Icebreaker [Rickie]

[Lilly White]

Lilly simply looked more embarrassed then usual as Rickie repaired the glass with his wand. She was more embarrassed on the principle that she had broken it in the first place, ignoring the fact that it could be easily fixed. Some places made her replace glasses purely because of the fact that she kept on breaking them over and over again. Why did she have to be so clumsy in the worst places? Heat rose further in her cheeks as Rickie took her hands once more to heal them with magic.

Had she been able to see her face in the mirror, Lilly would have been horrified. Her face was such bright red that it clashed with her hair; even the tips of her ears were red. Still; she couldn’t see herself and there was probably nothing that would help her appearance at this stage, other than a bucket of iced water.

Lilly’s curios nature perked its head up as Rickie mentioned that he’d had worse than a few drops of blood on his coat, and had he been one of her drawings, she would have questioned him further. But she had no such confidence for real live people and held her tongue, as she always did.

For a second, her eyes met Rickie’s deep blue ones, and everything seemed to blue out of focus except for his face. She would definitely have to paint those eyes once she got home. Charcoal would simply not do them justice, she thought.

“Hey Lilly, do you, one day, maybe, if it’s ok with you, like to, uhh, weather permitting, go have coffee with me at the cafe down the street?”

…And then Lilly’s world stopped.

At least she thought it had. Everything seemed to stand still. The voices in the background faded away to nothingness and the shadowy figures disappeared into a dark fog. They were unimportant. Her heart raced in her chest; whether through excitement or stress she wasn’t so sure. Her breathing accelerated too. She was going to start hyperventilating soon if she wasn’t careful.

“You actually want to meet up with me? Again? After all this…?” Lilly blinked several times and sweeping her hand (more carefully this time) at what had been a mess, somewhat disbelieving, her voice stuttering from her lack of comprehension, “Are you asking me out? On a date? A real date?”

When was the last time she had been on a proper date? Lilly paused to consider this for a moment. She had only ever been on one date, and it could hardly be called ‘proper’. She had only been in her 5th year at the time anyway. Why would anyone find her interesting enough to want to see more than once? She was just a part of the background; like her pictures. Not something that would hold a person’s attention for very long.

“Why?” asked Lilly, voicing the question as it continued to whiz around her brain. She looked up at Rickie with big earnest eyes, which were filled with a light and hope that hadn’t shone for such a long time it was almost hard to remember.

[Rickie Connery]

The waiting, it was the worst part of what he’d done. Rickie never should have asked, it had been a stupid spur of the moment idea. What had he been thinking? A girl like Lilly would never go out with him, and if she did she’d probably be so freaked out that she’d leave after a few minutes. He was erratic, jumpy and quiet; not the best kind of company. Any way he doubted he’d be able to even hear Lilly’s answer; his heart was pounding loudly and somewhere in the vicinity of his throat.

”I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-“ he started at the same time Lilly spoke again. When he heard her start talking he shut his mouth and braced himself for the ‘No way,’ that was sure to come. Instead it was something Rickie had not been expecting, well he hadn’t been expecting anything other than a ‘no’ so anything was unexpected really.

’Only if you want to,” he answered quietly, shifting himself uncomfortably. Rickie followed her hand as it motioned to the water on the floor. She was probably talking about his odd behaviour and how he could possibly expect a yes after it. ”You’re right, I’m really sorry about everything I did. I should go now,” Rickie hurriedly scooped up Muck and went to leave. A date with Lilly would have been awesome but she was way out of his league.

Why?

Lilly’s question caught his attention as he was leaving and he turned back to her. He couldn’t possibly explain why could he? She was kind, gentle and patient; qualities that Rickie already adored in her. He shrugged in answer, ”Because, you’re you.” It was all he could think of and he doubted it made any sense at all.

[Lilly White]

Everything he did? What on earth was he talking about? After all, she broke the glass, she spilt blood and water everywhere, she caused awkward silences… Lilly was confused and then hurt a little as he stood up to leave. She knew it had been too good to be true. She had long ago resigned herself to a life alone, and had been foolish to think that anyone would want to spend time with her. She had ruined whatever slim chance she had at what sounded like a perfectly pleasant cup of coffee with her stupid babbling.

Inside, Lilly berated herself ruthlessly. She always, always, always did this! Why could she never learn from her past mistakes? She would get her hopes up and then wreck everything. Which caused so much stress and anguish. She would have to find a way to untangle when she got back home. Perhaps christening her new studio with an abstract art might work. A few paint filled water balloons, that always made her feel better when thrown at a wall. All completely useless and tasteless of course, but they did make her feel better. After all; what could be more fun than hurling balloons full of paint at a blank canvas?

Her attention returned back to the real world however when Rickie turned around again, by some strange act of fate, and stopped her thoughts of paint filled water balloons right in their tracks. “Because, you’re you.” he replied quite simply. Lilly’s world rocked and she was sure she was bout to faint.

“Me?” she queried further as her brain struggled to catch up with the overload of information. And then, just to snap her back into reality the muffled call of one of her drawings burst free of the page; “Oh just stop babbling and say YES already!”

She blushed profusely but held Rickie’s gaze. “Sorry about him. But well, the painting never lies.” “What sort of stupid psycho babble was that?” demanded the muffled voice of the drawing right before Lilly clocked it over the head with the eraser. She then smudged the offending drawing’s mouth so he could make no further rude or embarrassing comments, despite his audible protests. She just hoped that no one would give her strange looks. She turned her gaze one more to Rickie and smiled apologetically. And then she took a deep breath steadying herself. “Yes, I would love to go for coffee sometime actually.”

[Rickie Connery]

As soon as he’d said what he did Rickie had begun to start breathing hard. It felt like he’d run a mile; it was the nerves and anticipation that was mucking around with him. He hadn’t meant to hurt Lilly’s feelings when he’d gotten up, he could see it in her face. If only he could tell her it was he who was in the wrong. Rickie still expected her to say he was crazy as he stood staring at her. It was coming he just knew it; oh well he’d been told by that many people it must be true.

”Yes you,” the man squeaked quietly, with a definite nod that fluffed up his black hair with the force of it. If he had been gifted with better social skills he would have elaborated more on why, instead he stood looking earnestly at her with his dark eyes and his heart thumping in his chest. The voice from Lilly’s sketch pad made the man jump with its suddenness but he liked what it was saying. Again he nodded his head in agreement.

And then, after what seemed like eons, Lilly’s answer came. She’d said yes! Rickie positively beamed at her when she did. He had scored a date with who he could only describe as the nicest and prettiest girl he’d ever met in the entire village. For a moment he felt almost normal again, the worries and affects of what he’d seen where dulled and he felt actually happy. He wasn’t faking it like normal; he was actually smiling properly, teeth showing and everything.

”Where are you staying? I’ll send you an owl when to meet and stuff,” Rickie chattered excitedly.

[Lilly White]

Wow. That was the only way to describe Lilly’s thought processes when Rickie’s face lit up like a small child’s on Christmas morning. He had wanted her to say yes! She returned his smile with a warm one of her own, for once not embarrassed by the situation. She was extremely pleased. Overjoyed in fact. She made a mental note to herself to do some portraits of Rickie when she got home so she could experiment with her water colours some more. There would be no need for stress-relieving-water-balloons-of-pain tonight!

“I just bought this charming little cottage near the edge of the town,” replied Lilly happily, fishing around in her bag for the slip of paper that had her new address written on it. She scribbled it down on the corner of her sketch pad before handing it over to Rickie, having to restrain herself from bouncing up and down. It was almost like she had drunk several cups of black coffee in one go. She was practically bursting with excitement and energy, and it would have been plain to anyone who looked at her.

A little awkwardness returned to her demeanor; as she wasn’t entirely sure what to say next. “Um, so where are you staying? In case I need to get a message to you or something…” It was at this point that Lilly realized that she didn’t actually own an owl to send messages with; she had never really needed one with her non-existent social life. She was going to have to pop in to Diagon Alley and fix that as soon as possible.

[Rickie Connery]

Like Lilly, all Rickie really wanted to do was dance for joy. He would have done it then and there if it wasn’t for the fact the people of the Three Broomsticks thought he was crazy enough already. Wow he still couldn’t believe it, it felt like a dream but Rickie never had good dreams. It had to be the first time he was thankful for his nightmares, it meant he knew that Lilly had really agreed to go out with him.

Excitedly he took Lilly’s address and held onto it firmly. He’d probably go glue it to his mirror as soon as he and Lilly’s conversation ended. It was something he’d make sure he never lost that was for sure. ”Okay, I’ll definitely send you an owl to find out when you’re free and stuff,” he positively sung, still grinning broadly. This was real and Rickie could only hope he didn’t screw things up on the date itself.

That thought brought him down a notch or two. He probably would, slip into some flashback and end up tackling some poor stranger. Then again Hogsmeade was quiet, maybe he’d be lucky? ”I’m staying right here in the Three Broomsticks,” the man answered happily, ”I’m really sorry but I have to go get something done for work so I’ll have to go. I can’t wait to see you again.” It was most certainly the truth, he still had stock reports to do otherwise he’d have the Scores accountant on his ass and he couldn’t wait to see Lilly again. That and he wanted to run up to his room to give a quick dance for joy.

[Lilly White]

Lilly glowed under the enthusiasm in Rickie’s voice, her face alight with a bright smile. His transformation since her first sketch was amazing, and she had to admit he really did look quite handsome, his looks improved further by his amazing smile. And how his eyes sparkled in the light…

She shook her head to clear it ever so slightly, realizing that she was about to start daydreaming. Luckily she had caught it just before it had started. That could have been incredibly embarrassing and awkward.

”I’m really sorry but I have to go get something done for work so I’ll have to go. I can’t wait to see you again.” finished Rickie, and Lilly’s usual curiosity would have prompted to ask where he worked had his last sentence not side tracked her thoughts. “I can’t wait either,” she replied dreamily, a happy smile cemented on her face. She would need to celebrate this accomplishment somehow when she got home.