Chapter 7:
Angelina, Katie, and Alicia were seated in the front of the garden talking amongst themselves. Alicia was all smiles when she said, " I know that we haven't met their cousins yet, but what if we really get along? What if we actually find love?"
Katie and Angelina turned to look at their friend and gave her a smile. "Maybe, who knows?" said Angelina and Katie nodded her head. Alicia knew why her two friends weren't that optimistic. Angelina, for some reason always chose to date the opposite of what she really liked. Katie, was never trusting of men since her experience with Mason.
"Angelina, why is it that you never go for the guys that you really want? I mean you're adventurous. You love excitement. As for looks, when we were in school you always looked at the guys who had sort of that rugged bad boy look. Then you end up almost marrying someone who has no sense of fun and is all work. As for Roger's looks, he's a pretty boy and there's nothing rugged about him at all."
Angelina stared at Alicia, and shrugged. She didn't want to tell her the answer so she said that she didn't know. However the truth was that she didn't go after the guys she liked since she didn't want to get hurt. She thought that she'd get hurt since the boys that were her type were a lot like Adrian.
Then Alicia turned to Katie and said " You on the other hand Ms. Bell should give men another chance. Not all of them are like Mason. They won't all treat you like dirt."
Katie looked to Alicia and nodded. Mason wasn't the only who had hurt her. Marcus threw her into the stands. She remembered caring for Marcus and he had hurt her. Then she remembered caring for Mason and he had hurt her as well. She was scared to take a chance with anyone else fearing that she might get hurt again.
"So Alicia, are you actually planning on at least being friends with this guy first? Or are you going to love him and leave him fast?" asked Katie with a smirk on her face.
Alicia pondered the question for a moment. She never once in her life had dated a friend. When George had tried to ask her out she simply said no, fearing it would end their friendship. Another reason why she said no was because she knew that she could probably fall deep in love with a friend. She thought back to when she was little, and she knew for sure that if things had happened differently in Hogwarts she'd have probably dated and fallen in love with Terrence.
" I don't know, but let's just try our best to be nice to them. I don't want to make anymore enemies." Alicia explained. Angelina and Katie nodded and went back inside.
The next day Adrian, Terrence, and Marcus decided to have lunch with Fred, George, and Oliver. While they were eating George said, " The food hear is pretty good, but it's nothing compared to Alicia's restaurants." Fred and Oliver nodded in unison.
"Really? Is it really that good?" asked Terrence as he looked to George who nodded.
"Yea, it's the best they have foods there that regular wizarding restaurants don't have. You three should try it one day." said Oliver.
"I'm not sure we can, we don't know if we're banded from it or not. We don't know if we're even allowed in any of the girl's businesses." explained Adrian.
Fred, George, and Oliver all sniggered. " No you're not banded from any of them." explained Fred. Adrian, Marcus, and Terrence gave them all confused looks and wondered how they knew.
"Angelina, Katie, and Alicia told us that they found out that you three founded the orphanage, and said that if you three could do something so selfless, than maybe you three weren't that bad after all." Fred continued, and Adrian, Marcus, and Terrence chuckled back.
The six men proceeded to talk about their lives, and their current living situations. Things started to get interesting when they talked about Angelina, Katie, and Alicia going out with Adrian's, Terrence's, and Marcus' cousins. The former Gryffindor men were in total shock.
"They actually agreed? They haven't been out on dates for over three years!" said Oliver, and now it was Adrian, Terrence, and Marcus who were in shock. The girls hadn't dated in three years, how could they have managed that. All three were stunningly beautiful, and yet they hadn't dated. There had to be more to the story.
"If any of your cousins are boring, and all work and no play, Angelina and he will definitely hit it off! They might even have a wedding! Although for the life of me I can't understand why, she's nothing like that." laughed Fred.
"How do you know? Angelina seems more like the adventurous type, I can't picture her with a man who'll bore her to death." questioned Adrian, and he and Terrence nodded in unison.
"Yea Fred, I'd picture her going out with someone like you." said Marcus and Adrian fell silent. He also felt a tinge of jealousy when he remembered seeing Angelina and Fred at the Yule Ball together.
"Believe me I tried to date her. However she said I reminded her of someone to much, and she didn't want to wreck our friendship. After that we just grew close and now she's like a sister to me. I can't picture myself dating her anymore. Besides, after what happened at her almost wedding, I'd be surprised if she was opened to dating anyone." explained Fred, and for some reason unknown to him Adrian felt a sense of relief.
"Okay, well what about Katie? Why hasn't she dated anyone?" asked Marcus and Adrian and Terrence gave him smirks. He saw and scowled and said " Well I just want to know what our cousins are in for?" The boys were now all smirking.
"Mason." said Oliver through gritted teeth. Fred and George also scowled, remembering the things that Katie's ex-boyfriend had done to her.
"Who's Mason?" questioned Marcus who was really curious as to why the men across from him were so angry at the name.
"It's personal for Katie, I wouldn't feel right telling you about the details. I'm just going to say that he's a poor excuse for a man. If either of us ever see him again we'd kill him!" explained Oliver, and Marcus, Adrian, and Terrence nodded. All three were curious as to what had happened to Katie but they didn't want to pry since they didn't think that they had a right to.
"Alright then, so what about you and Alicia George? You two were awfully close during Hogwarts don't tell me nothing happened between the two of you." said Terrence. George looked at him and chuckled.
"Nah, nothing happened between us. I think that's the reason our friendship is strong. Alicia would have ditched me fast like she does all her other men. We have a good friendship, so I agreed to just be friends with her since she wouldn't have it any other way. Besides that, she helps me get some really amazing dates!" George laughed again.
Terrence was shocked. He would have never guessed that Alicia would end relationships so fast he remembered them being little, and she wanted to play house all the time. She had always wanted to be the wife. He found it odd that Alicia had found it hard to be in a commitment. There had to be something more to it.
A few more days past, and the weekend came. Adrian, Terrence, and Marcus had already aparrated out of the house to fetch their cousins.
Angelina, Katie, and Alicia on the other hand were all little bit jumpy. It had been a long time since the three girls had entertained men. After rummaging through all their fine clothes they decided on something sexy yet casual. It was perfect for the night that the girls had planned for the visitors that they had yet to meet.
The three girls had decided that Angelina would be going with Terrence's cousin, Katie would be going out with Adrian's cousin, and Alicia would be going out with Marcus's cousin, since they felt more comfortable that way.
A noise was heard and with that six, handsome gentlemen apparated into the house. Adrian, Terrence, and Marcus were still apologizing to their cousins for the sudden change of plans and promised to make plans with them for later during the weeks they were in town.
As the girls added the last finishing touches to themselves they headed down the stairs to meet their dates.
When the girls were finally in sight all six gentlemen were staring with mouths hung wide open. Adrian, Terrence, and Marcus quickly realized that they were staring and managed to stop so that the girls wouldn't notice. The three new guess however were awe stricken as they took in the beauty of the girls. All three were quite gorgeous.
Sean Higgs, Terrence's cousin was a handsome man with dirty blonde hair and emerald green eyes. Nicholas Pucey had dark hair like his cousin, and hazel eyes and was quite charming. Finally Jonathan Flint, looked nothing like everyone expected him to look like. He was a handsome man with Aubern hair and blue eyes. All three men were tall all ranging above 6 feet.
" Not bad for our first dates in three years" Alicia whispered to Katie and Angelina who let out soft giggles.
The new visitors introduced themselves to the women, and the women did the same in return. Angelina called attention to all the men as she said " I hope the three of you wont mind, but we already decided who we'd be entertaining for the night." All eyes were on her and she blushed realizing that her sentence sounded like a sexual innuendo.
"Not that kind of entertainment," she said correcting herself as everyone let out a chuckle.
" No of course we don't mind" replied Nicholas who was eyeing all three of the girls deciding that either of the three would be suitable for him.
"Well that's great, because I choose you Nicholas" smiled Katie who happily interlaced her arms with her date for the night. Adrian watched his cousin and for some reason he was greatful to God that Angelina hadn't been his date.
Marcus on the other hand was just as glad that Katie hadn't gone out with his cousin as well. He thought it would make things really complicated.
Terrence on the other hand was still worried about who was going to date his cousin. He didn't know why but he really wanted Angelina to do it. Relief came when he saw Angelina walking up towards Sean. He frowned as he watched Alicia smile as she made her way towards Jonathan.
" Looks like it's you and me" said Angelina as she got closer to Sean who smiled happily at her.
When everyone had finally finished pairing up Adrian, Terrence, and Marcus announced that they had to pick up their fiances so they had to head of as well. By 8:00 in the evening everyone had left the house.
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Helaina was talking and talking as usual, while Marcus just sat in front of her and nodded, not really paying attention to anything that she was saying. He thought that this night would never end. He even started wondering why he was with that woman. He began to think more and more about the whole wedding, and if it was the right thing to do.
Meanwhile Maleena was ranting on about the wedding. She was talking about how expensive it had to be. It had to be the biggest wedding society had ever seen. Adrian tried to drown out her voice. The more he heard the more he wanted out of the wedding.
Tanya was already working Terrence's last nerve, and he couldn't take it anymore. "I WANT OUT!" he suddenly yelled frightening his fiance and catching Marcus and Adrian's attention at the same time.
"What do you mean you want out?" asked Tanya in utter shock as she gave her fiance a confused look.
Terrence shrugged and let out a heavy sigh and explained how he didn't think she was the right girl for him.
Adrian decided it was high time to tell Maleena the same thing as well, since he finally decided that he could never picture his life with someone as selfish as she was.
"This isn't over Adrian Pucey! No one back's out of a marriage to Maleena Caine!" screamed Maleena as she raised her right hand and gave her ex fiance a slap on the face.
Helaina already had a stern look on her face, daring Marcus to try to back out of the wedding. Unfortunately for her, for some reason Marcus was really drained out of all his feelings for her that night. "Look Helaina my life would be a living hell if I was married to you. You and I are through, find some other man to sink your fingers into." he said coldly.
All three men got up from their tables and left to exit the restaurant that they had taken their fiances to. It was ironic how tonight they were suppose to be making things up to their fiances, however they were walking away as free single men, never having to make up anything to girls who didn't deserve it.
It was around ten thirty in the evening when the boys got home. Marcus went to the wine cellar and got some firewhisky and three mugs for he and his friends.
"GENTLEMEN, TO A KNEW BEGINNING!" said Terrence as all three men held their mugs together.
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Meanwhile, the girls were still having fun with their dates. The night had been wonderful. They had gone dancing at AJ'S, and now they were having dinner at Alicia's famous restaurant.
"So how is it that you three girls and our cousins know each other?" asked Jonathan as he eyed all three girls for an answer.
"Well we were all best friends when we were younger. We practically grew up together." explained Alicia looking at her date. She wasn't really prepared to answer any questions about how their friendships had fallen apart.
"Have any of you three dated any of our cousins?" asked Sean catching all three women by surprise and causing them to nearly choke on the food that they were eating.
"No way, we'd never date them!" exclaimed Angelina as Sean patted her back since she was still coughing from almost choking.
"Yeah, after everything they did to us! Marcus, Adrian, and Terrence are the last three men we'd ever date! If I had a choice to date Marcus Flint or kill myself, I think I'd kill myself!" said Katie earning her a look from Jonathan.
"So you girls still hate them?" asked Nicholas who was looking at the girls with a confused expression.
"No we don't hate them, at least not as much as we did. We were best friends at one time. It's just after everything is hard to trust them like we did when we were younger. However we are working on trying to get along better." explained Angelina.
The men all looked at each other, and then the girls. They knew their cousins very well and immediately knew which girl was formerly best friends with each of their cousins.
Sean focused his gaze on Alicia, " You were best friends with Terrence weren't you?" Although it was a question, Sean made it sound more like a statement of fact, and the fact was confirmed when Alicia nodded her head.
"It's too bad that you don't like him, my cousin and you would have made a perfect couple Alicia. Your his type, looks and personality." explained Sean earning himself a look from Jonathan.
"Yes too bad for Terrence, but really good for me!" said Jonathan coolly making his interest in Alicia known.
Nicholas turned his gaze to Angelina. "I can see a sense of excitement in your eyes, Angelina. You're adventurous and beautiful, that's exactly how Adrian likes them. I don't understand why you too don't haven't dated."
"Look a lot has happened between Adrian and I, I won't date a guy like him. Let's just leave at that okay." pleaded Angelina.
Sean who was irritated at the thought of the beautiful woman by his side being with his friend's cousin said " Yes, let's leave like that. No Adrian for Angelina, and no Angelina for Adrian, " then he turned and gazed into Angelina's eyes and said, " Trust me I'm nothing like Adrian."
"Don't even think of saying Katie's good with Marcus Jonathan!" said Nicholas shooting daggers at Jonathan who was about to speak.
Jonathan however ignored the warning and said, " Well, she's definitely is type. But tell me Katie, is Marcus yours?"
Katie who was irritated by the question yelled, "He threw me off my broom into the stand of the opposing team! Of course he's not my type!" Katie didn't know who she was convincing herself or everyone around her. Marcus was exactly her type, mysterious, strong, and handsome, although she'd never admit that.
"Great, now that that's settled. Maybe I can work on becoming more your type." whispered Nicholas into Katie's ear causing the blue eyed blonde to turn red.
The subject of Adrian, Terrence, and Marcus was dropped and they spent more time conversing with each other. Coming from different schools and experiencing different things, they all had many things to talk about.
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It was nearing 2:30 in the morning and the girls had been drained out of energy. They had made sleeping accommodations for their dates at the Three Towers hotel, and made their way to apparate back to the estate.
As the three of them appeared in the living room of their home, the lights were on and three very tall, very handsome, and very drunk men appeared from what seemed to be out of nowhere.
"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU THREE BEEN!" bellowed Terrence who's breath still smelled like whiskey.
"Sorry we just lost track of time Ter, but you're cousins and us had a great time." explained Angelina trying to sound as calm as possible.
"IT'S 2 FUCKIN THIRTY IN THE MORNING! THIS IS NO TIME FOR A LADY TO COME HOME!" shouted Marcus who stared at all three girls.
"MARCUS FLINT YOU STOP CURSING THIS INSTANT! YOU FORGET TO REALIZE THAT WE ARE TWENTY THREE YEARS OLD!" yelled Alicia.
"WHATEVER, YOU THREE ARE STILL ELIGABLE TO GET SPANKED!" said a totally wasted Adrian as he wagged his eyebrows at all three of the girls.
"LOOK FATHERS, WE'RE REALLY TIRED AND WE'RE GOING TO BED IF THAT'S OKAY WITH YOU!" yelled Katie who was getting more and more sleepy.
"WAIT ONE MORE QUESTION BEFORE YOU GO TO BED!" called Terrence stopping the girls who were trying to make their way up the stairs.
All of them turned around and gave him a questioningly look.
"DID YOU SLEEP WITH THEM?" Terrence finally asked as he stumbled to the sofa.
All three girls yelled "GOODNIGHT" in unison and made their way up to bed without answering the question.
As the three girls were out of sight, the men each stumbled as they made their way up to their own bedrooms as well.
Early the next morning, the smell of breakfast cooking woke all three of the men up. Unfortunately for them, the three of them all had aching headaches from drinking the night before.
As they made their way down the stares, they were shocked to see that it was Alicia preparing breakfast and not the houselves.
Alicia turned around and had a big grin on her face. " Well good morning you three! You all look like you had a rough night" she stated as she took in the sight of the boys who all looked really tired and really hung over.
" Hey Alicia, where are the houselves? and why are you cooking breakfast." Adrian asked, not that he was complaining. He and the two other men thought that breakfast smelled heavenly.
Alicia who hadn't cooked in a while due to her busy schedule, explained that she had missed being in a kitchen.
"Okay but why are you cooking such a large amount of food?" Marcus asked as he took in the sight, of the muffins, hotcakes, sausages, eggs, fruit and yogurt that Alicia was preparing.
" Well this is a thank you for introducing us to your cousins, we all really hit it off last night" Alicia blushed as she flipped another pancake back into the pan.
"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why you have that much food prepared. There's only six of us." Terrence asked in disbelief.
"He's right Alicia, you've got enough to feed twenty people. Speaking of people, where are Katie and Angelina are they still asleep?" asked Marcus as his eyes searched for Katie.
Alicia turned an even deeper shade of red as she said. " Well Katie, is at the store getting me more food and supplies for later, and as for the food, we've invited your cousins to join us for breakfast and Angelina's fetching all of them right now."
Adrian, Marcus, and Terrence stood in utter silence. None of the three knew what to think. They couldn't be mad it wasn't like they had the right to tell the girls who they could and could not date. The three didn't know what to think however the expressions that Alicia saw were unhappy ones.
"Is there something wrong?" she asked looking at all three men, who quickly changed all of their facial expressions.
"Oh no Alicia, it's just that we had a lot to drink last night and our heads ache" Adrian explained quickly.
"Yeah all three of us have really bad hangovers." Terrence explained as he watched his former best friend cook more food.
"Did someone say bad hangovers?" said the voice of Angelina who had just apparated in with Sean, Jonathan, and Nicholas.
Adrian, Marcus, and Terrence turned to see their cousins who all had smiles on their faces. The former Slytherins managed to put smiles on their faces as well, and fixed their eyes on Angelina.
"Yea, hangovers Angelina! We had too much to drink, and our heads our pounding!" complained Marcus.
Angelina gave a smirk and teasingly said, " Oh you poor babies. Don't worry I have something to fix that." With that she made her way to the cupboards, and started brewing water, and began making her remedy for hangovers.
After, she made her way to the aching boys and began handing them each a cup of her remedy. When she got to Adrian he accidentally touched her hands a little too long. She gave him a raised eyebrow and he shot her back an apologetic look. Before Angelina could say anything another noise was heard and Katie was seen holding lots of bags in her arms.
"There's my favorite girl, here let me help you with that!" beamed Nicholas as he made his way towards Katie. Alicia and Angelina glanced at each other and shared grins.
"Katie, his favorite girl? He's only known for a day! Great next week they'll be picking out curtains together!" Marcus thought to himself, and was still unsure why he was so bothered by the fact that Adrian's cousins was sprung on Katie.
Katie gave some of the bags to Nicholas and was blushing as well. She shot a look at her three male house mates a gave a look of concern. " I smell Angelina's hangover remedy?" she stated and gave the boys questioning looks.
" Yea, Katie we're actually starting to feel a lot better. Angelina what's in this stuff it's working great." said Terrence.
"That is a secret, Terrence Higgs" Angelina replied with sneaky smile.
Sean looked at Angelina dreamily. " Well aren't you quite the mysterious one. That's okay though I like mysteries. And you Angelina are mystery that I am not leaving unsolved."
"What a cheesy line. Who does this guy think he is Sherlock Holmes? If it weren't for the fact that Terrence is his cousin I'd turn him into an unsolved mystery myself!" Adrian angrily thought to himself. He didn't know what it was about Sean that he didn't like but he just didn't like him. He didn't think he was right for Angelina, however he had no say so in who she was dating. He'd lost that privilege 10 years ago.
"Hey Ange, Kates, could you to get the table ready I'm just about done over here?" Alicia asked and Katie and Angelina began setting up.
"You're beautiful and you can cook? If that's not wife material then I don't what is." grinned Jonathan as he wagged his eyebrows at Alicia.
"Throw yourself at her why don't you. Only one day and you want to make her your wife, who does that?" thought a very irritated Terrence. He reminisced on the days when he and Alicia were kids playing house, with him as the husband and she as the wife. However he knew those days were over and was snapped back into the harsh reality that whatever friendship there was between them before could never come back and it was his own fault.
While they were eating the boys were coming up with ideas in their own minds, to keep the girls from getting any closer to any of their cousins. "Well we promised to take you guys around town while you're here! What do guys want to do first?" said Adrian earning himself looks from the girls and the cousins who were visiting.
Terrence who thought that would be a great idea added in, " Yea, ladies thank you for taking them out last night, but we should take over from here."
" Yea besides, it was us who were suppose to be showing them around town. I think we've bothered you ladies enough. Thanks for your kindness towards our cousins but we really should catch up with them it's been ages. Right gentlemen?" Marcus stated as he shifted his gaze towards his cousins who were all lost for words.
Neither, Sean, Jonathan, or Nicholas answered since they knew that the men were right. After all catching up with their cousins was what they originally came for.
"Oh, that's all right gentlemen, we don't mind at all. Besides don't you want time to spend with your fiances? asked Angelina who was enjoying the company of their knew visitors.
"About them. Well our engagements have been called off, and so have our relationships. Now we have the full two weeks to spend with our cousins." said Marcus as though he were merely talking about the weather. The news left Angelina, Katie, and Alicia stunned.
"Is that why you were all drunk last night? They must have broke things off with you rather harsh?" said Alicia who was still shocked at the news. She thought for sure that her three enemies would have cursed her with their presence any minute now.
"No, we actually called the whole thing off. We decided they weren't the right women for us." Marcus explained some more.
" Oh and with us showing them around you three girls could spend more time at the orphanage, the children love it when your over there." said Adrian knowing full well that all three girls had a soft spot for the children in their hearts.
The girls were all feeling guilty. How could they have forgotten about the time they had with the children. " Oh that's right. Okay um can we take them to the beach?" asked Katie giving all three men a pleading look.
"Oh that's perfect idea Katie, we could have a barbeque and everything I'm sure the kids will love it." said Angelina as she too gave the men puppy dog eyes.
Fortunately for them the men were willing to do anything just to keep them away from their cousins. Adrian, Terrence, and Marcus agreed happily.
" Wait a minute, none of us have been to the beach over here." said Sean eyeing Angelina causing Adrian to grit his teeth.
"Hey what if we all go to the beach. It would give us a chance to go sight seeing and see what you've done with the orphanage." exclaimed Jonathan who wanted nothing more than to be by Alicia's side.
Marcus, Terrence, and Adrian were getting more and more annoyed by the second. They knew fully well what their cousins wanted. It had nothing to do with the orphanage. All of them just wanted to be with the girls.
"Fine we'll all go, to the beach tomorrow" said Marcus trying his best to sound happy. Although he hated the idea of everyone going. He wouldn't have minded if Nicholas would be staying. He just knew that Nicholas would be drooling over Katie every second.
"Is it alright if we bring some friends along?" asked Terrence in such a voice that Adrian and Marcus knew he was thinking of something mischievous.
Everyone agreed and Terrence called Adrian and Marcus for a little talk in private.
" Look you guys, I want you to be honest, do you think our cousins are right for the girls?" he asked as he looked at his two best friends in each of their eyes.
"No I don't think that they are. I mean do you see how you're idiot cousin fawns all over Angelina. The man barely even knows her!" exclaimed Adrian .
" Don't be so quick to jump on Ter's cousin Ade. What about Nico Suave. Look at the way he follows Katie around. He's bound to be a stalker!" Marcus spat back showing his dislike of Nicholas.
" Marc, if there is anyone who is going to be a stalker it's your cousin Jonathan. He's already picturing Alicia as his wife, and they've only know each other for 24 hours, who the hell does that?" Terrence sneered.
The boys started arguing amongst themselves for a while discussing what they thought was wrong with each of their cousins. " OKAY, ENOUGH! We all know we don't want them with any of the girls so what are we going to about it?" asked Adrian.
"Look are you sure that you are both willing to go against our cousins. I mean we're blood and blood is thicker than water." said Marcus who was unsure about going against his cousins.
"Look we may all be cousins, however the three of us are brothers. We grew up together. Brothers win out cousins in my book any day. So are we willing to this together?" asked Terrence as he eyed Adrian and Marcus.
"Look I don't know how we are going to pull this off." said Marcus who was in deep thought.
"We know our cousins dislikes, well enough. The girls on the other hand we don't know much about anymore. So I'm thinking we implore the help of two identical redheaded brothers, a certain young man with dreadlocks, and finally a quidditch obsessed keeper." said Adrian with a big grin on his face. Things were sure to get interesting once the Weasley twins and their other friends were involved.