CHAPTER 3
(Day three)

"STOP IT." I said with finality as Alicia and Angie continuously badgered me to indulge on my favourite activity—watching Oliver undress in the lockers after Quidditch practice. I was determined to forget about the lad. I truly was. But damn, knowing his awesomeness was just a few feet away was tearing me up inside.

The communal dressing area in the Quidditch pitch was humid with the all-too familiar scent of sweat-drenched athletes prevailing in the air. I sat on one of the wooden benches, my back towards the blokes so I wouldn't be tempted to look. I pushed my sweaty fringe away from my forehead and lifted my foot to pull out my tube socks.

"Just a tiny peek, Kates," Angie said, giggling as she unstrapped her boots beside me, shooting a sly look at Oliver who was on the other side of the room, apparently taking off his robes. "You know you want to."

"Ollie is totally working out more these days," Alicia noted. "He is soooo fit."

"Yeah, I heard a scout came to talk to him about joining Puddlemere."

"Really?"

"Oh will you two shut up. Honestly! What kind of mates are you? I'm NOT looking, ok?" I said, tossing my socks impatiently inside my bag.

"Come now Kates," George called from behind. "Don't be shy. You can look at my body. I'm quite fit lately, if you've noticed."

"He is, Kates. Very ripped," Angie said, giving George a thumbs up. "Have a look-see."

Sighing audibly, I obliged and found George, who was wearing orange boxers that matched his hair and the bird bruises on the side of his face, flexing his non-existent abs and biceps for my viewing pleasure.

"Delightful," I told him with a patronizing smile and went to my locker to get a fresh shirt. I shrugged my robes off my shoulders, took off the wifebeater underneath and threw on a crisp white shirt. I used to be uncomfortable undressing in the communal locker area, but I just got used to it, I guess. Besides, it wasn't like people were walking around stark naked. The Gryffindor team wasn't some sort of nudist colony.

"Let's get a move on team, the Hufflepuffs booked the pitch for the next hour," Oliver announced after a few minutes, walking around to pick up some of the garments everybody's been leaving behind.

"Righty-o captain," Fred said, giving Oliver a salute when Oliver passed him, at which point he was nearing me so I pretended that I wasn't looking at him or anything. With my head facing the inside of my locker, I pulled the barette from my hair and ran a couple of fingers through it, loosening up the strands.

"Kate," Oliver said, picking up the awfully sweaty robes I dropped to the floor and handing it to me.

"Oh, thank you," I said as non-chalantly as I could and tore my eyes away from his beautiful face.

He lingered for a while, leaning casually on the locker beside me as I folded up my robes. From my periphery, I could see him watching me closely and I could feel my cheeks burning from his stare. Or was it just extremely hot in the vicinity?

"All right?" he asked, placing a hand on my elbow.

"Fantastic," I replied with a casual smile, ignoring the electric currents I felt from where he touched me. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "You just don't seem a bit chatty lately."

"Well, you wouldn't know for sure, would you, since you've been camping out in the Ravenclaw table these days," I replied with an eyebrow raise and closed my locker door shut. Oh shit, did I just say that?

He smiled amusingly (no, it was actually more of a smirk) and pinched my nose lightly, "You're not jealous, are you?"

But before I could respond OH HELL YEAH I'M JEALOUS, Angelina intervened.

"Why would she be when she's been going out with somebody?" she said smugly and pulled me by the wrist out the archway. "Bye Ollie."

"See you, Angelina, Kate," Oliver called out. All I managed was a small wave goodbye as he watched me being dragged outside by my friend, who just told him the biggest lie of the century. I haven't been on a date in two effing years!

"Hang on, my bag," I told Angelina when we were out in the pitch again.

"George has it," she said, pointing towards the twins who were just a few paces ahead. George was balancing my duffel bag on his head as he walked with his brother and Harry Potter indulged in animated conversation.

"What was that?" Alicia ran up to us, her eyes wide as nightlamps.

"I don't know. It just sort of launched itself out of of my throat," I said guiltily of that sarcastic little comment I made.

"Not that. Because he totally deserved that remark," Angie adjusted the back pack on her shoulder. "I meant, why was he flirting with you? Not that he shouldn't, because we all know you're gorgeous…"

"Very irresistible," Alicia chimed in quickly, grinning.

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes, pushing my friends away as we ascended the steps back up to the castle.

"No seriously, what's up with him?" Angie asked returning to my side as we turned the corner toward the changing staircases. The twins were waiting for us on the landing.

"Yeah," Alicia said, looking sort of annoyed. "Why was he all up on you with a sexy grin?"

"You mean like…" Fred slolwy ran a hand through his hair and licked his lips before smiling in a suave way that oddly reminded me of Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Blimey, Fred, that's not sexy," George said, handing me my bag. "Hold this for me, Kates." I took it and swung it across my chest.

"I believe it's more like this…" And George did the exact same thing Fred did so both of them were now grinning like massive dolts.

"Dashing," Angelina said, horrorstruck, pushing Fred up the flight of stairs. Alicia followed them.

"Uh, yeah, that's very sexy," I said of George's goofy grin. "I'd pick you over Oliver any day."

"I know, sweetheart," George said, swinging his arm around my shoulder as we made our way up. "You just wait till I get these pecs in shape! Then you'll be all over me."

I elbowed him on the tummy slightly and we laughed our way up the portrait hole, sharing joke after joke (it was he who was telling most of them, actually) until we reached the common room and went our separate ways.

For a short while, I was distracted with the mental image of Fred and George's stupid/sexy grin, but it got old and my thoughts reverted to Oliver himself. He was acting a bit strange a while ago. The way he looked at me as Angelina gracefully escorted—scratch that—DRAGGED me out of the changing areas was unlike any I've ever gotten from him. It was like he was looking, like really looking at me for the first time. It was strange. It was exciting. It was bothering me. The way a thong does when it rides up your bum.

I skipped supper that night. My tummy was doing odd flip flops like I was about to go sick any minute. But I'm sure it was just because of anxiety. I laid contemplatively under the comfy powder blue blanket which I haven't returned to the unidentified owner. (I was sure it belonged to one of my five mates anyway.) I was really loving the softness and the scent of the fabric and was deeply tempted to never return it. After a few minutes of tossing and turning in my bed, I decided to go down to the common room to get some sort of reading material to perhaps lull me to sleep.

I went down wearing my light pink pyjamas dotted with cute little hearts all over, unmindful that I'd find the character who was the reason why I was still awake in the first place. Oliver was already in his nighties as well, a tight gray shirt and navy blue pyjama bottoms. I would be lying if I said that he didn't look amazing. Because he did. And suddenly my feet were glued to the stairs.

"Oh hi Kate," Oliver glanced up from a magazine he was reading.

"Oliver," I said with a tight-lipped smile, looking at the reading material in his hands. Ah. The Quidditch digest—what else? I dragged my bare feet on the carpet, approaching him with caution. I knew I wasn't supposed to be getting myself into a situation with him.

"Why aren't you having supper?"

"Same question I'd like to ask you actually," he replied, closing the magazine and tossing it haphazardly on the table.

"I wasn't hungry," I said, standing a few feet away from him.

"Yeah I wasn't either. Sit?" he fluffed the seat beside him, discharging dustmites from the cushions.

"Alright," I said, rather reluctantly, taking a random magazine from the pile and occupied the presented space.

"So?" he said, extending his arm on the back of the couch. "How are you doing?"

"Fantastic," I replied, giving him a quick smile before flipping a few pages of the whatever magazine that was on my lap. I wasn't really concentrating, not even trying to, actually. And was his arms snaking it's way over my shoulder?

"So who's this new lad Angie's been talking about?" Oliver asked, stopping my hand from randomly turning the pages of the magazine.

Caught off-guard, I racked my brain for answer, all the while aware that Oliver was holding my hand and that the way his arm was hovering was dangerously close to an embrace. I could've just said any boy's name but his hazel eyes were focused on me so intensely and his hand was so warm and so soft above mine and I just couldn't bloody function!

Thankfully, the portrait hole opened and the awkward silence was replaced with busy chatter as students filed in.

"George!" I stood erect as I spotted my red-haired mate from the mass of Gryffindors coming in from supper. Merlin, was I ever thankful to see him.

"Kates!" he beamed, mightily surprised as I sauntered over to where he was, walking away from whatever moment Oliver and I had. George looked at Oliver then at me and nodded like he came to a realization. One plus one…

"Well, don't let me keep you." He reacted without humour whatsoever, his smile suddenly dropping to a frown.

"No, no, we're not…" I tried to explain, but our other friends emerged from the portrait hole. I was so distracted that I didn't even lash out on Fred for making a comment about my apparent weight gain. (Just a few pounds so they wouldn't tease me about being a stick insect.)

"Hey belly Bell," Fred greeted as he passed us with Angie grinning beside him.

"Hey." Lee and Alicia entered, bearing similar expression of glee.

"So that was why you didn't join us," George said quietly as we followed the pairs to the couches, each of them sharing a loveseat. (Oliver was gone, thank Merlin!) He detested it when I didn't join them because he was stuck with the lovers.

"No. No," I quickly interjected, inserting my hand on the crook of his arm. "I actually just came down to get something to read and..."

"You could have just told me that you had a romp with Wood lined up for the night," George shrugged my hand away and faced me with a cold stare.

WHA--? His accusation shocked me. "I told you, I didn't know he was there," I said hotly. "Why are you even reacting this way?"

"I don't know. I just don't like it when…" he paused, his eyes dropping to the floor. "…when people don't mean what they say."

Forget metaphors, I might as well get a sharpee and scribble GUILT it in big, bold, letters across my forehead. When he looked up, I peered at him from under my lashes, slightly ashamed of myself but still wondering why it seemed like such a big deal to him. So we stood there, staring at each other for an eternity, before he looked away and pulled something from the inside of his robes. "Here."

He gave me a brown paper bag.

"Thought you might be hungry," he shrugged and without another look turned on his heel to leave.

As I watched his back disappear down the staircases to the boys' dorm, I felt four pairs of eyes on me.

"What did I do now?" I turned to my mates, sighing exasperatedly.

Oddly enough, everybody was smiling at me.

"Ah," Fred grinned. "Their first lovers' spat."

A/N: Thanks for all the awesome responses I received from the first two chapters. Cheers to you lot esp to ink-blot88, who has been so helpful!

Now come on, people! If you loved/liked/hated/detested the chapter, click that little GO button and let me know. Nothing motivates me more than a nice, fat page of reviews, so pleaseeee… :) I'm asking really nicely here. If you don't, I'm going to cry. Ok, maybe not. Leave a REVIEW and make this girl happy.

Next: Annoying mates, a Quidditch match against Hufflepuff and some injuries.