she knows | nessa

[Nathaniel David Forrester]

now you see me.

THE SLYTHERIN COMMON ROOM WAS BUZZING with activity, but Nate had not slithered off to his room just yet. He'd found an armchair near the back corner, underneath a porthole that let in green, watery light from beneath the lake. He yawned in to his palm, the newspaper propped on his stomach as he circled different rental ads that caught his eye. He would graduate come summer time, and he'd turned 18 the past October. He was no longer obligated to reside under the orphanage's care. He was never going back. Except, maybe, to stage a break out for Nessa.

As his mind teetered over his old friend, it was as if he'd sensed her proximity. Lifting his head, Nate watched a crowd of bodies turn the corner in to the common room, among them he noticed Nessa's carefully styled blonde head. Tucked low to her chest, like she was watching her feet. He felt like throwing his shoe at her for it, they'd often talked about 'chin up', like he thought it would hide his poverty just by walking a little straighter.

His eyes burned a hole in to the side of her head until, eventually, her own head lifted and he caught her eye. His brows lifted in greeting, though he wondered if she could even see him draped in the shadows of his hidden corner. Nate still jerked his chin, motioning for her to come over to him. A part of him wondered if she'd simply ignore him, their relationship had been rocked with tension since the summer. Since he'd started hanging out and dating Claudia. Like they were drifting the closer he got to graduation. 

nessa abigael byrne

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[nessa abigael byrne]

▲

The year was almost over. A month and change was all that remained and then it was the infinite chasm of boredom that the summer brought once again. Constantly fighting the urge to slack off in classes was so hard to do when this part of term rolled around. It was one thing to skip assignments and fall asleep during the fall term when Christmas break was right around the corner because there was still a whole second half of the school year to make up anything missed. But this was it, and from what she heard, seventh year was like sixth but juiced by a stupidly strong Pepper-Up potion. Studying herself into an early grave sounded absolutely wonderful, so much so that the sarcasm of her inner thoughts was already starting to leak out into conversations she had with her professors and peers. Not that there was inherently anything different with how she treated others, though speaking her mind about the future definitely drew strange looks from some. Apparently most viewed her as a violent beast that was going to commit herself to a life of criminal activities and poor decisions. How nice of them to assume things just because she was an orphan with literally zero structure in her life and poorer than dirt. All because she hung around Nate and happened to put the occasional asshole in their place. Restructuring Gideon Ollivander’s face a few months prior was still fresh in people’s minds, it seemed.

Classes for the day had ended hours earlier for Nessa, though that didn’t mean she was obligated to immediately return to the common room like some did. Wandering around the castle and finding silent corners away from anyone but the occasional couple trying to sneak off as well, was starting to become almost therapeutic for her. Waltzing into a supposedly empty classroom only to find one of those said couples with their tongues down one another’s throats had her mumbling a shocked apology and retreating back towards the dungeons. That was enough exploring for the day for her, though she was sure her friends a few floors above were just getting started. The only way that could have been worse was if it had been Nate, who she knew had his own proclivities when it came to shagging his way through the girls of Hogwarts. The mere thought made her gag as she found herself shuffling with a group of Slytherins back into the common room, a few of the younger students giving her a wide berth as they entered.

She could feel eyes boring into her as she stared at her feet, hoping they would blindly carry her back to her dorm room and away from the crowded common area. Obviously it was Nate, leering at her from one of the oversized armchairs. Her eyes rolled at him as she quickly lost the battle against herself to ignore him and continue towards the dorms, feet already turning towards him and his stupid face. “I think I saw one of your conquests with another guy’s tongue in her mouth just now,” she whispered her lie to him as she took the empty chair next to him, sinking dangerously into the cushions. Damn chairs had no business being this comfy.

Nathaniel David Forrester ● 547 ● Death Worship by Mental Cruelty

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Nathaniel David Forrester]

now you see me.

AS IF DETERMINED TO DO EXACTLY WHAT NATE did no expect, Nessa did not ignore his silent summons. He imagined her eye roll as she'd caught him staring, without ever being close enough to actually see it. He smirked into his newspaper, closing it before her slow gait found its way towards him. She looked as if she were walking to her execution, that low brow expression lacking a shred of good humour, it cheered Nate up as he kicked his foot lazily. He answered it with a thin, poor representation of a genuine smile - a little too thin, a little too flat.

Of course, that control only lasted as long as Nessa's mouth was closed. It fell away as she opened her mouth, making Nate drew in a breath as if to sigh, and barked a laugh instead. "You're a fuckin' barrel of laughs this evening," He declared, the newspaper crinkling where he crossed his arms on his stomach. His head lolled back to watch her upside down as she fell into the chair beside him, reaching over to smack the armrest. "Who were you peeping on then?" He asked carelessly. Nate didn't particularly care about which 'conquest' shared spit with which. Especially when they'd already been 'conquered'. It was a free country, after all. 

nessa abigael byrne

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[nessa abigael byrne]

▲

“That’s better than looking like I just soiled myself,” she retorted. “Look in a mirror when you glare at someone sometime, you’ll see what I mean.” If she hadn’t known him and how he was, she would have thought he had it out for her and was trying to kill her. The stare across the room was beyond creepy and sent off all the alarm bells that she’d normally listen to. But Nate was Nate, so the chance that he had been too lazy to move and went on himself was possible too. Like marking his territory one final time in the common room before he was gone for good just to prove a point. A shitty thing to do, but she could see it happening.

As for his ‘conquest’, it was a lie but he didn’t seem nearly as effected by it as she thought he might. Having a name on hand probably would have been better. Made it more personal or something. “I don’t know the name,” she said rather indignantly. “You’re telling me you remember all of their names? Because I’d like to see you go down a line-up and try.” Not really. That would be gross and absolutely dehumanizing. She knew for a fact that there was no way he could remember every single girl’s name that he’d been with, at least from the way he made it sound. Nessa didn’t have any receipts for or against those claims. She also didn’t want to be surprised by a line that circled the Quidditch Pitch. That seemed unrealistic to her, but this was Nate after all. He’d managed to shag Lulu on Jimmie’s bed in the middle of a party the Blishwicks were hosting without anyone knowing until after the fact.

“Anyways,” she continued, trying to change the subject on her own. “What do you want? Or is this supposed to be some sort of sit on the couch and act like we’re normal thing?” Because neither of them were, and she hated the stares from the younger students that were still afraid of her. That and the couch wasn’t comfortable at all. Sinking deep into the cushions was a back problem waiting to happen. Thankfully there was only one more year of it after this.

Nathaniel David Forrester ● 379 ● Nichole by Flower Face

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Nathaniel David Forrester]

now you see me.

THE EASY INSULTS WERE AS FAMILIAR TO NATE as breathing. Nessa had always been thorny, and while Nate's tolerance for it had been carefully curated over time, that didn't mean he took it with grace. "You spend a lot of time dissecting my expressions?" He taunted her with a sly tip of his mouth, goading her as she'd so eloquently tried with him. He pulled at the bottom of his shirt as he stretched, wondering absently if he really did look a bit constipated, before cramming the thought into the very back of his mind with a practiced evasion.

Sighing as he retracted back to his own armchair, Nate rolled his eyes and stared at the ceiling. "I mean, you spend so much time in my business, Ness." He drawled tonelessly, tilting his chin to catch her in his peripheral vision. "I expect you know more about the people I'm shagging than me." He twisted, legs still slung over one side of the chair, but hip pressing against the side so that he could look at Nessa properly. "Do you have a list?" He asked her with a teasing sincerity. "I'd like to see it, for old times sake." Nate made a show of reaching out an expectant hand, flapping it impatiently. He knew the mere notion would bother her. For a atypical little orphan, Nessa had surprisingly stern morality. It could be a right pest at times, thwarting a good chunk of Nate's less savoury ploys.

Turning away, Nate threw his legs off the armchairs rest and let them fall with a thud onto the ground. An answer to her sharp question without opening his mouth. His posture slouched, newspaper crinkling where he had it folded against his stomach. He didn't look at her, stinging somewhere at the back of his throat with rejected irritation. "Fuck off, Ness." He  muttered sharply after a beat, jaw working at a stiff grind. He glared - constipated as ever - into the middle distance. Maybe she was right, maybe for just a second he wanted to just sit with the only other person in Hogwarts that he unabashedly liked, without the complication of a façade to be worn. Or a competition to be won. Somewhere, distantly, he was aware that they were drifting in opposite directions. And worse still, Nessa didn't seem to mind. 

nessa abigael byrne

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[nessa abigael byrne]

▲

“Your scowl just looks like someone is always holding a full bucket of Puking Pastille sick under your nose is all.” She knew her own wasn’t much better but at least she had more than one emotion, as hard as that was to believe. Nate hadn’t seen it in months because he was too busy trying to get under her skin and figure out what was wrong. Which had sort of been cleared up in the fall. Or maybe not. Words were still sharp between them and everything stung in the same manner as plucking gravel out of road rash did. At this point she wasn’t sure if it was her own indignation over it or his inability to come to terms with what had been said and done. Getting pissed off over and over again certainly wasn’t worth it and yet they hadn’t come to a conclusion yet. Merlin, they hadn’t even discussed a proper plan of action. Going back to normal didn’t work either because there certainly wasn’t anything normal about their friendship from the beginning. Devolving into toxicity until they poisoned one another with their own insecurities and hatred wasn’t the way either. Right now it was some sort of limbo where they were both lions on a tightrope spread across the Grand Canyon, each growling at the other to turn around so that they could get to safety. Drowning each other was a great example too.

Nate’s personal, personal life really didn’t really matter to her that much, except when people lumped her into his list of lays. Like that would ever happen. Such a thing was vomit-inducing. “Literally anything that breathes is on it,” she reproached. “What you do shouldn’t be my business, but with how much I hear about it, suddenly it is. Like, all the time.” She didn’t need to be hearing from classmates about how he did or didn’t treat them, or whatever it was that he said to get into their pants. How he managed it so many times was forbidden knowledge and she would probably have a better chance breaking into the restricted section than ever figuring out what his secret was. She absolutely didn’t see what it was.

And maybe she pushed it too far. Initially, she bit down on her tongue to prevent herself from lashing right back at him. Too many times that had happened and arguments spewed out of nothing. Conducting a verbal altercation in the middle of the common room was definitely a great way for their housemates to view them. As if they weren’t already scared of the two of them to begin with. Even if they acted like everything was normal when it really wasn’t would be better than erupting into a shouting match. So she tried something different. “No.”

Nathaniel David Forrester ● 467 ● Cthulhu by Alkaloid

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0