◎ c h a r l i e (spinnets) wrote in valesco,
@ 2011-07-20 23:18:00

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Penelope!
He let out a long breath from his nose, staring up at the night sky with little interest. Charlie had started out with a lot of interest, as it seemed that the perfectly clear sky should not be wasted by being indoors, but the staring and gazing had caused his thoughts to wander and drift away from his current position on the earth. He probably shouldn't have let his mind lose itself in his thoughts, as he had a rather lovely girl lying in the grass beside him, resting just as quietly as him.

Charlie really had no idea what he was doing there with Penelope Fawcett. He'd asked her for coffee the other night, and their strange but interesting conversation from the coat closet seemed to carry over into an amusing bit of chit chat. Charlie wasn't going to bring up the fact that she'd snogged him quite thoroughly, as it was more than easy to tell that the girl was not one of his usual birds. She was beautiful, of course (that was a given, Charlie's ego only allowed so much--), but he had no desire to snog her right now. Well, no--he wouldn't oppose it, but Charlie was finding himself enjoying himself just lying there in silence.

His life was constantly moving in a whirl of action and chatter, it was just nice to be near someone who he didn't feel like he needed to impress.

"I failed Astronomy one semester," he said, moving his hands to create a pillow under his head, his eyes still locked on the sky.

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perfectblack
2011-07-21 02:26 am UTC (link)

It was so funny to her that she when she heard of people doing poorly in classes, her first reaction was one of disbelief, followed shortly by the tiniest hint of disdain. It was funny how old habits died hard, even if you fell head-first into new ones without the slightest bit of notice. Her palms felt clammy when she remembered her last year, how from an E averaging student, she dropped to Ps and even the occasional D. How she'd likely have been put on some kind of probation or even expulsion if Dianna hadn't gone to such pains to tutor her, drill academics into her head, and even, on those days where Penelope was walking dead, forge her writing herself. She felt the telltale sting of threatening tears and shook her head slightly, though she could do nothing about the closing of her throat.

But even those feelings, though she grieved to have them, were new to her. No matter what her brother or anyone else thought, she had not been stuck in some perpetual cycle of grief. She just had the inability to feel anything, driftless, really, waking dead herself. She had to wake up some time, she knew that intellectually, but it just sort of happened when this strange man with his funny moods just barged into her closet.

It was unhealthy, or unrealistic, or both, to think that by seeing him again, she'd feel the same way. But she did, and she was, and even though it terrified her, definitely overwhelmed her, Penelope had the sinking feeling she would not stop herself.

None of that, of course, excused the fact that she'd been surreptitiously staring at his lips the entire time, finding herself both intrigued and disturbed by how much inner-monologue she could generate about them based on one short experience in a closet that, by any other person's standards, hardly even classified as clandestine.

It was this same inner-monologue Penelope yanked herself from as she realized she was staring at his mouth again but still hadn't responded. She jerked her gaze back upwards, hoping it went unnoticed, and murmured noncommittally. "I—er, came close to failing once," she said, mostly truthfully. In point of fact, she herself had failed, but through the good graces of a friend she truly did not deserve, no one else beside them knew that. "But here you are star-gazing, so I suppose somewhere, Professor Sinistra is very proud."

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spinnets
2011-07-24 02:21 am UTC (link)

Charlie let out a light snort, "I snored through so many of her classes, I'm sure there's nothing I could do to make that woman be proud of me."

He hadn't been a very good student, and to be honest he hadn't been a very good quidditch player in school, either. He'd made it onto the team through some technicalities and suspensions, and had stayed on there because he'd somehow managed to come through in a few big moments and make everyone forget how he'd screwed up the day before. Playing in the off season on summer league teams was what had given Charlie the push to make it to the pros, but even that had taken some effort. He didn't get scouted right away and had to---ugh, he couldn't even think about the open-call tryouts he had to wake up at four in the morning to go to and hope that he got a minute to fly in front of the coaches.

Maybe these quiet nights weren't the best things to do. When his mind was relaxed and empty he almost always had his thoughts drift back to the insecurities he'd buried under the many women he'd bagged or the atrocious comments he made to the tabloids. He didn't like being pensive.

No more thinking. Charlie dropped his head to the side to look at Penelope, wondering what was going on in her head. She didn't seem overly impressed by quidditch players, which was good though Charlie had no desire for her brother to find out they'd been seeing each other---meeting each other. Not doing anything, but it wasn't as if a hulk like Drystan Fawcett would believe that. At any rate, Charlie wondered if Penelope was expecting something of him, or expecting him to do something.

"What class?" he asked, figuring that he'd wait for a more obvious hint at pursuing...well, anything before actually doing something. "What did you almost fail?"

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perfectblack
2011-07-24 04:23 am UTC (link)

Q: What did you almost fail?

A: Oh, just everything.

It should have gotten easier to admit to herself somewhere along the way. Penelope tried to tell herself it was all right what had happened—everyone said it themselves, who expected her to be able to bounce back from such a horrendous tragedy?

Except, if that were the case, she should have gracefully stepped down from Head Girl, she should have talked to her professors, her brother, maybe even other friends, about the difficulties she was finding herself in. But she'd been too numb, too scared, too too many things to be rational. By the time she'd realized what she'd done, she had no NEWTs, no future prospects, and a slew of people who were expecting her to go on to do good things in the world.

Doing good things in the world. Like lying to her remaining family every day as she pretended to go to a wonderful internship that didn't exist, leading to a career path she would never have, for the successful life that was so, so far beyond her reach right now.

But Penelope couldn't admit that to this newfound friend, if indeed he was that. Not when Charles appeared to shrug off whatever he couldn't take in stride. She'd never be able to openly admit to failing at anything, but he seemed so at ease with it! Neither did she want to lie, though at this point the lie had gotten so big that one person wouldn't make a difference, so she went for the only other option: distraction.

Turning on her side, she tore her gaze from his eyes down to his mouth, then closed the few inches between their heads and kissed him full on the lips.

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spinnets
2011-07-26 08:39 pm UTC (link)

He had tried just talking to her. Charlie would like it to be known that he had not initiated this kiss, or the first one, and had actually been quite the gentleman these past few dates and had done nothing more than converse with Penelope. Maybe he wanted to kiss her, and for more reasons than her face being one of the most unique and beautiful he'd ever seen. Charlie wanted whatever was looking down on them right now to know that he had not been thinking the vile and usually present thoughts of getting his jollies off on this girl, and had earned the kiss.

At least it made sense to him.

Charlie wasted no time in kissing her back, and he felt her insistence and complied. This summer had been a rather dry one for him, in the female department. He hadn't felt very---well, good about himself, and it was hard to give in to the advances of the not very interesting women that threw themselves at him at the bars and clubs. They were good-looking, very good-looking, but after that bloody magazine came out and revealed that Charlie had not been drafted out of Hogwarts, and that his nineteen year old teammate had dropped out of the school to play for the same team. His ego had taken a huge blow with that, and having to explain to everyone that he'd just been a regular guy---some might find it endearing, but he'd worked so fucking hard all of his life to not be good enough----

---why did she make his mind go to all these different places. Charlie took this break in his thoughts to push himself into a more comfortable position, hovering over Penelope, his hand going to her waist for some balance. Snogging in the moonlight, far more romantic than anything he'd ever imagined he'd be involved in.

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perfectblack
2011-07-27 01:09 am UTC (link)

Penelope would have felt a lot more embarrassed at herself had Charles not been so exceptional at all this. Not that she had much worldly experience in the area of kissing, etc., but this was, indeed, quite exceptional. When she was around him like this, there was so much noise and energy and excitement, she simply didn't know what to do with herself… and it was clearly going to get her in trouble.

It was like someone whispered Ennervate in her ear. Blood burned beneath the surface of her skin, her heart stuttered and thudded excitedly, and her head—oh, her head simply wouldn't be quiet. All thoughts, every thought that had been muted were loud and buzzing at once. She felt awake, finally, after so much time passed feeling just the opposite.

Not noticing how carried away she'd been getting, Penelope was jolted from her hyper-aware state by the realization that her leg had wrapped entirely around his waist, her hands twisted round his shoulders, mouth moving much too feverishly against his.

She'd just accosted him with her face! Very aggressively! At least, to Penelope it was aggressive. Even beyond aggressive, as a matter of fact, she thought it almost rude! He very likely had called her out tonight to talk—perhaps something had been bothering him—and before he'd even broached the subjected, she was on him faster than stinksap on a mimbletonia. For the second time. He was going to think she just went around—snogging unsuspecting people, bullying them into not making a fuss!

Pulling away, her eyes did a concerned sweep of his face as she tried somewhat to regain her breath, just barely managing, "Is this all—right? I—you don't have to—"

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spinnets
2011-07-28 03:59 am UTC (link)

"Did I---do you---?"

Charlie's hand, which had been gripping Penelope's thigh, let go immediately at her break in the snog. Oh---maybe he'd let things get too far. He hadn't particularly noticed that she'd become wrapped around him. No, no, he noticed, but not noticed in the way that would make him concerned or wary or---she was snogging him, for Pete's sake, he wanted to be close to her and to touch her this way. Charlie had to constantly remind himself that she was younger than him, and sheltered (well, he mostly assumed that part from the way her brother rarely spoke about his family in public), and that he should be going slow with these things, but---he was also not very good at controlling his emotions and actions. He was a dumb Gryffindor who could barely get by on his talents and good looks, he couldn't have a saint's patience, either.

He dropped down from his elbows, and though he was basically resting upon Penelope now it didn't feel as it had just moments before when they'd been kissing furiously. Charlie looked at her with confusion and worry; he really had no idea how to read her and it amazed him.

"We can stop," he said, though his face was still flushed and he didn't really want to. His hands were on the side of her face and he pushed back her hair, tugging bits of grass away. It would be hard to deny her if she kissed him again, even if it was becoming more and more obvious that she was having trepidations about whatever it was that they were doing. Charlie didn't know what she wanted, what she wanted from him, and he really didn't know what he was going for, either.

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perfectblack
2011-07-28 04:11 am UTC (link)

Although she tried her very best to maintain a poker face, Penelope felt her face fall. Well, she had given him an out, after all, there was always the fifty-percent chance he'd take it. Even though she wish he hadn't. At the present, she felt fairly confident that he did not think her a troll, but Dianna and Sorcha had both made it obvious that once males reached a certain point in the process, it was less about being a troll and more that they were a boy and you were hopefully a girl.

Frankly, that suited her purposes very well, but if it was going to cause him any discomfort, that would be counterproductive!

"We should," she said, very politely in spite of the fact that she was still pinned by him to the ground. "I don't want to force you into anything. That would be inconsiderate."

Inconsiderate but tempting given his lips were just that close…

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spinnets
2011-07-28 04:40 am UTC (link)

A breath let out from his nose as she accepted that this was over. Charlie wondered how dumb it had been to suggest that they should stop, even though she hadn't exactly said yes to the idea. She'd only said they should, but that didn't mean it was the final answer, right? Penelope was worried about forcing him into anything? Charlie felt a flicker of a light bulb go off in his head, and wondered if this was some backwards Ravenclaw logic that made him make the decision that she wanted him to make. His teammates pulled that kind of brain logic on him all the time, maybe he'd figured them out.

He dropped down and kissed her by her ear, his lips moving down her jawline to slowly revive the furious snog they'd just interrupted. Maybe it didn't have to be so frantic, there was no need to be clawing at each other as if they'd never see each other again. The idea flustered him slightly, but he knew that if he wanted to see Penelope again, he'd have--or at least make other chances to do so.

"It is getting late," he muttered, as his mouth went to her neck.

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perfectblack
2011-07-28 11:54 pm UTC (link)

There was that peculiar sensation of time stopping, but every single one of your senses bursting with overload. Her heart drummed so loudly in her ears she almost couldn't hear Charles. Her chest was heaving, her eyes starry and difficult to focus, and she was spiraling out of control.

The touch of his lips on her nerve-wakened skin was like a little zap. There was this tingle crawling along her spine, a tiny prickle that didn't seem to stop or lessen, but creeped right along into her busy little head. When it grew in intensity, she shifted restlessly beneath him to try to alleviate it. It didn’t. Penny thought, for a moment, she might actually go mad from it. For the first time that evening, she felt just a twinge of panic. She didn't want this slow burn. She wanted that frenzy they found themselves in before, that feverish ache!

Penelope slipped her hand between them to work on her robe fastenings. Just before pulling his mouth back to hers, she said softly by his ear, "I like late best."

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