time to laugh, time to sing -Brayden-

[Demi Moore]

He drove her home last friday night
another date, another stupid fight
He tried to make up, just one embrace
She slammed the car door, slammed it in his face
Now he's running through the lawn, he's trying to catch her before she's gone...

After getting a message from Shania, Demi stared at the date for a few seconds. Only a few more days until her birthday would be here. Only one person might know about it here. That would also mean in a week and a few days, it would be the twelfth annaversary of her parents deaths. Heading up to the MER, she set up to look up the band and song she was told about. After the continuing crappiness of her life, the Mihael found the name and song title to be amusing. 'Boys Dont Matter' by LoveSick Radio. As she turned on the laptop she got after her grandmother died, and connected to the internet, she wrote in her journal-esk diary. Something she'd been failing to keep up with.

Once Demi found the song, and found earbuds to plug into the laptop's speakers, she listened to it with a slight smile. Playing it a couple times, the song easily became one of her favorites. Not paying attention to the room around her, it had been her experiance that if she didn't look around, no one would bug her unless they knew her, and those who knew her were few.

As she finished her journal entry, she looked for other songs while listening to a few more from LoveSick. Completely zoned into her search for a certian Nickelback song, Demi became completely oblivious to the entire room. The volume was up high, and that added to her ability to block out anyone and everyone. It even got her to forget her journal was slightly open next to her.

[Professor Brayden W. Channing]

Brayden was making his rounds. Nah, he wasn't a prefect or anything. And he doubted he ever would be. But usually, when he wasn't busy, he went somewhere in the castle. And he hadn't been in the Muggle Electronics Room in...wow...a long time. So when he passed it, he turned back around and headed through the open door.

First glance around, he didn't spot anyone he knew. But as he made his way to a television to see if some muggle basketball game was on, a familiar face caught his eye. Did she still have that boyfriend? Brown... or Burgundy, or whatever his name was.? But it didn't matter, right? Because he had no feelings whatsoever for Miss Moore. Right?

Wrong.

Brayden jumped onto the couch, sending Demi's journal flying upward a bit. But Brayden snatched it from the air and closed it, laying it on the coffee table. "Hi." He smirked, speaking to Demi.

[Demi Moore]

The door had opened, but unlike so many people, Demi didn't feel the need to see who was there. After giving up on the Nickelback song, she was listening to 'Pictures of You'. She was too busy imgining the video for it to bother seeing who else was in the room. Lost in her own world, she closed her eyes with a smile, forgetting the days to come.

Giving a slight yelp as the couch bounced and journal flew, Demi turned to see who it was. It was about a year to date when she had first seen the figure next to her. Taking the earbuds out of her ears, she turned off her laptop and watched him place her journal on the coffee table. "Hey." She said almost as quietly as she had the year before. In the moment before speaking again, she wondered if he and Telly or whatever her name was became more than friends. The simple thought of that got a flash of jealousy to run through her eyes.

"What brings you here?" She asked with a slight smile, glad he was the one to find her. Black had dissapeared, so much like he had the year before. She didn't want this year to run its course like the last year, however, she sometimes caught herself wondering if it might. Whenever that happened, she tried to shake the thought away, but it always came back. In fact, it resurfaced about this time. Biting her lip, she looked at her journal, worried it might start saying the things she couldn't admit to even herself.

[Professor Brayden W. Channing]

Silently, he wondered where Black was. Asking Demi would be a little awkward, wouldn't it? And a little obvious. But Demi was here and alone. Without black. Of course Brayden was suspicious. Curious. Nosy. Jealous, of Black in general. But angered that he wasn't here with Demi, like he should be. Yet happy, because he wasn't here.

What a mix of emotions.

But he wasn't with Telly, just like Demi wasn't with her significant other. Not that Telly was his girlfriend exactly. But, after the kiss? He thought they were. And then she disappeared. But Brayden hadn't dwelled over it for too long. He hadn't seen much of anyone lately, actually. Especially Kami.

"Nothing really." He laughed a bit. "I don't know. I guess I'm being a slacker. Not doing my homework. Wandering around the castle..." Brayden was rambling, obviously. Their previous conversation was awkward. This was seemed to be starting out that way, too. "Er, what about you?"

[Demi Moore]

The slight awkwardness to the silence before Brayden's answer told Demi that it would only take time before personal life came up. Wanting to avoid it, she tried to think ahead to other kinds of topics. There wasn't a whole lot that came to mind.

"Um, Shania, the only person on my dad's side that I know, told me to listen to this one band she's begun to like." Demi explained, turning the laptop back on. "She also, possibly unknowingly, reminded me that it's nearing the end of September." She added, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand.

Bitting her lip again, Demi began to wonder if he would know that by 'the end of September' she ment 'my birthday and the annaversary of my parents deaths.' Something she was begining to realize about herself was that she never came right out and said what she ment.

[Professor Brayden W. Channing]

Brayden racked his brain. End of September? Was he suppose to know what the end of September was? Wait. Demi's birthday right? He wasn't sure.He groaned, in his head though, because he felt like an idiot. But he didn't ask her what the end of September was. Because he thought he was suppose to know. And when it came to women, most of them anyway, they always expected you to know and remember stuff. And Brayden didn't want to get in trouble. Blah.

"Oh. So, uhm, what band is it?" He might know it, unless Demi preferred witch music over Muggle music. Brayden loved Muggle bands. There were a ton he hadn't discovered yet. But it would be cool if him and Demi could converse over bands. It wouldn't be awkward.

[Demi Moore]

When he spoke again, Demi let a breath of relief out, glad he didn't ask what was going on. Instead, he asked about the band. Smiling slightly, she pointed to the laptop screen. "It's a new band, a muggle band, called, um, LoveSick Radio." She told him, trying not to glance towards him.

"She says that they're newish, but she thinks that they could easily make it. I only listened to one of the songs so far, and I like them already." Demi finished, finally looking back to Brayden. She could only assume he might ask to hear a song of theirs.

[Professor Brayden W. Channing]

Brayden shrugged. "LoveSick Radio?" He racked his brain. "Never heard of them, I don't think." He stole a peek at the screen on her laptop. "I'll have to download them, if I can find someone to fix my laptop during next break..." Brayden figured the only place he could find someone who knew how to fix it was in Muggle London.

"What song? Mind if I listen?" He averted his eyes from the laptop to Demi. Music was a much safer topic than speaking of their personal lives. Eventually, though, they'd have to speak of it. Brayden would try to leave it up to Demi to shift that topic, though.

[Demi Moore]

Demi could almost sense that Brayden was avoiding a certian subject. Possibly the same one she wanted to avoid, but she wasn't curious enough to find out. Nodding as he repeated the band's name, she got back on to the website she was just on. Part of her was surprised when he mentioned having a laptop, being pretty sure that he had told her he was pureblood.

When he asked the name of the song, Demi didn't return the glance right away. "It's called, um, 'Boys Don't Matter', and if you want to, I don't see a problem with it." [[if you really want to listen to it-it's the first one on the list.]] Looking over to Brayden, she gave a little shrug as if to say she didn't care if he asked about her personal life. Whether he caught the meaning or not was a different story.

[Professor Brayden W. Channing]

His grandmother, who had exposed Brayden to magnificent things such as ballroom dancing and rock skipping, had also introduced him to Muggle technology. And while he never got into phones or those weird reality television shows, he fell in love with computers and Muggle basketball games. His grandmother, though, died before she could possibly expose to everything his father had shut out of his life.

"Boys don't matter?" Brayden smirked. "That's harsh, Demi." Although, it probably wasn't pointed to him. He figured it was toward the male population in general... or most likely... Black. But he wouldn't point fingers. "Why don't boys matter?"

He took it upon himself to press the play button on Demi's playlist to begin the song. He smirked again, when he found that a male sang the song. He would have thought a female would.

[Demi Moore]

Taking her time to let out a sigh, Brayden took it upon himself to start the song. Listening to the opening, Demi decided if she should give the serious answer or the blow off answer.

Shrugging, she looked down to the keyboard. "It seems like whenever I get close to any guy, they dissapear." Not that she could really count Brayden in that catagory. She had been the one that was off spending time with someone else, who she hadn't seen in half a year.

She's been so hurt, He's been so mean//Smacks her around like she's a tambourine//Its her time to laugh, its her time to sing//Now its her time to just try anything//Now she's running through his mind he's wondering why she said goodbye.Bitting her lip, again, she wondered how Brayden would take that part of the song.

[Professor Brayden W. Channing]

"I never disappeared, Demi." Brayden looked down at his hands and nodded. His figdetted his thumbs a bit while a bit of the song played. It was a good song. A good beat. Great lyrics. But Brayden's mind wasn't solely on the music that played. "But...I know how you feel." Obviously not with boys. But. Girls he cared for. Kissed. Dated..

"Black left, didn't he?" Brayden turned his gaze to Demi. He didn't really want to bring it up. But it was something he was curious about... and she had discretely brought it up first, right?

[Demi Moore]

'I never dissapeared, Demi' Unsure of if it was the words or the way he said it, Demi kept her head down, and looked away. "You're the only one that didn't." She kept looking down and away, even as she spoke softly. Knowing that she ruined the one relationship that might have worked, well, she still felt a little guilty about it.

Finally, Brayden asked about Black. Staring at the now silent laptop screen, Demi nodded slightly. She knew it was comming, and even though she didn't really want to talk about it, she would answer any question Brayden asked. And with an honest answer.

[Professor Brayden W. Channing]

"I figured as much." Brayden practically spat. And then he sighed. "It's not really a surprise..." He did the same thing before. What made her trust him again? "But, anyway, I'm sorry." Despite his angry attitude, he really was sorry. Solely because was sorry because Black left her.

"So, what's your view on things now?" Besides 'boys don't matter', Brayden wanted to get into her head a little more. Demi is usually quiet about things, unless Brayden decides to piss her off. But that isn't really necessary in this conversation. :]

[Demi Moore]

Almost as soon as she nodded, Brayden went on the offensive, and a whole mix of things went through Demi's mind at the same time. Why was he so angry about it? Did he tell her what he thought? Was he mad at her? In her way, she shrunk back and tried to make herself smaller. In the confusion, hot tears began to form in her eyes.

"Brayden, please, I..." She practically pleaded, and not wanting to put up the effort of arguing or, possibly, fighting, Demi paused. As she did, he helped her with words by asking what her view on things was. "Right now, my view is 'Get through this week.' With everything that's happened the past few months, I just need to get my mind of things for awhile." She finished with a slight shrug. "I don't know how, but I need to."

[Professor Brayden W. Channing]

Brayden watched as Demi's eyes welled up with fresh tears. She cried a lot. But it wasn't as if she didn't have reasons to. Because she had plenty of reasons to cry. Brayden had been through a lot too, but he chose to block the hurtful things out of his mind and his life.

"Need to get your mind off things?" Brayden repeated. For a moment, he seemed lost in thought. He was trying to figure out what he could do to help her with that. "Want to go to the tea parlor in Hogsmeade?" Brayden asked her. The tea parlor had a better selection of food and such, then the Three Broomsticks did. But it was also a popular dating place. But that wasn't really on Brayden's mind.

[Demi Moore]

Normally, she would have been embarrassed about the tears, but since her grandma's funeral, she hadn't cared all that much. Somehow, she managed to pull back the tears, and shutting down the laptop, she nodded as Brayden repeated her words. At the offer to go to the tea parlor, Demi looked up to him. She knew she didn't deserve this kindness from him, but she appreciated it more than anything.

"I'd like that." She managed to say, placing her laptop on the table. Eyes falling on her journal, she picked it up and held onto it. Not standing up just yet, Demi stared at the journal, thinking of how to say what she wanted to. "Have I ever..." She started, pausing to regroup her words. "Thanked you, for, you know... everything?"

[Professor Brayden W. Channing]

Brayden smiled as they stood up to leave. "Have I ever...Thanked you, for, you know... everything?" He shrugged, "You don't have to thank me, Demi..." I don't do much. I'm barely even around anymore... he thought. "Ready?" He asked, and waited for her to gather her things.

When she was ready, Brayden lead her to the door and off to Hogsmeade by placing his hand on the small of her back. He didn't even think about the action, however. He just did it. Just another small gesture he did involuntary to show Demi he still cared.

[Demi Moore]

Smiling ever so slightly when he said she didn't need to thank him, Demi shrugged. Hurrying to put her laptop in the locker she had in the MER, she kept hold of her journal. "Ready." She repeated as she hugged the journal. Normally she would have felt odd about his hand on her back, but for a change, she didn't. She couldn't help but think that she owed him so much, and he would never realize how much his help ment.

--i'm assuming that you're making the tea shop thread?--