Defiance

Why was she even here? What had possessed her to dress up and come to a nightclub of all places? Defiance. Vette nodded her head as she sauntered into the place. Defiance of her parents and their mundane way of life. She was tired of being treated like a freak of nature and having to do double her share of work and chores because of it. Her parents were bigoted, close minded muggles and she was going to show them that she was not under their boots.

There was a visible sway in her hips as she made her way up to the bar in black boots with a four inch heel. Black leather pants hugged her ass in all the right places and both the low-cut, breast-hugging tank top as well as the black long sleeved shirt left unbuttoned were a soft silk. Her cowgirl image couldn't be completely shed though and a black beaver felt stetson fit perfectly atop her brunette tresses.

Ordering a water as she took a seat at the bar Yvette looked around and gave a small smirk. If her parents could see her now they would flip.

Outfit

This club was starting to become a habit for Ondrea. There was really nothing to do at her aunt's house, though, especially since the woman herself spent most of her day (and night) out. Could the teenager really be faulted for finding entertainment elsewhere? The werewolf thought not.

She probably should have just spent the break at home.

Attired in her usual red leather jacket and snug-fitting jeans, Ondrea wound her way through the crowd of people on her way towards the bar. A butterbeer sounded nice, right about then. Perhaps with the right luck, maybe even a drink of something a bit stronger.

Having ordered her drink, she cast another cursory glance around, gaze settling on a familiar face a couple stools down. "Vettie?" Ondrea smiled in recognition, relocating herself beside her friend. "We are looking fetching tonight, aren't we? You look nice. I like it."

The voice brought her out of her perusal of the other occupants of the club. She'd recognize that voice anywhere. The voice that dwarfed all others and made her really believe in angels. She turned to her friend and her breath hitched in her throat.

"Merlin, you're gorgeous, Drea," she breathed, half hoping of being heard and half hoping her words went unnoticed. Vette tugged at her shirt a bit. "I'm not that used to dressing up to go out somewhere, but my parents have forced my hand. I won't be pushed around anymore." She shrugged. "This was one of the only ways I could think of that would really piss them off."

Her brown eyes wandered around the club before she looked at Drea, her heart skipping a few beats everytime she looked at her, especially in those jeans. Drawing her eyes up from the snug jeans and back to the other girl's face she suppressed a blush.

"Is that Butterbeer?" She changed the subject to cover up the fact she had just been ogling her best friend. "I've never had it before. What's it taste like?"

"Thank you," Ondrea grinned, a hand reaching out to give Yvette's knee a gentle squeeze. It was a friendly gesture, innocent in intent. "You look great tonight. Really." Ordinarily, the werewolf would have long since noticed a person's interest in her. Somehow, Yvette was her blind spot. Perhaps it was simply because she had come to value the brunette's friendship so much.

"It tastes like... well, here, just try," she pushed her glass towards Yvette. "Describing it doesn't do it justice."

A small frown puckered her forehead as Ondrea gazed at her friend, detecting the irregular heart beat. "Are you alright? Your... your chest isn't bothering you, is it? It's not hurting at all?" Heart problems at their age would be very serious, especially if it was a symptom of something else, as well.

Yvette swallowed heavily as Drea lay a hand on her knee. Her skin tingled at the touch and she breathed in heavily through her nose to stop her gasp at the sensation.

She reached out and grasped the glass firmly, trying to keep her hand from shaking. "Nothing's wrong. I just... um... don't get out much. The noise in here must be getting to me." She seemed to caress the glass slightly before taking a sip from it tentatively. "This is pretty good. Why in Merlin's name have I been drinking coffee all this time when there's something like this around?"

She took another sip out of Drea's glass, resting it lightly on her thigh above where the other girl had put her hand. "So how's school been going? Anything interesting in your sphere?"

"Ah. Nerves," Ondrea nodded understandingly, accepting that as the answer to her concern. "Just stick with me, then. I'll protect you." Her tone was lightly teasing, though, the sentiment was sincere. Ondrea always looked after her friends when she could.

She grinned at Yvette's appreciation of the butterbeer, ordering another so the could each have one.

"Same as usual, for the most part," Drea remarked. "Spent half the break looking for that idiot Zander-" At this, her tone was fond, even if a bit exasperated. "-finally found him, by the way. Somehow got it into his head that everyone would be happier if he were gone." She rolled her eyes.

Taking a sip from the new glass, the werewolf straightened abruptly. "Oh! And my friend's fiancee is supposed to have her baby, soon. I'll be nipping back home to visit them in the morning.

"What about you, then?" Ondrea returned the question. "How are things?"

Inside Vette's heart seemed to shrink a little at the small amount of teasing, no matter the sincerity. Compared to Zander she felt invisible. Did Drea ever speak about her fondly? Sure they were friends but what she felt was something more. She couldn't keep her eyes of Drea when they were together and always had to restrain herself from overstepping the boundaries. She was drawn to the girl like a moth to a flame and soon enough she'd get herself burned.

"Don't know how the boy got it into his head that we'd be better off without him. Everyone seems to like Zander," she commented. 'Unlike me' she thought bitterly.

Her shoulders shrugged and she took another swallow of Butterbeer. "As for me I've been busier than ever working on the family farm. A farmhand's work is never done it seems. Ondrew has turned out to be not only a great rodeo horse but he's good at herding too. I can take him through almost anything and he'll be perfectly fine. Lucky too since he's one of the only friends I have really." Vette slumped against the bar slightly. "My parents have been sending me out on more and more long drives and the only people I get to see are the old guys sent out with me. You, Ondrew, and Instar are all I really have."

A sigh escaped her lips before she could stop it. Shaking her head Yvette shook herself out of her small pity party moment. "Enough about me though. You sounded excited about that baby being born. Have you ever wanted to have kids?"

"He has the worst self-worth of anyone I know," Ondrea said, with a shake of her head. "I have my suspicions." She tilted her head, gaze studying the other girl.

"That does sound like a lot of work. You should go somewhere else for break, sometime," she suggested. "Just have some fun. Maybe you can come to Montgomery House, sometime. My mum would like you."

She tapped her fingers thoughtfully against the bar. "We should get you socialized, then. I mean, I'm awesome, but I'm hardly sufficient as anyone's only friend.

"Mostly, I'm excited for him. Ty is really thrilled about being a father, yeah? Well, when he's not caught in blinding terror," Ondrea gave a soft laugh. "I guess I wouldn't mind having children, myself. I mean, I used to really want them. Now, I'm not so sure, sometimes. But probably. Ideally, with the right person - and after I'm done studying to be a healer, of course. Raising a kid and studying at the same time does not sound fun."

Vettie smiled wryly. "I'm afraid fun is one thing me and others have a vastly different view on. Socializing me and attempting to get me to have fun would probably be a bad idea. We both know how I am when it comes to other people. I..." She looked away and down to the floor. "I don't play nice. I just drive people away."

That was all she was really good at anyways. Being alone. Sure she had grown up with all the adults on the ranch and her cousins coming around every so often, but all in all she had been utterly alone until Drea.

"I think you'd be a good Healer," she commented, turning the conversation away from herself again. "I agree that trying to raise a kid and studying would be too hard for most people." A small smile pulled at her lips. "If you had to I know you could pull it off though. You can do anything."

"Anyone capable of surviving in the real world has learned how to appreciate biting wit," Ondrea returned. "Furthermore, playing nice is for children."

The werewolf ducked her head a bit to gaze up into the brunette's face. An amused smirk pulled at her lips. "You do remember what I was like first and second years, don't you? I couldn't even function if someone might have been able to hear or see me. If I can socialize, so can you." She gave her friend's shoulder an encouraging squeeze.

"I like to think so, too," Ondrea mused aloud, resting her chin in one palm. She gave a wry grin. "Let's just hope I don't have to give it go, shall we?"

"I still saw you even back then," came the reply. "Even when no one else did and they made fun of you. I saw you even though I was too socially awkward to try and make friends. I did beat up a couple of the older kids that made fun of you though." She smiled at the hand on her shoulder.

She leaned against the bar and turned towards Drea. "You changed since then. It was a change for the better but I still see the girl I was too nervous to befriend. The same beautiful girl." Vettie sipped her drink and raised a hand, resting the tips of her fingers against Drea's cheek. "You really are gorgeous, Drea. Anyone would be lucky to have a girlfriend like you."

Ondrea felt a slight flush heat her face. She didn't know what to say. To a girl who had once felt so invisible, that confession meant a lot.

The werewolf froze as Yvette's fingers alighted softly against her face. Suddenly, so many things she had taken as something else snapped into place and for a moment, she could just stare.

"Do you... do you have a crush on me?" Ondrea asked. "I mean - Vettie, you do realize I'm in the running for school tramp. Don't you? I'm not exactly crush material..."

"Damn." Vettie snatched her fingers back and slammed her drink down on the bar. "Damn it all." She hadn't realized what she was saying and now she had gone and ruined it all. Her foolish emotions had gone and ruined everything. She didn't just have a silly old crush. By Merlin's beard she was freaking head over heels in love with the other girl and had been just denying her feelings. She had been denying she felt anything for a long time.

Sliding off her stool the cowgirl pushed through the crowd towards the washrooms. She needed to get away from people. "I always loved you," she whispered, tears beginning to gather in the corners of her eyes as she entered the washroom.

Moving to the bench in the corner she curled up against the wall and let out a heart-wrenching sob. She should have known better than to fall in love. No one could ever love someone like her.

"Yvette-" Ondrea began. They could talk this out. It wasn't that unusual to develop a crush on one's friend, right? When two people were close, it was easy to mistake that intimacy as something else.

Then, she said that. The 'L' word and Ondrea froze. Granted, Yvette was at the door to the washroom halfway across the club at that point, but Ondrea had had no problem hearing the words. It was the only reason she stopped following her friend - her mental processes short-circuiting.

Vettie had said that - that...

Ondrea knew that she ought to check that her friend was okay. It would be the mature thing to do, after all; to talk things through and try to bring her around to reason. But reason had little to do with this situation.

It was not until she had found herself turning and fleeing than Ondrea realized she just might be phobic of the word love.