Flirt

-a flirt's heart-

-a flirt’s heart-

            Ana had never been the kind of girl who liked to show her emotions to the world. She’d always kept them bottled up, locked deep away inside of her. Once upon a time, she had been different. Carefree, almost. But after Seth had broken her heart, leaving her without a word, a hint of why, she had given up. She’d decided then that by never allowing anyone to get close to her again, she could protect herself from more harm.

            But the Nobilis had a way of inching past people’s defenses, of getting under their skin. And Ana knew this; she had always known that taking this challenge would be a risk. But she was too far in now, she couldn’t back out. Her pride wouldn’t let her.

“Ana, you’re going to have to come out eventually,” Annalise’s sweet voice floated through the cracks of her door. “Ana, please, just tell us what’s wrong so we can help.”

The brunette, locked in her room, just smiled sadly and looked out the window, where she was sitting. They don’t know anything, do they, she thought. “I’m sorry, I can’t,” she finally called back, as more pounding on the door commenced.

“You haven’t eaten anything for two days, Ana, you can’t stay in there forever,” a new voice emerged from the clamor at the barricaded entrance of her room. “You’ll collapse.”

“Don’t worry about me,” she laughed bitterly. “I’ll be fine.” I always am, she added in her mind. “Jake, I’m serious,” Ana continued when the lecturing did not stop.

“Well, so are we,” Drew’s low voice slipped smoothly through the shouts of Jake and Annalise.

She turned, surprised, to glance at the door. Even Drew was trying to convince her to come out. It’s probably only because I’m ruining this vacation for him by staying in here. He doesn’t even care anyways.

Sighing, she settled herself against the windowsill once more, and looked down at the innocent, blissfully unknowing people below.

~flirt~

            She had been sitting in her room all day, just glancing at her phone as it vibrated repeatedly with emails from the Nobilis, who were probably just on the other side of the wall from her. They had given up on yelling at her about an hour ago, and had resorted to emailing her, figuring that she would have to check her phone at some point. “I hope you realize that I’m not going to read all those messages,” she called out.

            Ana distinctly heard Remy groan. “Well, we can at least try.”

            I wonder what they’re saying about me, she thought. Despite herself, she grabbed a glass cup from the shelf in her room and pressed it against the wall, then lowering her head next to the rim to listen to their conversation.

“Do you know why she ran away?” Annalise posed the question to the four others.

“No, the last time I saw her was before we all split up,” Remy said.

“Same here,” Jake agreed.

Ana imagined that they were all sitting together in a circle, around the concentric glass coffee table, slightly hunched over with elbows on knees and arms draped across the leather sofa. Annalise was probably sitting cross-legged on the plush, pristine white carpet, fingers absentmindedly running through her hair. Jake was leaning forwards, sitting on the black couch with his chin propped up with his arm.

Drew was lying back across the leather seating, a casual pose that perfectly matched his cool, suave air. Remy was draped across the seats like a child, legs hanging off the edge of the sofa. Bella- Ana hesitated here. She hadn’t heard Bella speak all day, and she wasn’t entirely sure if she was even with the others. Ana knew that they weren’t exactly on the best terms as of right now, but she hoped that Bella hadn’t fostered any more hate for her with this new event occurring.

She still had to win the game. Now, more than ever, especially with had just happened. Ana couldn’t afford for them to know what, exactly, lay on the inside of her tough demeanor. She had worked too hard to build up that exterior to have it all go to waste now.

Taking a deep breath and setting the glass back down by the vanity; she closed her eyes and composed herself. Counting to ten and calmly rearranging her facial expression, she walked towards the full-length mirror just across from her and cringed at her appearance.

“God, I really need a shower,” she wrinkled her nose and quickly hopped in said shower, rinsing off all her makeup and letting the pounding water massage her tired muscles. Smoothing back her hair, she poured a generous amount of shampoo and conditioner on her hands and started to de-tangle her dark locks.

When she felt satisfied with her cleanliness, she stepped out onto the cool, white marble and dried herself off with a fluffy, fresh-smelling towel. Reapplying her mascara and some simple eyeliner, she added a touch of gloss on her lips and took a summer dress from the neatly hung selection in the closet.

Finally, she was ready. Turning to where the door was, she reached out for the cold metal handle. Cool, confident Ana was back. And there was absolutely no one who could break past her newly practiced smile and personality.

She opened the door. Five sets of eyes turned in her direction and mouths gaped open in shock. Ana glanced around the room and smirked as she realized that her guessing of the Nobilis’ postures was correct. She was good.

Even Bella was there, which she noted with a dim sense of relief. At least nothing had gotten worse while she had moped in her room for a couple days. Ana was back for the game, with all her heart and soul in for the win, and the Nobilis had better watch out.

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A/N: Yes yes yes omg I updated wow this is so cool- it's another filler, but who even cares?!?!?!? at least I wrote something, right???