Chapter 18: Wagon Wheel Coffee Table
It was a few days after the Helen encounter and Draco was acting a bit more civil towards the rest of society. Hermione called him one Saturday and expressed an interest in seeing ginny and blaise.
"Draco," Hermione was getting irritated. She had been on the phone with draco for half an hour, trying to coax him out of bed. "All this self-pity is terrible! Please come out and visit ginny and blaise with me! You know how much I hate trekking all the out to Westchester by myself! Please? I'll buy you lunch, and dinner! And then I'll rent "Casablanca" and we'll make popcorn!" Hermione flopped face down on her bed waiting to hear draco speak for the first time.
On the other line, draco was flipping through a old newspaper. He heard Hermione breathing. 'I'll bet she's all flopped down on her bed, wanting to claw my eyes out.' He sat up straight and cleared his throat.
"I'll expect you downstairs in one hour. If you aren't there when I get down there, im marching right back up and going back to bed."
Hermione jolted up from her bed and jumped around her room. "You're the best! I can't wait to see you!" She hung up with draco and dialed ginny's new number in Westchester.
"gin? Great news! Draco and I will be there in about 3 hours…..really?! …..i am excited! See you soon!" Hermione placed her phone on the bed and ran towards the bathroom to get ready.
~*~
Draco was tapping his foot impatiently in the lobby of his building waiting to see hermione's SUV pull up. Finally, the silver car pulled up exactly one hour from when he hung up the phone with her. Draco slid into the passenger seat. He and Hermione drove to Westchester in complete silence.
When the reached the house, Hermione locked the doors and punched Draco in the arm.
"What the….?!" Draco jumped up at the punch and glared at Hermione.
Hermione crossed her arms and scowled. "I don't know what your problem is Draco Malfoy, but I suggest you leave it in this car. It has been ages since we're seen Blaise and Ginny and I would like to have a nice visit with my best friends! So put a smile on, pretend you're not miserable, and then we can argue and yell on the way home." Taking a deep breath, Hermione stepped out of her car and left Draco to follow after her.
Once they were both at the front porch, Hermione rang the doorbell and immediately heard Ginny's squeals coming from inside the house. The large wooden doors burst open and a flash of red came charging towards Hermione and engulfed her in a hug.
"Oh Herms! I am so glad you're here!" Ginny squealed a little louder and hugged Hermione again. It was only after Hermione pinched Ginny 's arm that she stopped squealing and wrapped her arms around draco. "Oh Malfoy, you look like death! Cheer up, Blaise and I are having a bit of an argument and I know he'll be glad to have a man's opinion. " Draco just shrugged and stepped into the foyer and looked around the new house.
The foyer was a marble dream. Marble floors and pillars were eye-catching. To the right was a small office, presumably Blaise's. On the left was a grand living area that was entirely cream colored with a few tasteful splashes of color added in. In front of Draco was a grand staircase. Ginny grabbed hold of Draco's arm and lead him past the foyer to what seemed to be an informal living area. Blaise was standing over what looked like a giant wagon wheel.
Blaise looked up and pointed to the wheel. Draco moved closer to it and saw that it was a coffee table shaped like a giagantic wagon wheel. Draco just shrugged and looked back at Hermione who was trying to comfort a visibly annoyed Ginny.
"I like it," said Blaise, " it's very American and says 'Home' to me."
Ginny walked over and shook her head. "Well, how about we let Draco and Hermione decide." Ginny looked at Hermione, then at Draco. Draco felt a bit uncomfortable making a home decision, even if it was in Blaise's house. Clearing his throat, Draco shrugged his shoulders, "I think it's…nice."
"Ha!" Blaise shot a fist into the air. "There, case closed."
"Shut up Blaise, of course he likes it, he's a man, and he's your best friend! Herms, what do you think?"
Hermione fidgeted, always hating being put on the spot. She gave Blaise an apologetic smile and shook her head indicating she was not fond of the table.
Blaise turned red in the face, "Well, what's so bloody awful about it?" Hermione shrugged her shoulders and walked towards the table. She circled it and then sat on the edge of the table. "It's so awful that there is no way even to begin to explain what's so awful about it."
Ginny shot a triumphant smile towards Blaise. He glared at her, then softened his expression and approached Ginny with puppy-dog eyes.
"Darling, Gin, my love, I don't object to any of your things." Draoc almost choked on the laughter he was holding back