Who: Jones and Nora
When: Last week; After Puddlemere's game
Where: Some bar --> Jones'
What: It's been a long time coming...
Rating: PG-13?

exactly</i> an understatement. While people could say he was being a tad bit dramatic saying that time seemed to move slower than molasses, it really did feel like he would never get back on the pitch with the rest of his team. He was sure he would have had a minor heart attack if he was kept away from the game for 6 months opposed to the 1 month sentence he had already been put through.

Just being able to fly again made him feel like a million bucks. He had been practicing the best he could, but there was really only so much he could do when there was limited space to fly. It wasn’t like he could go to the nearby football field, because then he’d have to put up a million wards and worry about a muggle seeing him pull out his wand. And with the Ministry being so strict lately, he didn’t want to take any chances. So just being able to be there in front of all his fans with his teammates was enough of a reason to go out and celebrate a bit. But he didn’t just want his team to be celebrating! He wanted to be with friends, so he had gathered quite a few of them to come out and have a few drinks, and just…have a good time! Among those friends was Nora and Griff. It kind of sucked, being such good friends with both of them when they were both partially responsible for a kid, and when one went out the other was forced to watch her. He figured it was Griff’s turn.

He noticed that she hadn’t been drinking much, and he understood why. Jones himself wasn’t a heavy drinker, but he had a good buzz going on. In other words, he was sober enough to hold a good conversation and know what he was doing, but drunk enough where he did tend to see the room go out of focus a bit when he stood in one place for too long. So, rising to his feet, he made his way over to where the blonde was sitting (she was being social, but she looked preoccupied with other thoughts), and took a seat across from her at the table. “You alright?” The question was asked with raised brows, sincerely interested in how she was doing. Whether she was bored, upset, annoyed… He just wanted to make sure she was having fun.

Okay, so she was a bit preoccupied, but she really wasn't trying to let that bother the atmosphere! She had a lot to think about--her classroom was going to be all out of sorts once she got back to it, she no longer had the same students and she didn't even know some of their parents yet. All of this was pulling her to go back to school earlier than planned while Penny was tugging at her heartstrings to stay home as long as possible. She loved her daughter, she did. It just felt like she was being torn in two, having to decide between her students and career and her daughter. It was easy enough for West and Griff to make that choice; they were highly involved in their Quidditch teams, they were household names. They couldn't possibly take the time off to care for a baby full time. Doing that would be career suicide. But--well, should Nora be expected to do that as well?

No. She wasn't going to think about it this way. She loved Penny. She wanted to be a stay at home mum if she could afford it. But--oh, there was Jones. She smiled happily, nodding at his question. She was having a wonderful time, worrying about her daughter and her career and sipping on a virgin strawberry daquiri (which the bartender was still giving her funny looks about. Bloody hell, she didn't have to get shit faced just because she was young!) and really, she shouldn't have been so stressed about other things when she had such a wonderful opportunity to forget about it for a while. "I'm doing great. Just--a bit distracted is all," she told him with a genuine smile. He seemed so happy to be back on the pitch, it would be ruddy of her to take away that joy all because she couldn't feign socialness and joy for a few hours.

He let out a hum to show that he understood as he leaned back in his chair, finishing off the beer that he had been carrying around with him. He flagged down a waitress and put the empty bottle down on her tray, shaking his head with a ‘no thanks’ as she offered him another and walked away. He figured it was a good idea to stop now, before he became wasted and wouldn’t be able to function at all anymore that night…or the next morning. He could only imagine how miserable he would be the next day, feeling hung-over and sore. There was no doubt that his muscles would be killing him tomorrow, since it had been a while since he had had actual training.

“Well…is there anything I can do to un-distract you? As long it doesn’t involve me standing for a long period of time, I think I can be of some assistance.” He grinned at her and leaned on the table. “But in all seriousness, if you need anything, just tell me. It’s a limited time offer though, since I do need to leave with—…” he started looking around for the friend who was supposed to be apparating him back to his apartment, who was currently slumped over on a seat, looking like he was about to vomit. “…that guy.” He said with a sigh, shaking his head at his friend before turning back to Nora, giving her a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, luckily for you it isn’t so limited anymore.”

Nora frowned as she saw the other man at whom he was pointed. Pah, over her dead body was he going home with "that guy." She snorted loudly before raising an eyebrow at him. "You can un-distract me by letting me apparate you home instead." She would certainly be able to rest easier knowing that he wasn't splinched halfway across England, unable to really tell that he was because of his drunken state. She wasn't sure if there was anything else she needed, but--hrm. Probably to get home, for the next day to roll around so she could have her Penny back in her arms again. "I'm fine, I promise. There's just a lot of things up in the air right now, and with everything going on at home, I feel a bit torn up." She took another sip through the clear straw of her drink. "But we're not here to talk about my problems. We're here to celebrate your game! And being able to play again, and hopefully geting your arse kicked by the Cannons," she told him with a cheeky wink. Hey, she was allowed to tease him about this, it was officially free game again!

Her offer to take him home caused him to raise his brows, feeling a bit guilty about making her go out of her way just to get him home. He also felt like a bit of a tool, having to be escorted home. True, wizards did tend to need designated dr-…er, apparaters every now and then, but he usually just wound up walking or taking a cab home or something. He hadn’t expected to have to do either, so he had absolutely no muggle money on him. Walking was an option, yeah, but since it was raining he wasn’t looking forward to it.

He didn’t say anything at first, but just nodded along with her explanation of what was going on at home, and why she was so distracted, only to laugh at the last bit. He shook his head, and smiles at her. “See, you were doing so good at being nice to me, and then you had to go and ruin it with something like that.” He sighed, still thoroughly amused as he looked over at the clock that was nearby. “Bloody hell, I didn’t even realize what time it was…” he muttered, almost to himself before he looked to Nora. “Listen, if you really wouldn’t mind the whole taking me home thing…it’s getting late and I’m sure you have things to do tomorrow that you want to get up for. Besides, I’m getting sick of these people anyway, I should probably head home as well.” He didn’t want to be a hassle, and he didn’t want to make her stay out later than she had planned just to take him home.

She smirked. "You know that my idle comments mean nothing," she replied offhandedly, and honestly? She could feel a pull from him, to start cheering for the United, to be excited when his team won. It probably wouldn't take much for him to finally win her over, just a bit of chatting, a bit of convincing and the like. "The Cannons sometimes seem like they'd have trouble playing their way out of a paper sack, so--" Well, at least she could be honest with herself about the greatness of her team, yeah?

"Are you sure?" she asked slowly, looking around. It felt like things were just getting underway and the man of the hour was already ready to go? Surely a Quidditch player like him didn't want to get back to the quiet of home, not when he had everyone he knew around him. But, thinking it wasn't really her place to say it, she nodded. "Whenever you're ready to get home," she said with a smile, trying not to let the rising vocal tones of the men on the other side of the bar distract her. Besides, they didn't really need to peer into a bar fight, did they? Nora had never been over to his flat, and a tiny part of her was rather excited to see it, just to see if he lived at all like the other Quidditch players she knew. It seemed to go one of two ways; either the player had a large and outlandish house, or he had confined himself to a tiny flat (mess, naturally, is negotiable). Jones certainly didn't feel like the type to blow his money on a huge chance, but for some reason she couldn't imagine him in a tiny, cramped apartment. She certainly couldn't imagine him in a home like her (mostly because she had a hard time seeing anyone feel very comfortable there, with all the low doorways and the somewhat smaller furniture).

He narrowed his eyes at her, even though he couldn’t stop his mouth from twitching upwards into a smirk, trying not to laugh as she commented about how the Cannon’s played sometimes. “Well…they try really hard, and that’s all that matters, right?” He gave two thumbs up. He wasn’t one to knock on other teams, but if it was all in good fun he didn’t really count, right? Hmm.

“I think now’s a good time. I know I won’t leave at all if I don’t force myself to go home now. I’ll probably end up like my friend over there.” Once again he gestured to the sloppy, drunk mess that was slumped over. He furrowed his brows at him as he started tugging at a waitresses shirt, before he turned his attention back to Nora. “Well, I wouldn’t be doing…that.” He looked over again and tilted his head, now watching his friend pull the waitress down on his lap. “Definitely wouldn’t do that either.” He couldn’t help but continue to stare before looking back to Nora. “So! Yes. I’m ready now.” Rising up to his feet, he extended a hand out to her to help her up. “Alright uh…do you know where Norwich Road is in Ipswich? Cause…that’s where I live. Number 201.”

She laughed at his thumbs up, then nodded. They did try hard, but...sometimes it just didn't turn out to be enough. She watched the other man, her lips persed as she tired to hold back any sort of criticism of him. Thank Merlin he wasn't going home with him. She sorely hoped that a bouncer came over and helped that poor waitress out, because she knew she would not appreciate being pulled down onto some drunk bloke's lap. "Alright, then," she said with a smile, taking his hand and standing up. She thought about the road but--"Hrm. I know where the Hole in the Wall is," she said slowly, referring to a bar she'd been to once or twice. If she was remembering correctly, it was also located on Norwich road. Hopefully his flat was close by that? She looked around the bar slowly, wondering if taking the floo might be better for them.

He thought for a second about where exactly this bar was located before he smirked and gave a nod of his head. “The Hole in the Wall isn’t far from my place. It’s a little hidden, and it’s a little bit of a walk but…I think walking around in some fresh air could do me some good.” He continued to hold onto her hand, trying not to focus to hard on how perfectly it fit in his own. Gah, no, they were just friends! He couldn’t think like that. She was just helping him out.

She smiled, nodding a bit as he explained that that would be close enough. She squeezed his hand a bit, a silent way of letting him know that she was getting ready to apparate. She closed her eyes, trying to get a good mental image of the bar so they didn't end up in five separate places. She'd never particularly enjoyed apparition, but staying away from it for so many months--ooh, she was excited about it! The familiar tightening feeling engulfed the two of them, and nearly felt unbearable until it released. She could feel a cool breeze blow over her, and opening her eyes..ah, there was the back alley for the Hole in the Wall. Success! "Are you all in one piece?" she asked tenatively, sneaking a peek at Jones. He looked all together...hopefully he was?

Oh, he was in one piece alright. One spinning piece, but he was still whole, so there was an upside to his vertigo. He nodded his head but was sure that this was a mistake since he kind of toppled over into a wall, leaning his shoulder against it as he shut his eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He groaned a little bit and turned around to face her, opening his eyes. “And once everything around me stops moving in all different directions, I think I should be ready to go.” It didn’t take long for the effects of apparition to wear off before he was able to move away from the wall, pushing some of his dark brunette strands away from his forehead as he did so. “I swear, I’m not always this…unbalanced. I just haven’t apparated long distances in a while.” He hadn’t been able to because of this stupid law, but he wasn’t about to bitch about it to her.

Finally able to stand, he looked around, turning one direction only to turn around to face the right way. “My place is that way.” He said triumphantly, as though it were a great accomplishment to know where he lived. His eyes traveled over to her, brows raising. “You got somewhere to be, or do you want to take a walk? It could do you some good to know where I live incase you need to baby-sit me again.” He gave her a small grin to let her know he was kidding. He just didn’t want her to leave right away. He hadn’t seen her in a while, and he just wanted to catch up…or something. Even if he was just walking with her, he didn’t care.

"As much as I love leaving drunken, vulnerable men to fend for themselves," she said slowly, grabbing his arm and gently placing it around her shoulder to help him with the balance issue (hey, just because she was much shorter than him didn't mean it wouldn't help), "I was already planning on making sure you made it back to your flat in one piece." He trusted her enough to apparate for him, the least she could do was make sure he didn't die some other way. She thought quietly to herself about his excuse, the not apparating for being the reason he was unbalanced. She would have pinned the good buzz he had going, but...maybe that was just her.

"I'm fresh out of gold stars, love, but I promise I'll give you one next time for knowing which way your house is," she said with a wink, now grinning. Joking around came so easily with him. Hopefully he didn't mind them (he was good natured and all). They started the trek to his house together, Nora trying to formulate her thoughts as they went. She didn't know exactly what to bring up, because any conversation about what was on her mind would probably lead into angry rants about the ridiculous legislation coming out of London, and she didn't think either of them would very much appreciate that.

He didn’t doubt that the alcohol consumption had a lot to do with why he was feeling a little dizzy, but…he liked to think that it was only part of the problem. Because, hey, he wasn’t that bad! He had only had a few drinks, and he knew where he was, who he was, who she was, what had happened that night, and his entire alphabet. Which obviously meant that he was perfectly fine.

“I’m going to hold you to that, Thompson.” He said with a laugh, walking fine on his own even though she was ‘supporting’ him. She was a tiny little thing who probably couldn’t hold all of his weight, but she was trying to do a nice thing for him here, and he wasn’t going to ruin it by just moving away from her.

The walk to his place was quiet, but it was a comfortable kind of quiet. Neither of them felt pressured to say much, and they were just able to enjoy the sounds of other people walking around, or a stray cat here or there mewing. They had to walk around a few corners, but eventually they were in front of his apartment building. “Well. Here it is.” He gestured to it with his free arm before looking down at her. “Come on, I’ll show you inside…I owe you at least a cup of coffee before you try and apparate home again. Wouldn’t be fair to make you do that falling asleep, now would it?” He smirked and moved his arm from around her to get the door, allowing her to step inside first before leading them to the third floor. He pulled his key out of his pocket and opened the door. “Welcome to my humble abode.”

His apartment was nice, actually. It was spacious, and modest. It had wood furniture, and a nice leather couch in the living room, a large kitchen, dining room, and had 2 bedrooms incase someone decided that they wanted to spend the night. It was usually Waldo, but he wound up crashing on the couch more than anything. In all, it was a very well kept apartment, but you could definitely tell it belonged to a male. It just had that aura about it.

"A cuppa would be nice," she murmured with a smile, watching him carefully as he got the door. The mother (and school teacher) in her wanted to worry about him as he made his way up the stairs, but she didn't say anything. She smiled to herself as she took in the decor of his place. It wasn't huge and...well, echo-y would be the best adjective for it, like Griff's place often felt, but it wasn't so small and cluttered like West's, either. It felt good, comfortable. And hey! No low ceilings! That had to be a plus. "I like it," she said softly, her mind briefly encountered by the thought of what a grizzly bear's decor would look like, if they had houses and interior decorating. Surely, something similar to this would be the status quo. There were probably a few things that he could use, a throw pillow or two, but without any tell tale signs of a woman's touch...well, Nora had to admit that he'd done a good job decorating.

"Hmmm...let's go get coffee then, yes?" she asked with a sudden smile, looking up at him for the go ahead nod. She had an idea of where the kitchen may be located, but didn't want to take a guess and end up wrong and in his bedroom or something. She'd probably become all embarrassed and flustered over that.

“…thanks?” He said as though he were guessing whether that were the right response or not to her liking his apartment. It seemed like the right response, but hell, what did he know? He wasn’t used to people coming over and giving their opinion on how his place was set up. Usually it was overlooked. “Ah, yes. Coffee. That is in the kitchen. Which is in that direction.” He pointed again, sounding just as triumphant about finding the kitchen as he did before when he knew which direction they needed to walk. “If I’m right, do I get another gold star?” He smirked down at her and began to walk, noticing that she immediately came to his side again to help him out just incase he-

Fell over. Which happened right as they were passing through the living room; but not before he stopped, tried to make everything stop moving, and then resumed walking, which ended up with him toppling over into the armchair that was nearby. And, since Nora was still trying to keep him standing, he wound up accidentally dragging the innocent blonde down with him. He sat on the chair, staring up into the big brown eyes that belonged to the woman who was now sitting awkwardly on his lap, giving her a sheepish smirk. “Well, at least I knew where I was going, right?”

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Was she--she was sitting on Jones Dennis' lap. She was just about to award him another gold star when the toppling occurred and now she was just--there. She bit her lower lip, trying to snap her head away from the thoughts that were swimming there and instead focus on what he was saying. She laughed softly, finally putting together the comment with the last one. "Ah, yes...perhaps we should downgrade it to a silver star, though," she said with an impish grin. She was trying very hard to not feel too comfortable on his lap--not because she didn't want to, but because she wasn't sure if he wanted her to or not. But there was something oddly pulling, sitting there staring down at him. She could faintly feel his breath on her skin, the warmth of his body, how his hair smelled (pretty damn good if she had to be honest). "But maybe we could bring that grade back up again..." she added slowly, trying her hardest to keep eye contact with him.

His smirk turned into an amused smile as she downgraded him, but he felt it slowly melt away as she spoke about bringing his grade back up. Those crystal blue eyes were looking deep her own honey hued orbs, trying to figure out just what she meant by that. For all he knew, she was just making another joke. Maybe she was just saying that he should get back up and try and make his way into the kitchen again. But no, he didn’t think that’s what she meant at all. Between the fact that she hadn’t moved from her position on top of him, and how she was looking at him, and how she was saying what she was saying, he was sure that she wasn’t talking about getting a cup of coffee anymore. Or, he hoped he was, because that would make things very awkward, considering what he was about to do. “…I think we can work on that.” He said, swallowing roughly before his hand carefully moved around her waist, letting it sit there for a moment, noticing how she wasn’t pushing him away before he pushed himself forward, stalling for a moment before he kissed her. It was just a single, sweet kiss that lingered for a few moments before he pulled away, his eyes meeting hers.

“…so where does that put me?” He was of course talking about their little ‘grading system’, but ever since she made her little remark, he was sure it meant something a bit different now.

She hummed a bit as if deep in thought over his question, eyes still closed from the kiss. She felt as if her skin was tingling, and the fact that she wasn't the only one who was venturing to see where this might go--whether they were more than just friends or otherwise--was thrilling for Nora, to say the least. "I'd have to say...that you're doing better," she said slowly, eyes slowly fluttering open. She wasn't trying to be forward, really. It wasn't her style by any means, but she had a feeling that they were both wanting this to go in the same direction...and she didn't know if he would go for it unless there was a bit of pushing on her half. "Certainly somewhere between a gold and a silver star," she said with a laugh, letting her forehead rest gingerly on his.

"I suppose it just matters on how badly you want to improve that grade," she said, now sharing a smirk with him. It had been a long time since she got to be flirty and fun--since she got to hint at shagging and being with a bloke. There were some definite drawbacks to being the mother of a gay man that were now painfully obvious to her as she sat there on the lap of a very attractive male, receiving kisses while the both of them skirted around bringing any actual actions up in conversation. A small amount of panic washed over her as she thought about Jones and whether or not he'd actually be interested in--but wait. He was the one who had kissed her, so he had to be at least semi-interested, right?

He allowed his eyes to close momentarily, feeling her forehead rest against his own. They blinked open when she started speaking again, slightly glazed over baby blues losing focus as he continued to try and look into hers; but since they were so close it seemed impossible. Eventually he just let his gaze land on her lips, thinking about whether or not he should even bother giving a witty reply or if he should just show her how badly he wanted the gold star with no words at all. It seemed like saying anything would only waste more time, and he was sure that this little game was going to end sooner or later anyway. So, opting to just skip over anything he could have said, he raised his hand and pushed her hair back, kissing her again. It started slow, just his lips pressing against hers, but eventually the kisses got deeper, leaning back into the chair, pulling her with him as he did so.

God, it felt so good to kiss her. It felt so good to touch her, to feel her skin beneath his fingertips, to touch her hair that felt like silk; to just keep her close to him, like he had wanted to do for…well, he didn’t even know how long it had been. It was too long though. But, she was pregnant. She had been pregnant with one of his very good friend’s children, and… well, it was just not good timing. But right now, as he felt her mouth move against his own to perform perfect kisses, he wasn’t thinking about Griff. He wasn’t thinking about who she used to be with. He was just thinking about her.

It seemed like they had been on the chair for a very long time before he decided to speak. “So I’m…guessing you…don’t want that…coffee anymore…?” He spoke between kisses, smirking as he did so.

She returned the kisses as she formulated her response. He was definitely giving the reaction she had been hoping for, not it was just a matter of figuring out how far the two of them wanted to go with it without actually asking him that. She loved the way his face looked when he smirked; it was triumphant, but still somewhat innocent. "I'm feeling quite awake now. Though, I don't think..." she paused, filling the brief silence with another kiss as she tried to decide if she should just blurt out what she was thinking or if she should be coy about it. "I don't think I'll be apparating home anytime soon," she said softly, raising an eyebrow and giving him a smirk of her own. "But I can't imagine that you're terribly comfortable sitting like this," she added after a while, wondering if the hints would suffice or if she'd be better off spelling things out more for him.

He wasn’t very fond of this whole speaking thing while there were so many better things they could be doing. He did have to pull back for a moment as she spoke, raising his own brow before he gave a small smile and ducked his head to press a kiss against her neck. “Not particularly.” He moved so that he could kiss her jaw. “But…I’m sure there’s somewhere we could go that would be more comfortable for both of us.” He spoke quietly, speaking against her skin as his hand played with the ends of some of her hair, twisting it around his finger before he moved to kiss her lips. “But…I’m willing to be uncomfortable if you’d rather stay just as we are…if not, I’m sure I can direct us to another area of the apartment…”


She took in a deep breath as he kissed at her jaw, listening carefully to what he was saying. "We can't have you being uncomfortable," she said, her lips pouting a bit after his kiss. "Maybe we could...move to your bedroom," she murmured, punctuating her words with kisses. She was probably being too forward, but--ugh, she didn't care anymore. She was a bit nervous about what would happen--she wasn't in the best of shape anymore, and there were so many things to think about because of the pregnancy. But she wasn't going to think about them. Because she was currently sitting on the lap of a very cute bloke, snogging him and not too far off from a shag, and she really wanted to do this, wanted to be with him, and wanted to spend time with him. She kissed him again before slowly untangling herself and standing up, grabbing his hands to pull him up. Once he was standing with her, she pulled him in for another kiss. "Care to finish off the grand tour, then?"

He let out a light sigh of relief as she mentioned the bedroom, having been hoping that would be where they were going with this. But, he didn’t want to assume anything. They had both been nudging in that general direction, but he felt extremely uncomfortable about bringing up anything else. So, he let his lips linger against hers when she kissed him, and watched as she rose to her feet, rising to his own with her help. Now his head was spinning for completely different reasons. But, he just gave her a smile, pressed his forehead against hers as they were before and linked their fingers together. “It’s in that general direction…” He glanced to the side, to the hallway that was off to their right. It wasn’t long before he began to move backwards towards the hallway, pulling her along with him as he kissed her, only to collide roughly with the wall, which made him grin. “I’m so graceful, right?” he said with a light laugh, but resumed kissing her once they had both gotten over what a klutz he was. He once again began moving them towards their destination, checking behind him every now and then to make sure he didn’t run into anything else.

Once they got to the room, he had her enter first, his hands going to her waist as he followed her inside, his hands moving to the bottom of her shirt, carefully pulling it up and over her head. His left arm wrapped around her now exposed waist, pulling her close to his chest as the other hand went to close the door.

In his opinion, she was worth the wait…but he couldn’t wait any longer.