GOOD LORD, I DO BELIEVE I AM ALIVE.
:'D
Look guys! Story! Hahahahahaha! Of Muggles, Spilt Coffee and Love is BACK ON THE ROAAD.
for now :')
hey to anyone who's actually read the first chapter and still actually cares - i applaud you, i really do. I know it's been forever, but i'm in a really updatey mood today :D I've updated It Runs Through The Family, and I've written four chapters (YES, FOUR CHAPTERS) of my new fic, And Then He Met Tonks, but i'm not letting myself upload that until either this or IRTTF is finished. Which could be a while. ANDD I also have a new (really long) one-shot that's nearly finished, called The Bet!
YAAY.
Anyway, I'll stop rambling now. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review! They make me smile like this xD
Much love xx
"Um, just wait there while I - oh Lord, I can never - why do keys have to be so damn confusing?"
She looked over her shoulder and smiled bashfully. Percy smiled politely back. He'd never seen someone take so long to find her keys.
"Ah ha!"
Apparently, she'd found the right one, signalled by the loud, triumphant exclamation she cried as she slid the key onto the lock. Why she had so many keys anyway, Percy didn't know. It was like she had three separate houses.
She pushed the door open and removed the key, slipping the set back into her pocket. She turned, beckoning Percy in. He followed her into the hallway, still holding her papers. He'd figured earlier that she probably didn't need the added obstacle of trying to hold a massive pile of papers whilst looking for her keys and opening the door.
"It's just up here," she said, leading Percy up the stone stairway. He quickly realised she'd have to look for yet another key in a second.
She, however, didn't, and kept walking until they reached the next floor. She turned at the top and walked to the end of the corridor until she came to the flat at the end - Number 9 - and dived into her pocket for her keys once more.
Percy smiled.
"How do you like your coffee?"
"Milk, one sugar, please."
Percy looked around the living room he was sat in, after finally getting into the flat. It was modest - nothing flashy. The walls were a creamy beige and he was sat on a chocolate-brown leather sofa, decorated with creamy-coloured and chocolate-coloured fluffy cushions. There was a creamy rug on the wooden floor with a coffee table on top, and a small television sat opposite Percy. Either side of it was a door, where he guessed the bedrooms were. There was a window-seat at the end of the room, once again decorated with cushions and a vase of white lillies on the window-sill.
Behind him was the attached kitchen, next to the front door. In there was a small table and chairs - where Audrey and her flatmate ate. He hadn't gotten a good look at the kitchen, as he'd been ushered into the living room straight away, but he had caught that the walls were a light blue. There was a wall with a window in separating the kitchen and living room.
Suddenly, the door to it was kicked open from inside, and out emerged Audrey Green, armed with two coffees in matching, spotted mugs. Percy smiled as she offered him his.
"Thankyou."
She put hers down on the coffee table opposite the empty seat on the sofa, but never sat down. Instead, she clicked her fingers and pointed at Percy. "Shirt."
"You really don't have to - I mean, I'll be fine-"
"No, no, really it's fine," she said as she walked away through the door on the right side of the television, "I think Eric's stuff should fit you, but I don't know if it's really your style..." She trailed away. Percy laughed.
"That's okay," Percy called, "I don't think I really have a 'style' anyway."
"Oh, really? Well this should be fine then."
She returned holding a grey t-shirt aloft that was, indeed, about Percy's size. On it was a pink Mr. Men character and the caption 'Mr. Perfect'. Percy tried very hard not to react.
"Th-thankyou." He stammered.
It was the worst t-shirt he'd ever seen in his life.
The worst thing was, it fitted. And she'd given him it out of the goodness of her heart - he couldn't just decline.
Percy stood infront of the floor-length mirror in Audrey's modest bathroom, looking at his new 'Mr. Perfect' shirt. Percy was the shirt-and-jumper kind of guy, not the Mr-men-t-shirt kind of guy. It made him feel uncomfortable.
"Does it fit?"
"Uh- yeah!" Percy called back, "Thanks a lot!"
Tucking his coffee-stained shirt under his arm, he left the bathroom, straight back into the living room. He grinned at Audrey on the couch.
"What do you think?"
She snorted into her coffee. "It's - well, what can I say? It's perfect."
Percy narrowed his eyes. "Ha-ha," he said sarcastically. Audrey giggled as he made his way back to his coffee.
"I'm sorry," she said, smiling, "but it's the only one he had that I thought would fit you. Seriously - that's one of the sensible ones!"
Percy smiled and nodded as he swallowed his coffee. "This Eric sounds like a fun guy."
Audrey laughed again. "Aww, no, he's lovely. This is his flat, technically - I just stay here whilst I'm studying."
"So how do you know him?" Percy asked, trying to sound innocent.
"From high school," Audrey replied, "we were best friends. Then he moved here - and, well, I followed."
She smiled into her coffee. Percy's heart sank a little for reasons he didn't quite understand. "Oh well - the things you do for love, hey?"
Audrey spluttered as she drank her coffee, as if trying to say something whilst still drinking. Slamming her coffee down on the table with some having spilt on her shirt - again -, she began to choke a little.
As she coughed, Percy sat in panic. He didn't know what to do. As far as he could see, he'd just killed this lovely, charmingly clumsy, quite beautiful muggle who'd invited him in out of nothing but politeness by asking about her lovelife. If that wasn't a warning to stay away, then he didn't know what was.
She soon stopped coughing, thankfully before he made the decision to slap her on the back. She laughed a little at the second coffee stain on her shirt.
"Oh, god, no," she said, looking at Percy, "me and Eric - I'm not - I mean, we're not - he's gay."
"Oh!" Percy giggled. Whether it was out of relief or amusement, he didn't quite know yet.
2 hours, 3 coffees and numerous biscuits later, Percy left Audrey's flat. Soon enough he was trundling back down to his own flat in his little car, still smiling inwardly at his afternoon.
Eric hadn't turned up - which Percy viewed both as a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because he probably would have wanted his shirt back, and Percy didn't fancy driving home topless. But it was also a curse, because he wanted to meet Eric - from his taste in clothes he seemed like quite a weirdo.
Audrey had showed Percy some of Eric's other clothes - there wasn't anything brown, black or beige in sight. Everything was mad colours and patterns and logos - there was even an unexpected dress. Audrey found this so amusing she almost collapsed. Percy smiled fondly at the memory.
And the best bit was, he'd have to go back to return the t-shirt.
Everyone wins.
He didn't really know if he liked Audrey yet - and by liked, he meant fancied, but that word made him sound six. Sure, she was lovely, and she was pretty, and she was adorably clumsy and cute. But they'd had one afternoon together. Surely that wasn't enough to decide?
Was it?
Percy pulled up in the car park near his building and began the walk back to his house. It had gotten a lot colder in the hours he'd spent with Audrey - the sun had set and the stars smiled down at him. He went to pull his coat close but then realised he hadn't had the sensibility to bring one - something which he mentally admonished himself for. It had just looked like such good weather when he'd left for work this morning.
He unlocked his own door considerably quicker than Audrey had unlocked hers, and entered his flat. He shut the door, threw his keys on the table next to the door with the phone on, and turned around into his living room. What he saw made him stop dead.
"I've been waiting for you."
"George! What the hell?"
Percy's younger brother grinned from ear to ear. "Nice shirt."
He narrowed his eyes, sending a cold glare in George's direction. "Shut up."
"Where'd you get that?" he asked, leaping up to follow Percy into the kitchen, "I'll get me some - sell them in the shop. Jokes you can wear - that's the future, that is!"
Percy ignored him. George continued. "No, but seriously - you didn't go to work in that, did you? I didn't think the head of the Improper Use of Magic Office was allowed to wear such fanciful atrocities."
"The what?"
George frowned. "The Improper Use of Magic Office - you know, where you work?"
"Oh, yeah. Right."
In all of the excitement, Percy had completely forgotten about his own life. Audrey was a muggle. He wasn't.
That felt weird.
George was still waiting for an answer. Percy shook his head. "No," he said, "I didn't go to work in this."
"Where the hell have you been, Perce?"
"Out. Sorry Mum, was I back after my curfew?"
"Oh. Funny. Leave the jokes to someone who knows what they're doing, yeah? Namely moi."
"You can't speak French."
"Do I care?"
Percy rolled his eyes. George was such a child.
"Anyway!" he said, getting back to the point, "where have you been? I mean, you've come back in a different shirt - a Quidditch match, maybe? Or some mad strip club?"
"What? No, George. I've been to neither of those places."
"Good. 'Cause if you had, you'd be getting seriously beaten up for not inviting me." He grinned, "So come on, where have you been?"
"At Audrey's." He hoped that didn't sound suspicious. George didn't keep track of Percy's friends, anyway - how was he to know there wasn't an Audrey?
"Audrey? Who's Audrey?"
"A friend."
"Oooooh!" George sang, with the air of a six-year-old, "A friend."
"Yes. A friend. Now go away please, I'd like a bath."
"And when did you meet this friend?" asked George, jumping into Percy's path. Percy groaned.
"This afternoon - not that it's any of your business."
"Oooooh!" George sang again, at a higher pitch, "A new friend!"
"Get lost, George."
"Do you loooove her?"
"No, I do not love Audrey."
George gasped like a schoolgirl. "You do! You always were a terrible liar, Percy."
Percy looked straight into his brother's eyes, grabbing him by the shoulders. "Get. Lost."
He let go, and George stepped backwards, still grinning. "Oooh, alright. I'm bored now anyway. No need to get defensive over your new girlfriend."
But before Percy could hit him, George apparated away.