after midnight. lorin

Lorin Odell. Egan was actually (barring any serious physical injuries on his journey) en route to have a drink with Lorin Odell. Of course he had hoped that it would be more than just the one but he wasn't getting his hopes up any higher than they were after she had physically owled him back. A day later, no less! Besides his oldest sister, and housekeeper for the weekend, Carmel had made it plenty clear that there was no way that the most sought after girl in his year had intended to spend time with him beyond polite courtesy. According to her, Egan's threshold of 'being entertaining' fell somewhere between half an hour to an hour and after that all hope for him was lost. From that point forward he became what she equated to the chariot after midnight. A pumpkin. With no game, at that.

The pub that Egan had suggested in their correspondence had come highly recommended from his brother-in-law -- nice enough, not too stuffy, and filled with plenty of dark booths and cosy fireplaces. As he made his way through the front entrance Egan made note that it wasn't much different than that of the small pubs in Cork, and even in Hogsmeade, although the clientele was decidedly different. They were older. Real adults. He supposed that he, too, was kind of an adult now having graduated from Hogwarts mere weeks previous. The wizard put on the most mature face he could muster and pondered to himself whether or not the shadow of facial hair he had worked weeks on was visible by firelight.

Chocolate eyes scanned the crowd excitedly in search of the person that he was set to meet. Plenty of good enough looking brunettes met his eye, but none were the particular brunette that he was looking for. No dice. Egan found a hole in the crowd at the bar and waited patiently for the attention of the barkeep. "A beer and a..." The eighteen year old paused. What would Lorin drink? He racked his brain, the dozens of theories fluttering through it at a maddening pace. Jess only drank sweet things if his memory served him, usually pink in colour, and absolutely cavity inducing. But no, that wasn't Lorin. She was mature. Sophisticated. "Er, actually, make that two glasses of red" Egan finally ordered to the now impatient woman behind the bar.

Egan took the glasses between glances around the room incase he had somehow missed Lorin's arrival, but again he was let down. Instead, he spotted an empty booth near the fire and made his move. That sort of prime real estate at a bar was hard to come by and he had no intention of passing it up. After making himself comfortable, Egan glanced at his watch - still ten minutes early. He sighed and took a swig of the wine, making a face as the liquid met his tongue. Having become so accustomed to cheap drink alternatives, the taste of something good was foreign to him. Just as he lost himself in admiring the deep red sparkling glass in front of him, a voice caught his attention.

"All alone on a Friday, babe?" An older red-haired woman leaned against the table, visibly intoxicated, her words slurred. That was certainly not the voice that he was hoping to hear. Egan could derive that perhaps this friendly stranger had started her night much earlier than he had. "Actually, I'm -" He didn't have time to answer in full because just then Lorin walked through the door and he lost his train of thought completely. Talking was now out of the question as well. Egan followed her movement, mouth agape. He was sure that she was floating. This had to be a dream.

@Lorin Odell

It felt like ages since Lorin had really gone out anywhere, with anyone. Naturally, because of this, she went all out. She pulled out her trusty little black dress, the one with the lace sleeves, and a black peep-toe pump. She winged her liner out into a cat eye, and applied a deep berry colored matte lipstick. She spritzed herself with perfume and applied her rings—a tasteful four, only—and tousled her hair. She wanted everything to look perfect. She even checked her teeth to make sure they looked 'white enough'. Why was she feeling so on edge and unsure? This wasn't even really a date, it was drinks with a friend. Not a very good friend, either, if she was completely honest.

She rarely spoke to Egan in school. He had always been in the same year as he so of course she knew of him, but he wasn't among her best friends, lovers, or anyone she spoke to on a regular basis. The year before she would have approached him, maybe, if he hadn't been dating such a repugnant girl, but that didn't really matter in the end. He hadn't been available when she had been looking, and she wondered why she even bothered with him now. Right. It was because she hadn't been out with anyone in such a long time, she was looking for an excuse to get out of the house.

Donnie was driving her mad, too. He was such a genius, very brilliant, but the way he chose to keep himself and the way he chose to behave was such a turn-off to her. He needed someone to wait on him hand and foot and seemed utterly useless at anything that wasn't his art. She was his maid, as much as she was his assistant. At least it paid decently, and came with a place to stay that was away from her parents. She would be moving back in with Larissa and Oliver—or, perhaps, with Theoren—when the temporary job was done, but for a little bit she could feel like a real adult that didn't live at home. She got to practice being someone else's mother.

She was a little late getting to the bar, but not by more then five minutes or so. It was just enough to assure that he would be there first, waiting for her. If anyone knew Lorin, they knew that she loved to make an entrance. She clutched a small leather purse in her hands as she walked in carefully, hips swaying and curls falling against her back. She glanced around for Egan, noticing him sitting in a booth by the fire, a redheaded women hovered over him. Had he gotten bored waiting for her, already? How... tasteless. It made her mildly jealous, anyway.

She made her way over to the table. “Hello.” She offered formally, looking more at the woman than at Egan. “Sorry I'm late.” She wasn't sorry. It had definitely been intentional. “Did I miss anything important?” She caught his eye briefly, before looking back at the woman.

How Lorin Odell had become even more impossible to ignore in the few weeks that they had been out of Hogwarts was completely beyond the wizard who was now picking his jaw up from the floor. The moments of her journey toward the booth in the corner of the pub appeared to Egan as a series of pictures; her eyes as they spotted the familiar face, the moment her hand reached up to push her hair over her shoulder, and the effortless way that her hips moved from side to side in perfect coordination with her stride. Egan distractedly took a sip of his drink, if only wet his throat to be able to speak up as she joined the table.

Whatever had happened between this stranger and Lorin had gone completely over his head, of course. For all Egan knew, the woman could have had a third arm and he wouldn't have taken notice at this point. "That's alright, you're fine," Understatement of the century. The wizard controlled his own internal laughter at his mental prowess. Had she missed something important? It took Egan half a second too long to catch on, his eyes shifting from the stranger back to his friend, completely aloof.

"Oh!" He sat up as the realisation washed over him. Was it jealousy that he sensed, or was he simply getting his hopes up? Either way, Egan sat up a little taller now, his smile quickly morphing into something a little more devious than intended. "No, no," He insisted with a shake of his head, unaware of the eye roll from the woman that had obviously wanted a little more out of their conversation than to be interrupted by the person that Egan had actually planned to meet.

"Not a thing, love," The stranger croaked sarcastically as she stumbled into her exit. "Enjoy him," She called over his shoulder in slurred speech, her sights now set on another table of men who already looked more receptive to her advances. Egan couldn't help himself any longer. "Ha!" He nearly fell out of the booth in shock. "Well that was a first," He mused, clearly now quite pleased with himself. "You did miss my internal struggle at the bar," Egan pushed the glass of wine to her. "I went with wine?" The wizard was visibly skeptical. "But now that I'm thinking it through, you are striking me as a bit more of a gin woman," Egan shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'm sorry, how the hell you?" The Irishman corrected his rudeness, touching Lorin's forearm in an action that was more openly affectionate than he had intended. The fact that he let his palm sit for longer than a second, too, only exacerbated the fact. Slowly, he retracted his touch, but maintained eye contact. Maybe it was the boost of confidence that he had been gifted by the the kind, drunk, stranger, or maybe it was his newfound post-graduate adulthood, but Egan was far more comfortable than even he had expected.

The woman left, but not before giving the girl a little jibe. Enjoy him What did that even mean? Lorin had some idea, she supposed, but the likelihood of her “enjoying” Egan was pretty slim. Not none, but pretty slim. After-all, she barely knew him. She smiled lightly at him in greeting, though. He was very... cute. In a puppy kind of way. She liked it.

She looked down at the glad of red in front of her and shrugged her shoulders a little. “You didn't need to think so hard.” She laughed. “Wine is fine.” She assured him. She preferred white, but didn't mention it. Red would be fine, and it looked striking against her nails. She picked it up and took a sip. It was robust, dark, but nice. It wasn't bottom of the barrel wine, and she was thankful for that. It was also free, which made it taste a little bit better. She felt a little fancy dressed up in a nice bar with someone buying her drinks.

“I've been doing alright, Egan.” She smiled at him. “I've been playing nanny in Dublin to a crazy man.” She admitted, “But I actually don't look forward to it ending. It's only a temporary job.” She explained. “What about you? You must have found yourself something more interesting than me, certainly. You're quite the capable one, aren't you?” That was a compliment, however ill-deserved. She found that boys liked you better when you complimented them. She didn't think Egan was the type who would let it go to his head.

She looked up at him, watching his reaction carefully as she took another sip of her wine.