Delirium

Chapter 64 - Hope

~ part II of quadruple update ~

"What do you mean you sent them gifts?" Madeline hissed. "Like, actual Christmas gifts?"

Jolie sat at the end of their full-sized bed, still struggling to keep up with her own ragged breaths.

Upon entering their room, she had found Adrian already awake, fixing his stupid hair in front of the mirror in the loo. Without a word, Jolie had pulled him from the bathroom, shoved him out into the corridor, and slammed the door in his face.

Now, about fifteen minutes later, she had just finished explaining all the context of her fretful morning to Madeline. Along with some important information prior to the trip.

Starting with the letter she'd received from Molly Weasley.

Now, Madeline paced across the room whilst Jolie wallowed in her own self-pity and embarrassment.

"Well, I didn't send them!" Jolie groaned through gritted teeth. "Cassius' mum did!"

"Why did you even have them?"

"I bought them months ago," Jolie muttered, running a jittery hand over her face. "And my father sent them here to... I don't know—I suppose to see if I still wanted to send them. But Calliope apparently decided to take matters into her own hands."

"Oh my god," Madeline breathed.

"I know," Jolie sighed. "I should have thrown them straight into the bin when I returned home from school, but I'd completely forgotten about them—"

"Maybe... Maybe they won't care," Madeline offered. "Maybe they won't even know who the gifts are from—"

"My name is listed in the return address," Jolie said glumly.

Madeline winced. "Alright, well... Maybe they won't even open them! Or, if they do, they'll just assume that you bought them prior to the breakup, and just wanted them off your hands—which is partly true! It's not a big deal. It's—it's nothing to be embarrassed about—"

"There's letters—in both gifts," Jolie mumbled, cringing as the memory of what she wrote in it flitted through her mind. "I wrote them in September. And George's is... Whatever. Thankfully, it's dated so he'll know I didn't write it recently, but—Gods, this is just bad, alright? Everything about this situation is absolutely something to be embarrassed about."

"Well, perhaps you should just write a quick letter to them now?" Madeline suggested. "Tell them the gifts were sent by mistake, but they're welcome to keep everything. Just let them know you weren't actively trying to be nice—"

"I'm not writing them a letter, Madi!" Jolie whinged. "This is already mortifying enough as it is. If I'd been given a choice, I never would have sent anything! That would just make me seem weak!"

Madeline made a face. "But what if they send you something? Like a thank you note, or—"

"If they try to mention it, I'll just tell them my dad sent it or something," Jolie sighed. "But I'm absolutely not writing them. That is just unacceptable. It'd be even more of an embarrassment."

Madeline coughed awkwardly, making that same scrunched face.

Jolie frowned. "What?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing—"

"You're acting like—"

"I'm not acting like anything—"

"Yes, you are, Madi. Why'd you make that face?"