[Paris] Black holes and revelations [Circe]

It had been a day. He had gotten to work at the ripe hour of 5 am to make coffee until 7 in the evening. He was tired. He wanted to head back to his place, smoke himself out, and then decompress. It was his Friday night, thankfully, and he needed it more than ever. Madeline was a great baker and a nice boss lady, but she sometimes could really demand a lot from him. Even so, it was better than not having a job. He was settling in, prepared for starting at the art school in the coming months, and needing more than a tent to sleep in. His travel photography was still lucrative (it accounted for the majority of his minimal bills), but he wanted some spending money. If he wasn’t backpacking across Europe anymore, he needed something else to fill his time.  
 
He was a little annoyed today, too. He had been thinking back to New Year’s Eve, in London. That night, he had met a beautiful young woman who had promptly slapped him when he said ‘screw it’ and kissed the nearest woman at midnight. To be fair, that hadn’t been his best stunt but he was drunk and happy and eager to party. At the time, I felt right. He had apologized to her, of course, and bought her a drink. He never thought he’d see her again, thought the memory of her still haunted him a bit. She had been fiery, and he would never forget her. Even so, he hadn’t expected to see her walk into his bakery and order tea from his bar. He had written his address onto her cup, and given it to her with a smile. He thought, for a second, that it might actually work. Alas, she had thrown the cup in the garbage. It wasn’t like she hadn’t recognized him, either. She had. She even pointed it out before he noticed she was anyone other than a simply beautiful woman. 
 
Rejection always stung a little, but Corey wasn’t one to dwell. He had been rejected quite a bit throughout his life, by girls, by friends—like his former best friend, Dorian, who was still in the wind. He was resilient. He could bounce back. Today, though, had been rough, so he found himself a little more sensitive than usual. 
 
He was locking up the shop, stretching out his back as he did so, as he heard his name being called from behind him. He spun, the voice familiar even though he was unable to place it. There she was, though, running up to the shop door. “Sorry sweetheart.” He teased, speaking English because he knew she spoke it, in his New Orleans accent. “We’re closed for the night, but hey, if you want a coffee that bad, I can make you a cup at mine?” He offered playfully flirtatious, but not expecting her to bite. After all, she had turned him down twice already. 

@Circe Sutcliffe

Circe had officially reached peak stupidity. She'd been crying a little as she walked the streets of Paris by herself. She knew that this probably wasn't the smartest thing that she'd ever done, either, but she was too embarrassed and angry to stay with Tock now. He had kissed her. And then he'd rejected her. At least he hadn't slept with her first, she supposed. Not like Oliver. Merlin, she was an idiot. At least she hadn't forgotten her bag in her rush to leave Tock's apartment.

Especially with the way that she'd dismissed Corey again. That American boy from the night the band had performed at that nightclub. He was cute, but Jam and Sid were already so set against him. And she'd thought, mistakenly, that she and Tock were... ya know.. going to be a thing. Maybe he was still there though? She used another shop's bathroom to fix her makeup before heading back to the cafe. It didn't look as good as it had before she started crying but the makeup formula was actually really good and had held up well considering the circumstances. Her cousin was right for recommending it to her and she'd made a mental note to buy more. Especially if Circe was going to continue to be this stupid. Even if he wasn't there, maybe she could find his address on the cup in the trash?

When Circe had finally approached the store, it looked like it was too late. Someone was locking up. When she looked more closely, she was both relieved and mortified to find that it was him. She offered a small, sheepish smile. It wasn't like she had anywhere else to go.

"...If you're serious, that actually sounds really nice." She shrugged, knowing he'd probably notice the overpacked bag on her shoulder. This was embarrassing. "It's been a long day."

Corey smiled at Circe, surprised at her reaction. She really wanted to come back to his? Of course, why else would she be there? “Heh, sure. I don’t live far.” He smiled again, nodding in the direction he was about to walk. She looked a little worse for wear, and he wasn’t sure if he should bring that up or not. “So, what brings you here?” He wondered. “Trouble with that guy I saw you with earlier?” He wondered. The guy seemed a little older than her, so he wasn’t sure if they were an item or not. He did see the signs that she was enamored with him, though, regardless. 
 
He led the way to his second-story flat. It was small, in a poor part of town, but it was his for now and he liked that. It wasn’t a tent in the woods, though, so it was a step up from what he was used to. “Sorry for the mess. Bachelor, you know?” He teased. His house wasn’t that messy, but there was some clutter and not much funiture. He had an air mattress on the floor, with no real sofa to speak of. 
 
“I just moved into here. I’ve been backpacking across Europe for a few years now, so this is my first ‘real’ place.” He admitted. “Sorry there’s no sofa.” He laughed, putting the coffee on. “How’d you like your coffee? Black? With Cream and Sugar? With Baileys?” He teased. “You seem like you’re in an irish cream type of mood, honestly. Something’s wrong. Tell me about it.” 

Circe smiled. I'm an idiot. She could already hear Jam's voice in the back of her head telling her that this was a bad idea, but it was probably a safer bet than to remain on the street. She absolutely could not go back to Tock's apartment. In fact, she wasn't sure if she had the courage to ever face him again. If a black hole came and swallowed her up, she'd feel a whole lot better. She was positively mortified. And stupid. Very, very stupid. "Uh, yeah... You could say that." Her cheeks and ears turned a little pink.

Corey's apartment wasn't much, but it was charming. "Oh, it's fine. I know how it is." She offered a smile and nodded, listening. "That sounds amazing. You said you're originally from Louisiana, is that right?" She shrugged her bag off of her shoulder and set it at her feet for the moment. "I've never been to America, but I've always wanted to visit. I'll be in Paris for at least the next few years though. I very briefly attended Beauxbatons, actually." She had gotten a chance to tour the art school before she had ruined everything and it was actually quite lovely.

"Cream and extra sugar, please?" She smiled, shaking her head. "No Baileys, but thank you." Circe crossed her arms over her chest and shrugged her shoulders a little. "It's a long story. I.." Was she really just going to dump her heart out to this guy? Well, she'd already alienated Tock. Why not? "I was staying with my friend, who I have fancied forever, and he showed me around the art school and I was going to spend a few days at his flat with him. Alone. So, naturally, I... may have made some erroneous assumptions about what was going on.." She wrinkled her nose up a little, embarrassed. "I mean, he did kiss me." She paused. "Clearly not for New Years reasons." Circe nervously played with her hair. "And then he said it wasn't like that. And.. I would rather throw myself into the void than go back and face him, to be quite frank. I'm a moron. That's about it."

“Oh, you’re looking into the art school? I just got my acceptance for next semester. Got a scholarship for my photography and everything I—” He began, but trailed off as she kept talking. “Oh wow, no way.” He flushed for her. “Why would he kiss you if he didn’t like you?” Says the boy that kissed her for the thrill on New Year’s. “I wouldn’t have kissed you on New Years if I didn’t think you were cool. Though, let’s admit, not my proudest moment.” He laughed a bit.

He put lots of cream and sugar in her coffee, and offered it to her. “You hungry? Eggs, bacon?” He offered. Coffee at night made him think of breakfast, and he was starving. “I don’t think you’re a moron, for what it’s worth. If you like someone and they kiss you, it’s a pretty good sign that they like you back.” He shrugged.

“I’ve never quite been in that predicament, admittedly. But you’re welcome to chill with me? Do you need to find a way back home? I’ll let you crash here but I’m some weirdo dude that molested you on NYE, so I don’t know if you’d really trust some guy you just met.” He laughed, knowing she would be safe with him, but totally understanding that it wasn’t quite that way for her.

While Circe had, very understandably, initially been dismissive of Corey, she found herself endeared to him by this act of kindness. She was glad to hear that she would know someone else at school besides Manny and Tock. "A scholarship? That's fantastic." She was impressed. "Congratulations."

"See, that's what I was thinking." Her cheeks turned more pink as he explained his own reasoning for what had happened on New Years Eve. Circe wasn't used to being described as "cool," but she'd take it. "Thank you." She let out a soft giggle and shrugged her shoulders a bit awkwardly. At least he didn't think that she was as dumb as she felt. "Yes. That sounds great, actually. Thank you." And maybe filling her stomach would make her feel better.

Circe smiled at his offer and his understanding. "If you know any way that I could just get back to London, tonight, I would really appreciate that? After dinner, preferably." She wasn't hungry until he'd said something, but now all she could think of was bacon.

"Thank you so much. For everything. Really. I admit, you're a lot nicer than I first took you for."

He started cooking the bacon and eggs, yolks a little runny, and then plated two eggs up for her and a rasher of bacon. He plated three eggs for himself and put a little bread in the toaster. He sipped the coffee. “Fuck, I dunno. I bet there’s a last minute portkey we could get?” He shrugged. “They’re not that expensive, right? I bet we could get one to London and I’ll walk you wherever you need to go and then I’ll just chill there for the night.” He offered. “I mean, I used to literally live out of a tent all around Europe, so it wouldn’t be my first time.” He laughed a bit, the toast popping. He put some on each of their plates.

“I usually take travel photos.” He admitted, after a moment of silence. “Like of cool places and people and stuff. I sell them one-by-one to a few different magazines. That’s literally how I managed to live or two years around Europe. It’s expensive to travel.” He laughed. “Plus, I’m an Ilvermorny dropout, so there’s that. Not like I could just go out and get a cushy job. School was awful. You’re from Hogs, right? Don’t know much about that, but I’m eager to learn more. Tell me about yourself. You probably graduated like… two years ago, maybe? You look about my age.”

He would have felt weird to know she was a student, even though he was only two years older than her. He didn’t know about Hogwarts houses, or that they even had them. He didn’t know much about Hogs at all. In fact, he was more familiar with Beauxbatons.

A portkey? Why hadn't she thought of that? "My mum sent me along with some money. That's a good idea."

Circe's mother had entrusted Tock with her and would be none too pleased if she found out about this fiasco. There was absolutely no way that she could tell her what actually happened, nor could she return to Godric's Hollow. She was going to have to come up with a mum-appropriate story as to what happened. But what if she checked with Tock and their stories didn't match? She had really gotten herself into a mess this time. Maybe she could convince Sid to play mediator? She'd have to tell him. And that's where she could go for the night. Sid and Janae had been staying with Izzy, and there was no way that they'd turn her away. Sid was probably also going to be mad at her, but at least he couldn't ground her.

"Yeah, London would be great. We could stay with my friends. I'm sure it would be fine." The food looked delicious and Circe dug in as she listened to Corey speak. He had a really nice voice. His life sounded really interesting, too, and suddenly she felt a little lame. He thought she was older? That was fair, she supposed.

"I'm actually just graduating a little later this year." She smiled and shrugged her shoulders a little. "From Hogwarts, yeah. I did go to Beauxbatons for a year, but that was due to... incredibly strange and difficult circumstances. I'm not really sure how well your American media covered the dome disaster at Hogwarts a few years back?" She paused for a moment before continuing on again. "I had broken my leg during the initial earthquake, and thankfully an older housemate got me some medical attention. When I wasn't able to return to school after that due to the magical dome I had to finish out the year at Beauxbatons."

She only knew a little about Ilvermorny. "Anyway, what house were you in?"