we got the party with us [julian + caleb + addie]

[Addie Beaumont]

Addie was, if nothing else, a Ravenclaw, and Ravenclaws typically didn't miss the really obvious stuff that Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs or even Slytherins, for all their fabled cunning, might. And there was no way she was missing or even misreading the absolutely absurd dynamics at play on the table. Talk about teenage hormones, sheesh. Not that she wasn't used to them, but given that this was Julian, the resident brooding loner of their year, and Ainsley, her kindhearted and formerly innocent best friend, well, this was new territory, that was for sure.

She'd finally gotten her laughing under control by the time Caleb finished his apology, biting her lip to hide the smile that still lingered. She couldn't deny finding this entire situation incredibly amusing, because the premise of it was that, yes, Ainsley had a hickey, and there was definitely something going on underneath the table, and Julian Delaire was flushed bright red, and this was kind of the funnest early birthday dinner ever. Her parents were never going to be able to top this with her actual party, she was certain.

Her glance fell upon Julian as he spoke, easily catching the insistent curiosity he was trying so hard to mask under his i'm-so-cool smirk and the open buttons of his shirt. She was sure Ainsley appreciated the view of his chest, as his shirt now had the effect of a super deep v-neck, not unlike the kind Addie's brother liked to wear to parties. Plus, his entire posture, complete with the hand in his hair and the way he was watching Ainsley, practically screamed flirting, which was a sight she never expected to see. She could almost feel Ainsley's more-than-platonic frustration simmering inside her friend. No wonder Ainsley had been so excited about the shotgunning at first. Clearly, despite being an arse most of the time, Julian Delaire had some game when he wanted to.

That didn't mean she was going to let him get away entirely with flustering her best friend. With a grin, she leaned forward, propping her elbows on the table (her mother would yell at her for bad manners, but who cared when she had cleavage to show off and a definitely-interested boy at her side, anyway?), catching Julian's gaze as he finally glanced away from Ainsley for just a second. "Well," she said cheerfully, winking at Ainsley, "it definitely wasn't me." Yeah, she thought in satisfication, that would certainly do the trick. Boys were so dumb.

[Ainsley Rickett]

Ainsley couldn't help but roll her eyes at Caleb's repeated apologies, as she'd anticipated no less from him, but she waved him off with a quick, "Yeah, you're forgiven," like she usually did to signal that it was fine. She would've voiced more irritation about his remark if the majority of her attention hadn't been focused on how her leg was still touching Julian's, and how he hadn't moved it away even though he could have. She realized with satisfaction that his cheeks were flaming red, which meant that she had flustered him to a certain extent and he couldn't deny it and couldn't lie about it even if he tried because the truth was written all over his face. Slytherins seriously needed to get over themselves and come to terms with the reality that they weren't always going to be unreadable and invincible. It would certainly make life a lot easier for those who had to interact with them.

Her eyes followed his every movement, from the leaning back in his chair to the hand in his hair casually messing it up to that smirk which she was sure would kill her if he didn’t stop soon, as well as falling back to his bare skin again, since the fact unfortunately remained that his shirt was still three buttons too many unbuttoned and she couldn't get the thought of him shirtless out of her head and all she really wanted to do was push him up against a wall and - fuck, she really needed to control her thoughts better. She forced herself to focus on what he'd said rather than how he looked, because he was being a dick and she couldn't be sure if he was flirting with her or not since, well, apparently him blowing smoke into her mouth had been a platonic friends activity, so she never quite knew with him anymore.

When Addie spoke up in response, Ainsley tore her gaze away from Julian for a brief moment - it was hard to look away because she wanted to take in the sight of the him blushing for as long as she possibly could, because it was fading now and who knew when this type of opportunity would ever arise again? - just in time to catch her best friend's wink and her words. She immediately laughed at what Addie was referring to, unable to stop herself because she knew that Addie had caught on to the situation and was trying to help her get to Julian, which was simply perfect. She shifted her gaze back to Julian, then, smirking slightly as she did. "Yeah, I promise it wasn't Addie, though it easily could have been…”

At first she had almost wanted to ask Julian why he was so interested in this topic to begin with, but she didn't think that would get her anywhere, as it wasn't challenging enough for him. No, if she truly wanted to challenge him, she was aware that she would have to say or do something else that he wouldn't expect, and she felt a surge of competitive energy rush through her, as if she suddenly needed to win this - whatever the hell this had quickly turned into between her and him - as much as she needed air to breathe. She was done with getting flustered at the way he acted (You look beautiful - what the hell had warranted that?), and even more done with being subtle. Just because she was a Gryffindor didn’t mean she couldn’t play this game.

She nudged him with her leg, pressing it up even closer against his, if that was at all possible. “You’re right, it’s not dinner table talk,” she replied flippantly, and then, because the thought of him and Astraia Yaxley sleeping together could go to hell at the moment, moved to the edge of her seat, leaning over close enough to whisper so that only he would hear, breath hot on the skin below his ear, “But I’ll tell you later, if you really want…” Her hand moved under the table to rest lightly just above his knee, disregarding the fact that Caleb and Addie were both sitting right there, intently watching her and Julian, since she couldn’t bring herself to care about either of their reactions just then.

[Julian Delaire]

Julian hadn't exactly been invited to many group dinners over the years, save for some joint family dinners with the Blackwoods and his mother, but this was by far the most bizarre. If he paused to take stock of the entire situation, he was pretty sure he would still have no idea what was going on, starting from the overheard conversation between Addie and Ainsley and continuing right up to now because apparently Addie and Ainsley had -- what, kissed? He wasn't entirely sure -- and Ainsley's leg was still touching his and it was getting kind of hard to breathe. But he didn't think opening another button would help, nor would closing one up, judging by the way Ainsley had been eyeing his chest throughout the conversation.

At least, his face had started to return to its normal temperature, thank god. Though the subject of Addie and Ainsley doing whatever it was they'd apparently done probably wasn't the safest or most not-awkward conversation topic in the world, but it was, at least, something he could handle with his normal sarcasm that he used against most of his classmates. Plus, Ainsley looked really pretty when she laughed and it was much nicer to think about that than to think about her being with the guy who gave her a hickey. Julian let his gaze travel from Ainsley across the table, to a still-smiling Addie and a totally befuddled Caleb. Thankfully, he clearly wasn't the only one who'd been taken aback by Addie's comment or Ainsley's reply.

He'd been about to say something, probably sarcastic and probably at Caleb's expense, and then Ainsley's leg was pressing into his, even moreso than it already had been, as she spoke, but it was a little hard to pay attention to what she was saying when she was touching him like that. It didn't even matter that all contact was through the material of his jeans, because just the pressure of her bare leg was enough to set his pulse racing. Before he could even come up with something to snark back at her, as his brain had finally caught up to what she'd just said, she was suddenly right next to him and what the fuck was happening.

She was flirting. And okay, so maybe he had been, too, but this was on another level. She was whispering in his ear and they were still sitting in front of their best friends and there was a waiter hovering around somewhere, not that he could really concentrate on anyone else with the feeling of her lips so close to his skin and strands of her hair lightly brushing his neck and okay now her hand was on his knee and it was miles beyond impossible for him to breathe regularly anymore.

He had to get out of here. Knowing all his emotions had probably flashed across his face in the moment since she'd started touching him, he took a breath to compose himself, then met her eyes as calmly as he could. "Sounds great," he replied, not even bothering to whisper or care that Addie and Caleb had only heard his side of the conversation. "Speaking of dinner table talk," he added on, casually widening the spread of his legs so Ainsley's leg was no longer pressing up against his but instead in between them and her hand had to involuntarily slide off as well because there was no way he could handle this dinner in that position, "has everyone decided what to order?"

The waiter came over at a more or less appropriate time, and Julian waited until everyone had ordered, sneaking glances at Ainsley that probably weren't as subtle as he hoped, before turning to Caleb and asking him lightly, "Mate, do you have any cigarettes? I could use one, and I finished my last pack the other day." He had been telling the truth when he'd said to Ainsley that smoking helped him calm down and clear his mind, and with everything that had just happened, he could definitely use a moment of peace and quiet to allow him to do exactly that. If she started touching him again, he might just spontaneously combust.

[Caleb Blackwood]

Caleb threw Ainsley a tentative smile when she replied to his apology, though he wasn’t sure if she caught it or not, because she seemed too preoccupied with glancing over at Julian to even notice him. Fucking Julian. He sighed, drumming his fingers impatiently on the table, and chanced a sideways look at Addie, whose elbows were now on the table and he could see some of her cleavage and this was not okay in the least because he could practically hear his own heartbeat quicken, but thankfully Addie didn’t see him staring, as she was too busy winking at Ainsley because - wait, what had she just said? He backtracked, sitting considerably more upright in his seat (as he had a tendency to slouch after a few moments), now entirely alert, finding himself gaping first at Ainsley and then in Addie’s general direction. What could Addie have meant that it hadn’t been her in regards to Ainsley’s hickey? Had they kissed? Had they - oh, fuck, he seriously needed to get the image of them kissing out of his mind. Like, now.

Nearly choking on air and very glad that he hadn’t been sipping his water at that precise moment, Caleb attempted to clear his throat, focusing his gaze firmly on Julian for once, even though he still had absolutely no clue as to what was going on, aside from the fact that Julian’s blush seemed to be lessening and Ainsley had just leaned over to whisper in Julian’s ear and he couldn’t make out exactly what she’d said but had immediately seen the look on Julian’s face and what the actual fuck was going on? He managed to keep his gaze still locked on his best friend, afraid that if he glanced across the table directly at Ainsley or to his side at Addie that he would start thinking about Addie’s off-hand comment in detail again and that could only lead to bad things because, well, thinking about Ainsley and Addie doing anything together was starting to make it difficult for him to breathe properly. When had they even kissed? What the hell? Nothing going on at this table was making any sense.

Leaning forward in his chair in response to Julian’s Sounds great following whatever Ainsley had whispered to him, he caught Julian’s eye and threw him a pointed look. “Well then,” he announced, voice coming out slightly scratchy, “I feel like you two might need to get a room.” He crossed his arms, shrugging in advance because he already anticipated that Julian would not likely be pleased at his statement, and after he’d spoken to the waiter about his order, added, a bit surprised, “What? No, I don’t have any cigarettes. I was going to ask you for one later, actually, because I thought you’d have a pack on you. Why didn’t you just buy another?”

[Addie Beaumont]

Addie smiled sweetly, having accomplished her mission of helping throw Julian off his game for Ainsley's sake -- although she couldn't deny it was rather fun to see him like this -- and sat back properly in her chair, crossing her legs and throwing Ainsley a grin. Naturally, her best friend seemed a bit too busy with whatever she was doing to Julian that Addie couldn't see or hear, but that was fine because it also had the delightful effect of turning Julian Delaire into a normal, non-brooding teenage boy. Plus, Ainsley seemed to be enjoying herself, which was additionally important.

Glancing sideways at Caleb, she found him looking firmly away from her and at Julian. Which was interesting because she was more than sure he'd taken the opportunity to look down her dress when she'd leaned over. He seemed more than a little confused and like he was trying very hard not to do or say anything stupid, which was just as well, after the hickey comment. Addie picked up her glass of water and took a sip, smiling to herself as Ainsley totally casually leaned over to whisper in Julian's ear. She was getting good at this stuff. Either it was only Julian that brought out this side of her, or she had actually picked some things up from Addie over the years.

Julian's voice was probably less even than he'd intended, she noted in amusement when he spoke. Caleb's voice in reply was even less calm, though she hit him with her foot at his words, sending him a warning look. She didn't want Julian or Ainsley to stop whatever dance they were doing on account of being teased -- the time for that would come after dinner, when the four of them went home and she could properly discuss everything that happened with Ainsley. "Anyway," she said brightly, exchanging a look with Ainsley before waving the waiter over, "let's order because I'm starving." She wasn't, really, but a distraction was probably needed at this point after the conversation that had just ensued.

[Ainsley Rickett]

Ainsley was satisfied when it looked as though Julian could come up with nothing adequate to say to her, feeling pretty damn accomplished that she had the ability to render Julian Delaire momentarily speechless. Of course, it wasn't only her words that had flustered him, she knew, her hand right above his knee that could move up dangerously higher if she so chose a clear confirmation of this. There was still a smirk on her face when she pulled her face away from his neck, despite the way he'd responded with a vague, Sounds great directed to no one in particular and loud enough for the whole group to hear. Merlin knew what Caleb and Addie thought she'd whispered into his ear, she realized as she quickly took in their facial expressions and then very purposely picked up the menu in front of her that she'd long been neglecting, deciding to finally pay a bit of attention to what to order now that her leg was no longer pressed up against Julian's. She'd been slightly shocked when he'd widened his legs so her leg was in-between his rather than touching them anymore and her hand fell back to her own lap, but had been careful to keep her face blank, as if she hadn't even noticed. She'd slowly moved her leg away so it was nowhere near either of his under the table, and her mind had gone into overdrive about his action. Had she gone too far and he hadn't been able to handle it, or did he really just not want to touch her?

She shot a glare across the table at Caleb regarding his comment, hoping that this would be enough to shut him up. She wasn't sure if she even wanted to see Julian's reaction to his best friend's remark about them, so she didn't look over, instead biting her bottom lip as she continued to scan over the menu, ordering the first thing that seemed appropriate for her taste when the waiter came around. She was glad for the distraction and quiet couple of moments to think, but she'd noticed in her peripheral vision that Julian kept glancing over at her, and she pointedly ignored him, steadfastly refusing to glance back at him. If he didn't want to be touched by her, then he really needed to stop looking at her, too. She felt like she was in a perpetual state of not knowing what the fuck Julian Delaire wanted, and in retrospect, everything she'd just done seemed rather irrational, because his reaction hadn't solved anything, in fact only contributing to her constant confusion about him. She almost wished she hadn't done what she had in the heat of the moment. Almost, but not completely, since she couldn't deny the thrill she'd gotten from whispering in his ear and allowing him to experience exactly how it felt when he did the same to her.

Her gaze did shift up when she heard Caleb and Julian briefly converse about their current lack of possession of cigarettes, however, because wow, these two boys sure were a lot more idiotic when they were together, even more so than when either of them happened to be on their own. She knew that Caleb had been smoking regularly for at least the past two years, and she couldn’t speak precisely for Julian, but from what he’d told her, smoking relieved his stress and the emptiness he felt about his father - who he hadn’t told her about at all, she recognized now with a slight sting, considering she’d told him about her mum - so she assumed that he’d been doing it for a while, too, so why did neither of them seem to be prepared and have a pack on them if they knew that they would both feel the need to smoke eventually? This situation was reaching new levels of ridiculous that she hadn’t previously believed were possible.

Before she could even process what she was doing, she picked up her bag from where she’d placed it on the floor next to her chair upon sitting down, rummaging through it and producing a shiny package of cigarettes, of which approximately only two were missing, both of which she’d tried out smoking by herself two separate days earlier that week. She didn’t know why she’d bought the pack and kept it in her bag to begin with - well, that was a huge lie, because she knew why but couldn’t fully admit it to herself, especially after she’d found out about Julian sleeping with Astraia after he’d blown smoke into her mouth twice and taught her how to smoke a cigarette on her own. All of that considered, the thought of cigarettes probably should have annoyed her and reminded her of how Julian had led her on, but they in fact did the opposite, merely knowing that they were in her bag at all times now putting her oddly at ease. She slid the entire pack sideways towards Julian on the tabletop without a single word, setting her bag back down beside her chair and running a hand through her hair as she avoided Caleb and Addie’s stares. She was likely setting herself up for disaster, as she truly wasn’t in the mood to answer anyone’s questions about why she had a pack of cigarettes in her bag with her, but it was too late to take back what she’d done. And strangely, she couldn’t bring herself to even regret it right then.

[Julian Delaire]

She wasn't touching him anymore. It was kind of driving him crazy. Even though it had been his own movement that rid him of the warm pressure of her leg it was still driving him crazy. She wasn't even looking at him, which didn't help matter much, either. Being around Ainsley shouldn't have been so fucking difficult, he thought, because he should either not want her to touch him or want her to touch him and he couldn't very well want both things at the same time. And yet, here he was, and his heart was beating at the same too-fast too-loud too-everything rate it had been when she actually was touching him. It was ridiculously hard to do this, he realized when his pulse skittered at every movement of hers, hard to sit next to her and pretend everything was fine and nothing had changed since their last school year when everything had, hard to sit by her and breathe normally and try to remind himself that he shouldn't be this worked up over a girl. A really pretty girl. A really pretty girl he had hugged and shotgunned and almost kissed. If Caleb was in his head right now, he would probably be yelling at him.

Caleb had said something earlier, clearly expecting a reaction from him, but Julian honestly couldn't care less about his best friend's teasing when every part of his body still tingled from Ainsley's touch. He did note Ainsley glaring at Caleb and assuming he'd said something stupid, he shot Caleb a look of his own for good measure, probably not heated enough to be a glare, but it was hard to go back to normal now that he'd had her lips so close to his skin. The moment itself had passed so quickly, he hadn't had time to properly react, so it was almost as if his body was making up for it with a belated reaction. Addie was saying something, too; this, he managed to pay more attention to, and then the waiter came and everything was almost sort of kind of normal, despite the tension hovering almost palpably in the air. 

"Seriously?" he demanded when his brain caught up enough to pay attention to what Caleb was saying instead of thinking about cigarettes which led to think about shotgunning which inevitably led to thinking about Ainsley and wow he needed to get better at this whole emotionless Slytherin thing (which, now that he thought about it, wasn't actually a thing). "I told you I finished my pack, that's why I had to - " He stopped himself abruptly, figuring talking about weed was probably also not a suitable dinner table conversation, and he had no idea of Addie's views on the matter, and it was her birthday after all. He was saved from explaining himself further or telling Caleb that he'd had no time to go buy more with all the summer homework he'd been neglecting when Ainsley slid a pack of cigarettes over to him.

Julian stopped. And stared. She hadn't said anything. She wasn't saying anything. She wasn't even looking at anyone, instead busying herself with setting her bag (from which she had apparently produced the pack and why was she carrying a pack of cigarettes in her bag?) down and running a hand through her hair and okay, he wasn't going to think about her hair or how nice it smelled or how pretty she looked anymore because there were far more important questions. Namely, had he turned Ainsley into a smoker? It took him a moment to find his voice.

"You - " he began, but found himself unable to come up with a polite way to ask what the hell she was doing with cigarettes. It wasn't like he minded; in all honesty, it was pretty cool to see that she clearly hadn't just forgotten about their afternoon together. But still, he hadn't meant to get her to start smoking regularly enough to buy herself a pack, and he wasn't entirely sure what to think of this development. Finally, he settled on, "Thanks," his voice a hesitant murmur as he slid a cigarette out from the pack and reached into his pocket to fish out his own lighter, which he'd brought in anticipation of Caleb having cigarettes. "I'll - I'll be back," he said, directing the statement mostly at Addie, since she was the de facto host, and then he stood to walk out to the smoking area with only one last glance at Ainsley before he left, trying very hard not to think about her lips a breath of smoke away from his.

[Caleb Blackwood]

Caleb was aware enough of whatever the hell was going on at this dinner table to notice that all three of his friends were shooting him some type of look, be it a clear glare or something very close to one, and he even felt Addie’s foot unexpectedly kick his under the table. He found himself simply sighing in response, one hand on his forehead as he tried to figure out where he’d went wrong. Not just tonight, but in life in general that had gotten him here, sitting helplessly around, speechless for the most part, as Ainsley and Julian and Addie (who was now no longer leaning forward on the table, thank all the gods) seemed to disapprove of what he’d said. He was just going to go ahead and blame Julian - it was all Julian’s fault somehow, in his books - as it now looked like Ainsley was sitting normally in her seat again, staring down at her menu while Julian kept glancing at her, and had nothing he’d warningly told his best friend in the last couple of weeks registered in his mind at all? If he wasn’t going to admit he fancied Ainsley, then he sure as hell needed to stop acting this way around her.

He muttered something incoherent and a bit profane under his breath about Julian needing to get himself sorted out, a feeling that only intensified when he realized that neither he or Julian had a pack of cigarettes on them, which was rather unfortunate, considering he was starting to feel like he couldn’t wait until after dinner to smoke one. This dinner was starting to get stressful - amusing, but stressful, because he felt like he was missing out on the majority of the amusement, as he wasn’t sure what had prompted the flirting that Julian and Ainsley had just done. He managed to smile throughout it all, nonetheless, finally properly glancing over at Addie to get a sense of how she’d reacted to the whole thing. She seemed at ease, and she still looked so pretty - he hadn’t known what he’d been expecting, because she obviously wasn’t going to look any less pretty as the evening went on, but he’d thought that maybe he’d get used to it as time passed, at least. Apparently not.

“Yeah, seriously,” he shot back at Julian, shaking his head at him, “That’s why you had to what, exactly? Stop being so -” he halted, jaw dropping in surprise as he saw Ainsley slip a pack of cigarettes towards Julian across the table. Wait, what? Where had she gotten that? He’d been too busy momentarily taking in Addie’s appearance to observe Ainsley getting the pack out of her bag, but even if he had witnessed that, it still left the question of why the fuck Ainsley had a pack of cigarettes in her bag with her. What was going on here? His smile disappeared and he tried to catch Ainsley’s eye, but she wasn’t even looking at him or Addie or Julian, instead running a hand through her hair as if this was no big deal.

Caleb had a sudden flashback to reading one of Julian’s letters, recalling how furious he’d been at the We might have shotgunned line that Julian had slipped in casually in explanation of what he and Ainsley had done when they’d hung out at his house, but that still didn’t fully account for what was happening now, did it? Julian had shotgunned Ainsley, but that had nothing to do with her having a pack of cigarettes on her at the moment. Shit, had Julian taught her how to actually smoke? Did she smoke now? He was utterly displeased at this thought, because firstly, Julian was corrupting Ainsley, who had always been the most innocent of his friends, and secondly, Caleb had jokingly offered Ainsley a cigarette several times out on the Hogwarts grounds in the past when it’d just been the two of them together. How the fuck had Julian managed to do in one afternoon what Caleb hadn’t in over two years? He slouched back in his chair again, his earlier irritation towards his best friend only growing as he walked off with his own lighter and one of Ainsley’s cigarettes. Who did Julian Delaire think he was?

[Addie Beaumont]

Addie tried very hard not to smile as she took a sip of water and observed the drama playing out across from her as Julian stared, first at Ainsley's cigarettes and then at Ainsley. He seemed utterly dumbfounded, though he gathered enough composure to accept a cigarette and thank her before leaving. She slid her gaze over to Ainsley to find her friend determinedly not looking at any of them, then at Caleb to see him looking thoroughly disgruntled.

She bit her lip, feeling a little bad for how the dinner was going for him. It wasn't his fault Julian and Ainsley were being dumb, or that this was all new territory for all of them, as they'd never properly hung out together in a group, despite all of them being friends with Ainsley to some degree or the other. And Julian had managed to get all of their attention easily, if unintentionally, and she didn't want anyone to feel left out. Gently, she nudged him with her foot, taking care not to hit him again, only to bring his attention towards herself.

"Hey," she said quietly, figuring Ainsley wouldn't mind missing this conversation as she was probably busy having an existential crisis over Julian Delaire, as per usual. "Are you okay? I don't want you to have a bad time," she told him honestly, offering him a smile. "Those two will figure themselves out, you shouldn't worry about them," she added, dropping her voice so Ainsley wouldn't hear, having noticed Caleb's being distinctly annoyed in Julian's general direction ever since the open flirting and the cigarettes conversation.

With a brighter smile as she remembered one of the tidbits of information Ainsley had given her over the years on Caleb, she reached out to place a hand on his arm lying on the table and said, "Plus, my parents ordered raspberry chocolate cheesecake for us. Ainsley said you like that, right?" though she knew her memory was good enough to remember that it was one of his favorite types of cake. Of course, what teenage boy with a healthy appetite was going to say no to raspberry chocolate cheesebake, anyway?

[Ainsley Rickett]

Ainsley deliberately cleared her throat, uttering a quick, "I think I need to get some air," in Addie and Caleb’s general direction as she stood from her chair, snatching up a single cigarette from her pack before she walked very pointedly towards the smoking area, following Julian instead of going towards the exit of the restaurant to get fresh air like she'd claimed she was. Her two friends seemed too preoccupied in their own quiet conversation to notice her lie immediately, and anyway, she really didn't care if they caught her on it - which they probably would eventually if they glanced towards the smoking area off to the side of their table a short distance away, definitely within their line of vision if they cared to look over. Since she was already done with being subtle and had pretty much decided to go after Julian right when he'd walked off with one of her cigarettes, no one else's opinion really mattered to her at that moment.

"Can I get a light?" she asked casually as she made her way up to Julian, probably catching him by surprise because his back was to her, "It's the least you could do, considering you're smoking one of my cigarettes." She moved to lean against the wall he was standing by, shocked that he wasn't already leaning against it considering he had a habit of doing so, her unlit cigarette held carefully between two fingers. She wanted to talk to him alone without their best friends listening in, and smoking with him was simply an excuse to get to do that. In all honesty, leaning forward and kissing him would probably top her list of preferences, and she might have actually been bold enough to do it after everything she'd done in the past couple of minutes at the table, except him moving away from her touch had brought her underlying doubts about whatever he and Astraia Yaxley happened to be right back up to the surface.

[Julian Delaire]

Julian would have been lying if he'd said some part of him hadn't been hoping that Ainsley would join him as he stood out in the otherwise-empty smoking area, enjoying the total serenity and the smoke. Still, he wouldn't expect her to be so obvious as to follow him out, not with Caleb and Addie sitting there and presumably still watching the two of them like hawks. Although, he had chanced one glance back at the table before lighting his cigarette and found Addie leaning towards Caleb to conduct a conversation that he was sure had his best friend in a right state at the moment. So, maybe they weren't. Maybe that meant Ainsley would -

He was rather proud he hadn't jumped out of his skin when he heard her voice. Possibly he had been expecting it, at least subconsciously, or maybe he'd just been replaying the words she'd whispered into his ear earlier so much in his head that it almost didn't surprise him to hear her voice, clear as crystal and sweet as summer, behind him. Coughing smoke out of his lungs, he lowered the cigarette from his lips, licking them absently to clear the taste as he turned to face her, schooling his expression into one as neutral as he possibly could.

"You don't have to convince me to give you a light," he told her, half-smiling as he pulled out the lighter from his jean pockets to hold it up to her own cigarette. "I would have done it anyway." He had to swallow before he lit hers, knowing his eyes would involuntarily track the movement of her cigarette up to her mouth, which only led him down the road of thinking about her lips and god she had on the prettiest pink lip gloss tonight which only made them seem brighter and softer and absurdly kissable and with all that plus the cigarette held in her fingers, all he could think about was when his lips had hovered close enough to hers that he could have closed the smoke-filled distance between them with one single movement but he hadn't. And now it was probably too late because clearly so much had happened since then and she had a fucking hickey and fuck he needed to stop thinking about kissing her right now.

"So," he said, aiming for nonchalance as he shifted his position to join her in leaning against the wall so that he was facing her while he took another drag, "have I turned you into a smoker, now? Caleb's not going to be happy that I managed to do it before he did, you know," he teased, darting one glance back to the table where Caleb and Addie were still seated, and then looking back at her. Maybe partly unconsciously (but partly not), his gaze wandered slowly down her body, taking the time out here, as opposed to inside the crowded sitting area, to appreciate how beautiful she looked, with her curls soft and loose around her face (and thankfully covering up that damned hickey) and that gorgeous red and black dress that did all sorts of wonders to enhance her natural beauty, from the dip of her neckline to the cut-outs at either side of the dress that revealed a tantalizing amount of fair skin - not a lot, but enough to send his imagination places - and right down to her legs, which he already knew were enough to make him turn red with just a touch.

Sliding his gaze back upwards to her face, he sent her a smirk, knowing she had undoubtedly seen him checking her out and not really bothering to care because if she was going to flirt so blatantly as to whisper in his ear in front of the others he was pretty sure she could handle him looking up and down her body, and blew smoke out till it hovered in wispy gray clouds between their faces, bringing to mind the memories of their afternoon together that he still couldn't stop thinking about. 

[Caleb Blackwood]

Caleb looked up slowly when he sensed Addie’s foot against his, as she’d been a bit gentler about it this time, which led him to think that maybe he hadn’t done anything particularly wrong - he wasn’t sure what would have been the cause of her potentially glaring at him again, because all he’d been doing for the past several moments was sitting in silence and struggling with the thought of Julian teaching Ainsley how to smoke and how the hell that had become a thing. Thankfully, Addie wasn’t glaring at him, and the look on her face and her quiet voice directed towards him was more than enough to snap him out of his current thoughts. Fuck, she really needed to stop looking at him like that with that smile on her face, because it really just made him want to kiss her, but he couldn’t, because she was Addie Beaumont - Ainsley’s best friend Addie, the composed and unbelievably beautiful Ravenclaw who happened to be far too out of his league for him to even consider making a move.

He took a deep breath, sitting up and turning towards Addie, and momentarily ignoring Ainsley. “I’m fine, really,” he replied, keeping his voice low, his irritation in regards to Julian remaining the same despite Addie’s comforting words, “Don’t worry, I’m not having a bad time. I promise. I couldn’t possibly be having a bad time with you around,” he went on, the words slipping out before he could stop them. He hadn’t even intended to flirt with her, and he hoped it didn’t seem like it, either, as his tone had been pretty genuine and he wanted her to know that he was being completely honest. “I know, and Julian’s just being an idiot, which I’m used to,” he added with a shrug, “But you’re right, they’ll probably sort themselves out.” He didn’t entirely believe his own words, though, especially not when Ainsley stood to leave, claiming that she needed to get some air even though she took a cigarette with her and clearly made her way over to the smoking area. He figured that Julian and Ainsley having some time alone to talk might do them some good, but even then, it was Julian, and he knew his best friend. He would likely fuck it up somehow.

His gaze immediately shifted back to Addie when he processed what she said next about the raspberry chocolate cheesecake, and he couldn’t help but stare at her in a mixture of awe and appreciation and surprise, trying his absolute best not to let it show that her hand on his arm had sent what felt like a jolt of electricity up his skin. “I’m,” he began lamely, not even knowing where he was going with his response, partly because he was too distracted by her hand still on his arm and how nice it was to have it there, “Wow. I mean, thank you. That’s really - really kind of you. I do like raspberry chocolate cheesecake a lot, actually.”

He didn’t know if he should later thank Ainsley as well for telling Addie about his preference, or if it was only Addie that deserved his gratitude for simply remembering it. He almost couldn’t believe it, but he also wasn’t sure exactly when Ainsley had told her, as it could have been recently and thus easy for her to recall. Regardless, her parents had ordered one of his favorite desserts for her birthday dinner. What were the chances that they had the same favorite, anyway? Forcing himself to focus, he grinned at her, pulling out the tiny box he’d kept checking for earlier from his blazer pocket. “Even if Julian and Ainsley have forgotten about your gifts, I haven’t,” he told her brightly, setting it on the table in front of her and suddenly in a much better mood than he’d been in just a few moments ago, even if he was slightly anxious about whether she’d like his gift or not.

[Addie Beaumont]

Addie bit her lip as she watched Caleb's face while he spoke, not entirely sure how to feel when he said things like I couldn't possibly be having a bad time with you around. She didn't think he was flirting, because the expression on his face was a lot more open and genuine than flirtatious, but the words themselves spoke of deeper feelings than friendship. She couldn't bring herself to think about that, though, not in the least because he was Ainsley's friend and Addie kept a divide between the boys Ainsley hung out with and the boys she hooked up with, and Caleb was the last person she'd expect to have feelings for her. Plus, he still seemed slightly irritated about Julian, especially when Ainsley abruptly stood up and walked over to the smoking area to join him, so possibly Addie was just reading too much into his comments. Ainsley had told her he was a flirt, anyway.

"If you're sure," she said, a little doubtfully, but offering him another smile anyway, her hand on his arm squeezing lightly in comfort before she let go. "I think things will calm down by the time they come back," she said hopefully, drumming her fingers on the table next to his arm as she glanced over at where Julian and Ainsley were standing and smoking, then sent Caleb a sidelong glance. "Just don't say anything stupid to Ainsley this time, okay?" Her tone of voice was teasing, but she trusted he knew well enough that she was mostly serious about it. "If we want those two to sort themselves out, we can't tease them too terribly much just yet, you know?"

If she were being honest, his slight reaction to her hand touching him and the way he looked at her kind of made her not want to let go, even though she knew she needed to. Her fingers were still close enough to brush the back of his hand as it lay beside hers while she drummed a semi-familiar rhythm out onto the table. "I'm glad," she said brightly, a little tempted to actually take his hand in hers, but figuring that would be way too close to outright flirting for her taste. "It's my favorite, too. Ainsley mentioned you liked it when we were discussing cake suggestions for her birthday last year, you remember? But she decided on a different one, that lemon cream cake, so I thought I'd save this for my birthday." She hesitated, rolling her next words around in her head before adding softly, "I'm glad you could make it, though."

The truth was, she hadn't expected him to write to her at all this summer, as they'd only ever interacted briefly and always in Ainsley's company prior to his letters. It made sense that he'd reached out to her for the news about Julian and Astraia, but she hadn't thought of them as actually becoming friends until they started planning the group dinner. She still wasn't sure what to think about all this, having always harbored a crush on him for the first few years of her time in Hogwarts, though she'd managed to get over that soon enough, but the idea of actually being proper friends with him still seemed a bit absurd. She hadn't thought he would ever notice her as more than Ainsley's Ravenclaw friend. And yet, here he was, the two of them alone at the table for her birthday dinner, and he was sliding a box across to her with a grin.

"Thank you!" she said effusively, beaming at him as she took the box and gingerly unwrapped his carefully-tied blue ribbon - Ravenclaw color, she noted in approval - so she could open it. The box was tiny, in a nondescript shade of black, but what was inside was more than enough to make up for it. She felt her breath catch in her throat as she took in the shining silver bracelet set in velvet inside the box. Gently, she lifted it up to admire it under the lights and found an inscription carved in elegant cursive and set with turquoise stones - omnia causa fiunt.

Addie looked back up at Caleb with a smile to see him watching her a little anxiously, like he was afraid she wouldn't like it. "I love it," she said, a little amazed that he'd bought her something like this. "Oh, it must have cost you a fortune," she sighed, turning it over in her fingers to admire it. "What does the Latin mean?" Actually, she knew enough Latin to take a good guess, but he'd clearly picked it out purposefully just for her, so she figured she'd let him explain. There was nothing she liked better than a thoughtful gift, after all, and he seemed so happy to see her with it.

[Ainsley Rickett]

Ainsley faltered when Julian turned around to face her - granted, it was what she’d wanted and expected him to do, but the sight of him left her a little short of breath, especially because his shirt still had four buttons undone for no particular reason, considering the temperature in the restaurant seemed fine to her. Even if it had been slightly too hot, she didn’t think that warranted him unbuttoning his shirt as much as he had. She didn’t think anything warranted him showing that much bare skin, to be completely honest, and she was conflicted between wanting him to button it back up and wanting him to leave it the way it was, since it gave her a fairly nice view of his chest from where she was standing. She quickly composed herself, however, knowing that she wouldn’t last long in his presence if she didn’t appear utterly calm and confident, and threw him a small smile, one eyebrow raised in an almost challenge.

“I would hope so,” she replied lightly, her eyes moving from his chest up to his half-smile, which combined with his nonchalant tone and the way he was now leaning against the wall next to her infuriated her even more than he did when he smirked at her, because who’d given him the right to smile at her like that, anyway? It wasn’t fair, similarly to the way he made her feel like her heartbeat would never slow down to a healthy rate wasn’t fair, because she had to pretend like they were just friends, and that was growing increasingly not easy with every touch they shared and look he sent her way, along with comments like You look beautiful, the very thought of which made her lose track of what she’d planned to say for a moment.

Lifting her now lit cigarette up to her lips, she slowly took a drag, considering his remark about Caleb and unable to keep the amusement out of her voice at the prospect of Caleb’s displeasure. “Don’t give yourself that much credit. I wouldn’t say I’m a smoker, so. Don’t get your hopes up,” she found herself telling him, which in hindsight probably wasn’t the best idea, because what exactly would he be getting his hopes up about? They were friends. They wouldn’t ever be more than friends, no matter how much she wanted them to be, because he was who knew what with Astraia Yaxley and she had a weird feeling that he didn’t want to kiss her nearly as much as she wanted to kiss him. She tried her best to hide the frustration that all of this caused her from her expression, keeping her face entirely neutral for the time being.

He was starting to make maintaining the just friends thing a lot more difficult, however, as she caught the way his eyes traveled down her body, because this certainly wasn’t something that friends did, and she suddenly felt a lot more self-conscious about the skin that was showing because of the dress she’d chosen to wear to dinner. It was about the same length and had approximately the same neckline as Addie’s and sure, it did have some cut-outs at each side, but it had seemed appropriate enough when she’d been getting dressed because the idea that Julian Delaire would shamelessly check her out at any point during the evening had never crossed her mind. She swallowed nervously after she’d exhaled to the side, having the manners to not blow smoke directly into his face, unlike him, and she couldn’t help but cough when he did exactly that, being caught off guard by the blatant reminder of when he’d blown smoke into her mouth through her parted lips a couple weeks ago. And why hadn’t he kissed her that afternoon, again? Right, because they were friends. Just friends.

She was thankful that his gaze was now back up to her face, though, as she’d been struggling to breathe properly with his eyes, well, everywhere else. Recovering from her brief coughing fit, she took another drag of her cigarette without thinking, this time purposely exhaling smoke in his direction, and not even waiting until it’d completely disappeared from between their faces before asking, carefully keeping her tone blank, “Anyway, how was it? The sex?” She couldn’t deny that she was trying to surprise him with this, because it seemed to fit nowhere with what their conversation had been since they’d met outside the restaurant, but she was definitely also curious and didn't want to lose the opportunity to talk to him about it in person instead of over letters. All she could hope was that he wouldn’t lie to her.

[Julian Delaire]

Julian swallowed down a gulp of air and smoke, unable to stop his heart from racing at her gaze on the bare skin of his chest. Why had he unbuttoned them again? Why was it getting hot again? This time, though, the heat was soft inside his stomach like a crackling fireplace instead of suffocating the way it had been out there with Caleb and Addie nearby and Ainsley touching him instead of just looking at him like she maybe wanted him to unbutton more. Or maybe close the buttons. He couldn't be quite sure, because she gathered herself after just a moment and smiled at him in a way that struck him as a challenge rather than a smile for it's own sake. Well, challenges he could do.

He steadily ignored her first statement, preferring instead to watch her easily take a drag from her cigarette, a little amused at how at ease she looked with it in her hands. It was hard to believe it had only been a week or so since she'd first tried smoking. Hard to believe he'd actually had to hold her hands to get her positioning of the cigarette right, hard to believe he'd taught her how to smoke, fuck, he should stop thinking about their afternoon together right now or he was never going to stop wanting to just lean over and kiss the taste of smoke off her lips without any regard for the rest of the world or the bubble of confusing feelings, mostly desire, inside him.

"Really?" he asked, a quiet laugh in his voice as he eyed her curiously. "Then why did you buy your own pack? I'm pretty sure only smokers actually do that, Ainsley," and maybe saying her name wasn't the best thing for his concentration, because it slid off his tongue as easily as if it belonged there, and now he was thinking about what a pretty name it was and god she was so pretty and no, he needed to stop. He couldn't keep thinking about how beautiful she was if he wasn't going to let himself get near her for fear of fucking things up even more. "What am I getting my hopes up for, exactly?" he added, tilting his head consideringly. "I wouldn't say making you start smoking was at the top of my list of priorities." And, okay, now he was back on solid ground, at least somewhat, because sarcasm came much easily to him than did dealing with the way she sent his pulse jumping every time she so much as moved.

He didn't miss the way she swallowed when he was looking down at her body, and he had to grin when he glanced back up at her face even as he blew smoke straight into the air between them. She coughed, clearly taken by surprise that he would actually do that, and he had to admit, he was surprised he'd been bold enough to do it as well. Obviously, he hadn't planned to remind her of everything that had happened between the two of them when she'd come over to his house when he'd arrived at the restaurant, especially not when he'd heard her discussing some other guy's hand up her skirt, but now she was here and they were alone in the quiet little room and he was smoking one of her cigarettes and everything was a little topsy-turvy, especially with her looking so beautiful in that sinfully short red dress. He wasn't even a little surprised when she blew her smoke back in his direction, naturally in response to him doing it first, but then she spoke, and he choked on the smoke between them.

How was the sex? What the fuck kind of a question was that? How did she want him to reply? What was she expecting from him, a detailed explanation of the time he lost his virginity? Not that she knew that tidbit, he hoped. Seriously, she couldn't possibly actually want to hear about him having sex with Astraia, could she? This was hardly the sort of topic he'd ever expected to discuss with Ainsley Rickett, of all people. Though, it did strike him as funny that she was the only person to ask him this, because Caleb had certainly not wanted to hear anything.

He looked over at her, a little uncertainly, after recoving from the surprise and hopefully regaining most of his composure. "I - " he began, still not entirely sure of what to say, "It was - we - I - " Fuck, this wasn't how he wanted this conversation to go. Clearing his throat, he took another drag to distract himself for a moment and stall for time, his eyes never leaving hers, though this time he was careful to blow to the side. Talking about sex with Astraia while exhaling smoke into her face was not the wisest of combinations, he figured.

"Do you actually want to know?" he finally settled on asking when he was sure his voice could be steady again, raising his eyebrows in question and allowing a small smile to appear on his lips as he watched her. "I didn't think you cared," which was true enough, as that was the sentiment she'd conveyed in her letters, despite the passive-agressiveness that made him think there was probably more to it than just her being annoyed he'd been so touchy with her after sleeping with Astraia. Still, he didn't want to overthink it too much. She probably didn't care, not when she had some guy to give her hickeys elsewhere. Why would she? He took another drag and tried not to let his brain wander to thoughts of having sex with Ainsley that he definitely did not need right now.