Watched You Slip

[Tesla Wilde]

Tesla hadn't seen much of Asaiah in months and the feeling weighed her down as he was probably her closest friend at Hogwarts - even if he had much closer friends. She didn't know what was happening with him and seeing as he hadn't responded to her letter a month prior asking if he wanted to spend time together she felt that she had given him enough time to reach out to her even if he was busy with preparing for exams as she suspected he wasn't abandoning his other friends. So with this in mind she went to the Dungeons and walked towards Slytherin house, waiting for someone to enter or leave before she asked them to summon Asaiah. She hoped that the person who had begrudgingly agreed would find him while she waited with her arms folded against her chest, tapping her hand anxiously on her opposite forearm.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Hidden away reading a book about the history of Africa in one of the corners in the common room, Asaiah was surprised to hear that someone was waiting outside for him. At first, the teen didn't feel like standing up and check who it was that had asked for him, but after some thinking decided to check just in case it was Marisol who was waiting for him on the other side of the door. Talking to his friend about his loss had sort of helped him to accept that they were no longer alive and well, though it did not help him want to open up to his other friends just yet. Asaiah closed his book and put it down on the armchair, walking towards the entrance to open the door and step out of the common room. Much to his surprise, it wasn't his best friend who had summoned him to come but Tesla. He smiled weakly at his friend, wondering if she was here because she was angry at him for ignoring the letter she'd sent and because he avoided her also. ''What are you doing here?'' the Slytherin asked, waiting for Tess to be angry at him since that was what he deserved.

 

[Tesla Wilde]

Tess was fidgeting when she heard the exit to Slytherin open and out came Asaiah. She smiled up at him, glad to see him but that ebullient joy faded quickly. His words seemed as distant as they had been for the past few months and she looked at him, trying not to seem hurt. "I... thought maybe you would want to hang out?" she could feel her face get hot from the realization that she was embarrassing herself. He wouldn't want to spend time with her and she should have picked up on that so much faster but here she was standing across from him feeling smaller than she ever had yet grandiose from her failings. "Did I do something wrong? I thought we were friends?" she asked before he got a chance to answer her first question because friendship wasn't just one person searching out for the other and she was realizing that this was exactly what she'd been doing with Asaiah for a long time. It wasn't often that Tesla felt stupid but she certainly felt just that and hated that it was Asaiah who made her feel that way when she had welcomed him into her private thoughts, introduced him to her family and spent her vacations with him. Hell she had even let him influence her as far as Quidditch went. The more she waited the stupider she felt and the angrier she became for feeling so dense.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

He sighed at the girl's words. Of course he would want to hang out with her, she was always tons of fun to be around with, especially since they would usually do something the two of them enjoyed doing the most. But with everything that had happened over the past few months, Asaiah just did not know how to be his cheerful self whilst also having to deal with the rest of his family and the funeral, which he could not even attend because he had to stay at school. He was about to answer Tesla's question when she spoke again. He looked down at the ground and bit his lower lip whilst trying to come up with an answer that would satisfy the girl in front of him because he knew he'd let her down by not reaching out to her when he should have. "You... You didn't do anything wrong," Asaiah said, looking back up at his friend with a small smile on his face whilst still struggling to find the words to use instead of telling the girl what had happened because he was not sure if he could control his emotions once he would tell her.

 

[Tesla Wilde]

Tess looked at Asaiah incredulously because if she had done nothing wrong maybe they wouldn't be so strained and distant so she asked firmly trying not to sound hurt or angry but failing, "Then why have you been avoiding me?" Marisol did have a reputation around the school for being jealous of any girls who were friends with Asaiah or Wyatt so she thought perhaps it had something to do with her but she hoped Asaiah wouldn't be so spineless as she stood there, arms crossed against her chest.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah didn't really know what to say when his friend asked why he had been avoiding her for months. He could try to come up with a lie that would stop her from asking more questions he did not feel like answering at the moment, but he knew that she would not believe whatever he was going to come up with so instead sighed deeply and nodded slightly while he tried to come up with the words. "Okay," Asaiah said, though more to himself than to the friend standing in front of him. "Okay," the teen repeated once he'd found the words to tell Tesla the reason as to why he had been so distant lately. "The day after boxing day I received a letter from Jennifer..." He paused before continuing, "Mom, Dad and Hannah had spent the Christmas holidays over in France because they were looking for a place to live for Han." Asaiah explained, his voice trembling as the words came out his mouth. "They... uh... they were supposed to..." He sniffed and with his sleeve rubbed his eyes because he could feel them getting watery. "They... it crashed, the plane..." the teen swallowed but could not continue further. Tears were rolling down his face and he stood there looking at his friend feeling like he could throw up any moment now.

 

[Tesla Wilde]

Tess could never have expected the answer to her question would have anything to do with Jennifer, for the briefest of moments she suspected that he was about to tell her that he was leaving school for a different academy but Asaiah continued and she could barely handle hearing him speak because of how much she saw him struggling. Tess took a step closer to him and put a hand cautiously on his forearm, grasping the fabric of his shirt but not him. "Asher," she whispered under her breath seeing him rub his eyes she didn't want to hear what he was about to say but part of her knew it couldn't be anything but and yet as she heard what had happened and her mouth was agape at the shock. She had not known his parents long but they always seemed to be a picture of health, as did Hannah. To hear that these people weren't around left the naive girl feeling suddenly aware of how short life was but that was muted as she focused her gaze back onto Asaiah. The hand that had been holding onto his sleeve softened and slid up his arm and around his shoulders, pulling him into a close hug because it was all she could think to do. With Tess' cheek against his she could feel his tears so she could hardly notice that tears of her own started to fall too. Her young heart broke for Asaiah, for Thomas, for Jennifer and for the rest of his family that she had liked so much - that her brothers and sister had liked so much too. She didn't care if the hug made Asaiah uncomfortable in it's length, she stayed like this sharing his grief as best as an outsider and friend could. She shared it in a way that someone who had all her family couldn't.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah did not know what to say or what to do while tears were rolling down his face onto the ground until Tesla pulled him into a hug. His hands grasped the back of the girls shirt as he held onto to her tightly. He could not believe that neither of his parents would be sitting in the great hall during the graduation ceremony two years from now. Could not believe that they would not be there for when he would receive the results of his OWLs or to celebrate him passing the apparition exam he would be taking next year since he would be old enough to participate in the lessons by then. The realisation that neither of them nor his sister would be present to celebrate any of his achievements made the tears flow down his face even more while he buried himself away in her shirt. The teen did not care that he was crying in front of friend nor that they were standing in front of the entrance to the Slytherin common room, as there were just so many emotions cropped up inside of him that he could not stop himself from letting it all out.

 

[Tesla Wilde]

Tess held Asaiah tight, letting him cry because she could only imagine how he had been crying a river inside every day since boxing day. She stroked his back soothingly as an instinct, with nothing else to do. She whispered quietly into his ear, "It's going to be okay." She wasn't sure if he could hear her over his sobs and her own choked up voice that she struggled to get out but she repeated it again even if she wasn't sure it would be okay. She didn't think she would ever be okay again if her family died so suddenly. Tesla hoped that this didn't come across in her energy as she was just trying her best to be there for him and this was what felt natural to the girl in such a circumstances. She knew how to kiss booboos and clean scrapes as she'd watched her parents do it and had helped when the situation was called for but this was unlike that in every way.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

He nodded slightly when Tesla told him it was going to be okay and let go of the girl's shirt while tears continued to roll down his face. He wiped his cheeks with his sleeve and smiled apologetically at his friend when seeing the wet spot on her shirt where his face had been moments ago. Because the teen wasn't quite sure if he was supposed to say something or not, he stood there in silence looking at Tesla whilst every now and then he sniffed and wiped his nose clean with the same sleeve he used to dry his tears. He was feeling a little better now that he had let his closest friends know what had happened at the end of last year, as he had cropped it all up since then. Asaiah smiled at Tesla and hugged her again as a way to say 'thank you' for letting him cry his eyes out in front of her and comforting him whilst doing so.

 

[Tesla Wilde]

Tess didn't know what to do as she looked at Asaiah, seeing him hurting and wiping away a little more than tears broke her. She stayed silent, feeling as awkward as could be but didn't care about the tears on her shirt. She only wiped away the tears that had stained her cheeks just before they hugged once more. She pulled away and cupped his face in both her hands in a way she might have done with a puppy and said emphatically, "I'm so sorry." There was a pause when she looked away from his eyes and down at the space between them before she added, "If you need to talk or not or do anything I'm here for you." There was a moment of silence between them as she looked into his eyes, still glassy and full of sadness. She put her hands down taking them away from his face because she felt very aware now that they were still in the public sphere and it could create rumours. Still she physically ached to take away his hurt which she knew she couldn't do and Tess hugged her arms to her chest with the knowledge that she would never hug her family as much as she would when she got home after exams with this knowledge.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah was thankful that she offered to come talk to her when he needed to because he was sure that there was going to be a moment when he needed to have someone who would listen to him while he was going on about something that would be related to the situation he was in at the moment. ''Thank you,'' he commented, resisting the urge to hug his friend for the third time. He was going to have to return home soon, though rather than previous years, the Slytherin was not sure as to what was going to happen once there. He didn't know if either of his siblings would be able to take him in as he was going to need a place to live still, or if he was supposed to move to Europe to live with his Aunt and Uncle in France, which was not even a possibility if he had a say in where he was going to stay during the last two years of school. ''I'm sorry I ignored your letters,'' the teen said to his friend, breaking the silence that had fallen because it made him feel a little uncomfortable. ''I can totally understand if you want to punch me,'' he added jokingly to let her know that he was still able to joke about things so she wouldn't feel all too bad for him.

 

[Tesla Wilde]

Tess couldn't understand why Asaiah was now apologizing to her - after everything he'd been through she should be apologizing to him for being upset and not knowing instinctively that something was wrong but she didn't want to make him feel bad or dwell on things she suspected he wasn't emotionally prepared for because there was no way she was emotionally prepared for them either. "I'm not mad at you," she told him even though she could see the light in his eyes telling her that it was his attempt at a joke. Truly she wasn't sure how to react to such a thing in this situation so she did what any socially awkward person would do and added playfully, "But hey if you're into that." Immediately after Tess regretted it and laughed awkwardly at herself and put her hand on her cheek which was growing red hot in discomfort.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah was glad to hear that she wasn't mad at him. He chuckled at the girl's response and shook his head. ''You wish.'' He became aware of how long they had been standing in front of the entrance and smiled at a housemate as they walked past them into the common room. ''I'm hungry,'' the teen stated, turning back to his friend. ''Let's head to the kitchen and grab something to eat, you can fill me in on what you've been doing lately on the way there,'' He figured that there'd be a lot to catch up about so hoped that she wouldn't mind doing so whilst he was stuffing his face with chicken meat. ''I bet there will be some chicken wings left if we hurry,'' Asaiah said, grabbing Tesla's hand and walking to the kitchens.