closing time || [MIKAEL]

Recognition took a few seconds - and she was glad that she did end up recognizing him, because one of her first thoughts had been to punch him in the face. She relaxed her clenched fists and tried to calm herself down. A few seconds after that, Atlanta reached up, trying to tame some of the fly-aways in her hair, but it was no use. She was a mess and she knew it. Perfect, this had been exactly how she had wanted to run into Mikael Erixon...her ex...well, her ex-flame or whatever they were at this point. He had asked her for the holidays and then just disappeared. Didn’t even bother to tell her in person - Mikael had sent a stupid letter. Of course, the holidays had been good for her anyway. She had ended up touring the South of France with her sister, Des, and the rest of the Puddlemere United team all thanks to her parents and their connections. She was building up quite the resume and was likely to be the next star player for the team as soon as she got out of this godforsaken castle.

”What are you doing out here after hours? Lumos,” Lanta breathed and the dimmed lights shone a little brighter, illuminating both of their faces ever so slightly. Yes, that was certainly Mikael in front of her. She wouldn’t have recognized him if he hadn’t spoken, his hair was longer...he looked so much older than he did before. There was a mixture of feelings in the pit of her stomach: anger, confusion, doubt. For a moment she wondered if they were back to square one. There was no way that they were the same people that they had been four months ago when they had first met. But she watched the corners of his lips slowly turn into a smile and she felt herself momentarily doing the same, ”I mean, I’ve always been the klutzy kind, but you’d think that after sixteen years I’d finally learn to-”

”Ow! Jesus!” Instantly she drew back, poised once again to punch him for touching her wound, until she realized that he was ripping off some of his shirt sleeve to stop the bleeding, ”Warn me, why don’t you!” Her loud voice echoed off the hallway’s walls. It was so easy for her to slip back into her old ways - to hide beneath the mask of anger and elitism that she had once bought into so fully. Lanta’s brow furrowed as he pressed the thin material to her eyebrow, which the cut appeared to have intersected. She leaned a little forward, allowing him to finish tending to the wound, ”I’m fine. It’ll be fine. I’ve had a lot worse.” It stung though, pretty badly. Of course, she would be the one to run into the window, split her eyebrow, and run into her ex all in the same night. She hadn’t even caught the bloody snitch.

His tone of voice sent a shiver through her spine and she wondered what reason he could possibly have for being so hostile toward her. After all, she wasn’t the one who had cancelled their entire holiday adventure for no reason whatsoever, ”Trouble-makers,” Miss Vaisey returned when he said that they were the only two out of bed at this hour. He was right, of course. She had been up late practicing and had practically forgotten that it was well past curfew. She had no idea what he was doing out after hours.

That insult stung. Lanta cringed when he bowed in her direction and then shook her head. Wasn’t he being pleasant tonight. Before she could retaliate, he went back to pressing on her eyebrow, ”Ow-” She said again as he pressed a little harder and then looked at her forehead. She could tell by the look on his face that it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been - nothing a little visit to Madame Pomfrey and a quick clean-up couldn’t fix.

Her mouth went dry. Of course he wanted to know about her holidays. He couldn’t be bothered to write her and ask her in person after blowing her off for an entire month, but as soon as they got back to school he wanted to know how everything was. She would be damned if she was going to let him play these childish little games with her, ”It was amazing, actually.” Lanta said, trying her hardest to rub it in his face. If he didn’t want to spend his holidays with her, that was just fine, but she wasn’t going to let him throw blowing her off back at her, ”Des and I toured France with Puddlemere United. It was great making connections. A few of the blokes were pretty cute - right out of Durmstrang. A few from Salem Institute in America. I had a great time.” Her tone was matter-of-fact, her eye-contact never wavering even though Mikael seemed more than content to look at the floor.

”And how was your holiday? Heard you lost your position on the team. A real shame. Wherever will they find another mediocre Keeper to replace you.” Immediately she felt her body tense as she realized just what she had said. Merlin, it was so easy for her to slip back into this pattern of angry insults, ”Mikael, I-” She was about to apologize, but instead she pulled back, afraid that being too close to him was setting her off. Her fingertips reached up and gingerly prodded around her wound, and she wondered if now would be an appropriate time to go running off to the hospital wing and avoid him for the rest of her life.

Laughter - well, she certainly hadn’t been expecting that one. Nervously, Lanta laughed along with him, until she realized what it was that he was actually saying. His dad had died...His own father. Even she wouldn’t have wished that on him, despite how upset she had been in the first place, ”Bloody Merlin,” She dragged her hand down her face, ”I’m so sorry, I-” She didn’t have a chance to finish her apology because he was still going, practically screaming at her because she had apparently ditched him!

”I ditched you? Oh that’s rich, Erixon,” Atlanta knew that she should be more understanding, Mikael had just lost his dad, but she found herself unable to control the influx of emotions that was flowing from her heart, ”You’re the one who sent me that bloody awful letter telling me that you didn’t want me to come for the holidays anymore! No real explanation, just ‘You’d better not come!’ So I went and had a bloody good time with Puddlemere!” She wanted to throw something at him, but all she had was the small scrap that he had tore off of his shirt. In her fit of anger, she attempted to wad it up and chuck it in his direction, but the light fabric didn’t go very far, falling neatly at her feet, ”Maybe if you had bothered to tell me anything at all that was going on in your life, we wouldn’t be having this conversation! But NO! You bottle everything up and then expect everyone else to just come when you call!” She could tell that she had pissed him off by the deliberate way that he moved when the words fell out of her mouth.

He turned around when she said his name and she realized that she had practically been shoving her fingertips into her bloody cut. Wincing, she pulled her hand away and stared at him as he came closer with each venomous word that left his lips. She tried to make herself taller, to make herself look more menacing as he was a few inches from her face, practically spitting insults at her. Hotlanta. Screw him, if he thought that he had seen the worse of it, then he was in for a rude awakening, ”Piss off, Erixon! You don’t know anything about me! Piss. The. Bloody. Fuck. Off.” She yelled back at him, practically seething. He was right in front of her now - the previous observation that he wouldn’t look her in the eyes was no longer true, because he was staring directly into her soul.

She wanted to slap him, but she kept her hands down, pressed against her side with as much force as she could manage, ”Next time try not to be such a tosser and scream at me for not coming to you when you clearly didn’t want me there. Trust me, your letter said it all! I’m sorry about your dad, ok? But don’t expect for me to just crawl back to you like some sort of lost puppy because you’re hurting.” She could hear someone coming down the hallway but she remained rooted to the spot, playing a sort of chicken with Mikael. Who was going to move first, who was going to budge? She sure as hell wasn’t going to be the first to concede.

Someone’s shoes were making quite the racket as they came down the hallway, but Lanta kept her feet firmly planted to the ground. She wasn’t going to budge. Maybe if they got caught he would leave her alone and stop trying to make her feel like such a horrible person. Silence fell between them, the only sound was the ever pressing and urgent footsteps of the incoming Prefect. It was Mikael that made the first move, pulling out his wand and then snuffing the lights. She wanted to growl something in retort, but she held it in until they were both pressed into the tiny alcove.

She hated him for this - absolutely hated him. She would rather be caught then be forced into a tiny space with the guy who had just lost his dad and was trying to make her feel like a crook for not showing up when he so obviously told her not to be there, ”Trust you? Honestly! Who do you think you are, Ravendork?!” Lanta whispered through the air between them, her angry once again seeping through. He pressed his finger to her lips and she was silenced, unable to say anything at all as he spoke. Never sent a letter? Wanted her there? All of this wasn’t making any sense. She had read it for herself. She was just about to return fire when she realized that there was a Prefect standing very near to them. Lanta could practically feel her heart thundering in her chest.

Turning her head slightly, she could see the faint outline of the hall-monitor very close to their hiding spot. He looked as if he was confused, turning around in circles. It was obviously that he had heard them arguing and probably wouldn’t stop until he found them. The snitch. Atlanta slowly slid her wand from her pocket, ”Accio,” She whispered and immediately the golden practice snitch flew into her palm. It wouldn’t have worked during a match, but right now, it was exactly what she needed. The small golden ball retracted its wings in response to her touch and Lanta sucked in a deep breath. Turning it around in her fingers, she waited for the Prefect to turn around and then flung the snitch down the hallway. Clank! It hit the wall and then continued rolling.

The boy turned instantly and went running off in the other direction, barreling after the distraction that Lanta had caused. Still pressed into the alcove, she turned to look at Mikael, ”What do you mean you didn’t sent a letter. My parents said it arrived for me at home and when I got there it said you didn’t want me to come for the holidays anymore.” Lanta hissed, feeling slightly put off about the whole situation now. Something wasn’t sitting right. She wanted to get out of the alcove, but it was too dangerous with the Prefect still so close.

Lanta’s eyes were trained on the Prefect who had just rounded a corner and seemed to be continuing on his way. He had obviously taken the bait, but she wasn’t just about to stand here and risk getting caught by another wandering Prefect. His laughter wasn’t loud, but it immediately put Atlanta in a better mood than she had been in. The briefest of smiles crossed her lips as she stared out into the darkness, ”Good thing for the both of us.” She breathed as she quickly turned back to look at Mikael. They were still rather close, tucked away into the alcove - she knew that they wouldn’t be safe for long, though and quickly stepped back out into the hallway. Grabbing her satchel and throwing it over her neck, she looked over at him, ”Don’t just stand there, Erixon, we have to go. We can’t stay here,” She commanded and then grabbed his hand, pulling him out of the hiding spot.

This was turning into a game of cat and mouse and Atlanta grimaced. This was not how she wanted to spend her night: running away from hall-monitors with someone who barely wanted to be in the same room as her. His words weren’t lost on her - no, she listened to them very carefully as she walked through the hallways, completely on edge. He was right, they had planned their entire trip to the city. She was going to go ice-skating, eat New York style pizza (whatever that meant), maybe even go to the top of the Empire State Building. But that had all changed with the letter that said that he didn’t want her there. She had taken the hint, of course.

She looked over her shoulder to make sure that he was following her and then paused at the intersection of two corridors, ”Then where did the letter come from?” She whispered into the darkness, suddenly very confused about the entire situation. Shaking her head, she darted through the intersection of the corridors and kept walking, eyes constantly sweeping. The letter had arrived the same week that her parents had secured her spot to travel with the Puddlemere United team. That’s when the pit of her stomach did a strange flip, ”Oh.” They wouldn’t...would they? Would her parents be daft enough to forge a letter from Mikael so that she would tour with a professional Quidditch team? Sure, it was plausible...but would they do that just for the sake of her connections?

Lanta stopped and pressed her back against the wall, pinching the bridge of her nose, ”Oh my god. My parents.” That was the only explanation. Either her parents or Des...but she wasn’t sure that Desdemona Vaisey was smart enough to concoct such a plan.

”No, Merlin, not here. Shhhh,” Atlanta clarified after Mikael’s little outburst. They were going to get caught if they weren’t careful; hell, they might even get caught if they were careful. She could see the confusion written all over this face, the obvious panic that he felt when he looked around the hallways trying to find her parents. They really were terrifying beings to anyone who wasn’t within their familial walls, but she had never imagined that they would cause Mikael such distress. Lanta shook her head as she turned away from him; her eyes were already busy scanning the corridors, looking for a sign that the Prefects were coming this way.

He was still spinning in circles when reality finally dawned on him. Would her parents actually do it? Atlanta bit down on her lip. As much as she wanted to defend them - they were her parents after all - she was almost positive that they would do it. Mr. and Mrs. Vasiey were quite the Pureblood parents: They had very strict ideas about what Atlanta was to do with her time. And apparently, it had seemed as if they had deemed a Christmas spent in New York with Mikael was not in the cards.

”I’m such an idiot.” She breathed through her teeth and then ran her hand completely down her face. It was as if she was trying to rid herself of all the negative emotions that she had felt toward Mikael for what she thought he had done. Now that she realized he hadn’t done anything that she thought, it was a completely different story. Suddenly she was rather embarrassed by the way she had been acting. It was a revert into the previous Atlanta that she had once been...one that she had promised herself she would never go back to, ”They had to have forged the letter so I would go with Puddlemere and Des...” She was suddenly very angry again, angry at her parents for their deceit. Here she was thinking that she had finally made some progress with them, but they were still pulling on her strings like the puppet that she was, ”Dammit!” She yelled and then realized what she had done. Her hand slipped over her mouth, knowing that she would have alerted a Prefect to their location.

Why couldn’t they have had this conversation when it wasn’t past curfew?! Now they had to worry about sorting out their emotions and running away from detention giving hall-monitors.