18. Flustered
Her eyes focused on the grandfather clock behind her brother's head, praying that someone would find a time turner and make time speed forward. Did they work that way? Or could you only go backwards? Matilda supposed that would cause a lot of trouble, but she would risk it to get out of this hellish family dinner. How was it a family dinner when she wasn't even sitting with her family?
Oh, right, she was supposed to be becoming a Mulciber, now.
She let her eyes drift to the left, where Laura was seated, quietly eating away. Matilda couldn't ignore the giant ring on her finger, either, and let out a breath. Laura's mother sat at the end of the table, and Matilda could feel the woman's powerful gaze at the two engaged women. To Matilda's horror, she saw the Mulciber matron lift up her spoon and tap her glass.
"A kiss, from our newly betrothed!"
Matilda and Laura both stiffened beside each other, and then turned to their respected betrothed. Johnathan, who had been on her right the entire time, was still stabbing at his dinner with curious intensity. Matilda didn't need to turn and look to know that the future Yaxleys had already submitted to the mother's wishes, by the soft cooing from around the table by the older woman. Now it was their turn, and Matilda suddenly felt quite ill.
He absolutely despised her. Her future husband despised her. And as much as she hated him for just--being alive, she would at least pretend and...Matilda felt her eyes water as it took another pointed comment from his mother to make Johnathan look up. His eyes narrowed at his mother and he turned to Matilda, catching her quickly in a kiss before going back to his dinner. They didn't receive the reaction the future Yaxleys did.
"Would you excuse me?" she said, not waiting for a response before hurrying out of the room. She needed to go kill herself, now. Now, because she could not handle a life time of this, of terribly annoyed glances and forced affection. It wasn't even Halloween, they hadn't been engaged for two months and already, already.
"Why are you causing a scene?" Johnathan's voice came from the entrance of the bathroom, where Matilda was heaving greatly over the sink. She turned to him, eyes full of fury.
"My beloved kisses me like I'm his old, decrepit grandmother," she scathingly spat. "The realization of having to endure that for the rest of my life hit rather hard so if you'd excuse me."
Johnathan scoffed, moving to turn away, but instead, as if enlightened by something, came forward and grabbed her elbow roughly. Matilda attempted to pull away, but he simply let out a huff of a breath and kissed her hard, fiercely. Matilda had never, in her life of attempting to seduce the Slytherin boys around her, been kissed like that. She felt all of her breath being sucked away by Johnathan, and when he let go she didn't know if she could stand on her own.
"Is that what you'd rather have?" he asked, but didn't wait for a response as he stalked back to dinner. Matilda felt weak, but weaker still for nodding her head.
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