Once Is A Mistake Alistair Johnson was living the dream, his dream. Upon graduation from Sonora he had signed with the Angeles Ashwinders and thus bought his own place in Los Angeles. His mother had cried when he had moved out but he had insisted that he would visit as often as he could. He was only nineteen but he felt so grown up already. He had a career, a house of his own, a doting girlfriend...
Alistair thrived on the attention he got from his new status as a professional Quidditch player, particularly from the women. And when he attended society parties and events, he felt like one of the adults and so much more than Paul Johnson’s son. Despite only being on the reserve team, Alistair certainly didn’t feel like a nobody.
Perhaps it had all gone to his head but when Alistair awoke the morning after a party, he found himself in bed with a girl who wasn’t his. There was no use pretending that he didn’t recall how she had got there and that he hadn’t meant to do what he had. Alistair had known exactly what he was doing last night when he pulled out all his charm on the gorgeous model. It definitely wasn’t the first time he had been tempted by the beautiful girls who showed so much interest in him, but it was the first time he had given into that temptation.
It seemed like a far cry from the boy who had been pushed to violence at the idea Darius’s of unfaithfulness towards Joella not so many years ago. Julia didn’t deserve this either. He felt ashamed of himself. Alistair had always valued propriety and boasted a spotless reputation, but more importantly he had always cherished the innocence of the fairer sex. Despite being something of a ladies’ man, he had always been respectful of them.
But the act that he had just performed was far from respectful. Julia Nemec was his girlfriend and he had dishonoured her. He felt disgraced, and hesitant about his next move. Should he tell Julia? Should he break up with her? Alistair wanted to do the right thing by her. Julia was a sweet girl and he liked her a lot, but perhaps she deserved someone better, someone who would fully appreciate her worth.
After much self-debate on the subject and consultation with his old friend Megan Winter (despite Charlotte being his ex-girlfriend, he had always been close with her older sister and that hadn’t changed this), Alistair made the decision to let Julia decide.
She left him. He didn’t blame her.
Following the break up, Alistair enjoyed the single life for a while. He hung out casually with his Quidditch teammates a lot more and started to loosen up a little. He did not lose sight of what was really important, of course, and continued to remain focused on his sport. If anything, splitting with Julia had only increased his dedication to his training and the new social life he lead was there whenever he wanted it, however he wanted it. In some ways it was a lot easier.
That was until one of his fellow Ashwinders, a good friend Isaac Holtz, introduced Alistair to his younger sister at an event. She was beautiful, a slender blonde model with delicate features. Alistair’s friendship with Rachel Holtz developed quickly from their introduction to one another and it was soon clear that the two of them had more than just friendship in mind. Alistair was hesitant at first, having enjoyed being single, but his jealous streak soon prompted him to return to being in an exclusive relationship. Rachel was different to Julia. She kept Alistair on his toes and could be hard work sometimes, but he liked it. To the rest of the world she looked like everything he had ever wanted, respectable and poised and intelligent. He certainly wasn’t going to get away with treated her the way he had Julia, and perhaps that was a good thing.