41199, Oirwn's Role Chapter 15
Posted by Death_Angel on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
RoleChapter 15 Friendzoned, Unrequited, Letting Go, and Always Close Added Wed Jul 11 22:41:43 2012 at level 47:Ouch, how it stung, Oirwn remembered. Hearing those words from the man whose affections she'd tried to attain for so long.
"I like you pretty well...but I'm sure you know that," he told her one night in the garden behind the Eternal Star, "But its mostly as a friend, pretty sure."
Of course, the thief had always played hard to get, but that Oirwn could take as a challenge, a dare to just keep trying, for one day her machinations might bear fruit. But for Leric to finally admit to Oirwn that she wasn't getting anywhere was something of a change. In Oirwn's head, after Leric let loose those damning words, eons seemed to pass, but she spoke up almost instantly.
"Unrequited. That's the word. I am sorry I've tormented you."
It was in those moments, in those long millenia inside Oirwn's head that she realized there was nothing she wouldn't do for this man. That must be what time and familiarity does to a little flirt. It grows up, it matures, and it turns into something wholly surprising. And so, since it was already trouble enough for Leric to tell her this, and because he was so concerned that he might upset her anyway, Oirwn decided that she would let him go.
He continued, "A while ago, someone told me they thought I was the man they wanted to grow old with. Not you, I don't think you ever said it that way."
"That would've been unfair if I had," she replied with a helpless shrug. A while ago, Oirwn wouldn't have said such a thing. She'd told him, in a huff one day that he needed to make a decision about all the women who were apparently pursuing him. She told him to choose, or at least figure out what it was that HE wanted. So he had chosen, one of the other girls (and hearing that stung, too), and it had all backfired on him.
"Yes, so we both feel pretty awful," he told her. "You are still like...my best friend. Which I know probably still hurts to know."
Oirwn offered a slight smile before saying, "That'll do, Leric. And I will never betray or hurt you, that much I can promise. I will always be your friend, even if I can't be more than that. And yes. It does hurt, since we're being honest. But not so much that I'm going to let it come between us."
And what Oirwn didn't say was, "Because I think I might actually love you, and that's so new and wonderful and ridiculous that I couldn't stand it if we didn't stay, even if only as friends, always close."
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