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Catherine Summerby's hair is like a siren's song (summerbycate) wrote in ditched, @ 2014-12-06 21:59:00

log - Cate and Aidan
Who: Aidan Longbottom and Cate Summerby
Where: casa de Cate and Lucy
When: ...good question. Probably not long after Julius's run in with SQAC
What: Cate wants DETAILS
Warnings: I think it's pretty mild?


One thing that people sometimes didn’t realise about Cate was just how good of a cook she was. It made sense, she was just a silly girl who had crazy conspiracies and was working to become an actress. But she had also basically been born in the kitchen (figuratively, to Marietta’s relief) and with a chef for a father and a play kitchen being one of her favourite toys as a child, while she didn’t have the chops to open her own restaurant, if you went to Cate’s place for dinner, you were guaranteed a good meal and a delectable dessert to boot.

And Cate figured the better she fed Aidan the more likely he would be to give her the details he’d promised about him and Julius. Well, he hadn’t PROMISED so much as she’d demanded but it was basically the same thing, wasn’t it? Cate pushed back a stray short curl that had pulled out of her ponytail as she put the finishing touches on a completely Appleby PR diet approved meal. She’d get him nice and happy and full and then pounce for details. He’d said he was meeting the older player, and Cate was curious to Julius’s reaction to who Aidan really was. Plus if there had been snogging or more. And more was even better because she was pretty sure that Julius was one of the bionic players and the more of him Aidan saw, the more he’d be able to tell her about that.

It wasn’t like she had a love life at the moment. The least her friend could do was let Cate live vicariously through him!

Aidan was due to arrive soon, so with a wave of her wand she sent dishes flying to the table to set themselves while trying not to be TOO impatient.

Aidan was under no illusion just what this was going to be. Cate, darling that she was, was anything but subtle, and he had absolutely positively no doubt at all that at least a third of their time this evening was going to be an interrogation.

Still, considering just how well things with Julius had gone, he didn’t mind talking about it. He was happy. Even if he was still technically kind of a little bit mostly lying to the athlete.

That part, he didn’t intend to share, though.

He knocked on the door with a quick rap of his knuckles, and sighed. Worst case, at least he was getting a meal out of this.

No, subtlety certainly was not one of Cate’s strong suits, as much as she might insist she had ninja blood like she had during her fifth year at Hogwarts. It was a wonder she hadn’t put up a neon sign on the door saying exactly what she was hoping to get out of this visit.

Cate flung the spatula in her hand in excitement as she heard the door knock. It was very possible with the thump that accompanied it there was now some sauce on the wall, but that wasn’t important. Hre guest was here and that was. She nearly bounded to the door (well, it was Cate. She probably literally did) to throw it open and see her old friend there.

“Hi! Come in!!!! Dinner is pretty much ready so feel free to settle in. Do you want something to drink???” It was, of course, a mile a minute as Cate often sounded when she was excited. She couldn’t wait to grill Aidan on Julius, but she knew she at least had to get some niceties out of the way first.

Aidan heard her bounding and couldn't help but smile. Much as others might call Cate crazy (and, much as he couldn't really argue much to the contrary...), he'd always loved her enthusiams for, well, everything. Even if it had been previously directed in a way that'd made his life (of lies and duplicity) all the more difficult.

He chuckled at her greeting, stepping through the door and shrugging off his jacket. "A drink would be fine, sure," he said, nodding. "And whatever you're making smells great, Cate. If I didn't know better, I'd say you outdid yourself."

“I know, RIGHT???” Cate agreed with a grin, heading back to the kitchen and uncorking a bottle of wine that would go well with the dinner. “I think it's part of the reason Lucy keeps me around. Aside from my CHARMING personality.”

Pouring two glasses, she added, “I made sure to make sure its HEALTHY. So your handlers can’t complain about your ABS and such too much.” Even though Cate was trying to make it big in a visual medium and understood the need to look good, she thought his diets were a bit TOO rigid. It wasn’t like the occasional dessert or rich meal would completely blow him up like a balloon.

Then again, in the adverts she’d been doing, nothing had really called for her to be overly sexy. Maybe if she ever landed a different role she would be handled just as much as Aidan.

“How IS the job these days?” she added as she handed him his glass of wine.

“Come on, Cate,” Aidan said, chuckling again as he sat down at the table. “I’m sure it’s more your personality than the food. The food is just a bonus.”

At the question about his job, he just shrugged. “Same old same old. Old ladies pinching my bum, younger ladies poking my stomach, girls just getting over their Kitty Catapult phase staring a bit longer than’s entirely appropriate…” He sighed. Still, much as he complained about the female attention, and the outfit, and the stupid, terribly puns, he did enjoy it. In its own ways. “But thank you, for keeping it nice. They really get on my back this time of year. Hols mean lots of food and drink and merry, and with playoffs coming they can’t have me losing form.”

“My personality IS pretty wonderful,” Cate agreed, as she she went and got the food, each in it’s own dish so Aidan could just take what he wanted of each thing and use his portion control. She wasn’t worried about leftovers so much. Most of it she could freeze and eat later as a lunch or dinner when she was feeling rushed, and of course, Lucy had access to all the food as well.

“So they think your team is going to playoffs then?” Cate wasn’t entirely certain what the point was of having months of stupid Quidditch games only to eliminate only three of the teams and then have playoffs, but she guessed that was what happened when you weren’t a sports fan. For those that loved watching every game, they probably ate it all up. “And what about the Wasps? Are they in the running too?”

Cate Summerby smooth operator. Okay, it was about as subtle as a jackhammer in terms of segues, but she thought it was pretty good in her own mind, and awaited his answer as she served herself a little from each platter.

“Well, we’re in the running right now,” Aidan said around a mouthful of food, words only slightly muffled by his chewing. “And you know sports types. They’ll keep insisting it’s our season until the last snitch is caught.” Which he supposed was admirable optimism, on the one hand -- and somewhat delusional, on the other.

Her smooth segue made him smirk, which he did his best to hide behind his napkin as he wiped his mouth and swallowed. Definitely a subtle one, that Miss Summerby.

“Yes, our rival team is also in the running for the moment,” he said, as noncommittal as possible. “As a matter of fact, they are right on our tail, actually.”

People only wished they were as subtle as Catherine Summerby. Or something like that.

“I don’t think you’re going to win no matter what your fans think,” Cate said, with all the authority of someone who barely paid attention to the game, “I mean your Seeker’s really a Chaser, right? Not that she won’t do good but I can’t imagine she will win against ALL the teams that have Seekers as their Seeker.”

“And you like them on your tail though, don’t you?” Cate added with a smirk, because how could she not when he was leaving it just OPEN like that, especially since it wasn’t exactly THAT interesting to actually talk standings. “Or at least a certain player on your tail.”

Aidan had never been particularly dedicated to the Arrows’ playing successes outside of work, but Cate’s comment still struck a nerve, somehow, and he frowned as he took another bite. “Seekers aren’t everything. And she’s already got one snitch under her belt. Considering we’ve some of the best goal-scoring in the league, we’ve always got a shot.”

Of course. He couldn’t keep a straight face at her continued ‘subtlety.’

“I have no idea what you could mean, Miss Summerby,” he managed through his grin. “I’m not out there on the pitch except to lead the crowd in cheering.”

Was Aidan really getting upset (well, upset was maybe a strong word) about her suggesting the Arrows didn’t seem likely to win? And there she thought he was one of her partners in being not a superfan of the game. Why did people even CARE so much? It was just a stupid sport. “I mean sure you’re scoring good and all but so are other teams right? And I’m not saying Katey can’t catch the Snitch because she showed she can but there are how many rounds in playoffs? To be able to do it every time or score enough without it does seem a little far-fetched.” No, Cate blissfully either didn’t notice or deliberately ignored the irony of her calling someone else’s idea far-fetched.

“I’m not talking about what you’re doing ON the Pitch,” Cate said slyly, “I mean, unless there’s some kinky public broom riding I’m not privy to. What happens OFF the Pitch however...THAT’S what interests me. And don’t try to tell me there’s nothing because I will annoy you until you tell me the truth!!!!” And with THAT last bit of impulsiveness, any pretense of coyness was out the window.

Aidan held up his hands in surrender. Obviously, Cate was to be delayed no longer, and it was easier to talk about that than to keep going with talk about the Arrows. Aidan wasn’t used to caring about Quidditch. At least not competitively. But losing Timmy, it made him want them to come back from where they’d fallen. For Jones.

“Well, first off, there has been no kinky broom riding, public or otherwise,” he said with a laugh. The things she came up with, sometimes. Most of the time, really, he thought as he remembered pirates and bionic Quidditch players. “And I mean, besides that, I’m not sure what else I should say.” He smirked down at his plate while he picked at the food with his fork. “I’m not really one to snog and tell…”

“I am going to kick you,” Cate threatened, which wasn’t really that much of a threat because it was not like she was wearing steel toed boots that could leave a bruise. In fact, since she was at her own place, she had on the pair of fuzzy slippers she often wore around the flat. “Seriously. Don’t be BORING. You OWE me details. And make them DETAILY, okay? I mean, I would TOTES share with you if I had details of my OWN to give.”

And with that she took a bite of her meal and looked at him expectantly.

Aidan laughed again at the threat, shaking his head. “Make them detaily?” he asked, incredulous. “I’m not sure what you mean. That’d be a bit gross and too-much-information, wouldn’t it?”

“You think what you’re doing is GROSS????” Yes, she was deliberately twisting his words there on him. How could she even resist? “And it’s not TMI if I ASK for it. That’s a completely different scenario than if I just RANDOMLY started telling you how much I bled out during my last period. If you ask it’s DIFFERENT.”

Aidan shook his head again, setting down his fork. That example of TMI had a bit of a damper on his appetite, for a moment or two.

"It's not gross. Not at all." He said, and perhaps now he was blushing just a bit. "It's just... You know..." Yep, definitely blushing. "It's very... private."

That was Cate for you, if she wanted to give an example of TMI, she was certain to pick one that she knew would be icky for the other person.

“Aiiiiiiiiiiiiidan,” she whinged, “That’s not FAIR to pull the ‘it’s private’ on me” (the blush was a good clue, but didn’t satisfy her nearly enough), “If you’re not going to tell me that at the very least you should tell me how he reacted when you came clean. You know I love a good story.”

Well, telling Cate about the coming clean he didn’t do wasn’t much of an option. Thus, Aidan had to rely on the detaily details being a sufficient distraction.

“Well. We kissed. A lot. And then kind of snogged a bit on his couch.” He said, taking a sip of his drink, trying to force the blush down and failing. “And then the next day he was angry because SQAC was bothering him, and he was more than a little drunk and called me over and… well there was more snogging and some… handling. Of things.”

Aidan was lucky that there were times Cate was easily distracted and that this happened to be one of them. With the squeal, details about the big reveal were tabled for the moment.

“SEE, and you weren’t SURE if you even liked him at the beginning but I knew. I always know it must be that Seer blood in my veins or something and that is SO AWESOME well not that part where a squack was bothering him - what is that again? I know it’s some stupid Quidditch thing - and can I be your Maid of Honour? Because you’ll probably get married before me at this point since straight boys are clearly STUPID.”

Someone who didn’t know Cate well would probably have a hard time sorting through the mile a minute thoughts that came out of her mouth with tangents and all, but Aidan had known her so long she was sure he had the gist of it.

He breathed a bit easier as she latched onto the story and moved on from the more potentially disastrous line of conversation.

"Right, of course, I was a fool to doubt Cate the Seer," he said, laughing even if she had been right. "But yes, you were spot on. About both of us. For once." He smirked, before turning back to his food. "SQAC is a bunch of protesters who want to take bludgers out of quidditch to stop people from getting hurt. And as much as I can understand why they might feel that way..." he frowned, remembering poor Tim, taken out of a career he'd loved, so early into it, "...I can't agree with how they harass Beaters, trying to make them feel like monsters when they're just playing a game, too. And how're they make injured players into martyrs against their will... it's just despicable. They're bullies. I wanted to deck them when I heard what they were doing to him but..."

He smiled again, relaxing. "Well, he didn't want me getting into trouble any more than I wanted him to be harassed, and snogging was a much more fun suggestion..."

“You should NEVER doubt me,” Cate reminded him. “I’m ALWAYS RIGHT.” And on the off chance she wasn’t she certainly wasn’t the type to ever admit it. But those that knew Cate were well aware of that.

“SQAC sounds STUPID,” she added. It was almost hard to avoid knowledge of such a huge game in the wizarding world, but if anyone could do it, it was Cate Summerby, “Snogging was probably definitely a better suggestion. Gives me better stories than you getting your arse handed to you. Not that those aren’t interesting stories as well because I’m sure you would have gotten in a FEW good hits.” Maybe that made her sound like she didn’t have much faith in her friend, but you’d have to be superhero to go against a whole group of people and win.

“I am really happy for you,” she said with a smile. How could she not be? He was clearly happy and her blackmail or whatever had paid off.

Aidan didn't know about always, but he knew better than to try and argue against that point now. Cate was as stubborn as she was not subtle. And, really, she had been right.

"I wouldn't have gotten my arse handed to me!" Aidan protested, though... considering his record of just that happening during fights in school, it was hard to not acknowledge that, okay, yes, he had a bad habit of picking opponents that were bigger or tougher or considerably more in number than he was, on his own. "More likely... I'd have gotten arrested for assaulting someone. And that'd be plenty exciting, thank you very much."

He smiled, nodded. "Thanks. I'm... I'm pretty happy, too." Really, really happy, if he was honest with himself. Sure, it wasn't perfect, what with the hiding, the mask, but... it was close. Closer than he'd been in a long time.

“I guess you getting arrested would be pretty interesting,” Cate admitted, “especially depending on who bailed you out. Not that Cate had ever been arrested, but she figured that would make a difference, “But I’m still glad you chose the snogging route instead. Save the arrest for another time.” Aidan was one of those noble types, and it wouldn’t surprise Cate if his prediction of what would have happened was right, and someday he did get arrested on one of his anti bully crusades.

“Good. Then that’s really all that matters,” Cate assured him, pushing the bowl of potatoes closer to him, “Now eat.”