all my fame for a pot of ale [elias]

Elias watched the blood flush in Edith's cheeks, curious as ever to understand what was going on in her mind. She was like a puzzle that, every time he thought he finally figured something out, another complication was added. Hadn't she been the one to confess that she had told her mother about him? Ought he not to have asked anything more? "I'm glad," he told her, hoping she would realize he wasn't too embarrassed about the conversation, and she needn't be either. He smiled encouragingly as she kept talking, wondering how she hadn't mentioned any of this before but glad she was finally telling him now.

"That's okay," he replied, unable to keep his delight concealed and not really wanting to. He leaned in to kiss her softly at the corner of her jaw, grinning at the way the word sounded aloud. "I like being your boyfriend," he muttered, testing the word out on his own tongue and enjoying the differentiation English made between a friend and a boyfriend. It was a luxury not so clearly present in the German language and it sounded right. "If you want me to be." Elias certainly wasn't going to back out now. He had felt serious about whatever this was from the beginning, knowing what he was risking and possibly giving up to pursue this with Edith. It was true that he had been waiting to see if she felt the same before officially sealing the deal, not wanting to risk it all unnecessarily, but he knew it might be worth it if she was in, too.

The sounds that had been creeping up from downstairs were quieting now. "I suppose that the friends of your parents are going home?" Lights passed by through the curtains over Edith's window, and he stood up to pull back the fabric and peer outside, secretly glad of an excuse to back away from Edith so he could right his head. A packed car was pulling out of the driveway, taking the muggles back to their homes around the small town. He jumped a bit when Edith's mother's voice called up the stairs, telling them they were heading to bed. He had almost forgotten again that they weren't alone. "Er," he hesitated, looking back at Edith on the bed. He was having a hard time formulating the question in his mind in a polite way. "Should I say good night, then?"

Well she certainly liked him being her boyfriend too, especially since that would make her his girlfriend, and even more especially now that he was close and kissing her. "I do," she said with a dreamy nod, her head suddenly cloudy from their close proximity. "Want you to be, I mean," she clarified after a second, once he had pulled away. She shrugged as she grinned, trying to get the situation back to as unserious as it had been a few minutes ago.

Edith glanced down at her watch as she took another drink, shrugging again. "It's a little early, but I guess so." She tried to recall the schedule of events for the festival tomorrow, but she was sure that the troupe wouldn't have scheduled anything for themselves before noon for the very reason that they were already here so late. She frowned as he stood up and moved away from her, having been very close to discarding her beer in favor of freeing up her lips for other activities.

She couldn't keep her eyes off of him, her head tilted slightly to the side and a very satisfied look on her face. Despite the slew of awkward moments (all her fault), she was rather pleased with how all of this was playing out: Elias agreeing to come to Lunt at all, not changing his mind once he had met her parents, looking more comfortable as the night wore on, being in her bedroom away fr-- her thoughts were rudely interrupted once more by her mother. Still, she wasn't quite as startled as Elias seemed to be and she suppressed a laugh before calling back a very simple "Night, Mum."

Her eyebrows perked as Elias posed his question. "If that's what you want," she replied, slightly crestfallen as the prospects of spending more time with Elias that evening vanished. She had yet to figure out just where, exactly, he was supposed to be sleeping, but the way he had phrased his question clearly implied that he was planning to sleep anywhere but here and Edith wasn't about to push him on that decision.

But the alcohol was making her bold or rash or a little bit of both and she hesitated for a second as she moved to push herself off the bed. Edith scooted to the edge of the bed and perched herself there, doing her best to look disappointed. "Thing is," she started with a solemn nod, "I just remember the sofa has a loose spring and it's incredibly uncomfortable and my dad won't let me fix it," she waved an invisible wand in the air, talking quickly so she couldn't change her mind before she had finished speaking. "So you should just probably make do here." She nodded quickly, adding a very unnecessary, "Clean sheets and everything."

She swallowed hard, eyes wide and cheeks burning again as the gravity of her request sunk in. "Or not. Whatever."

Edith’s reply did not help Elias resolve his internal struggle. Was he not supposed to go to bed after all? Was she suggesting he stay? Did she really not care either way? He hesitated for a moment, trying to buy time to figure out what was going on between them by re-rolling the sleeves of his shirt. If Edith was not sure either way, then the right thing to do was certainly to excuse himself. Maybe he should even apparate back home and then come back in the morning.

Elias tried to recall if he had agreed to actually spend the night, or just to attend the festival. He couldn’t even be sure that Edith or her parents would notice his absence.

At her next words, Elias couldn’t help looking back up at her. He might have interrupted if she had given him the chance, but her words were spilling out so quickly that he barely had time to keep up with her thoughts. Was she saying what he thought she was saying? Elias could hardly remember a time he felt more insecure in his foreign language abilities. A mistake in this moment felt more grave than any meeting with important ministry officials he had ever held at the office.

Elias moved back across the room and perched carefully on the edge of the bed next to his girlfriend. The red of her cheeks made him smile, and he leaned in to kiss her again, enjoying the moment. He pulled back quickly, though, careful not to read more into her request than she had meant. There was the fact, too, that Elias was feeling more than a little anxious himself about the suggested sleepover. It was new territory for him, and his etiquette lessons hadn’t extended to this particular situation.

“Do you think there will be room for both of us?” he asked, wanting to give Edith every opportunity to clarify her meaning. Although a part of him was remembering the uncomfortable fact that they had both been drinking, he couldn’t help gently placing a hand on her thigh as he asked. The idea of staying, even for just a bit longer, was too tempting.

Edith was drunk. At least she had that going for her. If Elias said no, she could just play it off like she hadn’t even seriously suggested anything, blame everything on the alcohol. Of course, she would really rather that he agree so she wouldn’t have to make a fool out of herself, one way or the other, and probably never make another suggestion of this caliber ever again. She drummed her fingers on the side of the bottle she was still holding onto, biding time until she would either snuggle up with another bottle or snuggle up to Elias.

It seemed like ages before the decision was made for her.

She scooted towards him, leaning in, taking the kiss as an affirmative answer rather than one that was telling her ‘good night’. But Elias pulled back; had he already changed his mind? Had she done something wrong in the past few seconds to make him pick the other option? Or had she just been reading his reaction wrong. Maybe she was a little more than drunk. Or maybe she just had bad breath. She had zero experience with this sort of decision making and she was really starting to regret not rehearsing all the possible scenarios in her mind.

“Honestly?” Edith glanced towards the pillows then back to Elias with a shrug. “I don’t really care if there isn’t.” She sat up straighter to get a better angle and kissed him again, her free hand on the back of his neck to pull him just a bit closer.

[[full stop]]