One in a million, my lucky strike [Romilda]

It had been over a month, and Cormac was ready to fix that. He had tried to take a trip to visit Romilda during the earlier parts of September, but it just didn’t work out in his favor. He had gotten busy. Usually that would be a good thing. Busy meant money and jobs and fun. Cormac really liked his job, in all honesty. There was little about it that he found tedious. He had always dieted. He had always took care of his body. Getting paid to keep himself in great condition was practically a dream come true. What he didn’t like was the fact that work was sporadic. It came in bursts, and he wasn’t sure when the next one would happen. He couldn’t say no to jobs he was given, not without breeching contract with his manager. This meant that his time with Romilda was very limited.

Cormac had known it was going to be harder to see her over the school year than it was over the summer, and they had talked about it. He still hadn’t really thought that it would have been nearly as big of an issue as it was. Had last year really been this bad? Cormac couldn’t help but wonder if he had let himself get too comfortable over the summer. He had spent almost every day with her, then. He’d woken up next to her or went to bed beside her. Or went out somewhere with her. He made a point to stop by to talk to her.  It was strange how much he hated waking up in an empty bed.

Unsurprisingly, a summer’s worth of getting used to having her around every day meant that the time apart felt longer. He missed her more than he had anticipated missing her, and not even the work could really ameliorate his loneliness. No, this was a void that only she could fill. Cormac knew this, but kept trying to deny it. He was afraid to mention it to his friends because he didn’t think they’d understand the extent of his interest in her. It was very unlike him to be so wrapped up in one girl. Cormac usually let things like that roll off of him, especially girls. He tended to switch directions easily and he changed his mind about girls easily. Romilda was different. They’d been together for nearly a year now, and he still felt just as into her as he had when he met her again at the victory ball last November. He still smiled when he saw her. He still looked at her like she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen and, in a way, she really was.

He was going to make all of it up to her today, though. He had cleared the entire day for her. He’d gotten things together and scraped up enough to buy her a nice gift, and some flowers. He thought maybe they’d walk around Hogsmeade. Maybe they’d have lunch there. Maybe, just maybe, he’d be able to convince her to let him kidnap her back to his place for a few hours so he could show her just how much he missed her. That prospect sounded highly appealing. More than that, though, Cormac just loved the idea of spending a little time with her. Also, the gift. He loved showering her with presents. Every time he saw her light up when she opened something he’d gotten to surprise her, he felt a little warm inside. Cormac wasn’t great at voicing his emotions. He wasn’t a wordy guy, really. He could talk fluff and tell stories and make small-talk, but he wasn’t good with saying anything that mattered, and it was easier to use gifts to say what his words failed to. Romilda was loved, cared for, and appreciated.

Pulling on his coat, and putting on his new sunglasses, Cormac made his way to Hogsmeade. It was weird how things changed so much everywhere else, but Hogsmeade somehow always looked the same. The same people in the same shops... it was nice. Cormac almost felt like he was a student again. It would’ve been a lot easier to see her if he was. He could only imagine the trouble he and Romilda would probably get in from all the sneaking around they’d do. Still, it would’ve been nice to see her again. He would have even endured the N.E.W.T. exams all over again to get the chance to spend every day with her.

As he neared the edge of the pathway from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade, he shivered a little and looked down to pick at the orchids. He hoped that she liked them. He hoped that she’d be happy to see him and that they day would be everything he dreamt it would be.

Oh. My. God.

This was finally the day. After over a month of waiting and letter writing, Romilda was finally going to see him. The most perfect boy out of all the boys she had ever met, maybe barring her own father, was coming to see her. It seemed that despite their attempts at making plans and setting up dates always fell through and to the seventeen year old's great disappointment and anxiety, it was always the boy's fault. She felt useless and so boring compared to him. There he was off in the real world doing real world things being too busy for her, while she just basically sat around waiting for him to have a free day. Not that she was upset with him exactly--she understood that work was work and that it had priority, but it still made her feel like such a little kid in comparison since she had virtually nothing to do. Even though they had a good long talk about it before school resumed, it was still such a blow to go from seeing Cormac almost every day to barely seeing him at all.

In some ways, Romilda felt almost pathetic. She couldn't even flirt with anyone anymore without feeling guilty and somehow wrong for doing it. Cormac occupied so many thoughts and day dreams that she had to heavily force herself to concentrate in class, unless she wanted to be called out for not paying attention. The young brunette didn't understand it. She didn't understand why she couldn't shake herself of him or why she felt so incomplete when he wasn't with her. All she knew was that today she would be seeing him and part of her knew however much time she had with him would never be enough to satisfy her. But, she didn't want to let him know that. Sure, they spent practically the whole summer together--hell she basically lived in his apartment--but Romilda still wanted to attempt to keep an air of casualty to their meeting today despite the butterflies in her stomach. In her head, she assumed that acting a bit harder to get after all this time would make him desire her more, but honestly, she wasn't sure how long she'd be able to keep up that act when her heart was already racing as she walked in Hogsmeade, her black flat making a little tapping sound as they hit against the cobblestone walk way.

As she made her way to their meeting point, Romilda felt her face already beginning to flush--she was excited, nervous and...was this outfit okay? She knew it was casual, but that's what their day was supposed to be, right? Running a nervous hand through her perfectly tousled brown hair, she wondered if she would have time to run back to her dormitory and change into something dressier. It seemed as she worried, though, her feet carried her to the meeting destination and then, there he was. Romilda stopped for a just a moment and hoped that he didn't see her pause just to let her heart skip a beat. She really had forgotten just how handsome he was...well okay, not forgotten, but seeing him in person after so long was a shock to the system. Like jumping into an ice cold lake in the middle of the hottest summer day, he just made her whole body freeze and melt at the same time.

Making her way toward him with what Romilda hoped were her usual confident strides, a large smile spread over the bold, feminine features on her face. "Hey stranger," she purred at him teasingly. Her smile felt like it was reaching her all the way down to her toes, she was sure she was going to explode from the excitement she felt inside. Abandoning all hope of seeming casual, Romilda pulled the older boy into her in a tight embrace. She sighed, breathing in his scent and his warmth and all the things that were just so him that she had gotten used to over the summer and missed so desperately over the last month. As she reluctantly let go, her soft brown eyes bore onto his face as she looked up with him with all the adoration that she held in her heart for him. "So what are the plans for today, Mr. Busy," she asked with a playful tone while trying to allude to the fact of how much she missed him. Loosing all hope of trying not to seem desperate for him, Romilda blurted out in a soft voice as she took a step closer to him, "I've really missed you, Cormac."

I feel like this isn't great. I sorry >>

Merlin, this was better than he even imagined. He wouldn’t tell, but parts of him faltered even as he saw her walking towards him from a distance. Instinctively, he walked towards her until they met in the middle. His grin was wide and he actually dropped the gift on the ground to hug her back tightly. Mm, she felt... just right. He’d missed her. Even the smell of her was familiar—like home. Did this make him pathetic? Alasdair would never let him live this down, ever. It was a good thing the younger boy wasn’t around then, wasn’t it? Cormac was going to lean in to kiss her, but Romilda pulled away to talk, and Cormac let her. For a moment the gift sat on the ground, forgotten.

“I missed you too, Romi.” He admitted, taking a step closer to her. “You didn’t let me kiss you.” He teased lightly, reaching up for the side of her face. He leaned in and captured her lips. He let the kiss linger for a few moments, really savoring it. He didn’t even know where to start expressing how much he missed her. Sure, he’d said the words, but they didn’t even begin to cover how he really felt. He slowly pulled back, lingering close. He smiled at her again, then remembered the gift. He pulled back quickly to pick it up.

Cormac dusted it off, blowing some of the dirt into the air away from them. “Before we get into the plans, I got something for you.” He informed her, straightening the bow before holding the box out in her direction. They were a small pair of designer earrings. They really weren’t anything special to look out, but he hoped that she’d like them anyway. Small, round, and cream-colored, they held nothing but the logo. Even so, Cormac had a feeling that Romilda would like them. She, like him, seemed to like the status that came with wearing designer accessories.

In some ways, Cormac knew he was a little off-beat. While he was still a tough and masculine guy, he wasn’t afraid at all to show off his feminine side. He loved shopping, clothing and accessories, grooming himself. The fact that Romilda enjoyed doing those activities with Cormac was not lost on him, and he loved her for that, too. That was a part of why he was so eager to share those activities with her. 

Also, Cormac had a soft spot for gift-giving. He really loved showing Romilda that he cared for her, and wasn’t good with putting it to words. If time was money, then gifts were a great way to easily show how much he cared, right? He loved watching her light up. He liked seeing her be happy. Cormac just wished he could see it more.