Blue Eyed Girl

Roxanne wasn't exactly sure how she should approach George so that he would actually talk to her. So far, she hadn't had much luck. She asked Katie if she would talk to him for her, but Katie refused to get in the middle of George and Roxanne's fight. Roxanne tried a few times to ask George to talk, but he still turned her down. Following Katie's advice, she decided to lay low for a while, hoping that maybe he would come to her.

So over the next few days, Roxanne tried her best to not even look at George. It was difficult, but she succeeded fairly well. She tried to resume her normal daily routine and just omit the parts that had to do with George. It wasn't until George had stopped talking to her that Roxanne realized how much interaction she usually had with him. He, Katie, and occasionally Angelina and Alicia were pretty much the only people Roxanne talked to on a regular basis. Taking one of those people away had made Roxanne's life rather lonely. However, Roxanne refused to give up. George would come around eventually, right?

One afternoon, Roxanne was sitting on the couch in the Gryffindor common room, finishing up some homework when she heard someone coming through the portrait hole. She didn't bother looking up, and neither did most of the other Gryffindors in the room. Roxanne was reading a particularly uninteresting section of her Potions text book when her concentration was interrupted.

"Hey, Rox."

Roxanne looked up upon hearing her name. She was pleasantly surprised to see George standing in front of her, looking down at her expectantly.

"Hey!" Roxanne exclaimed, closing her book and jumping up off the couch. She couldn't believe it! George was actually talking to her again!

"About the other night..." George started slowly and evenly. "I completely overreacted."

"No! You had every right to be upset."

"I don't know what came over me. I mean, you and Malfoy?" he said, some of his sense of humor returning. "What was I thinking?"

Roxanne tried to smile as all of the energy she'd gotten from the excitement of George actually speaking to her drained away. She really wished he hadn't just said that. It's not that she wasn't planning on telling him about her kiss with Malfoy, she just wasn't going to do it right away. But now it seemed that she didn't have any other choice.

"Well, it's funny you should mention Malfoy..." Roxanne began reluctantly. She really didn't want to have to do this.

"What about him?" George asked a little suspiciously.

Roxanne really, REALLY didn't want to have to do this. This was going to be a disaster. Well, she couldn't stop now. She took a deep breath, looked away, and said, "We kissed." She winced before looking back at George to see his reaction. His face was completely blank. There was no emotion whatsoever. He just looked at her. Suddenly, and extremely surprisingly, he started laughing. He walked over to Roxanne and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Wow, you really need some help with your material," he said, laughing hysterically. He thought she was joking! This really was a disaster. "It's really flattering that you would want mimic my sense of humor, you know, since I wasn't around and all, but you definitely need some work. It's your lucky day, though, because I'm back. Now, you see, with that joke-"

"No," Roxanne cut in, "George..." He stopped in mid-sentence.

"What?"

"I'm not joking," she said firmly, but reluctantly.

"You're..." George said, dumbfounded, his face completely blank again. He dropped his arm from her shoulder. "You seriously..." He couldn't finish a sentence. This was certainly not good for their reconciled relationship. Roxanne nodded regretfully. George just looked at her, shaking his head, opening and closing his mouth like he didn't know what to say. "I don't know how to respond to that," he said with the same lack of emotion in his voice. Roxanne didn't know what to do; whether to say something or not. So she decided to just stand their and look really regretful.

"I..." George said, sounding more angry and upset by the minute, still shaking his head. "I just don't know what to say."

"I know!" Roxanne cried desperately, finally deciding to say something. "And I'm so sorry! It was a mist-"

"I can't believe this," he said disgustedly and turned and started walking away.

"George, wait!" Roxanne cried, going after him. "Just let me explain!"

"Explain what, Rox?" he yelled angrily, turning to face her. "You're always trying to explain things to me, but it never seems to make any sense. So, please, enlighten me."

Now it was Roxanne's turn to be dumbfounded. She wasn't expecting him to actually listen to her explanation, and with his tone of voice, she didn't expect that he would be very understanding of it. She was caught off guard and wasn't able to recover fast enough.

"Well, that sounds very convincing," George said with irritated sarcasm in response to Roxanne's silence. He turned to leave again. Roxanne was desperate to keep him from walking away angry. She instantly decided to kiss him. Maybe it would make him remember how much he liked her, and this dilemma would be over. So, before he'd turned completely, she grabbed his shoulders and kissed him.

It was just like the first time they'd kissed. To Roxanne, it felt like the rest of the world disappeared. But before she knew it, George pulled away.

"Do you think that kissing me is just going to make all of this go away?" George asked in mocking disbelief. Jeez, Roxanne couldn't do anything right tonight. "Are you done now?" he asked after they stood silent for a moment.

"Please," she begged quietly. Everyone in the common room was staring at them, and she didn't want them to hear their entire conversation. "Please, just give me another chance."

"Rox!" George cried in frustration. He didn't care if the whole world heard him. "This was your other chance! And you blew it. Big time."

"I'm so sorry, George," she whimpered softly, her voice breaking. At this point, she didn't care if she cried. Maybe it would even make him feel guilty, and he would forgive her. "Can you please forgive me?"

"Why should I?" he asked quietly, but sternly. "How do I know that you're not going to go and do something like this to me again?"

Again, Roxanne was at a loss for words. Should she tell him how she really felt? She figured it wouldn't hurt. She paused for a moment, but then decided to go for it. "Because I love you," she murmured with as much emotion as she could muster. She couldn't believe she'd actually said it. She'd never said that to anyone before. But as soon as she said it, she knew she meant it with all her heart.

George looked at her for a minute. Roxanne thought she saw the fire in his eyes falter. She thought that maybe this had done it; that this would give him a reason to forgive her. But she was wrong.

"Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you went and had your little snogging session with Malfoy," he said softly. This time, however, his voice wasn't stern or angry; it was forlorn and almost remorseful. He went to leave again, but Roxanne just couldn't let him go.

"George!" Roxanne cried after him.

"Roxanne, please," George replied wearily. "You want me to forgive you, don't you?"

"Of course I do," she answered emphatically. Where was he going with this? Was he really going to forgive her now?

"Then just give me some space, all right? I'm going to need some time to think, because if you want my answer now, it's going to be no. But that shouldn't be a big surprise to you, should it?"

For the umpteenth time that afternoon, Roxanne had no idea what to say or how to respond. She didn't know what to make of what he just said. He was going to think about it. That was good, right? He would realize how sorry she was, and then everything would be okay. But right now he was really pissed at her so it wasn't a shock that he wouldn't want to forgive her now. She guessed she understood. She didn't have much time to think about it before George turned for the final time and left the common room. This time, she let him go. He wanted more space? Well, if it meant he would forgive her, then he could have as much space as he wanted. Even though the past few days Roxanne hadn't gone anywhere near him...wasn't that enough space? She didn't feel like analyzing it any more. Now she did the only thing she knew how to do in this situation. She went up to her room, climbed in her bed, and cried.