lucy weasley just watches and smiles. (valiantly) wrote in thesocieties, @ 2010-06-09 15:59:00 |
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Benjamin wasn't the most patient of boys. He had been waiting at the Owlery for five minutes (before, he had thrown aside his journal, knocked over his pot of ink, and rushed out of the Ravenclaw common room when she said yes) and suspected that she wasn't going to show up after all. Perhaps she'd drowned herself in studying and couldn't get out of it. It was too bad that he'd forgotten to bring his journal along so that he could check. He tapped his foot impatiently and looked around the hallways, hoping she'd show up any minute. But she didn't. So, with the item he meant to give her as a present before exams (he had done some research over the last couple of weeks; apparently being considerate was a good thing. Plus he wanted to give it to her anyway), he walked over towards the Hufflepuff common room. He wasn't exactly nervous. All right, so maybe he chickened out of the Kissing Booth -- but he had no problem giving a girl a gift. He just wanted to get it over with. Fortunately for him, a younger Hufflepuff was right in front of him, and as the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room opened, Benjamin quickened his pace. Naturally, the entrance was about to close when he approached it, but he turned his pacing and ended up running, knocking over the younger boy and landing on the carpeted floor with an "Oof!" Helping himself up and looking nonplussed despite falling, he turned to the nearest Hufflepuff. "Can you get Lucy Weasley?" he asked, looking as if he hadn't just barged into another common room. The girl left, and he stood there, not really looking at anyone -- he just needed to see Lucy, really. Lucy had closed her journal with the intention of going up to the Owlery as soon as she had finished the last page of the Charms text she was reading -- She often combined studying and journalling, despite being quite aware it wasn't the best way to absorb important information. She had only been doing some reviewing today, however, so it should be fine. What definitely wasn't fine was that Benjamin had just barged into her Common Room (although she had to admit it was a pretty impressive way to enter). Getting up from her seat on one of the big sofas, she rolled her eyes and stepped forward. "No need. I'm right here." Turning to Benjamin, she put one hand on her hip in semi-annoyance. Honestly, the boy never learned. "I said I'd be right up, didn't I?" "I waited for TEN minutes!" Benjamin insisted. He really did think it was 10 minutes. And, all right, it was also a form of exaggeration. "I thought you passed out from studying on the way over and thought I'd check." He really did! Mostly he wanted to see her and give her the present, though. He realised, then, that he was surrounded by other students, and that some of them were staring. Benjamin didn't mind public displays of... whatever, but he also wanted to see Lucy's reaction for himself, rather than have other people watch as well. He kept the hand holding her present behind him. "So, uh," for a moment he looked almost abashed. "Can we get out of here?" Lucy rolled her eyes again, unable to help it. It had barely been three minutes since she had shut her journal. "Well, as you can see I'm still alive. And I suppose now I won't have to climb all those stairs." If Benjamin was bothered by people staring, she certainly wasn't, but she still moved back over to the couch to grab her book bag and pulled Benjamin along by his sleeve in the direction of the exit. Why she kept going along with this, she had no idea. Benjamin was an idiot. And she definitely didn't think his embarrassment had been sort of cute. "Right." she said after they had walked a few feet and were no longer in hearing distance of the Common Room. "So now what?" Yes, Benjamin was an idiot, even if he didn't realise it. But he knew that his 'strategy' of trying to flirt with her by talking to her wasn't doing him much good. He had been at a loss over what to do, and the term was about to end! He'd even consider reciting poetry but he wasn't that desperate! So he had thought over what he had done for the last couple of months (which wasn't that much) and remembered that she seemed to at least didn't oppose his birthday gift. "I know you've been busy studying," there was hardly anyone in the hallway, but his voice was a little loud, mostly because he was trying to get rid of whatever leftover nerves that he had. "So I got you this." He handed over the definitely not neatly wrapped box to her. "You can open it now, if you want," he added, a tinge of hope in his voice. It sounded like Benjamin had actually thought about what to get her, and while Lucy might have been suspicious about his motives, her curiosity got the better of her. Every girl liked to get presents and well, those glasses had been kind of nifty. Ignoring the state of the wrapping paper, Lucy carefully took the box from him and shook it lightly, trying to make out what was inside. "Is it edible?" she asked, slowly undoing one of the corners. "You have to open it to know!" Benjamin answered her, a little excited that she was about to unwrap the present. He wasn't really good at picking out presents. Before, he'd given the girls he liked things like dried flowers and Quidditch books -- WHICH THEY TOTALLY DID NOT APPRECIATE. He didn't get it at all. But he had written to his Dad, who owled him the present, telling him to give it to the girl he liked. Also, he needed to get rid of the item because the media had given him too many of it already every time he worked with them. 'It's yellow,' was the first thing Lucy thought as the wrapping paper came off. Not only that, but it looked to be pretty expensive. "Oh, wow. How does it work?" she asked, looking at the little device from all sides. "I think I've seen people with them before. They play music, right?" Lucy didn't seem to understand how it worked, so Benjamin took a step closer and pointed to the buttons on the player. "You turn it on and off using this button, and switch stations if you press the button next to it," his finger went to another button. "It's pretty straightforward." He looked at her gift again, checking to see if he'd miss anything. "And you press those to raise or lower the volume." There was a short pause as he examined her for a moment, trying to see if she was at all happy with the present. "Studying can be boring, yeah?" he scratched the back of his neck, suddenly feeling a little awkward. "That'll probably make it less boring or something." Trying out the buttons as instructed, soon one of the WWN stations was blaring through the hallway, and Lucy quickly fumbled for the volume button. "Okay, that's much better." It would be rather useful to block out the sounds of the noisy Common Room as well, she reckoned, and in any case she would finally be able to decide for herself what to listen to. It really was rather sweet of him to think of it. "You didn't spend too much money on this, did you?" she said after a moment. She wasn't sure she'd be able to accept his gift if he had, no matter how nice it might be. He shook his head fervently. Even if he did, his parents had a lot of money to give him, and he won't be completely without money later. "Do you like it?" he asked, looking at her expectantly. Benjamin wasn't expecting her to jump around excitedly, but having the person you like appreciate your present was always nice. She wasn't quite sure if Benjamin was telling the truth, but she shrugged at his answer anyway, satisfied for now. "I do. It's very nice," She smiled and, after a moment of hesitation she leaned closer and kissed him briefly on the cheek. Then she turned and not-quite-ran. "I really have to get back to my studies now," she called out, and round the corner she went, trying to keep in some very undignified giggles that threatened to escape from her mouth. There was no time for Benjamin to react, because he just stood there, staring speechlessly at Lucy, his cheeks very red. It was a good thing he didn't realise that he was blushing, or else he would be more embarrassed than he already was. He barely heard her as she went off, since his mind was too occupied telling himself that Lucy Weasley just kissed him. On the cheek. Too bad it wasn't on the lips, but it was all right. It was a great improvement. He wasn't sure what he liked more, the fact that Lucy liking his present or the kiss on the cheek. Either way, once he'd come to his senses, he let out a loud "YES!", did a little dance (that attracted strange stares), before skipping all the way back to the common room. |