Something of Yours? ((Caitlin))

[Luke Dallan H7]

Stargirl,
Meet me at the Quidditch Pitch after dinner. I think I have something of yours you want back. Don't worry. I didn't read anything inside of it.
Luke

Luke smiled as he placed the last period into his note. This was getting a bit extreme just to get Caitlin’s attention. How was he still holding onto something that wasn’t going anywhere? Maybe because he thought it could be something. There was just something about Caitlin Martinez that Luke was interested in. Most guys would have given up on a girl that gave any complications, but not Luke. Instead he steals her favorite astronomy book and gives a note to a dorm mate for her to meet him. How else was Luke going to get her attention? Wear a big neon sign above his head that said, ‘Look here!’? Though that did sound like a good idea. Jumping as he heard the Professor dismiss the class, Luke nearly leapt off his chair. Quickly packing his things into his shoulder bag, he swung the strap over his shoulder, being the first one out of the classroom. It wasn’t that Luke hated the class, but he needed to find that one girl before she went off to her next class. Quickly walking down the corridor, Luke eyes every female. He nearly collided with a couple people on his way, but he soon spotted the girl he needed. Quickly making his way up to her, Luke held out a rolled out parchment for her. “Can you give this to Caitlin Martinez for me please?” he asked a small smile curling onto his lips. The girl just stared down at the not before nodding her head. “Sure.” With that she stepped around him making her way to her next class. Luke waited until she was out of site before heading up to the dormitory to get a head start on some homework.

He was soon sitting on his four poster bed; books were scattered at all directions of him, and he was actually working. The quill that was in his hands scratched along the paper almost about finished with his essay. Well, it was due the next day, but at least he was not putting it off for the morning, or even before class started. There had been a few incidents where Luke completely put off working on an essay until he was finally in the classroom, with only a few minutes left until class started. He learned his listen right after that. Always need a few hours in advance to finish homework. Dotting his last period, Luke smiled as he waited for the ink to dry. He began to put everything back into his bag before rolling the parchment up, and tying it with a tie. Setting that inside of his book bag as well, Luke zipped up the zipper and jumped from his bed. He made his way over to the closet pulling out a black dress shirt and a green tee shirt. Luke first pulled on the green, then the black, leaving the first four buttons untied. It wasn’t strange to see Luke wearing odd layers of clothing. Actually, it was normal. Ruffling his hair more, Luke picked up Caitlin’s Astronomy book leaving the dorm room in haste for dinner.

Luke ate as much as he always did every dinner, and as usual he listened to Bryce talk on about random things, this time Weetzie was also in the conversation. He was actually starting to enjoy the younger girl’s company. She was quite different from most girls. Luke took a last swig of his drink before adding something into the conversation. “I’m going to have to go. I need to give something back to Caitlin.” Luke was about to stand up but stopped as Weetzie patted his head. “"Don't worry, Luke, some girls like the 'I'll do anything and everything for you' kinda guy. Don't give up." Luke shook his head grinning as he left the great hall to the Quidditch pitch. It didn’t take him long to be sitting in the stands, his elbows resting on the brown wooden benches with his legs perches up on the row in front of him.

((God-mod of Weetzie was asked with permission.))

[Caitlin Martinez G7]

Where was it? Where could it be? Caitlin was growing frantic. Where had she put it? How could she have been so stupid as to misplace her book? Not only was it her book, it was her journal. Of course, no one could read it unless they had the incantation, but still! The idea that someone might have her journal made Caitlin go insane. She had been searching all day. She had blown off three classes after realizing she had lost it. She was hoping, begging, and praying that the book would be somewhere in her dorm; but her prayers had gone unheard. There was still no sign of the book. Now, she sat on her bed with her head in her hands and her eyes squeezed shut; trying to think of where the hell she could have put it. That was where her dorm mate found her and gave her a note. Caitlin sighed and took the note from her and opened it. As her brown eyes looked over the note after she had read it, she felt her anxiety grow into anger. He had her book. He had her journal. He had her personal thoughts, wants, and dreams. And he probably didn’t even know it. She grabbed her shoulder bag and rushed out of the Gryffindor tower toward the entrance hall that would lead her to the Quidditch pitch. Dinner had just ended, and considering she had spent nearly half the day looking for that stupid book, she hadn’t eaten. It didn’t matter, though, Caitlin could live off her anger; she was that livid. She burst through the double doors to the grounds where the sun was setting brilliantly behind the quidditch pitch; casting unearthly long shadows over the green field.

There was no denying that Caitlin was gorgeous when she was angry, but she didn’t give a damn about how she looked as she made her way toward the Quidditch pitch. Her eyes held fire as she looked up into each of the stands. There he was. She sped toward the stair case that led to the stands he was sitting in, the only thing that was on her mind was getting that book bag. But her anger was overflowing and taking control and she was already starting to mumble certain words she wouldn’t’ say in front of her mother under her breath as she climbed the steps to the stands. Finally, she was on the same level as him, and she slammed her book bag on the bench to her right, “Who the hell do you think you are?!” she asked in a voice that was so full of venom, her eyes penetrating his as she took a step closer. Still, even with the anger revolving around inside her, Caitlin couldn’t help but see how amazing he looked, how he could look amazing without even trying. For a moment, her breath was taken from her – only to be given back with another venomous attack; “You can’t just take people’s things! It’s called thieving! You know, stealing?!” She stood over him now, her hands on her hips. “So, where is it?! Where’s my book?!” Her eyes drifted to the bench and saw it there and snatched it up, thumbing through the pages to make sure it was still an Astronomy book and not her journal.

When she was satisfied that he hadn’t been able to break into her mind, Caitlin turned to look at him. The anger was slowly subsiding from her eyes, but she still held a bit of it inside of her. “How did you think you could get off with taking something of mine? Why did you think you could?! It’s an absurd thought. If you were doing it to get my attention, congratulations; you’ve got it! You’ve got my anger throwing itself at you, is that what you were getting at?!” Caitlin slammed her astronomy book on the bench, “Or did you want me to do this?” And with that she kissed him, and she had known she was going to do it, too. Her anger had fueled her. Maybe her desire for him did, too. But did it matter? No. Why would it? She pulled away from the kiss and looked down at him, “For future reference, Dallan, don’t steal my things, and don’t try so hard to get my attention!”

[Luke Dallan H7]

Luke’s eyes closed calmly as he rolled his head back. A gentle breeze rushed by tossing his unkempt blonde hair aside. He shifted his weight slightly from elbow to elbow wiggling his feet in his shoes. It didn’t take long for Caitlin to come. When he heard steps running up the stairs franticly his eyes shot open. Luke stared at Caitlin beside him his eyebrow raising as she slammed her book down on the bench beside her. Pulling his feet up from under him, he sat up straight his eyes never leaving Caitlin’s face. She looks strangely beautiful when she was angry. Her face scrunched up slightly, and her nose wrinkled, but what took Luke the most were her eyes. They looked like they were literally on fire. What was so special about that Astronomy book? Luke moved slightly so she could take her book back beside. He didn’t want to get in her way at the moment. Leaning against the back bench behind him, Luke just watched as Caitlin looked through the pages of her book making sure he didn’t do anything to it. Yes, Luke stole it, but he would never doodle inside of it, or write random notes inside. He didn’t even do that to his own books. “Do you really think I would look inside?” he asked wincing slightly as Caitlin continued her rant. Luke was about to apologize when he felt Caitlin’s lips against his. He closed his eyes for a second kissing her back gently, but stopping himself from resting his hand on her cheek. This wasn’t a ‘real kiss’ that is normally shared between two people, but it did feel like something.

When she pulled away Luke stared at her complete, utter shook showing clearly in his blue eyes. Call Luke old fashioned, but he normally like to kiss the girl first, not the girl kiss him. Caitlin was completely hard to understand. Standing up from the bench, Luke looked down at her shaking his head. “Normally I don’t have to steal things to get people’s attention,” he began his eyes gazing into hers. “But with you I have to literally create a huge mess just for you to stop and even look my way!” Luke took a deep breath as he ran his fingers through his blonde hair. “If stealing your astronomy book is how far low I have to go for you just to say a couple words to me, then I’m fed up with this.” Taking a step down onto the other bench he continued stepping down until finally stopping at the entrance where the stairs were. “Why should I fight for something that won’t work out?” he asked crossing his arms over his chest, his face clenching slightly. “How about you just go off with Colin and I’ll leave you be, because clearly your not even wanting to be anything with me.”

[Caitlin Martinez G7]

Caitlin watched as Luke stood, her anger slowly diminishing as she bent over and picked the book which had slid off the bench with so much force from the throw. When he spoke, she felt herself wince, but she didn't make it noticeable. Her anger, which had been so fierce before, was now almost nothing. Her brown eyes returned to their regular brown but still contained warmth in them, but not fire. She looked up at him as he spoke. His words cut through her and when he turned and headed down toward the entrance. There, he stopped, and he said something that made her feel like the wind was knocked out of her. She closed her eyes as her grip loosened on her Astronomy book/journal. "Luke! It's my journal!" Her voice sounded pleading and she opened her eyes to see his back to her and he was inside the stairwell. She walked past her bag and headed toward where Luke was standing. Everything she felt inside her the past few days, everything she had hid from, she couldn't hide it now. Caitlin looked up at Luke with apologies in her eyes. "If... if... you had read this, you would know differently. You would know that..." Now that she had the chance to say them, the words would not come out. They locked themselves up in her heart and wouldn't come out, not even for Luke. She let out a sigh and looked down at her feet, only her head was looking down because her eyes were shut as she tried to summon the courage to tell him what she felt or what she thought she felt. Wasn't she supposed to be a Gryffindor? Where was that lion everyone else seemed to have inside of them?

"Forget it," she whispered as she turned to head back to her bag, "it's not like it matters anyway. Right? I mean, you always have to put a fight or 'make a huge mess' just to get me to look your way, don't you? Why do something that doesn't matter?" The pain in her voice couldn't be masked. Here she was, letting Luke hear the pain his words had caused her, but she didn't care. If this was what he wanted, then fine. Yes, sure, Caitlin had avoided him, and yeah, it was wrong - but she had done it and that was that. She couldn't take it back even though she wanted to. She paused in her walking and turned to look at Luke with tears in her eyes, "Saying what you did about Colin was painful, Luke. So, thank you, for making me feel like I'm not worth anything." She sent him a quick look and then turned on her heel to march up to her bag again. With each pronounced step on each stair, Caitlin controlled the urge to turn around and look at Luke. She grabbed her bag when she reached the top and slipped it on her shoulder. When she turned around, Luke hadn't left. She paused before making her way down to the entrance, where Luke was, where she stopped. "I'm sorry I avoided you. I'm sorry I got angry that you stole my journal. I'm sorry, okay? But you're wrong. You're wrong about it all.

"You're wrong about it not working out. You're wrong about you having to create a huge mess just for me to look your way. You're wrong... you're wrong about me not wanting to be with you. You're just wrong." Caitlin stared up at him a moment and then moved to walk past him into the stairwell.

[Luke Dallan H7]

Luke watched Caitlin, his chest heaving in and our as he took deep breaths. He didn’t want to leave, no he wanted to stay, but this was getting on his last nerve. What was he going to steal next from her, her clothes? All she was going to do was get it back and just stalk off away from him. No real conversation involved, maybe a surprise kiss, but no time spent together. When she didn’t say anything, he turned his back on her, entering the dark stair well. He could hear Caitlin scream something behind him; he didn’t stop or even turn around, instead, Luke just continued down the stair well. Caitlin was then standing in front of him, blocking his only way out. “Do you really think that I would read anything inside of that book?” he asked his blue eyes gazing into her face. He could see that she was sorry for everything, but it didn’t change how frustrated he felt with her. “That I would know what?” he asked as she stopped suddenly. Luke knew he was being slightly rude, but he wanted to know what was running along inside the little pretty head of her. “I would that about how much I irate you, or how your trying so hard to stay away from me because you know that you might have some feelings for me?” he asked running his hand through his blonde hair as he watched Caitlin. What she said next made him feel guilty, but yet it was somewhat true. Luke shook his head, his eyes never leaving hers.

“No Caitlin. I’m the only one fighting. You’re just giving up and acting like it doesn’t matter.” Luke looked down at the ground for a moment letting it sink in. The pain in her voice made him feel so guilty for even saying any of these words to her. She needed to hear what he was saying. They stopped suddenly when he looked back down at her as she said something in remark to about Colin. Luke somehow thought that Caitlin was still in love with Colin, and that she was avoiding him because of that, because she didn’t know what she wanted. “No Caitlin, you are worth something, but when you hide from people, you might as well not be.” He watched her for moment as she marched back up the stairs to retrieve her bag. Luke stepped out of the way as she headed back down the stairs stopping as she looked back at him. His blue eyes pierced into her soft brown ones. Luke felt a lump rise in his throat as she walked away from him. He could hear her footsteps against the wooden stairs as he slumped to the ground. Luke put his head into his hands trying to process this all in his mind. Yes. He had a crush on Caitlin Martinez, and he wanted to be more with her. He wanted her to be happy with him.

Quickly skipping down two stairs at a time, Luke stopped at the end of the stairs staring at Caitlin’s retreating back. “CAITLIN!” he shouted running toward her and pulling on her hand. He twirled her around so she faced him, his hands still grasping onto hers as he breathed hard. “If I’m wrong about everything, then tell me that you won’t avoid me again. Tell me that you’ll have at least a decent conversation with me, and tell me that you do want this as much as I do.”

[Caitlin Martinez G7]

“Yes, you irritate me! You irritate me to the edge of the Earth and back again, Luke, but it’s begun to be something that makes me realize just how amazing you really are! And that’s scary!” Caitlin squeezed her book with her right hand as she said this. “I’m not giving up, I’m running; yes, maybe, but I’m not giving up. I’m just… it’s… complicated and you deserve something or someone who is, well, not complicated.” She shifted her bag around and placed her astronomy book into it where it was supposed to be, safely, all day. Caitlin looked at him for another moment, and then shook her head before pushing past him and down the stairwell. She broke into the open air and took in a few deep breaths as her feet squished against the green grass of the field. She felt like a tornado, swallowing up everything or everyone that mattered in her life into one funnel shaped disaster. The wind didn’t help that analogy, either. It was pushing her hair this way and that, snapping her clothes to the right as she pushed on through the Quidditch pitch, heading back toward the castle where she could run up into the Gryffindor tower and hide under the covers of her bed. She didn’t even get half away across the pitch, though, before she heard Luke call her name. She didn’t stop. Her feet continued to carry her across the pitch until she felt someone grab her hand. She turned around to face Luke.

She listened to him speak. Then, when he was done. She didn’t say anything. In fact, she just stood there- looking at him. The wind snapped at her, pushing her hair in front of her face, so she had to push it behind her ear so she could see Luke. Caitlin, deciding not to say anything, took a step closer so there was only an inch or two between them. She looked up at him, and then grabbed the collar of his shirt to pull him down closer to her so her lips could meet his. This kiss wasn’t like their last one, where she had done it out of anger. There was a different kind of emotion in this kiss. One that she had been running from, and one that she couldn’t run from any longer. She let her left arm travel up and lace itself around his neck where it met her right arm. She didn’t know how long the kiss had lasted, nor did she care. Caitlin only made sense of why she was doing it, not how or what came over her to do it; she just did it because she knew why she wanted to. It was an impulsive thing, and impulsive was one thing Caitlin never did. She was usually well planned out. Sometimes, though, the best things happen over impulse.

She broke away from the kiss and looked up at him, her eyes wandering over his face. Even before she said the next thing she was going to say, she knew she didn’t want to say it; “I do want this, a lot; but I don’t deserve this. Why do you think I was avoiding you? Why do you think I shoved everything away and shoved you from my mind? Luke, you’re an amazing guy, and you deserve someone who… will make you see that without… making you feel bad about it. It kills me to say that you’ll find someone like that, but I mean it. If you think…” Caitlin trailed off and dropped her left arm from around his neck, leaving her right hand to fiddle with the collar of his shirt, “If you think I’m that someone, right now. Then I’ll believe you, and I won’t say another word of this…” Caitlin dropped her arm and took a step away, still looking up at Luke.