someone could be falling in love with your smile [addie]

[Ainsley Rickett]

Ainsley sat with a book and an ice cream sundae in front of her at a booth at Fortescue’s, though she had only been reading while waiting for one of her best friends to arrive. Addie sat across from her now, poised and confident as ever, and Ainsley occasionally ate a spoonful of ice cream in-between laughs at the stories Addie was expressively telling her, including the current particularly hilarious one about a boy she’d recently snogged who had overdone it and apparently very nearly drowned her in spit.

Sitting and simply talking for hours at various cafes had become a habit of Ainsley and Addie’s over the years, as they’d exhausted pretty much all the interesting things they could have done at each other’s houses. They would still hang out often, meeting up in Diagon Alley during the summers and frequently writing to one another when they weren’t together. Ainsley sometimes insisted on going over to Addie’s instead, though, as she was fascinated by all the Muggle films and literature and music that Addie had access to and wanted to take in as much of that herself as possible.

“So,” Ainsley began, feigning seriousness and pointing her spoon accusingly at her friend, “Did you continue snogging him, or did you back out? An overdose of saliva seems like it would be a definite deal-breaker.”

[Addie Beaumont]

There were few things Addie found more amazing than people-watching in the wizarding world, especially when she was sitting with one of her best friends in the relatively nice weather that England was enjoying today. Having grown up in the muggle world, she still found the magical one absolutely fascinating, and Diagon Alley was one of her favorite hubs of wizarding activity in the world. Right now, she sat at her favorite booth across from Ainsley, waiting for her ice cream order to arrive and regaling her best friend with tales of the boy she'd met at one of her sister's muggle parties just this last weekend.

"Well, naturally, I couldn't keep it up after he tried to devour my face!" she said primly, giggling at the look on Ainsley's face. "Talk about a mood-killer. I had to make some excuse about needing to find my sister and then I just pushed him out of the room and avoided him for the rest of the party."

She paused as the waiter came by with her scoop of ice cream before shooting Ainsley a secretive smile, "Also, I totally saw him flirting with my sister after I ditched him. I would have told her what she was in for, but I thought I'd let her be surprised."

[Ainsley Rickett]

Ainsley failed miserably at stifling her laughter at Addie’s descriptions of the incident, snorting and setting her spoon down in her sundae momentarily. “I can’t believe you just said he tried to devour your face,” she replied, though she very much could believe it because she was more than used to Addie’s antics, “Either your standards are getting higher and higher or he was just a really bad kisser. I’m thinking maybe it’s a combination of the two?”

She laughed again after Addie’s ice cream order arrived, though she followed it up with a semi-disapproving look in her friend’s direction. “You’re the worst,” she joked, shaking her head as she could clearly imagine the scenario, “You left Isabella to fend for herself? I’m sure she was probably equally as displeased as you to find out about his lack of snogging skills...” Pausing to eat a spoonful of her ice cream, she went on, “Well, that was last weekend. What are you up to this weekend?”

[Addie Beaumont]

Addie beamed innocently across the booth at Ainsley, digging into her ice cream with her spoon. Mint chocolate chip, her second-favorite -- sadly, not everything she appreciated about the muggle world carried over to the wizarding one. "Well, he did," she said insistently, eyes wide as if to further prove the validity of her statement. "See, once you start kissing some boys, Ainsley, you'll figure out the bad kisses from the good soon enough. Not that I don't have high standards - of course I do," she finished with a grin and dug into her ice cream.

"I can't imagine what poor Isabella had to say about this particular boy's kissing skills," Addie added after taking a bit out of her ice cream and grinning, "seeing as she never came home that night. I actually covered for her with Mum and Dad, so no one can say I'm a bad sister!" 

She paused to ruminate on her selfless act of sisterly love, before smiling brightly again. "I think I'm gonna go visit Seth this weekend! He said he's free, so I might catch a train and spend half a day at his place. Plus, it gives me an excuse to be around his flatmates, and have you seen them? Weasley genes are really good."

Addie sent a conspiratorial glance over at her friend. "So, what are your plans for this weekend, Ainsley? Wanna hit the flat of my cousin's hot friends with me?"

---

[ooc: becca informs me that seth's flatmates are james and fred so i couldn't resist derekhaleyouths.jpg]

[Ainsley Rickett]

“I believe you,” Ainsley responded with a firm nod, partly so Addie would move on to another topic so she could stop laughing, but mostly so they would not have to talk about the fact that she’d never been kissed, which was getting to be a rather exhausting matter to discuss. She knew Addie meant well - they were best friends for a reason, after all - but at the same time, she recognized how difficult it must have been for her friend to see things from her point of view, since Addie was so comfortable with kissing and going further with both boys and girls. Ainsley’s complete lack of experience in that department had become frustrating for her, especially as of recent, because at times she felt like she must have been doing something entirely wrong to be sixteen and have not yet even kissed anyone.

She laughed through a mouthful of ice-cream, miraculously managing to not choke and speaking up again only after she swallowed it and set her spoon down. “You'd better hope Isabella doesn’t find out that you knew about his lack of kissing skills and failed to inform her of it,” she pointed out lightly, “Because that could be a disaster, no matter how great of a sister you claim to be.” She made a face at Addie’s comments about Weasley genes, though she didn’t disagree with her at all. “Well, I didn’t really have plans. I could come with you, as long as you promise not to make it awkward or uncomfortable or embarrassing - or all of the above. They are really fit,” she added, shrugging, “But I don't know if I’m entirely up for making a fool of myself.”

(OOC - youths a l w a y s)

[Addie Beaumont]

Addie sent a thoughtful glance sidelong at her best friend, remembering back when Ainsley had first informed her that she had never been kissed. The idea had seemed -- and still did -- utterly prepostorous, as Ainsley was far from anything approaching ugly; in fact, she was one of the prettiest girls at Hogwarts, in Addie's humble opinion. She had some inkling of Ainsley's frustrations with boys, but she still couldn't wrap her head around it entirely. Boys - and girls - had never been much of a mystery for her, having grown up with one of each as siblings and therefore always feeling comfortable around her siblings' friends. Either way, she knew Ainsley didn't much like discussing it, though she couldn't help dropping hints sometimes, but she decided to drop it for now. There would be plenty of time for boys back at Hogwarts, after all.

"Please," she scoffed in reply, "Izzy totally owes me for not telling Mum and Dad about the party in the first place. Plus, she set me up on that awful blind date earlier this summer, you know, the one with the guy whose parents were dentists? He kept wanting to check out my teeth! It was absurd. She still owes me for putting me through that, so I think I've got my bases covered."

She grinned mischievously at Ainsley's answers. "You should definitely come!" she said insistently, reaching out to grasp Ainsley's hand to add to her plea. "It'll be fun! And, come on, have I ever steered you wrong? There's no way you'll look like a fool if you have me with you -- and honestly, Ainsley, everyone loves you. Seth says you're one of his favorite friends of mine!" (Seth had in fact said no such thing, but Addie figured she could stretch the truth a little. Seth certainly had no problem with Ainsley, which was good enough for her.) "What better way to spend a weekend than with attractive boys, right?"

[Ainsley Rickett]

Ainsley snorted in response to Addie’s mention of that particular blind date, which was something that she simply couldn’t forget, as with most stories that Addie told her, it was too expressive to not be memorable. “You’d think that a kid with two dentists as parents would potentially not be that into teeth himself since he’d be sick of it, but hey, you learn something new every day,” she deadpanned, leaning back in her seat at their booth and regarding Addie with both a thoughtful and skeptical look that she’d sort of perfected over the years when it came to her friend's apparently fail-proof plans.

“Alright, fine,” she agreed, still sounding a bit reluctant, “I’m going to make the educated guess that Seth hasn’t ever said much about me either way, but whatever. I guess I can come along if you at least ask him first if it’s okay - I don’t want to intrude on anyone. And speaking of attractive boys,” she paused for dramatic effect, smiling innocently, “I’m officially inviting you to Seb and Chloe’s birthday party that’s in a couple weeks, and there’ll be loads of attractive people there, because you know the Notts don’t throw small parties. Actually, Seb specifically asked me to bring a fit friend who would flirt with him, since he’s used to Faye making him look like a complete fool, so you immediately came to mind. We still have to drag Faye with us, though, because it’ll be fun.”

[Addie Beaumont]

"I know, right?" Addie said in feigned outrage, stabbing her spoon into her half-finished ice cream for dramatic effect. "Easily one of the top ten worst dates I've ever been on in my life. Maybe even ahead of that swashbuckler from last weekend." She paused in her ice cream eating to make a face at Ainsley at the reminder of the horrible kisser. Normally, she had pretty good taste in guys, but apparently, that went out the window when she was even slightly tipsy.

Though she could read the skepticism on Ainsley's expression, she still grinned in delight when her friend finally agreed. With Ainsley, reluctant agreement was still a go-ahead for whatever plan Addie had cooked up this time. "Don't be silly, Seth loves you," she said airily, waving a hand to dismiss any thought to the contrary. "Of course I'll ask, not to worry, but he won't have a problem with the plan, I'm sure of it. I was thinking Saturday, around noon, maybe?"

She took another bite of her ice cream as Ainsley told her about the Notts' upcoming party, a slow smile stretching her cheeks while she listened. The Nott twins had been a couple years ahead of her before they'd both graduated, which meant she didn't know them as well as she might have liked to, but there was no way she was giving up an invitation to one of their parties. She was well aware of the grandeur that wizarding purebloods lived in, and the thought of being in a manor filled with that much magical history and attractive boys was far too delicious to resist.

"Ainsley, my dear, I would be more than happy to flirt with your cousin for you," she proclaimed maganamiously, pointing her ice cream-filled spoon at her friend with a giggle. "And I'm honored. Of course we'll have to drag Faye, though, it's hardly a party without our number one Hufflepuff, now is it?"

[Ainsley Rickett]

“Oh no, let’s not even get into the top ten worst,” Ainsley interjected, laughing as she ate a spoonful of ice-cream, “Because I’ll honestly start crying of laughter, and I don’t want to cry in the middle of this ice-cream parlor. It’s just not that type of day.” She made a face right back at her friend, having to stifle her laughter so she wouldn’t choke on her ice-cream. This was why Ainsley loved her, because despite whatever was going on in her life, Addie could without a doubt make her at least smile, if not laugh.

“Okay, okay, I believe you. Saturday around noon sounds good to me. How are we getting there?” she asked, wondering if both her sisters had plans for that Saturday afternoon like they had today, which was the only reason she’d felt comfortable with coming to hang out with her friend without feeling guilty about it. While Ainsley's sisters were both old enough to handle being home alone for more than several hours, she still couldn’t shake the feeling that she was abandoning them just so she could have a bit of fun by being out of the house for as long as she possibly could. She made a mental note to herself to ask them what they were going to be up to that weekend, and if nothing, perhaps they could go over to Seb and Chloe’s for a day and be at their pool, since Seb always seemed to be promoting the amenities of the Nott manor and Ainsley thought that they might as well take advantage of it once in a while.

“I had a feeling you’d be up for it,” she replied, throwing her friend a knowing glance. “Of course, it’s no party without Faye. She’ll probably try her hardest to resist it, since I think it’s formal wear and she loathes that sort of thing, but we’ll convince her eventually,” she nodded, Addie’s comment about Faye being their number one Hufflepuff promptly making her think of her number two Hufflepuff. She smiled to herself, adding in a clearly teasing tone, “Speaking of Hufflepuffs, have you heard from Caleb lately?”

(OOC - youths.jpg I’m not sorry)

[Addie Beaumont]

"Yes, I agree, let's not," Addie said with a shudder, scooping up the last, half-melted spoonfuls of ice cream and frowning down at her bowl. How had she finished it that fast? She might have to order another, at this rate. "It's far too lovely a day to waste talking or crying about stupid dumb boys, anyway."

"Mum can drive us," she said, brightening at the thought of their plans to visit Seth. "Just Floo over to my place some time before noon, yeah? Seth and I figured out how to make it work in a muggle house, thank god." She paused in her thoughts for a second to allow Ainsley to mull over whatever it was that was bothering her - Addie knew her friend well enough to know not to probe too much whenever Ainsley got that look on her face. Besides, Ainsley would return to their conversation in three, two...crap.

"We can convince Faye to do anything no matter how much she complains, let's be real," she said lightly, spinning her empty spoon around in her fingers as she considered her response to the mention of Caleb Blackwood, one of Ainsley's - and Addie's, by extension - best friends from Hogwarts. "Why would I have heard from Caleb?" she asked innocently at last.

[Ainsley Rickett]

“Correction: every day is too lovely to waste talking or crying about dumb boys,” Ainsley pointed out matter-of-factly as she waved her spoon accusingly at her friend, “And don’t you ever forget that. It’s become a rule of life at this point - not that I have anything in particular to cry about. Or even talk about, for that matter.”

Setting her spoon down into her now nearly empty bowl of ice-cream, she sat up slightly taller as Addie explained the details of their plans, unaccustomed to the idea of being able to conveniently Floo over to her friend’s place. “Whoa, really? How did you guys manage to make it work in a Muggle house? Was it complicated, or did it not take that long to set up?” she asked, shooting off questions one after another because she couldn’t ever resist a good conversation about tweaking magic beyond what they learned in textbooks and lessons in Hogwarts. “I’m fine with that, though! I’ll see you around noon…”

Her smile grew as Addie went on, and she cleared her throat dramatically, which was followed up by her running a quick hand through her hair and shrugging, equally as innocently as Addie’s voice sounded. “Oh, I don’t know,” she replied nonchalantly, “I just thought you two might be in touch. It couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that he adores you, not at all. I was just wondering, you know.”

[Addie Beaumont]

"Boys are dumb," Addie declared resolutely in agreement, her spoon clattering into her bowl as if to emphasize the point. She had to send Ainsley an incredulous look at her next statement, though, it was a matter of principle. "Really?" she giggled. "No boys? What about a certain Slytherin loner boy who, for some reason, always lets you sit at his table in the library? I think that's something to talk about, but, hey, whatever floats your boat."

Addie beamed, loving nothing more than to discuss integrating magic into her muggle life. "I'm not entirely sure," she admitted, swirling her spoon around the sticky leftover melted ice cream in her bowl. "Seth did most of the work, I just looked up the spells he needed. There's some pretty complicated wards on it to prevent the magic from reacting negatively to the electricity and technology in the house. But now it's all set up and working great, and you know my address, so just pop on over!"

She wrinkled her nose at Ainsley's rather obviously dramatic cleared throat. That was her move, after all. Ainsley's words, however, made her start in surprise, blinking at her friend as she tried to formulate a coherent response. Clearly, the statement had actually warranted the throat clearing. "He does not -- " she began, but stopped, because she knew better than anyone that stubborn denial was not going to work here, not with her best friend. "Well, he clearly can't adore me as much as you think he does if he hasn't owled me so far this summer," she finally settled on, smiling sweetly at Ainsley, and then frowned thoughtfully.

"Wait...why are we talking about this? Did he say something to you?" she demanded, feeling more than a little panicked and simultaneously curious as to what Caleb would have to say about her when she wasn't around. Certainly he wouldn't be badmouthing her, because he was probably one of the kindest, happiest people she'd ever met, but...still. She wanted to know. And hopefully, she also wouldn't have to discuss why she cared so much, anyway.

[Ainsley Rickett]

Ainsley faltered at the entirely unexpected mention of Julian, opening her mouth to respond but then summoning up her tact and dwelling on the matter for a brief moment before speaking up confidently. “That’s unfair. Julian is my friend. What difference does it make if he’s a boy?” She knew it made a lot of difference, of course, but wasn’t willing to admit to this or anything else of the sort regarding Julian. It turned out that thinking her response through first hadn’t swayed it from what it originally would have been, only benefitting her because she now sounded slightly less embarrassed than she would have upon reacting immediately.

“Besides, he’s the one who started the whole sitting together at the library thing,” she added, realizing too late that she wasn’t helping prove her own point at all, and therefore went on with a resigned sigh to finish her train of thought, because why not, “He sat down at the same table as me when he saw Caleb and I sitting together once. And then Caleb got up and left, which was a bit weird, but Julian stayed, and since then, he's always let me sit at the same table as him, too. It’s not a big deal.” She paused, nodding at Addie’s explanation of the magic behind the Floo in their Muggle house. “That sounds really clever, actually,” she said thoughtfully, “Do you want me to bring anything when I come over?”

She stifled a laugh as Addie continued talking, clearly in denial, and drummed her fingers impatiently on the table. “Come on, Addie, you’re digging yourself deeper and deeper here,” she remarked, disregarding the fact that she had just done something similar herself, “If I’m not mistaken, I think you’re implying that you would like for him to write to you, which is honestly one of the cutest things ever. And I’m not excusing the fact that he hasn’t written to you, but it may have to do with how he's afraid you won't write back. Just a thought,” she shrugged again, still the epitome of innocence, though this time she couldn’t contain her laughter. “No,” she managed in-between laughs, “He hasn’t said anything to me… Recently. Not anything in particular. However, that doesn’t mean he’s not thinking about you - I guess we’ll never know. But aren’t you more curious than usual all of a sudden?”

[Addie Beaumont]

Addie hid a smile in her glass of water at Ainsley's reaction to the mention of Julian. Though she didn't know him as well as her friend did, she could tell he was both cute and interested, which was the important part, of course. "Whatever you say," she hummed, purposely making the words sing-song because Ainsley knew very well Addie's opinions on boys who were just friends. Namely, unless there were contrary sexualities or different significant others in the mix, it was pretty hard to stay that way. Especially given how cute some of the boys in their year were. "All I'm saying is the library's a pretty nice place for a rendezvous," she giggled. "Plus, you know how Julian is. He doesn't let just anyone get near him, so you must be pretty special."

Also, there was no way Caleb just leaving his best friend alone with a girl Julian didn't know that well was just a random coincidence. Addie didn't say this, though, knowing Ainsley could make the connection on her own when she stopped denying it.

She paused, considering, then said, "No, I don't think so! Just you and me and Seth and his flatmates - sounds like a fun afternoon, doesn't it? Maybe Seth can play some of his music for us, I know he's been working on some new stuff."

Denial. Addie tossed her crumpled up paper straw covering across the table at Ainsley with a huff. As if. "I did not imply I wanted him to write to me," she said warningly, even though it was true, she wouldn't have minded a few letters from him. But she hadn't said she wanted it either, so there. "That's a stupid excuse for him, anyway, why wouldn't I write back?" she demanded. "I'm excellent at replying to letters, you know that." Which was, at least, true, and she definitely wouldn't have left Caleb hanging, which he should know through Ainsley, at least, so, really, why hadn't he written her? Not that she cared. She frowned at Ainsley's laughter and said primly, "I'm always curious, I'm a Ravenclaw."

Addie hesitated, then added, "Why would he be thinking of me, anyway? I'm sure he's plenty busy this summer," she said with a flip of hair and her usual brilliant smile as if that was the end of the whole matter. Which it was. Technically. Probably.