we're marching to a different beat [ainsley]

[Leo Robins]

It was a beautiful day out in the Alley, and Leo found himself wandering into the Tamarisk Tree for lunch that afternoon, drawn in by the bright colors and the promise of good food. He'd just worked a double-shift at Honeydukes, so he was looking forward to relaxing and having a good sandwich or three. The place was fairly quiet, even out on the ever-popular balcony section, filled only with the quiet chatter of a few couples and the smell of delicious food.

He wandered through the balcony, searching for the best possible place to sit - somewhere with lots of sunshine, but none of the blinding glare of the sun. His favorite table, he realized, much to his dismay, was already taken by a young girl with long dark hair sitting alone and reading a book. What a waste. She was pretty, but still. That was his table.

Leo was about to give up and go elsewhere for a good table until he realized what book she was reading -- one of the wizarding books he'd illustrated on the flora and fauna of the Scottish countryside. Well, that was interesting.

"Hello," he greeted cheerfully, his voice loud enough to steal her attention away from the book. "Sorry, don't meant to interrupt, but I just saw the book you were reading and it's one of my favorites." No need to mention he'd illustrated it yet, that'd just seem like bragging. He'd subtly add that in later, provided she continued the conversation and allowed him to sit with her. "I'm Leo," he added with his most charming smile. "Leo Robins."

With any luck, he'd have the best spot on the balcony and a pretty girl for company. Today was looking up.

[Ainsley Rickett]

Ainsley sat at a balcony table at the Tamarisk, one that she preferred when the weather was nice, which it just so happened to be today. Both of her sisters must have made a habit of synchronising the days they made plans to go out with their friends, which was why Ainsley found herself in Diagon Alley on her own, getting fed up being alone in the house and reading in her room when she had the option of reading over lunch at a cafe on a bright summer day. She hadn’t wanted to write to Addie or Faye on such short notice, even though one of them probably would have been free to meet up with her, as she was perfectly fine with sitting by herself and enjoying the afternoon sunshine while it lasted.

She looked up from her book as she heard a voice nearby, first shifting her gaze to the left and right to make sure the speaker wasn’t talking to someone else who happened to be around, and then finally looked up fully to find that the voice belonged to a very attractive boy who was standing by her table. She hesitated for a moment, wondering why he was even talking to her, and then did a double take, glancing at her book and then back up at him. “Uhm,” she began, surprised, “This book? Are you sure?” She didn’t think a book about the flora and fauna of the Scottish countryside was exactly a household read, especially not to a cute older guy who looked like he probably had way better places to be. “But hi,” she added, not wanting to sound rude and shooting him a small smile, “I’m Ainsley.” Her eyes flicked to the empty seat across from her at the table, and she wasn't sure whether he would sit down or not.

[Leo Robins]

Leo offered her his best disarming grin, wanting to put her at ease. She seemed to be a fair few years younger than him, and now that he was looking at her face, he was pretty certain he'd seen her around Hogwarts when he'd been there. She must have been a Gryffindor, because he would hardly remember the face of a girl in the years below him from some other House. Which was good, he mused. Common ground. Always a plus.

"Positive," he grinned, drumming his fingers along the back of the chair opposite her, though he didn't sit in it yet, watching as she glanced a bit uncertainly at said chair. She hadn't offered, and Leo knew manners, if nothing else. Perks of growing up with a nanny, he supposed. "I actually illustrated that book, which is why I like it so much," he added, figuring now was as good a time as any to drop that tidbit in. Maybe this would snag him an invitation to sit down.

"Ainsley's a pretty name," he said with a smile, tilting his head in thought as he tried to match the name to a face from his years at Hogwarts. He was growing more certain that he recognized her at least vaguely. "You wouldn't happen to be a Gryffindor, would you?"

[Ainsley Rickett]

"Really?" she replied, sounding a bit skeptical despite her best efforts to remain neutral. Something told her he wasn't lying, but she knew better than to completely trust a stranger on having illustrated a book she conveniently happened to be reading. Then again, she wasn't sure why he would want to make conversation with her... An idea suddenly coming to mind, she glanced at the book again, setting it down on the table, and sure enough, on the back cover in tiny print at the bottom she found Illustrated by Leo Robins, so small that she wouldn't have noticed it unless she was looking for it. The only other variable was whether he'd lied about his name being Leo Robins, and honestly, what were the chances of that?

"This is so great," she spoke up, a hint of excitement edging its way into her voice, as it was now clear that she believed him, "Seriously, this artwork is brilliant. One of my good friends, Caleb, draws as well, and his stuff is pretty good, but this - I bet he wishes he could draw half as well as you do." She stopped, realizing she was rambling unnecessarily, and cleared her throat, suddenly aware of his fingers on the chair opposite hers. "Oh, you can sit down if you want to," she said lightly, "Sorry to keep you standing." Hoping she hadn't sounded too awkward or made a total fool of herself with the praise about his illustrations, she smiled at the compliment about her name, not sure whether he was flirting with her or not, because she was never sure, and anyway immediately thought that he was way out of her league. "Thanks," she responded, nodding at his question, "Yeah, I'm a Gryffindor. How'd you know, though?"

[Leo Robins]

Leo found himself smiling as she was slowly convinced by the truth of his words. It was always fun to watch the initial disbelief fade to admirance whenever he let anyone in on his second job. He wasn't one to brag - ok, he kind of was - but his art was pretty good, if he did say so himself. She certainly seemed to like it, judging by how excited she became when she realized he was who he said he was.

"Really," he confirmed with a chuckle. "Thank you, I'm flattered you like my art," and he was, though perhaps the smile on his face belied the sentiment. Oh, well. She was offering him a seat, thank goodness. "I'm sure he's great," he added genuinely, never one to put down an aspiring artist. "You should tell him to come to that big art festival in muggle London next week. I'll be there, and it's a great place to make connections with some other big names in the modern art scene."

With an easy smile, he pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down. "No worries," he said cheerfully, glad to have finally scored himself a seat at the table. "I was just thinking I knew you from Hogwarts. You were a few years below me, right? I graduated three years ago. Gryffindor, of course. Like there's any better choice." He winked at her as he spoke and added, "I couldn't forget a face as pretty as yours, anyway."

Was he laying it on too thick? Maybe. Did he care? Not so much. She was pretty, and it was a beautiful day. Where was the waitress with the menu?

[Ainsley Rickett]

"You're welcome," she told him, nodding again and enthusiastically following along his train of thought as she took a sip of water, "That sounds interesting! Thanks so much, I'll definitely pass the message along to him." She smiled brightly, contemplating whether Caleb already knew of this art festival if it was so huge, and if he didn't, she'd be sure to persuade him to go and make some useful connections there. She wondered whether it'd be rude to ask Leo how famous he was in the art world, for one not sure if that was a proper thing to ask considering she'd just met him, and secondly she didn't know how she could eloquently phrase something like that, but she figured she might as well try for Caleb's sake.

"Sorry if this is too forward, but how much artwork of yours has gotten published in books like this? And how'd you get into the illustrating business in the first place? You're really talented, so it must have taken years of practice," she added charmingly for good measure, her inherent resourcefulness coming to the surface as she had a feeling that he was the type of guy who enjoyed receiving compliments. She ran a hand through her hair self-consciously, though to anyone passing by it probably looked like she was being flirtatious. It was all for Caleb, she reminded herself, to get him somewhere where she sort of guessed he wanted to go with his art, somewhere where Leo already seemed to be.

"Thank you," she replied with a smile, leaning forward and placing her elbows on the table in response to his wink, "I would've remembered you if you hadn't graduated three years ago. But still, you're not so bad yourself." Her flirting back with him couldn't have anything to do with the fact that he was, as she'd noted at the start, utterly gorgeous. Absolutely not. It didn't escape her notice that he was blatantly flirting with her, now, as the comments he made were not innocent enough to be classified as him being just nice. She laughed genuinely at his remark about Gryffindor, though, not chiming in that she'd almost been sorted into Slytherin, because of course that'd be counter-productive.

[Julian Delaire]

Julian had absolutely no idea why he'd let Caleb talk him into meeting at the Tamarisk Tree. God forbid he was allowed to just stay in his room all summer like a normal teenager would. But Caleb had the bright idea that he required sunshine and fresh air every now and then. Which was stupid. There was fresh air and sunshine inside his room. But, here he was, perfectly on time, and Caleb was nowhere to be found. Typical. Hufflepuffs did not agree with the idea of punctuality, in Julian's admittedly limited experience. Or at least, Caleb didn't.

He heaved a sigh, checking his watch one last time to make sure he had the right hour (he did, naturally), and decided to head out to the balcony to snag them a table before Caleb got there. If he was being honest, this wasn't an entirely bad idea, and it was rather nice to be out. Not that he'd admit that to Caleb, of course. But the Tamarisk Tree was a pretty relaxing place to be in, and the balcony wasn't too crowded, so he didn't have to put up with too many people, and it was actually a nice day. For once.

Julian glanced half-heartedly back at the entrance to see if Caleb had come in yet (he hadn't, naturally) and then looked out at the tables situated around the balcony for a suitable place to sit. As he did, his gaze landed on a couple, a boy and a girl, sitting at one of the better tables out in the sunshine, talking and laughing, and normally, he wouldn't care, but there was something about the girl that was oddly familiar.

As he moved closer, fueled by his sudden curiosity, he realized exactly why she seemed so familiar. The long dark curls, the fair skin, the quiet smile - it was Ainsley. Ainsley Rickett. Caleb's pretty friend Ainsley, his favorite study partner Ainsley, the girl he hadn't been able to stop thinking about all summer Ainsley. It was like something inside him had turned to lead. She was smiling. At the other guy.

Who was this guy anyway? He was sitting with his back to Julian, so he couldn't tell, but he didn't seem familiar at all. Still, an unexpected surge of resentment bubbled in his stomach as he watched Ainsley lean closer to him. Was she flirting? Was he flirting? What the hell was happening here?

The guy laughed in response to something Ainsley had just said, and she was laughing, too, and suddenly, Julian couldn't stay another minute in this place. Without even thinking about it, without waiting for her to look up and notice him, he whirled around and bolted. He'd just send an owl to Caleb when he was home to cancel their plans. There was no way he was going to sit here in the same cafe as Ainsley and whatever guy she was flirting with. No way.

As he darted out of the cafe, much to the surprise of the waitress who watched him leave, the most traitorous part of his mind wondered exactly why he cared so much if Ainsley was flirting with some other guy. Which, he didn't. Of course he didn't. He didn't care at all.

[Leo Robins]

"You should," Leo nodded in affirmation, taking a sip of the complementary water the waitress had given him along with the menu when she came by. "Don't worry, you're not being too forward," he said, smiling at her to put her at ease. "I get that a lot, actually. I've been working in this industry pretty much since I left Hogwarts. I have another job, too, to pay the bills, but I've done a lot of work for various muggle and wizarding publishers over the years. I always liked drawing, and I got a lucky break once I was out of school, so I've just been counting my blessings ever since."

Even to his ears, the spiel sounded a little rehearsed by now, but oh, well, it was the truth. Plus, she seemed interested anyway. "And thanks," he added with a full grin instead of his usual. He never stopped being delighted with compliments, especially since he shared his work with so few people he knew personally. "I've been drawing for years, so, yeah, most of that is practice." His gaze traveled between her and his menu, not missing the hand she ran through her curls. Was she flirting back? That happened maybe once every five girls he tried his stupid (Cassie's word) moves on.

He set the menu down once she leaned over, already having decided on his usual sandwich, smiling when she met his eyes. Yup, definitely flirting. "Yeah, I guess it's been a while," he admitted with a laugh. "Time really flies once you're out of there. Which year are you in?" Hopefully not too young. There was a pause before he accepted her compliment where he let his gaze flick up and down her body. His initial estimate of her being pretty was definitely right-on target, and the flowing sundress she was wearing in an especially nice shade of blue worked wonders for as well. "Thanks," he said finally, letting his eyes settle on her face again, his smile widening. "So, what are you ordering?"

[Ainsley Rickett]

"I will," Ainsley promised, continuing to nod interestedly as he talked and being sure to give him her undivided attention, "Nice! Where else do you have a job, if you don't mind me asking? It's really interesting that you work with both Muggle and Wizarding publishers. How do you balance it all? You must be busy all the time..." She wondered if Addie would be proud of her, sitting there unexpectedly flirting with an attractive guy who must have been at least twenty, since he'd graduated three years ago, and she blushed slightly at the thought, hoping that her cheeks growing slightly red didn't look too embarrassing. She needed to get a grip. She needed to be more confident, like Addie always told her to be. She had nothing to get flustered about - if he wasn't interested in talking to her, he likely wouldn't have sat down at the same table as her, right?

"You're welcome," she responded, beaming at him, "I'd love to see some of your other artwork sometime. I'm sure it's just as great as it is in this book." Her tone and the words themselves felt rather strange, since she usually didn't flirt with people, and the only person who ever seemed interested in flirting with her was Caleb, which was a total joke. "I'm seventeen," she lied impulsively, uncharacteristically not even thinking it through before the words slipped out, and disregarding the fact that she hadn't directly answered his question, which had been what year she was in at Hogwarts. She wasn't sure where this sudden desire to lie had come from, but all she knew at that moment was that she didn't want him to think that she was some too-young-to-be-flirting-with schoolgirl, even though she liked to think she was more mature than most people in her year and that showed.

"Oh, I'm fine," she shook her head, "I already ate lunch. I was just planning on staying here to read for a bit, since it's not too busy..." Glancing around at the rest of the balcony tables in her view, she paused, for a second catching sight of someone hurrying out the door to the balcony, and she frowned momentarily, wondering what that was about. She turned her attention back to Leo, shooting him another smile as she leaned back slightly in her chair.

[Leo Robins]

"Oh, I work at Honeydukes," he replied, grinning at her as he pulled a leftover chocolate he'd snuck out of the store out of his pocket and slid it across the table towards her, as if to prove his Honeydukes credentials. "Not as impressive, I know, but it has its perks. It's a challenge, managing basically three jobs, but I enjoy them all, so it's not too hard. A bit stressful, when I have deadlines and double shifts, but I manage. I take care of my younger siblings, too, so I definitely need the money." He smiled when he noticed the faint tint of red in her cheeks. She was really cute, and totally into him, which was a nice combination, as far as Leo was concerned.

"I'd love to show you," he said easily, relaxing back in his chair. "I'll give you my owl address, you can write me and I'll mail some copies over to you," he suggested nonchalantly, as if giving his address out to girls was no big deal. Which it wasn't, but, again, she was really pretty. "Seventeen, huh?" He tilted his head thoughtfully. She certainly looked it, and, hey, at least she was of age. Always a good quality in the girls he was flirting with. "So, you're about to graduate? How do you feel about that? I was terrified, let me tell you, but the real world isn't too bad."

"Ah, well, let me just order a sandwich," he said, glancing around to catch the eye of a waitress. Ainsley seemed distracted by something for a minute, but the moment passed and a waitress came over to take his order. "Hope I'm not intruding on your reading time," he added, a little worried, but not too much. It was his favorite table, so he couldn't feel too guilty. "I'll be quiet while you read if you want, I promise."

[Caleb Blackwood]

Caleb strolled into The Tamarisk Tree, rather casually and slowly for someone who happened to be a good fifteen minutes late for meeting his best friend. He and Julian had agreed that it’d be easier if they just met at the cafe and then ate lunch, rather than one of them Flooing to the other’s place and wasting time insulting each other before they headed out to eat somewhere. And by agreed, it was more of Caleb bullying Julian into stepping out of his house and Julian begrudgingly complying, as he mostly always did, than an actual consensus.

He made his way back to the balcony area, whistling cheerfully as he surveyed the tables - there were several open, but strangely no sign of Julian. He sighed, knowing fully well that there was no way Julian could be the one out of the two of them who was more late, so he decided to check around to make sure he hadn’t simply missed him. As he walked to the other side of the balcony tables, he stopped momentarily in his tracks, a grin making its way onto his features. He’d recognize that laugh anywhere, and moreover, he’d seen Ainsley sitting at a nearby table as well as heard her, and that was good enough reason for him to keep walking in the direction he already was.

There also appeared to be someone sitting across from her, though, and for a millisecond, Caleb almost thought it might be Julian and that he would finally be the third wheel between the three of them, but of course that was too good to be true. It was most certainly not Julian sitting across from Ainsley, he realized as he got closer to their table, but that wasn’t going to stop him from talking to her. Nor was he going to acknowledge the guy’s presence just yet, as Ainsley was far more important and the guy didn’t look familiar, which probably should have prompted him to think about why Ainsley was sitting and laughing with him, but he would deal with that thought eventually. As in, later.

Disregarding his search for Julian, he stopped right next to the table Ainsley was sitting at, smiling so brightly that you’d think the sun had just come out after a full year of clouds and darkness. “Ainsley, gorgeous,” he greeted teasingly, “Hey. Hey hey hey. I can’t believe you’re at the Tamarisk and you didn’t care to ask me if I wanted to spend the afternoon with you. I’m so disappointed,” he shook his head mock-solemnly, glancing behind him for a quick moment to pull a chair from another table towards Ainsley’s table, and without any questions or invitations he sat down on it immediately, still ignoring the other guy at the table.

“But speaking of the Tamarisk and this afternoon,” he went on, remembering why he was there in the first place, “You wouldn’t have happened to seen Julian walk in, would you? We were supposed to meet here, like, twenty minutes ago, and I’m late as usual, but I don’t see him anywhere and it’s not like him to just not show up without letting me know…” he trailed off thoughtfully, still smiling at her, “Though I don’t know why I’m asking, because I’m sure if he’d come in here, he would’ve talked to you.”

[Ainsley Rickett]

Ainsley grinned, finding herself enjoying his company more than she would've originally thought, being generally skeptical of strangers - especially when those strangers were attractive, twenty-year old boys. "Thank you," she said with a laugh in response to the chocolate he gave her, finding it charming, even if it was a bit over the top, because he was smiling back and seemed interested in her and she wasn't used to that sort of attention, and all part of her could think was how she couldn't wait to tell Addie about it. "I definitely understand about the stress thing - I don't work yet, but school can be tiring. I have younger siblings, too," she added, not bothering to elaborate on either of these things, as she wasn't one to brag about her academic achievements or confide in practically anyone about her family life.

Her smile only grew wider as he continued, offering to give her his owl address, and she had to will herself to not sound too eager, taking a moment to compose herself and seem like she was casually considering it. "Ah, okay," she replied, shrugging slightly, "That'd be nice. Like I said, you're really talented. My friend Caleb would probably be interested in seeing your stuff, too. I'll likely end up sharing it with him, if that's okay with you? I promise we won't steal anything," she joked, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and then, just as she spoke of Caleb, she heard his voice, calling her gorgeous. What the hell? There he was, standing by her table, and she gaped at him, turning to Leo and opening her mouth to say something but falling short on that front, and then switched her gaze back to Caleb. She hadn't even seen him approach, too preoccupied with her conversation with Leo, and Caleb's sudden appearance seemed too surreal and coincidental to be true. Nervously taking a sip of her water, she thought of telling Caleb off for being rude and not greeting Leo (he didn't know who he was, but still) when she heard his next words.

Nearly choking on her water and realizing she was probably going to win absolutely no more "You're pretty" points from Leo, she swallowed the water in her mouth quickly, coughing after she did, and then glared at Caleb, who was now sitting in a chair at their table. She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that Caleb was there to meet Julian, and that too twenty minutes ago - what did that mean? What if Julian had been there? What if he'd seen her? She wanted to believe Caleb, to think that if Julian had walked in and seen her he would've talked to her, but maybe not... Maybe their letters hadn't been indicative of their friendship. Maybe he didn't even consider her a friend. It was entirely possible that she'd misread everything he'd ever said to her and had jumped to conclusions and thus there was nothing unordinary about him walking in and seeing her but not talking to her, she thought fleetingly, before recalling that he had invited her to his house. To meet his mother. He'd also indirectly called her one of his only two friends. Surely he wouldn't just ignore her in public? As always, she hated herself for overthinking the situation so much. Perhaps there was nothing to think about at all.

"I'm sorry, Leo. This is my friend Caleb and apparently he has no manners," she said half-calmly once she'd recovered from coughing instead of replying to Caleb, ignoring him entirely although she could still see him from the corner of her eye. She realized too late that she probably looked and sounded like an idiot, with an idiot friend that she'd been praising only moments earlier. She threw Caleb a pointed look, then, wishing she could just get up and run away and lock herself in her room. She suddenly couldn't remember why she'd ever thought leaving her house was a good idea.

[Leo Robins]

Leo looked up, utterly bemused by this interruption of his very nice conversation with Ainsley. The kid who'd barged in on them seemed to be her age, and definitely a friend judging by the way he spoke and called her gorgeous (Leo had so many questions), but he also seemed far too rude to be good friends with a girl like Ainsley. But maybe he was biased. The kid had just pulled up a chair and sat down. Who did that?

"Ah," he said after finally being caught up on the situation by Ainsley, no thanks to her friend. "So you're the Caleb she's been talking about." Okay, so, if he was going to ignore the whole being-totally-rude thing, he could see the guy as an artist. Maybe. He was a little too boisterous to be the brooding, starving artist type, but hey, neither was Leo. "Nice to meet you," he said, because he hadn't forgotten his manners. "I'm Leo."

The waitress arrived with his sandwich at that point and Leo happily dug in. He had no time to even wonder who this Julian was that caused such a reaction in Ainsley. He had come here for food, and the pretty girl was a bonus. Though...if she was still interested in him, he couldn't say he wasn't, too. With any luck, this might not turn into a disaster of teenage hormones and drama. Hopefully.