what's cookin', good lookin'?

Mickey wrote:Snow was a common adornment of the grounds of Hogwarts during the winter, and a healthy coating covered the ground this particular day. A light flurry slowly added to it. Whitten watched it from out of a ground floor window, torn between going outside and having fun or staying inside and not freezing. Not freezing was pleasant, and, after all, what were the odds that the Slytherin she was looking for would be outside? She was actually looking for him this time, Benji. She hadn't properly talked with him in forever. They'd met a few days after Christmas, in the Great Hall, but that had been a lot of flustered conversation and Benji fleeing and not a lot of real interaction.

But, wait, was that him? Whitten's mouth dropped open into a little "o", and she blinked a few  times. Was that figure walking through the snow Benji? Could it, possibly, be? What in Merlin's name  were the odds of that... But, despite numbers being one of her remarkably few academic strengths, Whitten had no time to calculate the odds. She'd abandoned her post at the window, flying towards the Hufflepuff common room to grab his present and bundle up appropriately for the weather. And then she took off once more, boots pounding down the hallway and then through the snow.

She had his gift tucked under one arm, and ran up behind him, calling to catch his attention. "Benji! Benji, wait up!" Whitten dashed to get in front of him, and stood for a second, searching to meet his eyes. Her quickened breath put puffs of steam into the air in front of her face, and already her clothes and hair were catching snow. She remained for a moment in silence, then shot a grin his way. "All right? Em... happy birthday!" She thrust the present at him, waiting for his reaction. She hoped he'd like it-- she had no idea what she'd do otherwise. But she had no idea, really. It'd been so long-- why did it feel like it had been so long, and why did she allow enough time to pass for it to feel that long? She... she had no reason to avoid him.

Lily wrote:So this was it. His fourteenth birthday. And what a crummy day it was turning out to be wasn't it? He was totally and completely aware that he had sulked off away from the warmth of the common room to brood a bit before trying to hunt down Gail for some much-needed birthday snuggles. Right now, though, he just wanted to be alone for a bit. In the quiet cold as flurries sailed past him. He didn't really want to think about what had him, quite literally, dragging his feet. But still even now he couldn't help but let his mind wander towards the object of his affliction.

It bothered him alot that Whitten had been the source of a constant blaring discontent to his person. He just...couldn't figure out why. It annoyed him greatly that she had such an obvious control over how he felt. What was worse was that he didn't know why that was. Or maybe he was just too far gone in denying why that was. At any rate out of all the things that irked him about the whole situation was the fact that she had been avoiding him. And he wasn't that far gone to admit to himself that it bothered him greatly that he hadn't been able to see her today. He'd though...well it didn't matter did it?

His feet scuffed the cold frozen ground, blue eyes peering through his fringe as the cold escaped from his flaring nostrils. He'd though he'd gotten over the whole tantrum thing but so was no the case. His thought process was interupted by a very familiar sound though. His bright blue eyes landed on a strikingly familiar figure - the one he'd been thinking about often enough already. He stayed silent for a moment, observing as Whitten seemed to be doing. He took in the complex angles of her face, his eyes immediately swooping towards the lips that were extended into a grin before they snapped back to her eyes. "Thanks." he said, shooting her a smile as his head ducked down in embarrassment.

Things were still...sort of awkward. And he was still...sort of mad.

The box was neatly wrapped and he resisted the urge to tear into it like he did all his presents. It was snowing still and he didn't want it to get ruined, whatever it was inside. Did Whit want him to open it now though? "Wanna take a walk?" he offered, still pensive, still quiet and still just a tad bit brooding. But he did offer her bright eyes and a timid smile.

Mickey wrote:A smile still dancing about her lips, ignoring any hint of how awkward this had the potential to become, Whitten watched Benji almost as expectantly as he did her. His bright blue eyes were as stunning as always, and she beamed even brighter as he smiled back. "Welcome. And... you did like your Christmas gifts, yeah? Didn't really get to ask you, before." She'd wanted to approach him in classes so badly, but it always seemed like the wrong time, always when she was a bit flustered because she thought maybe he'd seen her glance at him one time too many. How many glances made up too many, anyway? At what point did it go from friendly to awkward?

She hoped that things wouldn't cross that line now, she really did. All she wanted to was to perhaps enjoy an afternoon with the Slytherin, because he was absolutely brilliant. Brilliant in way that made pretty much everyone else seem quite dull. Oh, except Rex, she supposed. Because she did fancy Rex. Right right right. And she couldn't fancy more than one person at a time, that wasn't how it worked. If one could fancy multiple people, then what was to keep one from loving multiple people? And if you didn't just love one person, did you really love them? Whitten hadn't spent much time actually exploring that train of thought, but its implications were imprinted all over her actions.

Whitten fell in beside Benji with a tentative grin and a re-adjustment of her hair, sliding her hand through her blond curls and pushing them back over her shoulder. "Yeah, of course!" Why wouldn't she want to? It was snowing in a delightful way, not a monstrous blizzard way; she was nice and warm with her layers on; Benji was there to walk with her... what was not to like about this situation, as long as she ignored faint feelings of discomfort in the back of her mind. Funny how Rex managed to remind her of the difficult part of her feelings while Benji just made her feel like she'd been hit with a cheering charm. And if there was in hesitance in his words or his actions, Whitten didn't notice.