#p:dd

Jonah heard the knock on the door and smiled. He knew Dani was on her way over and wasn't expecting anyone else. He'd only been here a short while, but already he found himself attached to the girl. He wanted to be her friend and the best way he knew how to do that was be there for her through the good and the bad. He knew not everyone was perfect, but he hoped she'd see that she could open up enough for him to see who she really was. Opening the door he smiled at his friend, "Hey there, lovely lady." He greeted her, stepping aside to let her in.

Dani smiled as the door opened, Jonah coming into view. She didn't think twice as her arms wrapped around his middle, giving him a quick hug before stepping into the suite. As she looked around it dawned on her that the pair had never hung out before, let alone had she been in his room. The former blonde took off her shoes, a habit that had long since formed since arriving at Roselle almost a year ago. "So I hope that you're fully prepared to cuddle. Because I've been curious at these so called 'amazing cuddle skills' since I first heard Aer talk about them."

Jonah wrapped an arm around Dani as she hugged him and let her into the suite, closing the door behind her. His room was, for the most part, completely uninteresting. He hadn't personalized it much aside from his personal collection of books, movies and videogames. Though, at the prospect of cuddling, he smiled. "You should know, I'm always ready to cuddle. Come on, we can head to my room for this cuddle party." He told her, leading the way. His room, much like the rest of his dorm, was completely uninteresting, the most interesting thing was how meticulously in place everything seemed.

Dani glanced around as she fell in step behind him, noticing that the entire place was lacking Jonah. She'd followed him into the bedroom, moving past him to flop face first against the made sheets. She sighed before rolling over, not really caring when her shirt rode up and exposed a good portion of skin. "So tell me how exams went." She asked, staring up at the ceiling and overall just glad to have someone with her. She was waiting for him to join her on the bed so that she could move herself and curl into him.

Jonah smiled as he watched her flop down onto the bed. It was big and comfy, so he didn't blame her, he often did much the same thing. He got into the bed next to her, sliding in close so he could wrap his arms around her. "Exams went, okay? I'm not really sure what the gauge is on those things. We got through it, so that's something." He shrugged, not really sure what to make of it. He was still getting the feel of domming and while he usually thrived under pressure, he found exams nerve wracking. "What about you, how did yours go?"

Dani smiled as she felt the bed dip under her, her eyes ripping away from her spot on the ceiling down to the boy beside her. She was beyond excited to cuddle with a boy, and easily curled against him when his arm went around her. Boys were weird, but in their arms she felt safe. Dani was thankful that Jonah was no exception to this rule. "I'm sure you did well. You're still learning your rose, but you've already proven that you're a pretty creative guy when it comes to domming. A lot of people do the same things over and over again." She shrugged her shoulders, tracing patterns lightly against his chest. "My exam was fine. My partner and I have known each other for a long time, which was better than being complete strangers I guess. There was a lot of fire." She said softly, looking up at him.

Jonah liked the feeling of having someone in his arms. The last person had been Aerolyn, and he'd been so preoccupied that he didn't really enjoy it, too concerned over her and rightfully at that. He was happy that this at least was comfortable for both of them, even if the reason for Dani coming over was to talk about more serious things, it was always easier to open up when you felt safe and comforted. "I might have screwed myself over opening with that punishment, I doubt I was that creative with my exam." Not that he really had any measure of it except what Elliot told him. "A lot of fire." He deadpanned, looking down at her. "Sounds dangerous." He knew he didn't have room to talk, so far every scene and punishment he did revolved around pain and discomfort, but thinking of Dani in that situation was still concerning to him. "Does knowing each other mean you two are friends?"

Dani nodded against his chest while she listened. Regardless of how Jonah felt towards exams or anything involving his rose, really, she didn't really doubt that he was good with it. She shook her head gently. "It could have been really dangerous, but I trusted him not to fuck me up." She gave him a smile, trying to convince him that she really was okay. It was an exam, after all, and she had been through worse. "No, not really a friend. I mean...I don't know. He used to date Owen and me, him, and Harrison decided we would be the housewives of the Evans family. But then I broke up with Chloe, Nate broke up with Owen...and we didn't really talk again until we found out we were paired together."

Jonah ran his fingers through her hair. He's been told girls like that. "I'm glad he didn't." He could have though, but that seemed to be the nature of exams from what he heard. And he knew he didn't have much room to talk, he may not have been playing with fire but just about every scene he or punishment he'd done had pain involved. He figured if anything that said something about himself as well. His fingers moved down from her hair to her arms, running back and forth across her upper arm as he listened to her explain a very confusing web of connections. "O...kay." He would be lying if he said he kept up with that, he didn't know who half those people were but he had enough of an idea of what she was saying. "Then I guess you got lucky, it could have been worse. Could say we both got fairly good hands when it came to getting dealt partners."

Dani laughed when she heard the slight confusion in his voice. She forgot that he really hadn't been there all that long, and that he may not know many of the people she ever chose to talk about. It was nice that he was wiling to listen though. So many people said that they'd listen but never actually did. "Yeah you could say that." She murmured, relaxing at his touch. She let out a very soft breath, her eyes dropping from his face. "So I'm supposed to tell you a lot of things, aren't i?" She asked.

Jonah felt Dani relax into his touch, and smiled at her posed question. "I believe you are, yes." He began, then tilted her chin up so that she'd look at him. "You don't have to. If you do then I'll still be right here when you're done, holding you. If you don't then we can watch a movie instead. I'm here to support you." He finished explaining. It wasn't like he didn't want to know, because he did, very much so, he was human like that. At the same time he knew Dani was hesitant to share and he wouldn't force her to.

Dani let him move her however he pleased, staring at him with big brown eyes. She knew she didn't have to, but she was tired of downplaying so much in her life-her disorder included. "So like a year ago, I used to date this girl. Her name was Chloe," and with that she began her story. "We dated when I first got here. And I always managed to fuck it up from the beginning. Do you know Lily, my bestfriend? I was in love- or so I honestly thought- with her sister, Lucy. And Chloe and I broke up so I could be with her. On my birthday last year, Lucy broke up with me. She had this epic love with Tina, and I knew I wouldn't get her in the end anyway. But holy fuck it sucked." She sighed. "I got back with Chloe that month, telling her I knew what I wanted and it was her. We both had to have known it was a rebound thing, but for a while I was happy. Until I had a particularly rough exam. I dropped after that, and I couldn't feel a thing. Wyatt Sylvester had always flirted, so I had sex with him. My first guy. I told Chloe and we broke up, only she took me back." Dani chewed on her lip, realizing just how shitty of a person she had been. "But it didn't matter because Wyatt and I had a connection beyond sex. And a few months later I was sleeping with him again- and Lucy, which was just confusing. Chloe broke up with me and I felt nothing. I- are you sure this is okay to tell you? It's kind of long." She said with a laugh, her cheeks slightly tinted pink.

Jonah have her a soft smile. "It's okay, mostly I'm just trying to keep up with all the names. I think I've got it so far though, and nothing is sending me running yet. You can keep going." He told her, tucking her hair aside to press a kiss to her forehead.

Dani smiled at the sweet gesture before continuing. "I started spiraling downwards a lot faster than I had been. I felt like I was on top of the world, and it didn't matter. I had Wyatt to have sex with, I had the school to have sex with. But then I had a fight with my bestfriend and she stopped being my friend. Why was completely unrelated at the time, but it just sparked something really dark and scary. We had a carnival, open to the public and I bought drugs. I never had done them, but I knew I didn't want to feel the massive amount of hurt that was coming my way. I didn't know the person I had become and I didn't know how to fix myself. My parents cut me out, but I reached out to them anyway and told them I needed help. They brought me back to the uk and then I was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder. I had been having an episode. I was put on medication and able to come home a week or so later. I came home to Wyatt, who I was with fora while after that. But I had met Aerolyn during this whole thing. And things with her became more serious. Wyatt told me one night that he had gotten himself a boyfriend, so I opted to leave the situation altogether. I didn't want him to cheat because I knew he could be happy. And I started to date Aerolyn. This was all back in June, now. But he has been mad at me ever since and I've tried fixing it but it's like...you made the choice first, you know? I picked love. So I get in moods still, and when I'm feeling lost I'll text him...because he had always found me. But it just makes him mad. He has a submissive, which I use that term so lightly. But whatever, who took it upon himself to involve himself and yell at me. So that, my friend, is what you missed."

Jonah let out a long breath. "Looks like a I missed a lot then." He looked at Dani and gave her a smile. "It's okay, because now I know a bit more about you, and I can add that to all the good stuff I learned before. It's not all good, some parts are downright shitty. I get it though, we all have our flaws and we've all made mistakes." He got a bit more serious as he looked at her now. "What's important to me is who you are now, not who you've been. Right here and now, Dani Delaney is a wonderful person who I love having as my friend. So if things get bad like that, if you get into one of your moods don't hesitate to call me. I may not be able to find you when you're lost, but I like to think I'm a good ear to talk to."

Dani couldn't even begin to put into words just how much what he said meant to her. For some reason she couldn't fully understand, opening up to another person was more terrifying than whatever was actually happening. She gave his sides a small squeeze, burying her face into his chest and just breathing him in for a moment. "Thank you." She finally said after a while. And this is why you get a bestfriend bracelet, she silently added. "I hope that you're never put in that position, but it's nice to know that you want to be there." She smiled at him, tilting her head so that she could kiss his cheek. "Now tell me something about yourself so hopefully I won't seem so dramatic."

Jonah had a feeling that she didn't hear stuff like this often, which seemed unfortunate to him. He understood holding grudges and why people wouldn't be as supportive of Dani as he was since they knew her then. He was here now though, and he hoped that he could help provide what she needed. As she hugged him, he thought he might have helped even the slightest, and that was a win for him. "It feels like your burdening someone, right. It's okay, I've had my experience taking care of people." He explained, the corners of his lips turning up when she kissed his cheek. Girls, always had that magic ability it seemed. "Something deep and revealing? I don't know..." He trailed off with a grin. "I'm kidding, I'm a pretty open book. So E True Hollywood story level? My dad left when my siblings and I were pretty young, mom turned to the bottle after that, and I spent the rest of my life taking care of her instead of the other way around. Don't get me wrong, she's not a bad lady or anything, she's awesome. When she's sober. It's not that often but she makes attempts every now and then to kick the habit."

Dani stared at him seriously as she listened, not really expecting this to be the story that he told. It seemed like the people who were so kind hearted and happy were always the ones with a past. Like life had dealt them a hard hand, and now that they were on their own and had some control over the way things were, they were determined to be happy. They had only known each other such a short amount of time, and Dani was already under the impression that Jonah was nothing short of a sweetheart. "That must have been really hard growing up, Jonah. Like it forced you to grow up a lot faster than you should have had to. Are you and your mom close or anything?" She asked, holding onto him just a bit tighter again.

Jonah smiled at the comfort she was giving him, but made a face as he shook his head. "No. Around fourteen I went through a shitty 'I hate you, your ruining my life' phase that we never really recovered from." To be fair, he was sure she had been blackout drunk for most of it, and wouldn't remember. Still, it didn't alleviate his guilt about how he acted during that time. "I spent most of my time after that trying to get away from her, kept busy and worked long hours. That kind of crap." It looked good on paper but part of him wished he'd tried harder to help her, most of him knew it would have been fruitless. "It's okay though, honestly. You don't have to feel sorry for me, I turned out fine."

Dani shook her head before nuzzling back into the crook of his neck. "I don't feel sorry for you. I think that you were given a harder hand in life than most and you were strong enough through it all. So you can have my respect, Jonah Ellis, but not my apologies." She meant that too. "There are always going to be things we wish we could change or that we could have done more for. But as it stands, we can't. And the important thing is that you've built yourself a life any parent would be proud of, regardless of their state."

Jonah rubbed Dani's back as she snuggled into him more, his other hand moving to the back of her head to gently rest there. What she was saying meant a lot to him, more than she probably would ever know. He didn't like sharing his past because he had to downplay it a lot of times to try and evade the sympathy that usually came with it. For once that wasn't the case and it felt nice. "You are too smart for words, do you know that?" He asked, the slight wonder and appreciativeness slipping into his tone. "I like that you think so. I like that you have such a high opinion of me. I'll make sure I live up to it." He'd made her too many promises not to.

"Story time?" It took everything she had not to wince at the childish tone in his voice, eager to hear about one of Christopher Brooks' wild adventures as an auror. He pressed papers into her palm, as if to pay her for her time, and was rewarded with a small nod and a soft kiss on his forehead. Be careful, they always warned, don't allow him to become too agitated. Nimble fingers folded the paper in her lap, producing one tiny star after another.

"Brooks was a very brave man," she began this way every time, a sad small smile flickering across her lips. "He was one of the bravest aurors in his entire training group, and everyone knew he'd be a hero some day. They used to say that it ran in his blood! His family fought against Death Eaters, and his uncle was at the Battle of Hogwarts--"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Paper scattered when her body jerked to attention, and she scrambled to at least collect the numerous stars on the floor; her eyes traveled up to meet the gaze of the stately looking woman standing in the door frame. At least today she was alone. "Didn't we tell you that we didn't want you here? Didn't I specifically tell you to stay away from my son?"

Today was supposed to be her day; Margaret Brooks was not supposed to be there until tomorrow. An audible curse left her lips as she rapidly pocketed the paper stars and rose to her feet. She would not cause a scene; she would not upset Margaret because she would not upset Chris. It didn't matter that he wouldn't really remember her visit anyway. 

"Did you say something?" The venom in the older woman's tone was enough to make her shiver, but she steeled herself, preparing for the wave of accusations that would soon be pouring over her. "This is your fault. He's like this because of you! If he hadn't--the damned daughter of an ambassador has no business out there just because she wants to rebel--it should be you here with no bloody memory." Cassandra winced visibly. Didn't she know that she felt the same way? Didn't she know that the guilt was eating away at her. Like many others Chris' mother had never known about their relationship, and that was not going to change. Better to allow her to assume that it was another case of protecting the diplomat's daughter than have her know the truth.