Opov
What Reagan called her 'apartment' was a massive penthouse in the middle of London, complete with her own private pool, full fitted kitchen, two guest rooms and a massive living room that had not only magical items, but a muggle entertainment system as well.
"Blimey Ray." I said looking around as she dumped her quidditch things by the front door and looked around at the apartment appearing unimpressed. "How much do they pay you?"
"Enough." She said cagily when I caught her eye and she started making her way to what I assumed was her room. "Now Alicia," she started. "You can borrow something of mine if you want to change, Oliver, I'm sorry but I think you're out of luck."
"I'll be fine." I said. I had no intention of dressing up and trying to get my picture taken. In fact, I was trying to look as unremarkable as possible tonight.
"Well I'm definitely changing." Alicia said following Reagan back to her room while still looking around in wonder.
Her eyes met mine and she mouthed. 'Can you believe this?' then quickly scampered off after Reagan.
As the girls changed, I looked around on the walls to see several photos of Reagan and previous teams some of them signed by other players. I knew she'd started out young, but it was still insane to see the photos of a fourteen year old girl arm and arm with men in their mid to late twenties, all smiling and wearing the same uniforms as a team. It was hard to believe someone so tiny had turned into the girl that had been playing tonight. But then again, the trophies on the mantel didn't lie.
I stopped when I saw a picture on the mantel that didn't match the others. She was much younger, probably ten or eleven, with two other girls each of them holding broom sticks and wearing quidditch robes. Both girls were blonde, one with brown eyes, the other blue and they were arm and arm with Reagan looking like the closest of friends.
"Do you want anything to drink or eat while you wait?" I heard Reagan ask and I jumped.
"Bloody hell Ray," I said turning and she gave me a strange look. "You gave me a fright."
"Sorry." She said grinning slightly.
"I thought you were changing." I said wondering why I felt guilty. I hadn't been doing anything but looking at her pictures, there was nothing wrong with that.
"Alicia's taking a shower in my room so I'm going to use the guest one." She said gesturing to the towels in her hands. "You ok?"
"Yeah." I said.
"'Cuz you look like I caught you with your hand in the cookie jar." She asked her grin growing.
"Yeah." I said again. "I'm fine."
"Alright." She said giving me a funny look but walking towards the guest bathroom. "Feel free to watch TV or something while you wait."
"Alright." I said while privately wondering what a TV was.
She walked towards the guest bathroom and for the next hour or so while she and Alicia milled around the house looking for shoes and bracelets, I sat awkwardly not really sure what to do with myself. When ever I waited around for Alicia to get ready at her house I'd always had her parents to talk to or her little brother but Reagan lived alone.
Part of me ever wondered if she got lonely without her family, but the way she always talked about her team, it seemed as if that's who she considered family. You could certainly see it here, in the photos that hadn't made it to the press. She might have been young but she looked so happy.
"You ready?"
I turned to see both Alicia and Reagan were dressed up in heels with short black dresses and their hair elaborately done with curls and bobby pins.
"Yeah." I said feeling my mouth go dry. They both looked extremely pretty, in fact, I couldn't decide who looked better. All I knew was that I was extremely in over my head.
"Let's go then." Alicia said excitedly clopping over to me in her heels and taking my arm as she charged me towards the door, but I couldn't help and look over my shoulder at Reagan's expression. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she looked amused at Alicia's eagerness.
Ok, maybe I could decide…
Rpov
"You call this pub?" Oliver asked me incredulously as we reached 'the club' and he saw the line that went around the block as people waiting to get into the building. Every time the door opened, multi colored lights and music flooded onto the street. He looked thoroughly intimidated.
"Look at this line." Alicia said disappointed. "How are we ever going to get in?"
"Come with me." I said gesturing towards them to follow me towards the front of the line.
"We get to skip the line?" Oliver asked me.
"We should be on the list." I said.
"I've never been on the list anywhere." Alicia said excitedly as I walked up to the bouncer.
"Where do you think you're going?" someone about four people back asked but he was drowned out by.
"It's her! Reagan! Over here!"
"Can we get a picture?"
"What do you think on your latest win?"
Cameras flashed and I smiled while the bouncer opened the door for us. Alicia was looking frozen in surprise but Oliver was already dragging her through the door. The music was deafening when we got inside.
"Where are the others?" Oliver almost shouted at me.
"They should be in the back!" I shouted back pointing towards the VIP section.
We pushed our way through the crowd lit by strange bubbles that were filled with what looked like fairies and were floating around the dark, densely packed room. Hundreds of people were dancing, and together they seemed to pulse with the beat.
We made it to the VIP section and it seemed we were the last to arrive. The music was slightly less deafening up here.
"You made it!" Jason said happily as I slid into a seat next Drake. "You ladies look lovely."
"Thanks." Alicia said flattered and they struck up a conversation about how she'd seen him play while he was still at Hogwarts and how impressive he'd been.
"I must say I'm surprised." Drake said looking at me with interest.
"Are you?" I asked vaguely waving away a waiter who was offering me a drink.
"Yes. I didn't see you as much as a party girl, but here you are, two big events in a row."
"Well that's what the public wants isn't it?" I asked. "Me to be in the spot light."
"So you're like me huh?" he asked and I gave him a questioning look. "You don't want to be here, you have to be."
"And Jason invited you." I said and he grinned.
"Yes, that too."
"You don't like parties?" I asked. "I would have though you of all people-"
"Well you of all people should know," he said with a cocky smile. "Not to believe what you read in the papers."
"So if you don't like parties." I asked curiously. "What do you like?"
"Well I could say flying." He said casually. "You know if I was trying really hard to impress you."
"Oh really?" I asked grinning.
"Really." He said somehow seeming closer than he was before.
"And what are you doing?"
"Trying really hard to impress you." He said his smile growing. "But I'm terrified of heights."
"I have a hard time picturing you being afraid of anything for some reason."
"It's true." He said but he didn't seem embarrassed. "And the last thing I need is for you to invite me on the pitch one day and see what a coward I become."
"You think I'll be asking you to fly with me?"
"I was hoping you might consider it. You know, before I told you my darkest inner most secrets."
I laughed.
"Is it working by the way?" he asked seeming pleased with himself.
"Is what working?"
"Me, trying to impress you?"
I thought for a moment then smiled.
"How 'bout, if you ever come up and join me in the air, you can find out."
"She's devious." He said with a laugh. "I like it."
Just then Oliver sat down next to me looking annoyed.
"Someone should really remind Alicia she's got a boyfriend back at school."
I glanced over to see Alicia was still chatting with Jason who like Drake, seemed to be getting closer to her the longer they talked.
"Every time I look at them I half expect them to be snogging."
"I don't believe we've been properly introduced." Said Drake leaning over me and holding out his hand to Oliver. "Drake Dennings."
"Oliver Wood." Oliver said shaking it briefly. He still looked annoyed but I couldn't help but think he still looked rather cute. Like an irritated puppy.
"You two must be friends from school." he said looking at Oliver with interest, as if he were sizing him up.
"Must be?" Oliver asked raising an eyebrow.
"Well yeah," he said. "No offense mate, but if I don't know your name before you got into this room, to be here you have to know someone."
"None taken." Oliver said and it looked as if he meant it. "I wouldn't want this madness anyways."
"I take it clubs aren't really your thing?" Drake asked.
"No." Oliver said sourly and Drake, for some reason, smiled.
"Come with me." He said standing and offering a hand to help me up.
"I don't need to be babied." I said raising an eyebrow.
"Oh I'm well aware that you could probably kick my arse into next week." He said amused. "But that doesn't mean I'm not a gentleman."
At this Oliver snorted.
"Problem?" Drake asked.
"Anyone who's ever seen you in the papers I don't think has ever accused you of that."
"Perhaps not." He said with a slight smile. Unlike Oliver who seemed to be getting more irritated by the second, Drake seemed to think this exchange was a bit of fun. "But unlike Miss Williams here, none of those girls were ladies."
I stood up on my own, and Drake lowered his hand and turned to Oliver his eyes glittering.
"You're a quidditch player, aren't you?" he asked
"Yes." Said Oliver flatly.
"I thought you must be." Drake replied with a sarcastic smile.
"Why?"
"Because I've met many quidditch players, and they're always so protective of their friends."
….
Drake took us to the roof top of 'the club' where hardly anyone was allowed to go and there was far much more room to breathe.
He and I had talked for a while, and while I knew he saw Oliver as a third wheel Oliver remained stubbornly in place until eventually, Drake said he should probably head out. He had a recording session tomorrow in the morning and wanted to say good bye to Jason before he went home. Secretly I was sort of glad Oliver stayed. I didn't know how I felt about Drake yet and it was nice to have Oliver there as a sort of buffer just incase things progressed a little too quickly.
It was now almost one in the morning, and I was exhausted. I was worn out from the game, but Alicia had begged us for another half an hour so we returned to the roof top and were waiting.
"Sorry about all this." I said apologetically gesturing helplessly towards the building. We were standing on the roof top looking at what little stars the light pollution from London could show us.
"It's not your fault." He said shrugging. I'd borrowed his jacket and let my hair down which was now being picked up by the slight breeze. "Alicia was the one who wanted to come."
"Still." I said yawning. "It was my teammate who invited us."
"It was still nice of you to bring us."
"You don't seem to be having much fun."
"Yeah, well, I'm sorry I probably should have been more grateful. I mean you got us in to the game for free and-"
"Is it Alicia?" I asked cutting him off and he froze. "I know you like her, and I know that you know I know it." I said looking at him.
"Is it really that obvious?" He asked scratching the back of his neck looking uncomfortable.
"So is that why you were so upset tonight?" I asked him preferring not to answer the question. "Because she was so wrapped up in all the famous guys?"
"No." he said eventually. "I'm used to Alicia being caught up in other people. I just-"
"What?" I asked curiously.
"I just don't like that Drake guy." He said eventually and I looked at him surprised.
"Drake was the reason you were upset?"
"Yeah," he said crossing his arms over his chest and seeming to want to look anywhere but at me, he finally picked a spot and stared at the ground in front of him. "He was all over you tonight and I just don't want to see you getting hurt. I mean I don't know if you've seen some of the pictures that have come out with him…"
"The papers don't get everything right." I said with a sigh. "In fact, the mostly get it wrong. They never tell the full story."
"Well a picture is worth a thousand words." He growled.
"Yeah, I know." I said quietly. "I've seen them."
Even in the United States I'd seen pictures of Drake at parties with topless models, kissing random girls, and getting into just general trouble in the party scenes.
"It's just it's obvious he's interested in you." Oliver said eventually. "And I don't want you getting hurt over someone like that." He said bitterly. "Just because he's a good talker. You're too good for him anyways. Pop singers like him, that are wanna be rock stars are a knut a dozen but someone like you…" he paused. "That's one in a million."
I looked at Oliver. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he was leaning against the railings scowling. Again he had that irritated puppy look that made it hard for me not to smile. As if someone was trying to take his favorite toy away and he was upset about it.
"Just be careful alright?" he said eventually.
"Alright." I said quietly.
I hadn't known Oliver for very long, but I couldn't help but feel grateful I had a friend that was so concerned with my well being.
We stood together for a while, talking about nothing in particular until Alicia came up and said most of the team had taken off.
"Thanks so much for letting us stay here." Alicia said as I tossed her and Oliver some extra pillows for their guest bed rooms.
"Yeah Ray." Oliver said. "Thanks for everything."
"No problem." I said yawning.
"Is there anything else you need before you go to sleep?"
"Nope." Alicia said brightly while Oliver shook his head.
"Well then I'll see you two in the morning." I said stepping back into my room, but even after I turned the lights off and got under the blankets, I found I couldn't sleep.
"That's it." I muttered after two hours of tossing and turning before I got out of bed, grabbed my broom and intending to go on a late night flight, stepped out into the main part of my apartment. But as I stepped out on to the terrace, I found I wasn't the only one awake.
"Oliver?" I asked in shock and he turned. "What are you doing up?"
"It's the city." He said looking down over the railings at the street lights below. "It's too noisy. I can't sleep."
"Yeah me either." I said.
"Going somewhere?" he asked noticing the broom in my hands.
"I was thinking about going for a ride." I said honestly. "But if you're awake I might as well just stay here."
"If you want to fly you don't have to stay because of me." He said.
"No it's fine." I said taking a seat on the outdoor sofa and patting the cushion next to mine.
He sat next to me and we didn't speak for a while until suddenly, he said.
"Do you ever miss your parents?"
I turned to look at him, knowing the answer he expected, and trying to find a way to word my answer so that it didn't sound completely horrible.
"My parents and I never really got along." I admitted. "Like I said. I never really had much to do with my Dad, and my Mom, well, she always wanted a girl so she could take her shopping and marry her off to some rich diplomat like she did herself. She never liked that I played quidditch. I think our separation was quiet amicable really, and the best thing that could have happened by my teenage years. She never really got me."
"So you don't miss them?"
"I miss Max sometimes." I said which was perfectly true. He was more like a father or friend to me than my agent, especially these days. "But I can't say I really miss fighting with my mother all the time, or the awkward Christmases where I'd pretend to like all the pink and frilly clothes my father would give me."
"And what about your old school?" he said. "You old friends?"
"Same situation." I said.
"You didn't have anyone?"
"I had teammates." I said thinking back and smiling with the memories of all the people I'd played with. "They were the first group of people that really seemed to accept me and be excited that I was around. Maybe that's why I was always playing quidditch growing up. But other than that," I said with a shrug. "There really wasn't much that was keeping me there, and while I miss some of my old teams, part of me is very grateful I got the chance to start over."
"Is that why you transferred?" he asked. "To get away from it all?"
"No." I said shaking my head. "I'm not running from anything Oliver. I came here because England has better quidditch teams. That's all."
"Alright." He said and I leaned my head against his shoulder closing my eyes. "Well I'm glad you did come here."
"Me too."
"You're the first person I really think I can honestly be myself around."
"You've got Alicia." I said stifling a yawn.
"I've been lying to Alicia about me since we were twelve." He muttered quietly. "Yet after five years she hasn't noticed, but you saw through me right away."
"Well you're not exactly hiding it." I said shifting getting slightly comfier.
"None of my other friends have noticed." He said quietly. "You get me Reagan, in a way no one else seems to be able to."
"Well great minds think alike." I said and I could feel myself grinning.
"I'm really glad you decided to come to Hogwarts." He said his voice barely above a whisper now.
I wanted to respond, to say I was happy I'd decided to go to Hogwarts too, but the words got lost on the way to my mouth and never came out. By the time I meant them to, I was already asleep.
