Faking It | Rhett

Flowers Never Worked On Me

Vera could feel her nerves bursting like thousands of fireworks as she sat near Rhett with the intention of doing something absolutely… crazy. She had to know, though. The way he acted around her was different. Disingenuous. Vera had had plenty of men of all ages fawn over her in some degree or another, and there had only been a handful that had been able to keep themselves completely in line without a flicker of interest at all. They tended to be older wizards, or beings of their own make. Not once had anyone her age, let alone a boy, managed to keep his wits like Rhett did.

And he did. She saw the way he glanced around at the other guys before responding to her. As if checking for the correct way to do it.

Even now, he seemed unsure. Granted, she couldn’t quite blame him. She was sort of cornering him…

”It’s alright. Different. A lot more... “ She scrunched her nose up in thought. ”Focused?”

She looked at him as if seeking approval for that to be the correct word. Shaking her head quickly, she smirked and then reached up and casually removed her hat. Combing her fingers through her hair, she let out a soft sigh and twisted her locks around her hand quickly before pulling the thick rope over the opposite shoulder. She wanted Rhett to see as much of her face as possible, though nerves still demanded she keep on her aviators.

Turning her head to look at him, she smiled sympathetically.

”Mostly I wanted to say thank you.”

Reaching up, she pulled the sunglasses from her eyes and then pushed them back to the top of her head to keep her face completely unobstructed. She linked her fingers together and slid her hands between her knees as she hunched forward; hiding their trembling as being exposed like this gripped at her lungs in a way she couldn’t even start to dwell on lest she have an actual panic attack.

She hoped to god she was right about Rhett’s unusual immunity.

Flowers Never Worked On Me

Confused.

That’s all he was.

She could see it written plainly on his face like white on rice.

Sitting in the sun, no shadows, charms or hexes, clothes or accessories keeping him from being under the full glare of her allure and he was staring at her like she’d grown a second head. Vera sat very still for a heartbeat and just looked at him. Her aquamarine eyes poured over him, and as he started to wriggle in completely discomfort from the stretched out silence, Vera’s lips broke into a small smile.

Scooting closer to him, she half-turned her body and anchored her hand on the ground behind him. Leaning in close, Vera’s hair fell to shield them both from their curious peers. Her lips didn’t brush his skin. In fact she was very, very careful not to touch him. Vera had a lifetime of being touched “accidentally”, and she wasn’t about to do the same. Though she wasn’t going to let him flounder while people watched either.

”I wanted to thank you for not being a creep, and tell you that right now, you should be wrapping your arm around me like i’m kissing you.”

Pulling away just enough so that her eyes met his, she gave him the same expression that they shared in their DADA classroom not too long ago.

Solidarity.

”And you should be pretending to enjoy it.”

Flowers Never Worked On Me

There was something there that Vera understood, but didn’t have the words for yet. It wasn’t like she didn’t know what being gay was, it was just that she hadn’t really experienced the lack of attention from gay men yet. Vera’s full “effect” as she called it on men hadn’t really taken shape until earlier that summer. Sure, she had some inappropriate attention before in her life but now that puberty had taken it’s hold and Vera was pretty much as grown of a woman as she was going to get (for the most part) and Rhett’s immunity was new. She wanted to know what it was. How he was doing it. She wanted to know so she could harness it. Maybe it was a spell?

All of that was washed as soon as she saw his face when she leaned in. He was freaked out. And after she teased about what he should be doing, and then his plea…

It dawned on her.

She moved closer, wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace as she buried her face in his neck. She’d seen people do this before and assumed it was a natural flow of what they “should be” doing.

”I won’t tell.”

Inhaling softly, the image of that girl sitting on Mal’s lap came unbidden to her mind. Her heart sank into her stomach as she loosened the hug and leaned back; shifting her weight on the ground so that she was facing him with her hands resting on his shoulders. Her eyes held his as the idea jumped straight to her mouth and out her lips before she could even think about what she was asking.

”Will you go out with me?”

At the look on his face she winced a little and then quickly explained; though her words remained hushed so only they could hear.

She’d gotten much better at whispering since the boggart incident.

”To protect us both, I mean… I can use you as my boyfriend when guys get too pushy and well, you can use me as your girlfriend for the same reason..”

Her hand moved up to tuck her hair behind her ears as she shrugged and hunched forward a little’; picking at the grass to her side. As silly as it seemed, she was completely expecting him to turn her down.