get this party started~ [casey]

June 2003

It was the beginning of summer and even though Jeremy wasn't at Hogwarts anymore he still acted as much like a kid as he always had. He slept in late on the weekends, he ate junk food, and he never cleaned up his room. It was a simple life and he liked it. He worked days at the Ministry and hung out with friends on the weekend but he had been looking forward to this weekend for days. Ever since he'd gotten an owl from his good friend Casey saying she needed to blow off some steam and have some fun. Jeremy knew just the thing for them to do too! Or things! He had a whole day planned out for them and it started by spending the entire afternoon shooting nerds at the Muggle laser tag arcade. By the time they left Jeremy had won her a stuffed pig from the vending machine (he'd been trying for the much cuter bear looking thing, but honestly he was just glad to have gotten something after seventeen tries). He'd also been smoked by a couple of ten year old kids in the game, but he didn't hold a grudge... mostly.

"Those little bastards were quick, right?" He said to her as they walked along the same train track they always did on the way back to his apartment. He lived in a wizarding area but it was only two blocks from a little muggle downtown area off of big bad London. Close enough that they could go back and forth between worlds with only a ten minute walk, or twenty if they were drunk. He passed her the brown bag that held a forty of beer they'd been sharing and looked up at the clouds passing by. It was warm outside, sunny really, but there were enough clouds in the sky that he could turn it into a game. Jeremy could turn just about anything into a game if given enough time (or alcohol).

"Hey that one looks like Professor Flitwick, do you see it?" He said as he kicked a few rocks across the tracks and continued.

@Casey Regan

Lately, even though things had not changed much in her routine, Casey was feeling more overwhelmed with her schedule than usual. She supposed it might have been due to that in addition to the two-a-days that had been instituted by their coach, Crofton McLean, he’d also given Casey extra time with Moss Carmody, the teams Keeper coach. But a part of her also wanted to deny that the schedule was too much. In some respects, Casey felt like because she was a professional athlete, it was her job to handle it. And for the most part, she managed just fine, but she could feel burnout creeping its way in at the edges and knew she had to find her balance again.

That had been the exact reason that Casey had owled Jeremy a few weeks ago, knowing that she would have a lighter schedule and wanting to take full advantage. Casey had gotten to know Jeremy better around the same time that she and Danny had been together and had stayed friends even after she and Danny had fallen off. And if there was one thing that Casey had learned in that time frame, it was the Jeremy knew how to have fun, and today was proving to be no exception.

Squishing the stuffed pig between her arm and her side Casey took the paper bag from Jeremy and took a sip. The alcohol was awful, but it did do its job, there was no question about that. As Jeremy brought up their laser tag match again, the ex-Hufflepuff felt a laugh bubble up from her chest “They were! I did manage to sneak up on that one bigger kid, though.” The look on his face when he’d realized he’d been snuck up on and tagged by an older girl had been priceless "But then, didn't that one other tiny kid get you like three times in a row? I know she got me like twice.." She passed the bottle of forty back to Jeremy and used her free hand to shield her eyes as she looked up at the cloud in question and turned her head this way and that until she finally saw it “Shit, you’re right!” She agreed laughing again, and simply enjoying the feeling of the sun against her skin, and not having any pressing responsibilities for the moment.

She peered up into the clouds, speaking as she did “Flitwick was a gem, honestly. We’d raid the kitchens sometimes and find him in there, or vice versa.” She had been pretty competent at charms and had come to like the professor before she graduated. After a moment Casey pointed at another cloud “That one looks like Hagrid, don’t you think?” This was fun, but for the moment all she could see was Hogwarts professors.

While she waited for Jeremy to find the cloud, Casey hopped up onto the nearest rail, and began walking along it, careful to place one foot in front of the other, and wondering how long she could keep this up before the malt liquor caught up with her. After a moment, Casey dropped the stuffed pig, pulled out her wand and muttered a quick charm “That’s better...Look Jeremy, he likes you...” The little pig now made sounds and could walk along on it’s own and was making his way towards her Gryffindor friend. It was a little weird, but also cute. She hadn’t wanted to carry it but also had no reason to get rid of it. It had taken Jeremy seventeen tries after all.

With her hands free, Casey gestured for him to pass the bottle back her way “So, where are we going next?” She trusted Jeremy's judgment, but her curiosity was getting the best of her.

Jeremy was relatively athletic, nothing like Casey or Finn of course, but he had played on the house team for a while. He wasn't really out of shape, despite the constant nacho binges and smokeable treats, but still, those little kids had beat the crap out of him at Laser Tag. Internally he'd convinced himself that their underdeveloped minds worked in different ways, that they were naturally gifted, that he had just been distracted by indigestion from the microwave pizza the concessions stand had sold, anything to save his honor really. He shrugged when she brought up the little girl, preferring not to reflect on the fact that she had pinned him four times and once he had actually screamed because she had been so stealthy.

He kicked some dirt between the rails as the walked, his toe stumping against a stubborn rock that was stuck he tripped a little but caught himself enough to take the bottle back from her. Jeremy hadn't snuck into the kitchens as much as he was sure his Hufflepuff counterparts had but he'd done it enough times. Late-night snacking was kind of his bedtime ritual, always had been, and thankfully the path to the kitchens wasn't closely watched in his later years. "Yeah, it does!" Jeremy said, leaning backward both to take another large sip of the forty and to stare up at the clouds. It was a good day, every day was a good day now that they controlled their own fates, that was one thing he surely didn't miss about Hogwarts, but there were things he did miss. Being around friends was at the top of the list. Things were easier, simpler back then, because what else did they have going on? Once lessons were done for the day they pretty much all had free time. Now things were different, they had jobs and bills and responsibilities and that afforded them far less free time. He was glad for afternoons like this.

The redhead watched as she enchanted the stuffed pig and soon enough it was following them utterly. Jeremy couldn't help but burst into laughter as it oinked and tried to keep up with them with its fluffy stubby little legs. He passed the bottle back and reached down for the little guy, finding it entirely too cute to leave behind now. It bit his hand and he laughed again, the feeling of stuffing and stitching grazing against his fingers, it didn't hurt even a little but it made him laugh more. "Well, I think now we need snacks." He defined with a confident nod of his head like it was only logical they eat even more carbs before imbibing more alcohol. He had plenty of ideas for things to do today, and he was in no rush. Turning to look at her as he set the little pig down again he posed a question.

"Chinese, Italian, or Nachos?"

Jeremy’s laughter was contagious on its own, but the image of the little pig chewing on his fingers made the blonde giggle as she tipped the bottle back again, taking a quick sip. She eyed the clouds above them again, looking for the next shape to catch her eye, pausing once to correct her footing as she wobbled slightly. Just as she spotted a cloud that looked a bit like a baboon and she was getting ready to point it out to him, her attention was pulled away by Jeremy’s question.

"Chinese, Italian, or Nachos?"

At the mention of food Casey’s eyes lit up and she let out an excited “Ooh!” As the different possibilities ran through her mind. Today was definitely a cheat day between the copious amounts of alcohol and food she had expected to consume. Casey paused, balancing on one leg on the rail just for the sake of doing so and squinted as she thought “Chinese Italian nachos?” She said, clearly teasing. But if Jeremy thought they could pull it off Casey might actually try it, she decided. Food in general sounded good at the moment, especially if they were going to make a day of it.

The witch took a moment to consider their options more seriously as she began walking again, as she rocked the bottle gently back and forth between her fingers. “Clarifying question…” she said and gave him the most serious look she could manage just then “Are they your nachos, or from somewhere else? Because if they’re yours, I’m in, otherwise I’d say Chinese.” It didn’t matter to Casey either way, really, it just happened that Jeremy could make a killer plate of nachos and it had been a minute since she’d had any.

Casey spotted the baboon cloud again and pointed up at it, squinting against the sun “See the one that looks like a baboon with a big butt?” she said with a snicker. She felt like she was a kid again, but couldn’t bring herself to feel too bad about it, between the malt liquor and knowing she was in good company. She could see the town not far off now, just around the bend coming up in the train tracks, and her stomach growled in anticipation and Casey wondered if Jeremy would race her once they got closer.

"That's why you are the best," Jeremy joked back to her proposal of a mash of all three because they both knew everything was better smothered in nacho cheese. "Well I can make us a plate, but we'd have to go to the grocer first..." Jeremy said with a bit of a shrug. He hadn't been planning on cooking or anything but it had been a long time since he'd whipped up some of his famous 'everything in the Hogwarts kitchen nachos' and in a way he missed it. Back at school, there were always fresh, easily accessible ingredients though (and clean plates) and those things were a rare commodity in his flat.

"How bout we just get some Chinese this time, but next time I will have everything ready." He planned to do this, but Jeremy rarely got from the planning stage to the actual execution stage of things. Of course... the first step was remembering he had planned in the first place. Still! Right now he meant every word of the promise to make her nachos next time they hung out. Smiling slyly he hoped this would entice Casey to hang out with him more often. Jere knew she was super busy with Professional Quidditch (So! jealous! But also! happy! for her) but he also missed their late-night snack runs.

Turning to look up at the clouds Jeremy spit a little as he burst out into laughter, seeing the baboon and its silly butt, cut out of the fluffy white shapes clear as day. "Wow," he said with a shake of his head. "Bet that's what the Puddlemere chaser's look like when you keep them from scoring, eh?" Any excuse to take a dig at his mate Danny's favorite team and talk about how ridiculously good Casey was at playing Kepper Jeremy would take it. He had learned a lot of tricks from her over the years, considering her to be the only keeper on the house teams during their years that was better than him. (He was a little overconfident about how good he was, but it was funny to remember things this way)