[MP] I work good, and I work fine, but first take care of head [Deirdre]

As they went into Ezra’s flat, Deirdre felt a little insecure but tried not to let it show. As much as she pretended otherwise, she was actually quite inexperienced in some ways. She knew things, had seen things, but had never actually done them.

He gestured at the bed and told her to get comfy and for a moment Deirdre wasn’t sure that it had been a good idea to come up with him. She didn’t want to give him the impression that she was intimidated, that she wasn’t comfortable. She liked to tease and play, but this seemed to have potential to get serious and the girl wasn’t sure how far she wanted to go.

She took off her coat and her shoes and crawled onto the bed, the skirt of her green velvet dress travelling upwards, revealing more of her legs than before. She didn’t mind that too much but still flattened it a little and watched Ezra preparing the joint.

“New York City?” Deirdre asked, intrigued by his big plans. “What is holding you back? You’re an adult. You can make your own decisions and I’m sure you’d be doing well at the theatre academy.” She was serious here, feeling that Ezra was passionate about that and thinking that passion was the greatest motivator to do well.

He offered her the joint and Deirdre looked at it. She usually stayed clear of drugs, only creating party potions for others and never taking anything herself but she didn’t want to back down now. She didn’t want the reputation of someone who chickened out.

“Sure,” she said, reaching for the cigarette. She did not inhale properly, only took a slight pull, keeping the smoke in her mouth for a second before blowing it out again and holding out the joint for Ezra to take.

Ezra blushed a little as she mentioned his comment about New York. He shrugged. “Long story, I guess.” He shrugged again, feeling a little more nervous than before. “My friends and I are in a band—I play the bass—and they think the band is going to start taking off soon. I mean, we did have our first official gig this past New Year’s. We played at this cool club in downtown London called Inferno. It was… well, amazing. I mean, we were great. Even Janae, our lead singer, was on her game and she was like four months pregnant when we did the gig.” He admitted with a light smile. “She and our drummer, Sid, are about to have their baby. I don’t really know what their plans are, if they want to keep him or adopt him our or something, I haven’t seen Janae in ages, but she’s been a good sport. Apparently it was her first time, you know, when she and the drummer hooked up? So, she’s kind of stressed, obviously, but…” He sighed. 
 
“I’m talking way too much, but I’ll tell you some of it, I guess. Jae ended up dropping out of her secondary school because of the pregnancy and my best friend ended up quitting his job, and I was basically supporting the three of us with my parents’ help with the flat. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without their support. I have a three-bedroom in London, now, and no roommates since Jam and Janae moved out. My parents agreed to pay for all of it as long as I went to school somewhere they approved of. So, I’m at Tamsen.” He admitted. “Mum wants a doctor or a lawyer or something, and blood makes me a bit squeamish.” He joked. “They never took…. Any of the performing things seriously. They don’t think I can make a living as an actor or a comedian or anything like that, no matter how decent I might be at it. That’s really why I’m not running off to New York. Parents would cry. Friends would be without a bassist… and I mean, you’re not in NYC, and I’m really enjoying being around you.” He teased lightly, thinking of how lonely he would be in New York without any friends or familial support. 
 
He noticed she was skeptical of the joint, so he let her fake-inhale and then took it from her. He took a proper inhale, but exhaled the smoke away from her. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want, you know? I mean, if you don’t want to smoke we can just hang out.” He admitted. He hadn’t brought his bass, but suddenly really wanted to play music for her. He was good at it. He smiled at her a little. He could tell she was a bit nervous, though he couldn’t quite imagine why. Deirdre had a reputation for being a naughty girl. She sold party potions and teased boys with flashes of cleavage. Clearly, she had been in places like this with boys before—boys who were probably less naïve than Ezra and less considerate.  
 
Ezra couldn’t say he wasn’t familiar around the bedroom, honestly, but despite how rather prolific he truly was, he always thought of himself as kind of a dorky guy who didn’t get much play. It was because he never got dates, or at least not for long. Ezra wanted love. He wanted to date and be romantic and take girls out on the town and hang out. He wanted sex, too, but lesser so. It needed to be a nice balance. For him, he often had a night or two with a girl who wouldn’t call him back in the morning (though his penchant for being obnoxiously drunk and/or high in public and leaving with girls almost as drunk as him had something to do with this).  
 
He hoped Deirdre would see him again, even if nothing happened. He liked her. He had felt attraction to her for a while, but had never thought she might be interested. For the moment, he felt a little hope that she was. She was here, wasn’t she? She was politely pretending to smoke with him, and he liked the spirit.  
 
He shifted, passing the joint back to her with a smile, and putting his hand on her knee in a friendly-yet-more-than-friendly way. It was a flirtation. He wanted to see if she was interested…. Or maybe she just wanted free weed? 

Deirdre listened closely  to what Ezra told her. Although she rarely showed any facial expression, enjoying the fact that it made it harder for others to read her, she smiled a little. Ezra’s enthusiasm for his band was great and she liked it to listen to someone being passionate about something.

Her smile faded again, though, when Ezra spoke about Janae having got pregnant during her first time. It was a scary thought though Deirdre felt that with the use of the right potions this could easily be prevented. She surely didn’t want to get pregnant any time soon herself. The responsibility of a child was hardly anything she was imagining for herself now.

Ezra sounded like a great friend, supporting his fellow band members like that and Deirdre thought that she probably wouldn’t have done the same. She wasn’t one to go out of her way to help others. If they got themselves into a predicament, well, then that was their fault and in their responsibility to deal with the situation. There was a reason why he had been in Hufflepuff and she in Slytherin.

As he spoke more about his parents, though, Deirdre began to understand a little better why he was studying something he didn’t want to do. It made sense in a way. Still, she could not relate to him not moving to New York City if that really was his dream. There were always sacrifices to make if one pursued a dream, some were worth it, others… not so much.

“Yeah, I’m here and not in New York,” Deirdre said, looking at Ezra with a sphinxlike smile. He said that she didn’t have to smoke if she didn’t want to and Deirdre nodded, still taking the joint when he offered it. She didn’t really want to smoke but she was also curious and unwilling to chicken out. This time she took a few tentative pulls on the cigarette, even inhaling a little which resulted in her coughing and holding out the joint to Ezra again. Feeling a little light headed she chuckled softly.

“You’re making the world spin faster for me,” she teased as she leaned back more comfortably.

Deirdre was absolutely adorable, Ezra thought, as she took a few real puffs on the joint and coughed. Such a novice… and he loved that. He was used to being around people who smoked like chimneys, and who a puff or two would do nothing. Even Circe needed a good bit to get high, and was high now more often than she wasn’t high. Jam was a bona fide pothead, always stoned. Ezra was probably just the same. It was cute to see someone who wasn’t a stoner try a little, though. It made him think of back in the day, when he first tried it and coughed up his lungs. Not to mention, she had said that he, not the pot, was making the world spin faster for her. She hadn’t told him to move his hand off her knee, either. She liked him, he thought. He approved. 
 
After a few more passes of the joint, Ezra was feeling a little buzzed—though not completely stoned—and he finished it up and put the roach out in an ashtray he had brought with him. He shifted on the bed, facing her, and leaning in a little. “You’re really cute.” He told her. “I mean, you’re absolutely gorgeous, but your personality is cute.” He admitted. “Coy and sly, playful and teasing. You know just how to wrap a boy around your finger, don’t you?” The hand on her knee shifted upwards, but didn’t go up past the hem of her skirt. He gave her a squeeze there, watching her eyes. 
 
“You got me, anyway.” He assured. “I can’t believe I spiked that punch just to impress you.” He admitted with a little laugh. “Did it work?” He smiled. He took his hand off her thigh and moved to grab her hand. “You should let me take you out sometime. We can drive up to the coast or something. I’ve got a car, which... you know, muggle stuff—but it’s actually really fun to ride around. Listen to music, feel the wind in your hair. I’ll make you a playlist.” He promised. “Already know what song is perfect for you. You’re all ‘Killer Queen’.” He smiled, then began singing a few lines from the song. 
 
“Drop of a hat, she’s as willing and 
Playful as a pussycat 
Then momentarily out of action 
Temporarily out of gas 
To absolutely drive you wiiiiiild 
She’s all out to get you~ 
 
She’s a Killer Queen 
Gunpowder, gelatine 
Dynamite with a laser beam 
Guaranteed to blow your mind… anytime!” 
 
His voice was very clear, though without the music it was hard to tell that he was doing his absolute best Freddie. Queen was one of the bands he loved to sing at karaoke, and only because he could hit all the notes and knew that Freddie Mercury was the world’s best showman ever. He laughed a bit at himself. “Sorry, but you needed to hear it. It’s so you. Playful as a pussycat. Guaranteed to blow your mind…” He smiled. “You’ve really got me, you know.” He smiled. 
 
“Can I?” He asked, leaning in a little more. “Kiss you, I mean?” 

Deirdre’s eyes were watering as she coughed again. Somehow it was debatable if having a smoke was good if it resulted in intense coughing and her feeling light headed but it also made her feel so blissfully indifferent. She grinned but as Ezra called her cute, her smile faded.

Cute... Cute?

Deirdre wasn’t quick to respond to that and Ezra already went on, explaining himself better but not really making it better. While ‘cute’ was surely meant as a compliment, Deirdre wasn’t sure she wanted to be cute. The rest he said was fine, though and as his hand shifted from her knee to her thigh, she looked into Ezra’s eyes, her expression mostly unreadable.

She giggled as he asked her if he had managed to impress her. “Maybe,” she offered, teasing him. “Maybe you’ll still have to do more.”

And he already did more.

This time Deirdre was unable to keep a neutral expression, she smiled at Ezra as he sang for her, thinking that, now, he was cute. And Ezra could sing very well indeed. She applauded briefly when he finished and looked down to hide her amusement when he said that she really got him.

Suddenly she found her face quite close to his and he asked permission to kiss her. Deirdre looked him in the eyes for a second or two before giving a shy little nod. “Okay,” she breathed, subconsciously she licked her lips and tilted her head a little to give Ezra an easier access.