Something In Particular...? [Eden]

Max wasn’t sure how to react to what she was saying. It was almost as if she had caught of glimpse of his life; perhaps even understood what he was feeling. But he knew that was impossible. He knew that there was no way for people in the world to actually see into each other’s thoughts. That...that was ridiculous. He hung his head as he pressed his hands onto the countertop that was in front of the sink, still refusing to turn around. Her would hear her out, but he would not let her see his face. If she was reading his emotions, then he wanted her to stop and this would be the surest way to tell, ”Listen, Luna. I’ve got ways to vent-” He muttered, talking about his lycanthropy. It was nothing if not semi-therapeutical. He was able to free his mind for one night without worrying about the consequences. But he supposed that wasn’t what she had meant. Then, hearing her rise from the table and assuming that she meant to leave, he slowly turned around so that he was facing her. But it appeared as if she was far from leaving; instead, she was crouched in front of the plant that was in the corner. He had forgotten months ago to take care of it, and it had wilted into a disgusting mess.

They made eye-contact for a brief moment and then she was back to studying the plant, as if she was going to hug it back to life or something, ‘This is ridiculous,’ Max thought as he was about to roll his eyes. And then something magical happened - Max lived in a world of magic, but it always seemed to catch him off-guard, the way that it worked, not to mention he had never finished his schooling so he still had a lot to learn in terms of spells - the plant began to bloom again. He stared at her carefully and then crossed over so that he could look at the Wolfsbane plant for a moment. It was his salvation...and she had brought it back to life. He stared curiously, ”What kind of music do you write?” He asked, still not taking his eyes off the plant that she had just brought back to life...still in awe.

Maxim watched her carefully - the way that he normally watched people so they wouldn’t catch him off-guard - as she smiled. Then she sat back in her chair and Max could only imagine what she was about to tell him. Perhaps she was into odd music. Bob Dylan? The Beatles? He furrowed his brow slightly at the thought, knowing that he didn’t prefer anything with lyrics at all. He would much rather listen to instrumental tracks all day long. Then she answered him and he felt the corners of his lips upturn slightly. It appeared that they shared similar tastes in music, which was interesting in someone their age. Most of the kids liked the Rock and Pop, which she apparently liked to write, but it seemed as if her musical tastes were a bit more...his style if he was being honest.

She was happy when she spoke about her interests, he could see it from the way that her face lit up and those grey eyes of hers seemed to fill up with hope and excitement. The very look on her face would have been enough to make Maxim smile...if he smiled anymore. He hadn’t had a proper smile or laugh since his parents had passed and he was beginning to think that he never would. Instead, he pressed his lips together and nodded at her, his way of showing that he approved of what she was telling him. Then slowly, he slid back into the chair and listened as she finished telling him about speaking different languages. He knew Russian and English and that was about it. Sure, he had picked up a few words of Spanish over the years, but he wouldn’t touch French, Chinese, or Japanese to save his life...

”I like anything that’s Russian. And I like music...So I very well might,” Maxim said honestly as he shrugged his shoulders lightly. He wasn’t sure what else to say about it. He felt like she was really opening up to him and here he was, a closed book...a stone wall. He felt almost...bad. So he offered her a little tidbit of information, ”I’m working on a book, actually. About Lycanthropy.” He wasn’t sure how she would take the information, considering that she had just been asking for a book on the very same subject. He sincerely hoped that she wouldn’t ask to see it - it was far too personal and no where near finished. But he wanted her to know that he was at least making an effort toward this friendship, whatever it might be.

Max wasn’t sure what she would say, how she would take the idea of him writing about what he had already told her was dangerous and destructive. He could only assume that she would think the worst and then would go running. And yet, she remained in her seat, nodding at him as if he had just said the most normal thing in the world...like he had said that he often put blueberry jam on his toast in the mornings for breakfast. He wasn’t sure what was going to come next. Was she going to ask him about it? Or was she going to leave the topic alone? For the little amount of time that he had known Eden, he had come to realize that she was anything but ordinary...she was a rare-bird. Rare in what way, he couldn’t quite tell yet, but rare just the same.

She said that it sounded personal and he thought for a moment just how little she truly understood. It was more than personal. He had put his entire life’s work into that book...He had exhausted every possible option in the past three years and it was still nowhere near being finished. He wanted the book to be an eye-opening experience for the reader...to let them in to the world of the wolf. To teach them about the dangers and how to avoid them. They were monsters, and although he wanted them to know that, he knew from experience that they were still people. He still lived and breathed as a true human being. It was oxymoronic, the entire situation about which he wrote. He coughed into his hand and then looked up to her, ”I think that you reading it would...maybe be a good idea-” He paused, scrunching his eyebrows together. He was unsure of what to say then, ”Proof reading is always appreciated and you seem to know your stuff and-” He trailed off into his thoughts, imagining Eden reading his book and being awoken to the atrocities of the werewolf mutation.

He was surprised when she said that he needed to be open for things to happen to him; he had never really thought about it that way. Sure, he knew that he was closing himself up to the world so that he would protect people, but was he also shutting out those who could possibly save him? He wasn’t sure what it was about this girl that was making him think too much, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about it, ”Open’s not really my strong suit.” He answered honestly, putting his hands onto the table and pressing his palms into the wood, ”Sometimes it’s just easier to lock yourself away and wait for the end of the world...don’t you think?”

”That’s not true,” Max narrowed his eyes as he stared at her. How could she possibly say something like that? Of course everyone would care if she died. He knew that she probably had friends up at school...her family, although they seemed distant, loved her very much. Of that he was certain. He wasn’t sure what to say to her, he was confused by what she was saying. Was she considering death as an option? Even he had never considered that; he had always thought that he had to bear the burden of living with what had happened to his parents alone...that was the way that it was meant to be. He shook his head the more that he thought about it, disturbed by the way that she viewed other people. He could only imagine what was going on insider her head, ‘Probably something similar to what’s going on inside of yours, Max,’ His subconscious threw back at him. With one last shake of his head, he managed to bury all thoughts that had previous been there. He didn’t want to think about it any more.

It was then that the end of her speech seemed to hit him and he realized what she was asking him for. A date? Merlin’s beard he had never been on a date in his entire life...He leaned back in his chair almost immediately, shocked to say that least. It wasn’t that he wasn’t attracted to her, quite the contrary, she was a beautiful girl. But a...date? He bit down on his lip, still trying to gather his thoughts. The end of her sentence hung in the air between them. The idea of at least being friends. He had to admit to himself that he liked the thought of having a friend, but he wasn’t sure that going on a date was the best way to go about things, ”I-” He was still at a loss for words and so he sat up straight in his chair and leaned forward so that he didn’t have to speak as loudly.

”This may come as a shock to you, Luna-” His voice was slightly less confident than it normally was, almost shaking if he was being honest with himself, ”But I’ve never been on a date.” There, he thought, now she knew. Now she had ever right to reject him because he had no idea what he was doing. She should go out and date someone normal...someone at school...someone that wasn’t a werewolf. The very thought of hurting her in wolf form was terrifying to him.

Max was sitting there awkwardly, not sure of what he was doing. He leaned back in his chair for a moment, trying to figure out what Eden was thinking. Was she going to laugh at him for being almost twenty and never having set foot out in public with a girl? Was that how this was going to be? He couldn’t imagine her doing something like that, but then again, he’d never imagined himself being 20 and unbearably forever single and alone. So he lifted his hand to his mouth to try and clear the air a little bit. Eden spoke then, apparently unfazed by the fact that he was completely backwards when it came to women and dating and all of those things that went along with them, ”No, no, no!” He didn’t want Eden to think that he was uninterested, the idea sounded...on the contrary, very interesting to him. He had never really had someone to talk to. And, perhaps if neither of them knew what it was like to be on a date, they wouldn’t have to worry about impressing the other, ”It’s not like I don’t want to.” He clarified, unsure of how to approach the subject further. Sure, it sounded like a date, but Eden was just saying friends. And friends he could do.

”I’ve liked talking to you too, Luna,” Max said, using her apparently fond-of nickname. He wasn’t sure what it was about her, but she seemed like someone that he could get along with. Perhaps it was the fact that she seemed so very much like him...confused and lost. But she had been seeking out a path it appeared, which made her all the more interesting, ”Do we need a safe word or something?” He asked, a small smile playing on the edges of his lips. It was the first time he had felt like smiling in quite a while, ”How about pastrami. Someone says pastrami and we back off?” He suggested, raising one eyebrow at her. It was only then that he stood up and leaned against the table, ”What kind of food do you even like to eat?” It seemed like such a silly question, but Max wasn’t sure that he even knew much about what normal people ate. He was a noodle kind of guy himself...noodles that could be made on the stove in the comfort of his own home.

Max listened to her talking about food and that was when he realized that he was practically starved. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had had a decent meal; losing his mum when he was still a teenager meant that he hadn’t learned how to cook for himself and honestly, he didn’t plan on learning. He wouldn’t say that he was particularly happy living off of noodles all his life, but it got him through the day. Eden started talking about her mom and Max was tempted to use the safe-word already. Parents were going to be a no-no for a while between them. He honestly couldn’t stand the thought of having to try and explain what had happened to them. Especially since he had only known Eden for a little while. But he just offered her his best polite smile and then began to think about the answer to her question.

”I like steak, I guess,” Max said as he leaned back slightly in his chair. He wasn’t sure what else was really up there on there list of his favorite foods...there wasn’t much that he ate now a days because he lived alone, ”Maybe Italian, sometimes. But not spicy food. Merlin’s beard no spicy food.” He said and then laughed lightly. He looked over at her giggling and found himself smiling too. Her laughter was almost infectious, ”No food allergies, so you don’t have to worry about killing me that way.” Actually, he hoped that he didn’t have to worry about her killing him at all...He shook his head, confused about what his thoughts were doing. It seemed like they were all over the place lately.

Max smiled when she said that she really loved all sorts of food. That was reassuring and meant that they would get along nicely, at least on the food front. He had never understood the girls who pretended that they were never hungry. Honestly? He was just as happy when they wanted to eat with him. Max felt the corners of his lips curling into a smile, but caught himself, promptly forcing the corners back down so that his expression remained neutral. She spoke again about where she was from and he felt himself growing a little confused at the very thought of America. He tried to place New York City on a mental map in his head, but he found himself severely struggling. He guessed that he had never really had a reason to know about American geography. He made a mental note that he would look up where New York was so that he wouldn’t look like such an idiot in front of Eden when they went out to eat, ”I’ve never really been out and about in the muggle world,” Max suddenly blurted and then looked over at Eden, his expression that of an innocent puppy. There was something about her that made him want to experience it. The more that he learned about the muggles, the more that he realized that it was possible that they weren’t as judgement as the lot of wizards that he had always been hanging around...that much was for certain.

”I don’t think what you want is silly,” Max shrugged his shoulders as he thought about it. In fact, he thought that her view for the future was admirable. It took a strong spirit to believe so fully in things like that and it appeared that Eden was one of the strongest spirits that he had ever met. He saw her smile and he immediately felt more at ease with her, ”Yeah?” He questioned about her mention of a place that he would like. He hadn’t really been out to a lot of places that were around Hogsmeade, so in all honesty, even though he lived here, she probably knew more about the area than he did, ”What did you have in mind?” He was honestly curious this time, leaning forward a little bit to show his interest. He was beginning to enjoy Eden’s company more and more as time went on: it always seemed like she knew when to stop pushing him and when to push him more...it was an interesting feeling being around her. It was almost as if he had lost all of his control over his emotions and given them to her, but she seemed to be treating them with the utmost respect.