you don't have to lie -- ft. raziel and jonathan

Being alone could really suck sometimes. But she shouldn't have to be alone. It was just that her little boyfriend was probably off crying his eyes out after what happened.

She was seated on the edge of the lake, rolling a smooth flat stone on her palm, her searching eyes fixed on the peaceful lake before her. With one quick movement the stone was thrown, leaving a trail of ripples as it skipped the water's surface. Raziel stopped counting when it sank. Just five times, then? Damn. She wanted to break her record.

Her hand found another stone and she threw it, but her focus waned when her ears picked up the muted footsteps from behind her. Throwing a look over her shoulder, Raziel groaned inaudibly when she realized who it was. "Athan."

The brown-haired boy managed a small smile and a half-wave. He stopped a few feet to her left, casually stuffing his hands in his pockets as he feigned interest in the lake. "H'llo. D'you mind if I sit next to you?"

Raziel's immediate thought was 'I'd rather you go away, thanks'. Instead she pasted a smile on her face, the corner of her lips slightly twitching. "Feel free."

She watched Jonathan nod and take his seat, stretching his long legs out in front of him. She held her scrutinizing gaze for a moment longer before turning back to the lake. It wasn't that she hated the boy, really. She just found him a little… annoying. Which was pretty odd because practically everyone fawned over him, especially girls. 'The epitome of perfection,' she heard someone swoon. Raziel resisted the urge to roll her eyes. This gentlemanly innocent act... she didn't buy it. There was no way Jonathan could be the person he is. The boy hid some deep dark secret under those smiles, she was sure. Maybe he was a born actor. Maybe he was some secret psychopathic supervillain who murdered everyone in his hometown. Well, what an interesting thought...

"Uh, I could go if you like…"

Raziel blinked and met Jonathan's wary gaze. What did he see? Did she carelessly let her slight irritation show? Raziel airily waved him off with a chuckle. "Don't mind me. I'm not in my best mood."

He nodded, seemingly in understanding, and the sight made Raziel grip the grass so forcefully that she could have wrenched the whole patch off the ground. Jonathan was unreal. There was no other way to describe it. A small part of Raz thought of him to be the person she should be. The very image of what she couldn't be. Biting the inside of her cheek, Raziel stared at the lake and wondered if she should keep flicking pebbles just to get Jonathan off her back.

"I bumped into Mike," Jonathan began, and Raziel could sense the caution in his tone. “He looked a little upset.”

Okay, now she understood why he was here. Why he so obviously sought her out. Of freaking course.

Raziel’s brows furrowed as her lips curled into a frown. "Yeah," she said, drawing the syllable out in her tongue. "We had a fight."

Raziel thought she heard the boy sigh. "That’s the fifth time this week."

"It isn't any of your business," she scowled, determined to avoid his gaze.

"Raz… you should've seen him in the cabin. He's practically a wreck."

The words cut her like an icy knife. Was Jonathan blaming her for Mike's pain? Ha, the guy should be grateful that he hadn't felt pain as much as hers. He should try putting himself in her shoes sometime and not complain.

Raziel wanted to throw her head back and scream. Why did Michael have to be Jonathan's half-brother? Maybe if he were a son of some other deity, Athan wouldn't be this nosy. "I’m having a bad week, okay? I’m sorry that he had to be dragged into it," she snapped, looking at him.

Her sharp eyes bore through what she assumed to be Jonathan's indifferent mask, but what she saw only took her aback. His face was so composed and unreadable. When he spoke, he didn’t even look up at her. "Do you really love him?"

Love? Jonathan was asking her about love? Just where in high Hades did that come from? The question caught Raziel off-guard and she just froze in her mid-standing position as if petrified, confusion flickering across her features as she continued to regard the son of Aphrodite with a cold yet surprised gaze.

"What?"

Jonathan had the nerve to shrug, still not meeting her eyes. "Mike is just… well… you probably don’t know how strong his feelings are for you. I’m just asking…" he trailed off, letting the question hang in the air. His nervousness tinged the air, but it only worked to annoy Raziel more.

Following Jonathan's gaze to the expanse of the lake, Raziel almost bit her tongue at her answer. "This isn't your freaking business, Adams, go poke your nose somewhere else and -"

"Look at me."

She cut off, and she didn't know if it was the sudden intensity in his voice that made her quickly face him. He was still impossible to read, even when she searched for answers in his jade green eyes.

Jonathan let out a heavy sigh before tearing his gaze away from her to settle back on the still waters. His next words surprised her even more. "You don’t love him."

Folding her arms across her chest, Raziel cocked an eyebrow at him in challenge. She didn't know which was more annoying—the nonchalance of his tone or the fact that he just behaved like an expert on her emotions. Who died and made him Raziel's-Emotion-Know-It-All? "Excuse me?"

Jonathan shook his head slowly, sadly. "You don't have to lie."

That got Raziel bristling to her feet. “And just who are you to tell me that?” she demanded defensively. “Don’t act like you know me. Don't act like you know how I feel.”

Jonathan quickly looked up at her, apparently surprised at how affronted she looked. She saw the briefest emotion flash through his eyes—was it guilt?—before he looked away. Apologies streamed from his lips. He told her how he was sorry, how he didn’t mean it, and how his ADHD made him blurt out insensitive comments every once in a while. But Raziel knew that he meant it. He was just too much of a wuss to admit that.

Deep inside, Raziel knew that she couldn’t really blame him for saying something like that. She knew that the boy had the tendency to stand up for those who were hurt, and in this case, it was his half-brother Mike. Maybe if the situations were reversed, Jonathan would be on her side for comfort and consolation. It was just a matter of who needed more help, of who had a greater need for someone to pull them up to their feet, and it was a no-brainer that Raziel wasn’t that kind of person in this situation.

But still, that didn’t stop her from wanting to lash out at him for claiming that she didn’t love Michael. She had a strong urge to prove to him that she meant it, but all she could do right now was to stare at him in astonishment. Her mouth opened a few times but no words came out, and in frustration, she kicked a moderately-sized stone lying innocently by her feet. Watching the rock fly towards the center of the lake, she gritted her teeth as she registered the slight sting on her toes. Now she was throwing a tantrum. How childish.

Glaring at the lake - the stupid peaceful lake - Raziel turned on her heel and started to walk away.

"I'm really sorry for what I said!" Jonathan called out, almost desperately, and Raziel wheeled around to give him a look that could pierce the world's strongest diamond shield.

"You don't have to lie, Jonathan."

Raziel moved quickly. One throw later, a small fireball hit the grass Jonathan stood on a second ago. She didn't waste any more second savoring the shocked look on his face. She stormed off without another word, her right hand still in flames.

But Raziel knew that she couldn’t deny what Jonathan had said about Mike. The boy was in too deep while she was just skimming the surface. He had given her his heart while she kept her own guarded from a distance. He wanted to be serious while she just wanted some fun.

You see, what bothered Raziel wasn’t the fact that Jonathan had accused her of not loving his half-brother. It was because of how he was right.