CALY'S POV
"First dates are always and adventure," I repeated over and over again, looking at myself in a mirror.
Emily was still in the room instead of down with everyone else, because she insisted on being here to help me get ready for my date with Adrian. It had been two weeks and we were taking the first school trip to hogsmead Like I'm not capable of dressing myself.
I was in the bathroom brushing my long dark red hair, making sure each strand was doing what it was supposed to, and wearing only a black lacy bra and panties when Emily let herself into my room.
"Damn." She said, walking into the bathroom. I raised an eyebrow. "I wish I was Adrian tonight."
I laughed. "Oh, shut up. It's just for under my dress."
"Riiiiight." I rolled my eyes at this and, finally done perfecting my hair, moved on to apply mascara to my already extremely long eyelashes.
She went to my closet and looked through the outfits I had to choose from as I did this. She pushed aside a red dress, a purple skirt, and a yellow sundress, muttering things like "too sexy, not sexy enough, and what the hell is this?" I guess she didn't like my sundress.
Finally, she gasped, and I, thinking she had found a spider or other terrifying creature, ran out. I found her admiring, or planning to steal, the dress I was leaning towards.
It was grey and strapless. At the top, it was strapless, form fitting, and then at the waist, it came out, flowing down to just below my knee with tulle. It was classy and simple enough for a dinner.
Emily waggled her eyebrows at me.
"I know," I said. "It's perfect, huh?" She nodded excitedly and handed it to me, motioning for me to put it on. I took it off the hanger and slid into it, and then turned so Emily could zip it for me.
I looked in the mirror and took a deep breath. "Is this good enough, you think?" Emily stood beside me. "You look perfect. He's going to love you."
I put on black legging, purple snow boots and grabbed my purple jumper. We made our way down to the front gate of the castle, ready to leave.
Cafe L'Amour. What a stupid name for a restaurant in the middle of Bumfuck Egypt. Ok, more like the middle of Scotland, but close enough. Either way, some fancy sounding French cafe had no place there, which was good, because there wasn't one. It was just a place to eat with uptight waiters, waiting on people wanting too seem fancier than they normally were. I happen to be going on a date, in that restaurant.
"Good evening!" A well dressed usher greeted me as I walked through the door. I told him my name and he smiled at me. "Mr. Pucey said you were beautiful." I was led to a seat on the balcony. The main floor only featured rows of cushioned seats, the balcony, however, was filled with tables and formal dining chairs. Servers worked in between the tables, carrying trays of food and drinks for those who had ordered them. As much as I looked,I could not find Adrian among the many faces.
I looked straight forward and let out a soft sigh. "Sorry, i'm late." a voice came from behind me. I turned to see and apologetic look on Adrian's face. I smiled at him and he took the seat across from me.
"Enh," i shrugged, "you'll just have to make it up to me." i said smirking.
"So what's good?" I said, watching Adrian flipped through the laminated menu, that was at least 8 pages long.
"I'm not sure. I've never been here."
"Go with steak," I suggested "It's always a good choice. I think that's a rule just about everywhere."
Adrian gave a sly smirk, as if he knew something I didn't. "We'll see." When the waiter returned, he ordered a Delmonico Steak, along with potatoes. I, shaking my head and laughing at his decision, asked for the same.
A few minutes after he retreated back toward the kitchen, you looked around the room again. "You know, I've probably walked by this place at least ten times and never noticed it. I like it, though."
"It doesn't seem like a place for everyone, and it looks like doesn't want to be. Maybe, people walk by this place all the time and never really look at it. Like, you need a reason to take a glimpse inside before you do, and when you do, you realize what you've been missing all along. Some people have the door opened for them, but they just don't step in, their loss." He seemed to understand immediately that I wasn't just talking about the restaurant, nor was I making reference to only myself, but many things in life.
He shook his head, unable to help from smiling. "How do you fit all that passion inside of you?"
Instantly, I felt my face turned red. "I use a funnel." I was all too aware of how awkwardly the statement came out, but could think of nothing else to lessen his statement. To my relief, the waiter returned with their food at just that moment.
"Wow. That was fast."
"We've got a good system here," the waiter joked. "Here you two go. Enjoy!" With a toast of our water glasses, Adrian and I dug in.
When we were finished Adrian took me back into the center of Hogsmead. I told him that i had to go see Draco and he understood. He hgged me, before walking off to find his own friends. I was walking along and alleyway when i saw George. He saw me as well and waved.
NO ONE'S POV
"Can you come out and play?" George screamed as his words nearly trampled hers as he tried to get them out before losing his nerve.
The confusion mixed with the tiniest hint of amusement on her face, making his stomach begin a pleasant tumble. "Can I what?"
"Can you come out and play?"
Her smile widened. "Play? What do you mean?"
It never occurred to him that he might need to explain himself, but knowing why he wanted to ask made it easier, despite her smile threatening to steal his words. "You remember when you were a kid and your friends would just come and knock on your door and ask if you could come out and play? You didn't have to set aside time in advance or worry about making plans, you just played. I want you to come out and play."
"What would we do?"
"I don't know, go to a park, act crazy. Just hang out, swing, play tag, spin around in circles until we get so dizzy we fall over. It doesn't matter, just play."
"The nearest park is like half a mile away."
George refused to give up. "Half a mile isn't that far and you know it. We can skip all the way there and it'll warm us up."
She fidgeted the slightest bit with the buttons on her purple jumper, not sure what to say but knowing her heart was moving rapidly. "I have so much homework I need to do, plus it's getting late George, so I don't..." Before more of her refusal could escape her lips, he gave her the look which accompanied his teasing of 'all work and no play'. There was a decent amount of homework sitting on her desk, though most would not take nearly as much time as she had set aside for it. The day hadn't even reached the afternoon, leaving her hours before she would need to get ready for bed. Her teeth barely clenched onto her inner lip when she spoke again, "I'm not dull." The words came out defiant, as if she had something to prove.
"Prove it."
Nearly a minute passed while they stared at each other through the open door. Caly debated with herself, what she had always referred to as her 'better sense' quickly losing the argument. "Fine." George didn't even try to hide his excitement. Giving a small hop, he smiled wide enough to hurt.
The second she stepped toward, he grabbed onto her arm and began to urge her to move faster, making it almost impossible to look to see if anyone had seen them before they rushed away. "George, you're being ridiculous!" She laughed, allowing herself to be pulled along and loving his excitement. They all but hopped down the streets and jogged to the end of the block. No words passed between them the entire walk to the park, but no words were necessary as they laughed at nothing and began racing each other at random intervals.
As Caly's feet hit the familiar wood chips, a new wave of excitement ran through her. She ran to the swings and threw herself on. "Bet I can jump further than you!" Pushing off against the ground, the shift of her weight came naturally, as if it hadn't been months since her last time having fun.
"You will lose that bet." Jumping onto the next swing, he stared at her as he began to rock himself.
"Watch it!" She laughed, pushing his leg away from her. "No playing dirty." Lost in his thoughts, George hadn't noticed that his path angled, causing a near collision. Rather than get upset, she retaliated and shifted toward him, bumping her hip against his.
Initially surprised, George was soon lost in laughter, his own as well as hers. They bumped back and forth until Caly swung so far to the side she nearly struck the bar holding the swings up, but even then she did not stop laughing. As she straightened herself, George realized he had not looked away from her for more than a second since they set foot in the park. Every second he spent with her, he found himself more and more lost, simply in her presence. "Ready?" She giggled, pumping herself upward as hard as she could.
Remembering the reason he had jumped on the swings in the first place, he shifted his weight a bit faster. "Ready!"
"One… Two… THREE!" His jump was a bit shaky as he pushed himself off. When he hit the ground, his knees buckled and he rolled, thankful for the padding of his coat lessening the blow of the woodchips.
Caly, on the other hand, shifted her weight perfectly off of the seat and soared gracefully through the air, bending her knees as she landed just past George, bending her knees to lessen the impact. As soon as her balance was her own again, she turned to him. "Are you okay?" Despite her concern, there was still laughter in her voice.
George's body shook against the ground as his own laughter overtook him. "I think… I think you win that one."
Kneeling down next to him, she couldn't help but feel something rise inside of her, a feeling she seemed to need to push down increasingly often when in his presence. "You're okay though, right?" A tiny smirk began to pull at the corners of her lips, but he didn't see it.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."
"Good, because you're it." She smacked her hand against his arm before jumping back to her feet and taking off, racing through the woodchips and up to the jungle gym.
Draco watched as his sister pranced around with that trash. She was going to get both of them into serious trouble. He made a mental note to yell at her when it was time for them to go back to the castle. She wasn't about to fuck up his life.