seems electric ; never coming down { JR }

“I mean, we didn’t make out or anything,” she said, trying to be Relaxed! and Chill! about it. An easy laugh here would be good, but it might sound too panicked so she just shrugged instead. “It was just a —" Tomie kissed the air, the movement of her lips making a soft click. “Y’know.” Another day she might make a joke about having kissed more girls than he had, but today was not another day, and she didn’t have the balls.

“Yeah lets just slip one in his bedsheets,” she joked, playing along. At least they weren’t in the same house, she thought; she didn’t have a problem with any of the Gryffindor boys. She gave JR a bit of a smile again, thinking that it was a shame he wasn’t in their house. Shelby was hovering in the back of Tomie's head and she wanted to make more jokes to make her disappear.

“Hey JR...” she said, leaning forward to put her cheek in her hand again. She inched her elbow forward too, closer to his Valentine’s day card so he had to look at her. “Remember the dance? The camp dance?”

His eyes widened slightly at the mention of 'making out' even if she was saying she didn't do that. He went still, the only movement was his quill scratching against the card, but he forced himself to nod. "Yeah, right, sure," he said, trying to be cool about it. As if he played truth or dare and kissed or made out with girls all the time. "It was just a dare, right?" he said, understanding the mechanics and how easy it was to challenge Tomie to do anything. It was like she was physically incapable of saying no to a dare. Why would this be any different. Then again.. it did feel different in some ways. He wondered what he would have done if he had been dared to kiss a girl. Kiss Tomie. He trained his eyes on his card and tried to ignore how warm his cheeks felt.

It was a relief to talk about the future revenge on Maverick so he glanced at her and nodded. "He'll probably scream like a girl," he said. Then a beat passed and he grinned. "No offense," he added as he pushed the leg of her chair with his foot to jolt her chair a bit.

JR leaned back over the table. More inky, dark lines on the card, his quill scratching away and he could feel her get closer, smell the fresh scent of coconut from whatever shampoo she used, and avoided her gaze. He heard that tone in her voice. Playful and teasing, usually poking fun at him in a way he didn't hate, but also didn't like. The camp dance. His heart felt like it was beating faster, louder and he hoped to high heaven that she couldn't hear it. It sounded so loud in his ears.

"What camp dance?" he said instead, pretending that he didn't remember it at all, even as his cheeks felt hot. Yeah, he did not want to remember how uncool it was of him to ask her with a note, but then ask someone else to deliver it for him, which subsequently got botched, thanks to their idiot friends. Then he made her fall off a cliff and break her wrist. Yeah, real romantic. And then cherry on top, he had messed up getting her to the surprise party in the first place. Smooth. "I don't remember anything about camp except you punching Maverick," he said, sneaking a glance at her, hoping, praying that that would steer her back to the playful, revenge plans they had brewing instead of the skip down embarrassing memory lane.

“Yeah,” Tomie said, finding it easier than she’d thought it was going to be to be casual about it all. She was glad, now, that she’d gotten her anger out of the way before they’d talked about it. “Everyone else was being a wuss and picking truth, so.” She shrugged. “Had to do it.” That was all true, so it was easy to say. She’d teased them all for being wimps, and when Hazel had picked her dare there was no backing down. Dumb Gryffindor brain had gotten in the way, made her completely unwilling to back down.

Tomie kicked his foot away. “I don’t scream like a girl,” she boasted. “Didn’t even scream when you broke my wrist,” she added, teasing. He hadn’t liked joking about that, at the start, but it had happened so long ago that she barely remembered what it had felt like. Hopefully it was okay to joke about now. She tilted her head to the side, some of her hair swishing out from behind her ear and onto her face. She watched him curiously, blinking when he glanced at her.

“Sure, but remember how the punching thing happened and then I was banned from the dance?” She knew he knew, of course, but for whatever reason, he was deflecting. Maybe she was crowding him too much? She straightened up, then leaned back in her chair, tucking her hair back behind her ear and then picking at her fingernails, not looking at him. She felt a little impatient, nervy but not nervous. “Can I ask you something?" she asked, not really intending on waiting for a response. Tomie didn't look at him when she talked again.

"Howcome you never brought it up again?" She was clearly more curious and less playful this time. "You know," she prompted, "I said yes to the dance thing, but then I got banned, and you never like, brought it up, or asked me again."

"Sure, yep, it was a dare," he agreed, trying to sound easy about it. She seemed to believe it so he went with it. "Besides anyone knows you'd lick the bottom of a shoe if you were dared to so it's not really a surprise someone dared you to do something crazy," he added, joking again. The worst part was that Maverick was being a total prick about the whole thing and JR had silently, for one nano second, wondered if he was right, just based on the rumors. Not that he did now, not that he would ever tell her that. Not that Maverick knew Tomie better than he did. But he had still thought it.

JR rolled his eyes at her teasing. "Yeah, yeah, blame it all on me even though you fell off a cliff, it's fine," he said sarcastically even though the memory was like a pinch in the side. Just another dumb, embarrassing thing he had done. Add it to the list. But Tomie wasn't the kind of girl to hold it against him even if he held it against himself.

Can I ask you something? He sighed in reply. As if she was going to actually wait for an answer. As if she wasn't going to ask the question anyway even if he said no, you can't ask me something. He just waved his hand in a 'go on' kind of motion, refocusing on his inky lines again.

A second later the tip of the quill broke. He had pressed to hard and he glared down at the thing as if it was its fault. He tossed it onto the table and grabbed another quill Tomie had pulled from her pocket and started using that instead as he resolutely avoided her gaze. JR squirmed in his seat, frowning down at his card. "Brought what up? It's not like there's been another dance or whatever," he said evasively. What was he supposed to say anyway. And besides, they had both been busy with schoolwork and quidditch tryouts and practices and games and... yeah. That's why.

JR wasn’t looking at her. She wasn’t looking at him either — at least not very directly. From her peripheral vision, she could see him reaching for another quill. He didn’t look very comfortable, but she hoped it wasn’t because he wouldn’t like what she had to say. They had fun, right? They’d had a lot of fun this morning, and even that weird talking-about-their-parents thing had felt good; she felt a little lighter for it.

Tomie reached absentmindedly for the banana she’d pocketed earlier that was now sitting neatly on the table. She busied herself with peeling it, still not making eye contact. “Yeah, guess so,” she said. So if there had been another dance, he would have asked her, then? Or was he just being like, polite or something? Politely letting her know he wasn’t interested in any of that anymore, with her. She took a bite, chewed and swallowed before speaking again (which was actually pretty patient for her).

Her voice was a touch more tentative this time, but she pushed through her own embarrassment; her Gryffindor-braveness was out in full force.

“Guess I just thought that, if you liked me—“ Not ‘like’, like, “—back then, maybe you’d try again.” She shrugged a little, not that he’d see it. She had wondered back then if he’d ask her to be his girlfriend or something. Or on a date or whatever. He’d taken her to that surprise party thing and then they hadn’t talked about the dance or the note ever again. Summer had ended and they’d come back to school and it was just back to normal for her and JR. Maybe she should have brought it up.

Well… She was doing it now, wasn’t she?

He almost breathed a sigh of relief when she sort of agreed with him. Maybe she'd just drop it and he wouldn't have to delve into an actual explanation of what he was thinking and feeling, then or now. But he knew better than that and sure enough, what felt like eons later as if waiting for the sword to drop, she just had to bring it up again.

JR inhaled slowly as if breathing on his own was too difficult at the moment as he felt the tops of his ears get hot. He was glad at least that his darker skin meant his blushing wouldn't be obvious. His little embarrassed secret to keep. He didn't look at her, but he wanted to really badly to see the look on her face, to help him decipher if she was serious or joking or just trying to tease him like usual or something else. He wasn't sure what he'd see and he was sure the second he looked at her, he would just evaporate into nothingness. That's what it feel like anyway. He could tell he was getting flustered but he tried hard to make it seem like he wasn't, He didn't move from where he was hunched over his card but his shoulders felt tight, his quill didn't stop scratching, but he could tell he was almost ripping through the card in some spots.

Millions of thoughts sprinting through his mind. Did she want me to ask? Try again how? Ask her out on a date? Or something more? Did she even like the first 'date'? Was that even considered a date? He liked Tomie and liked hanging out with her, but when did it constitute as something more, something you'd 'try again' at? He was almost paralyzed by all of the different things he could say so he just shrugged. "It ended badly last time," he finally mumbled, hoping the sarcasm covered his discomfort. "Wouldn't want to break another wrist."

Break another wrist, ha ha. She glanced at him when he answered her, but she couldn’t really see his face. “Oh,” she replied. He was joking, but his voice didn’t really sound very jokey, and he wasn’t looking at her. Her intuition was in overdrive, guessing at his thoughts. It wasn’t very explicit; her heart did a lot more work than her brain, but Tomie was the kind of person who trusted her gut anyway. "Think it's bad luck, then?" she asked, joking-but-not-joking, too.

Another bite of her banana, another moment of watching him, feeling thoughtful. Then she looked away again, first out the window to her left, then back down to her hands, where her right one was picking at a nail. She held the fruit in her left. Tomie wasn’t really sure how to say what she wanted to say, but she also wasn’t one to agonise over wording before she started speaking. She swallowed her mouthful, bouncing one foot on the stone floor impatiently. Did her best to sound casual. “Guess I was just thinking, if you asked me again — now, y'know — I'd prolly say yes."

Think it's bad luck, then? JR just shrugged, his chin sticking out as he avoided her eyes. Why did she always look at him like that. Like she could read his mind. It was unnerving, but he realized how he must look to her, all hunched over and hiding. He sat back in his chair quickly, still averting his eyes, but he hoped the lounging look came off a bit cooler, his legs stretched out in front of him. In a moment of bravery, he glanced at her and that's when she surprised him.

The shock was clear in his dark eyes and he tilted his head a bit. "You would?" the question came out before he had a chance to snatch it back. Then he made himself shrug. As if to say of course she would. Why wouldn't she. As if he wasn't particularly affected one way or the other, as if his heart didn't race at the idea. She brought it up so that meant she wanted him to ask her right? Had she been thinking about it for a while? The whole time they had been outside flying together? Maybe longer than that? Of course Tomie would be the one to say something first and it wasn't hard to think of an answer to if he wanted the same thing or not.

"Fine then, do you want to?" he asked vaguely and awkwardly, unsure of the right phrasing or whatever. He chanced another glance at her as he bit the inside of his lip and tried not to notice the free falling feeling he had inside. 

She watched with her peripheral vision as JR stretched out a bit, leaning back in his chair rather than hunching over like he had been. He looked a little more relaxed, less like he was ignoring her. Well, she was a Gryffindor, wasn’t she? She stopped staring at her nails and looked at him, too.

“What, be your girlfriend?” She asked, unable to resist teasing, just a little. It was sort of the same way she’d answered the dance question at first, if she remembered correctly. Again, though, she was quick to add —

“Yeah, all right. If you want.” She made sure her voice sounded extremely casual, but even that was teasing, too; the sentiment was belied by a very genuine smile. After a moment, she laughed a pleased and easy laugh. She nodded, tucking some hair behind one ear and glancing back down at the fruit in her other hand, feeling shy and embarrassed and amused all at once.

She looked right at him and he swore his heart stuttered a bit. He ignored that. Stupid heart. This was stupid. He shouldn't have said anything at all because she was probably just playing with him and teasing like usual and would end up laughing about it and he would have to pretend like he was joking too and then maybe just not look at her for the next two weeks until he was over being embarrassed even though---

What, be your girlfriend? He gritted his teeth as he stared down at that stupid ink spot she had made on his shoes. She clearly knew what he meant, she's the one that had brought it up. But still she insisted on him saying it. Why? Just to tease him. His cheeks felt hot again and just as he opened his mouth to say something, she answered him.

He paused.

Then shut his mouth as he met her gaze and replied with his own shy smile. "Alright," he answered easily, pretending not to notice how shaky his breath felt. He wasn't quite sure what to do, what to say next though. Was that it? Was making someone your girlfriend something that needed more pomp and circumstance? Like a pinky promise to seal the deal? Or..? Merlin, he had no clue. He wondered if Nola would know. She would, not that he would ever, ever want to tell her though. She would blab it to the whole school in the most embarrassing way possible probably. No, he would figure it out on his own. He could.

But the best he came up with was nudging her shoe with his as he grinned lopsidedly and then tried to grab the fruit out of her hand. "Good, now you should share since you're my girlfriend," he said, the words still feeling new and foreign and a little exciting to say.

“Cool,” Tomie said, her cheeks hot. She wondered what happened now. Should she go tell her friends? Hold his hand? Tease him some more? There had been a whole lot of tension up until this point and suddenly she found herself unsure of what to do with it. Should they go back to talking about their families? She didn’t really want to do that right this second.

Thankfully, JR came through with the goods. “Oh yeah?” Tomie asked, snapping her arm back, pulling the half-banana back out of his reach, and biting down on her lower lip, eyebrows raised in challenge. She leaned back on two legs on her chair, doing an emphatic squeal-laugh as he leaned over, reaching for it still.

Tomie felt high off of the thrill of it all, glad for the relief that came after feeling tense about all the other stuff — talking about quidditch, MatMav, her parents. The dating thing was… Well impulsive for sure, and she hadn’t even thought about the fact that if it got back to her parents somehow she would literally suffer a fate worse than death, but she could worry about that later.

Mischief all over her face, Tomie leaned up and squished the banana on JR’s cheek, laughing all the while. “How’s that for sharing,” she teased, dropping the mushy fruit on the table, a little banana smudging on one of her Valentine’s day cards.

Her 'oh yeah?' was a challenge clear as day to any twelve year old boy and JR didn't fail to rise to that call out. He leaned over even more, his arms a tad longer as his fingertips barely brushed at the banana trying to grab it from her even as he grabbed at the seat of her chair to make sure she wouldn't topple over. She wasn't hurting herself on his watch again.

And in the wave of all the heavy family talk and feelings, it was fun and light and he wondered how Tomie always had that effect on everything she touched. Like she was light or sunshine or something. Merlin, that was too flowery. He could just imagine his dad telling him how much of a pansy he was being right now and that thought derailed him so he missed that look of mischief on her face. Too late now.

He grimaced as he felt the smoosh of the banana against his smooth cheek and he leaned back immediately. He let the mushed up fruit drop between them, glad not to have to touch it, stilling for a moment because he didn't have anything to wipe it off with. He was not going to muck up this shirt and he didn't have a napkin or a towel and even the cards on the table would do a poor job. He tried his best to smile at her, but even he knew that it felt tight and forced. He just really hated mess. He reluctantly reached up and wiped it off with his fingers, glancing down at the ooeyness with disdain before he glanced back at her.

She was his girlfriend now and wasn't it a rule you shouldn't be mad at each other? Even if you were mad, you had to let it go? Or something? JR had no clue and he certainly wasn't ready to let it go. Not until he got a little revenge at least. "How's this for sharing..." he said as he held up his hand and then stood up, making his intent clear that he was going to wipe the goop on his fingers onto her with a little smirk on his face.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Tomie said quickly, bouncing up on her feet too, the mischievous smile fixed on her face now. She felt loose and bouncy, ready for the little sparring match they were having. Her repeated words blended together over the top of one another. “N-n-no,” she said shaking her head, laughing even as the words came out.

Tomie moved to push him away but he grabbed her wrist. She copied him, grabbing his forearm on the banana-holding side but it was too late, the wet mush was being smushed onto her face. She screamed, half shocked and half delighted, and nearly toppled backwards over her chair before he caught her.

“It’s in my hair,” She complained, closing one eye as she wiped it off of her cheek with the back of her hand, flicking the stuff off to the side, as he pulled her back up onto her feet properly. She laughed again, only letting go of his arm now and realising suddenly how close they were standing.

“You got some…” she pointed to her own cheek, then laughed a bit and reached to wipe the blob off of his with her thumb.

She had started this and no way, new girlfriend or not, was he not ending it. He liked to win, even in stupid, inconsequential things like this. It was a disease.

But he would still win.

He smiled triumphantly as he mushed it on her face and simultaneously caught her chair before she fell backwards and then pulled her up with him, refusing to dwell on the fact that he could hold her hand anytime now because he was her boyfriend. The single word thrilled him. It was stupid. But he was smiling at her as she laughed, happy just because of the sound.

"What?" he said confused as she pointed at her cheek, slow to get the point but then holding up his hand between her in the classic karate chop defense mode before he realized what she was doing. He slowly lowered his hand as her warm fingers touched his cheek and he gazed at her a second too long before he coughed and glanced down. "Uhh, thanks," he said, defaulting to politeness. "Don't ever do that again though, it's gross," he added before he could stop himself. He hated the mess. They weren't even his cards and he hated to think of the mess they were in.

"Are you done with those or do you need help?" he asked with a glance towards the table.

Tomie watched, curious and a little fascinated, as his expression shifted when she touched him. It was a small shift, but interesting. She definitely made a note of it somewhere in the back of her head as she withdrew her hand.

“Okay,” she said, giving an easy smile. He sounded serious, even if his words were belied by the smile and the general sort of lightness that had seemed to crop up between them. Tomie felt laughy still, bouncier and happier than she had earlier. So he was her boyfriend now? Well, cool. She wasn’t really sure what that meant, and hadn’t really thought it through, but it felt good right now. Fun and new.

“Um,” Tomie said, looking from him down to her Valentine’s day cards. She’d written one to Ara, one to Benny. One to Wendy, Trudy, some of her dormmates. “Kinda thinking I should re-do yours now,” she teased, not looking up at him but smiling nonetheless. She pushed a couple around on the table, checking the state of them. “I might do some more later,” she said, flicking a bit of banana off of one of the notes before folding it in half. They were mostly fine, she decided.

Tomie pushed them all into a stack. Then she got her wand out and scourgified her sticky hand, then did her best with her cheek, too. “Want me to do you?” she asked, holding up her wand.