[december mp] all wrapped up || isaac

 â€œI’m very thoughtful,” she nodded in reply to his conclusion, “also very kind and considerate,” she added. Wait, did thoughtful and considerate mean the same thing? There must have been a slight difference in the nuances if not they would not have made two entirely different words for it. Whatever, she didn’t have the brainpower to wrap gifts and think about the nuances of the English language. “But of course, you wouldn’t know because you’re too busy thinking about recycling,” she made a face to show her displeasure, but it wasn’t malicious at all but rather playful. Magnolia was in a good mood and had, thus far, been doing a very good job of keeping it that way.

“I dunno,” she shrugged at the thought. Between Christmas shopping and meetings with friends and family events and shopping trips, her winter vacations were usually pretty booked up. Plus, it wasn’t like she actually had a boyfriend and no one had the time to be social and look for a boyfriend over winter break. To make matters worse, the one boy she had been hoping to play that role was talking about her going on a date as if the word boyfriend hadn’t phased him at all. But she supposed it didn’t make sense for him to care because he wasn’t interested. That thought didn’t sit well with her.

He was still here, that had to mean something….right?

“I get pretty busy, probably will just spend it with my mates,” she offered instead. “I wonder what Allison…” she paused looking over at him for a moment, “and Duncan and those kids are doing over winter break,” she said offhandedly. Not that she cared, in fact, she could not have cared less but she wanted to know what was going on between Isaac and Allison (if anything), and pretending to care seemed like the easiest way in.

Magnolia made a joke, and Isaac smiled a little. She was sarcastic, but he was not angry about it or whatever, and he shook his head. “Yep, recycling is all that I care about.” He continued the ruse, that smirk playing off his lips as he leaned against the counter she was working on. Isaac turned toward her, his hip pressed against the counter, and spoke again. “Guess I will have to pay more attention to other things.” It was a stupid line, but Isaac was full of those, especially when Magnolia was around, so the teenager committed to it.

Why he was so interested in what Magnolia was doing over break was less amusing, though, and Isaac watched as she thought about the topic. And then she brought up his friends, and he frowned. Moving away from the counter and her, Isaac shrugged. “Not sure, probably the same shite they always get up to over breaks.” It was an honest answer, but it was not precisely a detail-rich one. He hoped she would not push it; he did not want to talk about his friends; he wanted to talk more about her. The teenage wizard paced a little on the other side of the island, careful not to step on any of the nonsense that Magnolia had already left in her wake.

“Allison likes to go to the mall a lot,” he said; the annoyance in his voice was easy to hear. The Slytherin witch always asked him to go along, and Isaac always declined. Wanting to turn the conversation away from his friends, Isaac looked back at Magnolia and spoke. “Maybe you girls could hang out.” He offered, but it was a joke. He put Magnolia and Allison being friends pretty high on the ‘shit-that-is-never-going-to-happen list.

“That’s a noble cause, Sir Hackney,” she scoffed, finding it silly that someone like Isaac would care about things like the environment. There was no reason to think he would not, in all honesty, but the bad boy she had built up in her head was handsome, dangerous, and couldn’t care less about anything but living on the edge. So far, Isaac had only met one of those expectations, but they were still working on the rest.

She was into that rabbit hole in her head she often got lost in during class, the reason why she usually couldn’t focus enough to take notes or anything like that, but his words took her out of her trance, and she looked at him curiously. “Or other people,” she added playfully, nudging her elbow into him with a smile on her face before realizing how stupidly desperate she probably looked from that angle. “You know cause…well,” she paused, searching for something to add but deciding that it was better to switch the topic instead.

“Want some more hot cocoa?” she said instead, gesturing in the direction of the kitchen as if to suggest she’d return to it if he wanted anything from it. “Oh—” she said, her expression falling a little when he didn’t go into detail about what he did over break, “So like friends and stuff like that?” she offered vaguely, promising herself that if he nodded or said yes, she’d be satisfied with that answer and move on. He was always sort of really quiet about his life and it made her wonder whether it was shame, like he had with his mum, or just a preference for privacy that kept him mum on the issue.

“Yeah, all girls like going to the mall,” she offered instead, rolling her eyes internally at the thought of Allison even though she had been the one to bring it up in the first place. “Ugh, as if,” she made a face at Isaac’s suggestion, the thought making her frown. “I’d rather be stuck with you at the mall than Allison and that’s saying a lot!”

Of course, Isaac didn’t rreally care about the environment, but the Slytherin thought that went without saying, so he just shrugged playfully when Magnolia commented. She told him to pay more attention to other people, and Isaac shook his head at her before she nudged him. He was certainly paying more attention to her than he had ever planned to. A slight smirk playing on the corners of his lips, he realized too late that he was having too much fun with this conversation, and he pushed away from the counter.

“No, I am good,” Isaac declined more cocoa; he hadn’t finished the first one, not because it didn’t taste good but because he’d been distracted, and it had gone cold. And he was far too lazy to bother with warming it up; plus, he hated the way it made his teeth feel fuzzy with sugar and chocolate. Or maybe he was thinking about hot cocoa more than was necessary because it was better than thinking about Magnolia for too long. He began to pace around the room again, growing antsy for unknown reasons and slipped his hands into the pouch pockets of his sweater. “Yeah, stuff like that, you know, same shit all teenagers do, I guess,” It wasn’t a good answer, but it was far more of an answer than Isaac probably would have given anyone else.

The truth of it was he had no plans for the break, and he liked it that way. Allison had invited him to some things, but he’d told her he was busy even though he wasn’t. Something about making plans made Isaac itchy, and if he got the sense Magnolia was looking to do the same, he would have been just as reluctant to agree to anything. He laughed, though, when she said she’d instead go to the mall with him, and Isaac shook his head some more. “I wouldn’t be caught dead at the mall,” he said dramatically and then returned to her counter.

“You almost done with this gift wrapping shit, or what?” Isaac asked, his eyes flicking from the packages she’d finished up to Magnolia’s eyes and holding there. What he said was rude (unsurprisingly), but what he meant was: can I walk you back to the castle?

Magnolia felt a little discouraged when he refused the cocoa and wondered if maybe she’d make it too sweet for him—she’d heard before that guys weren’t into sweet things as much as girls were and if the leftover cocoa he had left in his cup was any indication, maybe it had been right all along. But she ignored it, feeling it better to focus on something else than on that little detail. “But you’d go if your like girlfriend or mum made you,” she insisted, mostly because she wanted to think that he would eventually say okay if he felt obligated to go, like in a nice way not a this person is burdensome type of way. But she figured that she, too, couldn’t really imagine him at the mall anyway.

“You’ve got somewhere to be?” she wondered in return, but mostly because she didn’t want their little outing to go to waste, it was almost winter break after all, and considering that she hadn’t quite managed to make him agree to spend any time with her during that time, she felt compelled to try a little harder than usual. “Yeah, yeah,” she said after a moment with a smile, not wanting to ruin their nice little moment with anything negative.

“You can go if you’re in a hurry though,” she offered, hoping he’d say no, “or I can buy you lunch?” she offered shortly after, her eyebrows lifted as her expression lightened up at the possibility even though a part of her sort of expected he’d say no.

But he was still here. That had to mean something, right?

“No, probably not,” Isaac answered honestly and too quickly, and he saw the way that she looked at him like she had been expecting a different answer, and the teenager frowned. The teenager hated when people expected things from him, it was the worst feeling, which was why he went out of his way not to do things for people because they stopped asking for something. Magnolia did not stop, though.

“No, girlfriend and my mum does not ask me to do shit anymore.” Both of those things were true, and it may have even been helpful information for Magnolia, but Isaac certainly could have said them better. He felt antsy again, but this time Isaac could identify why. Nola was trying to make plans with him, and of course, she expected they would go to the mall, and of course, Isaac would do anything but that.

“No, I just don’t want to be here anymore,” He retorted quickly, still feeling strange about the mall conversation and like she was trying to rope him into staying longer even though she wasn’t. Isaac wasn’t even committed to his commitment issues, though, so when she offered lunch, he shrugged. “I think you owe me after I carried all that crap here,” He nodded toward the stack of wrapped gifts and then toward the door.

“Do we need to put them someplace?”

“Oh—” she replied, feeling a little dejected by his response but not making a big fuss about that either. At least the whole mystery of whether he had a girlfriend was cleared up, though not really because upon second thought, Isaac did seem like the type to date girls for the benefits and be hesitant to give out the label. That made her frown.

And it wouldn’t have been so bad had he not followed that up by telling her that he didn’t want to be there anymore, which made her feel a little anxious. Did he mean to say that he was tired of what they were doing or…of her? “Like I said you don’t—” she started but quickly fell silent, looking over at him in mild surprise and some suspicion when she heard his reply. “I mean yeah, as long as it's not expensive, I’ve got an allowance, you know,” she added, though of course, he wouldn’t know that. But after all the shopping she had done last summer while JR was away at camp, her parents had sort of decided that she needed a little help from letting all the sickles burn through her pocket.

“You can just leave them there,” she suggested turning back towards to kitchen to look around before she waved at one of the older women with a smile on her place, “Janice, I’ll leave ‘em here, let me know if you need more help tomorrow!” she shouted out and the old woman smiled, not in the kind, thankful sort of way but in the mischievous way when she noticed who Magnolia was standing next to. Embarrassing.

“Anyway,” she turned away quickly, pulling Isaac along.  “What you in the mood for that isn’t crazy expensive?”

“An Allowance?” Isaac scoffed, “I thought you were rich or something,” It was no secret that Magnolia’s father was the world-renowned former Griffins player Wyatt Hawkins Sr. And if for some reasons Isaac had been living under a rock this whole time, her pesky little Slytherin of a brother would have made sure to find him, and everyone else on the Quidditch team, to remind them. Isaac hated that little kid even though he had no real reason to. It was mostly just because JR had become the poster child the onslaught of second years trying out for the house teams and making it. Isaac did not want to play with the littles, so he did the only rational thing and quit the team.

Asking about whether they should put the gifts somewhere had just been an effort to keep the conversation moving, and not at all because Isaac wanted to help or was suddenly infected by Magnolia’s giving spirit. He did not bother to rinse out his mug or even put it by the sink and gave the old lady a mean look when she smiled at them, just for the hell of it. Then, Magnolia was dragging him out of the center, and Isaac turned toward the door. “Whatever you want,” he said, unhelpful, and shrugged. Isaac was reasonably sure both of them had been to every restaurant, pub, and street vendor that Hogsmeade had to offer over the last few years, so nothing had any charm anymore.

“Ever notice how nothing new ever happens in Hogsmeade?” He asked as they made it to the street, and the cold air bit at his cheeks again. “All of the shops are like seven hundred years old or something.”

“My parents are rich,” she clarified, “I am just living off of their generous spirit,” she teased before laughing a little at the thought that they’d ever had the heart to not buy their favorite daughter whatever she wanted. Obviously, she was the favorite, that was something she’d decided long ago, regardless of how much they all doted on JR because he was a boy. Ugh. “But no, not rich, I guess? Just you know, I’m still a teen, I need to learn how to be responsible, blah blah blah,” she continued. It was one of the small battles she didn’t want to fight with them about. She still got most of the things she wanted anyway, and that was saying something.

“That’s not helpful,” she added pointedly, giving him a look and totally ignoring that she had held on to him a little longer than really necessary. But he was warm, she decided, and it was super cold outside and she hadn’t really thought about making her very cute outfit warm or functional, that would be silly. “Is there anything you don’t like?” she tried, “I really hate spicy food,” she added as an afterthought as if her comment would encourage him to make one of his own. It didn’t seem likely, but she knew she had to at least try.

“Nope,” she said as she looked around Hogsmeade, “I mean it’s a school town, nothing’s s’posed to happen here, right? I think it is cool though, Hogwarts is pretty ancient,” she added as if that were a new fact everyone in the world was not privy to. “What do you want to happen?”

Rolling his eyes at her joke, Isaac couldn’t help but feel a bit of jealousy about her words. He wondered what it was like to have wealthy parents who cared enough to teach her responsibility (and blah, blah, blah as she had put it), but he pushed those envious feelings down quickly and replaced them with his typical attitude. “Yeah, you are the epitome of responsible.” As he spoke, he gestured toward her outfit, which was utterly ridiculous for December in Hogsmeade, and then smiled.

He gave her a non-answer, and she called him on it, and Isaac felt less weird than he had two minutes ago. This was more their speed; he liked bickering with Magnolia for reasons he did not care to dissect right now. It was less pressure, and he was good with that. As they walked, another gust of winter air blew past them, and he shook his head at her for not wearing proper clothes. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders as if it were nothing, Isaac pulled her closer to him and spoke. “I’m good on spicy food; what about breakfast, anywhere still serving breakfast?” It was the middle of the afternoon, but Isaac liked to be complicated.

They continued to walk, and he was careful not to accidentally drag her into any puddles as they passed a few shops. “I don’t know; it’d be cool if there were a music shop, I guess,” Isaac made another face at her and looked across the street. “Or something other than school supplies and pubs that won’t sell me a pint.” He wasn’t old enough to drink, not even in London, but that didn’t mean half the bars in his tiny low-rent hamlet wouldn’t sell to minors. Tilbury wasn’t exactly known for raising “responsible teenagers,” after all.

“What about this place, then?” He used his free hand to point toward a hole in the wall pub, the door had just opened, and the smell of whatever was cooking and warm air hit them.

“I am responsibly fashionable, you ought to try it sometime,” she gestured vaguely at his outfit, “there is more to life than sneakers and hoodies,” she said teasingly, not in the least bit offended by what he told her. Magnolia was realizing that the more time they spent together, the less his insults hurt. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing but it made the whole spending time with her obvious crush that much better. Or maybe it was the crushing part that made everything much better. Whatever, it was working. Sort of.

She involuntarily shivered, bringing her arms closer to herself as she felt even colder somehow that he had pointed out that what she was wearing wasn’t very responsible of her, with sarcasm of course, but she certainly didn’t expect his next move and when he wrapped his arm around her she almost gave him a look of absolute confusion. Almost. But Magnolia decided against it last minute, realizing that the more she drew attention to it, the more she’d made it weird so she went with it. “Oh I dunno, there’s a tea place around here that’s pretty decent but…” she looked around in search of clues that might give her a sense of where it was, “I can’t remember where they’ve put it so maybe not this time,” she smiled up at him a little apologetically.

“Oh yes, a record shop would be amazing,” she agreed wholeheartedly. “I thought you’d love all the bookstores and school supplies, you seem that type of nerd,” she teased playfully, looking over to the place he chose and shrugging as they entered it. “That sounds yummy, let’s get that!” she said excitedly, looking around for an empty booth. “So you’re a brunch guy after all, huh? Interesting.”

"Don't pick on my sneakers and hoodies," Isaac said quickly, but the smile on his face said something else, and he remembered that sometimes it was fun to talk to Magnolia. Even if all they did was bicker, he was thankful when she didn't make a big deal about his arm around her shoulders because it wasn't supposed to be a big deal, and Isaac's dimples grew. If she could be this relaxed all the time, he thought maybe they could hang out more often. Perhaps they might even get along. So long as she did get all crazy like he'd seen her do way too many times already. Then again, he wasn't blameless either, but whatever, he wasn't thinking about that either.

"No, no tea," He said with another shake of his head. "What an antiquated practice. Have you tried coffee?" Isaac was a menace when it came to caffeine; the more, the better, and he'd recently taken up coffee as a 'Rebel Against Everything Remotely British' gesture, and he was never going back. The cool, older, angsty teens he knew in Tilbury all drank coffee too, but Isaac insisted it was an original idea.

"Just because I actually do my classwork doesn't mean I'm a nerd." He replied pointedly and opened the door to the place they had decided on. "Sorry, they don't have any magazine shops." He wasn't. The door closed behind them, and they looked for an open booth. Magnolia was brilliant, he was pretty sure of it because she was consistently hitting him with clever comebacks, but he couldn't remember ever seeing her reading out of a book instead of her gossip magazines.

“Not brunch, fuck brunch, I like breakfast.” Isaac corrected her and ignored the look an older couple gave him as he swore about brunch and walked past them. Naturally, Isaac secured a booth near the window and took a seat. "Only rich people and suckers buy into brunch." Not to mention it was far past lunchtime now, and the brunch rush was over (thankfully).

“You know I could totally give you a makeover!” she suggested excitedly, “I can see it now, cardigans and polo shirts would look good on you,” she added teasingly, the thought of seeing Isaac in anything outside of his usual getup. The thought of ever saying that out loud was a little gross but she really did like these moments between them, when everything sort of seemed alright.

“Have I tried coffee? I’m not from the stone age, Isaac, ‘course I know what coffee is and I drink plenty of it, too, but I do like tea as well, there’s nothing anti-whatever you said about it,” she scoffed, not in the least bit ashamed that she wasn’t really sure what word he had just used. All she did know was that based on the context, it probably wasn’t a very nice thing to say.

“You are totally 1000% a nerd,” she teased, rolling her eyes at his answer even though a part of her wanted to convince him for the umpteenth time that all reading material was, indeed, reading material and he didn’t have the right to knock it down. But talking to Isaac was fun and sometimes, talking to Isaac was like talking to a stubborn mule so she left it at that. Let him have his little moment of whatever he was hoping for.

“It’s brunch time, we are having brunch, Isaac, deal with it,” she insisted, thanking the waitress as she brought over a set of menus. But she burst out into laughter moments later, realizing that it didn’t matter if he called it brunch or breakfast or whatever. All that really mattered was that he was spending time with her.

Out of his own free will (Sort of). Imagine that!

[/end]

If she thought he was the sort to wear polos and go to the mall over winter break, then Magnolia was going to be quite disappointed. He laughed at her statement but did not reply. He’d instead leave the subject of her deciding his wardrobe behind, if at all possible. The teenager would never let her, so what was the point in letting her get her hopes up? Right?

“Antiquated,” He repeated because, of course he did, and then gave her a look. Whether she knew the word or not didn’t matter, she had given him an opening, and he took it. That was how this game was played. Isaac was awful when it came to showing other people how much brighter he was than them; he was a bit of a bully about it sometimes, but it was better than pretending to be stupid just because it wasn’t cool to have good grades. 

“Whatever,” He rolled his eyes at her insistence on brunch, but he was fairly sure they weren’t going to be having breakfast or lunch from the look of the menu, and he smirked at the titles on the front. This was the sort of restaurant that only sold certain foods at certain times, and it was far too late for a fry-up. Either way, they’d get to eat, and Isaac would probably end up paying the bill because he wasn’t a total schmuck, and maybe they’d even have a good time and not fight…

Miracles were supposed to be common this time of year, right?

/end