recovery [dante + bri]

[donato nicolas of spain]

Tuesday November 2, 2011

Dante had been in his room for days, literally. But it seemed like years since the accident late Saturday night and the ensuing confessions. From the incident with his sister just before the party, to the after-accident admission to his cousin, the tearful argument with Bella in the early hours to the painful reconciliation with Bri the next morning, ending with the realization that he was in love with Vivien when he was standing in her room that afternoon. And then he'd retreated, partially in shame and embarrassment, to his room to hide out and go through the gruelling process of detoxification. He'd had Gone With the Wind replaying on his laptop since he climbed into his bed Sunday afternoon- but he was glad that he'd mostly slept through it.

He groaned quietly as his stomach rolled and he closed his eyes tightly. The feeling was one he'd gotten used to in the last three days, as well as the rapid change in his body temperature. His mouth began to water sickly and he pulled off his headphones, unplugging them in his haste to sit up, despite the fact that he knew it would make the nausea worse. He groaned again and stood up, hurrying to his bathroom as his stomach rolled again and he hit his knees just as he repeated the sickening act he'd experienced many times since Saturday night. When he was done, he rested his forehead against the cool porcelain and took deep breaths, attempting to calm his system. It only took a few minutes before he began to feel normal again and he stood, rinsing his mouth in cool water but not daring to swallow any. What he did dare to do, however, was look at himself in the mirror. His right eye was black and blue, healing but still looking pretty sick from when his head slammed into his steering wheel and broke his sunglasses. The split on the left side of his lower lip was less red, but still stitched together with those perfect black threads. Those things were normal to him, having lived through the exam at hospital. What wasn't normal were the bags under his eyes, the hollowing of his cheeks, the yellow tint to his skin and the way his usual perfectly-coifed bedhead was tangled and lifeless and falling in his face. What the fuck had he let happen to himself in the last several months?

With a look of disgust, he turned off the light and left the bathroom, shuffling slowly to his bed and picking up the hoodie he'd earlier discarded. He slid into the soft worn cotton and appreciated the smell of the detergent- it was comforting and somehow light enough not to make him sick. He collapsed back onto his bed, not bothering to get under the covers, and went back to watching his movie. It was at his favorite part and he smiled widely as he curled up and made himself comfortable. He remembered his night with Vivien during the Rose Ball when he'd quoted it to her as part of his seduction technique. He still felt that she was someone who should be kissed, often, by someone who knew how. And like Rhett before him, he felt he was fully within his right to say he was the proper person to do so. He heard the door open and he groaned slightly as he adjusted his position to try and turn off the movie. After all, it could have been Fred or Romeo, and he didn't need that grief to add in to the fact that he was detoxing from drug addiction. And to prove just how lucky Dante had been in the last few days, his laptop froze while leaving the audio playing and he began to curse under his breath.

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Tag: open
Word Count: six three six
Outfit: here

[/i]
Notes:[/color] open to one of the peeps listed above
Credits: Lyrics: B.o.B.
Template: Liz! [/font][/blockquote][/blockquote][/center]

[gabriella nicole of england]

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Gabriella's sneakers slapped wetly against the sidewalk as she hurried from the Columbus building in the direction of the male dorms. There was a sort of wet snow that had been falling since the previous evening, and though most of it melted upon contact with the ground, some remained in the form of a cold, watery slush that formed slippery spots and puddles all over campus. Most of the school's students were escaping the inclement weather in any way they could, a common practice given the changing season and temperatures. Even the library was crowded, though Gabriella seriously doubted most people were using the space for studying.

Her classes were done for the day, so she'd decided to check up on Dante. It was his third day of "detoxing" and Isabella had been keeping him confined to his room. From what Bri had heard through the grapevine -combined with her own observations from the day after the Halloween bash- it didn't seem like her friend was in any shape to leave the building, let alone go to class in any case. Completely disregarding the "Keep Off Of The Grass!" sign, Bri cut across the lawn, her shoes squishing through the wet until she reached the front doors, remembering the last time she'd passed through them.

*********inside Gabriella's head***********

It was an unseasonably warm night out, perfect weather for the annual Halloween party thrown by the Kings and Queen's. This year the chosen venue had been announced via text message only a few hours before everyone was supposed to show up, probably resulting in many of the female students scrambling to get ready. Gabriella had decided to go with something different this year, settling on a female Zorro costume after trying on and rejecting a large pile of others. The store owner had been beyond delighted to have such a decisive customer, and as soon as she pulled on the off-the-shoulder blouse Bri had known it was the one. It was more practical than a lot of the other girls' costumes, and a lot less provocative, but her goal of the evening wasn't to hook up with a guy (unlike a lot of the other girls). Nope, her main mission was to blend in and possibly have a second to steal her twin away from her own party in order to talk to her. Besides, her parents were now requesting that she stop her "hiding nonsense" as they called it. They said the three of them were just going to have to get over what had happened, because the wedding was going ahead as planned and they were planning on setting up a series of dinner parties to force Vivien to interact with the most suitable bachelors in Europe. Bri would have felt sorrier for Vivien had her twin not kept something so vitally important as what had happened a secret. How ironic was it that her parents thought she needed to go and party? The world was turning upside down, Gabriella was sure of it.

After tipping the cab driver around the corner from the IceBox, Gabriella smoothed her costume, straightened her mask up and flashed her I.D. to the security guard, passing easily through the security barrier, much to the dismay of the jealous pack of non-invited press and civilians. With one final toss of her hair and an adjustment to straighten her shoulders, Princess Gabriella of England entered the dimply lit threshold. Wow, they'd really done a good job as far as location and decorations went. The place was busy, with students at every table, on the dance floor and at the bar. Bri was thankful that her costume included a mask; there were so many people it was almost overwhelming.

Under normal circumstances the bar would have been her first stop, followed by a visit to the King's table to congratulate Dante on doing such a good job, but given that the pair weren't on speaking terms right now, she chose to move in the opposite direction. She skirted the edge of the dance floor, trying not to hit anyone with her scabbard but there was enough space that it wasn't anything to be concerned about. The extra space was likely owed to the fact that most couples had their bodies all but super-glued to each other. Still, the view was ignored easily enough and this was the area where Bri was least likely to run into Dante -or any of his fellow Kings- because by the time they made it to the dance floor they were almost guaranteed to be buzzed enough that they wouldn't recognize her, even if she did happen to run into one or more of them.

Gabriella's train of thought came to an abrupt halt when she felt a flicker of disappointment wash through her. Okay, so she'd be lying if she tried to convince herself that seeing a certain blonde-haired King wouldn't have made the party a million times better, but that wasn't likely to happen tonight. The elite groups usually stuck together at public events such as tonight as a show of unity or something, so she wasn't likely to see that particular prince unless she saw Dante as well. Bri was very curious to see how the Kings had each interpreted tonight's theme, or completely disregarded it as the case may have been, but it wasn't worth the grief she'd get. Besides, it didn't matter whether she saw Romeo or not, really it didn't. At least, that's what she kept telling herself.

After edging around the dance floor Bri was just approaching the far end of the bar where it was less crowded, and getting ready to wave over the bartender when she felt a vibration against her left leg. Thanking her stars she'd practised bending over so that she didn't get caught on her sword and her blouse didn't slide down, Gabriella slid a hand down her leg, unsnapping her phone from the inside of her boot. It had been the handiest place to clip the device since she hadn't wanted to carry a purse. Upon seeing the badly spelled message, and the name that went with it Bri shook her head, typed only a slightly irritated reply, and gratefully accepted her glass of Bailey's and ice.

**********back in the real world**********

Gabriella stopped in the lobby/foyer/common area to wipe her feet and drop her hood, shaking out the stray water droplets that had somehow managed to find their way beneath her hood. The stairs posed no challenge, even though she moved up them at a run, just to see if she could do all ten flights without being winded. Thanks to her athleticism Bri wasn't even breathing hard when she knocked on the door for room 504. It wasn't until after her hand was back at her side before she remembered who lived there besides Dante.

There was Fred, whom Gabriella didn't know very well, but in her experience he was almost always an ass, causing trouble when people didn't really need or want any. She fervently hoped it wouldn't be him who answered the door. Romeo on the other hand... confused as to why she wanted to see the Italian prince in the first place, Bri shook the thoughts away. It was strange that no one had answered when she knocked, so Gabriella did the logical thing; she pushed the door wide open. "Dante?" The room was fairly neat, considering three boys lived there, though Bri suspected Isabella -and her love for all things neat- had something to do with it. She slid her coat off and hung it on the coat rack, hearing a groan from the direction of Dante's bed.

Gabriella stepped over a couple of male clothing articles without looking down at them. She was busy enough carrying a container of soup with crackers on top in one hand and a sandwich with her other. "Just thought I'd stop and see how you were doing." Her voice was purposely cheerful as she kicked the door shut behind her. As she came around the corner, the princess stopped dead in her tracks at the sight before her. She had exactly five seconds before the noises coming from Dante's laptop registered as the sounds of Gone With The Wind, and Bri's body started quivering as she tried to keep a straight face.

She was sure in his current state Dante would appreciate her laughter even less than he would ordinarily, but to discover her childhood friend had a romantic side made Gabriella want to bust a gut laughing. Wasn't it supposed to be the drugs that were supposed to make you act weird, not the detoxification process? Gabriella stood there for almost a full minute without looking at him, for fear she'd start giggling or say something equally embarrassing. "I um, brought some food, in case you were hungry." It was impossible to keep a straight face, but she managed not to grin like an idiot at him. Or at least, not too much.

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^{TAG - Dante
WORDS - 1526 words
NOTES - this thread is now taken!
TUNES - two birds stoned at once , chiodos.
CREDIT - template by MUNZTAR * of caution 2.0}

[donato nicolas of spain]

Dante looked up at the cheerful voice and he smiled weakly when he saw that it was Gabrielle and not one of his roommates. He cleared his throat as he pushed himself and repositioned until he was sitting indian style and leaning against his pillows. "Bri, hey," he said happily, and then he frowned at his voice. He hadn't spent much of the last few days talking to anyone and he had spent quite a bit of time hunched over in his bathroom. So, he'd expected a difference, but the rough gravelly sound that came out was a surprise to him. His laptop was still frozen, the screen black and the sound still going, so he closed his in frustration and unplugged it, forcing it to turn off as he felt a blush creep into his cheeks.

"I'm doing terrible,

[/color]" he said, forcing a small laugh as he rearranged the junk littering his bed. He'd only gotten his phone back that morning, so he'd been keeping himself entertained with a book, his laptop and his cigarettes, which had been a life saver. And there was a package from his mother on the foot of his bed that had arrived that morning while he was asleep. He stacked his things into a pile, leaving plenty of space for Bri to take a seat. "But I'm really glad you came by,[/color]" he said, looking at her as he picked up his orange juice and took a small sip. He'd been drinking his juice slowly, because the acid felt terrible coming up again, but the sugar made him feel a little bit better and he felt he could deal with the acid or be completely miserable.

His computer made a final attempt at embarassing him, unfreezing and uttering a final, clear line from the movie before it shut down and left them in silence. He stared at it, his face heating up again and he cleared his throat again, this time in embarrassment. He bit his lip and turned his gaze back to Bri, letting out a quiet snort. "Here, sit down,[/color]" he said, patting the bed in front of him. The food in her hand smelled wonderful, but made his stomach turn at the same time and he took a deep breath as he reached for his cigarettes. He lit a candle to combat the smell of the smoke and set his ashtray on top of his laptop as he lit the cigarette and took a deep inhale. "You're the best,[/color]" he said, his voice dropping quietly as he smiled at her and exhaled slowly. He allowed himself to wonder at what was going to happen between himself, Bri and Vivien. He knew, especially now, that he would have no problem building a life with Bri because she was the friend who brought food to a sick friend. But he couldn't bare the painful thought of giving up Vivien and he wasn't sure how they'd keep up an affair from seperate countries when they were both married. "I've been sick, though, so I probably won't eat it in front of you,[/color]" he said, ashing his cigarette and taking another drag. For some reason, the smoke was actually settling his stomach.[/color]
[/font][/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

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Tag: bri!
Word Count: five three six
Outfit: here

[/i]
Notes:[/color] sorry it's short
Credits: Lyrics: B.o.B.
Template: Liz! [/font][/blockquote][/blockquote][/center]

[gabriella nicole of england]

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Gabriella didn't bother removing her shoes, a smart choice considering the state of the room. Her lip was bleeding a little as a result of the nervous habit she had of biting it, but Bri was hoping that Dante wouldn't notice. With the way he was looking right now, that looked like a distinct possibility. The princess's eyes fluttered over his face, taking in the dark rings under Dante's eyes and the yellowish pallor of his skin. He looked pretty sick, and the part of Gabriella that had completely moved past the hurt he'd caused her was glad she'd come. Even if it wasn't easy for her to be here, the way Dante smiled at her -like she'd made his day or something, hadn't gone a long way towards making her feel that he was okay. Dante's voice barely sounded like it belonged to him, and Bri silently patted herself on the back for bringing the soup.

For the most part Bri was able to ignore Dante's blush, but it would have been easier had the pink shade not clashed so garishly with the yellow one. As it was, she was having problems resisting the impulse to grin at him, but Bri had been able to school her expression into something less teasing. This was a reason why Dante was going to be a great King of Spain. There were so many hidden layers to him that few people were allowed to see, but Bri was sure he would rise to the challenge and be the strong leader his country needed. Gabriella realized -not for the first time- that her parents could have picked any number of other Princes to ally their country with, with most of them either being too immature, too rigid with rules, or downright unpleasant. Despite the mistakes Dante made, she knew that being married to him wasn't the worst thing that could ever happen to her. Or at least, that might have been the case had he not been in love with Vivien.

The situation was too weird to ignore, and Gabriella wasn't sure how Dante possibly expected her to. Her go-to coping strategies ordinarily were avoidance and denial, neither of which were working for her any more. She knew they'd have to talk about it again at some point before the actual wedding, but for the time being it was just easier to pretend the arranged marriage was a bad dream. This way the two of them could potentially get back to their easy-going friendship again. Watching him sip his orange juice reminded Bri of when they'd been small children and Dante, Vivien and herself had often had picnics on their beds together when the weather was bad. The memory was a little bitter-sweet right now, but Bri hoped that would go away.

She moved forward, cautiously taking a seat on the edge of Dante's bed, muscles tense as the laptop finally shut down and she became aware of the silence. Her hands were rigid around the container of soup, which she held carefully in her lap. The smell of smoke didn't bother her as much as it used to, though she could honestly say there were better smells in the world. At least he was courteous enough to light a candle to mask the scent. "You're the best." Great. Bri had been hoping he wouldn't say anything like that; he was inadvertently making her feel even more guilty about not speaking to him for the past two months. "Please don't say that, because we both know I'm not." God, she couldn't even look him in the eye right now for fear that he would see the full depth of how angry and sorry she was all at once. "I didn't handle things like I should have. And... I'm sorry for avoiding you." She'd known he'd been doing drugs since the middle of the summer, but the question of whether her bad reaction to finding out about his and Vivien's relationship had contributed to his addiction or not had dominated her mind for the past couple of days. Perhaps if she'd spoken to him sooner this whole debacle wouldn't have happened in the first place.

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^{TAG - Dante
WORDS - 710 words
NOTES - Dum dee dum :)
TUNES - two birds stoned at once , chiodos.
CREDIT - template by MUNZTAR * of caution 2.0}

[donato nicolas of spain]

Dante smoked his cigarette slowly as he thought carefully about his response to Bri's statement. It was true that he and Bri hadn't really spoken since the beginning of school. It was also true that he'd been intermittently texting Bri while he was texting his dealer the night of the accident. But, not talking to Bri had sort of been a help, as well, because he hadn't had to lie to her about Vivien, which had been a great relief taken off his shoulders. Finally, after a minute, he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"You did what came naturally to you," he said, quietly as he searched for the right words. He didn't want to make her angry. "You don't owe me any apologies. In fact, I owe you about three thousand, starting with I'm sorry that I hurt you,

[/color]" he said, taking one last drag of his cigarette and stamping it out in the ashtray. He wasn't really up for the conversation he knew that they needed to have, but he wasn't sure when he would get another chance. Just because his parents hadn't pulled him out of school yet didn't mean that they would let him finish out the semester. And who knew when he might say something that would piss Bri off- he'd gotten quite good at pissing her off in the last year and a half and it seemed that almost all of their conversations in that time had contained some kind of disagreement. "I do love you, Bri. You're one of my oldest and best friends and I don't want to have a life without you in it,[/color]" he said, sitting back on the bed and leaning into his pillows. "And I'm sorry you found out the way that you did. I tried to tell you a few times, but I always chickened out before I could get the words out.[/color]"

When he'd first had the thought of telling Gabriella about his feelings for Vivien, shortly after he'd pulled Vivien into that closet and kissed her, he'd talked himself out of saying anything. He wasn't sure that there even was anything to say. Vivien had been pissed off at him for his 'antics' and he was sure it was just some sort of conquest. Even after the Rose Ball, he didn't believe that there was anything there for him to tell. And by the masquerade, he was afraid of losing them both.[/color]
[/font][/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

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Tag: bri!
Word Count: four zero eight
Outfit: here

[/i]
Notes:[/color] trying to get back into posting, next one should be longer
Credits: Lyrics: B.o.B.
Template: Liz! [/font][/blockquote][/blockquote][/center]

[gabriella nicole of england]

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If this was the way the year was going to go, Bri hoped that someone would just shoot her now and get it over with. Her head hadn't been in the game for weeks now, she'd been irritable, distracted and near tears in equal amounts. A moment ago she'd completely meant her apology, but now... now Gabriella wished she could take it back. Like Victor had said, why should she be the one apologizing? There had been a major situation, and she'd done exactly as Dante said; done what felt natural. That was over though, she wasn't going to hide any longer. Her mother would be overjoyed.

"You know, I thought you knew me better than this." Her tone wasn't bitter at this point, just sad. "Didn't we always say we could tell each other anything D?" She locked eyes with her former best friend. No matter how terrible he was feeling right now, she needed to get all this stuff off her chest while she had the guts to. "It hurts so much worse that neither of you thought you could tell me." Since a couple of weeks after the picture had gone out, Bri had been seriously questioning how others viewed her.

Was she really that terrible of a person that her own twin and best friend hadn't thought they could tell her something so important? Was she that untrustworthy? There would have been almost no problem at all had they filled her in, as opposed to sneaking around behind her back. Sure, there might have been a little hurt over being rejected by her fiancée in favour of her sister, but at least they could have approached their parents about fixing this. Instead the whole thing had become even more of a charade than it had been in the beginning. And she hated them for it.

With a gentleness that wasn't reflected inside of her, Bri carefully set the containers beside her on the bed and placed her hands back on her legs. It was only through sheer force of will that she refrained from making them into fists on her lap. Her hand moved to touch his knee, while chest moved with a heavy sigh. "Honestly, it doesn't really feel like we're friends right now Dante." Now it was impossible to look at him. Pulling herself back, she paced away from his bed until she found a chair. There was no way Gabriella was sitting that close to him, especially considering the colour Dante's face currently was. He was in rough shape, and she wondered how long that would last.

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^{TAG - Dante
WORDS - 400 words
NOTES - Done
TUNES - two birds stoned at once , chiodos.
CREDIT - template by MUNZTAR * of caution 2.0}

[donato nicolas of spain]

Dante couldn't do anything but stare at Bri as she spoke. He looked at her as her eyes locked with his and he felt his chest tighten. Everything she said, was absolutely true and he should have told her from the very beginning. When she touched his knee, his eyes drifted down to look at her hand before he watched her get up and move. He sighed and closed his eyes. He wasn't in the mood to do this, but he finally had her attention, so he thought it must be now or never.

He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again, looking at her. "You're right," he said quietly, reaching for his juice and taking a small sip. "It doesn't really feel like we're friends. And it's my fault," he said, taking another sip and screwing the cap on the bottle. "I want to change that, however I have to. And at some point, I want to be able to tell you the whole story from start to finish," he said, thinking about it. He guessed he really should have included Bri in the story way back in third year when he first lusted Vivien. But even Bella hadn't found out right away and she was probably the closest person to knowing everything.

"But it's probably not the time for that," he said, paying close attention to what her reaction may be. There had been a time when Dante could read both of the girls like a book. He wasn't sure now whether he could really read either one of them. He wondered if either of them could read him. "What have you been up to? Are you excited for your birthday?" he asked, wondering if he'd be able to attend. He'd spent a lot of time wondering, lately. His mom had told him he could remain at Vineheart and seek outpatient treatment in Rexford, but she'd also said she retained the right to change their agreement at any time and make him fly home. He strongly suspected the only reason he was being allowed to stay was to keep the media explosion at a minimum after his car accident. It made him nervous, not knowing if he'd still be here at the end of the semester.

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Tag: bri!
Word Count: three seven eight
Outfit: here

[/i]
Notes:[/color] blah, lol...
Credits:Template: Liz!/S! [/font][/blockquote][/blockquote][/center]