"Listen I know this might be coming off bad." Elise started but Primrose didn't let her continue.
"You think? You come out here grill me about mine and Malik's relationship and then insinuate that Malik has some underhanded intentions with me. What is wrong with you?"
Elise backtracked," That isn't what I'm trying to say. You don't understand once you start being nice to Malik gets needy."
"NEEDY!" Primrose gasped.
"Shit no that's not what I mean. I mean you're going to hurt him." she said getting frantic now.
"Why would you say that?"
"Because I hurt him!" she screamed," I hurt him because I couldn't love him and now, you're going to do it too. I need to protect him this time."
Primrose just stared at her, and she started crying into her hands," Protect him?" she prompted.
"I- We- Malik and I used to hook up. Really casually. With him being a lust wizard, it made a lot of sense to hook up when we both found ourselves available." Elise started.
"But?" Primrose said still not understanding what all this was about.
"But you know Malik. He's fascinating so I found myself spending time with him, platonically, and really finding enjoying the time we spent together. Before I knew it, we were spending all our free time together."
"And you caught feelings for him?"
Elise sighed and pinched her nose," See this is what I mean. No, I didn't. I cant." she said.
"Can't?" Primrose asked.
"It's sort of hard to explain but the simple version is I don't get romantic feelings for people. Ever. It doesn't matter how great they are or how good of friends we become or how good the dick is. There's this limit inside of me that doesn't let me feel anything other than simple friendship."
"Well wouldn't that make you a perfect friend for Malik all the perks of friendship and a little "fun" on the side." Primrose said.
"That's what I thought too but Malik didn't. He fell in love with me."
"Did he try to force you to be in a relationship with him?!" Primrose gasped. While she could easily see how the only brother of the owner of this caravan could pressure a lone employee, but she couldn't imagine Malik doing that.
"No! No, he would never do something like that but after he told me his feelings, I couldn't stay friends with him. I went no contact and then he left the trope and got tangled up with that crazy cunt."
"I still don't understand what that has to do with me and Malik and why would you say he can't just be friends with someone." Primrose said.
"Don't you see he's so desperate for love that he latches onto anyone who gets too close. Do you want to be responsible for his next shitty relationship. What if you send him right back into her arms?"
Primrose just looked at her for a long minute then walked past her,"I'm done with this conversation." she said.
Elise grabbed her hand to stop her," Wait you need to listen to me."
"No, I don't," Primrose said pulling her arm back hard," I am not going to stand here while you just say whatever you please about Malik."
"You don't understand-"
"NO. You don't understand. You don't understand Anything about me and Malik's relationship and you have no right to butt into it." Primrose said turned away from her ready to march back to Malik and tell him everything she had said then she saw him standing by some nearby trees, staring at her with an unreadable expression.
"Malik, how long have you been there?" Elise asked stricken.
"A while. I finished the dishes fast and just figured you and Primrose were probably done too so I came to see if she wanted to take an evening stroll. When I walked up, I heard you talking about you and me so I decided to stay back and listen." he said anger was radiating off him in waves.
"She didn't mean anything rude by it Malik and I wasn't planning to listen to her either way." Primrose said trying to smooth this over. Her own anger completely forgotten with the need to help Malik feel better.
Malik looked surprised then hesitantly smiled at Primrose," R-really..I mean of course you weren't you're not the type to listen to idle gossip. "he said.
"After everything I said?!" Elise said.
Primrose had had just about enough of listening to Elise and all this nonsense, " I get that you're concerned about Malik, but I think that this whole conversation was less about concern for him and more about justifying yourself. I am not the one you should be justifying anything to." Primrose said.
She then walked to Malik and put a hand on his shoulder," I'm going to go back to wagon. I think you guys have a lot to talk about." She walked into the forest towards camp.