Tom drove slowly into a parking lot of a rather odd looking building. It had rather defined lines around the outside. ‘Where are we?’ Laani questioned.

‘This is the pre-party’, Tom explained, stepping out gracefully, before opening her door and helping her out.

‘Are you serious?’ I grumbled. My door opened and Jason held his hand out ever so gently. I couldn’t help but smile to myself, just how I had practiced. I took hold of his hand softly and used to elevate myself out of the car just as gracefully as I had gotten in.

‘He is serious’, Jason whispered, he was just as uncomfortable here as I was. ‘He brags about these things all the time. If he is telling the truth, it’s going to be most… interesting’. Sarcasm duly noted.

‘Thomas’, someone cheered from the door as we made our way into the foyer. He was a rather burly man who seemed to be comfortable with the blond man leading us.

‘Edgar, how have you been?’ Tom exclaimed, rushing over to shake the burly mans hand, ignoring Laani’s reaching arms.

‘Not to bad actually, how about yourself?’

‘Well…’ Tom paused before Edgar interrupted.

‘And who are these fine ladies’, he said, bowing slightly. It looked like if he had bent down any further he might have toppled over.

‘That charming beauty over there…’ Laani curtseyed, ‘…by Jason is Jaimee’, Laani froze.

‘Hey’, I said nervously, looking at Edgar for a quick moment before going back to looking at the back of my best friends head.

‘And this is Laani’, Tom said offhandedly. What was she, chopped liver?

‘Pleased to meet you both’, Edgar smiled before turning his attention back to Tom. ‘Emma and Dan are inside already, head on in’.

Edgar opened the door to reveal a rather glum looking lot of people; well at least they looked glum to me. Everybody was cornered off into groups, mumbling over glasses of wine or coke in some people’s cases, it wasn’t much of anything really.

‘Yes, interesting’, I mumbled to Jason. I didn’t dare look at him as I heard him chuckle a little, every eye in the room turned to the new entrants to their soirée.

‘Follow me’, Jason muttered, and I did. I didn’t have any choice really; he was pulling on my arm softly, but forcibly.

‘Where?’ I mumbled, so as to not let my voice echo around the ever so quiet room. He didn’t answer, but continued to lead me towards the back of the room.

‘Take my hand’, he said after a moment. I looked at him.

‘What?’ I snapped, not sure whether I wanted to be angry or confused. Could I be both?

‘Take my hand, we’re going to liven this thing up’, he grumbled, placing a hand softly on the small of my back. He nodded off behind me, waving with his free hand and before I could focus on anything music started, louder now at least.

‘How?’ I muttered, as every body looked around.

‘By dancing’, he smiled, pressing more forcibly on my back and taking my free hand in his.

‘I can’t dance’, I stammered in a sudden flash of panic.

‘Just follow me’, he whispered, before swinging around.

‘I…’ we swung around, ‘…will…’ we swung again, ‘…kill…you’.

Everybody was staring as if we were a pair of mad buffoons for destroying they’re rather dull chatter. Jason dipped me at that very moment and I looked backwards to the upside down face of Tom. He was no longer standing with Laani. Where was she?

Jason swung me back up before swinging around a few more times. I was starting to get a hang of this before I noticed Laani sitting in the corner, her hand over her eye.

‘Get everybody else to dance, I need to get over there!’ I snapped to Jason as he swung me away. He just nodded as I moved softly over to someone to dance with. It was Tom.

‘Hey’, he smiled, holding me closer than Jason had.

‘What happened to Laani?’ I snapped, not giving his smug smile or proximity another thought.

‘She rubbed her eye and got some mascara in it, I gave her some ice out of my wine to hold on her eye’, he shrugged as if it was no big deal. I just gapped at him, stopping my movements instantly.

‘Are you a fucking idiot, or do you just pretend to be one?’ I shouted, causing a few people to stare, while moving around.

‘What?’ I he shouted as I stormed over to Laani.

‘Hey…’ I muttered, squatting in front of her, nearly falling back because of the dress. ‘How’s your eye?’

‘It hurts’, she whispered.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘My eye hurts’, she snapped, looking at me with her good eye. Her left eye.

‘That’s not all, you’ve been crabby since we got to your house…what’s wrong?’ I muttered.

‘Just drop it, I think…’ she sighed and I noticed her shoulders were slumped ever so slightly.

‘You want to go to the hospital?’ I smiled softly, placing my hands on her knees. I had a slight idea of why she was being so miserable but I didn’t want to go into it here, so I dropped it.

‘Might be an idea’, she smiled in return.

‘All right’, I smiled, standing up and holding my arm out like a gentleman. ‘Shall we?’

Laani just sighed softly before putting on a smile and stepping up to take my arm. Jason came rushing over abandoning the girl he had just been dancing with. ‘What’s going on? Where are you going?’

‘Well…’ I started. I kind of liked Jason, he was a little rash about things, but he was still as humorous as I was in certain situations.

‘We’re going to the hospital and then we’re going home’, Laani stated before leading me out the door, not once looking back at Jason.

‘What is going on?’ Tom shouted once we had reached the outside of the building.

‘Tom, mate, let’s just go back inside’, Jason called after him, but he insisted on following us.

‘Ladies’, Edgar nodded after us, smile faltering ever so slightly as he laid eyes upon Laani.

‘Piss off, Tom, seriously, if you keep following us, I will turn around and flog your ass, expensive dress or not’, I shouted, walking towards the pay phone out by the road, now dragging Laani along behind me. I was so infuriated that someone could be so stupid and give someone an iceblock from their wine.

‘What the fuck is up your ass, Mr. Almighty?’ Tom shouted after me. I didn’t hear his footsteps anymore so I assumed he wasn’t following.

‘Mr. Almighty, well I’ve never heard that one before’, I snapped, stopping instantly and swinging around to look at him. ‘How about you grow a pair and start acting your age, huh, then maybe you will be able to handle your fucking wine’.

‘What the hell are you on about?’ he shouted. I closed my eyes, trying to contain my anger so that we could leave with dignity intact but it was just bubbling and bubbling…

‘What the hell am I on about?’ I shouted, storming back up to him. ‘What the hell am I on about? I wasn’t the fucking blond tool that gave someone an iceblock from they’re wine…notice the word wine in that sentence…an iceblock from they’re wine, to give to somebody with a sore eye’.

‘What?’ he said utterly stumped. I stood about a head shorter than him but I was still trying my hardest to be intimidating as I poked him roughly on the chest.

‘You gave her a wine covered iceblock to shove over her eye, for Christ’s sake, I mean seriously, are you still not getting why we are leaving?’ and at that I turned around and stormed off, grabbing Laani as I went.

‘Yeah, what she said’, Laani screamed behind us.

We reached the hospital and were checked out a few hours later. I sat in the waiting room in a perfect dress, looking absolutely angelic amongst people who were bleeding and cursing in pain. I felt sick and I was utterly steaming. Laani’s mother dropped me off home after Laani was let go with an eye patch.

It’s been a month now since He Who Shall Not Be Named’s little idiotic stunt and I was currently lounging about at Laani’s house. ‘You never did tell me what happened to your eye’, I laughed slightly as I saw her face crease up in confusion before falling into the oddest look I had ever seen.

‘It was not good’, she sighed, as if that answered me statement. ‘I looked like a fool in front of Tom, didn’t I?’

‘He didn’t care, he just stood there looking around the place’, I was using all my strength to control my anger and language as I continued on, ‘he didn’t even ask if you were alright’.

‘I don’t care’, Laani snapped, ‘I was going out with the cutest guy, but now…’ Laani got up quickly and walked out of her room.

‘That girl confuses me’, I sighed as I got up and headed for her front door. ‘Hey, Ni, I’m going to head home, got to finish off some paperwork before my boss kills me’.

‘Fair enough’, was the only reply I received as I opened the door, I sighed before walking out. I bumped softly into something as I had my eyes closed in frustration.

‘What the…’ I muttered, stepping back and opening my eyes. I had reached into my pocket and pulled out my iPod so lifting my hand up to protect me was out of the question.

‘Oh’, was all I heard as I tried to focus my eyes against the sun and the sudden shadow that stood over me. My eyes focused slowly, but once they had, they narrowed in anger.

‘What on earth do you think you are doing here?’ I snapped, closing the front door behind me so that Laani wouldn’t see or hear anything.

‘I, uh, came to apologise actually’, he stammered, staring at me rather intently.

‘Well, clap, clap for the handicapped, she doesn’t want to see you’, I growled, pushing him back down the path with my free hand.

‘How about we ask her that, hmm?’ he smirked, pushing passed me with ease, as if I wasn’t there at all, and headed straight up to Laani’s front door.

‘Look!’ I exclaimed before cringing, hoping Laani and her mother hadn’t heard it.

‘I’m listening…’ he started, turning to me, hand still posed at the doorbell button.

‘She was cut up pretty bad about the whole eye thing, and I’m not sure whether she can handle another incident with the one and only Tom Felton. She still thinks you think of her as an idiot’, I sighed, wringing my hands, ‘she also seems to think that you didn’t like her at all in the first place…don’t get me wrong, I could see that you liked her, but she seems to think…’

‘Laani seems to think a lot, doesn’t she?’ he smirked, walking slowly down the footpath back to me.

‘The thoughts running through her head are telling her that you simply asked her to go with you because you knew she wouldn’t go without me’, I muttered, feeling stupid and utterly embarrassed.

‘And if her thoughts happened to be correct…then what?’ he questioned, looking down at me as I fidgeted under his gaze.

‘Then…’ I started, but stopped as I looked up at him. In the corner of my eye I could see Laani’s bedroom window, in her window stood none other than her, Laani. Her expression was hard to read, it wasn’t upset, nor was it angry, it seemed more like regret, or that she had given in. ‘Shit’.

‘What?’ he muttered, reaching out to touch my shoulder.

‘Laani’ was all I said as I pulled away from his outstretched arm and stared intently up at the window. So did he and we both immediately felt guilty, even though we hadn’t done anything.

‘I’m going to go apologise, but I’ll call you later, yeah?’ he questioned looking back to me.

‘Don’t hurt her, okay, she’s hurt enough already’, and I turned and walked away, stuffing my iPod into my ear quickly so that I wouldn’t hear him talk anymore.

I didn’t like him like Laani did or still does for all I knew, but for some reason, I didn’t want him to try anything with anybody else. Was that bad?

It was now nearly a week since I had run into Tom outside of Laani’s house, and there was still no contact whatsoever. I was sitting on my bed, typing random words that came into my head on my laptop as I sung softly to the music coming from my iPod speakers. I had tried to call Laani a few hours after I had left her place, but she wouldn’t answer. I didn’t even have Tom’s number, so I couldn’t call him to find out how things went, and I was absolutely dying to know.

‘Jaimee!’ my mother called from down stairs. ‘Phone!’

I had never run so quickly in my life. I discarded my laptop messily onto my bed before rolling off of my bed and bolting out the door. I used my hand to catch the door frame to swing me around so I could run down stairs. It took me five seconds in all to reach where my mother was holding the phone. She gaped at me as I picked up the phone.

‘Hello?’ I huffed.

‘Boy, that was quick, it was only ten seconds ago that your mum called for you’, I heard the familiar laughing voice of Tom.

‘What happened?’ I snapped straight away, causing him I take a sharp intake of breath.

‘I was hoping you wouldn’t ask me that’, he muttered.

‘Why?’ I grumbled.

‘Because it didn’t go well’, and I heard him sigh, ‘anyhoo, how are you?’

‘No, don’t change the subject, what happened?’

‘Well, don’t get angry at me, but she tried a few things and to put it bluntly rejected her’, he stated, fading off towards the end.

‘And?’

‘Well, I’m betting you anything if you talked to her now, she would either be cursing your name to the high heavens, or you probably won’t be able to get a hold of her’, he groaned and I tensed up.

‘What did you say to her?’

‘I may have said a few things that weren’t to her like…’ he paused.

‘What did you say to her, Tom, she’s been ignoring me for a few days’, I snapped.

‘I told her that I may have only asked her to accompany me to my premiere simply for the fact that I knew you’d come along to, and that I had really gone to apologise to her in hopes that she would see the lighter side of it and give me your number…’

‘Please…’ I whispered, ‘…please tell me you didn’t’.

‘I may have…’ he paused, and I could here the awkwardness in his voice. It almost seemed as if he was waiting for an answer.

‘You have to be an idiot, or at least dropped on your head at birth’, I snapped, getting angrier by the second. ‘You knew she liked you, you knew she was absolutely infatuated with you, yet you had to say it anyway…?’

‘She seemed like a reasonable person…’

‘She can be, when it doesn’t involve her best friend and her number one crush hooking up, that’s it, you must have been dropped on your head at birth’, I was now mumbling to myself.

‘Look, she’s ignoring you, there’s nothing anybody can do until she cools down…’ he sighed.

‘She wouldn’t need cooling down if you were a proper gentlemen and went there to apologise, and only to apologise’, I groaned, slapping my hand to forehead and dragging it down my face, crushing my nose in the process.

‘What’s done is done, will you just listen to me for a second…’ he tried.

‘If it has anything to do with you and me alone, forget it’, I growled, just about ready to hang up on him if the need called for it.

‘Well, technically not alone’, he sighed, ‘will you just give me a chance? You’re friend is ignoring you for something you didn’t even do, so she’s really not that much of a friend, the least you can do is go out and enjoy yourself’.

‘Yeah, and I’ll do that without you’, I snapped, ignoring his outrageous comment about Laani.

‘I’ll tell you what, you spend some time with me today, and at the end of it, if you enjoy yourself, we can see what happens next, if you don’t enjoy yourself, then you can make the decision to never see me again, deal?’ he mumbled, and I heard some rustling. I sighed. My thoughts always leaned towards the one thing I didn’t want to do.

‘Deal!’