Lost as usual (Lace)

[Lace Hunnington]

She had no idea the effect she was having on Christian. Not that she didn't want to have that effect. She did. She desperatly did. But she just didn't figure that she would. Afterall, she was just not the kind of girl guys went for. At least, not so far as she knew. She had no idea that her hair, neck, and the way she got close was driving him nuts in the good kind of way.

He got lost on the potion pretty quick.

Lace gave a smile. She was the kind that felt there was never a time, that asking for help was a bad thing. She leaned over the table. Her bangs falling into her face. She began to point to the next thing in the book.

"Okay, this one is a little bit tricky." she admitted. Picking up one of the red vials, she handed it to him, feeling their fingers brush as he took it from her, she blushed, catching his eyes with her own. She looked back down, trying to refocus as she tried to figure out how she was going to get them through this potion before they ended up.. totally getting distracted.

"Now take this." she handed him a blue vial and then she pursed her lips. "Okay, here let me have your hand."

She took his hand, and opened one of the vials. Holding her hand in his, she estimated the ammount he would need, and then she grabbed the other vial and emptied more into his hand.

"See, if you mix it before hand, it goes more smoothely into the potion." she smiled softly as she began to take her finger and gently swirled the two ingrediants together. He would feel a tingling in his palm as the two chemicals began to react just slightly to each other. She then pulled back. And she motioned to the potion.

"Okay, now just sprinkle it over into the potion and let it sink on it's own. You're going to have to wait a few minutes for it to be just right for the next ingrediant. So.. we can talk or something, if you want."

[Christian Hawk]

Feeling her hand brush against his own made Christian already feel something. He hadn't realized he was holding his breath until he felt Lace take his hand into her own. He released his breath that he was holding almost obviously when he felt her warm smooth touch. He was completely positive that his face was not only red but in awe or shock.

Christian knew he wasn't going to be able o form sentences right now, but still felt his mouth open as if to try. "I um. I, and you just." He quickly shut up realizing that he was just making himself look like an idiot. Christian decided to weigh the options. If he were to continue sitting here and accepting Lace's help he would probably be forever in her debt, and ask her for help again.

If he were to act like a complete ass and push her away, she would most likely hate him and not want to speak with him again. Christian wondered if that was he better option. She wouldn't want anything to do with him and would also be alone again. It was a win win.

Then again if she knew what he was she would probably hate him anyway. Christian figured there was no winning here, eventually she would hate him. "So we wait." He finally said and eyed the ink. Conversation. She said they could talk while they waited for the potion to finish.

Christian internally cursed and then finally decided he didn't care right now. He didn't have any friends and he would definitely not mind if this pretty single girl was his only one. He would welcome it, yet keep some things a secret and keep his distance.

Eyeing her face he noticed her bangs fall across her face. He quickly, without thinking, moved them behind her ear and smile warmly. "Well while we are waiting I guess we could talk." He said with a small shrug. "I love to run. I best I could beat you in any race." He teased giving her a small amount of information about himself.

[Lace Hunnington]

"We wait."

She nodded in affirmation. That was what they had to do. For about ten minutes. She leaned, pushing her hip into the table her skirt brushing against it gently as she did so. Letting the weight of her body rest on that hip. Her eyes shifted up to him as her hair fell down again, and then she froze in shock. His hand came up, and softly brushed her hair back behind her ear. Her breath caught in her chest, she was certain he would hear her heart racing desperatly to keep up with the sudden blood flow escaping into her cheeks.

She was in shock. Awe. Everything.

He mentioned running. How much he liked to do that, and bet that he could beat her. A smile took over her face, and she nodded.

"That.. wouldn't be hard... in any case." she admitted with a shrug. "I'm not very good at physical.. outdoorsy stuff. I mean.. it isn't like I have any one to drag me out of my dark corners and books and takes me out there to have fun. I guess I just remember having to be forced to go out for school and .. it's just always .. rainy when I go outside." she chuckled a little big and gave a shrug. She didn't want to sound like a sissy but that was how she felt.

"Ummm... I could probably out potion most of the school. If not the professor. It's kind of my thing. But sometimes.. in my dorm.. I umm.. I make perfumes. I like to do that because, umm.. it's fun, and it's part of a passion and well.. I can make a little spending money off of it too. Cuz the girls really like to buy them."

She chewed on her lower lip before her green eyes softly looked into his. She blushed, chewing on her lips, and then spoke. "Well I know you're not the best at potions, but you must be good at something. What is your scholastic strength? I think my weakness is probably Diviniation or Game Keeping, definitely Game Keeping." she nodded.

[Christian Hawk]

Christian smile and laughed at her comment. "I could force you outside when I go running." He said looking up into her eyes. He wondered if she would mind that. He did love being outside all the time and enjoyed running and flying. Sometimes he felt as though he wasn't alive until he ran a mile. When he ran the whole world disappeared, his problems and his past were gone. All that mattered was speed, adrenalin, and the finish line.

Christian wondered if he would like it if someone was out there with him while he was running. He wouldn't have to be alone for the rest of his life, someone might be able to be his friend and deal with his past bull shit. "Perfume?" He asked hearing her say that was what she was good at.

"You know that is great. I'm sure you make a killing here. You should sell them at top price." He smiled and shook his head. She then asked what subjects he was good at. Hmm..he was honestly pretty good at everything else but that was because of studying and hard work. Something he was naturally good at was a tough one to think about.

"Probably DADA." He finally decided. "I am able to concentrate and I am very competitive." He explained. That was one thing he was never able to change about himself. Whether it was during quidditch try outs or in class Christian was competitive. He always wanted to beat his opponent. Normally he was able to.

Christian looked over at Lace. "So how is it that someone as beautiful as you doesn't have a boyfriend. I can tell your shy, but there has to be more to it than that." Christian asked her getting straight to the point. He wondered how that was possible. He may have been alone for quite awhile, but he knew his gender. Even if a girl is shy that didn't stop most guys from trying. And Lace was he kind of girl you would try for based on looks alone. And she seemd very nice.

[Lace Hunnington]

"Force me outside? Hmmm. I might be willing to ry it for the right company." she blushed softly as she brushed her bangs back behind her ear again. She would suck though, and totally hold him back. But she would try to be a good sport if it was important to him.

AT least, that would be if.. he actually asked her to go.

Christian told her he was good at DADA and she could only smile. That seemed like him. It wasn't like she was bad at it, she just wasn't quick enough. Lace was glad that they were spending time together today. Working on potions was her thing, and she had intended to do it today anyway, but helping someone was always better than just doing it alone again and again.

"It doesn't surprise me you're good at that class. I could see that. Somehow, there's an aire about you that says, that you're pretty good at you know.. stuff.. like that..." she kind of petered out there in the end realizing that she was giving too much away of how much she was kind of attracted to him.

Lace bit into her lower lip again and checked on the potion. Looking over her hair fell. Tumbling down from it's tie, the tie falling to the floor and her hair cascading in a black river back down to her hips. She leaned down grabbing the tie and putting it on the wrist that was covered in her quill ink designs from her boredom in class this morning.

Christian caught her completely off guard when he asked her why she didn't have a boyfriend. Even going as far as to call her beautiful.

"Bea.. bea.. beautiful?" she whispered, which was more of a squeak than an actual voice, but it was.. what came out causing her to blush a furious red color. "Umm... well I ... I just.. I don't really.. talk well to boys and umm.. I get picked on a lot by like.. the popular people and umm.. I don't know.. I usually just kind of stick to myself a lot. Dark corners, books, and being alone.. type thing.. ummmm... I'm kind of a nerd." she let her lips tilt slightly to the side.

"OH. Um... the potion. You can.. can add that last ingrediant now and you'll be all done. Congratulations." she smiled warmly at him, at the well made, and correctly made potion." she beamed at him giving him a one armed hug before she could stop herself, hoping it wasn't too bold. But she was proud of him. Though this had been a relatively easy potion.

[Christian Hawk]

Christian smiled when he saw how nervous she got from his forwardness. It was about time it was just he was getting flustered. Christian smiled as she explained why she was single. "Well you are very beautiful and I find it hard to believe that anyone picks on you." Slowly Christian was finding his confidence. He wasn't sure how, maybe it was hidden under his years of loneliness but slowly it was surfacing with Lace and this did scare him.

"I mean who does that?" He asked. He figured it was probably some dumb slytherins. They were always looking for trouble and normally found it. Christian found it incredibly hard not to start fights with them on a daily basis. He knew if he did, according to the rules he would be expelled. But sometimes it was a crime just walking passed them and not helping. He wondered if he would be able to get away with it sometimes.

Maybe if more people knew what he was Christian would be able to threaten these assholes with that. But of course that would mean telling people his deep dark secret. Which in turn would require Christian not caring what people thought of him, which of course he still did very badly so.

He really care what Lace thought of him right now. What if he told her this and she freaked out. He always imagined people freaking out like in the muggle movies he loved to watch. Up until the time he turned those classic horror movies were his favorites. Of course now they just upset him. What if Lace acted like everyone in the movies like that. She may even just hate him by default.

Christian sighed. He was his own worst enemy and would probably be the only one in his way to getting friends and talking about his problems. He often wondered if Hogwarts had a guidance counselor like normal muggle schools did. Maybe a professor would be available for him to talk to one day.

"Well let;s add this last ingredient then." He smiled doing so. He felt her arm hug him for a job well done on this mediocre potion. He felt his cheeks blush and almost instinctively he embraced her, two arms holding her tightly. He felt incredibly happy and unfortunately breathed in deeply sniffing her. He couldn't help it. He was happy and she smells amazing. Very animal, dog, like he sniffed and the shocked with himself let go of her.

"Um yea the potion. We're done." He said not looking at her.

[Lace Hunnington]

There it was, again. Beautiful. Lace melted a little bit on the inside, her green eyes shifted to the side as the blush took over her face. He was sweet. He really was. He was a rarity. She liked him... er... that... yeah.

"Ummm jerks." she nodded. It was true, it wasn't like she asked to be picked on. James kept telling her that if she had more confidence then she would probably be picked on less. But, she could not change who she was. It wasn't like she didn't want to stop getting picked on. It wasn't like she didn't want to be the kind of girl people respected. She did. But, she just felt that.. she would have to change herself, and she actually didn't mind the person that she was. Shy and all.

The hug was awesome. Warm, solid, and awesome. As she stepped back, she couldn't help but blush. A real hug. It had started out one-armed on her side, but then turned into a two-armed hug later because he had done that. She was thrilled. Maybe he did like her. She supposed he was probably just destined to be another friend. 'Beautiful' in his eyes or not she doubted he was looking for her to be anything else.

"Okay so, since you got to be all blunt and umm.. as.. ask me. Why... umm.. why don't you have a girlfriend? I mean.. you're cute and umm.. really sweet... and..."

She trailed off looking down at the potion supplies. To busy herself she walked over to the cauldron, sliding herself in front of him, grabbing an empty clear bottle from her case and the small dropper and began to fill the jar. She had two such jars, and she intended to fill one for him and one for her. Maybe they could write each other notes or something. She turned, and suddenly, realized how close she was to him and her face turned bright red.

Hair fell into her face as she looked down at the small clear bottle in her hand. That now held the slightly blue liquid.

"Uh..ummmm... here for.. for umm you. A jar of.. of the ink." she said holding it up to him gently biting her lower lip. Green eyes peeking out from behind her wall of silken hair.

[Christian Hawk]

Christian did like how their embrace felt. It was warm, and he hadn't felt anyone else's touch in such a very long time. HE only really had this closeness during the summers with his family. She then asked the dreaded question, which of course she would since he was being an ass and prying into her life. Christian had to think about how to answer this.

Hm, because I might eat my girlfriend? No that didn't sound very nice, she may run or call him crazy. He didn't want to lie because that wasn't how Christian was. he was as honest as they came, but he wasn't ready to tell anyone the truth. Who knows if he would actually get that close to someone.

So what to tell Lace, why was he single? "I don't get close to people." He admitted. It was a very true comment, as vague as it was. Getting close to anyone meant tearing down some walls, some very cemented stone walls, that took awhile to build. Christian was unsure when he would be ready for that, if he ever would. He didn't know if he would ever meet anyone who would be able to deal with this serious secret as well.

"I have an issue trusting a lot of people especially when it comes to girls." He laughed nervously and wished he knew when to shut up. He gladly accepted the ink she handed to him. "Oh this should come in handy." He smiled warmly. "Maybe, I don't know.." He trailed off. He wanted to ask if he could write her sometime, but was too embarrassed.

[Lace Hunnington]

Lace's face fell.

"Oh.."

She had kind of thought they had something, blossoming here. However, now, he admitted that he didn't get close to people, especially girls. He must have been burned really badly in the past. She pulled herself up, sitting on the table beside the now empty cauldron. Busying her hands by putting some of the vials back into the potions case. If he wanted to work on more potions, she would do that, she wasn't quite ready to say good by, but, he might be.

She looked at her text book and picked it up. Flicking through the pages. Her hair basically obscuring her face entirely except for a slight partition of pale skin where her nose and right eye could be seen slightly. She didn't bother brushing it behind her ear.

She had totally read the whole situation wrong.

With him tucking her hair behind her ear, and.. talking about boyfriends and girlfriend, and... the hug. But, obviuosly, she still so poor at social skills that she had misread everything. He was totally uninterested in her. So was every boy, so there would answer his own question about why she didn't have a boyfriend.

"Okay, so ummm... what else did you want to umm... work on. You did pretty good with the ink so umm.. I think you could do more, you just have to be confident.. " she realized how that might sound and added "..with your potions.. of course, ummm we could do something harder, but I'd have to get my advanced case."

Absently flipping through the pages, all filled with her notes and thoughts on the margins of the pages.

[Christian Hawk]

Christian felt Lace's whole persona change. He knew what he had said had affected her. Why was he so awkward with words? Because he hadn't been socially interactive in over two years, but what would he have been able to say to her, that he didn't get close and date people because he might eat them? Something told him a comment like that would just make things worse. Christian did feel like shit though, he didn't want Lace feeling like this was her fault. If anything it was mostly his own head that always got in the way of things.

Christian weighed the options internally. He could remain friendly with Lace, what would be the harm in that? He had his beastial side under control and was never even allowed out during those nights. Slowly he felt himself giving some leeway. Maybe they could get to know eachother more and hang out. He did feel that pang inside when he thought about being able to see Lace again, a feeling he hadn't had in awhile.

"What I meant to say before.." he began smiling warmly at her, feeling slightly nervous as he spoke. "Is just that I hadn't really met anyone that was worth going out with in trusting." He said looking into her eyes. He wasn't lying about that, Chritian often wondered if he would meet a girl he would contemplate sharing his secrets with. Right now he thought Lace was nice, beautiful, and warm hearted. She could eventually be that person.

"So maybe we could do this kind of thing regularly?" He said more like a question. "I mean I'll probably need help in potions, and I could drag you outside to run and fly and swim?" He asked hoping she would agree to them hanging out. Then again maybe her whole demeanor changed because she was completely uninterested in Christian, which then would make him feel horrible, and also a little be of an idiot for misreading a situation. He had lucked out that she was single but would that even mean she could be interested in him. Of course she did say he was cute, she was hopefully attracted to him. And although Christian had suggested a list of activities to do outside he wondered if that was wise. He was always extram pupmed up after a good physical activity like running. He was unsure how he would react with someone like Lace around. Hopefully not like a dirty mutt.

He desperately needed someone to be close with, and it helped that he was very attracted to Lace. It seemed that all sides of him were. Her scent intoxicated him and her personality made him intrigued and wanted to know more. Christian kept the little voice in his head at bay, the one that kept saying this was a bad idea. For over two years he had been listening to that voice and it was over. He couldn't continue to deny that he had many needs. And friendship as well as closeness was one of them. He hoped Lace would be able to fill that void.

[Lace Hunnington]

Lace looked up slowly.

There was hope? Possibly? She bit her lower lip. Green eyes studying him. Her eyes were a very vibrant green color. Almost like a spring time green. He told her that so far he had not met anyone that had caught his attention enough to even try trusting them. She hoped, that she could be that person for him. But, she wasn't sure. She wished to be, she kind of.. already had a crush on him.

Her heart it seemed, was destined to fall quickly.

He then offered that they could get together more often. Her eyes, and face lit up. She smiled. The slight blush on her cheeks was nothing compared to the full force of her white smile. At least now, she felt like it wasn't her that caused the issues earlier. He had no reason, that she could see, for him to hide from her. She thought he was adorable, smart, and charming. A good combination she thought.

"I.. I would like that. Um... all of it. I umm.. might keep you back on like umm.. running, I'm not in shape .. and I might just slow you down a whole lot but umm.. the rest.. yes, definatly."

Lace looked at him. Still sitting on the edge of the table that they had been working on. Glad that it was not her. It wasn't .. really him either. But they were both quite awkward. Very shy. She hoped though, that if they spent some more time together, then they might be able to really open up with one another.

"Uhmm... what about like.. later today.. or like.. now? Are you .. are you busy? Because, I.. I'm not. I mean, if you had like.. something you wanted to do. Go outside or umm.. inside.. or.. ummm.. whatever."

Closing the potion book her fingers wrapped around it tightly. Scared he would tell her no, but she knew there would be other days as well. Just that, well, she kind of hoped for today. Still, she could be patient if she had to. She had spent her entire life being on the sidelines. Learning to be patient came naturally.

[Christian Hawk]

Christian smiled warmly. She seemed eager to hang out with him, which made Christian extremely happy. She wanted to hang out right now, today, this instant. Christian didn't have an issue with that, but he had to make sure he was in before sun set. He looked over at her and figured that would probably be fine. Most students didn't like wandering around at night anyway.

He would also need to make sure to stop by his room and get more wolfs bane just in case. "Sure." He said with his smile still on. "You wouldn't be holding me back, I would just beat you horribly in a race." He joked. Although he did love showing off the athletic skills he did have. "I just need to um, pick something up before we do anything. And I need to be somewhere tonight before sunset." He said with a small cough.

He always felt it was so utterly obvious that he was no where to be seen on nights of the full moon. Maybe it helped that he was now virtually invisible when it came to the students. Maybe no one even noticed he was missing on those nights. Sighing he checked his cloak pocket. Yes definitely needed to pick up more wolfs bane, he didn't trust the fact that he may get distracted and start wolfing out in front of people. He was always cautious about that now.

Christian looked up over at Lace. "So yea as long as your cool with that we can definitely hang out right now." He said gathering up some of his books.

[Lace Hunnington]

She smiled.

"I don't mind if you beat me, I'd be woried actually if you didn't."

She admitted and continued to pack her things away. Afterall, if they were going to meet up later somewhere else. She needed to take this stuff back to the dorm. Not to mention, she really wanted to change her clothes. If she was going to go outside she didn't want to go in her uniform. She prided herself on keeping them nice and neat. She wanted to change into her comfortable clothes.

He mentioned he had somewhere to be before sunset, and she nodded. She hoped he wasn't meeting another girl. Like.. to go on a date. She wondered if they could work some sort of date to Hogsmede... annnnd now she was getting ahead of herself again.

"Yeah. That's fine. We'll be done before sunset, besides, we have dinner then.. so.. it's not like we'd be out for a while or anything. So that's good."

She knew that if she didn't show up to dinner, James would probably have a whole force of Ravenclaw coming after to find her. She would have to make sure to get word to him, if she ever was going to hang out with Christian after dark.

"Okay so.. how about the front courtyard, in like half an hour? We can change, or whatever, and meet up there. Do you need me to bring anything?"

She asked him gently, and when he answered, she gave him another hug. Slow, warm, and lingering for a moment before she gathered her things and headed for the door. At the door she turned and gave him a smile.

"See you soon." she smiled.