(A question that comes not to dismiss what John's saying, but to follow up on it. John should know fully well what Petre is. Sociopath. Unable to process emotions like any other person can. He's never claimed he wanted to anyway, but he is a creature made of curiosity, and that has more often led to the destruction of others rather than his own.)
[It's not all insult. Petre is at least complex, and that's something John can appreciate in someone. Simplicity is often tied to ignorance, which is exactly what he mistook Siobhan's bliss for in the early stages.]
Anyway. Turned out she was the most alive 'cause she was the one actually dying. Not sick, but dying. So there's a tip if you wanna see if you've got it and need a jumpstart.
She could. [He shrugs, and that, along with the words that follow, are more deliberately casual. Nearly forced.] And then we would've had a stupid, messy, overdramatic breakup and we'd be glaring at each other across classrooms to this day. Happily ever after.
(Don't the vast majority of them end up that way? It's why Petre thinks it's just better to never get into that kind of mess. It's why Petre will never have one of those marks on his arm.)
Why? [Of course there's mild suspicion there.] It doesn't mean anything. It just happened. It's over.
[And it won't happen again, because he's of the same mind. Teenage school romances are stupid, and the stupidity is magnified in a fishbowl like a boarding school.
Anyway, he's pretty sure that place inside him did die when his black mark scarred over. Not because she was so special, but because it reminded him of how life really is.]
Friends usually talk about the past 'cause they want to, not 'cause the other person could force it out of them if they decided they wanted to know that badly.
[As sharp and pointed as the words are, he shrugs to soften them a bit. He wants Petre to know where the line is drawn, but not how much it truly annoys him that it can be (and is so often) crossed with such ease.]
Oh, now you're shy. What's stopping you? I would love to know everything that Petre Dodrescu thinks John Allerdyce is bullshitting about. You know how much your opinion means to me.
[Pure challenge. He figures it'll be good for a laugh, anyway.
Of course, he's far too caught up in the game to remember just how clearly and easily Petre tends to see through him, and that this could actually be a dose of reality he'd rather not hear.]
You think losing someone like that makes me wanna jump right back in? No, if anything, it means I'm one of the few people out there who's got the sense not to do it again.
[But you don't control the falling part, do you? Just what you do about it. So one of those red marks could appear, whether he wanted it to or not.]
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(A question that comes not to dismiss what John's saying, but to follow up on it. John should know fully well what Petre is. Sociopath. Unable to process emotions like any other person can. He's never claimed he wanted to anyway, but he is a creature made of curiosity, and that has more often led to the destruction of others rather than his own.)
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[It's not all insult. Petre is at least complex, and that's something John can appreciate in someone. Simplicity is often tied to ignorance, which is exactly what he mistook Siobhan's bliss for in the early stages.]
Anyway. Turned out she was the most alive 'cause she was the one actually dying. Not sick, but dying. So there's a tip if you wanna see if you've got it and need a jumpstart.
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(Isn't that a beautifully tragic story.)
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[That's totally genuine. He doesn't hold her up as "the one" in any way, shape, or form - just "the only one" thus far.]
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(Lacing his fingers on his stomach. Guess John knew better after all.)
She could be here with you, right now. In this school.
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(Don't the vast majority of them end up that way? It's why Petre thinks it's just better to never get into that kind of mess. It's why Petre will never have one of those marks on his arm.)
I'll remember that story.
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[And it won't happen again, because he's of the same mind. Teenage school romances are stupid, and the stupidity is magnified in a fishbowl like a boarding school.
Anyway, he's pretty sure that place inside him did die when his black mark scarred over. Not because she was so special, but because it reminded him of how life really is.]
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[Whatever that means. Maybe he's just throwing the word 'trash' out there to see how John reacts.]
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Any reason you could have for treasuring my old as shit memories is creepy. Any one. Just saying.
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[He will always ask why.]
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[He's not saying no to that.]
I thought it's what friends did.
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[As sharp and pointed as the words are, he shrugs to soften them a bit. He wants Petre to know where the line is drawn, but not how much it truly annoys him that it can be (and is so often) crossed with such ease.]
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[... Is that true or total bullshit? You decide.]
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Here's a tip, then. If you're gonna remember it, don't use it as dirt against me. Like I know you're dying to. Make a real effort and we'll see.
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[Which, in Petre's opinion, he has plenty of.]
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[But ask him one more time, he just might do it.]
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[Pure challenge. He figures it'll be good for a laugh, anyway.
Of course, he's far too caught up in the game to remember just how clearly and easily Petre tends to see through him, and that this could actually be a dose of reality he'd rather not hear.]
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'It doesn't mean anything'.
That's bullshit.
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It means I loved someone. Once, and past tense. That doesn't mean anything about now or the future.
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[He motions his head a little, defiantly.]
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[But you don't control the falling part, do you? Just what you do about it. So one of those red marks could appear, whether he wanted it to or not.]
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[a pause. He looks at him like he's waiting for him to recognize his mistake.]
'Can't miss what you never had'. There's a reason people say that.
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