was never really 'wanting' to, I always have. Since not long after I came to Britain. I came back every holidays and practised with them and then went back to Hogwarts and played the part of a prat." He shrugged his shoulders and leaned over to grab a very worn notebook that was filled with music and lyrics since his first day at Hogwarts. "I used this to contain the need to play, and charmed it to be filled with class notes whenever someone looked." This book, would be something that Amy could very well remember, as he almost always had it with him, scribbling away during class.
He also realised as he handed it to her, that there was songs in there about her, though her name had never been used, if she sat down and read the whole thing, there would be a common theme to the love songs. And definitely the hate filled songs of loosing a girl that graced the rear pages of the book, some of the newer writings.
"I write it, we all tweak it, then Roger sings it." He added to divert her attention from the book as best he could.
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Post by sonrisa on Jul 18, 2008 15:16:02 GMT
Amy was nowhere near comfortable enough in his presence to sit down, and the fact that he was so at ease was irksome, to say the least. Amy had worked hard to forget about what had happened with Linden: how she had worked so hard to keep from falling for him, how she had given in to him despite her better judgment, and how, of course, it all came back to bite her in the ass when she had found out he had slept with the one person he knew she was uncomfortable with. True, it hadn’t worked very well. She could only throw herself into work for so long before he crept back into her thoughts, but a year and a half later, Amy had thought, really thought, she might be over Linden Scott and all his playboy ways.
Her feigned stability was painfully obvious now, as she stood before him. As if she had any right to be, she found herself offended that he had kept his music a secret from her. She had trusted him completely- an obvious mistake- but he couldn’t trust her with this? What did he think she was going to do? Laugh in his face? Refuse to be seen with him?
Carefully taking the book from him, well manicured fingers brushed over the journal’s cover, before she gently opened it to a place near the middle, eyes flitting over a love song that made her throat tighten. “You could’ve told me,” she said softly, eyes not lifting from the lyrics as she turned the page. She willed her eyes back up, though she kept a firm grip on the journal. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
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Post by Mavrick on Jul 18, 2008 15:25:12 GMT
"I promised myself I wouldn't tell anyone, I don't know why I didn't tell you, there was no reason to keep it from you, but I just kept to my word. It's nothing personal Amy," he added this with regret shortly after. 'Nothing personal' was not something he should have said around someone who's heart he had broken.
But while she had immersed herself in work, Linden had immersed himself in music, and the band was getting big, and he was happy, and he was, well Linden. The kind of girl who could dump a girl and be talking to her the next day (if she'd let him). He knew it was different with Amy, but that care free side of him, and the fact that he'd had a few to drink, meant he acted like nothing had happened between them.
In all honesty it was far better than thinking about what he'd lost, especially now when he saw her after what had seemed like forever. She looked fantastic, he looked like he'd rolled out of bed, and she was getting angry at him for little things like she always had... had nothing really changed? Had it all been a nightmare?
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Post by sonrisa on Jul 18, 2008 15:40:42 GMT
Nothing personal Amy. Before she could stop herself, she flinched at those words. Everything about Linden Scott was personal to her, from the way he dressed to the stupid book in her hands. “Just something you wanted to keep to yourself. I get that,” she replied, forcing a pathetically weak smile for him.
Not wanting him to see just how forced it was, she ducked her head once more, flipping though the pages until she was closer to the edge of the book. The last thing she needed was another love song right about now, a song that probably wasn’t even about her, but still reeked of what had been. Brown eyes flitted over random lines jotted down, brows furrowing at the words. The lines may not have formed a coherent song, as randomly jotted down as the were, but they were filled with strong words, words that she knew, even though her name was never mentioned, knew were directed at her. Feeling a burning at the back of her eyes, Amy quickly shut the book, holding it out for him, though she didn’t quite meet his gaze.
“I’m glad you’re… doing something that makes you happy.”
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Post by Mavrick on Jul 18, 2008 15:47:39 GMT
Linden knew her too well not to see through the thin façade she was putting on. He took the book from her and stood back up, standing in front of her, wanting to hug her, to hold her and say a thousand times more how sorry he was. He hated that even now, he still upset her, and he wished that he had not taken the gig here, or that she had gone somewhere else, if only to spare her the pain coursing through her veins.
He looked down at her, watching her avoid looking at him, and he did (as he did most things) on instinct, moving his hand to grasp ever so slightly at her chin, moving her head up to look at him, his own pain stricken brown eyes meeting hers, whether she wanted it or not.
He wanted to say something, but none of it would be good enough, the words in his book said things that he could never, his hatred for her not forgiving him, the hatred in himself for being so stupid. His hatred for that fact that as he looked at her he realised that for all the time that had passed, he still loved the demanding, irritable, fussy... adorable, funny, gorgeous, sensitive woman in front of him.
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Post by sonrisa on Jul 18, 2008 16:01:53 GMT
Amy wanted to scream. She wanted to scream and kick and punch Linden until her knuckles bled. She had given everything she could to him. She had gone against everything she knew, everything her gut was telling her, everything her friends were telling her, and she had loved him. She wrapped a pretty little bow around her heart and handed it to him, and what had he done? He had ground it into the dirt.
And then he had the nerve to look at her with those eyes, to look down at her like he was genuinely sorry, like he knew she was hurting, like he understood what she was going through and wished he could make it go away.
She wanted him to say something, anything, that would make him sound like the complete asshole he was for what he had done to her, something that would give her a reason to turn her back and storm away from him, but he didn’t. He bloody well just looked at her and radiated that god-awful aura that she had dug so deep to find underneath his playboy image.
She hated him then. She hated how easy it was for him to slip past her defenses, how he was the only person who had ever really seen through her. He knew what buttons to press. He knew about her hidden insecurities, her secret passions, her fears and her desperate needs, and perhaps what she hated the most, was the fact that her resolve crumbled around him, crumbled so quickly that she had no time to brace herself.
Her lips were already upon his, and though she wanted nothing more than for him to do so, to pull back, she was absolutely terrified that he would push her away.
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Post by Mavrick on Aug 3, 2008 17:57:12 GMT
Was he dreaming? It wasn't like he hadn't dreamt such a dream before, but the warmth of her body was there, the all too familiar way she felt and tasted told him he was far from sleeping. Was she crazy? The thought ran through his head as his hands ran through her hair, like he'd never been deprived of her, like nothing bad had ever happened between them, and yet he felt bad for doing it, for kissing her back and he knew he had to stop, he was just going to be a good boy and not let her down before doing so.
Or until he found the courage to pull away.
And when he did, he regretted doing so, looking down into those eyes of hers, he stared hard, like he was looking at a puzzle, and she was in fact the most confusing one he'd ever encountered in life. It may have been the booze, the adrenaline rush or just his plain common sense that seemed to evade him so often, but he said the obvious, in a startled tone that made it seem as if he was as shocked as she that she had kissed him.
"Are you crazy?"
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Post by sonrisa on Aug 3, 2008 18:31:18 GMT
Amy’s heart rate went through the roof as he kissed her back. It was exactly like she remembered it, warm, strong, perfect. It was almost instinctual, the way she edged herself closer to him, leaned into his touch. It was enough to send her back those few years. She could still remember the first time she kissed him, how it had progressed to that brilliant afternoon in his dormitory.
But it all washed away as his lips disconnected with hers, and Amy had to force herself back to reality, back to Linden Scott and the horrid truth radiating from his confused expression. And all that came out of his stupid mouth was ‘Are you crazy?’ Really? Really, Linden? And just like that, whatever walls she had let down in that idiotic moment of weakness snapped back up. Her defenses were back up, and she slipped back into typical Amy Lyndon.
Her own bewildered expression morphed into one of frustration. “Apparently,” she snapped. “I shouldn’t have bloody talked to you in the first place.”
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Post by Mavrick on Aug 3, 2008 18:41:49 GMT
Linden winced, on the inside and gently grasped her upper arms, in a feeble gesture for her not to run off, not yet.
"I mean," he began, trying like crazy to correct his stupid statement. "I thought you hated me, you should hate me for what I did," his voice grew stronger, more confident with his words as he continued. "But now, here, kissing me, and you know I want to kiss you back, and do a whole damn lot more to apologise to you."
He let her arms go at this point as he let out a sigh at the realisation of what he was about to say next.
"And while I regret every day what I did to you, I haven't changed Amy. I don't want to hurt you all over again."
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Post by sonrisa on Aug 3, 2008 18:48:42 GMT
Amy's first reaction at his touch was to jerk back, but after her first feeble attempt, she gave up on that quickly enough. Linden was still, annoyingly enough, much stronger than she was, especially since she didn't have quidditch around to keep her muscled. She was softer now, but still in the same mental state as she always had been. She hesitated at his words. "You're admitting you did something wrong?" she asked, frowning in disbelief. Half of the reason they had broken up was because Linden was so damned insistent that sleeping with Isabella hadn't been wrong of him.
Her freed arms came up to cross over her chest. "You haven't, have you? Figures."
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Post by Mavrick on Aug 3, 2008 18:58:17 GMT
Linden took a far less aggressive posture, digging his hands into his pockets and making fun of looking at his shoelaces, sitting back down on the counter top soon after. Was it his fault he hadn't done a 180 and turned into some 'one woman' top ten men of all time type of guy? It had been his sleeping around ways that had gotten him his reputation, it had been that reputation that had let Isabella follow him into her room one drunken party night. It had been that reputation that Amy was willing to put aside, and that had bitten her in the ass and sent him into a spiral into near alcoholism.
Why would he change when for the last year and a half that lifestyle had done everything it could to cloud over his thoughts of her?
"I don't know what to say Amy," he admitted, defeated and looking at her for the briefest of moments. "I'm sorry doesn't work, and I'm through lying to you. I am what I am, and once you were willing to overlook that for the sake of something I discovered to be actual love, and I still fucked it up for the sake of wanting more than I was supposed to have. I can't expect it twice, no matter how much I want it."
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Post by sonrisa on Aug 3, 2008 19:10:39 GMT
"I didn't overlook who you were," she replied, letting out a sigh. "If I could have just overlooked it, it would have made things an awful lot more simple, Lin." It felt strange, letting his nickname roll of her tongue again. It had always been Linden, spat bitterly, or even Scott, but the gentleness of his nickname had been nowhere near Amy's lips in a long time.
With his averted gaze, Amy took the opportunity to examine him, look him over. He still looked the same, a bit more mature but not an awful lot. She noted that he still wore the same clothes, the same sort she would have made him change before going out in public with him. But the way he held himself was different. For all his claiming of not changing, he had a completely different disposition than the last time she had talked to him. He seemed genuinely... sorry, something she wasn't entirely sure how to handle. It was an awful lot harder to be mad at someone if you could see they actually regretted what they had done. "If you could take it back," she asked hesitantly. "If you could go back and stop yourself, would you?"
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Post by Mavrick on Aug 3, 2008 19:21:01 GMT
If there was ever a more loaded question than the one Amy had just asked, Linden hadn't heard it. Yes, he'd regretted losing Amy, but he blamed his big mouth for it, not for sleeping with Is. That was like Is asking him if he regretted getting into a real relationship with Amy. Yes, because he hurt her, but no because he finally got to have her like he'd wanted for so long.
"I would have stopped myself from hurting you," he replied, which was true, but he had a feeling wouldn't be the answer she was looking for. She wanted 'I never should have slept with Isabella' and Linden wasn't going to say that, because he had just said he was sick of lying to her. He couldn't see Amy forgiving him, leaping back into his arms and telling him everything would be ok, so he figured he couldn't hurt any more than he already had, he figured whatever was said here would at least put things to rest between them if nothing else.
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Post by sonrisa on Aug 3, 2008 19:30:46 GMT
After being his friend for seven years, Amy had gotten pretty good at translating Linden's answers into what he really meant. Bullshit answers might have worked for other people, particularly other girls, but Amy saw right through them, and she knew Linden had to know that.
She let out a small, weak laugh. "So you wouldn't have told me. I can understand that." In fact, there was a part of Amy that wished he had just kept his stupid mouth shut. Amy would have never found out. They wouldn't have fought about it, and they might have stayed happy. Then again, there was another part of her that said if it wasn't then, it would've been later on, and it only would have hurt that much more.
"For a long time I tried to understand why you did it, Linden," she said slowly. "For a long time I tried to make it more than what it was, but eventually, I realized..." She offered a weak smile. "That you weren't meant for monogamy. There might be a woman out there somewhere who can keep changing for you, be a different person every night, but I can't. I'll always just be me." She shrugged her shoulders and let out a soft sigh. "I'll never be enough for you, and that was... hard to accept at first, but I'm okay with it now." She scratched the back of her neck a bit awkwardly then. "And I should probably go, really."
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Post by Mavrick on Aug 27, 2008 21:52:10 GMT
“Don’t,” he replied, reaching his hand out and grasping her shoulder. He didn’t want her to leave... hell he didn’t want her to leave the first time either, but his guilt had gotten the best of him. “At least stay a while and talk with me,” he continued, now feeling a bit like a desperate man, though that should have been evident to her by now at any rate.
“Are you having fun teaching with pervs like me making you pick things up off the floor?” He gave a grin at this point, remembering how often he pretended to be too lazy to pick something up, waiting for her to get it for him out of agitation, which provided something more interesting than class to focus on. Then he realised how often it was probably happening and suddenly felt a pang of jealousy, guys weren’t supposed to be looking at his woman... even if she technically wasn’t his any more.
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Post by sonrisa on Aug 29, 2008 1:26:48 GMT
It made Amy feel uncomfortable, the desperation in his voice. He hadn't disagreed with her when she'd told him she understood why they couldn't be together, so why was he trying so hard to keep her there? Didn't he know it would only hurt that much worse in the end?
She wanted to tell him it was silly for her to stay, to ask him what good he possibly thought could come of it, but one look at those annoying puppy dog eyes, and her feet were glued to the floor. She offered a weak smile in answer to his teasing question. "They're not as clever as you used to be," she replied, eyeing him for a moment. "You know, the whole taking too long to pick something up gig you always pulled. They tend to be more direct and ask me to pick something up for them." She let out a soft sigh. "But I really do love the job, you know. It's different than I thought it'd be, but it... fits." She shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose it's not quite the shock that finding out you're a musician was." She frowned as she said it, still upset that he hadn't told her about his love for music. They had been very close. She told him everything. How could he not tell her that?
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