Post by Layla Ellison on Oct 17, 2018 16:44:35 GMT -5
Layla realises that she has feelings for Jared, feelings that aren’t quite platonic, when she’s fourteen years old. It’s a quiet realisation, one not predicated by fanfare or noise of any kind at all really, beyond the involuntary, wordless murmur that rises up in her throat. There’s nothing to be done about it, she acknowledges, her fingers continuing to pick out the right notes from the guitar strings even as her attention switches to studying the older teenager sitting across from her. He’s eighteen now after all, an adult in the eyes of the law and no longer a Hogwarts student with time to humour her in the evenings by teaching her how to play his favourite instrument. He’s sweet and funny and so talented that Layla would think herself lucky to ever be even half as good as he is. In comparison, she's fourteen: quiet and so very young, with none of Ashlyn's self-assured beauty. Layla knows that she has been called a washed out shadow of her cousin, which she thinks is a rather mean thing to say but not entirely inaccurate. They both have blonde hair and blue eyes but Layla's hair is lighter and finer, her eyes a shade somewhere between blue and green with none of her cousin's fire. Anyone's gaze would naturally be drawn to Ashlyn first.
No, there's nothing to be done about the inconvenience of her feelings at all. Nothing but wait it out, because Layla knows from watching other people that crushes come and go with no truly discernible pattern at all. This won’t last forever so all she has to do is ignore it until it goes away. The truly annoying part, Layla realises with a slight furrow of her brow, will be avoiding Rister, who will certainly notice her infatuation if given the opportunity and whose well-meaning kindness is possibly the last thing she needs. Layla has no intention of indulging this ridiculous flash of sentiment, she affirms insistently, and promptly drops her gaze when she realises that she's unintentionally been glancing at Jared for longer than is normal in any sense of the word.
She's not really off to the best start at ignoring this unfortunate situation, Layla thinks dismally. It’s just very difficult not to notice his smile when he looks at her like that or the way his fingertips feather so gracefully over the guitar strings. Rather belatedly, she adds Morgana and Kris to the list of people to avoid until her hormones settle down - because as much as she doesn’t want that conversation with Rister, she really doesn't want it with Kris, who is the closest thing she has to a father nowadays. Ashlyn, thankfully, is about as likely to bring the topic up as Layla would be so at least there's one person she doesn’t have to somehow manage to avoid for the rest of the summer.
No, there's nothing to be done about the inconvenience of her feelings at all. Nothing but wait it out, because Layla knows from watching other people that crushes come and go with no truly discernible pattern at all. This won’t last forever so all she has to do is ignore it until it goes away. The truly annoying part, Layla realises with a slight furrow of her brow, will be avoiding Rister, who will certainly notice her infatuation if given the opportunity and whose well-meaning kindness is possibly the last thing she needs. Layla has no intention of indulging this ridiculous flash of sentiment, she affirms insistently, and promptly drops her gaze when she realises that she's unintentionally been glancing at Jared for longer than is normal in any sense of the word.
She's not really off to the best start at ignoring this unfortunate situation, Layla thinks dismally. It’s just very difficult not to notice his smile when he looks at her like that or the way his fingertips feather so gracefully over the guitar strings. Rather belatedly, she adds Morgana and Kris to the list of people to avoid until her hormones settle down - because as much as she doesn’t want that conversation with Rister, she really doesn't want it with Kris, who is the closest thing she has to a father nowadays. Ashlyn, thankfully, is about as likely to bring the topic up as Layla would be so at least there's one person she doesn’t have to somehow manage to avoid for the rest of the summer.