Wicked Games

No one could have expected the chaos that erupted as if over night, limiting everyone’s life in a single day. The juncture of violence and justice seemed to disagree and the outbreak seemed redundant.  In order to have peace you needed to resolve the differences at the core patiently, not tear them apart before giving the other side the chance. Willas understood what they were fighting about and for, but he doubted they would see the answers they wanted. The only good outcome was he had invited Sansa and her dog to come stay with him until the issues outside were resolved. When they were told to stay inside and don’t go anywhere unless for essential things, he knew that he needed to be close to Sansa to make sure she was okay. This was the closest he could have asked for and felt appreciative of her presence. He managed to make the apartment accommodating my cleaning and making sure it was comfortable for a guest. He was grateful for her cooking in his kitchen, eating and watching an entertaining show seemed natural for them even though they had only been seeing each other for barely a month. 

He left the room carrying their empty plates and began putting up some of the dishes. Cleo and Arthur pawed at his foot and he gave them affirmative pats before resuming the chore. “That was really good. Sorry for saying that again-” Willas praised as he returned to the couch, but his words stopped short upon noticing his device in Sansa’s hands. It wasn’t that much of an issue since he had nothing to hide but it still came as a surprise. It didn’t phase him when she said it had gone off but he felt his heart echo in his ears when she said Nymeria. There was no context for what the other woman had sent him, but could only understand the hurt and confusion on Sansa’s face. It was a simple misunderstanding and yet Willas was lost for words and was still sorting through the rifting emotions of Sansa going through his phone. “That-that was last week. I saw her at a bar,” Willas managed, glancing between Sansa and his phone. “I promise nothing of what you’re thinking happened, alright? We just caught up over a drink…can I have my phone back please?”

Frozen and unmoving for a moment the phone felt like a barrier between them. She held it out far enough away from her body as if the words could do physical damage. As he spoke the explanation sounded the same as she’d heard them before. This time it came out softer and kinder, only making it harder for Sansa to find the truth among it. Had she fallen for the same tricks again? She wasn’t sure, her heart told her Willas could be trusted, but her head was shouting equally as loud. The redhead gladly released the phone from her grip handing it over to him. There was no desire in her to snoop further for fear it would only break her heart more. Letting out a sign of relief her shoulders releasing the tension she held in them. She sank back into the sofa running her hands through her red locks. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me.” The tone that came out was not one she recognised. She herself could hear the hurt behind the anger. Sansa had been hurt to many times before, but this time Willas wasn’t hers to blame he was free to do as he wished. Even if that meant sleeping with Nymeria Sand as she now suspected.

She debated with herself about leaving. It was the last thing she wanted to do baring in mind all that was going on. She wasn’t even sure she could get back to her apartment, but it seemed like a better option than arguing and ruining what she had with Willas with her own insecurities. For the first time in a while she dared to look back up at him. “I shouldn’t have looked at your phone.” It was as close to an apology as she could muster given debate she was having within herself.

Mira: yes, im perfectly fine. i've been watching conspiracy videos on the internet and spring cleaning my bottom drawers. do you think i'll ever have an occasion to wear the red pushup bra again?

Mira: wtf wtf ignore that. wrong person

Sansa: I sure hope so!

Despite the circumstances Sansa was more than happy to be confined in the apartment of Willas Tyrell. When he had offered her the opportunity for her to bring Lady and stay for as long as the horrors outside continued. And of course she jumped at the chance. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck alone in her apartment when the riots had finally gotten out of hand. Despite the circumstances she was enjoying herself and Sansa was secretly hoping this would give the two the perfect opportunity to talk about everything without outside distractions. They’d just finished dinner, it was only something Sansa had managed to whip together with the remaining contents of Willas’ fridge. After dinner he’d stepped out of the room for a moment and almost instantly the screen of his phone lit up vibrating on the table. She knew she shouldn’t look, but the temptation was there all the same. Getting up from her seat she reached over snatching the phone into her grasp. It was locked with a pass-code of course but the notification read the same. The name read ‘Nym’ and right away her brain started looking for the person that matched the name.

Sansa had know the names of a few of Willas’ ex girlfriends. Blaming the research she did of him for the fact that’s she now unfortunately knew exactly who was texting him. Her heart sank as she read further. ‘Was great to see you’ it was her worst fear realised. They themselves had yet to put a label on what they were, which left so much room for questions. Sansa supposed he was free to see other people if he wanted, that didn’t stop her from hoping he hadn’t. She jumped slightly as he reentered the room, phone still very much in her grasp. She’d been caught snooping, it wasn’t the first time she looked at a guys phone. The previous ones had been her ex boyfriends and they were far more untrustworthy than Willas. Or so she thought. Guilt covered her face completely. There was no denying what she had just done, he caught her read handed. Sansa held the phone out to him in the space between them. “It went off.” Was all that she could think of to defend herself shaking her head and looking anywhere but at him. “Nymeria Sand?” The name came out like a question, but Sansa wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

[ ✉ - to cheekbones ]: the party as in my dads birthday?

[ ✉ - to loml ]: like real trouble?

[ ✉ - to loml ]: MIRA ANSWER ME

[ ✉ - to W❤️]: I’m in a meeting...

[ ✉ - to Broski]: well???????????

Margaery face turned up in her signature grin as Sansa recognized her, pulling the other girl into a hug. She was excited to see her friend, and glad that she had come, though Margaery had her suspicions that very little could have kept Sansa away. Taking a champagne flute from a passing tray, she linked her arm through the redhead’s, turning to face the artwork herself.

“I’m honored, naturally.” She could pretend to be interested in the painting in front of them, but it was no secret that Margaery was far more intrigued to know what was going on in Sansa’s mind. She began to turn, pulling a bit so that the other girl followed, still grinning the whole time. “Why are you admiring the art, when you should be letting people admire you?”

Sansa allowed herself to be gently drawn away from the art by Margaery. The art was beautiful, but wasn’t the distraction she’d longed for. Gracefully taking a glass off the same tray she gratefully took a large sip. She wasn’t sure where she was being led, but still followed willingly. Highly doubting that the female Tyrell would ever lead her astray. Sansa couldn’t help but laugh at the idea Margaery suggested. “That would require someone having an interest Mar.” Shaking her head her eyes moved to move around the room.

Everyone seemed to be invested into their own deep conversations. Her eyes scanned looking for one set of eyes in particular and coming up short. She couldn’t see him and it wasn’t surprising. The event had been practically thrown in his honor, she assumed he was entertaining the crowd somewhere else. “And as you can see there’s a distinct lack of that at the moment.” Sansa physically gestured around them to prove her point. Besides there was only one person where she even wanted to entertain the idea and he’d since gone radio silent. She froze for a second taking a large sip of champagne for a little courage. “Can I ask you something?”

Mira should have been annoyed with Sansa about her giving her number to Robb, but it wasn’t something she could stay mad at given the turn of events. It had only been a couple of months since she was formerly acquainted with Robb, only knowing him through conversations that Sansa included about him. Her first impression was not impressive, thinking he was brash and unsympathetic to the needs of others, but that was an outdated thought at this point. She still wasn’t sure about what to think of him but found other things to distract herself by seeing her friends. Having a daily schedule kept her busy, teaching about six classes a day and only having the evening left in her day. It was a relief when Sansa asked her to go shopping and she knew she should do some spring cleaning before buying more clothes, but she had a weak spot for fashion and Sansa. Mira leaned against the door of the changing rooms, refreshing her messages on her phones before switching over to her social media accounts. She wasn’t even sure what she was wanting to find, but she couldn’t put her phone down for five minutes. “Oh-what?” Mira asked, her eyes snapping up to Sansa who had emerged from the changing room with a different fashionable number. She immediately pocketed her phone, slipping it into her purse. “Stop, you have to wear that. It looks so good on you, Sansa. Please buy it-if you don’t I’m going to have to buy it for you.”

@starksansc·

Twirling so that her friend got every angle of the fabulous dress Mira had picked out . As it was her job you would of thought Sansa got enough of fashion during work hours. But it simply wasn’t the case in fact it was rare to find the girl away from a clothing store. And the bonus addition of getting some time with Mira who seemed to be the hardest person to get a hold of was didn’t hurt either. Sansa turned to look at herself in the mirror tilting her head at every angle before biting her lip. The fabric seemed to cling onto her skin perfectly. “No I can’t you know I have no more room in my closet.” Sansa wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince with the half assed argument. It was a fight within herself that she knew she was eventually going to loose. “At least try something on with me so I don’t feel like a total addict.” She suggested going over to the near by rack in the small boutique and searched for Mira’s size among the dresses. Sansa held out one for her to try on.

It was then she finally noticed Mira’s attention seemed to be elsewhere. Hanging the dress up in the dressing room next door Sansa turned to face her friend arms folded suspiciously across her chest. “I get you all to myself for the first time in weeks and your phones more exciting than beautiful dresses?” Her fake stern face cracked into a knowing smirk. “Robb’s probably at work.” She teased giving her a knowing wink

Willas’ mind kept circling around that evening and morning with Sansa at his place and it almost felt surreal. None of it could have been predicted and he wouldn’t have asked it any other way. They had shared a bed and somehow he could hardly sleep with his chest flaring at the thought of Sansa being that close to him. When it came to the morning he managed to make breakfast before they both resumed their lives which seemed pale in comparison. It had been more than Willas could have asked for and he knew he should have reached out to her either before or after the gala at Highgarden, but words felt distanced from his mind. The more he waited the more he knew he was shooting himself in the foot. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to reach out to her and see her again and hoped she felt the same way. 

The moment he saw her, his lips widened into a smile and gave a small breathy laugh at her dog leading her over. “Good afternoon to you both,” Willas greeted, glancing between the two amusedly. The comment immediately made him turn his attention to the ground and his smile faded slightly. It was pointed and blunt question, but Willas knew it was deserving. “I…I do apologize for that. I hope you will find it in yourself to forgive me.” Willas began walking slowly in the direction of the trail, his hand curled around the leash. The dogs seemed to be happy with each other which distracted him from the twist in his stomach. “When I saw you at the gala the other week, I thought…I knew I should have reached out. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to talk to me,” Willas managed to admit, sparing a glance to his side to see Sansa. He must have all but said he liked her more than the acquaintance they already shared. “I’m not the best at calling, but I promise to be better for you. I’ll call you every day after today, I promise.”

The statement came out a lot more blunt than she had intended. Of course it stung that he hadn’t reached out. However she had just as much of an opportunity to reach out and she still didn’t find herself able to pick up the phone. Lady seemed to pull Sansa along desperately trying to keep up with the other dog. It had become uncomfortable, nothing like it was in Willas’ apartment and it finally became clear to the girl that they were both completely overthinking the entire situation. She couldn’t hide the smile that grew on her lips as he began to apologize. His apology wasn’t what she wanted, he had nothing to be sorry for. “Willas I’m not angry with you.” Sansa said desperate to reassure him. Her eyes locked onto his for a moment before looking back at the dogs. “I mean sure a phone call would of been nice, but I haven’t exactly been forthcoming about my feelings either.”

The shy smile grew until the smile took over her face. She took a second to process the words and when they sunk in Sansa stopped in her tracks. The dogs both stopping along with her. Her hand lightly gripped his upper arm stopping him too. “For me?” She questioned him finally looking up at him. “You would do that for me?” The idea that he wanted to take the time out of his day to reassure her was a foreign concept and not something she’d become accustomed to when it came to her ex boyfriends.

@starksansc·

“Why does everyone assume that it’s my fault?” Arya said indignantly. She collapsed onto the sofa that Sansa had in her apartment. It was resplendently clean- quite the opposite of anything Arya owned. Her own room was cluttered with books, records, blanket, skateboards, and half empty spray paint cans. Not to mention the fur that Nymeria managed to spread to every corner. The chalk wall (which incidentally was Sansa’s idea) was constantly having equations thought out in chicken scratch handwriting and reworked until they were perfectly balanced. However, that left chalk and eraser littered about the floor near the work space. Sansa’s place seemed to have everything in order. Probably because her swanky job kept her out at all hours. There was no time left over for her to actually occupy her living space. Then again, Sansa and Arya had always been opposites, and quite often ended up at each other’s throats because of it. But that’s the nature of sisters. Especially those as different as the sun and the moon. It had been better since Sansa had moved out, but now it seemed like she was too busy for any of the family. Momentarily, she worried that she might stain the furniture merely by sitting on it. Paint still clung to her fingers from her morning activities, and her knee had only just scabbed over from her wipe out that morning. “I didn’t do anything wrong- at least not this time. I mean if was dad who got arrest. Why can’t we just focus on that?”

Sansa listened to her sister complain as she rummaged through her medicine cabinet searching for something antibacterial and a band aid to place over her sisters red covered knees. She rolled her eyes a few times but kept it to herself until she’d finished her rant. Collecting the first aid supplies Sansa walked back into the living room and place the lot on the coffee table. “Arya. Dad got wrongly accused of murder. There is a slight difference between that and you being accused of spray painting the towns historic buildings.” Sansa was a big fan of art no matter what form it came in and she’d much rather her sister putting her efforts into something creative than getting high in a back corner with Gendry. “They only blame you because you’ve become someone easy to pin the blame on. Maybe if you laid low for a while you’d fall off their radar.” Sansa didn’t know if her suggestions fell on deaf ears, but it wouldn’t stop her from giving them.

She took a look at the contents of her medicine cabinet once more than back at her sisters knee. “Right let’s clean you up before you stain my sofa or your leg gets so infected it falls off.” Taking a cotton round and soaking it in hydrogen peroxide she handed it to her sister to apply. The last thing Sansa wanted to do was place it on her sister herself and when the burn kicked in risk getting a kick to the face.

The past week had felt increasingly long due to the amount of work he bundled into it. At the beginning of the week, he attended a luncheon for an afternoon ceremony over the work done in the animal relief foundation. The other days had been reserved for planning and scheduling a nature park debut in the Reach’s plains. It was a small bit of land compared to the vastness of land in the Reach and Willas thought the preserve would be educational and beautiful to anyone who happened across it. Willas had been at the opening where the red ribbon had been sliced in half and the first ones to travel the unbeaten paths of the new park were eager to see it. This was something he had been working on for a few months with the other regulators and members of the nature organizations. It was his intention to include a park in the country just for a scenic pleasure and not let the land be taken advantage of by any corrupt means. The Reach was sentimentally close to him and had basked in the beauty of it and wanted everyone to enjoy it as much as he had. 

When the weekend came, the devastating realization that it had been a few weeks since he had seen Sansa. It was the gala in Highgarden where he had seen her and though their conversation was a happy and short exchange, Willas had felt numb and light for the rest of the evening. After she left in the morning from his place in Highgarden, he felt his stomach twist into knots by merely thinking about her. It had been an urge in the moment for him to text her about meeting this weekend at the new public park and as he waited at the trailhead with his labrador Frances, he began to have a dreading feeling the possibility that Sansa might have forgotten or was running late. 

It was a more casual setting than the elaborate and grand parties they had attended in the past couple of months. Besides his apartment, it was the only other time they had spent time alone which was something he was looking forward to. There weren’t that many other people around and if they were, they were already further along the path as they passed him before coming in.He had extended the invitation to her dog as well, bringing one of his as well and not all five of them. The dog nudged his leg and Willas stared down at his phone, giving Frances an acknowledging rub on the head. When he heard someone approach he raised his attention and smiled broadly at Sansa approaching him with her dog. “I was about to start looking for you in case you were lost,” Willas goaded lightly, reaching forward and giving her a friendly embrace. “I’m sure you remember my friend here. He has only gone on about missing you for the past few weeks. And is this beautiful girl here Lady? You two make quite the pair.”

There was a part of her that considered cancelling. The twos evening at Willas’ apartment had been amazing but left her with so many unanswered questions. And there slightly awkward exchange at the gala  left much to be desired. She was taken aback when he finally texted her, a walk in the park seemed like the perfect no pressure date. If Sansa even dared to call in that. Lady was always well behaved waiting for the redhead patiently by door, lead hanging out of her mouth, while Sansa ran around her apartment trying to get ready. Throwing on one of her matching yoga sets in a lovely teal shade and chucked her red locks into a ponytail on top her head because for her everyday was a fashion show. She finally made it out the door and walked as fast as her legs could carry her not daring to look at the time. Sansa half expected to be greeted firstly by five exited dogs like she was at his place, so was surprised to find him with his Labrador, she racked her brain for his name.

As she approached closer Lady began to pull her quicker in order to introduce herself to Willas and his dog. Sansa hugged him back making note that it didn’t feel uncomfortable but something was lacking from the embrace. She laughed it off turning her attention to the dogs. Sure the dogs name was frances but didn’t want to get it wrong. “I remember.” She knelt down until she was eye level with the dog giving him a scratch on the head. Lady was already surveying the area and the new people as she usually did. Sansa laid her hand on her dogs side scratching her grey fur reassuringly. “This is Lady.” Sanasa nodded pleased he remembered something she’d only mentioned once. “She’s a beautiful girl for sure.” she responded shaking of the later part of the compliment. When she finally stood to face Willas sh couldn’t hid the slight feeling of shyness that came over her. “I’m surprised you called.” Sansa admitted looking at her feet. “But I’m glad you did.”