[Library] Nothin' To Lose

[Bradyn Reed]

If there were ever a moment when Bradyn Reed felt stupid, it would be now. He felt in the dark, like Fay was keeping secrets from him, and somewhat alone without Ash. Shocking! He never expected that he'd miss the little bastard, hell they always fought with each other over absolutely nothing. But that was beside the point of him being upset and needing someone to talk to, an unusually feat in itself. He thought of the usual suspects: Fay, no for obvious reasons; Maxi, seeming a little less trustworthy all the time; Ash, well they weren't even on speaking terms. With people Bray thought he could always turn to out of the way, he had to do a little creative thinking. Who'd know Fay better than him? No one... or is there someone?

Yes, there was someone he had in mind, though it made a shiver run down his spine at the thought. Would he really be able to have a meeting with her, where they could talk through obvious dislike of eachother. 'Now, now; you've never ever talked to her anyway. You just dislike her irrationally.' Was the general statement he used to convince himself it was right as he wrote a note to her.

Laney,
I was wondering if you could meet me tonight, about 7-ish at the library. I want to talk. If you don't want to come, then don't. I'll understand.

Bradyn Reed.

A simple note, but obviously sufficient for the little meeting. Bray came early enough, since it would be embarrassing for him to arrive with his usual lateness to a meeting that he arranged with someone he didn't particularly like. Oh dear, that would just be a mess. He thought with a little smirk as he rested his head on folded arms, staring out the window and hoping that he didn't look as impatient as he felt. Fay was hiding something from him, and who would know this better than her roommate?

[Carolanne Roberts]

It was nearing 7 o'clock as Carolanne stared at the note in her hands. Why on earth would Bradyn Reed want to talk to her? He never seemed to like her, maybe it was because of her annoying first impression or even the fact that she was just Ash's sister, either way, the letter had caught her off guard. She stood in front of the library doors contemplating on whether or not to take a step in or just blow him off and head for the common room. Deciding to give the guy a shot, she stuffed the note in her pocket and walked inside.

She glanced around quickly and spotted Bray by a window. Sighing, she walked over there and cleared her throat lightly, "You wanted to talk," she said before taking a seat across from him. She had no idea what he wanted to know. Maybe he wanted to hound more questions about Maxi out of her, but she doubted it was the case.

What then? What could this boy want?

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn was just starting to think that she wouldn't show and that he best head back to the common room when a shuffling near the library told him to stay. Glancing up, he saw the blonde that he was waiting on stroll up and take her seat with a remark that seemed to draw upon his second guessing on whether or not he wanted to talk to her. 'Too late now. Don't let her annoy you.. you can be annoyed later.' Bray thought, once again relying on his flawless self-control to get him out of a situation that he didn't want to be in. Only this time, it was one that he made for himself.

"Yeah, I did." He said. What an anti-climatic greeting they gave each other. Not even a hello, or any signs that either were pleased to be sitting here forced to talk. "It's not about that nasty situation with Maxi. That's as much in the past as if ever will be, in my opinion." He said, sensing that she was uneasy and thoroughly baffled at why he would seek her out. In all honesty, Bray was a little confused himself and unsure how he could possibly get her talk. His sarcasm and jokes had no place here, and the only other tactic he had in him was plain bluntness. Maybe that could work?

"I don't want to be here, and I don't think you do either so I'll just get to the core of why I asked you here, without the useless fluff." Sighing, Bray leaned back in the chair and resisted the urge to fold his arms over his chest. It would be to impatient, and too intimidating of a gesture when your trying to talk to someone. "I'm worried.. about Fay. She doesn't seem to talk to me anymore, and I think that she has secrets. Big ones, like why she has sudden injuries that she just explains with 'I tripped'." Though, they were talking about Fay and tripping would be a credible excuse for her. He would've believed it if he couldn't tell that she was lying to him.

[Carolanne Roberts]

Carolanne knew she had no reason to dislike Bray and he actually had no reason to dislike her, but the feeling of resentment was mutual from both parties. She didn't want to be there and she could tell he definitely didn't want to either. Laney deiced to put on a slightly friendly face to keep the atmosphere a bit lighter.

She gave a small sigh of relief when he stated this meeting had nothing to do with Maxi. She was actually grateful for that. Still unsure of what he wanted, she sat there patiently for him to get to the point. At least she knew it had nothing to do with her.

"Fay?" Laney didn't exactly know how to respond to this topic. Which accident was he referring to? She could recall plenty of them but the most recent happened only a day or two ago. "Well, have you ever considered that maybe she was telling the truth?" She was a little uneasy with answering this. She didn't want to lose Fay's trust and she really didn't want Bray to officially hate her. She wasn't going to win with both. Bradyn knew Felicity longer and she figured he had a right to know. Laney sighed and shifted in her seat. "Alright, are you talking about the slight head injury from a couple of days ago? Because thats the only one I know anything about."

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn smiled a bit, or what could be called a smile in a situation where neither party was happy, when he saw the look of relief Laney gave him after he told her it wasn't about Maxi. He didn't feel like pointing out that if he was worried about whatever insanity was going on inside Maxi's head that he would talk to Max himself, since that probably wouldn't make this any more enjoyable. Why give someone you dislike a reason to hate you? But then again, he didn't really have a reason to dislike Laney, so he tried to be a little more open-minded to her.

Frowning a little when it started to sound like Laney was going to take Fay's side and league with her, Bray sighed. "She's a good liar, but I have the habit of seeing through them. Guess I have some weird mothers instinct, or sixth sense, when it comes to her." He said with a genuine smile. Ah, sometimes Bray couldn't help but be Bray even when he was unhappy. It was just too much to ask of him to get through a serious conversation without making wise cracks or sarcastic comments.

Hearing Laney mention the scratch on Fay's head, he perked up out of his quiet reverie. It was one of the things on her list, among the fearful looks she got lately, and the glances Daniel Hubbles got as if he were her god and savior. Please, he was the head of hufflepuff, something must seriously not be right. "So, you do know something?" Bray asked, interest and hope plain in his voice as he started to put his guard down a bit.

[Carolanne Roberts]

The response she had received from Bray didn't surprise her in any bit. When you knew someone as long as Bradyn and Fay did, it became apparent when the other was lying. It was in their body language and only those that knew how to read it could truly understand the other. "Well, I'm sure Fay's only doing it so you wouldn't get mad at her or something. She doesn't like conflict, I don't think," she said as she furrowed her brow slightly.

Ok, so Laney knew more than she was letting on. Like the Slytherin boy that pretty much strangled Fay and the fact that she believed she'd be dead if Hubbles hadn't shown up, but should she really tell Bray these things? She figured he'd be less worried if he only new about the recent injury. That one wasn't actually on purpose, Fay was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Well, I'm sure you've heard about Jase Wilde. Apparently, he's Maxi's half brother or something. Well I was coming out of the castle the other day and the two boys were fighting and Fay was on the ground. Her head was bleeding and all I got from the situation was she fell. Whether she was knocked down or pushed down, I'm pretty sure it wasn't meant to happen." There. She explained it to the best of her knowledge. She really didn't know much and Fay didn't really explain further into the situation. Laney shifted again in her seat. Could Bray sense that she wasn't telling him all she knew?

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn's eyes narrowed a little at Laney. So she knew Fay was lying, and about something that would upset him? He had figured that by now Fay would know that keeping things from him usually made him more mad and overreact that actually telling him. Could something possibly be so bad that she felt the need to hide it from him? I think not. "Hmm.. that does sound like Fay." He muttered, deciding it was best to comment on her little opinion of her roommate.

Bray nodded a little as she mentioned Jase Wilde, even though he couldn't really think of anyone telling him about him. But then again, there were so many students and tons of new ones, he probably had heard of him but just didn't care enough to listen. His 'brow raised a little in interest when Laney mentioned Maxi and he started to think that he lied about this not being about Max. "Wait.. what?!" He said, then remembered he was in the library and tried to keep his voice down. "She tried to stop a fight and they... assaulted her?!" Bradyn Reed, prone to overreaction.

[Carolanne Roberts]

So there she was. Betraying Fay's trust only because she didn't want to be hated by a person who had no reason to even hate her. But he was Fay's best friend and needed to know more than Laney did. If it wasn't for that simple fact, Laney wouldn't tell Bradyn anything. "Bray," she hissed before looking over her shoulder in the direction of the librarian. Seeing they were clear, she turned back to him, "They didn't mean for it to happen. I swear. It just... happened." It was the only way she could explain it.

"Besides, you know Maxi wouldn't ever hurt Fay on purpose." Why did he keep coming up in conversation? Laney sighed, "She's alright though, right? No real harm done," she said, trying to defend all of them. Her for not being there earlier, Fay for getting in the middle of a fight, Maxi for letting Jase get to him and Jase for being the violent guy he was. "Besides, I'd be more worried bout the stupid vampire boy than about the fight," she mumbled. But apparently, if memory served her right, he had apologized for the near strangulation.

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn rolled his eyes at Laney as she scolded him like he was a child for nearly yelling in the library. Yes, he should put more effort into keeping quiet and controlling himself, but there's no reason for her to point that out to him. Especially considering he didn't want her opinion, he just wanted the facts. Leave it to a Ravenclaw to give him a biased version of the story. "Sorry," He said through a clenched jaw, though his tone clearly showed no remorse. "but I'm not sure I'll believe that."

Bray narrowed his eyes at the mention of Maxi. So he was the one to hurt her, not whoever he was fighting with? Well, that just made all the difference to him. "Max has all the possibility of hurting her. He always does. He's careless, and he's huge." He said, putting more of an emphasis on the second one considering there was nearly a foot height difference between Bradyn Reed and Maxi Hennerdale. He let his arms flail a little for emphasis while he talked and his voice was more of a harsh his than his usual sarcastic and calm tone. "I'll be honest, I'm really disappointed at him." He said, leaving most of his real emotions and plans out of the statement but ending their discussion on Maxi hopefully without something for Laney to worry about.

Taking a long, slow breath through his nose Bradyn tried to compose himself once again before he started shouting again and gesturing more violently. During this, though, he heard something about a vampire attack and Bray's face seemed to lose most of it's color. He remembered when there was a vampire that wanted him dead, and it nearly drove him off the edge. If Fay was going through that too... why wouldn't she tell him? But she'd tell Laney instead? "..Vampire attacks? I must not have heard you correctly."