Solitude or Not. ((Alex))

[Mackenzie Holden]

Mack wasn’t overly enthusiastic about leaving Hogwarts; actually she wasn’t enthusiastic at all. She had never been enthusiastic about leaving the castle for the Summer hols, not even when she was signed to G-Major and told she would spend her summer on tour. She had been enthusiastic about her first tour – but this one she wasn’t looking forward to much at all. Her less than over enthusiasm was obvious as she packed her trunk; throwing things without care, tossing in her designer shoes, her jeans, her jewelry all like they weren’t worth hundreds and hundreds of galleons. In her eyes, they weren’t. They were just material items; items that, in a few years, she wouldn’t use ever again. Mack had never really cared about the designer shoes her mother bought her, nor the jewelry Dixie had given her, nor anything that looked expensive. She much preferred her brown leather jacket with a pair of jeans and her boots. She had changed quite a bit since her third year where she wore everything that her parents hated – now she was dressing for herself. Mack looked down at her outfit and grinned. She had come a long way from torn up jeans, studded belts, and rebel tees. Not to mention, Mack ran her fingers through her hair, her blonde hair gone red gone blonde again. It would stay blonde now, unless she got some freakish desire to die it dark, like… black. She made a disgusted face at the thought and shook her head, throwing in her books on top of the rest of her junk.

“I’ve been sittin’ in the dirt for 24 hours, I’ve forgotten my own worth for 24 hours. Said that you’d be here last night, mmm. I’m trying to shake you from my skin, clean up this mess I’ve been put in. I’m guessin’ you can’t always win, I’m guessin’ you can’t always win. I can’t have anything I want, they say I’m just too young but it’s not my fault. I’ll make it all alone, if I gotta. I’ll find my own way home, if I gotta.” Mack sang quietly as she closed her trunk and latched it before levitating it out the window toward the carriage she had reserved. Her eyes scanned the dorm and she let out a small sigh, she wasn’t going to miss Hogwarts. She wasn’t. She just wasn’t going to look forward to Manchester. Not with the divorce going on. Mack ran her fingers through her hair again and left the dorm room, heading into the common room. She wasn’t going to look for him. It was pointless and she didn’t care. She wouldn’t let him sit with her on the train either. She wouldn’t. Mack kept her eyes straight ahead as she left the common room, happy that she felt nothing for Jack anymore. He was gone from her life. That was final. She dodged people rushing in and out of classrooms and common rooms. She pushed past people squealing and kissing each other’s cheeks as if it were the last time they’d ever see each other ever again. While doing this, she found herself happy that she didn’t have anyone to do that with. Mack smiled to herself; she knew she would be happy with the “no best friend” rule she came up with post-Jack.

“I’m not so trustful with my friends, I’m on the road alone again. I guess I’m tired of giving in, ohhh. I’m sick of wishing you were near, you’ve gone your way you’ve made it clear. Why do I feel you everywhere? Why do I feel this everywhere, yeah? I can’t have anything I want, they say I’m just too young but it’s not my fault. I’ll make it all alone if I gotta. I’ll find my own way home, if I gotta.” Mack burst out into the sunlight, pulling her sunglasses over her eyes as she sang the first song she had ever recorded. Her first single. It was one she rarely ever sung anymore, with all her new songs – no one wanted to hear 24 hours. Mack hummed the rest of the song as she climbed into the carriage that held her trunk and closed the door behind her. Immediately the carriage started toward Hogsmeade where she would board the Hogwarts Express and go home, again. She wondered who would be picking her up. Surely not Pam; her mum hated going out to London. Surely not Hank; he wouldn’t think she was his problem now, besides he’s always hated her. Maybe Trevor? Nah. He couldn’t care less. At that moment an owl flew in through the opened window and dropped a thin letter on her lap. Mack frowned in confusion and opened it. Well, that answered that question. She was to take a taxi to the airport. Her plane tickets were inside. She hated living in Manchester and the train station being in London.

The carriage stopped outside the gate into Hogsmeade and Mack climbed out, getting her trunk from the carriage before making her way toward the station. Once at the platform, she boarded the great scarlet engine, and headed toward the Prefect compartment. She didn’t want to sit in there. In fact, she wanted to blow off her Prefect duties. That was that. Mack turned and headed toward the last car on the train. She had been a good little Prefect all year and now she deserved a break. At least, she was telling herself she deserved a break. She let out a huge sigh and slid open a compartment door, stepping inside, happy to see it was empty. “Mmm, solitude. No annoying third years, no crying first years. Just me…” Mack put her trunk above the seat and then collapsed on it, lying down with her arms over her eyes. She almost fell asleep when the compartment door slid open again, “…. Or not.” She muttered, moving her arm away from her eyes to peer at the new comer.

[Alexander Promise R7]

“Of all the lousy losers I had to make friends with, I had the pick the idiots that forget to save me a seat.” Alex growled as he lugged his trunk down the train, heading through car after car and still not finding a single space willing to fit him. He passed by numerous compartments that only had two or three people in them, but for one reason or another they refused his requests to join them. Either that or they were annoying kids that he chose to avoid for his own reasons. “Every ruddy seat is taken by some firsty or other. You know, they should have seats reserved by year…” He mumbled as he glanced into a mostly empty compartment and had the blinds shut rather rudely on him. “Yeah…that would make things better.”

He shook his head and continued down the train, receiving shakes of the head, flat out no’s, and rude hand gestures the whole way down. It was the end of the year, couldn’t someone at least give a guy a break? Of course not. Everyone else here was upset about leaving their friends, about leaving school, and everyone else had good friends. “Yeah well you wait till your friends forget to save you a spot you little pest!” he yelled at a boy who had arrogantly stuck his tongue out at Alex and then shut the blinds.

Alex was, despite his current frustration, rather excited. Hogwarts was great of course, he did have friends…though not the most thoughtful…and he enjoyed his classes, but he was missing home. Home was amazing. As much as Alex liked to discuss his annoyance at the muggle population, he made one exception; his sister. He rather missed his sister and in all honesty was ready to get back home and see what new music artists she brought word of from outside the wizarding world. At Hogwarts Alex didn’t have friends who knew much about the muggle world, he had pureblood friends, the best of the best you could say, but they couldn’t tell you about muggle music or technology. His sister was good for that.

He missed home for a million reasons, and a big one was the griffins. Though Alex didn’t spend much time with his father these days, (the man having far too much business work to do) Alex had grown fond of the company of the other trainers at the manor. He had earned his place among them last year and was eager to return and prove his worth again. Training a griffin gave Alex a thrill like no other, and last he heard they had a new batch of cubs this summer. He was quite ready to claim his favorite.

Finally making his way to the last car on the train, and finding no other available compartments, he looked inside one and found only one girl there. Taking a risk and sliding open the door he watched as she looked up at him. She was a girl in his year, prefect if he remembered right, but as for her name and whether she would want his company, he wasn’t so sure. “Um…hullo…mind if I join you? No one else will let me…” He closed his eyes for a minute and shook his head before continuing. “I don’t mean I’m annoying or anything…just…well my friends forgot to save me a spot, right good guys they are eh? And see, everyone else wants to spend the trip home with just there friends…but seeing as you don’t have anyone in here….not to say you don’t have friends…I just….” He sighed and looked pleadingly at her. “May I please sit here? It’s this or the hallway.”

[Mackenzie Holden]

Mack let out a small sigh when she saw who it was. Not someone she talked to on a daily basis, but as Prefect she made it a point to know most people in her year. And Alexander Promise was in her year. She covered her eyes again as he began talking. The Slytherin part of her was demanding to be let out, snapping and sneering – saying to find his own bloody compartment. But Mack had never really listened to her Slytherin side. “As a Prefect, I’ve got no right to kick you out,” she finally said after he had finished talking, her arms still over her eyes. She chewed on her lower lip a moment before moving her arms and turning to look at him, offering a small smile, “Take a seat. You aren’t an annoying third year, and you aren’t crying – which is a plus. Just, don’t start crying on me, okay? I’d be forced to leave and actually do something productive with my last couple of hours as a 5th year Prefect.” Mack kicked her legs out, examining her boots a moment before reaching up and unzipping them, letting them fall onto the seat. She hated wearing shoes when she was traveling. Oh, Merlin, she would be traveling a lot soon. Involuntarily, Mack groaned at the thought of being locked up in a tour bus for hours and hours and months and months.

She’d cross that bridge when she came to it. Instead, now, she looked at Alex and cocked her head to the side, “It’s empty because I don’t have friends, by the way. Not because of anything else. I just don’t have friends. You wouldn’t either if you had my life.” She smirked lightly and closed her eyes again, turning her head to look up at the ceiling of the car just as the train started to move. Her trunk rumbled above her, causing her to open her eyes in slight fear. She wasn’t sure how safe she felt lying underneath the heavy trunk. She stared up at the rack and then turned to look at Alex again, “So, why’d your friends forget to save you a seat? How’s that even possible? If you are a friend of someone, you don’t forget them. Otherwise they aren’t really a friend, and then you’d be like me – friendless. Which isn’t as bad as it sounds.” Mack looked thoughtful a moment and then shook her head, looking up at the ceiling once more, listening intently for the crack of the trunk falling overhead. She gripped the edge of the seat as the train started to pick up speed, heading out of the station. She hated trains. She hated planes. Two in one day. This was going to be one of the worst days of her life.

There was a loud groan from above and Mack’s eyes popped open instantly. Without delay she sat up and moved from underneath her trunk, sitting beside Alex, her eyes watching the trunk warily. After a second, she whispered, “I think I should have shrunk some things before packing all my stuff inside it… maybe then it wouldn’t be threatening to squash me.” She grinned and looked over at Alex, holding out her hand for him to shake, “Mackenzie Holden.”

[Alexander Promise R7]

Alex bit his lip nervously and made his way into the compartment. A prefect; he had thought right. He wasn’t an annoying third year, that was a fact, and he definitely wasn’t crying. “I’m…um I’m not going to cry, I promise.” Alex hadn’t cried in a while, he couldn’t remember, though it probably involved an injury. He didn’t have much reason to cry in all honesty, he was quite content with his life. He said slightly confused as he shoved his trunk up over his seat. As the train began to move, he took a seat, asking himself why he had packed his notebook away. That was dumb. He heard her grown and raised and eyebrow. “I...I’m sorry if I’m bothering you.” He shrugged, he was sorry, but now that he had his stuff all put up he wasn’t going to go back through the train looking again for a spot he might have missed. Which would be an unlikely phenomenon.

When she looked up at her trunk he did too and he tried not to chuckle about the frightened look on her face. But as he continued to watch the shakey, noisy trunk, he was a little frightened for her as well. When she asked about his friends, he sighed. “They’re…okay friends I suppose. Not the greatest…but they’re not bad. Their real problem?” He smirked over and looked her up and down. “Their real problem is girls… giving my seat to pretty girls.” Alex had never really had this problem, seeing as he’d never really been the kind of guy to care about winning over a girl. It was odd in all honesty, with all the good –slightly cheesy but good – romantic ideas he had in his head he had never wasted them on just some girl. He looked the girl opposite him up and down again before pushing back the thoughts swirling around his head about her. She is a rather pretty girl…I’d give a seat up for…no no, now hush you, it’s not time for that. He blinked and officially pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. He laughed lightly and then watched her grip her seat. “You okay?”

Soon afterwards, his question was answered as the girl jumped across and into his seat. His eyes rolled from her seat, up to her trunk and then over at her, unable to keep from grinning in amusement…and maybe a tad bit of excitement. “I leave school with half the stuff I come with. I tend to...well…lose it?” He laughed lightly again and reached out to shake her hand, grinning still as she told him her name. “I’m Alex…uh…” For a moment, as he shook her hand and his eyes locked onto hers he thought he had forgotten his own last name. That was a smooth first impression. Then it came back to him when he blinked. “Promise…yeah that’s it, Alex Promise.” But even as he told her his name, he didn’t let go of her hand.

[Mackenzie Holden]

Mack laughed lightly, nodding; “Pretty girls, right. We’re always so pesky. We still seats, friends, cause fights. Gee, I think the world would be better off without us.” She smirked and shook her head, teasing her hair over her shoulder as a nervous distraction. Why she even needed a nervous distraction was over Mack’s head. She hadn’t needed one for awhile. Everyone she ever talked to was so easy to talk with because she was so unbelievably comfortable with them. She had either known them for three years or had done something with them that made them comfortable people to be around, like, make music. Though, the only person she ever talked to anymore was Tommy – and she wasn’t even talking to him now, because of how angry she was with him. Egh. No matter. Now was not the time. Now is never the time when it comes to thinking about how mad Tommy’s made you, Mack, she sighed and ran her fingers through her hair again, looking over at Alex when he asked if she were okay. She bit her lip and shrugged, “I hate trains. Actually, if you wanna get technical – I hate any mode of transportation except cars, which is really bad considering I have to take a plane to Manchester once we reach London.” Mack whimpered quietly before she had moved over to sit beside him because of her trunk.

She smiled at him when he said he left with half the things he arrived with. If only it were true for her. Mack left with ten times more things than what she arrived with. Well, Mack frowned slightly, minus a guitar. She was definitely regretting throwing that thing into the fire. What had come over her? Oh, yes, she was having one of her ‘I hate the world and I’m gonna pretend like I’m giving up on the one thing I love the most’ moments. But other than losing a guitar, Mack had gained a whole new wardrobe, some pairs of shoes, a lot more books, and some random trinkets that she had picked up in Hogsmeade. She was jogged from her thoughts when Alex shook her hand, her eyes locked on his, a slow smile on her face. He introduced himself, seemingly forgetting his last name, and Mack had to hold back a small laugh. “Alex Promise,” she grinned as she repeated his name, unaware that she was still holding onto his hand. After a second, she broke the stare and looked to the wall, taking her hand back slowly, “I think I like your name better than mine,” she laughed at herself and shook her head slightly, closing her eyes to regain her composure, “It’d make a really good stage name, is what I meant. Mackenzie Holden just doesn’t have that ‘oh! She’s a star!’ ring to it.”

Actually, then, the idea that her name sounded like anything more than that of a girl who hated her family was one that Mack couldn’t quite grasp. She hated her last name and the only reason she liked her first was because it could be shortened to something at least semi-original. Together, Mack and Holden didn’t sound nearly as bad as Mackenzie and Holden did, but she never signed her name ‘Mack Holden’ when she was giving autographs or even just for schoolwork, it was always ‘Mackenzie Holden’ and Mack wondered why. If she hated her name so much, why would she sign it that way? Because she’s got some weird sense of logic, that’s why. Biting her lip gently, Mack looked over at Alex again, settling back in her seat and putting her feet up on the bench across from them; “So, at the risk of starting chit-chat, any big plans for you this summer?” Mack hated chit-chat, she found it mind numbing and dull. Normally, if there was a risk of starting chit-chat, Mack just wouldn’t say anything at all, but there was something about Alex that made her not want to keep quiet. She wanted to talk and she didn’t know why. Oh well, she was going to take advantage of it. She was enjoying actually talking to someone.

[Alexander Promise R7]

Alex grinned as she talked about hating transportation except cars. “I don’t like cars so much… traffic scares me.” He laughed and thought about the last time he was in a car. His dad had been driving to take him and his sister to a birthday party, they were probably no older then eight. All Alex remembers is the part where his father flew through and intersection and nearly got them all killed. He shook his head. “Yeah, really don’t like traffic.” He bit his lip again. She’s cute when she whimpers... By the time he had shoved those thoughts from mind, the two were shaking hands and she was repeating his name.

Alex grinned and bit his lip again as she pulled her hand back and looked away. His eyes trailed off and back up to her rattling trunk as he reached a hand up to scratch his head. She was talking about his name now, and he was trying to listen, he really was, but that was slightly difficult seeing as his thoughts had gone back to their previous state. Well that was new…yes definitely not something that’s happened before… He glanced over at her and caught his breath as she laughed and shook her head. Yeah, she’s really cute…you’re all googly aren’t you? No, no you’re not, keep your head buddy, it’s just a girl….oh but she’s a really pre- He cut himself short and shook his head looking back over at her as she settled into her seat.

He turned in his seat so he was facing her, not really wanting to look at anything else but her at this moment. Plans for the summer…plans for the summer…did he have plans for the summer? Oh yeah, home, griffins, work. “Not really.” He said finally. “I’ll be at home all summer…not doing anything special, just the usual, work for my dad you know?” He smiled, he liked the work he did for his father. “There’s a new batch of cubs back at the manor this summer so we’ll have a lot to do.” He nodded, as if everyone in the world knew what he meant when he said cubs.

Shrugging slightly he sat back again, getting comfortable leaning against the wall so he didn’t have to turn away from her. “What about you? You have any big plans?”

[Mackenzie Holden]

Mack leaned her head back, her arms crossed, and closed her eyes. She listened to the train continue to move, trying not to focus too much on the fact that she was indeed in the train and that she was indeed – not liking it in the least. To keep her mind off it, she tapped out a rhythm with her forefinger of her right hand on her left arm, writing music in her head. How was it that she could wrap up one album and then just plow right into the next? Because this is who you are, your music is what makes you. Mack shook her head slightly and opened her eyes again, looking over at Alex. Cubs? She didn’t ask, though, for fear of looking extremely dumb – which was new because Mack honestly couldn’t care less what people thought about her, much less someone she probably wouldn’t ever talk to ever again. She wasn’t sure why she was worried about what Alex thought of her, but she didn’t dwell on it for too long, considering he asked her the fatal question. Was she doing anything over the summer? Mack looked at him a moment and then sighed, turning her head back and closing her eyes. Big plans. Yeah, that was a way to put it.

“Kinda,” Mack sighed again, kicking the seat across from her anxiously. She hated trains. “I’m touring this summer. Just me, my band, the open road, a huge tour bus that’s too small, and an annoying producer who I wish I could push off a cliff,” she said this with a smirk. No, Mack wished she could kill Tommy painfully, but a cliff would suffice nicely. Just then the train gave a jerk and Mack’s eyes popped open in fright as let out a small whimper. “Ugh, I loath trains!” She took a deep breath, closing her eyes again as she uncrossed her arms and gripped the seat, “You know,” Mack smirked slightly, “normally I can freak out on my own because I don’t sit with anyone. Well, not anyone anymore anyway. On the train ride here this year, I was too busy making sure some third year Slyth didn’t completely terrorize a first year, so I couldn’t pay any attention to my…” The train gave another jerk and Mack whined, closing her eyes tight, “…fears of the train derailing or whatnot. But I decided to blow off my Prefect duties and look where it landed me.”

Mack breathed in deeply, opening her eyes for a moment and looking up at the ceiling of the train. She tried to keep her mind on something else, and for a moment it worked and then the train groaned and they slowed down dramatically, sending Mack forward a little. She gasped and instinctively grabbed Alex’s hand, just needing something to hold onto, not really realizing she was doing it. She closed her eyes tightly again, breathing in and holding it before breathing out. She knew she must have looked pathetic, but she couldn’t help it. Mack hated trains more than she hated anything else on this Earth, well, except for maybe Tommy.

[Alexander Promise R7]

Alex watched her. He watched every move she made. He watched her cross her arms, he watched her tap on her hand, he watched her kick the seat, he watched her until she looked at him; then he would look down at his hands smiling. He was slightly afraid that if he caught her eyes again, he’d get lost once more. Then all the thoughts would come back and he wouldn’t be able to focus. He was having trouble as it was, but it had slowly become a different kind of trouble. His hands flicked to his hair every five seconds nervously. He scratched his head, he messed with his hair, he messed with sleeves of his robes. Something about her made him self conscious. And wow, that was a big deal.

Alex’s father had been…at a loss when he found out his son was a Ravenclaw and not a Slytherin. It really made no sense at first, not until his love for learning kicked in. At first all anyone saw was the arrogance and the…well…no, just the arrogance. He’d always been that way, but when he was younger he didn’t exactly know how to control it. He was a bragger. His parents didn’t raise him that way of course, that’s just how he ended up. But no matter, it became obvious that his need to do better then most everyone else had caused the bragging, and had equally caused his placement in Ravenclaw.

That thought aside, we return to Alex’s self consciousness. It made no sense. It was illogical. Why would a girl he’d just met make him self conscious? It made absolutely, 99.9% no sense. There is of course, that slightly 1% that makes sense, but that’s a very minimal bit if you look at how much of it doesn’t make sense. I digress. He didn’t get it. He didn’t want to be self conscious, he wanted to be his normal, self assured self, but that was out of the question. She made him nervous, she made him anxious, and he had just learned her name.

Finally catching himself not breathing, too busy debating his new found nerves, he bit his lip hard, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he looked over at her and listened to her. Touring. Band. Producer. She was famous. How he could miss a detail like that…he had no idea. He thought about asking her about it, but then thought better. Ask her if she’s famous, and you look like a complete idiot loser…don’t ask her…and you can look her up later and figure it out….that sounds good. He nodded slightly to himself and refocused on her. She was discussing her hate for trains and she was obviously scared to death. Or at least uncomfortable. He scooted closer to her, hoping to just make her feel not so alone. Then the train jerked. He stopped breathing when she grabbed his hand, but somehow, magically maybe, he calmed himself down enough to make a bold move. He took her hand and held it, squeezing it lightly hoping she’d feel a bit more comforted. “So, you think the snack trolley will get back here? I feel like we’re in the forgotten zone.” He smiled warmly at her, though her eyes were closed.

[Mackenzie Holden]

Mack’s heart stopped when he squeezed her hand, for the realization that she had grabbed his hand was dawning on her. She sat there for a moment, still as stone, her eyes closed, her hand in his, and she tried to make her heart beat again. After a second, it started, she let out a slow breath in almost a hissing sound and opened her eyes, looking over at him as he asked about the snack trolley. She laughed lightly and looked over at the compartment door, “Alex, we are in the forgotten zone.” Mack smirked and rested her head on the back of the seat, her eyes open now. The train rattled again, but Mack didn’t realize it. Her mind had wandered back to Alex and holding his hand. It was silly, not even something Mack should have thought about. Mack wasn’t normally nervous with anyone. She was outgoing, outspoken, and she had no problem grabbing someone’s hand or jumping on someone’s back or even hugging someone without knowledge – even a stranger. The idea that holding someone’s hand, even a really cute guy’s, made her nervous was mind boggling and Mack was doing what she always did with mind boggling issues.

She tried to unboggle them.

Being nervous was something Mack just didn’t do. She had never been nervous. Well, except for the first time she had ever performed one of her songs, but that was definitely a different kind of nervous. She hadn’t been nervous when she had met Jack, not once. Then again she had saved him from the horror that was Vika Spunrick. This was something Mack wasn’t sure how to handle. She bit her lip in thought. How could she handle being nervous? Her stomach knotted itself over and over again. She hated it, yet she liked it. She liked being nervous because of Alex. Nervous because of Alex. That was it. That was why she was nervous. She knew that. Of course she knew that. However, she had yet to figure out why Alex was making her nervous. She would do that later. Yes, later. Now she would enjoy. She would figure everything out later. Merlin knew she’d have plenty of time on the tour bus.

“It’s coming,” Mack said simply, breaking the silence. She looked over at Alex and smiled a small smile before pointing the hand that wasn’t holding his at the compartment door. It slid open and the plump little witch poked her head in asking them if they wanted anything. Mack turned and looked at the cart before taking her hand from Alex’s and standing to grab her purse from by her trunk. She pulled out a handful of money and pulled out some of the candies, paying what was owed, and then sat back down – opening a sugar quill. The hand that had been holding Alex’s tapped nervously on the seat as she sucked on the sugar quill, her feet back up on the seat across from her. When they both had whatever it was they wanted, the witch moved away and the compartment door closed again.

She pulled the sugar quill from her mouth and looked at it, frowning slightly; “You know, I always expected these things to do something entertaining. Like, write something on your tongue or whatnot, but they’re just… candy. Nothing amusing. The magical world, isn’t it supposed to be fun?”

[Alexander Promise R7]

Alex couldn’t stop smiling. His nerves had calmed down, but his mind had started going at a million miles an hour. When she looked up and out the compartment door, for a moment, the whole holding hands thing seemed almost natural. The forgotten zone, well this was definitely going to be a zone he’d remember. He watched her lay her head back against the seat. Maybe if I scooted closer…no…don’t make a fool of yourself buddy. He swallowed and looked out the window, a smile on his face, resisting the urge to slide his thumb on hers. Would that be pushing it too far? He decided it would be. My GOD man, pull yourself together, you just met this girl! It was perpetually mind blowing how wrapped up he was getting in this. This was not Alex. It just wasn’t. Though where of course Alex had gone was a question no one thought to answer, for whoever this was – that wasn’t Alex – he was quite content. Who needs the old Alex? This new Alex was growing quite complacent.

She spoke. Then she did the unthinkable, or at least, the last thing that had been floating around Alex’s mind at the moment; she took away her hand. It took him a moment to realize what she had said, or why she had moved, or that the trolley had even come. Had holding his hand become simply unbearable? Could she just not stand sitting next to him anymore? Was he that intolerable? His eyes moved to follow her as she walked towards the door. Oh…the trolley….smooooooth. He closed his eyes when she was busy looking at the snacks and shook his head at himself before standing and following her to the trolley, looking over the sweets as he reached into his pocket. He had a few coins with him and he pulled them out, only buying sugar quills though. He sat down next to her again. He watched the compartment door close and the woman walk back off down the train, opening a sugar quill absentmindedly. He finally looked back over at Mack as he shoved the wrapper in his pocket and looked at the candy she was talking about. He chuckled. “They are pretty boring eh?”

He turned the candy over in his mouth, wondering why they were the only candy he would eat, before looking back at her as a thought hit him. “You know, muggles have these bubble gum cigarettes…and when you blow into them, a puff of sugar blows out like smoke? More interesting the sugar quills eh?” He bit his lip when he finally realized he was praising muggle candy. What a concept, he didn’t know how this girl would react to that. He didn’t want her to not like him...oddly enough he really, really cared what she thought about him. He cleared his throat and sucked on his sugar quill before speaking again. “Silly eh? That muggles can do that but our sugar quills just…sit there…” He shrugged and looked down at her hand. He really wanted to hold it again. All he needed was just…

As an answer to his prayers, the train jerked again and his hand moved to hers, taking it again. He cleared his throat anxiously again and looked up from their hands to her and smiles softly. “Don’t want you…you know…worrying about the train anymore…you know?”

[Mackenzie Holden]

Her fingers continued to tap on the seat, almost unnoticeably, beside her as she continued to suck on the sugar quill. Mack might’ve looked like her mind was elsewhere, but it really wasn’t. It was right in that compartment with them. On Alex. On how she had liked holding his hand so much. On how she was angry with herself for letting go of his hand. On how she wanted the train to jerk again so she could grab his hand. On how that was silly and naïve of her because they had literally just met. She looked at the sugar quill as Alex spoke about the muggle candy. She had had some of those once, and she was pretty sure she had come to the conclusion that she didn’t like them. Mack smiled over at him, “Maybe we should take some notes from the muggles. I mean, if they can do that without magic, imagine what we could do with it. Then again, most the time the wizards who make these candies are too afraid of muggles to think of using their ideas.” She shrugged slightly, putting the sugar quill back in her mouth.

For a Slyth, Mack was pretty calm about muggles. After all, she did work for one. She believed that as long as they didn’t try to start anything with the magical world, they were free to do as they pleased. She had the same feelings toward muggle borns. Then again, Mack was a half blood. Or, well, no. She wasn’t. She wasn’t a half blood. She wasn’t. She had to get that through her head. However, just because she wasn’t a half blood didn’t mean she didn’t feel like one. Half the time Mack wondered if being a muggle was easier than being a witch and the other half the time Mack felt like she was a muggle because of how muggle-like her life was. Mack ran her fingers through her hair before pulling out the sugar quill from her mouth, trying to keep her mind from going down that path again. Luckily, the train gave another jerk and Alex took her hand so quick it was as if he had been waiting for it. She looked down at their hands and smiled at them. He spoke about not wanting her to worry about the train and she looked up at him, “Thanks.”

Mack stared at him a moment before realizing she was staring and then she looked away again, putting the sugar quill back in her mouth. Thanks… Thanks… Thanks… wow, how thick could I be? Why yes, outrageously cute guy sitting next to me, ‘thanks’ is the only word in my vocabulary. The rest of the words I’ve learnt since I was two I rarely ever use because in order to do that I would have to be intelligent. Thus, I say ‘thanks’ to something that deserved more of an ‘I was wondering if you would.’ As she continued to mentally admonish herself, Mack finished the remaining bit of her sugar quill. As always the stick of the sugar quill vanished and Mack looked startled a moment before groaning, “It… it always does that, and I always forget that it happens.” She looked guilty a moment before reaching over with her free hand and grabbing a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans and opening it.

Busying herself with the beans, Mack allowed herself to look down at their hands another moment. She bit her lip, trying to hide a smile, and then pulled out a yellow bean, holding it up to the light and shaking her head before tossing it on the floor. She started to dig around in the box again, pulling out a lighter yellow bean, and then shook her head again and threw that on the floor. Finally, after about ten beans of different shades of yellow had been tossed on the floor, Mack exclaimed, “Ah ha!” and put one in her mouth. She chewed on it and then smiled over at Alex, “I’ve always avoided earwax.” She offered the box to him, “You eat these? There’s an adventure in every bean.”

[Alexander Promise R7]

Alex felt an overwhelming sense of relief when Mack didn’t immediately sneer at him. It felt weird, having just busted out about muggles around another person from Hogwarts. Guiltily, Alex knew he had been living two lives for the past five years. He wasn’t ashamed of his sister, at least, he didn’t think he was. He loved his sister. But…he had always been worried of what people would think – about her, about him. What exactly did having a squib in the family mean? Alex had spent hours in the library, researching family lineages, only to find that just about every pureblood family has a squib somewhere in their tree. The fact that these people where often near impossible to find, and no records were kept of their activities only half mattered; they existed.

That all aside, Alex had liked the feeling he was getting from Mack. She was easy to talk to, when you looked past the fact that his hands shook when he wasn’t holding hers and he was doing his best not to stutter. It wasn’t that she didn’t make him nervous, that was an obvious, it was just that, well he was finding that he liked the person she was – Listen to you, you hardly know her at all… – he just…liked the way their little bits of talk went. She was nice, she was funny, she’s pretty, she’s holding your hand, she’s making you grin uncontrollably, you liiiiiike her you…. she seemed intelligent, she was good conversation, you liiiiiiiike her… Too early for that? Alex had met this girl…when? An hour ago at most? I know I know but…maybe it’s – this is not one of your romance stories, Alex….ohhhh but it would really make a good one…

Alex wished he had his notebook now, he really would have loved to jot a few things down about this moment, this situation, but at the same time he knew he didn’t need to. He knew he was going to remember this train ride down to the minutest detail. Like the color of her hair, and the way it hung around her face, around her neck…foooocus…right. He had grabbed her hand by now, and that feeling had come back, that good feeling. That…natural feeling. I’m hopeless. He liked this feeling, he liked holding her hand, and he liked the way she looked at him. When she stared at him, he stared back, wanting that ‘our eyes just locked’ feeling again. But by the time he thought he had that again, she looked away. He liked her smile, he liked the way she smiled at him, and oddly enough, he liked the way she looked away from him. It was like a game – a sneaky, secretive, fun game. She looked away, he looked away, she looked away, he stared. Yeah he was staring…maybe just kinda….a lot.

When the sugar quill disappeared, and she talked about how she always forgot it did that, he laughed, in a good natured sort of way of course. It was cute the way she was startled, the way she groaned. It was cute because, Alex’s had disappeared, and he hadn’t noticed till she mentioned it. He reached up to his mouth and found there to be nothing but a smile there. “I didn’t even realize mine was gone…” He laughed lightly. He really hadn’t, he’d been far too focused on her. He watched her open her Bertie Bott’s beans and watched her sort through them, a bigger smile on his face. When she offered him one, however, he shook his head. “These are the only things I eat.” He held up a sugar quill before working it open with the help of his teeth – only having one hand to use and not willing to take his other hand away from hers. “So…” He said finally after shoving the opened candy in his mouth. “…You said you lived in Manchester?” He waited patiently, wanting to really learn a bit about her now, after all, they were holding hands.

[Mackenzie Holden]

She was sifting through the beans again, tossing out any of the grey ones now. They were either pepper or sardines and Mack liked neither of those flavours. She figured, she didn’t like the actual spice or fish or whatever it was that a sardine was, she wouldn’t like the bean kind either. After a second or two, she put a pink one with purple and green speckles on it in her mouth. Eh. Tutti frutti. It wasn’t that good, but at least it wasn’t vomit. When Alex said that the only candy he ate was the sugar quills, Mack raised her eyebrows, “Gee, what a sense of adventure you have, Mister Promise.” She smirked and set aside her Bertie Bott’s. Yes, there was a time when Mack was feeling adventurous, but then again… she didn’t feel like stumbling upon a vomit flavoured bean either. She pulled a chocolate frog toward her and looked over the box a moment, debating whether or not she wanted to open it. She knew the frog would jump out of her reach and she couldn’t stun it because of magic. Mack frowned a moment, listening to Alex ask about Manchester, but before she answered… “Hey, do me a favour? Catch the frog.” And with that, she turned toward Alex and opened the box, expecting a frog to jump out.

It didn’t.

Mack frowned and turned the box toward her, looking inside it, “That’s a rip off! It’s empty!” She turned the box upside down and shook it before launching it at the opposite wall, her anger flaring slightly. Yes, Mack had a quick temper, but it wasn’t scary unless she was really angry. She just couldn’t get really angry at the empty chocolate frog box. “Yeah, I live in Manchester. Well, er, no, that’s a lie. I don’t know where I live anymore.” That must have sounded cryptic, and she realized this, but she wasn’t going to explain at the moment. No, at the moment, she was holding onto Alex’s hand tighter and picking up a licorice wand. There was no reason for her to hold onto his hand any tighter than she had been except that she wanted to. She was growing comfortable with holding his hand. It wasn’t something that was different, new, or even frightening. Her grip relaxed from the nervous grasp she had held and she was now simply, holding his hand. They must have been a weird sight to see. Two complete strangers, holding hands as if it were as natural as anything. And the really strange thing? It did feel as if it were as natural as anything.

“My mum’s getting a divorce,” Mack finally said, deciding to explain what she had meant by her not-so-kinda-cryptic comment, “You see, my biological father’s a complete… well… he’s just not a very nice man. They got divorced last year and she remarried. We moved from London to Manchester, and now she’s getting another divorce. So, I’m not quite sure where my home is.” She frowned slightly, her eyes dimming as she looked at her licorice wand, twirling it in the air slowly. Her mother could never settle down. At first it was with Derreck and he had been a bad choice. Then Hank and their marriage had somehow fallen apart without anyone realizing it. The thing was, without Hank… Pamela had nothing. They had no money. They would have no place to live. Especially since Pamela Worthington had been disinherited when she was younger. So, technically, they had absolutely nothing. Well, no. Her mother had absolutely nothing. Mack had thousands, hundreds of thousands, and so would Dixie after her first line of clothing was launched. It didn’t matter, though. Not right now. “And you?” she asked, biting off a piece of her licorice wand, “Where do you live?”

[Alexander Promise R7]

Alex was all wrapped up in her. The more he smiled, watching her toss aside random jelly beans, the more he worried he was going to have terrible cheek pains. He hadn’t smiled this much since last summer. Summer time was the best time for him. Things always seemed to go his way around summer time. Mackenzie was proving that.

Alex watched her sort through the jelly beans still and then laughed lightly when she commented on his lack of adventure. It was a concept, a guy who dealt with griffins not having a sense of adventure. The truth was though, that Alex had in fact never had any other magic candy, but sugar quills. He didn’t have a sweet tooth I guess you could say. He watched her pick up the chocolate frog box and smiled, he’d seen his friends eat those for the past 5 years of his life but he’d never touched one. The whole, frog thing just set something off in his head that he didn’t really like. It moves like a frog…and then you have to eat it…while it’s moving…I mean…who’s to say it wont try and crawl back up your throat? That’s why you chew. Oh yeah. He had refused to touch any chocolate frog his friends had ever offered him, but when Mack asked him to catch hers, his hand was ready before she open the box. He was all ready, all prepared, but nothing happened.

He laughed when she threw the box at the wall, it was something he would do. He didn’t have too bad a temper, unless things really, really didn’t go his way. He smiled at her and squeezed her hand lightly. “If the trolley comes back again I can get you another.” He stopped. What had he just said? He’d just said something very ‘I like you, is it obvious?’ Of course, it could have been taken as him just being nice, maybe he was just being nice? Maybe it wasn’t the fact that he was offering to buy her a chocolate frog, but just that he would do that for anyone. No, that wasn’t it. He didn’t offer to buy things for people. It was because of her. It’s that smile, I like that smile, anything to get her to smile…

She didn’t know where she lived? That was interesting. He thought about asking her what she meant but she was suddenly holding his hand tighter and his thoughts wandered. They both seemed…comfortable now. It was just something that made sense to do now, to hold hands. Alex had no idea why. Had he ever held a girls hand before like this? No. No he hadn’t, he’d written about it, but he’d never actually had a serious girlfriend. He’d never actually just sat and held a girls hand before. Sure, he’d walked down the hallways with a girl, holding her hand, maybe in his third or fourth year, just because that was what you were supposed to do. But he’d never had this desire to hold a girls hand before. It was different. He liked it. He smiled to himself, happy that his ‘friends’ hadn’t saved him a seat after-all. He was happier here with Mackenzie.

A divorce. He looked up at her. He had no idea how that must have been. For as long as he’d known, his parents had either been crazy in love, or never around each other enough for it to really matter. Either way, they were content. His mother would never leave his father, she was happy right where she was. And his father liked their family. Plus, Alex knew his father was still madly in love with his mother. They were those kinds of parents. He was so happy he had that sort of family, but he didn’t know what to say to Mack. Maybe she didn’t want him to say anything though? Was there anything you could say? As he thought about it she asked him where he lived, and for the moment, he decided it would be best to go with that.

“The Outer Hebrides, you know, Scotland.” He smiled. The Scottish bit was obvious. His accent gave that away. He felt it was probably his parent’s fault he had the accent he did, they both grew up in places where heavy accents were normal, and so they had it too. His whole family talked the same, if not for minor differences. “It’s nice there, ever been?” He smiled at her and realized that yet again, the sugar quill was gone. But this time he didn’t bother to open another, he looked down at their hands. “I’m sorry about your family, the divorce, not knowing where you’ll live…that must be hard.”

[Mackenzie Holden]

Wait. What was that he had just said? Mack tried to recall his words. This was why she needed to distract herself while talking. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t know what they were talking about. As odd as that sounded. Because normally people had to focus to follow a conversation. Mack, however, was realizing that looking at Alex only caused her mind to go off on tangents. Tangents like… wow, he’s really cute and funny and sweet and he’s holding my hand because I’m scared. Am I really all that scared or am I just pretending to be scared or am I exaggerating how scared I am? When was the last time I whimpered? What if he thinks it’s annoying? Should I look at his reaction… sort of a staged whimper? Mack’s mind was one track when she looked at him. Therefore, she needed a distraction from him. Oh, this was ridiculous! Mack had never gotten this way over a guy. Then again, Mack never had the opportunity nor desire to think herself in circles around a guy. Not even Jack. He had been more of a progression into the couple stage, and look at where that had lead them.

“You don’t have to, I mean, it’d be really sweet of you, but… you don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Mack had finally remembered what it was he had said. It had been really sweet so it had sent Mack’s mind reeling. She looked at Alex, her eyes locked on his again, for a moment longer than she should’ve. Just looking at him made her heart skip beats. Imagine what it would be like to kiss him… No! Don’t! That’ll just make it worse… Mack bit her lip and looked down at their hands when he did. They looked…natural…perfect. She loved how her hand just fit so perfectly in his. Mack’s hands were usually rough from playing her guitar and while they were womanly hands, they were rather big. Which made it easier for her to play the guitar and the piano, but she wasn’t sure how great they were for holding. She and Jack had never held hands. They hadn’t been a very touchy couple…which had kind of disappointed Mack. What girl didn’t like to be held or hugged or kissed? Mack hadn’t ever said anything to Jack, though, because she had cherished the few moments she had with him. Now, as she held Alex’s hand, all those moments she cherished with Jack disappeared from her mind. She wondered if Alex could feel her heartbeat through her hand. She wondered if he thought her hand was too rough. She wondered if it was silly to be worrying about what he thought because the chances of her ever talking to him again after they arrived at the platform were slim. She wondered if she thought too much. Usually Mack didn’t think about anything but music; so all this was new to her. New and kind of scary.

Wait. She had done it again. Mack looked up at him, silent a moment. Oh. He had said he was sorry about the whole divorce-not-knowing-where-she’s-living-thing. Mack shrugged slightly, “It doesn’t really matter, you know? I mean, my home for most of the summer hols will be all over Europe. Start out in England end in England, stopping at Scotland, France, Spain, Italy, and Ireland in between. The road’ll be my home. It isn’t as bad as it sounds. Besides…” Mack looked down at their hands again, “I’m used to being without a home.” The statement could be so sad if it wasn’t so true. She had never really had a place to call home because she had never really known what home was. Mack closed her eyes; okay… so maybe it got to her a little. There was a small silence from Mack for a moment. She had to control herself. Her family had never really gotten to her before- not this way. She could fight it.

Mack opened her eyes and looked up at Alex again, the smile on her face and in her eyes like it had never left. “Scotlan, eh? Yeah, your accent, I should’ve known. Not a huge surprise that I didn’t, though, I’m no good with accents. Or foreign languages. Or anything to do with voices unless it involves music and notes and decrescendos and crescendos and all the other music terms… you cans top me anytime now,” she bit her lip and looked away- feeling rather foolish about going on about music. She did it often. But never felt foolish until just now.

[Alexander Promise R7]

Alex’s hand flickered for a moment by his side. The thought had occurred to him to push her hair behind her ear. Why? I want to kiss her cheek. Oh yes, he wanted to….no, no that would be a bad thing. His eyes were locked on hers again and he could hear his heart, it felt like it had grown about five sizes and was pounding about as loud as a bass drum. He blinked and shook his head slightly as she turned her eyes away from his, right before he looked down at their hands. “I want to.” He didn’t look up at her right then, but he absentmindedly slid his thumb on hers as he admired her hand. He liked it, he liked the way it fit and felt in his. When he realized he was sliding his thumb on hers, it seemed pointless to stress himself over it. It would have happened eventually…I mean I’ve been wanting to. Maybe it was supposed to happen? Resisting the urge to shrug at himself, he looked up at her again, his thumb still moving over hers gently and slowly.

He scooted just a tad closer to her, smiling softly. His nerves were completely gone. It wasn’t that she didn’t matter anymore, it was just that he had accepted that she mattered. It had become official that he liked her. He didn’t now exactly why yet, but he knew he did. Why is it that he had to meet her now? Now of all times. Right as the year was ending. On the train home. When he didn’t know if he’d ever see her again. And even if he did, he still knew she’d be on his mind all summer. She’d be touring Europe and he’d be sitting on a windy island with a bunch of dangerous creatures. Maybe he could write her? He would ask her later, maybe he wouldn’t have to be without her. Maybe he could see her…maybe…

There it was again, this time his hand actually moved. She closed her eyes. She looked so sad right then, Alex felt miserable. Not by anything that was his fault of course, but just because suddenly he wanted nothing more then to make her happy. He moved his hand – like I said – over, but not to her cheek. He was afraid to do that, girls could fly off the handle rather easily. No, instead he turned their hands and rested his other on hers as well, holding her one hand in both of his. What could he say? Nothing really. He could try and be comforting, but was holding her hand enough? He wanted that smile again, he wanted her to be happy. He had no idea how she must have felt, not one. Alex was blessed with a good family. He had loving parents, and a good relationship with his sister, and somewhere inside, he knew he was set. He knew that nothing about his family would be changing, at least not for a while.

She looked up again and her smile was back. Alex couldn’t help but grin. She commented on his accent, and about how it was obvious he lived in Scotland. It was true, most people wouldn’t have even asked, but Alex didn’t blame her. He liked that she had asked, she seemed interested in him. “Yeah, Scotland, but it’s the islands off of it, different then the majority of Scotland if you ask me. Not as cold. You said you’re touring there?” Maybe I could see her… The thought itself was blissful; being able to see her over summer. Oh he would really like that. Music, she talked about music. She was a musician. That was brilliant, Alex loved music; muggle music of course, but music none-the-less. When she told him he could stop her he laughed lightly and smiled warmly at her. “No, no, it’s fine. I like it, it doesn’t bother me, it’s cute.” He smiled at her, not looking away. “I like music.”

[Mackenzie Holden]

It was the slightest touch. The lightest sensation that sent Mack out of her mind. He was sliding his thumb on hers. It was a small gesture; one that could say so many things. It was something that Mack didn’t want to get her head caught up in, because it could just be a sort of comforting move on his part – but it was something that Mack’s heart pounded ten times harder at. She looked down at their hands for a fleeting moment, glad that he wasn’t stopping. She was extremely glad that he was sliding his thumb on hers. She didn’t know why, but she was, and that was something Mack was going to enjoy until she couldn’t any longer. Just that simple touch made Mack yearn for more. Yearn for more? Honestly, that sounded like she wanted to… mm… no we mustn’t go there. Mack wished he would touch her cheek, put his arm around her, something like that. Nothing… bad. Her heart was pounding from that small touch, how would it react if he did one of those things? What would she do? How would she respond? It would be just one of those things that Mack would have to find out at the time… if it ever happened.

His hand moved. Mack’s heart sped up and then it stopped when she realized he was just taking her hand in both of his. She smiled slightly, looking at the wall across from her again. She had been foolish. She had been terribly foolish to think that he’d do something like tuck her hair behind her ear. It had been a foolish school girl thought. More like a hope. A foolish school girl hope. Mack closed her eyes a moment; ridding herself of all false hopes. When she looked back up and smiled at him, he grinned. He was glad she was smiling again. That was something. That was something completely. Right? It was something, right? Or was it something completely different and all she was doing was harboring another school girl hope? Mack nodded when he asked that she was touring there, “Yeah, we’re there for… for a week, maybe? Depends completely on the weather Tommy says, but I don’t know. I don’t know how up to touring anywhere I’ll be. The only reason I’m doing it is because…” Mack narrowed her eyebrows and spoke in a deep voice with an Irish accent, “It’s good publicity, Mackenzie, you should know that by now. All the audience wants is music music and more music. You can never go wrong with a tour.” Imitating Tommy had always been easy for Mack. He was always so whiny. Not in the literal sense, because his voice was pretty deep, but he was always complaining about something or giving lectures. It got rather annoying after awhile. Mack shrugged, bringing herself back into the conversation, “I guess I do it because touring is better than being stuck in the middle of the worst divorce of the century, too, so that’s a bonus.”

She rolled her eyes and looked away again. She couldn’t believe how incredibly dumb she was sounding to herself. Mack was on the verge of saying ‘and now I’m rambling, I’ll shut up’ when Alex mentioned her rambling being cute. She looked back over at him and smiled a bit shyer than she had been smiling before. The fact that he had called her, okay so maybe not her but something that she was doing, cute… just made her want to jump around. Mack was slowly starting to accept the fact that she was indeed attracted to this guy and she couldn’t resist it. She wouldn’t. She didn’t want to. Besides, Mack would probably never see him again after this. Unless… “You do? Oh, well, then… um…” Mack reluctantly took her hand from his so she could stand again, opening her handbag once more and pulling out two things. She sat back down and handed them to him, “A ticket to my showing in Scotland and… a backstage pass. I only have one of those… and I was going to give it to my sister, but if you ever meet my sister – you’ll see why I’d much rather give it to you than give it to her.” The idea that he’d meet Dixie was completely over head, but she was so used to talking like everyone knew who Dixie Holden was. She had quite the reputation about her. “Anyway, the date and the city’s listed on the ticket. Don’t lose that, because they won’t believe you know the artist… I had a friend who lost theirs and… well… they weren’t happy when the security didn’t believe they had grown up with me.” She laughed lightly, settling back down and immediately taking his hand again.

It was a feeling of comfort that Mack was quickly getting used to. She looked down at their hands and then looked back up at him, “You don’t mind do you? I mean, the train isn’t going to derail anymore… but I have to admit I kind of just like holding your hand.” She was slipping into herself. Becoming someone who she hadn’t been in a long time. This was who she was and she loved this Mack. She loved how carefree and outgoing she was. Mack smiled brightly at him, taking the hand holding a step further and linking their fingers, “Though, I’ve got to admit more that I like holding hands this way.” Maybe she was taking her confident mood too far, but she couldn’t help it. It was Mack. Pure in form. “I’ve got a question, hypothetical, alright? Do you believe in stuff like; ‘love at first sight’ or ‘our eyes just met across the room’ or whatever? You know, romance stuff?” Mack looked him straight in the eyes when she asked this, appearing to be completely cool – but her stomach going in knots. What was she doing?!

[Alexander Promise R7]

Alex’s thoughts were going crazy. This was a story. It was like…a fairy tale. All he needed now was a pen, and his notebook, and he’d lock up these moments in writing forever. He would, this was perfect. This was everything he needed for a good story. But the biggest thought going in his head; this wasn’t just another story. This was real. This was the real deal. This was really happening! Ok, he liked the word ‘real’. But that aside, it was real! It was real…that was obvious. It wasn’t like a story book. If this was a story book he’d have kissed her by now. He would be expressing undying love for her. This wasn’t a story book, this was real life. But the romantic in him was having a field day. His eyes locked in every detail about her. His creativity formed elaborate metaphors and similes about her every trait. She would be so great in writing, not that she wasn’t already great, but she was…meant to be written and he would write her. He hoped.

Alex loved to write. It was his passion. But he had a bad habit. Everywhere he looked he got ideas. He saw a story. Every time he sat down to write that story though…it wasn’t the same. He lost track of his ideas, he lost track of the imagery his mind had so neatly woven together. It all just…fell apart. He had pages and pages of unfinished work. Some of it amounting to no more then one or two sentences. But he never threw anything away. If he wrote it, he kept it. He had folders and drawers full of scraps of paper with scribbled notes to himself. He couldn’t throw it away. How can a writer throw away their work? No, each thought, each word was a treasure…even if it didn’t exactly make a story someone else would understand. The point of the matter is that Alex wanted so badly to write her, to write Mackenzie down and save her, but he wasn’t sure he’d ever get to it. Sometimes Alex got so caught up in his own thoughts he couldn’t get them out. They just grew more and more elaborate as the days went by. One thought building on another, onto another, to the point where he couldn’t make sense of them to write them down. They just accumulated to one big fairy tale in his head.

Frustrated by this fact, secretly of course, he scooted closer to her as he listened to her explain her tour. He listened as she mocked an Irish accent, fleetingly wondering what that was about but then she mentioned wanting to get away from the divorce. When she rolled her eyes and looked away he frowned. He didn’t like seeing her upset and had the over powering urge, once again, to want to just make it all better. To make it all go away. Could he do that? Could he make all the things that bothered her go away? He could try.

His hand flickered from hers for a moment and then she looked back at him with an adorable, shy smile on her face. Had he done that? She was cute. Unbelievably cute. She did it again and he had to bite back groaning. She took her hand away from him again. But she was standing to her bag again and when she sat back down she handed him two tickets. Tickets to her show in Scotland. He grinned even bigger and looked up at her again. She told him not to lose it and he tucked it into the inside pocket of his cloak. Lose it? The idea was ridiculous. He would guard it with his life. But instead of telling her how absolutely crazy it was to think he’d lose a ticket to her show, he simply looked up at her and nodded. “I’ll be there.”

A ticket, he had a ticket. He’d see her over the summer. He had backstage passes. He was beyond excited. And she’d be in Scotland for a few weeks? How great was that he could spend more time with her! Just as he thought he couldn’t be any happier she took his hand again and spoke. She was right, the train wasn’t going to derail any time soon…in fact, Alex just realize he hadn’t heard a ‘train-is-derailing’ sound for a while now. But that wasn’t the part of her statement that he was hung up on. That was just an interesting tid-bit. She liked holding his hand? She liked holding his hand? Was it possible? He liked holding hers of course but was it possible that she really did like holding his hand too? She linked their fingers and Alex was amazed at how calm he was still being. He didn’t make any excited noises like he would on a regular basis, and he contained himself from wiggling around happily. He just…grinned at her. Ok so he grinned too much, but when a very pretty, funny, nice, amazing girl is telling you she likes holding your hand, it’s hard not to.

A hypothetical question. Alright. She was moving on…right? That was debatable. Romance. Love at first sight. Our eyes met across the room. That kind of stuff. did he believe in that? It was funny how much thought he was actually giving this. Alex wrote that sort of thing. And the idea of it thrilled him, but it had never actually happened to him. Until now….maybe. He liked to think that it was possible, no he loved to think it was possible. He was hopeless in that aspect, but he never thought it would happen to him. Until now…maybe. He looked down at their hands, his thumb newly sliding on hers and the romantic just….slipped out of him. He lifted their hands and glanced back up at her. “You mean like…” He kissed her hand. “…‘true love’…‘meant for each other’ kind of stuff?” He smiled before setting their hands back down, in his lap now though, because he had scooted even closer to her. His voice was soft now, quiet. “Yeah…I think I might….do you?”

[Mackenzie Holden]

He’d be there. Mack smiled. Just the thought of seeing him there made her happy. Somehow she knew that she’d be thriving off that thought for weeks. Mack was coming to terms with the fact that Alexander Promise was fast becoming someone that she was going to want to see a lot more of. Was that wrong? She didn’t think so. She liked him. Mack froze in her thoughts. She… did she? It was… unthinkable wasn’t it? She hadn’t liked anyone but Jack… ever. This was new. This was something that Mack wasn’t used to. Things with Jack had been expected. Maybe not wanted by their parents, but they were expected because they were best friends. It was a best friends turned boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. It was… expected in a way. This wasn’t. Mack had just met Alex. How was it expected that she would end up liking him? It wasn’t. It wasn’t expected in the least. That was something Mack liked. She liked the unexpected. Which was so odd for her, because Mack had never liked the unexpected. She liked to be the unexpected, but she never really liked to be in the way of something unexpected. Her life was always unexpected enough… she didn’t need anymore surprises. Well, she liked this surprise. This new feeling. “Good, I’ll look for you.” After she said it, it sounded stupid, but that was alright.

Mack looked over at him, realizing now just how close he was. She smiled softly as she listened to his answer, but not before her breath caught in her throat when he kissed her hand. He kissed her hand. Nobody had ever… no… Kris had, once. But Kris’ kiss had caused Mack to roll her eyes and smack him in the chest. Kris had been the older brother Mack had never had, so he had been teasing her about being her knight in shining armour when it came to chasing off guys who hurt her. This was different. This was something that made Mack’s heart stop, not her eyes roll. She continued to just smile at him when he answered her question, after adding on a couple more examples. He said he might. He thought he might. Mack looked at their hands, thinking about it a moment. It had… never happened to her before, so it wasn’t something that Mack had experienced. With Jack… she had saved him from Vika, a horrible girl who thought she ruled the school… a Gryffindor no less that he had been falling for. That was their first meeting. Their second had been over her being drunk and with that terrible Bridget girl. After that, they kind of just became close friends. Then the night at the club… with her performing and Jamie and Felicity. Things had just clicked after that. Mack never looked at Jack and got that weak in the knees, heart stopping, breath catching feeling before. So, she could safely say that… no she didn’t believe in it. Or at least, she would have said that a couple of days ago…. Hell, even a couple of hours ago.

“I… I don’t know. It’s a nice thing to believe in, isn’t it?” Mack sighed slightly, thinking over this more, “It’s rather difficult to believe in something like that when you’ve never really experienced it. Or… you know, never seen it happen. I mean, my parents were never really in love. My mum is a twit, so you know I don’t think she’s ever really been in love. She just needs that dependence, you know?” Mack looked up at Alex, “My sister’s insane, but she’s great at hiding it. She still has her moments, I know it. And she is in love, with Adam Greene, but she ran from love. Me…? I’ve… I’ve never been in love. I don’t think I’ve even ever loved. I’ve had boyfriends, sure, but…” Mack shook her head, rolling her eyes slightly, “none of them gave me that feeling. So, I don’t know. I mean, I guess I could… but if someone asked me if I believed it would ever happen to me? I’d probably tell them no.” She let that settle for a moment. Her mind reeling with thoughts she wasn’t saying. She’d probably tell them no, not until that train ride. Not until she had met Alex. However, Mack wasn’t about to say that aloud. She opened her mouth to add onto what she had said, though, when the compartment door slid open. Mack looked over and tried to hide the annoyance on her face, but once she saw who it was she didn’t have to try. The annoyance just faded, “Sierra?” The little soon to be third year was someone Mack had rarely talked to, but had mentioned a bit of Dixie to her. All Mack really knew about the girl was that she was Adam’s younger sister and she didn’t like Raelee Gray, Adam’s new girlfriend.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt or anything, but I need to talk to you, Mack.” Mack frowned slightly and nodded before turning to look at Alex again. She didn’t want to leave him, but she knew that if Sierra wanted to talk to her it was probably something important and well… Mack did have responsibilities. She tucked her hair behind her ear and squeezes Alex’s hand, “I should probably go to talk to her and then do something Prefect-y afterward…” She stared at him a moment, attempting a small smile before standing and letting go of his hand. She reached up and took her trunk off the rack, setting it in front of Sierra before turning back to Alex again. There was a silence for a moment and then Mack leaned over and kissed his cheek, “Thanks for holding my hand…” she whispered before pulling back and standing upright again, grabbing her trunk and dragging it out the compartment. She looked in and smiled at him once more, “I’ll see you later, Alex Promise.” With her heart heavy, she followed Sierra down the car hallway toward the younger girl’s compartment, her mind on something else than what Sierra was going on about.

[Alexander Promise R7]

Alex listened to her tell him that she didn’t believe. She didn’t believe something like that could happen to her. ‘True love’. Mack had never been in love and she had never seen it. I guess that was where Alex and her really differed. Family life. Alex saw true love every time his parents were together, he had for years. At least, in his mind he liked to believe it was true love. There’s always the speck of worry that it’s just an act, ‘put on a show for the kids’ sort of thing, but Alex truly believed his parents were in love. And he liked to believe that. Mack had never had a boyfriend who gave her ‘that feeling’. Alex knew what she meant. Not only had he written it enough times but he had a sneaky suspicion that that feeling was the thing turning his head over and over in his head. This was more then just a writer’s brain gone wild, this was that feeling. That feeling that made your jaws hurt because you couldn’t stop smiling. The one that made you think up crazy ideas of ways to get closer to someone. The feeling that caused you to think through your words carefully so that you didn’t say the wrong thing (or maybe the right thing). It was that feeling. Alex liked that feeling. He knew he had it, but Mack…well her he wasn’t so sure about.

They seemed to have hit it off well enough but she didn’t seem to be feeling the same way. Sure, he thought he had seen something happen when he kissed her hand, but that could have been anything. It could have been disgust. And now as she described how she didn’t think she believed, or would ever believe that that could happen to her, he suddenly felt lost. Real. Life. The words hit him hard again. This wasn’t a fairy tale, not like the ones he wrote at least. Real relationships take weeks, months, even years to form. They’re not like story book loves that take seconds, hours, and days to become everlasting. If he wanted to be with Mack he would have to work for it. Did he want to be with her? Or was this that romantic bit of him getting caught up in the moment? All signs pointed to yes, yes he wanted to be with her. But he had never had that before. He had never wanted a lasting relationship. He had never had one of those ‘our eyes met across the room’ moments…and to be technical he still hadn’t. He’d had more of a ‘our eyes met across the seat’ moment…but same thing right? Oh no matter, he felt that this was a feeling that meant something. It wasn’t just a dream, it was a real feeling, that might have been new to him, but he didn’t think it would go away. It wasn’t a little boy crush. Alex had grown out of those a couple years ago. He read too much and he wrote too much to be involved in five second crushes that amounted to nothing. He’d decided that if he was going to have a girlfriend these days, it was going to be one that he really cared about. He was going to have a real relationship that meant something. Was Mack the girl he had been looking for?

The door slid open, Alex didn’t see it but he heard it. He had been lost in her eyes again, all these thoughts sliding through his skull. Back and forth, from the front of his mind, to the back of his mind, to the front, to the back, and so on and so on. He couldn’t stop it until he heard the door open. That was not a sign he had been expecting to hear. They were in the forgotten zone remember? He heard a girl’s voice behind him and he turned around to see who it was. he didn’t recognize her, but Mackenzie obviously did…seeing as the girl called her by name. The girl wanted to talk to Mack, that would mean Mack would have to go. She would have to leave him. Ugh He really didn’t want her to go. Alex turned around again just as Mack looked back at him. He smiled softly as she pushed her hair behind her ear and squeezed his hand. For a moment, he thought about asking her not to go, telling her he could step out for a minute and let them talk or something, but he knew that was selfish. She told him she needed to talk to the girl, and then do something prefect-y. Well that ruined the idea that she might come back and sit with him when she was done. As a sort of ‘set in stone’ decider of her actions, she let go of his hand and pulled her trunk off into the hallway. That was that, she was definitely not going to lug that deadly thing back in here. Alex smiled to himself wondering how well she’d do putting it up in another compartment with the train moving.

He watched her, he couldn’t take his eyes off her in fact. He attempted to smile at her when she turned back around too him, but it was probably more of a lonely smile. What was he going to do now? He was condemned to the back of the train all alone. He knew she was all he’d think about for the rest of the trip home, and probably for the rest of the summer. The thought of not thinking about her was a difficult thought to think…that was confusing. Anyways, he knew that none-the-less. The silence between them wasn’t unbearable; in fact he was almost comfortable just smiling at her. Just looking at her. He was content. Then she leaned and kissed his cheek and he found himself unable to breath. Her whisper sent chills down his spine; good chills. Chills that make you want to stop and say oh wow… He watched her go to leave and a snapshot hit his mind of himself standing up and pulling her into a romantic kiss. But by the time he was breathing again she was leaving. “See you later Mackenzie Holden…” He said softly as she left and made her way up the train. He sat there for a while, replaying their entire conversation. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the tickets she had given him. He’d be there. There was no doubt of that. Alex Promise could not and would not go a whole summer without Mackenzie Holden. That was final. And with that thought fresh on his mind he stood, pulled his backpack out of his trunk and sat back down. He opened it and pulled out a notebook and pen before reaching to the seat beside him and grabbing another sugar quill, opening it and gazing out the window. “He never thought he’d meet her there…”