Snippet #1990470

Garrett Flint

Her smile was so infectious. And soothing, really. Even shy as Summer was, she had such a way with people. She offered him a way out by saying they didn't need to talk about everything, just what was on their minds. Of course, the things on their minds were most likely the things they didn't want to talk about. At least, it held true for Flint. He wasn't so good at reading people that he could tell if Summer was being plagued by something, too.

They skirted past the Great Hall, and headed up to the second level of the greater castle, towards the library. Flint had been tempted to take a peek into the Great Hall, see if he couldn't catch Justin still in there, but had decided that Summer was more important right now. Priorities, right? Flint liked to think he had 'em straight. As they made their way into the library, Teek's hooting noticeably halted. Smart bag of feathers, Flint thought. He wasn't sure if it was cool for owls to be with all the books, but he figured that was probably looked down upon. Not that Flint had any special regard for the rules, but it wasn't even the first day of classes yet. It was a little early to start getting into trouble.

Damn, Garrett, you are different now, aren't you? It's never too early to get in trouble! He didn't know whether to be cheered or saddened by his own line of thought.

"Well, look at this. I'm turning into a regular bookworm, aren't I?" He said quietly as they entered. "Garrett Flint, proud bookworm of Vulpes House... yeah, that's not happening."

They slipped through shelves until they were deep in the library, more surrounded by books than Flint had probably ever been. Summer sank into one of the seats at a two person table. "Good enough?" she asked. "Yeah," he said. "I don't even think the librarian could find us right now. But Teek will let us know if someone's coming, right?"

The owl gave a low hoot in response, before flapping up on top of one of the bookshelves, his amber eyes scanning back and forth like a dutiful sentinel. Flint plopped down in the chair across from her, folding his hands together on the tabletop.

He made Summer go first, and he learned about Bliss and Felix. That was... interesting. He wasn't sure what to make of it. Obviously he and Bliss weren't working out, so he didn't feel angry or anything that she was interested in other guys. That was just Bliss. He couldn't help but feel concerned for her, though. She'd gone through that line of thought many, many times. Each guy was better than the last, right? And yet none worked out in the end for her. Of course, maybe Felix was different, but history said otherwise. And then of course Summer must have been hurt from that. She'd told him herself that she'd liked Felix, back when he'd been dating Bliss and it didn't make a difference to him who Summer liked. He encouraged her to go for it, as he always did when someone was having trouble attempting something. But now she said she was over her crush for him, no doubt helped along by Bliss swooping in and taking him away... or perhaps by Flint? An interesting thought.

There was something about Bellona hiding something from her, girl problems. Well, that wasn't new. He'd wondered how Summer was friends with Bellona as much as everyone at school, but wasn't going to bring that up now. Summer was right... her problems were minor. Of course he didn't say that, but it didn't stop him from silently agreeing with her. "Alright, my turn then," he said, taking a deep breath before beginning. "So I was originally going to stay with Justin over the summer again, you know, like we had planned. Only the day before school got out, Teek brought me a letter from my parents, saying that my dad--"

He was suddenly distracted by Teek, who had abruptly turned to stare at a nearby painting on the wall. His amber eyes were unblinking and narrowed at it. Flint looked closer at the painting. It was of Sir Jacen, more commonly known by the student body as Sir Hops-a-lot, for the fact that he only had one foot. The knight claimed to have lost it in battle, when everyone knew that the painter had simply painted his leg to the edge of the canvas, and hadn't had room for the foot. The knight was still as stone in his frame, leaning against his sword. Flint, having not seen a magical painting all summer, had nearly forgotten about them.

"Hey, don't you have a princess to save or something?" he called out to him. The knight immediately hopped forward, grabbing his sword in one hand and balling his other into a mailed fist, shaking it at Flint.

"Oh! Don't you start with me about that, young man! One of your friends came along last spring and apologized, before telling me that my princess was in another castle! It was that Justin boy you just mentioned. But I went off to Hogwarts which, let me tell you, was no easy feat, and searched the entire castle. Guess what, young man! She wasn't there! No... I'll never find her."

Flint sighed. "Yeah, but he didn't tell you which castle. How do you know he meant Hogwarts? Maybe he meant Beauxbatons! Have you looked there?" At this, the knight's face lit up. "Aha! My boy, I think you've got it! Beauxbatons it is! Just... damn it all, it's going to be a pain getting there." He started to hobble away into the background of his painting, muttering. "Oh, this had better be worth it. And if she's not there... well, I'm sure there's got to be a nice painting of a French maid I could bring back with me or something..."

Flint turned back to Summer, with an apologetic look, and found that he'd lost all his steam. He'd been about to blurt everything, but now he had to start over. Flint just wasn't used to laying things on people. He wasn't used to having things weigh on his mind like this. Well, nothing besides schoolwork, looming responsibility, and things that everyone else had to worry about. He was used to being the one that you could talk to, not the one that needed to talk. And Summer had admitted to feeling awful already... but looking in her eyes, he didn't know who else he wanted to talk to. Best to get it over with, right?

"I spent the summer at home because my dad's got brain cancer," he blurted quietly, feeling like he was ripping an arrow out of his chest. He looked down at his hands. "Late stages of it. He wanted to see me for a few months before...well, you know..."

His voice trailed off.