Distorted Lines ✓ | GREGORY GOYLE

≼ Nine ≻

Celia gestured to Cormac to move up and he obligingly did, if a little reluctantly. She was dismayed to see that he now regarded with a new fear in his eyes, as if she was a grenade that could go off at any second.

"What do you want to talk about?" He asked stiffly, "The slap. That really hurt."

"Did it?" She raised her eyebrow at him.

He sighed, "No, not really but it came as a shock. Have you come to apologise?"

She sat up a little straighter, "I have but I think you have some stuff to apologise for too, if I'll be honest. So I'll start, Cormac I'm sorry for slapping you. I forgot that you didn't do the actual sexual assault."

Cormac regarded her suspiciously before sighing, "I accept your apology."

She looked at him expectantly as was dismayed to see that he had essentially ignore the other part of her sentence: that he had done some wrong too. She genuinely didn't know if he knew what he did and was stubbornly not admitting or if he just didn't know, She waited a few seconds more before speaking.

"Thank you for accepting," She turned to him and noticed how he was intentionally avoiding her eye, "but Cormac, do you also see why I was upset with you?"

After a long awkward pause, Cormac shook his head slightly, "I didn't do it, Celia, I did nothing wrong."

"You didn't do anything, you're right but that's kind of the thing that you did."

"That doesn't make any sense," Cormac scoffed.

"You were just a dick about it really. We're meant to be friends, Cormac and it felt like you just disregarded my feelings, made me feel like I was blowing it out of proportion - "

"But you were," Cormac cut in but was silenced by Celia's glowering gaze.

"But to me it was a big deal, that was just how I was feeling!" Celia said, "You get upset if somebody says your hair is good and not awesome! That's the perfect example of overreacting - "

"But I mean it's true," Cormac ran his hands through his hair, "It is pretty awesome."

"Not the point, Cormac," Celia scowled, "Not the point at all. The point is it was a big deal to me and it was scary - "

"Scary?" Cormac's brow furrowed, "It was just a kiss - "

"He left bruises."

"But I mean..." Cormac opened his mouth to speak but closed it again."

"Cormac, try putting yourself in my shoes for a second," Cormac furrowed his brow and glanced down at her feet. She could tell exactly what he was thinking and snapped, "Not my actual shoes! It's a figure of speech!"

"Oh right," Cormac said sheepishly, "I knew that."

"Sure," Celia smirked, "Imagine if something like that happened to you."

Cormac leant back, a slight frown on his face. He closed his eyes, leaning back, clearly getting very in to the visualisation. Celia glanced around and saw a few people glancing over expectantly as if they were watching a soap opera; news of Goyle and the slap had clearly spread quite quickly. Somebody caught her eye at the top of the stairs: Katie.

Celia was sure she hadn't been there before, they'd seen her dashing away in the corridors after all so it was a bit of a surprise to see her standing there, watching over them like a hawk. Celia looked up, making eye contact with her friend but Katie didn't turn away. She was about to give a small smile when Cormac spoke and she quickly turned away. Katie's expression was eerily unreadable as if she were waiting for something.