Age Does Not Diminish The Disappointment Of Having, a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone

[CatalinaRose]

(continued from The First Order of Business..)

"And why ever not, Jor? Are you still slapping them silly? Though, really, that always rather made me pine for you," he teased as he let the door behind them shut and led her along the streets, his arm pulling from her hold and allowing his hand to settle near the small of her back as he steered her through the crowds. "As for that ice cream, I do believe we are here."

Jori grinned up at him as they entered the shop. "I can hardly be blamed if you fellows are scared of a girl who can take care of herself." She paused and looked around at the small tables. Only a few were full, they'd apparently come at a good time. "Besides, I have to have a reason to slap people now days." She bit her lip thoughtfully. "Most of the time anyway."

They made their way first to the counter to place orders, ( "Chocolate with Strawberries please.") and then moved to one of the tables to await their treats. Jori idly traced outlines on the gleaming surface while she waited. In such an old, familiar setting, she really could have been seventeen all over again. Even if it was more that obvious she'd grown up a bit in the four years since then.

"What about you Ethan? Any witch in particular holding your fancy? I'd have to meet her you know, make sure she fits the bill."

After all, wasn't that her job?

[Haddock Vibe]

"It's not fear, Jor love, it's just not natural for a female to be able to handle herself is all," he deadpanned before stepping far enough away from her to avoid any hits that might come his way before he made his own order ("Pumpkin. Plain." To Jor: "What? It's not everyday a bloke can get Fortesque's pumpkin.")

Once they sat, their ice cream on it's way, he found himself lost for a few moments in the past. Had he been asked back in school who he'd still be friends with today Jor wouldn't have made it on the list. James would have been on the top. Rhyssen...

Jack was probably the only school chum with whom he could have predicted accurately their current friendship.

"What about you Ethan? Any witch in particular holding your fancy? I'd have to meet her you know, make sure she fits the bill."

He gave a weak smile which he forced into a grin as their ice cream arrived, his spoon already buried in bowl before he gave her an answer. "You know me, Jor. When don't I have an entourage of women to choose from?" he said with a flourish of his spoon as he finished a bite. "Sure, I may have settled for a bit, but now I'm footloose and fancy free as the saying goes."

Or more like miserable and depressed.

[Haddock Vibe]

Ice cream could truly soothe a troubled soul. How many times had sweet Malai told him just that very thing? She'd even seen fit to bring over a carton of the stuff whenever he was in one of his moods and attempt to force feed it to him back in the day.

Gods he missed her all the sudden.

"How silly of me. I knew the Ethan Haddock fan club hadn't disbanded yet. Merlin, I sent in my monthly dues just last week."

He grinned at that. "You're still sending in monthlies? I'm hurt, Jor. I'd have been so sure that you'd have finally shelled out the lifetime patron fees," he teased right back, reaching over and tugging at a curl.

Okay, so maybe he didn't have Malai to cheer him up - of course nothing had ever been all that right between them since that horrid confession of hers five years back - but Jori was more than picking up the pieces.

"So. Tell me something interesting."

"I'm not interesting enough on my own merit?" he asked, pulling the hurt puppy dog look to his features.

Jori laughed. "What? I'm a journalist after all, its my job to want interesting stories. It's like I was telling Rhy..."

And then she did it. She spoke the name that he still struggled to think of - still struggled to hear. That his damn owl was named the same and would only answer to it sure as hell didn't help. But then it was just an owl and he'd managed to disconnect it as much as he could. But hearing her name drop from the lips of her best friend? His eyes closed tight, his hold on his spoon becoming vicelike.

"How is she doing?" he managed to whisper. He didn't really want to know. Oh gods, he didn't, but all the same, he did. He was half-hoping that Jori would tell him that she was misearable. That all she did was pine away after him and wish, as much as he did, that they could work things out and finally get on with the life that was to be theirs.

If he only knew what was about to befall him.

[CatalinaRose]

"How is she doing?"

Jori swallowed twice, trying to work up the voice to give him an answer. "She's...fine Ethan." She pushed her icecream away from her and closed her eyes for the briefest of moments before glancing at him long enough for her cheeks to pinken before she looked away and called up the best smile she could manage.

"We don't need to talk about her Ethan, really. Tell me more about your plans for teaching Charms. What will you do if some cute little girl gets her wand tangled up in her hair ribbon?"

As hard as she was trying the young woman knew it was of little use. She'd never been good at hiding things from Ethan, a fact that had gotten her into trouble several times back in school. He hadn't bought her tactics back then, and it didn't seem likely he was going to buy them now. It pained the young woman, but she knew it would all but kill him.

"Alright Ethan. There's something you probably need to know..." She closed her eyes again and swallowed. "And I really really don't want to tell you....You've no idea how much I don't want to tell you..." Now she felt she'd been leading him on too long. There was no point in not just getting to the point.

"RhyssengotmarriedlastyearEthan."

Her eyes snapped to his as the confession poured out in one long breath. She was silent now, but when Ethan didn't speak she found her voice one more time.

"Eth..."

[Haddock Vibe]

"She's...fine Ethan."

His jaw tightened, his icecream taking the brunt of his anger as he stabbed his spoon into the frozen dessert. Of course she was fine. Somehow she was always fine when he wasn't. It had always been that way and he didn't know why it surprised him now. And yet, somewhere in the anger and hurt, he felt a sense of relief for her. The pain he suffered almost daily in regards to her wasn't anything he wished on her.

Except in his more vindictive moods.

"We don't need to talk about her Ethan, really. Tell me more about your plans for teaching Charms. What will you do if some cute little girl gets her wand tangled up in her hair ribbon?"

The rapidly melting icecream would have cried out for mercy, if it could. Instead, it took the abuse up until Ethan shoved it across the table. "I'll kick her fucked up arse out of my room," he sneered. Really, he wouldn't, but it helped alleviate some of the pain he was feeling - picking on the imaginary innocent first year.

His eyes shot up to meet those of Jori's. "What the hell do you think I'd do, Feversham?" he snapped, the use of her last name something that he almost never did.

"Alright Ethan. There's something you probably need to know..." She closed her eyes again and swallowed. "And I really really don't want to tell you....You've no idea how much I don't want to tell you..."

"Just spit it out, damn it," he said, fearing the worst.

"RhyssengotmarriedlastyearEthan."

He stared at her.

A ripple of goosebumps tightened over his skin as he stared at her. No, through her. He could see Rhyssen, clear as day, her eyes filling with worry and confusion.

He'd not meant to be late on their second anniversary, really he hadn't. He'd left work an hour early and had swung by the flower shop to make sure the delivery was on its way, and then by La Rosa Incantata to confirm dinner reservations. Picking up his tuxedo from the cleaners, he even used the facilities backroom to get himself changed, Armand happily agreeing to keep a hold on Ethan's streetclothing until the tall American dropped off the tuxedo for cleaning after the big night.

From there he made his way to the jeweler with a good forty minutes to spare. Enrico had grinned broadly at his friend pulling out the three karat brilliant cut diamond he'd been holding for his Hawai'ian friend for the last year.

"Ciao il mio amico americano! Ed il momento è venuto, ha?"

"Ciao, Enrico. And you know I'm still nowhere good enough at my Italian," he grinned.

"Someday you must learn it, my friend," Enrico insisted as he held out the ring to Ethan. "She's beaut, isn't she? Best diamond I've ever sold in my shop. You're lucky I like you, or I'd have sold this one months ago."

Ethan took the ring, turning it ever so slightly in the light, his demeanor taking on a soft appearance. It was perfect. "You have no idea how much I appreciate this, Enrico."

"You promised, my friend, you'll bring your lady by to meet me once the night is over."

"If she says yes," Ethan said, handing the diamond back to Enrico.

"She'll say yes," he said with all the swaggering confidence of a man who had sold more engagement rings in his lifetime than most of the jewelers in all of Italy. "How could she not? You're a good looking man. You'll give her everything she needs, no?"

Ethan could only grin at that. Pulling a fat envelope out of the inner pocket of his tuxedo, he handed it to Enrico. "It's all there. 15,000,000 lire. That was the set upon price, yes?"

For the last year, during his two-hour lunch break everyday, Ethan had been taking on extra jobs. Everything from tending bar (which brought in the most lire) to cleaning toilets to watching the Adamo triplets (pure hell, that) just to save up the lire for the diamond he wanted. So many days he'd gone home and Rhyssen had commented how exhausted he'd looked. It was those moments that he only pushed himself harder saving every lire he could and tucking it away into a bank account at a bank that neither he nor Rhyssen had had an account at.

And now he was getting the ring.

"Yes, yes, Ethan," Enrico said, "just don't forget, my friend, that I'm giving you a deal. I could make twice as much on this particul-"

And that was when everything had gone wrong. The sound of shattering glass turned his head, his eyes going wide at the sounds of shots being fired. It was over before he could make sense of it, his eyes settling on the down form of Enrico, his friend's blood pooling beneath his head.

It wasn't until he was at the police station that he'd discovered that he'd been cut by shards of flying glass, his pristine tuxedo now spattered with red. The questioning had been intense, Ethan not even being given a chance to make a call home and when, exhausted, he'd finally reached their flat, her eyes, at first filled with anger at his late hour, had widened.

He hadn't realized that he'd forgotten to pick up the money until three days later.

"Eth..."

And like that he was back in the moment, the anger swelling as he shot up from the table, his chair toppling backwards and his hand shooting out to grab the front of Jori's robes as he hauled the short witch to her feet. "What the fuck do you mean she's married?"