There's a curse between us

[Taylor Rosetti]

Taylor Rosetti was happy to be back in New Zealand at long last. She had been stuck with her family in Italy for so long that she was desperate to spend some time - a lot of time - away from them. What had started out as her trying to rectify the anger and bitterness between her and her family had turned into a full on Italian family reunion ending in a family trip to Spain for six bloody months, even her horrible brother Mikey had gone much to Taylor's displeasure. Mikey still wasn't taking the news of her being transgender very well and had given her the silent treatment the entire trip. And then what do you know? 2 whole years had passed and suddenly the blonde had to completely start again. A new studio apartment, new waitressing job, new friends and a whole new life. To her it was like no time had passed but to everyone else 2 years was a long time to be gone and her friends had all but deserted her for their own adventures. Not that Tay minded that much, at 22 years old she had a life to live and she had no one to answer to but herself. The one thing that did make her heart ache was the fact that she had royally screwed it up with her crush Elliott once and for all. She couldn't make up for two years of not being there, the poor boy wouldn't, and quite understandably too, be interested in her any more if he ever was. In fact she wouldn't be at all surprised if Elliott had already scored himself someone else. Sighing Tay took of her apron and hung it up on the hook at the café where she was working. Cheerily waving to the rest of the staff she left and stepped out into the slightly chilly air of Obsidian Harbour.

Taylor had taken quite a liking to sitting on a bench at the waters edge and reading, a habit she had picked up while on vacation. The blonde hadn't done much reading as a child and was making up fro lost time with great enthusiasm. She saw know that she had been missing out when it came to reading, it was amazing. So satchel slung over her shoulder she went to sit down at her usual spot only to find it occupied by a couple in a tight embrace sharing a passionate kiss. Rolling her eyes - though feeling a twinge of sadness when the image of Elliott and herself in that position flashed before her - he looked for another seat. Seeing one she quickly hurried over to it and sunk down on to it. Dropping the satchel she pulled out her book "The Great Gatsby" she placed it on her lap but didn't open it. He mind was on Elliott again, she couldn't stop thinking about him, which annoyed her greatly "You're never going to see him again" she said to herself. 'Great now I'm talking to myself' she thought. Glancing around she quickly established that hopefully no one had seen or heard her talking to herself, thankfully. Opening the book she tried to focus on reading but she was too distracted, so much so that when she heard someone come up next to her spot she quickly said, out loud her train of thought "I'm not crazy!" closing the book she smacked herself in the forehead with it blushing scarlet. 'If that doesn't make me sound crazy nothing will.' she thought sadly. She wasn't having a good day and she decided to stay silent except for a muttered "Sorry." and let the other person, who she still hadn't even looked at out of sheer embarrassment, run away from her at their own accord. Stupid Elliott for distracting her and getting her into this situation in the first place. She hadn't seen the guy for two years and he still managed to make her act like a crazy person.​

 

[Elliott Stryad]

Elliott nodded towards the children as he walked out of the wards and through the corridors to the change rooms. He liked the kids, that was true, but sometimes he just got so tired and wanted to go home, throw back the covers and go to sleep. Like now for example. After an eight hour shift of pretending to be both Spider-man and then Robin. He couldn't be some of the more bulky heroes because he was smaller then his co-workers, but it was still fun. He and another guy were always on at the same time, lucky for him too, because he hated being by himself. He yawned as he pulled all the Velcro and Zippers and went for a shower. He had been flash once, he apparated out of the room to make it look like he was running really fast and surprised all the kids. That had to be one of the best and only advantages he had over his co-workers. They were all bigger then him, but he was stronger then he looked. Though only the two guys were bulky. The girl, Iona, was about his size and played Mary Jane to his Spider man once. That had been interesting indeed.

Elliott finished his shower and stepped out into the change room, nodding at his companion Alan and continued on to the corridors and out of the hospital. He had only recently gotten over losing someone he had grown close to in a really short amount of time. It had been amazing whilst it lasted, but then she had simply disappeared. For a while after that, he had convinced himself that he had imagined her, because she was perfect. Beautiful, Smart, Funny, Witty, Talented, Kind, he could go on, but he knew he was treading in waters he would rather not remember. She hadn't even said goodbye before she left. It was like she had just disappeared off the face of the earth, like she really didn't exist. Elliott just didn't understand. Had he done something wrong? He didn't think he had, he thought they had gotten along, quite well. He sighed, walking out into the soothing air. He was relatively close to Obsidian Harbour. About a ten minute walk actually, of course it could not be entered by muggles, which was totally fine. He had to be able to escape his, rather boisterous house-mates at some point.

It was to Obsidian Harbour, that Elliott decided to go again. He hadn't been there recently, but he happened to like the scenery. Living with muggles was, sometimes, rather difficult, he couldn't just do whatever he wanted at whatever time he wanted. Sometimes it was hard, sometimes it wasn't. It really did just depend on what day it was and whether or not he was the one not working. When it was his turn to clean the house, usually the second Sunday of the month, he always had it clean in the first hour. With the aid of magic and his house-mates just thought he was extremely quick with the cleaning. That wasn't the case though, his mother had just been sure to teach him some really good cleaning spells. She had insisted that if he was going to live on his own, as she thought he was, then he should at least be able to look after himself. He had almost let slip that he was moving in with a bunch of muggles and that her spell would be use very little, but he had been determined not to say it, and had instead just nodded at her and let her go. He only floo called her every now and then, he refused to let her call, in case his house-mates were home and wondering if they were going crazy. He could only imagine what would happen and he doubted it would have been a very happy occurrence.

Elliott shoved his hands into the pocket of his skinny jeans, having pulled the hood of his jacket over his head only moments earlier. He blew his breath through his lips, getting little enjoyment out of watching the cold puff. It wasn't cold enough to make such a puff without magic help though, so he had used a little magical intervention, having now arrived in Obsidian Harbour itself. He looked around, most of the stores were getting ready to shut, but it was not the closing shops that had piqued his interest. It was, in fact, the blonde girl walking out of a Cafe not far from where he was standing. He couldn't be absolutely positive, but he was sure he had seen those legs before. He tilted his head and watched her as she made her way to a bench, following along behind her at a distance where she wouldn't be able to see him. After all, if she was not who he thought she was, he would look like a creepy stalker, and he really didn't want that. He continued to follow her as she made her way to a bench, having stopped to look at a couple sitting on a different one. That was curious, why would she do that? He watched her sit and then quickly ducked into one of the stores in case she looked up. When he ducked back out into the air, he noticed that she had a book on her lap. He quickly hurried over, to get a look at the book. Maybe he could tell from that, even with her head down. As he got close, her heard her speaking, and he instantly knew that voice. But he didn't know what he was supposed to do now. She mentioned being crazy. He shook his head and sat next to her on the bench, twirling her hair between his fingers. "No, you're not crazy. I'm beginning to think I might be though."​

 

[Taylor Rosetti]

Taylor was surprised when the stranger didn't run away from her, and she was even more so whe he sat down beside and started playing with her hair. She was about to protest when an all too familiar voice spoke and stopped her in her tracks. Looking around she had to stop herself falling off the bench in shock, there was the was the boy who had been occupying her thoughts moments earlier. "Elliott?!" she cried, throwing her arms around his neck pulling him close before he could react. "It's so great to see you. I didn't think I'd ever see you again. God I missed you." she said all in one breath, pausing only to make sure that she wouldn't pass out from lack of oxygen. Letting the well and truly hugged boy alone Tay smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, sorry about disappearing like that, I didn't want to. It was this stupid family thing that turned into a HUGE drama and I couldn't very well leave in the middle of it..." she sighed, she wasn't doing a very good job at explaining what had happened, "It's complicated." she concluded rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment. It seemed so surreal that the object of her affections was now sitting in front of her. Not moments ago she was scolding herself for wasting her time day dreaming about him and yet here he was.

Studying his face Taylor felt a smile tug at the corners of her mouth, he was just as gorgeous as she remembered, if not more. His stunning eyes were as captivating as ever, but she was getting ahead of herself, she reluctantly looked away, cheeks turning faintly pink. There was no proof that he even liked her in anyway way more than a friend, and after everything that had happened with her disappearing for two whole years out of the blue without a single word from her, she wouldn't blame him. Who would want to date a lunatic who made a habit of disappearing off the face of the earth for years at a time? Still she was crushing on the dark haired boy hard, she couldn't help but dream that he liked her back.

Tay was trying to act as normal and as casual as she could, despite the quickened thudding of her heart. She tossed the book back into her satchel, an excuse to distract her brain for a moment and recalibrate to the situation at hand. "So, how are you?" she asked nonchalantly tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. She was admittedly finding it hard to think of things to say to him. It was so much harder than last time, before they could talk about nothing for hours but now it just seemed forced. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that despite the awkwardness of not seeing one another for two years Tay still had the overwhelming feeling that she should just ask him out, get it over with and settle it once and for all. He would either say yes or no and then she could put aside her feelings if it were the latter. Or perhaps just snogging him as a way of letting him know how she felt about him would suffice - though that would be a hint on the creepy side. But she was terrified of rejection so she held her tongue. Subconsciously through her inner debate she had leant forward slightly almost as if she were about to kiss him after all. She tried to casually lean back again but she was sure that Elliott had noticed. Clearing her throat she settled for trying small talk again, "Um, so what's going on in your life then? Doing anything interesting? Have anyone interesting in your life right now?" she was trying to subtly find out if Elliott was single or not trying to hide it amongst the other questions she was asking him, though she knew deep down that she had the subtlety of a brick to the face and he would quite easily see through her plot, still it was worth a shot, what did she have to lose? 'your dignity?' her mind answered. Blushing, Taylor looked away mentally preparing herself for the inevitable fact that Elliott was in a relationship.​