Distractions From the Mind [Stephen]

[Stephen Moore]

Oh.

Stephen kind of understood what was going on now, mostly because his brother Steven had encountered the exact same problem, and he'd basically counselled the guy through his entire failed love life (because Steven had ended up getting rejected by both the girls!). He rather hoped that Mackenzie didn't turn out the same way, because something like that was pretty harsh. The fact that he was so distressed about it showed that he wasn't a bad guy, and well, people can't control who they love... even if it is some love-at-first-sight kind of thing. Stephen just didn't know that this kind of thing was so common.

"Well, it sounds to me like you actually really like both girls. But in this case, I think you have to think about which girl you like more. Do you maybe like Dria because she's your friend and girlfriend and you like having her by your side, something like that? Or do you maybe like Elizabeth because she needed someone there for her and you were there, and she's probably rather dependent on you? I notice you've talked a lot more about Elizabeth than your one line of 'I thought I loved Dria... I still do'.

"Your trying to make Elizabeth feel better shows that you care for her. The fact that you spent a whole night trying to do so when you could have, I don't know, been with your girlfriend? It shows that you care for her a whole lot and you probably really do like her. A lot. You have to decide, though, whether your love for Elizabeth is more than your love for Dria, and if you pick one of them, will you regret not having chosen the other next time?"

Stephen felt a little silly, saying all those things to a person he barely knew, but he thought it was important that Mackenzie considered all of this. Problems with romance were always tough to deal with, and he didn't want Mack to end up making a bad decision.

[Mackenzie Stone]

Mack tried to comprehend everything Stephen said, but it was kind of one big jumbled mess that he tried to work with. Mack knew what his mind was telling him. It was asking him why he ever went out with Dria in the first place, and Mack couldn't give it an actual answer. Mack had learned to listen to his mind the moment he got to Hogwarts and was sorted.

Shouldn't he listen to his heart on this though? Shouldn't he listen to that and figure out what it wants? This was about the heart, not the mind. Sadly, he thought his heart was telling him that he should have never said yes to Dria in the first place. What did he do.

"Elizabeth is who I like more. Even if we just officially talked last night. It's not like we didn't know each other. We're in the same house and year. And just from last night alone I feel like I know her more and am closer to her than I am with Dria." Mack said it with confidence, until he realized what that meant. "Wait... then what the fuck do I do about that!" His head went back into his hands.

[Stephen Moore]

Stephen understood what Mackenzie meant. Although he'd never experienced something like that before himself, from what Mackenzie was saying, he was pretty convinced that Mackenzie was in love with Elizabeth and not Dria.

"If talking to a girl for one night will make you feel closer to her than you are to your girlfriend, I think you have to take a closer look at your relationship with your girlfriend. The best advice that I can give you, as cliche and cheesy as it might be, is that you should follow your heart."

It felt really odd, and he didn't really want to tell Mackenzie what to do, but Stephen really thought that Mackenzie would be more happy with Elizabeth than he was with Dria. He wasn't going to tell Mackenzie that, though, because he didn't want to end up influencing Mackenzie's decision. Regardless, he was still an unrelated party.

[Mackenzie Stone]

Mack decided to explain himself a way that this kid would be able to know. "Okay. You know how I was a dick to you at first?" Mackenzie asked him. "Well I'm like that with everyone. It's another story about why but you can probably just blame it on my parents." Mackenzie said in an off note. "But I'm like that with everyone. At least at first. I warmed up to Dria... but I was a dick to her at first too. Granted she called me a Mudblood, so she deserved it." Mack said, cocking his head to the side in thought.

"Either way. I was a dick to Phoenix at first too, and now we're almost inseparable." Mack told him, making his hands fly up in the air. "But I wasn't with Elizabeth. I felt like... the person I am when I'm with my little sister. That person is the only person I like of myself. It normally only comes out with my sis. But it was there with Elizabeth." Mack finally finished. "And my heart is telling me that it means something."

[Stephen Moore]

Well, this was getting rather awkward. Even though he was (and he admitted to be) a little girlier than how people normally thought guys should be, heart-to-heart sessions, albeit helpful to the person baring their heart, always left him feeling a little awkward. And it also sounded like Mackenzie had it bad, and like Elizabeth was really rather special.

"Well, if your heart tells you that it means something, it most probably does. Elizabeth sounds like she'll be good for you, and finding such a connection with someone would be quite hard. But the first thing I think you should do is to explain yourself to Dria, to maybe break up with her. It wouldn't be right to play with her feelings."

"Just make sure that whatever decision you make, you don't regret it in the end."

[Mackenzie Stone]

There it was. The exact reason why Mack was so terrified of what was going to happen. Okay, so he hadn't said it, but when Stephen mentioned breaking up with Dria. Mack remembered. He remembered why he said I love you within the first hour of them dating. He remembered why he felt like he had to love her.

"Dude... Dria scares the shit outta me." Mack whined toward him. It was true. Mack was afraid Dria would kill him or something if he broke up with her. Then he wouldn't even have Elizabeth. He would be stuck with whatever ghost he could find to take his broken heard. Well that sounds... lovely.

"I'm going to regret any decision. Contrary to popular belief. I have a heart. I don't like hurting people." Mack told him before thinking about it. "Besides on the Quidditch pitch. Then hurting people is fun. Especially when they get knocked off their brooms and fall to the ground to get squashed like a pancake."

[Stephen Moore]

... gosh.

Stephen didn't really know what to say. He hadn't meant to sound like he thought Mackenzie didn't have a heart; he knew that Mackenzie had a heart from the entire angsting session he had about the Dria/Elizabeth situation. That much was very obvious.

"If you're scared of Dria, you should really break up with her. It's never a good sign to be scared of your partner." Really, why was Mackenzie dating Dria if he was scared of her, anyway? Sometimes things just didn't really make sense.

"Ignoring the entire Quidditch pitch thing, because that's kind of scary, I didn't mean to imply that you don't have a heart. And I think that if you don't want to hurt Dria, you should break up with her. If you toy with her feelings, she'll just end up even more hurt-- and possibly even scarier."

[Mackenzie Stone]

"Dude. You don't understand. She slapped me when we first started dating because I told her it might not be the best since her father hates muggleborns." Mack was terrified of her, actually. Maybe he would go talk to her on a broom with a bludger bat in his hand. No...no. That'd be a bit mean.

"And I didn't mean you specifically. No one thinks I have a heart. Not just you." Mack took a deep sigh. It was true, he didn't know one guy that hated him for being an asshole and one girl that didn't want to fuck him. Yet they all didn't think he had a heart. Whatever.

"You ever play Quidditch, kid?" Mack asked him. Eyeing up his build immediately. "You look like you could be a Chaser. Too bad you're not a Claw. I would train you." Mack told him with a bored look on his face. The kid did look like a Chaser, but he also looked like he had no coordination and was a bit awkward. Well.... he was. And clearly a huge fucking baby since he cried.

Definitely not a man.

[Stephen Moore]

One of the few things that Stephen actually managed to get out of their conversation so far was that Dria was extremely, extremely scary. Scary enough so that a moderately scary person (Mackenzie) would be scared of her.

Although, thinking about it, Stephen would probably have been very annoyed if someone used such an excuse to try and dump him. Then again, she was Alexandria Malfoy, and Mackenzie's reaction to himself dating a Malfoy was completely normal.

"Well, I think you have a heart. The fact that you're angsting about your girlfriend and Elizabeth already shows as much. And no, I've never played Quidditch before. My brother said that I'd never be good, anyway, so I never saw the point."

[Mackenzie Stone]

Someone thought he had a heart? Well that was a first. No... he was sure Elizabeth thought he had a heart. Yeah. Of course she did. She wouldn't have sat with him for that long if she hadn't, right? Or maybe she was trying to find out if he had a heart or not.

"You should have let someone tell you you'd be bad at something you've never tried. I'll take you out flying sometime. My thanks for you helping me and putting up with my assness." Mack smiled at him. He meant that. Helping him. "Anything you need to talk about?" Mack offered. "I listen to Phoenix rant all the time. I can handle one from you." Mack chuckled and shook his head, remembering all the rants he had to put up with.

[Stephen Moore]

Someone wanted to take Stephen Moore out flying? Stephen thought he'd never see the day, what with his awkwardness and I'd-rather-not-talk-to-people-ness. It was nice, though, to be talking to Mackenzie. He was being extraordinarily nice (in his opinion) and was quite okay, he supposed. Definitely better than some of the other Quidditch players he'd encountered before.

Pity he didn't really have anything to rant about, other than some stupid couple stealing his quiet violin-playing spot to make out. And that wasn't really much to rant about, not after he'd just heard about the girl problems that Mackenzie had. It made everything in his life seem really smooth-sailing.

"Heh, no, nothing to rant about, really... but who's Phoenix? Your best friend?"

[Mackenzie Stone]

Mack waited for what seemed like forever for the dude to answer. When he did, Mack didn't really know where the question came from, but he really didn't care. Hell, Mack had just spilled out his feelings to this random dude that seemed extremely awkward and unman like.

"Uh, yeah. Phoenix is my best friend. Has been since first year really. He's in my house and year." Mack smiled fondly. "I don't think I would have survived Hogwarts if it weren't for him. We're normally inseparable, but I kinda ditched him tonight and ran away. I didn't want to admit to him I had been cuddling another girl. He wouldn't really approve of that." Mack took a deep sigh. Phoenix was one that would have thought that was completely wrong.

Phoenix was one of the biggest hopeless romantics he had ever met.

[Stephen Moore]

The conversation seemed to be quickly returning to its very awkward state (not that it ever had been not-awkward, but when Mackenzie stopped being so mean, it got slightly less awkward). Stephen didn't really know what to say, what with his usual not-talking-to-people-ness and other things. He didn't really have much to talk about, and he didn't really know how to change the subject so he'd asked about the Phoenix person.

"Oh. It must be nice, having a best friend," Stephen laughed awkwardly. "He sounds like a nice guy."

Stephen really didn't know what to say or how to carry out a normal, non-ranty conversation.

[Mackenzie Stone]

Mack laughed and smiled at Stephen when he said it must be nice having a best friend. Maybe the kid had a comical side to him after all. Then... he laughed awkwardly? He was... serious? Oh shit. Mack's face became straight as he looked away awkward and took a deep breath.

"You... have no best friend?" Mack asked in a small voice. He felt really bad for this dude. It seemed like he was just... extremely awkward and didn't really like talking to people because of that. Somehow, Mack's brain thought that he had to make up for it. "If you ever... ya know. Want to hang out with me and Phoenix, you're more than welcome." Mack offered him with a small smile.

"Phoenix is really nice. Way nicer than me. We might have to go with his girlfriend too. They're going to be the type that are inseparable. I can already tell that one." Mack smirked and laughed as he shook his head in adoration toward his best friend.

[Stephen Moore]

Stephen didn't really understand why Mack was so suprised that he had no best friend. He didn't really have normal friends, so why would he have a best friend? Nobody really wanted to be friends with an awkward, let-me-play-my-violin-at-insane-hours-in-the-dorm-without-chasing-me-out-please kid from Hufflepuff. It wasn't like the Hufflepuff part already made most people not want to be his friend. Then again, Mack was probably the kind of person who had tons of friends (and fangirls), what with his Chaser position and everything.

"Er... not really?" Gosh, this was definitely going to get even more awkward than it should have ever been, even with Stephen involved. "People don't exactly like talking to me much, I mean... I can't blame them, because I wouldn't really like to be friends with me, either..."

It was really nice of Mackenzie to offer friendship to him, but then again, he didn't really want to intrude on their friendship. But he also didn't want to seem like he didn't want to be friends with Mackenzie, because he really did. "Thanks for the offer, er, I'd like that. If I wouldn't be too much of a bother..."