She wasn't going to cry and break down in front of Torin, she wasn't going to do it. Not Him. She couldn't let him see how much he affected her. Twilight, focus on Twilight.

"I know right? It doesn't even seem to be a romance at all. They talk to each other for three days and suddenly they are in love? It usually doesn't work like that. It takes time to really get to know the person." Alex's hollow eyes moved to Torin's face for a moment before focusing on the floor in front of her.

"Sure, that is fine with me." She said softly, trying to focus on a point. She was really dizzy now, the room seemed to be spinning.

He nodded as he looked at the book, reading the words and listening to her at the same time. "Exactly. And he wants to eat her like a steak half the time." He had never thought of Brody as being a steak before.

"Thanks! I'll tell her who you are and she can send you a thank you note." Cammy was a thankful little girl. He made sure that she was. Well, while still being a pain like he was.

Alex nodded. "Yes, yes he does. I don't think that is healthy for a relationship." She said softly. "Cause she is more like food, not like a woman you love." Alex closed her eyes trying to stop the spinning room. She felt weak, almost unable to breathe.

"Well that is very sweet of her. You can just tell her that I did it because she sounded like a very sweet girl, and I have always wanted a little sister to spoil." Alex's voice was getting weaker. She needed to go, otherwise she was going to pass out right here in front of Torin, and she didn't want him to see that. She did not want to cause him pain. It was enough that she was suffering..

"Exactly," he told her with a chuckle. Girls were people, not food. And it made no sense to him. It wasn't like Alex was a piece of chicken, she was a female friend.

"Well, you can spoil her as much as you want to." Not like he didn't spoil her rotten as is. He put a bookmark in the book, closed it and placed it in in beg before turning back to her to see if she was ready. But she looked like she was feeling rather faint.

"You okay? You eaten anything today?" She needed sugar for energy.

"Hmmm..." Alex opened her eyes and turned to look at Torin. It took a few seconds to focus on him but when she did she noticed that he had closed his book and was getting ready to send the present off.

"Oh yes I am fine." She said as she waved a weak pale hand at him. She was trying to remember when she had eaten last.. Had it been yesterday? The day before? She couldn't recall, all the days seemed to blur together in a painful haze.

She wasn't fooling him for a second. She needed food and she needed it now. "You need to eat food. Now. I'll carry you down if I have to." He was really starting to get worried. She looked terrible.

"You really need to eat something. Please?"

Alex looked at Torin as he spoke. She knew he was right, it had been to long since she had eaten. But eating was hard, breathing was hard. Everything was so hard lately. She sighed. "Okay, for you I will eat something." She said softly as she attempted to move herself from her sitting position on the floor. She slowly, very slowly got up and held to the wall to keep her balance, the room was spinning and she could barely make out anything. She pitched forward brancing herself for the impact as she everything slowly went black.

He sighed in relief as she started to get up. He would get her some toast to eat. Then she would feel better. He stayed close to her, making sure that he was within reach if she started to feel faint.

When she suddenly pitch forward, he reached out and grabbed her before she could fall on her face. She had passed out.

He carefully sat her back on the floor before taking out his wand. He wasn't usually one to cover girls with water, but she needed it. He squirted her with water to get her to wake up.

"Alex?"

Alex slowly opened her eyes and to her surprise she saw Torin above her. A dazzling smile lit up her face as she saw him. "Torin..am I dreaming? It must be heaven if you are here.." She blinked thinking she was dreaming. "I just had the worst nightmare, I told you I was in love with you and...."

Alex trailed off. Why was there water dripping down her face? And why did her head feel all fuzzy? As she looked around everything came back and the smile faded from her lips as she realized what had happened. Pain once more slammed into her heart. She wasn't dreaming, she was in her living nightmare.

She sorta scrambled back from Torin, tears filling her eyes. Her eyes darted around in a panic looking for a quick way to escape but she couldn't, and instead she just broke down. She curled up into a bawl, quiet sobs shaking her thin frame and she pushed herself back against the wall. The pain was too much for her. She felt so empty and dead.

She was waking up, but her words.. they made him feel worse than ever. His hopeful smile fading.

When she curled into a ball and started sobbing he felt his heart break. He was a terrible person. A bad friend. "Alex, please.."

He felt close to crying himself as he bent over her and gently touched her arm as she cried. "Alex, you really need to eat something."

Alex could barely make out Torin's words through her haze of pain. All she knew was that she needed to get out of here and into her common room. Just ten to twenty steps. Steps that she needed to take to hide her away from the boy who had shattered her.

She slowly got up, tears still pouring from her eyes. Her expression that of absolute anguish. "I need to go." She said and with that, she mustered up whatever strength she had left and bolted into the Gryffindor common room. Only to pass out again on the floor.

He let go as she started to get up. "No, Alex. Please.. you need to eat something."

But she was gone before he could say anything else to her.

Sighing, he slid down the wall and sat, banging his head against the wall. How could he have done that to her? He had tried to be as nice to her as possible. But he had had no idea that she was in love with him.

Whitney skipped down the seventh floor corridor, heading towards the stairs. It was crunch time, she had to study...or do homework, or do anything but lounge around outside or in the common room. She'd done that enough this term. She skipped past some person sitting on the floor, figuring it was no one she knew, until she heard them banging their head on the wall. Whether she knew the person or not, there was no way she could happily skip by knowing they were in such a bad mood. Turning around Whit saw that she did, in fact, know that person. "Torin?" 'Uh ooooh.' "What's wrong?" She slid down onto the floor next to him and looked at him, waiting for an answer. And a good one at that.

Kris came around the corner just in time to see Alex faint, wake up, begin to sob hysterically, and run away, all in the hands of some boy.

Oh HECK no.

Alex! He cried, running towards her. But before he could reach her, she was in the door of her commonroom, and out of his reach.

He whirled on the boy, now slouched against the wall, Kris's hand already on the handle of his wand, his face fierce with anger.

Alright buddy, there had better be a bloody good reason that Alex just ran sobbing into that commonroom, and for your sake, I hope it doesnt involve you.

His eyes were full of tears now. He felt like the worst person in the world.

He stopped the head banging immediately when he heard a familiar voice. Whit... His Whit was here.

And then another voice. One that he didn't know. And it wasn't a very friendly one either.

"I'm the worst person ever," he said before curling up into a ball. He wanted to cry. He couldn't believe he had done this to one of his best friends.

She watched as tears began to fill up his eyes, and she was in shock. Torin "freakin'" Kane was about to cry. This was horrible. "Oh my gosh, Torin!"

But just as she was about to give him a big comforting hug, someone came up and was accusing Torin of making making someone cry. Seriously? Raising an eyebrow, she said, "Not to be rude or anything, but I highly doubt Torin would ever do anything to make someone cry like that. I mean, just look at him." If anything she was the one who hurt him. And that was not acceptable.

Then she heard him say that he was the "worst person ever." What in the world is going on? "Torin, you are definitely not the worst person ever. Why would you say such a thing?" He was an amazing person and an awesome friend, not a bad person.

BLINK

Not the typical responce to an angry threat, Kris'd give him that.

Well at the moment I'm inclined to agree with you. Kris snapped.

He still didnt quite know what to make of this. Most people would be angry or yelling by now. This kid just shriveled up like a roley-poley...

But Kris was still mad.

Rolling his eyes inwardly at the girl's comment, he retorted, voice oozing with biting sarcasm
Well apparently he did, seeing as she just ran away...crying..Care to explain what just happened?

Still curled up, he wiped his eyes. He couldn't believe he was on the verge of tears in front of a boy that was angry at him. A boy he didn't know.

"Last week Alex told me that she's in love with me and I.. I told her as kindly as I could that we are just friends. I didn't want to hurt her but.. but.. I couldn't let her get the idea that I felt the same way when I don't. I was as kind as I could be.." He paused and took a deep breath.

"She's not eating now. She passed out then broke down into tears. I.. I feel so so bad, Whit."

...

Oh

Stomach sinking, Kris realized that he was just about the biggest idiot you could ask for at the moment.

But his pride forbade him to look it.

Well...you could have...oh I don't know..

Kris slid to the floor against the wall across from the pair.
Nice comeback genius.

Well, there was no need to start rolling his eyes at her, was there? She didn't go off rolling her eyes at him, now did she? No she did not...she was too nice for that. 'Darn niceness.' "Yes, well, it's not like he's sitting here with a huge smile on his face, now is he?" She looked back at Torin, just to make sure that he wasn't smiling. Nope, that was very far from grinning.

Just then, he began to explain the whole situation while crying. This was not good, not good at all. Her arms wrapped around Torin's shoulders in a bear hug, as she tried to figure out what to say. "Surely you know it's not your fault though!"

Looking back up at the boy, she was going to make sure that he didn't blame this on him, but he seemed almost sympathetic. Now she felt bad for getting a little angry with him. He was just trying to help his friend.

"And you...you talked to her? Or tried to, at least?" This was very serious. Torin couldn't help it if he was irresistible though.

When Whit grabbed him in a hug he shifted over towards her and wrapped his arms around her.

"It is my fault though. I never should have... I should have gotten how she felt about me." It made more sense now. Everything. Why she had wanted to kiss him. He had thought that it was just a friends thing, but it made more sense now.

"I tried talking to her about it just now, but.. I couldn't. I tried to get her to eat. I was going to get her some food, but she fled."

Well. This was getting a little awkward.

Third wheel much?

I'm ... gonna go check on Alex.

He stood up quickly and started to walk towards the Gryffie commonroom.

When he got there, he planted himself across from the door, determinted not to budge untill Alex, or someone who could get or take him to Alex, came out.

Whit watched as the boy left to sit by the Gryffindor Common Room. "Sorry!...and Bye!" Well, that was a very horrible first impression. She would just have to try again next time she saw him somewhere...and there wasn't a 'situation' going on.

She moved so that she was sitting in front of Torin now, instead of next to him, and thought of something new to say, because 'I'm sorry' just wasn't going to cut it. "But, there was no way you could have known that she felt that way towards you. Not really, anyways. You didn't know she was going to take it so badly." Sure, there were probably 'signs' but when did anyone really ever notice these so-called signs? Someone really had to get rid of the signs people give each other and just use their words. 'I love you Torin' wasn't good enough? Not that she'd ever say that.

"You have to get her to talk to you." She replied, nodding. "The only way you're going to be able to fix things between you two is if you talk to her...without her running way." Maybe she could find a way to trick Alex to meet Torin for a picnic, that way she would eat and Whit would be able to watch and make sure she didn't run away.

He let go of Whit and sat himself up again as the boy wandered off. "I just hope she will be okay again."

He shook his head at Whit. She was wrong. He should have known. "She kissed me, Whit. She told me that something came over her.. but we kissed since then too.." He had been kissing her when she told him how she felt. But he wasn't about to tell Whit about that.

"I've felt bad for the last week. I haven't even been trimming my hair." That and he was busy studying. That was partly related to the upcoming OWLs and partly because he had been trying to keep his mind off his having rejected Alex.

"She will be, don't worry." That wasn't the smartest thingy to say, seeing as he obviously WAS worrying and telling him not to worry wasn't going to do much to help, but it was a bad habit, and she really didn't want him to worry.

Okay, so kissing was a pretty big sign, but even then, how was she supposed to know that she would stop eating because of him? "But....you've broken up with girls before, right? There's no way you could have known that she'd react this way. Something coming over her while kissing you could have just meant that you are a REALLY good kisser." And she wouldn't be surprised if he was too. If he looked good shirtless, and with a shirt on, then he had to be a good kisser right?

What in the world was she talking about? This is TORIN, not some random guy, she wasn't allowed to think of how good of a kisser Torin might or might not be.

"You've been like this for a week?" She was really surprised now. What had this girl done to him? Then she looked up at his hair and noticed that it was curly. "You have curly hair, Torin?" That was weird. A good weird though. Curly hair looked very nice on him...very nice. 'Not that I care...cause he's Torin.' Although, she wouldn't mind if he left his hair like that more often. She didn't think it was possible, but Torin actually looked even more good looking than he did before. "Wow."