Summer Holds Such Wonderful Things
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Author's Note: Done for the All Time Low Competition on HPCF song "We Say Summer".
It was a hot end to a hot summer day, the sky turning red, orange and purple as the sun began its decent. Oliver took a moment to admire the color and to take a deep breath of the moist smoggy air and let it out slowly.
He pressed the button on the intercom and it made an annoying buzzing sound.
"Hey Kates, it's me."
"Come on up, the door's unlocked. I'll buzz you in."
The door in front of him buzzed and then clicked and Oliver quickly pushed it open, eschewing the elevator for the stairs since Katie's flat was only on the second floor.
"Good evening Mrs. Patterson," Oliver greeted Katie's elderly neighbour with a friendly smile.
The white haired woman glared at him pressing the down button on the elevator as if that would make the thing come faster. Oliver wasn't quite sure what he'd done to piss the old woman off but she hadn't liked him from day one.
Oliver got to Katie's door and knocked three times for politeness' sake before letting himself in. He could hear the sound of soft guitar music but his girlfriend was nowhere to be seen.
"Kates?"
"On the porch!"
Oliver frowned.
"I thought you said you quit smoking."
"I did quit smoking," she insisted as Oliver nudged the blue and green stripped curtain out of the way and poked his head through the doorway, "That doesn't mean I can't enjoy my own porch."
"It's got to be at least five hundred degrees outside."
"You only live once and besides, if I was a normal person you wouldn't love me as much."
Oliver grinned and moved to kiss her softly on the corner of her mouth.
"Also," she added, licking her lips, "It's not as though my place has central air."
"Unfortunate but true," sighed Oliver sinking into the one of the mismatched wicker chairs and bracing his sandaled feet on the rail.
"What are you writing?"
"Dunno yet, something with a cheerful tune and cynical lyrics," Katie explained jotting another note down in her composition book.
She was sitting cross-legged in the other chair with her acoustic guitar balanced on her knees dressed in khaki shorts and a Weird Sisters t-shirt that had seen some serious abuse and a pair of scissors and revealed lots of freckled skin. Her feet were bare and her toes had been painted an interesting shade of purple that clashed horribly with the Easter-egg green polish on her fingers. Her medium brown hair was falling out of its topknot and Oliver thought she was the most beautiful creature on the planet.
"How was practice?" she asked.
"Good, but I'd rather be here."
"Flatterer. I'm not going to change my mind you know."
Oliver sighed heavily.
"I know."
"Don't look so morose, it's only for three months."
"That's three months too long," Oliver said, "I'm going to miss you."
"It's in the middle of the season, there'll be plenty of games and events to keep you busy until I get back."
"I'll still miss you."
"I promise I'll call every night."
"You'd better," said Oliver, pouting.
Katie laughed. The exaggerated expression looked ridiculous on Oliver's rough face. Playing professional quidditch had pretty much destroyed his once handsome features, his nose in particular was crooked and odd looking but Katie loved it.
She reached over on a whim and trailed a finger down from his third eye over the bends and bumps of ill knit cartilage. When she reached the tip Oliver caught her hand brushing a soft kiss over the back of her knuckles.
"Marry me."
"Absolutely not."
"Are you ever going to say yes when I ask you that question?"
"Probably not. I honestly don't see the point, and I'm not about to give in to redundancy."
"It's not redundant. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you," Oliver said.
"Good. I love you too, and I want a lifetime of loving you, and being with you and I don't need a party, a ring or a piece of paper to confirm that."
"You know Kates, I'm pretty sure I'm the one who's supposed to be trying to avoid marriage and you're supposed to shriek yes when I finally ask you."
"If I was normal you wouldn't love me as much."
AN: Hope you guys enjoyed! Feel free to leave a review or two to let me know what you thought.