An important talk with Briony on Cascade Hall

Saul Pierce

September 11, 2009 6:04 PM

An important talk with Briony by Saul Pierce

Midterm had not been fun. The Hernandezes had been great hosts, of course, as they always were, and the Christmas bash had been every bit as full of good food (the Hernandezes were not vegans) and good company and even a couple gifts. And Regina being a ghost meant most of them didn't even need to miss her since she was still around, technically, but there had been way too much talk about the 'future' and 'Saul's place in the family' and all of that.

Sometimes it was easy to forget that the California Pierces were a Wizarding Family Branch, with all the expectations and family politics that went along with it. This winter wasn't one of those times. Saul wasn't sure he'd ever before been made so clearly aware that he was one of only two Cousins that actually had Pierce as a surname. Maria was expected to become a single mother. Saul was expected to marry and have kids.

The future evidently depended on it. The world must surely implode if the California Pierces didn't have any actual Pierces in the next generation.

Saul couldn't imagine getting married, never mind having kids. He was seventeen years old. He hadn't yet taken his RATS. Marriage and kids were a grown up thing and he was still a far cry from grown up, as far as he was concerned.

But there was the issue of his current girlfriend. He didn't know what Briony thought of their future, but he couldn't really see her joining the Pierce clan, and he certainly couldn't imagine leaving it himself. That didn't really leave a lot a chance for them as a couple. Til the end of the school year, he figured, was about as long as their relationship was likely to last. He'd never really considered what would happen after they graduated before, but when he'd thought of his future life after Sonora, in all honesty, Briony hadn't been there.

The hard part was going to be finding out if Briony saw things the same way. The harder part was going to be if she didn't.

So it was with some uncharacteristic nervousness that he waited for her to come to dinner tonight, and with an unusual awkwardness that he greeted her when she did arrive. "Hey. Briony. Um." He wiped sweaty palms on his jeans. "Can we talk? It's um. Kinda important."

1 Saul Pierce An important talk with Briony 82 Saul Pierce 1 5

Briony

September 14, 2009 1:19 PM

It had to come sometime by Briony

Arriving at dinner, Briony was startled to see Saul waiting for her. When she had pictured her seventh and last year, she had thought of how much fun it would be, but it had been anything but. Ever since Pepper had admitted her feelings for Saul to Briony, things had been weird between her and Pepper and her and Saul. It was probably more on her end than theirs, but it was hard to be otherwise when there was the realization that she might be the second place girl. In light of that, she had encouraged Pepper to tell him how she felt, but she had yet to do that, which left them all in limbo.

”Can we talk?”

Uh-oh. They were the dreaded words. She didn’t think there were any words that were worse in the English language than those. It was the obvious beginning of some serious conversation that one didn’t really want to hear. Had Pepper finally talked to him? Now that he knew her Pepper’s feelings, was he going to date her? It was sort of a relief in a way rather than leaving the tension hanging between them and maybe with Saul dating Pepper, she could salvage the friendship with her roommate since it would be really horrible to graduate friendless. She was already losing Saul as one.

She chewed on her lip anxiously. Now that was more upsetting than anything else. Once Saul dumped her for Pepper, there was absolutely no way they would be able to remain friends. It was just a known fact that once friends dated, it was impossible to go back to being just friends. Sure, they could say that they would be friends, stay in touch, and all of that mush, but when it came down to it, they wouldn’t. Now, she was wishing that she had never had more than a friend interest in him, because then, she wouldn’t be losing her friend. Love made matters entirely too complicated.

“Uh, sure,” Briony answered. Her hands were knotted together. Butterflies raged in her stomach and they swarmed out in her words, “You want to date Pepper.” It was blunt, very matter-of-fact, with no malice in her tone. Perhaps, it wasn’t the best way to start off the Talk, but maybe it was better than beating around the bush. They both knew where this was going and the sooner they got it over with, the better. She could only keep up her brave face for so long, though, her lower lip betrayed her as it trembled slightly giving away that she was actually upset. Of course, who wouldn’t be when it was the end of a friendship?

0 Briony It had to come sometime 0 Briony 0 5

Saul

September 14, 2009 11:10 PM

Impending graduation does make one think to the future by Saul

Saul could see Briony's expression change at the fatal words 'can we talk?' He should have phrased that differently. Except . . . the talk was every bit the one she was thinking it was going to be. Maybe it was better to give the warning that they were going to be talking about The Future and Us. Except . . . it apparently wasn't what she was thinking at all.

“You want to date Pepper.”

Saul opened his mouth and started to say, "I," and then stopped abruptly, his mouth still open, and blinked at her. "What? No!" He shook his head, trying to get his brain working again. "You, too? Geez. Bad enough Jose's trying to get me to hook me with her. Pepper's fabulous, she is, and I probably would have asked her out by now if you weren't here, but you got nothing to be jealous about, I swear. You were always my first choice." Well, except for those two years where they had both been his first choice, but Briony probably didn't want to hear that.

He took a few steps toward a table, running his hand through his hair, mussing it into a tousled look that was subtley but critically different from the tousled look he spent entirely too long in front of the mirror trying to get just right, then turned back around and walked back toward Briony.

"No, that's not it. See, what I wanted to say is, remember I told you Aunt Regina died just before break? Well, here's the thing. The family's gone succession crazy, I swear. They're all 'get married, Saul, get married, carry on the family name,'" he used a high pitched voice to mimic some of the Aunts, though none of them really sounded like that at all, but that wasn't the point.

"And . . . I'm guessing you don't want to be a California Pierce, right? Because you're way too smart for us, and you'll probably go to college and be a brilliant whatever it is you want to be when you grow up, which probably isn't a stage performer. And I wouldn't be happy being anything else. And I totally don't want to get married yet, anyway, because that's way too grown up for me right now. So pretty much I'm thinking that once we graduate, we'll be going into entirely different worlds - though you'd be welcome to visit anytime; I can totally get you free tickets to whereever we're at."

He shook his head, and tried to get back to the point. "But I just wanted to make sure you weren't thinking I was going to propose or something before we were done here. I'd totally like to stay your boyfriend until we finish Sonora, but I can't really see it working out beyond that. Can you? Honestly?"

1 Saul Impending graduation does make one think to the future 82 Saul 0 5

Briony

September 28, 2009 6:30 AM

And it comes all too quickly by Briony

Relief washed through Briony when Saul assured her that it had nothing to do with Pepper, though, she couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow to the fact that his cousin kept trying to get the two of them together. Did Jose even know Pepper? It seemed unlikely that being a first year he would have spent that much time with a seventh year unless he was hanging around Saul during said time, which was plausible enough since they were friends. But just how good of friends were they then if Jose knew Pepper more than she knew her? And was she really first choice if that were the case?

However, now wasn’t really the time to worry about it as Saul continued on. There was a crease in her forehead when he finished. Truthfully, she hadn’t given much thought to ‘them’ after graduation. Her concern had been more geared to her career path and not her relationship path. She still had no idea which direction she wanted to go. She had always dreamed of being a professional ice skater just like her parents had been, but she had shied away from the idea for multiple reasons. She couldn’t imagine that she could ever be good enough to make a living at it and eventually teach it to others. The other was that she thought it would bring bad painful memories for her father.

Of course, he’d probably prefer it over her other possible choice to which he’d already told her in no uncertain terms was out of the question. This had let to quite a few arguments. She was well aware that going off to study dark creatures was a dangerous profession, but it wasn’t without its benefits. She would have the opportunity to potentially make advances to the defense against these creatures. It was a rather noble profession, one that made her feel guilty for even thinking of doing something more on the frivolous side. Then, she would argue that such things were just as important. Otherwise, what was the point of fighting for anything in the first place?

First choice or second choice? She really had no idea, but either way, she had never factored Saul into the decision. So, what was the conclusion to them? She rested a finger on her chin as she thought of the best way to phrase her next words. “No, I don’t really see it working beyond graduation, but honestly, do you think we should wait until then? Graduation is already going to be a mix of emotions without adding in our breaking up. I think it’s best to just say good-bye now, because while I agree that it won’t work out, it doesn’t mean that it still isn’t upsetting. Maybe it’s easier for you, but I need time to get over you, Saul, and I don’t want to have to do that at my graduation. It’s not fair to either of us, really.”

But it wasn’t the only thing that wasn’t fair. She closed any distance between them. “Saul,” she said, placing her hand on his arm. “I know that you don’t want to get married right now, but it sounds like if you stay, you have a lot of expectation to. Just…don’t follow anyone else’s rules. Don’t let anyone intimidate you. If you marry someone that you don’t really love, both of you will just end up miserable and I want you to be happy. You deserve to be.” She paused brushing at some moisture at the corner of her eye. She lied to herself that she wasn’t crying. She hated losing a friend. Suddenly, smiling, she changed the subject to part on one less emotional, “And hey, maybe I’ll be the one to send you tickets.” She gave a wink before kissing him on the cheek. “Bye, Saul.”

0 Briony And it comes all too quickly 0 Briony 0 5

Saul

September 28, 2009 11:21 AM

When'd we get to be seventh years, anyway? by Saul

It was both a relief and a little sad that she didn't see them working out as a couple any better than he did. That meant it really was over, then. It was just a matter of time. Or . . . no time at all, as it turned out.

Before he could agree or disagree on the timing, she was stepping closer and urging him not to do anything idiotic. Well, marriage, anyway. "I won't," he promised. "Simon promised to help keep them all off my back."

He thought about smiling in reassurance, but she was crying now. Saul didn't want her to cry. Briony was an awesome girl who should never be sad. He brushed away one of the tears. He didn't know if that helped or not, but she winked and smiled at him and then kissed his cheek.

And then she said, "Good-bye, Saul."

Saul's throat felt tight, and he swallowed, hoping to make the feeling go away. He hadn't wanted this. He'd never wanted to break up with her. Stop dating, maybe, by the simple happenstance that they were no longer in the same state, but to break up . . . that was big. He didn't like it.

But she was right. He couldn't tell himself, never mind her, that she wasn't. So he nodded and kissed her forehead and didn't trust his voice until after he hugged her for perhaps the last time.

"Bye, Briony," he whispered as he stepped back again.

Except . . . it wasn't that easy. They were on the same bonfire committee, and in a lot of the same classes. They'd still be seeing each other almost every day for the next couple of months. "We're still friends, right?" he had to know.

1 Saul When'd we get to be seventh years, anyway? 82 Saul 0 5