Just some more awkward humor.
Sat in front of Cedric inside the carriage, Sofia was moving impatiently her feet without reaching to touch the floor.
"Are you nervous" he asked intrigued, observing her restless behaviour.
"I'm so excited! I want so much to see the school where you studied!" she answered with a big grin.
The sorcerer let out a coy laugh at that.
"Yes, well… That's natural. Hexley Hall is an amazing place, you'll see. It's full of knowledge and wisdom. And… as a sorcerer master it's my duty to enlighten my apprentice in everything I can" he proudly commented with a smirk.
"You are an amazing sorcerer master" Sofia said sincerely.
"Nothing of the kind, I'm just lucky with the pupil I've got." he responded, giving her a wink.
They both looked fondly at each other for a while.
On Cedric's shoulder, Wormwood rolled his eyes in disgust.
"Ahhhrrgg… There we go again… Why don't you two get a room to hook up already?" the raven muttered in his cawing, only understood by the child in front of him. Then he jumped to the little window and wait for his master to open it to letting him go "Nauseating lovebirds…"
Right after the raven took flight to outside, the sorcerer closed the window so the cold air didn't get inside the carriage.
"Woah, it's cold out there." he commented and turned to look at the girl, who was in that moment immersed in some deep thought. "Everything alright, my dear?" he asked analysing her pensive face.
"Eh?" his words woke her up from her reflections "It's just that… I have a question."
The sorcerer gave her a warm fond smile.
"And what is your master for in here? To answer all your questions." he said in good mood.
Sofia smiled grateful before asking.
"What does hook up means?"
". . ."
For several seconds the sorcerer just kept staring at her, completely paralysed, only moving his eyelids in his blinking. Then he opened his mouth and raised one finger to start with his response. But the response didn't come, for he hushed again.
Then, suddenly, the carriage shake in its flight, making Sofia to bounce on her seat until almost fell on the floor.
Cedric grabbed her and captured her between his knees, holding her to avoid her drop. She wound her arms around his neck and sat slightly on his thigh, for she couldn't balance standing up. Though she heard him taking a big breath and felt him tense under her touch, he said nothing, only squeezed a little the grip on her waist.
After some more seconds of tumbles and stirrings and joggling, the carriage stood upright again and the coachman spoke to them from the driver's seat.
"Sorry! There's a storm! Are you alright back there?"
"We're fine!" Sofia yelled in answer, standing on her feet again.
Then she turned over and bump into Cedric's perplex face a few inches from hers, his long nose almost grazing hers.
Sofia smiled, feeling her cheeks warming up having him so close.
"Thanks for holding me, Mister Cedric." she shyly said.
He was steady gazing at her, panting hectic and with his pupils brighter than usual. She could feel his warm breath over her lips, which where he had fixed his eyes in a hungry frowning stare.
"No…" he whispered, closing tight his eyes as if he was telling something to himself instead of her "N-no problem!" he corrected.
Then Cedric glanced down on himself, where her small hands were calmly resting over his groins. With a high pitched alarm noise, he took her hands in his' to move them from there.
Sofia looked at him worried of having done something wrong, but he just laughed coyly, diminishing importance to it.
"Your hands are ice-cold!" he exclaimed releasing them to turn on his seat and open the green carpet bag, taking out a cape from inside. "The-there. I t-took it in case it was cold…" he said offering the garment to her.
"Oh! Did you bring my coat? Thank you!" she gratefully exclaimed putting on the maroon hood cape.
Perceiving her with some issues for fastening the hook in her collar, the sorcerer came to the aid immediately, putting correctly the clasp with a clever move of his fingers. Then he smiled, lifting the hood to cover her head and softly moving away some cinnamon locks from her blushing face.
"There you are" his finger kept caressing her cheek a bit longer "Red Riding Hood" he quipped in a murmur, touching her nose playfully.
Letting out a giggle, the girl sat again on her seat.
"So, can you answer me now?"
After another little simper laugh, Cedric coyly cleared his throat.
"Let's see… First I need to know… in which context you are asking me." he confessed "What's the sense?"
Sofia kept thoughtful for a moment.
"The sense? I… I don't know. Any sense would do" she answered shrugging.
Cedric breath more calmed then.
"Right, then… to hook up means to connect or attach something with other thing." he finally said.
For some reason that Sofia couldn't figurate out, he seemed very proud of himself for having devised that answer. However she was almost more lost than before.
"So… it's a good thing, right? If you and I hook up. That means we connect with each other."
He frowned, gaped at her and swallowed hard.
Right then Wormwood was returning from his flight and Cedric let him in immediately. Then he cleared his throat again, leaned back on his seat and averted his blushing face from her to look at the window.
Once inside, the raven shook off the dampness from his feathers and took seat by Cedric's side, observing the sorcerer moving his foot impatiently in a nervous tic, his legs crossed, his hands covering his crotch, his cheeks coloured in a pink shade and his eyes moving in a restless look.
"Oh, oh… Something did happen I see…" the raven intuited right away.
Only Sofia could understand what the bird was saying, the problem was she had no idea of what he was actually saying, so she gave him a confuse look.
"What?" he asked gruffly. "Did you think I wouldn't notice? Please! He's harder than a rock! This guy is so horny I doubt he can even walk right now…"
Sofia couldn't tell what was going on with Wormwood that day. First he was pitching into Cedric nonstop since before they leave home, then he was somehow offended because she and Cedric connected and now he was talking about rocks. Did he hit his head? And why was he using those weird terms every time?
"Mister Cedric, may I ask you something else?"
The sorcerer diverted his attention from the window to look at her.
"What does it mean when you are harder than a rock?" she asked with genuine interest.
If Cedric face already had a pink tone before, right then became as reddishly red as his apprentice cape and Wormwood started cracking up on his seat.
"I don't know what are you talking about." he quickly answered, taking the carpet bag on his side and placing it on his lap.
"What about horny?"
The raven was about die of a laughing attack.
Cedric had a tic in his eye and squeezed his fists until his knuckles were white. However, he kept calm and took a deep breath.
"Sofia, my dear" he said quietly "would you be so kind of covering your ears for just a tiny moment?" he asked with a frivolous simper.
The child nodded and obeyed right away, putting her hands by her ears and pressing tight.
Then Cedric peacefully opened the window, took his head out and addressed his next words to the coachman.
"How much longer UNTIL FUCKING GET THERE?!"
Definitely Sofia did learn too many weird terms that day.