Odd Ones Out: Part 10
Lysander felt like a fool. “Oh…I…yeah, no I-I knew that.” he stammered. He got scatterbrained when he was nervous and he felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment.
He was slightly disappointed when she said she had to leave. He had enjoyed speaking with her so far, even though it had been brief. He didn’t like the long periods of silence in-between his interactions with other human beings. He grew lonely easily. He didn’t even have his parents to go back to during the winter break, not that they were good company anyway. But the thought of returning to a cold, empty, deserted house left a lump in his throat. The servants wouldn’t even be around as Lysander had dismissed them all when his parents passed. He supposed the best thing to do now was to sell the house and find a flat somewhere. Maybe in the city where he could become anonymous. Just another face in the crowd.
“Oh. Right. Yeah, I don’t mean to keep you. Sorry. It was nice to meet you.” he said slowly, standing awkwardly in the empty hall, now with nowhere to be and nothing to do.
“When you’re preoccupied, days of the week don’t seem to be of relative importance.”
Valeria has to admit that for once, she was enjoying talking to somebody other than herself. Or her owl, for that matter. Lysander makes her feel normal (though she knows she is far from ‘normal’); she finds an increased confidence to be herself. Despite her seemingly controversial or blunt comments, Valeria had said everything with the best attempt to get to know the boy better, and vice versa. She finds herself wanting to stay slightly longer to converse, but was being truthful when she said there is elsewhere she needs to be, and quickly at it, too.
“It’s okay. It was nice meeting you too, Lysander Rathborne.”
Valeria starts to head down the corridor silently, that is until she realizes that she hadn’t introduced herself to the wizard. Looking back, he is still standing in the middle of the empty hall, slightly awkward, yet cooly with hands in his pockets. With a slight smile, she calls out to him.
“Hey! I’m Valeria, by the way. Valeria Géroux.”
And she goes on with her life, as if nothing had happened. The only thing she is thinking of is: wolfsbane potion.
