WHO: Kendall & Rose!
WHAT: Kendall doesn’t even fucking know what is going on in his life or how things got to where they were but there they were. fdhsdka;fjs and now he steals a letter out of rose’s purse and runs away cackling into the sunset
WHEN: now!
“We’re going, we’re going!” Kendall said indignantly twisting away from the touch of tiny yoga instructor that was escorting him out of the room. “Honestly I think you are overreacting just a bit, I was just trying to have a conversation with my friend.”
“It was disrupting the entire class.”
“An exaggeration.”
“Sir.”
“Fine. Just fine. Rose let’s go, I never liked this class anyways.” He huffed pushing the door open with more force than strictly necessary. So much for calm and relaxing. This was suppose to help, but no. Nope not at all, just adding to the list of things stressing him out. He hiked his bag over his shoulder. “Let’s just go get a drink or something. Yoga was a stupid idea.”
Rose looked down at the ground and rubbed her forehead, conveniently covering as much as her face as possible. It wasn’t that Kendall’s display was embarrassing; she simply couldn’t unashamedly trail behind him knowing that the entire class was watching. Staring, at them, because outbursts like this was rare sight. Just like their previous track record concerning attendance. Merlin.
“I’m sorry,” she rushed, turning back as Kendall stormed out of the building. Her hands came together in an apologetic manner, and she bent her head slightly to not look in the yoga instructor’s eye. “He’s just really stressed, lately. With, er, work,” Rose finished vaguely, knowing that any mention of professional quidditch would probably not be the best idea. No need to inadvertently start rumors for the Tattler to gobble up in a heartbeat and spit out with an untruthful spin.
“Sorry!” Rose apologized again, then quickly exited before anything else could happen. And that left--- Kendall. She frowned slightly, hitching her matt under her arm up as she watched her friend briefly. He had been in a right mood all night, which wasn’t his fault because sometimes there were things that just got you like that, but.... she sighed, and jumped to catch up to him.
“Are you alright?” she asked tentatively.
“Yes.” Kendall huffed folding his arms across his chest not looking at Rose. “No. It doesn’t matter. Can we just go?” He fidgeted under Rose’s gaze. He started down the street and made it to the corner before he turned back.
He paced a little. “I don’t even know what is going on anymore. I haven’t caught a snitch in weeks, we might not even make the play offs, and now my sister, right now is decorating my flat because somehow me agreeing to let her stay for a week means she can move in and I just can’t.” His chest heaved a bit when he finished talking. He hadn’t planned to say all that he just wanted to, he wasn’t even sure what he had planned to say, but that wasn’t it.
“But it’s all fine. Can we just go, somewhere? Anywhere?”
She looked at Kendall blankly, then pulled her lips back. That was a lot of expressive (for him) information to take in and process at once. And she didn’t know if.... all Rose knew was that Kendall rarely talked about his siblings, and when he did it was never anything good. She also knew that his worries about quidditch were sound, as her team was in the same boat as his, and that alone could send anyone into a stress-induced state. So---
Her brow furrowed. Maybe it would be better to let Kendall go and talk, drink, or whatever-out his turbulent thoughts. There was no harm in that, especially if he needed it. It might even be a relief to think about someone else’s problems for a change. And she would be there, to make sure, if Merlin forbid, anything got out of hand. She supposed.
“Yeah, of course,” Rose spoke finally, nodding slowly. “Wherever you want.” She smiled empathetically, patting Kendall’s arm in such manner before clutching it tightly in preparation for side-along apparation.
Kendall nodded tightly before turning on his heel taking them to the pub he usually frequented. Shrinking his bag and shoving it in his pocket his looked back to Rose. This was quite possibly a terrible idea. Last time he had a conversation with her while he was drinking, things were said, fights happened. Things were still a bit awkward at times because of it. Perhaps it would be best if he just stewed alone.
“You don’t have to stay, if you don’t want to.” Kendall offered weakly. Rose should go home, and so should he. Just go home and deal with his sister like a the grown adult that he was, because this was not going to solve anything. “Sorry I made a scene.”
But Kendall didn’t feel like being an adult today, so he pushed the door to the pub open and walked inside. He order a beer sitting down at the bar. He pushed out the barstool next to him with his foot for Rose. “She has painted your room silver.” he said bitterly taking a long pull from his beer.
“It’s alright,” she eased, choosing to ignore his previous statement. What did he think she was going to do, drop him off at a bar then leave like nothing of it? And what, exactly, did she have to head back to? Suffocating attempts at sleep as she forced herself to not think about the one thing she always only wanted to think about, despite half believing that she was, in fact, perfectly fine and not thinking about that at all.
Rose closed her eyes, annoyed with herself for even--- none of that. So, instead, she shook her head, jumped up onto the stool, and propped up her elbows on the bar, hands clasped together to look at properly Kendall. Watching him drink, she hoped he wouldn’t notice her own lack of glass in hand. With everything that had happened in the past few months, and its unsettling coincidental association with drinking, Rose had decided to just not... do that. Anymore. No more alcohol.
Luckily she didn’t have to think much more about that, as Kendall divulged much more important information at hand. Her mouth dropped a bit, and Rose couldn’t help but feel a bit put off. She had spent hours decorating those walls, creating what, in her opinion, had been very pretty floral paintings. They blossomed throughout a weeks time too, with some spell-work, creating quite beautiful shades of color and brilliance and--- how rude.
“How could you not like the flowers?” she asked, slightly scandalized.
“I liked the flowers. I told her no, but Kayla obviously has very selective hearing. I don’t even think she is trying to find a new place, but I can’t exactly kick her out now can I.” Kendall said draining his beer, signaling for another.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I just wish I knew why she was here. It just makes no sense. I don’t want her in my flat painting rooms Slytherin colors. Or Falcon colors, whichever she is aiming for, both are awful.”
He frowned tearing at the coaster below his beer glass. Kayla had a talent of making him feel like he was blowing everything out of proportion when it came to how he felt about his family. Yet at the same time completely justified. And it automatically put him in a defensive mode. “Rose, tell me I’m not crazy. Because right now I feel completely crazy.”
Rose frowned, taking the moment to study her friend. She couldn’t quite... seeing Kendall like this, so openly rattled, was not something experienced often. There was an air of almost sadness, and tense confusion, which she did not understand because... since when had Kendall’s life deteriorated? She suddenly felt guilty for being so unaware, and even worse because that had probably been so from being so wrapped up in her own problems.
“Have you--- she didn’t tell you why she’s staying with you?” she asked cautiously, feeling like she was missing a part of Kendall’s story. Or perhaps she simply couldn’t understand the complexly negative emotions that her friends had concerning their siblings. Rose and her brother had always gotten along well, and she had never experienced... let’s just say she would never dream of thinking, let alone saying out loud, some of the things Kendall and Thomas would utter. But that was neither here nor there.
At his final utterance, Rose inclined forward, despite feeling taken aback by Kendall’s words. Well of course he wasn’t. Or, at least, he was the same amount of crazy that everyone else was, because it was in her opinion that the truly unstable thought themselves to be perfectly sane, and never questioned anything. She put her hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner, and patted it lightly.
“You are not crazy,” she spoke clearly, just in case (and it seemed like he did) Kendall needed a firm, definitive response. “You just have--- a lot of things going on, and it’s the end of the season, which makes everything much more difficult, so....” Rose trailed off, feeling like that explained enough to hopefully quell his worries. “It’ll get better.” The corners of her mouth perked into a small smile, and she patted his shoulder again.
“She says she got fired and can’t afford a flat anymore. Obviously I can’t send her back to our parents house, but the second I said she could stay it was like she didn’t care anymore. I don’t even think she is looking for another place.”
Kendall ran his hands over his face. “Half the time I feel like she is spying on me and the other half I think she just likes being here, but I get so frustrated during the first that I end up not caring about the other.”
He slumped down a bit as Rose patted his shoulder. “I shouldn’t be this stressed out. I’ve had longer losing streaks. Two seasons ago it wasn’t like this. Last season, I wouldn’t have cared if Axe knocked me off my broom, worse things have happened in practice. Yet I wanted to punch him in the face three weeks ago. Like it was his fault. Like he did it on purpose, which is crazy because as crazy as he is, that is not something he would do. Then I get upset at myself that I get so irrationally angry over stupid shit. A never ending cycle that leaves me going off on these psychotic rants.”
He stared at his empty glass. He had far too many conflicting feelings coursing through him he couldn’t settle on one. “I need a break from everything, and end of season is just way too far away.”
“What would she be spying for?” Rose asked carefully. She needed Kendall to explain more, or perhaps divulge a bit background information, because that seemed a bit... absurd. What would even be the point? To let his parents, specifically assumed his father, know what Kendall was doing at all times? But he was twenty-five, not eleven. And this was also not three years ago, when all of Great Britain was in the middle of a war. “Maybe she wants to spend time with you but doesn’t know how to say it?” she suggested hopefully, though she doubted Kendall would entertain that idea for long.
At his next words, Rose dropped her hand from his shoulder to clasp her other in her lap. This business with Axe Brookstanton... it made her feel uncomfortable, and for that, Rose sought to push through this part of Kendall’s strife quickly. She turned her head, slightly, as she spoke, gaze focusing on a tiny crack in the table. “When things feel out of control it’s not unusual to want to blame someone or something else,” she spoke slowly, purposely.
Then, her brow furrowed further. What she wouldn’t give for a break. “The end of the season isn’t that far,” Rose muttered vaguely, now feeling entirely exhausted. That statement wasn’t very true, was it? Yes, the technical end of the season was near, but after that began playoffs, and immediately following that, right smack in the middle of the holiday season, was Eurocup in all its glory, and practically a whole month of it. In Istanbul. From where she was sitting, February felt like very far off, unreachable place.
She let out a long sigh, sensing the weight of reality sit heavy on her shoulders. Feeling significantly worse than mere minutes ago, Rose placed her elbows back on the bar to rest her chin in her hands. “It’s really far, isn’t it?” she muttered unhappily, kicking her legs slowly beneath her chair. She felt her feet hit her bag and matt beneath, but she paid no mind to it.
“Very far.” Kendall said sighing into his beer. She had a point, many points. When did Rose start making so much sense. Or more importantly, when did he stop making sense. He sat back in his chair thinking over the things she had said, not feeling much like talking anymore.
He wasn’t quite sure where the time had went, but the next time he looked at his watch they had been in the bar much longer than he had planned to be there. “Ah, sorry Rose. I didn’t mean to keep you out so long. I should probably head out, before Kayla decides my room needs redecorating too... promise next time I won’t get us kicked out of yoga,” he said standing and paying the tab.
“Oh wait! I think you dropped something,” he called leaned over to pick up the envelope he spotted on the floor. But Rose must not have heard him, as she was nowhere in sight when he looked back up. Oh well, he would just return it to her the next time he saw her. Although... he flipped it over in his hands finding no markings on it whatsoever before flipping it open and pulling out the pieces of parchment inside. He should make sure that it wasn’t something that was time sensitive or important.
He flipped through the pages of what looked like the worlds longest letter ever, before scanning the first page. Kendall didn’t get very far before he quickly folded it back up and shoved back into its envelope. Not meant for him at all. He felt horribly guilty at his unintended invasion of privacy, yes he was snooping but he honestly didn’t expect that. A letter to her brother, or something. Not one to Octavius. He would just give it back to her later, and feign ignorance. Or better yet, just drop it in the post and pretend none of this had ever happened.
