Ugh! (Humphrey & Naomi)

Humphrey had somehow managed to stay awake during History of Magic, though it was a challenge. He dutifully took his notes and wrote down what pages he'd have to read of the book before next class before exiting. Pretty much everyone seemed to go off their separate ways, save two Slytherins. One was Naomi though, and he smiled before starting to make his way in her direction. He knew that she didn't like him bugging her all the time, but he hadn't even talked to her much since the day she'd come over to hang out during the summer.

A little curious when he saw her take hold of the older boy's hand, Humphrey started to wonder if maybe they were dating. That theory seemed to be dead on as the older boy proceeded to kiss her, and his shoulders slumped before he started to walk off and give the two their privacy. Before he stepped more than a few feet he heard a loud smacking sound, and the boy stumbled back after having been slapped by Naomi. Now he was really confused, and was about to go check on Naomi when she went running into a girl's bathroom down the hall. Walking over to the Slytherin, he gave him a glare. "Okay, I'm not sure what that was all about, but don't mess with her again if she's not interested." he said. He doubted he was intimidating to the older student, but he felt he had to say something. After all Naomi was his friend and she clearly hadn't wanted to be kissed.

Once that was done he headed down the hall and steeled his nerves before entering the girl's bathroom. It appeared to be empty except for Naomi and a weird ghostly girl with glasses on. Ignoring the ghost, he walked over towards Naomi. "Hey Naomi, are...are you alright?" he asked, biting his lip. She probably didn't want to see him right now and he couldn't really blame her. Nobody else was around to be a friend to her, though, so he felt like it was his duty to check on her.

More than anything Humphrey was confused by the way Naomi had reacted to the kiss because she'd been holding hands and looked as if she liked the guy before it happened. Why would she have been acting that way if they weren't dating or at least a little interested in each other? Maybe Casey would have an idea about it...she at least usually had some idea about what was going on in girl's heads. The only girl he'd thought he ever understood besides his sister was Brooklyn, but it turns out he hadn't really known her well at all. Shaking his head, he focused his thoughts on the conundrum that was Naomi Wilson.

Humphrey blinked in confusion when she started blaming him for what had happened in the hallway. Just as he was about to yell back that another boy kissing him couldn't possibly be his fault she asked why he couldn't leave her alone and that she'd made an irrational decision to avoid him. He wasn't stupid, he knew that he got on the other girl's nerves sometimes. Still, he'd thought they were friends. Naomi had even come over to hang out during the summer when she could have stayed at home instead.

The anger at her blaming him for what happened drained out and a few tears of his own started to fall. Instead of looking away like he wanted to Humphrey met her eyes. "I'm sorry, I only wanted to talk to my friend that I've hardly gotten to talk to at all in weeks. Because that's what I thought we were, Naomi...maybe I was wrong though." he said, the last part so quiet he wasn't even sure if she would be able to hear because it wasn't something he wanted to admit to himself let alone her. Now that he'd said that he looked away and wiped some of the tears off on the sleeve of his robe. Part of him was beginning to wonder why he kept falling for girls who only ended up hurting him, and what was wrong with him that he would like people who treat others so poorly.

Eventually he looked at the Slytherin again, not even attempting to hide the hurt from what she'd said that Humphrey knew would be in his eyes. "If you don't want me around you don't have to act like you are interested in another guy. Congratulations, I got the message." he told her. With that, he slowly turned and started to walk out, hesitating in the doorway. He really hoped she'd tell him he was wrong and ask him to stay, but kind of doubted it at this point.

The silence after Humphrey told her that only confirmed his worst fears about what happened, and the only thing that stopped him before Naomi did speak up was hearing the ghost say that. It was such a ridiculous idea, Naomi liking him as more than a friend that it stunned him. Sure, he had kind of hoped that she might one day feel that way about him but was pretty certain she didn't now. Before he could say something to the ghost Naomi actually told him to stop and moved to block the exit, further confusing him.

Humphrey's heart broke a little when she asked him to stay, calling them friends and saying she didn't know his motive. It hurt him that somebody would be almost programmed to think people always had ulterior motives behind everything. "Look, I know that I'm weird and can be a bit much sometimes. I'm sorry too, that was kind of mean of me to assume the worst. We've known each other long enough that I know it can be kind of awkward for you and I'm not always the best at catching on. Of course I'll stay." he told her quietly, hoping she understood that he wasn't blaming her. He hadn't answered the thing about his motive, but he was pretty sure that she could figure out that his motive was being there for her, whatever she needed.

As if things hadn't gone oddly enough today Naomi explained, in a kind of rambling way, how the whole thing with Shawn had occurred. Usually it was him that would act like this, and then she moved forward and buried her face in his chest, of her own free will! Needless to say, Humphrey was at a loss for words, instinctively hugging her back while his brain tried to process what was happening. Seeing her like this was a little disconcerting, but he would always do his best to help somebody he cared about, and he gently ran his fingers through her hair before kissing the top of her head, giving her a squeeze.

Finally, he was able to find his words again. "Naomi, I won't lie. That was kind of a silly way to avoid me and hurt my feelings. If you think something like this is going to make me stop being friends with you though, well you're just plain wrong I'm afraid. When I get hurt I sometimes lash out, so again I really am sorry if I scared you with that I said." he said bluntly, not sure how else to convince her that it took more than one bad moment for him to end a friendship. "Not sure how to help you with the Sean thing, but I tried to intimidate him before coming in here so maybe he'll lay off." Humphrey added, knowing she'd get a kick out of that. A little uncertain whether she still wanted him to hug her, he left his arms around her for now.

Her comment of a little bit made Humphrey chuckle, knowing that one thing he could almost always count on was Naomi not being afraid to tell him what she thought. Actually being able to hold Naomi when she was upset and provide some measure of comfort was kind of a surreal moment for him, and he wasn't sure what else to say. It wasn't that he didn't think she needed others sometimes, but she rarely let it show. Since he wasn't sure what else to do he gave her a tight squeeze.

"Right...sorry about that." he said awkwardly, wishing he was better at talking to and understanding girls. He simply stood there for a moment as she checked her makeup, reminded that he was after all in a girl's room, causing him to blush slightly. When he was about to suggest they go outside she turned to him with a question.

Whether or not he actually had intimidated the other guy he didn't really know, he'd tried to though. "Well, I'm not sure how effective it was, Naomi." Humphrey admitted. Hearing her say he was too nice to be intimidating had him shake his head. "I'm nice most of the time, yes. But I'm protective of people I care about, if you don't believe me Casey will tell you." he commented, before nodding and looking at the ground when she thanked him before meeting her eyes. "My pleasure. You can count on me."