I Won't Say I Love you, Even If It's True

[Jeffrey Colton]

Jeff was in a bad mood. A scowl lit his normally dreamlike features, and his fists were clenched in anger as he stormed through the streets of Boston. Susanna had denied him for the last time. He gave her everything, his love, his attention, anything she wanted, and in return? He got laughed at. It was unfair, and Jeffrey had had enough.

He didn't notice that people were getting out of his way when they saw the look on his face, positively tripping over themselves to get out of the incensed mans way. He didn't care, he didn't give a darn about any of them. Someone's shoulder knocked into his, and he thought he heard an aggravated "hey!" But didn't stop to linger.

He was approaching the large park where many of the tourists came to enjoy Boston's nicest coffee and souvenir shops, a place he habitually avoided, but was currently in to much of a blind rage to care.

He plopped himself down on a bench, continuing to seethe, not noticing anything around him, blind to everything but the injustice of his situation.

[Danielle Kerrith]

She wasn't sure how she had ended up in Boston of all places in the world. She had needed a break from work and home life and had just packed up her bags and taken a little trip. The woman wasn't going to be here for very long, a week at most and a couple days at least. Her eyes took in everything around her, the people and sights. It wasn't that it stood out anymore than anything she could see at home or anything, but she was in a new place and didn't want to miss something just because it didn't immediately catch her attention. Her feet took her to the park that served to be the place for people to enjoy coffee and souvenirs and her eyes never stopped taking in the sights.

It was because she refused to stop looking at the people and things they were doing that she noticed pretty much everyone going out of their way to avoid a bench...or the person sitting on the bench. Curiously she slowly made her way over, ignoring the few people who actually turned to see if she was heading towards the angry man. The brunette plopped down on the bench next to the man and stared out at the crowds for a moment before speaking. "You know, you're scaring everyone with that look on your face."

[Jeffrey Colton]

[ Click for OOC Comment ]

Oops... sorry this took so long!

Jeff was so blinded by rage that it took him a minute to register that someone had sat down next to him, let alone that they were trying to talk to him. The expression he gave the girl - woman really, who was now seated beside him, could at best be considered a death glare.

He couldn't help but imagine what Susanna would say if she could see him in this condition. He imagined her laugh, which he had always thought a beautiful powerful sound, but which now he imagined as cold and empty, just like her.

Dani's words took a moment to penetrate through Colton's aura of rage, and when they did he couldn't help but blink, turning to look at her in consternation. She had that young uppity look about her, tinged with a hint of experience. The question then, was why on earth would someone like her, enter into a possibly dangerous situation with an unknown man?

Colton's eyebrows shot up at her accent, surprised in spite of himself. So she was a Brit. Not that that meant much, but at least she didn't know who he was, wouldn't care that he was really a wanted felon a member of the Runespoor Rebellion.

"You," Jeffrey said thickly, not looking at her, but at the traffic crossing before them, "are a fool." He turned to look at her, his eyes still as hard as glass. "I like fools. Jeff," he extended his hand. "Jeff... Willows".

[Danielle Kerrith]

Dani caught the look the man shot her when he first noticed that she was next to him and trying to talk with him. If looks could kill she would have already been dead. She also caught when his look changed to something a little less threatening looking. She was in her last year of Auror training and was confident enough in her abilities that if this man turned out to be dangerous she could fight him off...or at least hold him off long enough to get away from him or back up to arrive.

His comment about her being a fool made her frown and she opened her mouth to protest, but his next words stopped her short. She took the offered hand a little more cautious of the man since he had called her a fool and then mentioned that he liked fools. "Dani Kerrith," she returned, "why did you call me a fool?"

[Jeffrey Colton]

Jeffrey leaned back, inspecting Dani warily. For all he knew she was some kind of spy sent from Zipporah to see whether he was going to betray The Runespoors to the ministry. But he doubted that, she was British, that more than anything else was a dead give away that she didn't belong here, and that also made Jeff more inclined to talk to her.

"Do you see anyone else around here risking their necks to talk to an obviously insane guy?" He asked bluntly, "I mean seriously, you've either got balls, or you're a fool." He slipped into his Boston accent more as he talked, almost as a reaction to her proper accent. He leaned back on the bench, eyeing her.

"But I never said that was a bad thing."

[Danielle Kerrith]

The brunette raised an eyebrow when the man asked about others risking their necks to talk to an insane guy and then laughed at his next comment about either having balls or being a fool. "I don't see an insane guy. All I saw was a guy who seemed to be in a rather bad mood and was giving off the 'stay away from me or die' vibe, which doesn't really bother me at all," she commented lightly as if talking about the weather.

She glanced at him when he added on that he never said it was a bad thing that she was a fool and grinned. "Well I suppose that's a good thing then. I would hate for it to be a bad thing."

[Jeffrey Colton]

Jeff laughed hollowly at her response, surprised in spite of himself. He glanced up at her, wondering whether she was trying to pull his leg. It was something Susanna would do; deny him, laugh at him, hurt him, and then while he was nursing his wounds, pretend to feel sorry, get his hopes up that maybe, just maybe she really was sorry and they would make up, that they could finally be together at last. Then of course she would crush him anew, making him crawl away to a corner, even more ashamed and wounded then before. But he didn't think Dani was doing that, at least, she was very good at hiding it if she was.

"Oh?" He asked intrigued, "a guy looking like he wants to murder anyone or anything in his path doesn't bother you? Why's that?" It took him a moment to register he was making small talk. Where was his self pity? His self loathing?

This was turning out to be more therapeutic than he would've guessed...

[Danielle Kerrith]

Dani smiled slightly at his question and gave a small shrug. "Well, considering we're in a rather crowded area I don't think you would murder me because there would be to many witnesses for you to be able to get away with it. And I feel like I'm trained enough that I would be able to get away from you if you decided to suddenly go crazy and try to kill me."

She paused for a moment and seemed to think about something for a moment before adding onto what she had just said. "Oh and sometimes people give off the 'stay away or die' vibe when they have something bottled up and they need someone to just sit and listen and not judge," she turned her head and really looked at the man sitting next to her, "is there something you just need to get off your chest without anyone judging you on it? If there is then I'll listen and promise not to judge you about it. Plus, they do say that strangers are the best people to tell things to because they don't know you or your past."

[Jeffrey Colton]

Jeff's eyes widened, training? What on earth was she talking about? Clearly there was more to this woman than met the eye, making a mental note of that, he smiled slightly at her words. Clever too, wow, he was actually enjoying having a conversation with someone. That was... unusual.

"Don't worry, I'd be sure to give you far warning if I was about to try and kill you," he tried to joke, and then making a face, "sorry, I'm really not a very witty person, I'll leave that up to you."

At her next words, Jeffrey stared at her unabashedly, his mouth hanging slightly open. No one, no one had ever said anything like that to him, offering to listen to his problems and not judge him? Ridiculous. It was always: 'shut up Jeff, be quiet Jeff, let us do it Jeff, stop being an idiot.' He stayed like that for a minute, simply gazing at her in utter and complete surprise.

Finally, "I... ugh... well. Wow. I mean; wow." The words did not come rushing out like they sometimes did, surprising Jeff, he had been expecting a flood of emotions, but he felt quite calm, collected even.

"Well," he started, "there's this girl," he looked at Dani quickly, before looking down at his hands. "I've loved her for as long as I can remember, but she's never given me a second look. I would go to the ends of the earth for her, but she just doesn't care. I just don't know what to do..." he looked at Dani helplessly, then gulped, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to dump all this on you, it's stupid really, but it's gone on for so long, I don't really know anything else, except that I love her."

[Danielle Kerrith]

Dani noticed the slightest things that changed on the man, like his eyes widening at the mention of her training and the smile. She grinned at his words about giving her a warning and waved off his apology about not being witty. "No, no," she said shaking her head, "I would like to have some warning if you suddenly decide you want to kill me. Give me time to like you know...run?" Of course if the man suddenly went nuts and tried to kill her Dani was sure that he wouldn't give her notice first, that would just be pointless because then she would know it was coming and be able to -hopefully- prevent it.

She looked at him a little worried when he just stared at her. She hadn't meant to break him. Her head tilted a little and she reached out, waving her hand in front of his face. "Hey," she called a little worried, "you alright? I didn't mean to break you. I'm sorry."

The brunette let out a small sigh of relief when he finally spoke, thought the words didn't really make any sense. Perhaps she had broken him. How was she supposed to fix him?! Then he started to talk, beginning with it being a girl. Well that made sense, girls could be as completely clueless as boys at times. When he began to apologize about telling her she shook her head. "Don't be sorry," she said gently as she hesitantly placed a hand on his arm, "you obviously needed to get that out. Now then. Have you tried telling her that you like her or is she one of those that would just laugh in your face if you tell her?" It was very important to establish what she would do if told the information if she hadn't already been told.

[Jeffrey Colton]

A slight chuckle escaped Jeff as Dani joked about running if he tried to kill her. "Oh, I don't know, I've got lightening reflexes," he winked at her, "doubt you'd be able to run far." It was a joke of course, Jeffrey's clumsiness was a running joke with Runespoor, he was the constant butt of jokes.

He got more serious as she patted his arm, feeling silently grateful for the contact. "Oh no, I'm fine," he said quietly, "trust me, I'm not broken." He looked down at his hands, clenching them together, before looking back up at Dani.

"Oh yes, she knows." He said hollowly, "she's known for years. And yeah, she's that kind, the kind that builds up your hopes and then sends them crashing back down." He clenched his fists again, "I don't know if I love her, or hate her. Or something in between."

[Danielle Kerrith]

"I don't really think you'd have to have quick reflexes to catch me," she told him, playing along, "I tend to be a little clumsy when I'm trying to get away from people trying to kill me." It had surprised her trainer the first time he'd tried to 'kill' her in training when Dani had tried to run and just randomly tripped over thin air. She had been teased about it for a rather long time until she was able to actually prove that it had been beginner's unlucky luck that caused her to run and fall.

Dani felt a bit of anger at the woman who held this man's heart because of the way she was treating him. The man seemed nice enough to the twenty-one year old and the thought of someone being so cruel to him just made her angry. She didn't show her anger though because it would do no good here. "If she treats you like that then you probably need to try and move on," she told him quietly, "she'll only break you in the end if you keep trying to love her like you are. It also sounds more like you're stuck somewhere in between loving her and hating her...which is probably for the best. Hate never does anyone any good."

[Jeffrey Colton]

She was really quite lovely Dani. He was liking her more by the minute. Not just anyone would approach a man who looked like he might steam roll them into the ground if they got too close. He shook his head, "just as well I guess. You should know I'm a complete klutz."

A small smile lit his face, as a memory presented itself to him. "I remember this one time, Susanna has this cat she's crazy about, takes it with her everywhere. I was making her a sandwich I think, and she was talking to Zip- a friend of ours, and yelling at me to hurry up. When I finally got there her dumb cat wound around my legs and I tripped on it and the rug and Susanna got her turkey sandwich in her face." He laughed at the memory. "God, she was boiling mad, I don't think I've ever seen anyone who can get a pissed as quickly as she can. Well," he reconsidered, "one other person, but they don't count."

He looked over at Dani curiously. "Enough about me, I could go on all day. What about you? What brings you to this 'glorious country' of ours? Surely not the company?"

[Danielle Kerrith]

At least he was honest about his klutziness. Most males she knew would lie through their teeth and say they were some great person with quick reflexes and amazing balance or some such rot and expect her to believe it. Jeff just seemed to take his clumsiness in stride and joke around about his great balance and quick reflexes. She wished there were more people like him back home. More of them that she might actually have a chance with. The twenty-one year old pushed that thought out of her mind as Jeff told his story about this Susanna woman and her cat.

"Serves her right for being so mean to you," Dani said with a firm nod. It sounded like karma had come around to bite the woman in the arse, whatever karma was, "did she do anything other than get mad? Perhaps throw something or yell? Most people tend to yell when they get angry. It's the ones who keep silent and just seethe that you have to worry about." She did wonder a bit about the other person who apparently didn't count when it came to getting angry, but pushed it off since he didn't seem to want to tell her.

When the conversation was turned to her Dani blinked at the complete change for a moment. She hadn't expected to have to talk about herself and she wasn't very sure on how to answer the question about why she was there. "Oh...well...you know..." she glanced away for a moment as if to try and find a good reason, "time on my hands and all. Why not take a trip and travel to somewhere I've never been before?" It was obvious that there was more to the story than she was actually telling, but she added on, "plus the company's not that bad either," along with a small smile.

[Jeffrey Colton]

She was charming, and it was a serious problem. Jeff could feel himself warming to Dani already, and had to actively stop himself from reaching across the bench and stroking her hand with his. The sad truth was that Colton was so starved for affection that even the smallest kindness to him was like a bomb going off. He simply couldn't stop himself.

Making a face when Dani asked if Susanna had done anything to get back at him he shrugged, "I mean, I guess. But she's not really the type to go all ape crap on you. More like she'll hold a grudge against you for years until she can get you exactly where she wants you, and then pounce."

He noticed her scrambling, and was about to tell her it didn't matter, he was just glad she was there, for whatever reason. He laughed in spite of himself as she said the company wasn't terrible.

"Well, I must say if you find my company all right then you'll probably do fine. So this is a pleasure trip, not work?" He asked, surprising himself with his curiosity.

[Danielle Kerrith]

"So she's one of those that seethe until they decide to get back at you," she said giving him a sympathetic look. It wasn't that Dani pitied what Jeff would / had faced with this woman because the twenty-one year old knew that people tended to dislike being pitied for whatever reason. Instead she just felt for him because she had been in his position a few times over the years.

When he made the comment about her being fine (probably) if she found his company alright the woman chuckled. "Well you are having a rather interesting conversation -at least it is to me- with me which is more than most people are willing to do." The mention of it be a pleasure trip caused the woman to nod slightly as the memory of why she was allowed a pleasure trip came to the forefront of her mind. She unconsciously rubbed against the recently healed wound on her leg. "Yeah," the word was said quietly, "I was ordered to take a few days off from work after an...incident."

[Jeffrey Colton]

The notion that she had problems and issues, and wasn't just there to listen to him wasn't exactly a revelation, but it wasn't exactly a given either. The minute he'd realised this he felt guilty; how was it that he hadn't thought about her at all. He felt crimson creep up his cheeks, but cleared his throat in an effort to hide his shame.

He nodded, smiling bitterly, "yeah, that's her." He looked at her curiously, unsure whether he dare ask her what exactly had happened. Slowly he moved his hand forward, intending to place it over hers.

"It's okay," he said quietly, "I've had plenty of experience with incidents." He surprised himself by saying: "I'll listen if you want to talk about it, but don't feel any pressure."

[Danielle Kerrith]

When the man's hand was rested on her's Dani looked up at him with a small smile and when he offered to listen to her the smile got a little bigger. "It wasn't really as bad as I'm making it seem," she told him, "it was training."

She paused for a moment to try and figure out how to tell him about it without giving anything away since as far as Dani knew Jeff was a muggle and she couldn't reveal things about the wizarding world. Everything she was about to say had to be run through her mind and changed to what little she knew of the muggle world. Sure her father had been a muggle and all and Dani lived in the muggle part of London, but that was about it since she spent most of her time at the ministry.

"Me and my best friend are both working on joining the...police," that was the muggle equivalent to Aurors wasn't it, "and the trainers got a little out of hand. My friend got hurt and I went to check on him and sort of...forgot that we were still supposed to be training and ran over to help him and make sure he wasn't to badly hurt," a frown came to her face then, "the stupid trainer didn't really care if someone was hurt or not and continued the attack, aimed at my downed friend, something about the enemy always attacking those who are vulnerable and hurt at the moment."

The woman shook her head at that because the trainer had seemed to have something against Gray the entire time he'd been in training. "Anyway, I took the hit instead and wound up with a rather nasty injury on my leg," here she rubbed at the place again, "after they sent me to the hospital to get checked out and all they told me to take a couple of days off to make sure I was alright before coming back in. And that's it." She finished off her tale with a grin.

[Jeffrey Colton]

Jeff snorted, Dani didn't seem to be the type to over exaggerate situations. He was about to open his mouth to tell her so when she started speaking again, and he closed his mouth, listening.

So she was a policeman - woman? Aw hell, well he didn't actually know whether the police had been informed about Runespoor, but she was an authority figure, that was bad enough. He could hear Zipporah screaming at him now, all about fraternising with enemy and all that bull. He desperately wanted to like Dani, she was one of the only normal people he had ever met, but the idea that she worked for the government, even if it was the British government, made him recoil.

Trying to sound interested, and not like his brain was about to explode, Jeff grimaced when she said the trainer didn't care that anyone got hurt. "God, that's awful, you should've kicked his ass, I bet he would've thought twice about crossing you again." He grinned at her, glancing down at her leg, trying to put the idea of her pointing a muggle weapon at him at point blank range out of his head.

"Well, scars are sexy." He said with a wink, "I bet everyones falling all over you back home."

[Danielle Kerrith]

Of course the auror department had been informed about the Runespoor, but Dani hadn't really bothered to learn more than the name of the group. She personally believed that there were more important things happening on their home soil and there was no need to get mixed up with the Americans problem. The woman was more interested in figuring out what was going on at her sister's school and about those Voldemort rumors floating around after almost a year.

Jeff's comment about kicking the trainer's ass made her grin and shrug. "Well," she said in a sing-song type voice, "I didn't right away, but after me and my friend got patched up we paid him a little visit." Her smile slipped a little as she remembered that encounter. "It just made him angrier and when I get back he'll probably run us ragged because of it."

She chuckled at the scars comment and shook her head. "I wouldn't go that far. I mean one of my friend's brother and some drunk at a pub, but that's about it. And it wasn't because of the scar either." The woman cast a glance down at her pants just to make sure that they hadn't somehow rolled up to show a scar that was obviously not made by a bullet wound. It looked more like someone had taken a knife of some sort and cut her rather deeply before it had been healed.

[Jeffrey Colton]

Although he tried to keep his cool, Jeff was having a difficult time acting as though the news Dani worked for the government didn't bother him. It was just that the government was... corrupt. Whether or not it was in America. The thought that muggleborns - mudbloods, Zipporah would want him to call them - could get a position in the government rather than something with pure blood? That was ridiculous. They needed to be put back in their place, that was all it was. They simply weren't the same as real witches and wizards.

Resisting the urge to shout these things out loud, Jeff grinned at the mention of her visit to the trainer. "Haha, that sounds great! I bet he was scared witless."

Jeff followed Dani's glance down at her leg, listening to her change of tone, unsure how to respond. "Well," he said in a slightly fake cheery voice. "Here we think scars are very attractive. In fact we assess someone's worth based on how many scars they have."

[Danielle Kerrith]

The woman gave a small shrug, but the small smile on her face proved that she enjoyed the memory. "I personally think it was more of my friend's anger than my own," she told him, "he was not the least bit happy that the trainer had hurt him and then hurt me during my concerned freak out." The memory of her best friend angrily telling the trainer off was rather amusing and the fact that said friend had his wand pointed at him the whole time made it even funnier.

She chuckled at Jeff's words about scars. "In that case I don't think my worth is very much then," she told him with a dramatic sigh, "I only have that one." She put on a sad look to make it more believable before looking up at him with a grin. "I suppose that with my line of work though I'll have more...one day."

[Jeffrey Colton]

Jeff sat back on the bench, stretching out slightly as he continued to look at Dani, who was clearly enjoying the memory of her 'visit' to her trainer. She really was lovely, and he couldn't help comparing her to Susanna. Feature matched with feature, Dani was certainly as pretty as Susanna, even if she lacked that whole unattainable quality that was so darn attractive. Or maybe it was just that Jeff was so used to chasing after Susanna, so used to being inadequate and underestimating his worth that he was doing the same to Dani. She certainly was more confident in her own skin than he was, and he couldn't help feeling drawn to that quality. It was refreshing.

Widening his eyes as she sighed dramatically, Jeff gasped, just as dramatically. "What?! Only the one! You must be joking." He turned away, pretending to be in shock. "I'm sorry, I... I just can't..." He closed his eyes, peeking between them at her and finally grinning widely.

"You didn't fall for that did you?!" He asked, laughing. He wasn't a half bad actor after all. (He did go to an arts school after all).

[Danielle Kerrith]

Dani nodded, going along with the act, as Jeff dramatically spoke about her one scar. She had to cover a smile and hold back a laugh when he apologized and started trying to say something before finally just giving up and grinning. She raised an eyebrow when he asked her if she'd fallen for it. "Of course I didn't," she said with a small shrug as she leaned back on the bench, "if I weren't so used to such dramatics and all I probably would you. You were a rather good actor." She had two sisters who tended to be dramatic at times and so she was very used to it.

[Jeffrey Colton]

Jeff pouted, pretending to be disappointed. "Oh come on! Not even a little!" He snapped his fingers. "Well shucks, and here I was, thinking I was sooooo brilliant." He winked at her, his dreamy smile lit up his eyes and made him look much happier.

"Well thank you my lady," he gave her an awkward half bow as he was still sitting down on the bench. "So how long are you here for Ms Dani? Long enough to see our wonderful city I hope." He said the last part only half sarcastically. Boston was a wonderful city, it was just that Jeff felt trapped here, like he did everywhere. Under the constant watch of Zipporah, one rarely felt free.