|
|
Post by Alison Hale on Feb 23, 2009 8:48:31 GMT -5
Alison sat at her desk with a few crumpled up papers decorating the top. She ran her hands through her hair after she put her quill down for the upteenth time and crumbled up the piece of paper she was working on. That didn't sound good enough either.
At the moment, she was attempting to write an apology to Geoffrey. All morning she had been trying to figure out what to put on paper, but everything she put down didn't sound right. She had to apologize for her behavior the other day. It wasn't right for her to just blow him off like she did. Why had she even acted as if she didn't know him? No excuse seemed to be good enough and frankly, she deserved it if he didn't want to talk to her again, in her opinion anyway. Her shyness got in the way of things. Why was she getting shy now? He had seen how she could be, so why be shy now.
Alison swallowed and pushed several of the crumpled up pieces of paper into the trash can beside her desk. The trash can was almost full and a few other crumpled up pieces still littered her desk, but she would worry about those later. Right now, she just needed to swallow her shyness and go find him. It wouldn't be that hard, right? She did know the department he was in, so all she would have to do is ask where he was exactly.
Standing up from her desk, Alison straightened out her shirt and swallowed again. She could do it, or at least she hoped she could. Alison made her way to the door and opened it to be on her way to find Geoffrey.
|
|
|
|
Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Feb 23, 2009 11:58:38 GMT -5
After talking to Riley about the situation with Alison, Geoffrey had decided that he would try talking to her again. But he was nervous, and it took him all morning to get up the nerve to try. Geoffrey was a good-natured sort of guy, and he was not particularly good at dealing with rejection. If she acted like she didn't know him again, it would hurt. But, he reminded himself, at least he would know that it was one door he could close.
So finally, he got up and headed over to the department of magical accidents and catastrophes. Just as he was about to open the door to the department, it began to swing open, and Geoff stepped back to let the person pass.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alison Hale on Feb 23, 2009 12:24:24 GMT -5
After she opened the door, she noticed that someone was on the other side. Alison looked up, with the word 'sorry' about to come out of her mouth when she noticed who it was. She swore that her heart fell through her stomach. The word never was verbalized.
She thought that it was coincidental that the person she was looking for just showed up just as she was looking for him. "Geoffrey," Alison got out. Feeling her confidence slipping, Alison swallowed. "Erm, I was just going to go look for you. Can we talk? Please?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Feb 23, 2009 12:34:45 GMT -5
His lip twitched slightly, and he blinked at her. "So... you remember my name this time?" he asked, allowing a trace of sarcasm to creep into his voice. It felt bitter and unfamiliar on his tongue.
He sighed then, and nodded quietly. "Yeah... yes. Let's talk. The cafeteria?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Alison Hale on Feb 23, 2009 12:44:31 GMT -5
Alison almost flinched at the sarcasm that he used. She did know she deserved the tone he used.
She only nodded and started to walk with him in the direction of the cafeteria. It was quite, and to Alison, it was an awkward slience. Before they got to the cafeteria, however, she stopped him. She needed to go ahead and say something before she continued to think about what she was doing. "Wait," she said. "Before we go in there, there's a few things that I need to tell you first."
|
|
|
|
Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Feb 23, 2009 15:36:57 GMT -5
Geoffrey stopped walking and turned to look at her. He felt nervous and unsure of himself, and more than a little guilty about his early sarcasm. He was almost never that cynical; that kind of behavior was more typical of his cousin Roland. It was one of the reasons why they weren't close.
He looked in her eyes for a moment, seeing the regret written there. Taking a breath, he nodded. "OK," he said softly. "What is it?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Alison Hale on Feb 23, 2009 15:51:59 GMT -5
Taking a deep breath she began.
"I cannot tell you how sorry I am for the other day. There is no excuse good enough for the way I acted. I have been thinking about every possible way to apologize to you in a letter ever since it happened, but every time I wrote something it sounded stupid so I started all over again. I can't tell you how many times I attempted to write it. It's not your fault that I acted that way, it was my own and I take full blame for it. The other night at the club was amazing, there is not doubt about that, except for the fact that what's-his-name came up. After you left to go back to where your friends were, he attempted to get me to let him take me home or something, and I wasn't for that, so I just left. And quite honestly, everything I told you that night was the truth. Especially about the part about being painfully shy. I really am." Alison paused for a moment and looked up at him. "And quite honestly, the people that I've danced with at the club, I've never seen again. You're the first that I've seen afterword. I don't regret that, because I honestly wanted to see you again. I just regret the way that I acted toward you when you came by. I can't apologize enough for that."
After she finished, she took another deep breath. That was finally said, now the only thing that she was nervous about was his reaction.
|
|
|
|
Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Feb 23, 2009 16:17:31 GMT -5
Any hurt or bitterness Geoffrey might have felt vanished instantly at her words. After such a heartfelt apology, how could he harbor any anger towards her? In fact, he felt like a tool for being sarcastic earlier.
Inhaling deeply, he met her eyes and smiled softly. "Of course I forgive you," he said. "Why wouldn't I? Look... forget that little it if sarcasm ealier... it was out of character for me."
|
|
|
|
Post by Alison Hale on Feb 23, 2009 16:28:47 GMT -5
Whatever nervousness was there, disappeared and a smile appeared on her face. "No, it's alright. I can understand," she said. Alison didn't think that she had ever felt more relieved in her life. "And thank you. I really was on my way to find you whenever you appeared on the other side of the door." Her face had brightened considerably.
"By the way, when exactly is that quidditch match of yours?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Feb 23, 2009 16:54:59 GMT -5
Geoffrey laughed, his face also looking brighter. "And I was on my way to try and talk to you again and see if I had done something wrong," he admitted.
He felt as if an enormous weight had been lifted from his shoulders, allowing him to breathe again. He couldn't explain why he felt this way, after only spending one evening with her, but he knew that he felt better now that they had worked it out.
"Ah, the quidditch game," he said with a grin. "It's actually tomorrow night. Are you still interested?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Alison Hale on Feb 23, 2009 17:06:53 GMT -5
Alison was going to make sure that she emptied out her trash whenever she got back. She didn't have to worry about the contents anymore. That in itself was a relief.
"Of course I'm still interested," she said smiling. "I told you that I would go and I try my best to keep to my word." Quidditch was her favorite sport, even if she didn't play it. "Where are you playing?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Feb 23, 2009 21:58:08 GMT -5
Geoff grinned. "Cool," he said. "We actually rented out the Mortensen memorial stadium for a couple of hours... there aren't any games there this week. And even though we'll never fill the stands, at least we'll have a lot of room to play. I'd love to have you there... maybe I'll actually play well."
He grinned. "In the meantime, what do you say we have lunch together?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Alison Hale on Feb 23, 2009 22:19:41 GMT -5
"That's pretty cool. I'll make sure to yell extra loudly for you then, sound good?" Alison smiled again. "And I'm sure you play well anyway." She would definitely be at the game tomorrow night. "What time does the game start?"
At the mention of lunch, Alison nodded. "Sure. Lunch sounds pretty good about right now," she said with a laugh after her stomach growled lightly.
|
|
|
|
Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Feb 23, 2009 22:28:49 GMT -5
Geoffrey shrugged. "I have my moments, but there's definitely a reason I didn't go pro," he said lightly. Actually there were several reasons, one being that his parents wouldn't have liked it. Of course they wouldn't have tried to stop him if they thought it was what he really wanted, but they wouldn't have been happy, he was sure.
"Anyway, the game starts at 6. I guess I'll see you there."
He held out his hand to her. "OK, lunch it is. Sorry I can't take you anywhere better than the cafeteria." He smiled as he led her into the cafeteria.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alison Hale on Feb 23, 2009 23:00:33 GMT -5
She wasn't going to push for the reason he didn't go pro since he didn't tell her. She wasn't going to just pry into something that he might not want to tell her. "I'll be there at 5:45 then." Alison thought it was usually better to show up early for something rather than late. Her mother always taught her that if she was early for something, she was on time, if she was on time, she was late, and well, if she was late, then she was just late.
Almost shyly, Alison took Geoffrey's hand. "And don't worry about that. The cafeteria is perfectly fine with me." She smiled up at him.
|
|
|
|
Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Feb 24, 2009 1:32:43 GMT -5
"I'll be looking forward to it," Geoffrey said. he was already unreasonably excited by the thought of her being there, and wondered if he could convince Riley to stop by and meet Alison. After all, since Riley was his best friend, he wanted to make sure the two girls got along. Especially now that Riley was starting to see Fabian.... now maybe the two of them could go on double dates.
"Well, we can always pretend we're in an upscale restaurant," He teased as they walked into the cafeteria.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alison Hale on Feb 24, 2009 8:10:51 GMT -5
Alison was excited about going tomorrow night to the game. She would swallow her shyness again for tomorrow night and cheer as loud as she could for him.
She let out a laugh. It didn't take much to please her. Alison was the type that considered that it was the thought that counted. Walking into the cafeteria, there were already a few people in there and they weren't paying them any attention, which of course was just fine with her. "I wonder what is supposed to be good today," she said more to herself than him.
|
|
|
|
Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Feb 24, 2009 22:22:22 GMT -5
Geoffrey made a face. "I just hope it's not meatloaf day... otherwise, I'll be forced to eat a very unmanly salad," he said with a laugh. "Unless they have some good sandwiches left... The roast beef and cheese sandwich isn't bad."
He led her to the buffet line, where he noticed an unfortunate greyish lump of meat covered in a lumpy-looking brown gravy. "Ugh.... I told you," he said. "Meatloaf day. Really, why couldn't we get house elves to work our cafeteria? At least they can cook..."
|
|
|
|
Post by Alison Hale on Feb 24, 2009 22:31:26 GMT -5
At the mention of it possibly being meatloaf day, Alison strunched her nose a little. "Eh, meatloaf," she said with a distaste in her voice, but she let out a laugh. "Well, I won't go spread that word that you ate a salad if you end up with that." She looked at him teasingly.
"I usually go for the turkey sandwiches. They're not that bad either." Once she saw the meat loaf, Alison sighed. "Is it even right to call that meatloaf? That's just disgusting." She gave a slight shudder as she looked at it again. "So, I'm thinking that it will be a turkey sandwich day for me. As for the house elves I haven't the slightest idea. It would be better than this."
|
|
|
|
Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Feb 24, 2009 22:43:29 GMT -5
Geoff shook his head. "Honestly, who wants to eat that? The worst thing about meatloaf day is that everyone takes all the good sandwiches early. But the good thing is, we're here early... so maybe we can beat everyone else to the good stuff."
He moved over to the display of sandwiches, and after digging around for a bit, pulled out a roast beef sandwich. "Aha! I'm saved! I don't have to eat salad." He handed her a second sandwich. "And a turkey sandwich for you, my lady," he said with a mock bow.
|
|
