three's a crowd. [cont. Yule Ball]

[Julien Cross]

Things seemed like they had been looking up, honestly. He'd gotten Gracie to smile, he threatened turning that horrible little girl's hair red -- in solidarity of Gryffindor, of course -- and Julien thought maybe, just maybe, he had managed to make her remember that Julien was her friend, and he was the one here for her right now. And all she needed to do was just leave and they could go back to their dorm and turn this night around. He would even been ditching May to make Gracie happy (May was bound to understand and was probably busy setting some mistletoe on fire with Lucy right now anyways) but he didn't mind. He was so close to managing that and was midway reaching forward to take her hand and pull her away from there -- when all of a sudden he heard a far too familiar voice call his name. First, Julien's head jerked over his shoulder and -- sure enough -- there was Cal walking towards them looking pristine in one of his fancy suits. Julien hand promptly dropped to his side. His lips pursed together and he tilted his chin up a bit, his default facial expression when he was about to get into some sort of fight. Julien actively needed to remind himself that this was his friend. This was Cal, who always looked out for him and did him favors and he was a good guy. But he still couldn't help feel betrayed that his supposed best friend was off gallivanting around with a pureblood princess. Maybe Julien wanted too much loyalty, but he couldn't help himself. And he was hurting Gracie, on top of it. "Hey, Cal,"

[/color] he responded, his voice gruff even though he was trying to keep his cool. He scowled when Cal turned to talk to Gracie, feeling a surge of protectiveness in his chest. Then Cal called her pretty. His scowl deepened. So did Cal like Gracie, then? He wanted to pull Gracie away and Julien -- deep down -- knew he didn't want to be a dick to Cal, and Gracie liked Cal. But, it wasn't his place. "We're brilliant. Just enjoying the freezing cold, you know,"[/color] Julien replied with a careless roll of his shoulders. "What happened to your date,"[/color] Julien said flatly, and eyebrow flickering upwards as he watched Cal closely. He was acting like Cal was a threat or someone to be wary off, which felt weird because Cal was his friend, but he was mad and he wanted... Well, he didn't know what he wanted. Cal to apologize? To back off? Leaving Gracie alone would be a start.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Gracie Marlow]

Everything had seemed to start looking up after Jules had made the comment of turning Lovelace’s hair crimson. Gracie couldn’t contain her laughter over that one and when Julien had suggested that they go back to the common room to play a few rousing games of exploding snaps, she was more than happy to oblige. However, there was one small problem.

Cal.

Gracie’s heart began to shrink again as her former best guy friend stepped out behind Julien. She looked around him, searching for Lovelace, thankful that the annoying brat was nowhere to be found. Good, Gracie thought. Maybe Cal has finally come to his senses and ditched the little elitist… Of course, Gracie was still upset at Cal; mainly because he had chosen her enemy over her. She couldn’t get the conversation they had had in Hogsmeade out of her mind and how she had immediately burst into tears once she had reached her dormitory, not knowing then why she was so upset over the whole situation. ”Hello, Cal,” she greeted as coldly as possible. Who did he think he was? Did he think he could just waltz right back into her life after not speaking to her for about a month now? Did he think they would be okay again just because he didn’t have Lovelace by his side?

Her eyes widened at his compliment and, despite Gracie’s anger towards him, she blushed lightly. Looking down, she muttered a soft, ”Thank you.” She refused to say any more to him until she needed to. For now, she would let Julien take the reins. Although… something in the way her best friend’s jaw was set told her that maybe she should intervene a little sooner than planned. But, the question Jules asked was the one question on her mind. Placing her hand on Jules' arm to let him know everything was okay, Gracie finally said something more than just a small 'thank you'. ”Yes, where is your lovely date, Mister Bailer?” She asked, her eyes glinting with anger, her voice mocking the name that Lovelace always called Cal. Wasn’t that supposed to be a sign? You know, when a person calls you your last name instead of your first? Gracie couldn’t help but think that showed a person’s character and just exactly what they thought about you… It meant that you weren’t their friend, not yet. And Cal was already Gracie’s friend, so why hadn’t he chosen her? It was still a mystery to her; one she wouldn’t let go of too quickly.

[Calixto Elias Bailer]

It seemed the Yule Ball was ending when Cal made it over to his friends; he frowned slightly at the realization because that meant no more dancing after all. Well, at least he could see them. And not worry about calling them “Miss” or “Mister.” Don’t get Cal wrong, Serena was his friend (or at least he hoped she still was) and he was generally interested by her… unique quirks, but he wasn’t very good at remembering the stuff she wanted him to. Obviously. When he was crowned Duke of the Yule Ball, he had thought that surely it would surpass all Serena’s expectations (as it had surpassed his) and she would be quite pleased with him all around. But she wasn’t. She couldn’t have been when, after one slip (that he still could not understand), she deemed him a failure. Yes he had failed, and it made him feel a lot more than a little dejected because not only had he been unable to take Gracie to the dance like she had wanted, but he was also unable to fulfill what he had promised Serena. Now though, it had to get better right? It couldn’t get much worse (right?). He could…well he could explain things to Gracie, if she wanted, or maybe just hang out with his friends and try to make it a good time all-around, right? He could try. Cal was glad to compliment the younger girl – she really did look beautiful and her dress was stunning, and he felt that any good friend would tell her just about as much. He gave a slight smile; Cal was just relieved to see them, to be honest, and didn’t really register anything unusual about their expressions. He wiped some snow off of the bench across from the one Gracie was sitting on and sat, slumping down in its seat and laying his head against the back of it. ”It kinda feels nice out here to me after being in that crowd, but we can go back inside if you want,” he said comfortably, looking up at the clearness of the dark sky. He had counted four bright stars that he could see before Julien and Gracie both asked about Serena. He grimaced in remembrance of the pretty little corsage (that was still gripped in his left hand) being thrown at his feet. “She stomped off. I guess I offended her. I…I really don’t know why she was so upset though, I just told her that I wanted to save one dance for a friend,” he replied sincerely before sighing, ”It was horrible, she said- well, it doesn’t matter I guess- I’ve failed.” It was quiet for a moment and he took a breath in, trying to think more positively. ”I’m just glad I found you both. I thought I wouldn’t get to see you all night.” He was completely oblivious to the anger in Gracie’s voice and it wasn’t until he tore his eyes off the sky and looked back at them that he realized something was off. ”But where’s Noah? And May? How come you’ve come out here?” Oh, he so hoped that they had better luck at the dance than he did.

[Gracie Marlow]

Gracie couldn’t believe that Cal had just come out and started talking to her and Julien so casually. Here the two of them had been, talking about this very guy and how much he was either hurting or annoying them. Eyeing him suspiciously as he slumped down onto the bench nearest them, Gracie couldn’t help but wonder just what his intentions were at the moment. Because, Cal’s recent actions were telling her that he didn’t want anything to do with her anymore- especially when Serena was in the picture. So, did that mean that Serena wasn’t in the picture any longer…? Or… did it mean that she just currently set aside and he planned on going back to her soon? So many questions… Gracie thought. Of course, she wasn’t about to ask him any of those questions, oh no. She couldn’t. It would be weird.

Although Gracie’s nose had gone slightly pink and the tear stains on his face had made her cheeks become numb, she had no desire to go inside. Thankfully, that was only a side comment from Cal before he began to explain what had happened to Lovelace. Why she wasn’t with him. Gracie listened, not surprised at all that Cal had eventually said something that had made the princess angry. Wait- he had wanted to save a dance for a friend? Gracie’s heart skipped a beat before she talked herself out of what she was thinking. Cal has a lot of friends. He wasn’t saving that dance for you, her mind screamed. This almost brought on a fresh wave of tears, but thankfully she was able to get herself under control before anything embarrassing could happen.

Gracie so desperately wanted to say that of course he wouldn’t have gotten to see them all night because of his annoying date, but she bit her tongue. She supposed Cal couldn’t help the fact that he saw the good in everyone and refused to really dig down and get past what he saw on the surface. Otherwise, Cal would’ve seen just how badly Gracie wished he would just go away because of what he had done to her. Biting her lip, Gracie looked at Jules, trying to figure out exactly what to say about why they were out there instead of inside with everyone else. She didn’t stop biting her lip until a little spurt of blood bubbled up; she licked her lip and tasted the iron, not sure what had possessed her to act in this manner. As it seemed that Jules was going to let her give an answer, she replied, ”Well, Noah was making eyes at other girl’s all night, and I can’t say where May went off to, but Jules found me at a table and we came out here after dancing for a little while to get some air.” Okay, so that was only a white lie; most of what she had just said was true. And the best part was that Cal wouldn’t know the difference because he hadn’t seen her run off crying. Although, she did feel slightly guilty lying to him… even if they hadn’t been on speaking terms in a while. She looked to Julien to say something, not sure what else to say herself. All she could do was wonder why he wasn’t receiving the weird signals from both her and Jules.

[Julien Cross]

Gracie's first reaction made Julien feel more confident because apparently she was mad at him too, which was good because he didn't know if he could deal with her being all nice to Cal after he had made her feel like that. And then there was Cal. Who was now sitting down, lounging so casually. Julien's eyes narrowed slightly at he looked over at his friend, a mixture of sheer annoyance, anger and confusion at this point. Was he really not picking up on the fact that Julien was just a touch irritated with him now? True, it was rare that Julien every actually got angry with Cal, but Cal had been there to witness first hand so there was no excuse for him to not be picking up on the warning signs. Like the fact that Julien was glaring at him, that his jaw was tight and that his chin was tilted up so he glared down at Cal form where he stood. Julien knew Cal could be a bit oblivious at times, but this was just ridiculous. Julien literally had to lock his mouth shut to prevent himself from snapping at his friend. Gracie already made it clear that she didn't want him saying anything to Cal, but at this point it was more than just the fact that he had hurt her feelings.

But when Cal started talking about Lovelace -- and the fact he was so obviously saving a dance for Gracie -- Julien couldn't keep quiet any longer. He completely ignored the inquiries about where he and Gracie's date were, and Gracie's cop-out of a response. "Well Merlin fu--"

[/color] he clamped his jaw shut and let out a low growl to keep himself from swearing. His hands formed tight fists at his sides. "-- forbid you offend Lovelace, Cal."[/color] He glared at his friend, his lip curling in a snarl. Julien was entirely consumed with the feeling of betrayal and rage, and it was going to get quickly out of hand. "Maybe offer her a mudblood sacrifice to cheer her up? You could throw me to the wolves since apparently you don't give a shit about your real friends anyways."[/color] His voice was steadily getting louder and he was pointing accusingly at Cal now. He took two stride closer to the guy who was supposed to be his friend. "Or, better yet, why don't you give her my MUM, huh? Finish the job? Why the fuck not, Cal?"[/color] Now he was shouting. This was the real problem, here. Cal was gallivanting around with a girl who made her blood opinions quite obvious and Cal didn't even care and that pissed him the fuck off. Julien never talked about what happened to his father, but Cal's thoughtlessness cut him deep. All the muscles in his body were tight and shaking. "Her family would probably see it as a huge favor and welcome you with open arms!"[/color] Julien was losing it and it was very unlikely that things were going to get better.


[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Calixto Elias Bailer]

Cal tried to be considerate; he tried to be polite yet easy-going, open yet appropriate and most of all, caring and personable. He tried so hard to give everyone what they wanted that he got a bit of tunnel vision, and sometimes missed the point of it all completely. He missed their subtext, missed how they were really feeling deep down. Until they told him, that is. So, he couldn’t tell why exactly Gracie wasn’t being her usual self, and he couldn’t put a finger on what was going on between the three of them, honestly. The way Gracie spoke… all he could say in response to her answer about Noah and May was, “Oh… Well, I’d ask if you wanted to go back and dance again, but I think the ball is just about over.” It didn’t seem like salvaging the night was going to go as planned after all. He sighed, and was about to stand up and suggest them sneaking off to the kitchens for some cake or biscuits or something, when Julien spoke in a tone that Cal had never heard directed at him before, and all Calixto could do was look at him dumbly. Oh. Oh. They…they were really mad at him. They were mad at him for… taking Serena Lovelace to the ball? Cal knew that Serena and Gracie didn’t really get along – he had never actually asked why that was – but he didn’t know that Julien also had a problem with her. Well, Julien didn’t really like Slytherins in general, but Cal knew lots of friendly Slytherins! Teagan was in the ambitious house, and she was one of Cal’s best friends. Neither of the Slytherin girls had ever been unfriendly to him (other than tonight with Serena). He just. He just didn’t get why people thought badly of different houses. None of that stuff mattered to Cal, and he never thought about it when interacting with someone. He was quite taken aback from the hostility he finally recognized in his best friend’s voice. “I – but she’s my friend too,” wasn’t she?

But Julien kept talking over him and Cal felt his heart drop. He had truthfully forgotten about Julien’s family history and how he could have connected it to the little Slytherin girl as well. He scrambled to his feet to try to remedy the situation, “Oh no, Jules I’m sorry– Merlin’s beard – of course I care about you guys! How could you, I mean, really how could you ever think that I didn’t?” He gulped as Julien took a few steps toward him, knowing full well the danger of Julien’s temper. His voice almost caught in his throat at the idea that Julien might actually hit him or something. This was all going terribly wrong, and if he wasn’t able to get through to them either… Well, he couldn’t bear to have Serena mad at him, let alone his best pals. He took a breath and tried to be calm, but by now he had realized how upset both of them were (though he was still a bit confused) and was genuinely concerned, “Please, that’s not – you know I would never let anything like that happen! I mean, Serena’s just, I don’t think she’s really like that – she’s never actually said….She’s always nice to me…” God, but he was trying to make them see. He wanted to make everyone happy; he didn’t have it in him to truly abandon one friend for another. He had tried to tell Gracie that he had already made a promise that he couldn’t go back on or else he would have loved to take her to the Yule Ball, but she never really responded. “C’mon mates,” he pleaded softly, “You have to know that I would never want to hurt either of you,” he couldn’t believe how the night was turning out, he couldn’t believe how he had screwed everything up without realizing it, he couldn’t believe there was a possibility of him losing three friends in one night.

[Gracie Marlow]

Everything was going so calmly and Cal was just being so… relaxed. How he could sit there and not realize that both of them were mad at him, Gracie couldn’t even fathom. Honestly, the fact that he hadn’t yet realized this was becoming increasingly irritating. And then it happened. Jules finally snapped, something Gracie hadn’t been sure was actually going to happen, given the fact that she had never seen Julien get mad at Cal before; well, not to his face, at least. When Gracie heard Jules snarl to contain himself, she placed her hand on his forearm again and glanced towards his way. Of course Gracie had seen Jules like this before, but she didn’t like it and he looked, in some ways, almost more menacing than he usually did… Which was frightening because this was towards Cal. She hadn’t realized that Cal had upset Julien that much.

And then he was screaming at his best friend, and Gracie couldn’t do anything but try to keep her hand on his arm as a reassuring and calming gesture. She was cringing slightly herself at Jules’ words because she knew that the reason he was so upset was because of his father, and she couldn’t understand how Cal hadn’t seen that to begin with. Sliding her hand down to squeeze her best friend’s hand, Gracie felt a few tears slip down her cheeks. How had Cal not realized just how much he had been hurting the both of them for the last month or so? Right now though, she wasn’t focusing on Cal- her attention was on Julien. He had just talked about his father; that never happened. Not even with her. She snapped her head towards her best friend and made eye contact, trying to silently send him the message that if he needed to go blow off some steam, she could handle the conversation for now. Looking back towards Cal, Gracie whispered, “Really Cal? She’s your friend? How long have you known her, compared to me?” She couldn’t help it, the tears started to flow steadily and silently. It was like a beautifully heart-wrenching movie scene. “I’ve known you my whole life. But apparently, that doesn’t mean much to you, does it?” She shook her head, not caring how messed up her hair was now.

“Oh really, Cal? She’s not like that?” She asked, her voice a low growl. ”She looks down on me just because I don’t know where my bloodline comes from! She’s specifically told me that I’m worth nothing, Calixto.” Now Gracie was pissed. So she was adopted- big deal. But Lovelace had told her once that there was no way she could be a pureblood. Not that Gracie wanted to be anyway; she was perfectly happy with her family and wouldn’t change them for anything in the whole wide world. ”And yet you still pick her over us,” she whispered, looking straight into his eyes so that he could see just how hurt she had been for a while. ”If you would never want to hurt us, then why did you?” She asked, eyes narrowed, voice dripping with poison. ”You haven’t even talked to me since that day in Hogsmeade, you know. If you didn’t want to hurt me, then why didn’t you even care enough to chase after me…?”

[Julien Cross]

Maybe if there were a year ago, or maybe if Julien had the ability to take a step back and watch himself, this would have gone differently. Maybe he would have felt some sort of guilt at the look on Cal's face when he stepped up to him. Maybe the light pressure of Gracie's touch would have calmed him down a bit and pull him back to reality, mad him calm down. Maybe he would have been able to see that Cal was upset and concerned. His best friend was remorseful and had not meant to hurt him the way he did. But he wasn't able to step back from himself at look at this objectively. And he certainly wasn't able to calm himself down. Julien always had a bit of a temper, yes, but there was a stark difference between a sparking ember and an exploding back draft. Unfortunately, Cal was the one to open that door and receive a face full of flames. Julien shook his head back and forth, practically biting off his own tongue with how tightly his jaw was clenched. The more Cal spoke, the more angry Julien got. And then he actually started defending Lovelace, and that was the end of it.

Julien threw his head back and let out a harsh, bitter laugh. He glared at his so-called friend, the muscle in his face quivering with being strained into a snarl. "You don't know shit about anything, Cal!"

[/color] he shouted. Julien never thought he would ever feel compelled to punch Cal right in his face, but there was always a first time for everything. He jabbed a finger at Cal. "You're to busy living in your own little world of fucking ignorance to see what's going on right in front of you god damn face!"[/color] he pat accusingly in Cal's face. Gracie rested her hand on his arm and he quickly ripped it away from her. His whole body was shaking but he didn't know if it were from rage or fear. Either way, he didn't want Gracie to feel it and he didn't want to be touched, period. "Lovelace has made her blood preferences perfectly clear! People like me are getting MURDERED, Cal! My FATHER got murdered by people like her! On the fucking stree like a dog. But you don't have to worry about that, do you?? No of COURSE NOT."[/color] Cal was pureblood. He didn't have to worry about himself or his family being killed while Julien had to live though it every day. The death of his father being a real and heavy presence hanging on his shoulders every moment of his life. "It's people like you that are going to get the lot of us killed!"[/color] Julien raked both of his hands through his hair and let out and angry growl from the back of his throat before looking back at Cal with an expression that could be described as nothing else but disgust. "You don't give a bloody fuck about anything else but yourself and pretending nothing bad could possibly exist in your little bubble. Well, Cal, I'm done with it. I'm not going to take being insulted like this. If you really don't care about me that much, then go right on mother-fucking ahead and make friends with Lovelace. But your indifference is going to get the lot of us muggleborns killed off."[/color] Julien's heart was pounding in his neck and he refused to look at Gracie. He just kept staring at Cal as his breath came out in quick puffs of clouds in front of his face. The cold air was burning his eyes. Julien shook his head slightly. His tone of voice was low and gruff. "If you ignorant fucks keep turning your backs on us?"[/color] He took another step forward, looking over Cal, sizing him up. "It's only a matter of time before they start weeding you out as well. And by then there won't be anyone left to help you."[/color] With that, Julien turned his back on the two and walked back into the castle. He slammed the door shut behind him. One of the frames pieces of glass broke form the force and shattered to the floor in his wake.[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Calixto Elias Bailer]

Cal was starting to feel like his surroundings were spinning on him. No, not spinning per say, but wobbling actually. Everything was wobbling and he couldn’t believe what he was seeing or hearing. In fact, everything was getting loud and making it hard for him not to sputter with confused panic. Both of his friends just started saying things, one after the other, and he didn’t know how to respond because truthfully, he wasn’t entirely sure what was really going on. He had only wanted to see his friends – but they- as it turned out, they did not want to see him. He didn’t know that they felt this way, he didn’t know that they were this upset that he went to the ball with Serena. It was just a dance, he thought, just a night to dress up and dance and – it wasn’t worth all this distress. “N-no you’ve got this wrong, I mean, she’s nice to me so… I’m friends with a lot of people and,” he was rambling, he was trying to explain but it wasn’t coming out like he wanted it to at all. “Gracie of course that means something! I love you, you’re like my little sister! You – you guys might as well be my family,” he sighed breathlessly and ran his hand through his hair. He couldn’t get a grip, he had never been spoken to like this by…by anyone let alone his friends. This was awful. “I – what?” he got chills when Gracie said that Serena had told her those things. Serena wasn’t like that though! Was she? He had never heard her say stuff like that before. “I didn’t know,” Cal whispered, “That’s horrible, I mean, that’s not true what she said and I never knew she could… but I didn’t pick her over you guys Gracie, it was just a stupid date to the dance!” He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and looked at her and saw so much disappointment that he wanted to wrap her in his arms and hug it all away. But, that was not a good idea at the moment, nor did he think it would just fix everything.

”You haven’t even talked to me since that day in Hogsmeade, you know. If you didn’t want to hurt me, then why didn’t you even care enough to chase after me…?”

But he did! His eyes widened at the thought that maybe this was all a misunderstanding. He had chased after Gracie, but had lost track of her in the crowd because, well, Gracie was sort of short and short people were, as Cal had learned, hard to find in crowds. So he had owled her, but he never got any replies, so he just assumed that everything was fine. He was just about to tell her as much when Julien stepped up again and jabbed him with his finger and caused Cal’s jaw to drop. He flinched when the Gryffindor slapped lightly at his face and couldn’t help but step back a bit in fear. He wanted to defend himself, but with each thing Julien said Cal felt his heart lodge tighter and tighter into his throat. The worst part was that most of what Julien was saying was kind of true. He didn’t really know what was going on. Sure, he knew there was some animosity between purebloods and muggleborns, but he didn’t know why. He knew about Julien’s father, and it was truly devastating and he knew how much it got to Julien (for good reason). Cal couldn’t even imagine what it would feel like to lose his father. His father was the only parent he had. He frowned and looked down feeling incredibly stupid and extremely incompetent. Maybe he was in some kind of bubble; he wasn’t going to lie, he knew he preferred to see the happy, positive side of life over all the bad stuff. It was never a problem really, until now. But that didn’t mean that he didn’t care. “I do care Jules!” It didn’t seem to make a difference, though and Julien was obviously fed up with the Hufflepuff. “I’m sorry!” he called after, but Julien had retreated, sending a shower of glass behind him.

Cal stumbled back toward the bench he had previously been sitting on and plopped back down. He breathed heavily, still in shock of what was happening to him. Now it was just him and Gracie, though he half expected her to leave him as well. He shook his head at himself and then let it sink into his hands. “He’s right. I am an … ignorant fuck,” he choked out bitterly, pulling at his hair. He looked back toward Gracie, but not directly at her, and said sadly, “I didn’t realize what a mess I’d made.” Maybe it would just be best if he left Gracie alone. He had done enough harm for one night. He used another moment to take a deep breath, watching snowflakes fall tantalizingly slow to the ground. Cal stood up carefully then, and took another breath before saying, “I, uh, I owled you. Afterwards. To try to apologize and explain. And again when you didn’t reply at first but, uh. I guess you never got them. I know it’s probably not enough but… I’m sorry, I’ll – I’ll just go.”