She stood there staring at herself in the mirror, dressed in a beautiful white ball gown. Her hair flowing in curls, flawless in comparison to its usual style. People had always commented on Esme's elegance, but it wasn't until this moment that she saw, what they saw. Possibly even what Caleb saw? No. Not possible, they were just friends. They bonded together because of their mutual understanding of each other. Both fatherless, both adopted, and their moms were best friends, this is what initially brought them together.
Caleb was a very head strong and stubborn boy, certainly not the kind to put on a monkey suit and take a girl to a ball. Which is why Esme was so surprised when he asked her to go with him. They were sprawled out on the grass near the black lake, on the ground of Hogwarts. They had just finished hunting and swimming, something they had been doing since they met. In fact, Caleb was the one who taught her how to hunt. Esme always felt bad after hunting, because she thought life was so sacred, but she loved taking her bow out. Even so she usually withdrew to picking berries, she had been the kinder-natured of the two of them. But most people seemed kind in comparison to Caleb.
They had been waiting for themselves to dry off after their swim, when he practically just blurted it out. "So are you going to the ball with me or what?" Esme eyed him for a long time, wondering if he was being serious. She settled with a simple, "if I have to," followed by a dramatic sigh. Followed by guilt in the pit of her stomach, what would happen with Gracie found out?
Gracie was the third part of their little Trio, she had also been adopted, again her parents were friends with Caleb and Esme's mothers. But when she came to school she was so kind and sweet that no one could help but love her. She was usually surrounded by some group of friends, however, Caleb and Esme preferred a much smaller group of friends. But even with boys chasing her around, Gracie never lost hope on Caleb. But there was no real reason to feel guilt right, they were just going as friends.
And thats what she told herself as she walked down to the Great Hall to meet Caleb. She saw Gracie on her way down, looking as beautiful as ever on the arm of the school heart throb. Esme wasn't jealous though, she could never figure out what everyone thought was so special about him. It wasn't until she heard Caleb calling her name that she snapped back into reality. She smiled, he really did put on a monkey suit, she wasn't sure what she was expecting him to show up in, but even still she was surprised. He even looked.. handsome? Even in a suit though, his messy blond hair stood as it always did.
"Look at you," she says ruffling his hair, "and I thought you might be coming in sweats," she said, nudging him as they walked inside.
"I figured I'd try to blend in, but it seems you're on a mission to make that impossible," he half scoffed. Esme hadn't noticed all the stares people were giving, she figured it was just the dress, it was a little too nice. It had belonged to her mother, Susan was such a simple girl that Esme truly wasn't expecting this dress.
Esme turned red, not used to the attention, Caleb seemed to notice her discomfort and pulled her towards the dance floor. Neither of them really knew how to dance and they felt silly doing the dance that was taught to them. So they settled for rotating slowly in a circle, feeling much more comfortable that the attention had been stolen from them. Gracie, who on all accounts was a wonderful dancer, had all eyes on her, and with this to their benefit, they escaped.
They walked out onto the grounds, that had been transformed into some sort of wonderland for the night. She took his hand as they walked down the path together, not thinking anything of it, in fact, Caleb was the only person she felt close enough to, to do this with. Esme had always been very shy and withdrawn, without Caleb she would be much of a loner.
Caleb was going on and on about how he couldn't wait to get out of his suit. Esme was suppressing a laugh, because to be honest, he looked rather nice in it. "I like as ridiculous as you do," she reminded him, both not used to being so dressed up.
"Nah," he exclaimed, "you've always had that princess look to you, the dress suits you. Gracie is probably happy you aren't in there anymore to steal the spotlight in that thing," he roared in laughter.
They stopped next to their lake, throwing stone into the water. Esme was attempting to mimic his motions, trying to get the rock to skip across the water. "Here I'll show you," he put his hand on her hips, positioning Esme directly in front of him, he put a rock in her hand and guided her hand back, before snapping it forward. She watched as it skipped along and eventually disappearing below the surface. "Well theres another thing you've taught me now and for the hundredth time, I've got nothing to teach you," she said, smiling as she turned to face him, their bodies still close.
Their eyes met for a long moment, she never realized how beautiful his eyes were before, it was like looking at the sea. "You really do look nice tonight Esme," he murmured, his hand still holding hers, keeping her close to him. His eyes seemed to look deeper into hers, looking for something, his face seemed to be closing in on her and before she understood what was happening, their lips connected.
And just like that- hunger sparked inside her, his arm reached around her and pulled her against him. It was excellent, the taste, the feel, him. The world had stopped, it was just them, he girl with her eyes on the stars and the boy with a little too much fire, somehow balancing out in this moment.
Finally someone had to come up for air and she broke off first, their eyes fluttered open and connected as his thumb traced her cheek bone. What was this? What did it mean? But before either of them could ask the questions that were running ramped in their minds, some shined a light on them. "You two, back to the common rooms, the balls over." It was the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who wasn't above forcing you to go back to the common rooms, so they went back to the school without a word.
They walked in silence on the way to the Ravenclaw dorms, everyone else seemed to already be in bed. They stopped in front of the door to the girls dorms, Esme fiddled with her hands as they both stood in an awkward silence. "Well I can't wait to get this suit off," he hugged Esme, rapping his arms tightly around him, she wondered if this would lead to more kissing, but as he pulled away, his lips brushed against nothing but her cheek. "Good night."
"Good night," she said, watching as he disappeared around a corner, feeling disappointed. She wasn't sure why, they were just friends, as kiss.. well its just a kiss. A wonderful, heart racing, palm sweating, kiss. A kiss, that even now she could feel, lingering on her lips, hungry for more. She shook her head, pushing down the thought that was already threatening to take over her mind, because once the seed was planted, it wouldn't go away. There was no way in hell that Esme was in fact feeling those warming giddy feelings about Caleb Bell.
There was absolutely no way, she could possibly fall for Caleb. But the more she suppressed the idea, the harder it was not to believe it.