Morning in the library.. { Open }

[Ayla Schultz]

Ayla shrugged lightly, her dark blue locks shifting further over her nearly bare shoulders in the small movement. Her eyes drifted down, though not due to nervousness, but in disbelieve, and one corner of her mouth dropped, making the gently, comforting smile look more like a half one. Was she really helping? No, probably not. It was almost impossible for her to see what it could have been that she had said that could have actually helped. He didn’t seem too impressed by the whole angel-thing, so what the hell was it? With the other part of the sentence, she could only both agree and disagree. Yes, he did seem to over think things way too much, but it wasn’t a bad thing that he’d been crying just a minute ago. It was only good in this situation. Crying was one expression of emotions, completely normal and nothing to be ashamed of.

In one effortless motion, she lifted the large cup with a delicate hand, pressed the cool material to her full lips, and drank again. As always, the liquid was sweet, and would never, ever loose it’s taste. Ayla followed Tom’s gaze curiously as it scanned the gigantic room they were in. What it was what he was looking at, or searching for, couldn’t be seen by her, unfortunately. The tables were still all empty, except for theirs, the windows let in enough light to chase away the mysterious shadows, and some strange form of life was starting to appear. There were no people, but the atmosphere around them seemed different, no longer the scary loneliness it held before. After a short moment, their eyes made contact again, and Tom spoke. What? Guilty? But then she understood, and she couldn’t keep herself from grinning enthusiastically. Despite the fact that his boyfriend had died, he was starting to begin crushing again. That was a good thing.

“Yeah, that’s hard, no doubt.” Ayla said, nodding in understanding. “But there are more boys who can say those words.” The young female looked away slightly, turning her head to the side to let the sunrays that shined through the window light up her pale skin. A lot of people could say those words; ‘I love you’. However, the words meant nothing, it was the way it was said that gave them their special meaning. But he could find new love, just like she could. Everybody could.

Ayla smirked, looking back at young man. “You know what I think? I think that you should just go and ask that guy out. I think some love is the thing you need. Maybe it’ll be easier to... get over it... that way.” She took another sip, the grin remaining on her face. Honestly, she was having a pretty hard time here. She didn’t know whether to go with the part about Josh, or the other part. She thought for a moment, her eyes darting across the room. Finally, she gave in.

“So... who is it?” she asked playfully, almost teasingly. Continuing to talk about Josh would probably cause more pain. If he wanted to talk about that a bit longer, he could bring up the topic once again. Though technically, the topics were bound. “How old is he? What does he look like?”

[advantchild]

How can you love without fear?
How can you have fear without love?

She was right, he was scared to accept it. But she was right, someone else could be the one to say those words to him that he needed to hear from Josh. But he was not here anymore but in spirit of memories. He would live on forever in his life as a part of him because he was a part of him. The fear of moving on can stop him in his tracks at any given moment, but he love he felt for Josh can and will power him on though the muck of his own doing. Loosing the one you love is not the end of the world, the end will come when you stop living in the world. As a Ravenclaw, he should have been smarter than he had been in the last year, loosing sleep at night wracked with a guilt that was only manifested by his own ignorance of the man he loved. Josh would have wanted nothing more than him to move on with his life and be happy.

He watched at the sunlight poured over her milky white skin, casting long shadows over the tables past them and beyond. Taking a deep breath again he held the air into this hungry lungs for a few moments and collected himself. No longer did the tears for the fallen leak from his eyes. He held his resolve and kept it as he began to feel refreshed, crying for the first time since the actual death, talking about it was helpful, to his surprise. Ayla was a blessing in disguise, even though he would never admit that to her, she would probably kick him. Asking another guy out terrified him, the whole idea of dating again was a devastating cause, the whole game was tiring and to played out.. But he did like him.. even though he never actually had any extended amount of contact with him. What was he playing at?

"His name is Jacob..." He said in a low voice.. A smile creeping to his lips as he said the name.. Tom had always liked that name, the way it sounded when it came out.. It was almost like a kiss.. Stopping that train of thought he went on.. "He is a 6th year.. and well.. he is really cute." He blushed and looked up smiling full on.. all the guilt washed away after his confession..

[Ayla Schultz]

Ayla couldn’t keep herself from chuckling softly at the expression that crossed his face after her questioning. His cheeks blushed with a sweet pink, an innocent blush, and a smile came across his lips. It was a different smile, not the nervous, sad, or ashamed one she’d seen so often in the little time they’d known each other, but a true, big, happy smile. The young female smirked proudly. Obviously, it had been a good choice to begin about this boy he liked. What was his name? Jacob? She thought for a moment. She had heard of some guy named Jacob that could match the age she was given, but she couldn’t be too sure. Oh, well.

“You really like him, don’t you?” Ayla asked teasingly. Taking another large sip of her juice, Ayla leaned forth in her seat to once again rest her elbows on her knees. Really, he truly seemed to like him. Too bad he was rather shy. Well, he seemed that way, at least. “Come on, you’re a good looking guy. Go and ask him! What do you have to lose?”

The young Slytherin gave a soft, short-lived laugh. Her cheeks flushed slightly with the lightest shade of pink. Gosh, this could only remind her of the girl-talk she sometimes had with her roommates, when they were crushing on someone. But it was never the other way around. She never told anybody when she liked a boy. Maybe that was one reason why she was still single. She’d met several nice, good-looking guys, but it always ended up as a friendship or nothing at all. She wasn’t that much of a flirt, which disappointed her sometimes.

[advantchild]

Tom laughed, what if Jacob was not like that? He would totally put his foot in his mouth by asking out a straight guy. He would be devastated by putting himself out there and get shot down. The thoughts did not alter the smile on his face, but he did contemplate ways to meet up with the guy. But not knowing his schedule would play to the contrary, random meetings in the hall way are less than a 50/50 chance. Sighing to himself he watched Ayla's eagerness with a grin. He nodded and replied, "Yes, I do like him.. " He looked down to hide the grin and blushing cheeks. "But I don't even know if he knows that I even exist.." Tom said more to himself than to Ayla. Having only casually bumped into each other in the great hall, and in the library occasionally. What was he to do in this case? He was a prefect and would be walking the halls, but, was he that desperate to pseudo-stalk a potential boyfriend? Once more

[ Sorry so short.. My brain totally has slid out my right ear.. ]

[Ayla Schultz]

(OOC: Yes, I'm kind of having that problem as well at the moment. Blame the brain-deadness. Mwuhaha.)

“Then you should get him to notice you!” Ayla responded quickly. Apparently, she spoke just a little bit too loud, since the grumpy librarian muttered one of those annoying ‘Shh...’s’, making it echo through the gigantic room. The young girl brushed back her hair and look down somewhat embarrassedly. However, deep inside she was cursing that old man right into his grave. Screw him. Hm.

Sighing deeply, the girl continued in a more silent tone. “What do you know about him? Do you have any classes together?” she asked quietly. D*mn, this reminded her of her own situation. The whole ‘I like him, but I don’t think he likes me.’ thing. If you were in it, it was frikkin’ annoying. Too shy to say anything, or too proud to admit that she liked him. She grinned. “Or do I have to give you a flirting-course?”

[advantchild]

As his face reddened more with embarrassment he considered the possibilities of actually trying to make someone notice him. What could he do? Shrinking in his seat as the librarian 'shh-ed' the duo at the table Tom smiled and tilted his head thoughtfully and sighed. Sure he cleaned up nice, he never had a problem with girls liking him, and had plenty of guys that gave him second looks, not as many as the girls. But what more could he do than put himself out there and try. Josh would want him to.

"I know he is a Prefect, saw the badge.." Tom said, thinking out loud for the benefit of Ayla. "I think we have a few classes together, he is a 6th year.. The odds are we do." He pouted his lips and sighed, "I don't think I need any lessons in flirting just need to get over the initial shy-ness.."

[Ayla Schultz]

Lightly, the young Slytherin tilted her head to the side curiously. A Prefect? She shrugged. Hm. That wasn’t that big of a thing. Sure, if you screwed around, if wouldn’t be fun anymore, but if you actually managed to get such a guy, you were the luckiest person for the rest of the year. Only that made it worth a try. Too bad she didn’t know the boy they’d been talking about the last few minutes. With that thought, secret plans for blind-dates were already starting to fill the gray mass. But she couldn’t do that, even if she’d want to. Who was she to do such a thing? No one.

“Well, if you have classes together, then you can for example team up with him.” Ayla said. Her eyes darted up to look at the lightly colored ceiling while she thought. “You know, for practice. Or you can just sit next to him, and start a conversation.” Smiling, she looked at the boy again, and reached out to take the goblet in a delicate hand. “If you don’t try, you don’t win. You have to take the first step here.” She said, and pressed the cool metal to her lips to drink.

[advantchild]

Tom mimicked her head tilt unconsciously, how simple.. If they had a class together.. But it was true that the odds were that they would have a class together. How out of the game he was! Tom inwardly cursed himself for his own ignorance. Good thing he met her today, he would still be endlessly mourning Josh, who in turn would actually have wanted him to move on in his memory. But how would he be able to spark up conversation. The only time he ever met the guy was when he was busted for being out on the grounds late. "Least I have you to coach me.." He said with a laugh.

"I bet you think I'm pathetic.." He went on. He really did, here he was, seventeen year old young man, and hopeless at dating. Taking a shallow deep breath he resisted a sigh at his own situation. But with a renewed hope brewing in the center of his being. He now had a goal, and an idea. Watching he take another sip of the goblet of pumpkin juice, a move that he copied after a few seconds.. "Maybe we should go to breakfast and see if he is there.. least if you were with me.. I wont chicken out.." He said with a weak smile..

[Ayla Schultz]

A satisfied smirk quickly played on her pinkish lips, a small, nearly arrogant smirk. But not meant in a good way, of course. It was the kind of ‘See, I can do things the right way.’ smirk, one people often saw on her face. Her to coach him? Yes, perhaps. However, and they both knew that, it wasn’t exactly her job to coach him. This was something he had to do himself, all she could do was sit next to him and support, and help him if necessary. Oh, well. It would be fun. It was nice to help people once in a while, to build up an actual friendship.

“Pathetic? No, dude, you’re not even close to me.” Ayla said. The seriousness in the comment was covered up well with one of her famous, playful grins. He didn’t have to know details, but he for sure wasn’t as bad as she was. He wasn’t pathetic, just shy, and self-conscious. As was she, when it came to boys at least. Asking them out, that was one thing, but asking it the right way, and flirting in the right way, not messing up, that was harder than anyone could possibly imagine. Apart from that, not many boys would probably want to be with her, with her bad reputation.

Nodding slightly, Ayla stood from the uncomfortable chair. “Alright...” she said. Lifting the large goblet once again, she drank the last bit of juice before slamming the cup back on the table like it was a shot of liquor. “Come on, then. Let’s go right now. And I don’t accept ‘No.’ for an answer.” If they were lucky, which she was really hoping they’d be, they would spot him in the Great Hall. Maybe. “Just... hold on...” Holding up her hands briefly, she turned from him and moved to the other side of the library, where she’d been sitting earlier. Quickly stuffing the letters and pen in her old shoulder bag, she walked back over. With the bag swung over her shoulder, she playfully took a light hold on his shirt sleeve, and pulled him along. He had come up with the idea, and there was no way he was going to get out of this one now.

[advantchild]

Continued in the Great Hall