Who: Delilah Spinnet & Rose Knightley LOL
What: RUN-INS AND LAUGHS
Where: Outside Octavius' flat
When: Today!
It was that time of year again in which Delilah started planning something spectacular for Charlie for their birthday. Being as she spend a majority of the year unintentionally (and intentionally) annoying him, she always tried her best to make it up to him. Often this implied wrangling the help of Octavius Pepper. Although recently she supposed that Axe could be helpful too as she was sure that her brother was in love with crazy captain, but she tended to avoid talking to him as much as possible.
This is how she found herself outside of his flat just in time to catch a girl leaving. Oh, Delilah had been out of touch for far too long if she missed out on the fact that Eight was dating someone. Or at least that’s what she was assuming. And being as she was too nosy for her own good, Delilah put herself directly in the other woman’s path, instigating a run in.
“Oh sorry” she said quickly when they bumped into each other. “I’m such a klutz, I didn’t even see you there.”
While purposeful on Delilah’s part, Rose had been too busy playing with her hair and looking down at the ground to notice anything around her, let alone the presence of another human being. This--- tenseness between her and Octavius had her feeling--- many things, most of all unsettled and wrong, enough to be distracted thoroughly while leaving his flat in a daze. It appeared that Octavius was much more upset about Thomas’ birthday plans than she had originally thought, but... what was she to do? She didn’t understand why this was such a big deal.
“Oh, I’m---” she mumbled, pushing her hair out of her face as she looked up. Rose felt her body freeze up and her eyes go wide once she realized who she had bumped into. Delilah Spinnet--- it was--- Charlie’s sister--- friends with--- she had--- with Thomas--- and--- this was someone who she generally tried to stay out of the way of, to avoid awkward interactions, which always seemed to be on the cusp with this particular yearmate of hers---
Her mouth gaped for a couple of seconds, so caught off guard enough that she couldn’t quite decide what to say. Why did uncomfortable situations always happen to her? Rose shook her head, blinking quickly. She--- it--- bandaide!
“No, it’s--- my fault, I’m sorry,” she rushed, her hand going up in an apologetic manner. Was she here to see Octavius? Why? Rose quickly buried her curious thoughts, finding her mounting anxiety a good enough distraction for now.
Delilah tilted her head slightly taking in the girl standing in front of her. She looked awfully familiar, yet she just couldn’t place it at first. Her mouth formed a small ‘o’ when it finally clicked. This was Rose Knightley. She looked from her to Octavius’ door, which she most definitely just came from, and back again. Now there was certainly no way she was going to let her just walk away.
How had she not heard about this. Wasn’t this an important turn of events? That Eight was dating Charlie’s fake ex? Or was it that Charlie had slept with his real ex (didn’t they date in school or was she making that up?) and then turned it into a fake tryst? Whichever it was, Delilah felt a conversation with the girl was warranted after the stir she caused last fall.
“Oh hey!” she said with a big grin, “It’s Rose, right? Were you just visiting Octavius?” she asked in a tone that implied she was merely curious. “I was just on my way over myself.”
Oh no. Rose gave a faint smile, knowing a recognizing click when she saw it. Delilah was being curious, or polite; she couldn’t tell which right. Either way, neither lead toward a speedy getaway and therefore her stomach squirmed. How aware was she of her and Octavius’ current situation? Or--- any of her current situations with any of the other girl’s friends... Rose gave a quick glance toward the door behind her, not quite exactly sure why she suddenly deeply hoped Octavius did not hear their voices. Closing her eyes for a moment to collect herself, Rose spoke quick after.
“Yes. You’re Delilah, one of Octavius’ friends,” she let out, lacing her fingers together as she spoke. This girl made her anxious. Well, actually, if she was being fair, a lot of people made her anxious, but Rose was starting to notice they did tend to have the common factor of a Kestrel connection in one way or another. That team really was the bane of her existence, wasn’t it? Liking the inside of her lips, she refocused on the task at hand.
“He is all free now, so---” Rose started, giving a strained smile as apart of her response. She left out that he might not particularly be in the best of moods, but she also supposed that might be untrue in Delilah’s case; she hadn’t done anything wrong in his eyes.
Delilah beamed at that. One of Octavius’ friends wasn’t a descriptor she heard often. Charlie’s sister and or twin was a far more popular option. “That would be me!” she said rocking on her toes a bit. “He actually doesn’t even know that I’m stopping by. Can’t be late if its a spontaneous visit. Guess its a good thing that I didn’t come by earlier like I had originally planned, I get distracted easily.”
She took a moment to study Rose. She vaguely remembered her from school, they were the same year but Delilah really didn’t spend much time with Ravenclaws. She still felt a bit guilty about not remembering Thomas from History of Magic. But they tended to always be studying or doing else equally studious and that just wasn’t how Delilah particularly cared to spend her time. This girl certainly reminded her of Thomas though. She seemed just as fidgety with her around as Thomas did, but at least he had the excuse of only being in a towel the first time they interacted. Either way, it made Delilah want to get to know her more. And really what was the worst that could happen.
“Oh I know! Let’s go get lunch!” She suggested excitedly clapping her hands together. “The boys don’t ever tell me anything and I end up feeling terribly left out. It’s tragic, I didn’t even know you and Eight were together. Which I honestly feel is pertinent information. How am I supposed to plan anything if I don’t even know who the couples are?”
Was that a beady sweat blurring her vision? Or just a pre-fainting symptom daze? She didn’t--- she really wasn’t sure Octavius would take to this ‘lunch’ idea positively--- or anyone she knew, for that matter! Especially--- certain--- people of--- quidditch nature. Did she really-- have-- to? Rose let out a weak laugh, unable (perhaps physically?) to respond at that current time. And then she let out another, equally unable to think of anything to say.
She really--- shouldn’t, there were too many--- things, connections-- she couldn’t. But by now, Rose knew she taken too long to respond with anything that wasn’t apathetic to this new suggestion. What should she--- what-- what!
“I’m really not--” Rose started, already beginning to shake her head. What to even focus on? Delilah had said so many things, all of them more startling than the next it proved difficult to hone in on just one. “It’s really--- you don’t have to do that,” she let out eventually, in one breath. “I mean---” Rose started again, now worrying she would come off as rude. How exactly do you explain to an almost acquaintance that you weren’t particularly up to lunch because a rather potently acidic feeling was present in your stomach? Without inadvertently creating more room for questions? It--- just--- how was this happening? Was this karma? Was this Gryffindor karma? She didn’t like it.
“Um....” Rose spoke vaguely, feeling defeated. “I don’t know?” she finished lamely, hoping there was a slim chance Delilah would instead find exploring her left feeling more interesting than eating.
Delilah grew more and more impatient with each sentence that Rose started but never finished. She could understand to an certain extent why the girl would be nervous around her but honestly, this was a bit much. It wasn’t like she just walked in on her and Octavius, now that would be awkward.
“Oh come on,” Delilah said with a roll of her eyes, grabbing Rose’s hand and leading her in the opposite direction of the flat she originally intended on visiting. If Rose had other plans to take up the rest of her afternoon, she wouldn’t of had such a hard time spitting out a ‘no thank you’. Once she got Rose moving in the right direction she let go of her hand. “There is this really awesome bistro not too far from here. I’ll buy you lunch. You and I should be friends if you are with Octavius. I mean, I’m not around a whole lot, but I am friends with him and there is no reason for things to be awkward when I’m around.”
Sweet Merlin, Gryffindor karma was by far the worst kind of karma she had ever experienced! While Rose felt that, yes, now would be the time to protest this practical kidnapping, but the most she could muster was a feeble move of her lips and a general leaning toward the opposite direction she was being lead. Dealing with a disgruntled Octavius was much more appealing now, let her go back! She gave a fruitless last look over her shoulder at the shrinking familiar door.
“I’m not--!” she squeaked, snapping back to attention as Delilah walked her at what very well might have been the fastest pace Rose had ever walked in her life. It wasn’t--- this apparent, and rather severe, lack of ability to speak in full sentences was not because of Octavius and Delilah’s relationship, wasn’t that not obvious? Well, the fighting probably did not help, but-- Rose felt her face heat up at her next thought, feeling so uncomfortable that the mere next thought of the next thought made her face burn.
“I---” Rose started, then shook her head. There was no getting out of this, was there? It just-- she was going to have to grit and bear it. Start mentally preparing herself for the questions she knew were going to come. With that realization, Rose took a deep breath. “Okay,” she responded finally, her voice substantially less shaky.
“Yay!” Delilah clapped her hands together when Rose finally agreed, even though they were already more than halfway to the bistro. “This is great! You can fill me in on everything. Dueling season is really picking up right about now, so I really haven’t been around much. Busy busy, I’m sure you know how it gets, I mean Charlie is just as busy during Quidditch season. And when the two overlap its just plain hectic, we can go weeks without talking. This year we certainly did, but that’s because he gets a bit crazy around playoffs and Rupert drives me up a wall.” Delilah said shrugging a shoulder.
“Oh I’m rambling. I do that. Sorry.” She said opening the door for the two of them when they reach the little shop. “Tell me about you! How long have you and Octavius been together? I know I saw him at Charlie’s---er well not Charlie’s, the Kestrel’s big party this year, were you there with him? Or is this a newer thing?”
Everything? Information? Private information? Those demands, with the casual name dropping of not only Charlie but Axe as well left Rose with even less energy and determination than she had started with to make it through this interaction. Her cheeks were burning a deep red (they felt like two small fires) as she vainly collected the proper wording to respond with.
Sitting helped. Rose practically fell into her seat at the small table they were shown to, taking the time to slowly pull out the napkin and place it on her lap before speaking. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, combing through it slightly. She didn’t want to feel so paralyzed with Delilah.... but how could you not be? Putting aside her ability to control and continue conversations all on her own, Delilah was very pretty, very famous, and very well connected with her boyfriend’s relations. Who, by the by, she was not on the best terms with. And now had to talk about. Like nothing was wrong.
She really didn’t want to talk about that. “I’ve been thinking I will dye my hair back to blonde soon,” Rose blurted, completely disregarding Delilah’s other prompts.
“Oh! You would look very pretty blonde!” Delilah said just going with her choice of topics as she flagged down a waitress. She wasn’t completely oblivious to the fact Rose didn’t want to talk about any of the proposed topics. She didn’t quite get why, but she could go with it. “I tried brunette for a little while, it was fun.”
She looked over the menu for a moment before quickly deciding and folding it shut. “I know of this great little spa, it's a little far from here, but they do wonders with hair and nails. Not to mention I can barely motivate myself to leave after one of their massages. I bet you would like it.” Delilah rambled on before taking a pause to take a sip from her drink the waitress just dropped off. Honestly, she could only talk so much about hair and nails and that was about it.
Charlie was obviously not a good topic of choice (Delilah honestly didn’t blame her), and neither was Octavius (that was just sad) and Quidditch was in an off season so she really couldn’t even pretend to start talking about that. Perhaps this lunch wasn’t the best of ideas after all. She really needed to start thinking things through before acting on them. Which was hard because when she dueled she just trusted her instincts and went, apparently her social instincts weren’t as good.
She racked her brain for something of a safe topic and came up blank. “But yes, you should most definitely dye your hair blonde, it would be super pretty.”
Was that silence, even for a split second? She relished it. Despite being short, it gave Rose the necessary amount of time to properly--- just--- calm down! Get descrambled, even if it be a little. And while this impromptu lunch still made her feel awkward, the urgent anxious feeling that had been coursing through her steadily began to wane. Rose felt her shoulders drop and her chin stick out slightly, the general room temperature dropping to normal, instead of boiling.
She supposed it wasn’t fair of her to shut Delilah completely out.... her intentions had been pure, curious even. So as much as it usually pained her to divulge private matters to anyone outside of Danielle or Thomas, Rose decided she could give this woman something.
Plus, this hair topic was beginning to bother her. She would hope blonde would look nice on her; it was her natural color. So, Rose bristled herself, preparing for what was most definitely going to be the most, not to mention coherent, amount of words she spoke thus far.
“I’m sorry, I’m not really good at talking about myself,” she started, detaching her hands from each other. “But--- I--- Octavius and I got together a bit after the new year’s party, but we didn’t make a big... announcement about it so don’t feel too bad. We didn’t want to... make a huge deal about it, with timing, and--- I don’t think I’ve ever been to a spa.” There. Welp.
“I have been told that my ability to talk about myself more than makes up for the fact that others do not. Although, I’m pretty sure it was meant to be a bit insulting at the time.” Delilah said casually with a shrug of her shoulder. She like to talk, it certainly wasn’t a crime. “Ohh! New Year’s! What a fun way to start dating. I guess you’ll never forget when your first kiss was then, huh? Also explains why I probably didn’t notice, even if there had been a big announcement. Scott had just gotten back from Canada around then and it was the first opportunity we had to spend time together over the Holidays. Ah. New Year’s is always such a fun night.” she said with a tittering laugh.
“But that’s almost four months now! Which is far too long for Eight not to have introduced us. Silly boy. Especially if you’ve never been to a spa. This means I definitely have to organize a ladies getaway some time soon. You’d like that right? It’ll be fun. Also, I’m much easier to deal with in a group than one on one. Buffers and what not.” she said candidly.
She rambled on, Rose inserting a comment here or there, until their food arrived. Then her marvelous sandwich gain first priority. She prodded Rose to talk more while she was eating right until her watch started chirping at her and she practically dropped what was left of her lunch. Chirping meant that she had a standing appointment. That she was suppose to be somewhere that was most definitely not here within the next hour. And she couldn’t even remember what is was.
“Ahh I am sooo sorry! I have to go, like right now.” she said standing abruptly and starting to dig through her purse. “I think I have forgotten something important and if I miss another meeting, I’m pretty sure Henry will murder me where I stand.” She tossed enough money on the table to cover both of their lunches. “I had so much fun eating lunch with you! We’ll have to do it again soon, okay? I’ll owl you or something!” And seconds later she was pushing the door open, waving and yelling bye.
Rose sat with her salad fork still midway through its journey to her mouth (which had been left ajar) as Delilah rushed out of the scene like a whirlwind. Well that was abrupt. She looked down at the coins on the table with pursed lips. It was a nice gesture, but she certainly couldn’t let Delilah pay for her food. Their waiter would just be getting a nicely sized tip in the amount of her meal, she decided.
Slipping the right amount out from her purse, Rose stood up quietly from her chair. While the food was, in fact, very good as Delilah had said, there was no possible way she could continue eating alone. Besides, people had begun to stare with the rush that Delilah had made (in which Rose only assumed meant that the other patrons had recognized the dueling champion), leaving there to be little peace anyway.
Well.... despite the complete and utter anxiety Delilah had forced upon her, Rose couldn’t say that wasn’t a pleasant meal. At the very least it had gotten her mind off of Octavius, however that had been possible. Ducking her head and curling a piece of hair behind her ear, she walked out of the bistro feeling strangely calm. How had that happened?
