The chill gust of the February wind that brushed over the skin of her neck was cold enough to make anybody shiver, and yet it was when Oliver’s warm fingers brushed over her neck that shivers ran down Alicia’s spine. Her eyes went wide as if she had been shocked, because this was absolutely not supposed to happen. What if Oliver saw the goosebumps she could feel rising on her skin right now? Alicia coughed lightly, using that as an excuse to take a step away from him and somewhat casually make her hair fall back down to cover her neck. Now she just needed something else to talk about, her first instinct being to look at the ‘table’ he had set for them.
For just a moment Alicia was absolutely speechless. Her eyes were round as saucers as she bit down on her lips to keep from saying anything as she looked at what could easily have been every girl’s fantasy of a romantic picnic, complete with hovering candles to light up the dark around them. Alright, so it was a bit messy, but bloody hells!
As if to make matters worse, Oliver began rambling. Oliver never rambled, unless it was about Quidditch, and this was decidedly not about Quidditch. This was about hickeys, which had Alicia giggle although she tried not to. “Who would be giving me hickeys, Ol- Wood?” At the very last moment she caught herself about to call him Oliver, which just wouldn’t do, not right now. He needed to be Wood, or she had really shivered because he had touched her... and she hadn’t. No no, it was the wind. Definitely.
She looked up at him, humming softly as she rolled a little on the balls of her feet, not really sure what to say or do with her hands. “Oh, the first years? It was uhm... it was uhm...” what was it it had been? “I’m not sure, but there was one of those dwarves with a nappie on. Can we eat now?”
Alicia could feel her cheeks burning from embarrassment at her outburst, but she simply hadn’t known what else to say, and so instead of waiting for an answer, she sat down on the blanket that had been spread out on the ground... and tried to make herself comfortable. The ground was cold. Freezing, really, but Oliver had really gone out of his way here, so instead of saying anything, Alicia simply wrapped her arms around her knees and tried not to let the cold get to her. “We should go do some target practice on those cherubs afterwards,” she mused aloud, “just to show them how it’s done.”