Testing

[Cherry]

Chris decided to take the moment to also polish off his beer and set the cup aside. He was prepared to sit awkwardly, wondering how she would feel if he just- but before he could even finish the thought, her legs were gliding over his and he instinctively ran his hand over her knee and down her calf to her ankles and back to her knee. It didn’t matter that she had frozen because he was too enamored with his favorite pair of legs to notice.

Suddenly, he remembered that he wasn’t exactly in a position to be touching her so freely, even if she had chosen to put her legs in his lap. He reached around behind her casting one of the few charms he actually knew how to get right every time cushioning her bottom from the harsh angle as he had done a million times before and rested that hand on her waist. For a brief moment, he wondered if she had other guys do the same or just humored him when he did it. “I’m sorry,” he said at last. “I shouldn’t have, uh, well.” He laughed nervously and rubbed a lazy circle on her knee.

He wanted to press his forehead to hers, kiss her nose and then have an epic nose battle, laugh and kiss and remember how it used to be. It just wasn’t exactly the same. “I’ve missed you,” he confessed at last, unable to pretend that he would rather talk about quidditch. That was a weird feeling for him in general. He loved to talk about quidditch any time at any place. Except now. He chuckled again, pressing his forehead to hers after all. “I always miss you.”

[Cherry]

When Sage turned away from him to look into the distance, he took the chance to study her face. Each curve was exactly as he remembered. Each line perfectly where it belonged. Her hair was a bit longer, perhaps, but otherwise she looked the exact same as he recalled. He found himself hugging her waist a little tighter as he felt an irrational fear that she would announce that this was just a mistake and leave him sitting there, dumbfounded. Luckily, that didn’t seem to be the direction she was going to take, though he had been wrong before.

Her lips pressed against his sent a warmth shooting through his body. He carefully slid his knee up her thigh and allowed the kiss to remain rather chaste. He pulled back, his closed, and he sucked at his teeth before saying, “I’m sorry. I never could keep my hands off of you.” His hand came to a stop mid-thigh while the other considered venturing farther south to his third favorite part of her body, her ass. “Glad to see old habit die hard,” he commented.

With his head still leaned against hers, he sighed. “Merlin, the scent of you.” It was intoxicating. It reminded him of a simpler time. He had watched her rise on the Harpies with a mixture of pride and jealousy. Deep down, he hated that what they had slipped out of their fingers again, and he mostly blamed the team. Of course, the rational part of him knew that it was bound to happen eventually. The lovesick Hogwarts student in him hoped that this time would be the time that really stuck. Regardless, even if it was just for tonight, he wanted to keep her in his arms.

As people walked by, few took notice of the two cuddled together so intimately. Unfortunately for them, a few of the party goers happened to be fans who were surprised to see the two together. One such fan began giggling uncontrollably before sticking her head in close to them. “Can I get your autographs?” she asked, giggling and looking back and forth between the two of them. “I mean, I am your biggest fan, Sage! Please? And with Nash? It’s too perfect.” Chris resisted the urge to growl at not only being interrupted, but being secondhand to the fan.

[Cherry]

Chris playfully swatted her hand away as she poked at him. “Oh, I remember your baking, alright.” He also remembered his mother spending an entire night trying to perfect some cake or other. He couldn’t remember if Sage had been there or not, but he wouldn’t have been surprised if she did spend entire evenings in the same house as him but with his mother instead. Talking about his mother was nothing something he really considered a safe topic though, so he let it drop.

For a brief moment, he considered about how he should sit next to her. It made him feel like a kid again. He settled in pretty close but made sure that there was room for her to fill the gap if she wanted. If he stopped to think about what he was doing, Chris still wouldn’t have thought twice about getting close to her again. What he had with Sage wasn’t normal, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t right in its own way. It was also still kind of confusing, though.

“Yeah, well, you know my timing off the field is shit,” he offered with a smirk, taking another drink. “I won’t be surprised if we lose this year.” It was true that the Holyhead Harpies were projected to continue having big wins. “I will be impressed. The debate about the best duo is still out though. How about you come be my coach and we become the best duo in the league?” It was entirely a joke, since Chris would never date his teammates and she would never stop playing to be his coach, but he grinned like a fool anyway.

He wanted to compliment her on how well she was doing overall, but he didn’t want to seem like that nagging old coach. “Seems like I could stand to learn a thing or two from you now,” he conceded. His gaze fell toward the ground and he found himself thinking about how close they use to be. He looked back up at her and offered a cheers. “May the best team win.” Of course, it would be his in the end. He was sure of it.

[Cherry]

“No one at this bar, I’m sure,” he shot back when she teased him about bragging. He knew that he had a bad habit, but she was just as bad and she knew it. He refrained from harping on her for it just yet. Maybe he would catch her on her next brag which was likely to be within the next ten minutes, tops.

Chris didn’t realize that being more alone with him was going to be such a difficult decision that it required a full uh followed by a pause. If he were an insecure man, it might have crushed him. Instead, it merely fueled him on. So much so that when she agreed and ordered a beer for herself, he cheered his second shot to her and downed it. “Sure!” he said back, discarding the glass for a plastic pint glass the size of a double. He sipped at the head to make it easier to carry and less likely to splash as Sage took off and he struggled to catch up.

“My mom?” he asked, falling in just behind her as they trailed the edge of a large heated pool. “She still talks about you when I go home.” It was something he had grown used to over the years. Sage had always been her favorite girlfriend of his. She liked to claim that they had one of those relationships that meant that they were destined for each other but stubborn to realize it. He wasn’t exactly sure what he felt about Sage, but that definitely seemed like a reach. “You should probably shoot her an owl, if you have time,” he added with a sigh, hating that he was passing on his mother’s message now. “She was hoping to get some recipe from you for, I don’t know, cookies or something?”

Ready to be done with the talk of his mother, he motioned at a cushioned bench that sat just off the main area overlooking a garden to the east. People passed in front of the bench as they moved from the pool to the garden, following a lit path. “I feel like it’s been a while,” he said, knowing it was stupid. He wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to say. ‘Did you miss me?’ seemed more stupid. He took a drink of his beer and hoped that she would sit first. Chivalry was not his strong suit, but he had his little quirks of what he thought was considered more charming that creepy from the handbook. “We never really got to celebrate you making the team. Congrats! I hear the coach is new this year?” Quidditch was always a safe topic.