better get a head start, start running [oliver]

Quinn found herself being very grateful that they were in London and not Falmouth; it was a much bigger place, and the spectacle of them snogging in a not-dark corner would draw much less attention. So at least they had that going for them. It wasn't fair that he kept throwing the word 'snog' around without any clear intention to act on it, though. But as much as she wanted to go ahead and get the snogging accomplished, she couldn't believe that she might actually have to be the one to initiate it.

"Much preferable, thank you," she said, grinning. She shrugged, agreeing with his logic about free beer, happy to get him more if only for the sake of not owing him for the dinner after the evening was over. She sort of had a lot to drink then, so it was only fair that they drink just as much as they had earlier. Quinn's cheeks warmed up again as he winked at her. He kept doing that, and every time was more enjoyable. That would have to stop. "Absolutely I could have done better," she replied sweetly, winking back. She took another swallow from her pint before adding, "But you are definitely living up to expectations." She didn't wink this time, either because she forgot to or because she was completely serious, she wasn't sure which. She quickly took another swig from her glass, if only to give her mind time to catch up with her mouth.

She did indeed know Elias, and she was almost completely sure that if anything ever did transpire between her and Oliver, he would need to know every single detail. She would have to wait to do that in person though, so she would get to see his reaction. But again, she was getting ahead of herself, as it had been a full five minutes since he had mentioned possibly wanting to snog her. Hmph.

"Well I don't need your status symbol, that's for sure," she came back with a laugh. "But he probably missed with the 'someone you didn't hate' part," she laughed again, hoping that would illicit a response somewhere along the lines of how he didn't hate her, but quite the contrary.

Quinn sighed, replying "Ooh, yes, you're right about that." She could get dates if she wanted, but who really had the time for that? She had only ever had one serious relationship, and that lasted for about four years. It only lasted that long because she never really wanted to put in the effort to break up with him, only finally finding an out when she left Portugal for good. And that was over two years ago now, and Quinn had yet to make any real progress in moving past a handful of dates at a time. She just assumed that Oliver was just about the same way, considering he had the same 'lack of time' excuse that she did.

"I actually don't remember agreeing," she said, laughing again, turning her body slightly towards him, her knee bumping up against him. "It was when he was over for dinner, and I may have had more than my share of wine..." she trailed off, smirking. "But I am actually not mad that drunk me made that decision," she looked down into her glass, just to have a place to look that was anywhere but Oliver's too-handsome-to-be-real face. She was either really inebriated or really attracted to him that she was able to say anything that could be interpreted as expressing interest in Oliver Wood, though it was probably a little bit of both things. He was Keeper for Puddlemere United, former Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, and an all-around hunky Scotsman. She wasn't sure which thing was his worst attribute.

She looked back up at him, her face exceptionally warm from all her constant drinking and blushing. She sighed, taking in his facial features once again. She was much closer to him than she had realized, and she could see a faint trace of stubble along his very well-defined jawline. Her eyes followed the natural progression down his jawline, to his chin, to his lips. "Damn it," she said finally.

"Don't make me have to ask you to kiss me, Oliver."

“Noted” the man said chuckling. He would hold her to that, assuming he could remember to act on the offer on their way out. Quinn’s answer had been what he would have expected at he nodded in agreement “I suppose we both could’ve” he joked, a saucy look in his eye. In reality though, he decided that Elias had done a fairly good thing, since he wasn’t so sure he could’ve done better, considering the fact that he didn’t have to explain the whole Quidditch lifestyle to Quinn, she already understood it. At her compliment, the wizard took a small bow yukking it up while he had the chance “I’ll certainly take what I can get, then.” Although, inside, Oliver was equally as pleased, for reasons that had yet to be decided upon, though, he’d never let Quinn know that, not in a million years.   

“Thank Merlin for that” He said, and meaning it. The last thing he wanted in any relationship was to be a symbol of something, rather than to be appreciated for who he was “And, no. I thought I’d want to throttle you five minutes in, when I saw it was you, but so far I’ve been wrong” He added, taking the chance to study her features closer, appreciating her eyes and her freckles most of all. Though he was drawn back to the subject at hand by her next story. Dark brows rose slowly as she revealed she didn’t remember agreeing only to be joined by a genuine smile. Leave it to someone like Quinn Regan to end up on a date she didn’t even remember agreeing to “How’d you know you had a date, then?’ He asked, curious to know how she’d managed that.

With alcohol back in his system, Oliver was feeling warm again, and he knew his tongue was looser than it would have normally been when he heard himself agreeing with her “I can’t say I’m sorry she did, either” he said, offering her a soft smile as he wondered again what it would be like to kiss her, only to realize that they’d been thinking along the same lines. For a brief moment he was surprised by the fact that Quinn had wanted him to kiss her before feeling a smirk tug at his lips, almost in reflex.

“Mmm. We wouldn’t want that would we?” he questioned softly, as his eyes dropped to her lips for a moment before his hand left his glass on the table and cupped her cheek, part of him marveling at how warm her cheek was against his palm. Then, before he could second guess himself he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, for once not worrying about who might or might not see them, he was snogging Quinn bloody Regan.

While she highly doubted that he could do better, she really didn't want to push the topic. Not if she was going to be successful with all the other things she wanted to be doing with him. "Well, thank you so much for not murdering me, even if all we want to do is prove a point to Elias." And she ought to be congratulated as well for not leaving immediately and flying off to what would have certainly been a much less enjoyable evening. But there would be plenty of time for Oliver to thank her later.

"Oh he reminded me. A couple times." She had both hands cupped around her glass, not trusting herself to not let them roam if she wasn't already holding on to something. "And I can never pass up an opportunity to show off, which I'm sure he knew," she added with a smirk, implying that she was showing off just by showing up anywhere. His smile seemed so genuine, she actually believed that he actually wasn't sorry that she had agreed to the date in the first place.

Quinn shook her head without taking her eyes off of him, absolutely not wanting to have to politely request he snog her face off. Then his hand was on her cheek, his callused hand feeling rough but very welcome against her skin. She wasn't expecting to feel tingly all over, though that was exactly what was happening to her. The seconds after his touch seemed to last forever, each one ticking by painfully. She almost expected him to say that he was kidding, that he only wanted to get a rise out of her, to use this whole situation as cannon fodder later.

But then his lips were on hers and it was like time sped up again, like there weren't enough seconds left to properly enjoy what was happening. Her eyes shut quickly, and the hands that were still clutching her glass finally moved, one moving to lay on his chest, the other finding the back of his neck. She wanted him closer, as if having her lips locked with his wasn't enough. The hand on his chest grabbed at his shirt, fingers grasping at the fabric. She twisted her body, now warm all over, towards him as much as she could.

Her lips were moving then, after the first initial, prolonged kiss, not wanting to leave any part of his lips uncovered. She could feel herself getting carried away and if she wasn't careful, there was a fair chance that they would be asked to leave. And as much as she would like nothing more in this moment than to ask him to go home with her, she wasn't yet certain if he would agree. He had been acting quite the gentleman, after all, at least until their spontaneous, yet public, snog.

She reeled herself in, letting up on the ferocity of her kiss slowly, her hand slowly lessening its grip on this shirt. Quinn pulled away after another moment, grinning, both at what had just happened and how she had successfully marked Oliver Wood with her favorite shade of lipstick. She slid her other hand from his neck around to his front to rest next to her other hand, with which she gave his chest a light pat. She let out a little laugh, "I just wanted to make sure it wasn't as gross as I thought it would be."

If he had had any question about whether or not Quinn returned his burgeoning feelings, they were certainly put to rest now, as he was left to catch his breath, all too aware of how close she was now. A lazy, self-satisfied smile crossed his lips as she spoke “Mm. It’s okay to admit that it wasn’t gross you know…” he was definitely riding the buzz from his drink, and their kiss, but he was too comfortable, even jammed up against the wall to care. “I’d say it was a seven out of ten” he offered good naturedly as he shifted so that he could drape one arm over her shoulders while reaching for his beer with the other.

He was really just trying to ruffle her feathers, but he also didn’t want to irritate her enough to make her move away. Taking a long drink from his glass, Oliver snuck a peek at Quinn and then shot a glance over in the direction of the bar, wondering if anyone had noticed or cared that they’d been snogging. Not that the wizard cared particularly what anyone thought, but he was contemplating kissing her again, and wanted to gauge the chance that doing so would get them booted out before they could have a few more drinks. Putting the thought aside for the moment, Oliver turned his attention back to Quinn, giving her another smile “So, I’d say we’ve successfully ruled out murdering each other…at least for the time being” he finished with a laugh. Oliver was really still just trying to figure out how in the span of one date, and not even a full one at that, he’d ended up cozied up to rival seeker Quinn Regan, and wasn’t hating every minute of it.

His answer of course, was to blame Elias and the alcohol they’d been drinking all evening. It made it easier to blame other things than to admit that maybe his roommate had done a good thing by setting them up with each other, and that it might’ve worked. Having taken another look around, Oliver decided that his odds were fairly good for not getting caught, and leaned in, this time kissing the witch softly and slowly, curious to see what it’d be like. He would have been lying if it he tried to deny the fact that it drug him back under, and it was his turn to pull himself back under control a moment later. But it was his turn to smirk triumphantly as he reached for his beer again “Definitely not gross that time either. Sorry to disappoint, Regan.” Two could most certainly play this game.

"I don't know if I'd go that far," she said, chuckling. "Maybe a five out of ten, with a half point extra for your efforts." She smirked, reaching up to rest her hand on his cheek, enjoying the feeling beneath her fingers. She used her thumb to rub off the worst lipstick smudges from around his mouth, apologizing as she did so, "I sort of made a mess." Quinn was smiling again, letting her thumb linger over his lips for a few seconds more than necessary. As much as she hated to admit it, especially out loud, she had immensely enjoyed that all too much. Something about that kiss just felt different than every other one before it and she couldn't place her finger on why. But she was far too close to him and had far too much alcohol in her system to even try to think about those things right now.

She settled herself into him, not bothering to question the arm she now had draped around her shoulders, one hand finding its way to her lap and the other finding Oliver's leg. She started lightly raking her fingertips back and forth across the denim, but she didn't realize she was doing it. She was much too focused on who she was burrowing into. She returned his smile, breaking into a grin when he laughed. "Well, there's always the possibility of murder tomorrow morning," she said casually, finally broaching the topic of spending the night together.

He definitely did not react poorly to that suggestion, however vague it was, and Quinn couldn't help but feel incredibly pleased with herself. She could only imagine how he must be feeling, considering that he had just had the pleasure of snogging her. But he answered that question for her quickly enough by simply kissing her again.

It was different this time, but not a bad different. Not at all. She couldn't decide which type of kiss she liked better, but she didn't let her confusion stop her from still participating. She squeezed the hand that was on his thigh, letting her other hand snake around to his back as smoothly as she could. It was over far too quickly, even though it lasted longer than the first one.  She didn't want to move, she didn't think she could. But Oliver shook that illusion soon enough when he did the moving for her.

"I have never been so thrilled to be disappointed," she returned a smirk just as smugly. She had no idea how she had gotten into this, or how she was going to get herself out. She knew she should have stopped it before there was even anything that needed stopping, but the woman was now giving up all hope of understanding why she was doing anything anymore. Maybe she just needed to get this out of her system, to just get it over with. Then she would see that he wasn't anyone she should be confused about.

"I don't think I want to scar Elias quite yet," she said, leaning into him, "So how about you come back to my place?" She was kissing him again before he had time to answer, just so he could be sure he knew what he would be getting himself into if -- no, when -- he agreed. It was a much shorter kiss than either of the others, but she was pretty sure she had gotten her point across.

Quinn pulled away, unlacing her arms from him, and scooted her chair back far enough to stand up. She held out her hand, silently offering to lead the way, one eyebrow raised like she was daring him to refuse.

In response to her jab, Oliver wiggled his eyebrows, certain he probably looked ridiculous, but not really caring, he apparently already had lipstick – Quinn’s lipstick – on his face, so he failed to see what harm he could really do “Just means I’ll have to work on perfecting my technique then” he replied playfully before falling silent. He watched Quinn run her thumb across his lips through hooded lids, simply enjoying the moment, and the feeling “Mm. Somehow, I think I could probably forgive you” he said, taking his turn to tease her. He wasn’t sure when Quinn had begun getting under his skin, but there was no doubting she had. The ex-Gryffindor hadn’t found himself this drawn to someone so quickly well, ever. He might’ve dwelled on that fact or worried about it some, but he was too content with the situation and with the warm buzz he had. Complex thinking was something he could put off until later.
   
Particularly when Quinn implied that there might be more to their night than what already was, Oliver forgot about anything other than the prospect of he and Quinn. A single brow rose, and he smirked “Well, I guess we’ll find out who’s the quicker draw then, no?” Although he was fairly confident they could probably manage to avoid murder one way or the other, especially considering how much he liked snogging her, he decided. “Glad I could be of service, then…” He finished easily, just glad to be close to her for the moment, even though they had nowhere to go.

That was until Quinn suggested they head back to her place, and Oliver found part of himself wondering if that was a good idea, seeing as they hadn’t really even figured out what had happened so far, but that thought didn’t make it through her next kiss, and he found himself watching her again, caught up in her. Nodding slightly Oliver winked at her “I’m sure he’ll be thankful.” Truth be told, he wasn’t sure he wanted Elias knowing what he and Quinn were getting up to, and it made it all that much easier to accept Quinn’s offer. He was almost disappointed when she stood up, having gotten comfortable despite the cramped seating, but quickly drained his glass and rose to follow her, matching her expression with one of his own and lacing his fingers with hers. They were far from finished with each other, it seemed.