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Post by Alison Hale on Mar 8, 2009 0:30:50 GMT -5
Alison listened intently as Geoffrey talked about his family. The way his face looked whenever he talked about them wanted to make her smile. "Wow," she said. "My family is no where near that big. Its fairly small. My mum was an only child, and my dad had one brother, but that's it."
She gave a shake of her head and smiled. "I wish that I had a big family like that. There were never people my age at family gatherings. They were either much older or younger."
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Mar 8, 2009 1:11:39 GMT -5
Geoffrey smiled. "I love my family... but I have to say, sometimes they get to be too much. You kind of get lost in the shuffle, there are so many of them. This year, we're having two Christmas celebrations... one with the Ferreras and one with the Montgomerys. They'll probably both be crazy."
An idea came to him, but he was hesitant. Was it too soon to ask her to come to Christmas at the Montgomerys'? They hadn't even had a proper date yet. Maybe he would ask her after the quidditch game. Yes.... that sounded good.
"Ah... anyway, about the other questions. I like rock, too. I also like a little country... Stuff like Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. My favorite place to visit, I think, has to be Greece. There's this island, Santorini, that's built right into the side of a mountain overlooking the Mediterranean. It's beautiful."
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Post by Alison Hale on Mar 8, 2009 1:26:05 GMT -5
Her family get togethers were usually calm and boring, however she managed to keep herself entertained by playing and watching out for the younger ones. She couldn't imagine would it would have been like if her family had been huge.
"Greece? I went there once, but it was only because a little boy blew up his family's neighbor's bushes. That was an interesting thing to fix. It was in an all muggle neighborhood too. That was a half a day of almost chaos with the neighbors." Alison had been to several different places in the time that she worked for the Ministry, however she had only been to a couple for an actual vacation. "But that sounds like it would be beautiful. I hope that over the summer, I can take a vacation and go somewhere nice. I thought about just opening up a world map and wherever my finger landed, that would be where I would go."
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Mar 8, 2009 1:38:12 GMT -5
Geoffrey smiled. "Our family business is in shipping... I was supposed to go into the business, too, and maybe I still will someday. But I wanted to make my own way, try something else first, which is why I took the job here at the ministry. But I went on a couple of trips with my uncle Christopher... he handles the ships and stuff and sails all over the place. And one of them was in the Mediterranean. I really loved Santorini. We stayed there about a week, and I never wanted to leave. If you like travelling, you'd really like my sister Christine. She went on trips all over the place with my uncle Christopher. She's seen so many different places..."
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Post by Alison Hale on Mar 8, 2009 1:45:40 GMT -5
"I'm glad that you didn't go directly into shipping," she stated, however her cheeks went back to a pink color. Alison had to admire him for trying something else first. Plus, who knows if he had gone into shipping, what she would have been doing at the moment. Probably hurrying up to finish lunch and get back to her desk.
"But, maybe I will talk to your sister sometime and see where she would advise me to go." Alison gave a light smile.
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Mar 8, 2009 1:59:52 GMT -5
Geoffrey grinned. "Oh, you have to watch out, though. Once you ask Christine about travel, it's hard to get her to stop talking about her adventures. She's been through a lot, and she really loves talking about it all. And she hates being back here and being forced to go to school. I think she'd rather be on a boat than anything else in the world."
Whenever he talked about Christine, Geoffrey's face would light up. He adored his sister and missed her terribly when she was away. And he was proud of her independent spirit and adventurous nature.
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Post by Alison Hale on Mar 8, 2009 2:04:49 GMT -5
Seeing Geoffrey's face light up, Alison couldn't hide a smile that wanted to appear. She laughed. "Well, I'm sure that her stories would be entertaining. And if I was on a boat, traveling the world, I think that I would want to be there all the time too." She loved to travel, however she never really got the chance to.
"And it sounds like you're close with your sister. Its always nice to hear someone talk about their family like that."
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Mar 8, 2009 11:40:59 GMT -5
"Yeah... Christine and I are pretty close. When she's away, she writes to me all the time. I know what the trips mean to her, but I miss her like crazy when she's gone."
It was true... when Christine was gone, he always felt like something was missing. If not for the constant letters, he would have lost touch with her completely, and he didn't think he could take that. He really was glad to have her home, but he almost felt selfish because of it, knowing that she was happier at sea.
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Post by Alison Hale on Mar 8, 2009 11:52:10 GMT -5
While he was talking, Alison wondered what it would have been like to have a sibling. She was always quite content with being alone however, because she always kept herself busy. Attention wasn't something that she ever strived for, or anything. She didn't care to much for a lot of attention. Alison liked to be in the background of things. Maybe if she had a sibling, they could have been in the spotlight.
"I understand," she said with a nod and then taking a bite out of her sandwich. "I don't have the sibling experience, but my grandmother was something like that, except she didn't go on trips. She would tell me stories about when she did when she was younger however. But I do miss her." Alison gave a smile and looked down to her sandwich, then back up. "So Mr. Montgomery, are there any dark secrets that I should know about," she asked with a teasing look.
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Mar 8, 2009 13:11:54 GMT -5
The way she talked about her grandmother made his heart ache. Clearly the woman had meant a lot to Alison. he gave her a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry about your grandmother," he said softly.
He took another bite of his sandwich, and was still chewing when she asked her next question. He nearly spit out his food at the question. Instead, he quickly swallowed and began to laugh. "Dark secrets? Well, let's see... what would you think if I told you I had three wives in three different countries?" He winked, letting her know that he was kidding.
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Post by Alison Hale on Mar 8, 2009 13:24:13 GMT -5
Judging by the look on his face as he started to laugh at her question, she knew better than to take a drink of pumpkin juice just yet. Alison wanted to laugh at his response, but she kept it in, but her eyes were dancing with it. "Well," she said putting a finger to her chin, as if she was contemplating the situation. "I wouldn't know what to think. Although, I think that I would probably hit the floor." She started to laugh.
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Mar 9, 2009 21:12:49 GMT -5
Geoffrey laughed at her expression. He liked that she didn't mind a little teasing here and there. "Well, as much as I'd like to see that, I'm afraid I don't. I really don't have any deep dark secrets, unless you count the fact that I like peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and occasionally dip French fries in my ice cream."
He shrugged and looked at her almost worriedly, hoping that his weird eating habit didn't turn her off. "I know it sounds gross. Christine once dared me to try it, and I actually liked it. You know, the whole combination of sweet and salty."
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Post by Alison Hale on Mar 9, 2009 21:24:31 GMT -5
Alison's eyes widened slightly. "You like to dip your fries in your ice cream too!? My mum would always look at me like I was insane when I would just order fries and ice cream." A smile spread across her face. "I've never tried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, but I do like oreo cookies dipped in peanut butter."
She didn't think that he had a weird eating habit. She did like trying new things, so there was nothing wrong with it. "There's nothing wrong with that."
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Mar 9, 2009 21:33:34 GMT -5
Geoffrey gasped. "No way!" he said, breaking into a wide smile. "You like ice cream and French fries, too?"
He put down his sandwich and grabbed her hand. Adopting a very serious expression, he said, "Miss Hale, I do believe you are my ideal woman. Why don't we hop a plane to Vegas and get hitched?"
Then he burst out laughing. "No, I'm just kidding. But seriously... that's awesome. I'm going to have to make you a peanut butter and banana sandwich now. And Oreo cookies dipped in peanut butter sounds fantastic."
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Post by Alison Hale on Mar 9, 2009 21:43:00 GMT -5
"I didn't think that I would ever meet anyone else that did that," she said still smiling. On the nights that she didn't feel like cooking a whole lot, that would be what she would make, if she didn't heat up what she had.
At his next comment, Alison couldn't help but laugh as he did. If you bring the banana and peanut butter sandwich, I'll bring the oreos and peanut butter."
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Mar 9, 2009 21:59:49 GMT -5
"That sounds like a plan," Geoffrey said agreeably. "And maybe we could try out some other weird food combinations and see if we like them, too. What do you think? Of course, that'll be after I make you my soon-to-be world famous enchiladas."
He couldn't stop smiling... it almost felt as if his face had stretched into place and was now stuck that way.
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Post by Alison Hale on Mar 9, 2009 22:10:01 GMT -5
"Trying new things is what I like to do," said Alison. She was still smiling. "And trying weird food combinations with someone else sounds better than doing it alone." She gave a small laugh. "And I'm pretty excited about trying your soon-to-be world famous echiladas."
Knowing that she had something to look forward to, rather than sitting at a desk and messing with papers and everything else everyday, was appealing. "Oh, and there is something else that I should make you. It's fried mashed potatoes, mixed with bacon and cheese, then rolled in flour."
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Mar 9, 2009 22:15:19 GMT -5
Geoffrey raised his eyebrows at this. "Ooooh, now that sounds positively evil," he said. "But fantastic. I'm totally up for it. Sometime, we'll have to have a little cooking party and just make all kinds of weird and different foods."
It seemed the more he talked with her, the more things he wanted to do with her. They practically had half a dozen dates planned, and they hadn't actually been on one date yet. At least, not a real one. Lunch in the cafeteria hardly counted.
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Post by Alison Hale on Mar 9, 2009 22:24:25 GMT -5
"My grandmother used to make it all the time, and it is amazing." It was one of the recipes that Alison learned from her grandmother. They would always spend part of the day in the kitchen making something. "That sounds like a good idea. I like to experiment if I have the time." She gave him a wink.
Alison was looking foward to spending more time with him. If he liked to make things, like she did, then that made things even better.
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Mar 10, 2009 17:45:30 GMT -5
He was almost finished his sandwich at this point. He was glad he had grabbed a snack, because he really didn't want to leave her and go back to work. Around them, the cafeteria was starting to fill up, as it got closer to the typical lunch hour.
"Alison... I know it's maybe a little soon to be asking this, but since it's going to be Christmas in a couple of days, I was wondering if maybe you would like to come to Christmas dinner at my family's house."
He was a little breathless as he asked the question, and almost wished he could take it back once he'd said it. Was it too soon? Would she go running again?
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