Bring your pic-a-nic baskets!

[clover_manalo]

Week Name/Date/Time: 'Promises and Plans'/Saturday, 15 Oct/12:40 pm
Location: Grounds, by the lake
Open to: TEH FAB FOUR. I mean Erik, Juhi, Phil, and Clover!
Currently involving: Clover + them other three, hee.

Comments

[clover_manalo]

Clover laughed again, a little mutely this time, as Phillip dragged pudding lovingly all over her face. Wait, lovingly?! Clover blanched. Well, that's what it seemed like, with him smiling at her like that, and being so gentle. She couldn't help but smile back, all pudding-faced and mucky, looking a right fool. She'd nearly forgotten the other two were there until they started laughing again. Much hyena-like laughter, especially coming from Erik!

Alright, alright, so laughing was all well and good -- except when two of your best mates were laughing at you for reasons you could not fathom. Clover flinched reflexively as Juhi's bread came whizzing by her, but it missed her completely. She was about to insult the Chaser's aim when she heard that tumble out of her flustered lips. Deserve each other? WOT WOT? As Juhi and Erik laughed and laughed... and laughed... Clover's glare looked remarkably like Phillip's, the two of them staring down their mates.

"Wha'd'you mean, lighten up?" she cried at Erik, flicking some grapes at him. "That was clearly an insult!" ... Wasn't it? Clover catapulted a grape or two at Juhi, as well. That's what you get for... doing what I just did to you with the all over each other bit. Clover gulped, realizing this, and felt guilty.

[juhi_saraf]

Juhi wanted to glare back at Phillip, but Erik was laughing so hard she couldn't. Her face was angry for about two seconds before she broke eye contact with Phil to glance at her boyfriend, who had been reduced to holding his sides. When she turned back to Phillip, she was fighting down laughter herself. "It MEANS," she said, oh Merlin, now Clover was in on the staring act, and Juhi nearly lost it, laughing all over the place, "that you deserve each other."

Her tone was completely different, the remark stated lightly, as a fact. But she stuck her tongue out at Clover, and picked up the grapes.

"It WAS an insult," she said, grinning, and threw a grape at Clover and a grape at Phil. Turning as though she wanted to ignore them completely, she faced Erik, wiggled her eyebrows, and winked at him.

[p_davenport]

Phillip rounded his glare on Erik as the celery hit him in the chest, but before he could say anything, Clover spoke for them both. He crossed his arms across his chest and nodded in agreement with her, then turned to glare at Juhi some more.

As both Erik and Juhi burst into ridiculous fits of laughter, Phillip felt his cheeks go a bit red, but whether it was out of embarrassment or anger, not even he was sure. He clenched his fists. He was just about to launch into a whole long angry tirade, but then he thought better of it. Maybe it's true. Insult or not, what do I care?

Then Juhi repeated her statement, but it sounded different. Phillip blinked, confusion written on his face. Would it really be so bad for it to be true? She threw a grape at him, but it went unnoticed as he turned to look at Clover. He wanted to know how she felt about all this before he bothered doing anything else. Ignoring Erik and Juhi, he caught Clover's gaze and held it, questioning her silently.

[erikcohen]

Oooo, winking? His girlfriend was obviously the greatest. He would have said so, but he didn't want to embarrass her in front of her best mate. Instead, he settled for winking back, and leaned his head far backward to see a(upside down) red-faced Phil. Yes, Phillip Davenport had definitely fallen off the trolley. Erik wondered if they'd ever be able to have a normal conversation again.

Sitting himself back up, he ate a grape, and then turned back to watch Clover and Phil. What were they up to? Plotting, or fancying one another? Hmmmmn?

"En ymmärrä!" he shouted and covered his face with his hands.

Honestly.

[clover_manalo]

Phil was noticeably silent. Clover relinquished her deathglare on Juhi and turned over her shoulder to glance at him. When she did, it was quite obvious that he was trying to... er, well, stare meaningfully at her. Or at least thoughtfully. She was instantly lost, the twitterpated fool. Vaguely, in the background, she could hear Erik utter something Finnish and therefore incomprehensible, so it didn't register.

A tiny smile dawned at her lips, curling like cloudy tendrils across an already sunny sky. Consumed with bashfulness, she glanced down at Phillip's hands, then back at him, all a-flutter and terribly rosy-cheeked. She tried desperately to wipe off some of the pudding, knowing she looked a fright and how could she possibly let Phil see her like this, what was she THINKING?!!?!

Mad. As hatters.

[juhi_saraf]

A delighted grin crept across Juhi's face as Erik winked back at her. Suddenly self-conscious at being so girly, she looked at Phillip and Clover.

Only they were looking at each other, and apparently no longer aware of the existence of either her or Erik. Looking at their faces, she regretted teasing quite so hard (only Clover started it!) and looked down, biting her lip. She felt like she was INTRUDING on something, and quietly scooted a few inches closer to Erik.

Were Clover and Phil REALLY going on in the way she throught they were? It certainly seemed like that was exactly what was happening...except, well, it wasn't really like anything Juhi had witnessed before. At least, not so close up. It was certainly already intense, whatever the heck it was; Clover was blushing and wiping her cheek off furiously, her eyes locked on Phil. Phil, on the other hand, Juhi couldn't even bring herself to LOOK at. Were his facial expression anything like the Cocobean's, she would feel EXTREMELY awkward.

After all, as much fun as she was having, the growing intensity between she and Erik was a little scary, so Phil and Clover MUST be feeling some of that. She turned her body to be facing more away from them to give them a bit of privacy, and smiled at Erik. Reaching out, she touched one of his hands softly, then cleared her throat and said, quietly and casually, "You still be interested in a sandwich, Skippy?"

[p_davenport]

Phillip moved slowly closer to Clover, smiling as she tried to wipe away the pudding. He had an urge to reach out a hand to help her, but was still aware enough to remember that Erik and Juhi could see them. He was at a complete loss. He frowned slightly, vainly trying to decide what to do.

He heard Erik shouting in Finnish, but didn't bother to even turn to his mate. He had no idea what the other boy was on about, anyway. Besides, Clover was standing right there and even though she was covered in pudding, he couldn't tear his eyes away.

Still staring helplessly at Clover, he heard Juhi quietly asking Erik about... sandwiches? Oh, right, this was supposed to be a picnic. He blinked.

He whispered quietly to Clover, "Er, I think we'd better..." he jerked his head in the direction of their mates. He gave her an apologetic grin, regretting that he'd invited himself along on this picnic at all. Clearly, he couldn't behave normally around this girl any longer and he had no business being near her in front of his mates until they'd talked about what it was exactly that was happening between them.

[erikcohen]

Erik peeked through his fingers as Juhi asked him if he was still interested in a sandwich.

"Joo...hyva ajatus. I mean... good idea!" Erik answered, shaking his head. Apparently he was starting to confuse his languages now.

Surely, it was Phil and Clover's fault, for being so confusing and neglecting to feed him. His poor brain needed nourishment, and so far it was working off of one bite of turkey and biscuit crumbs. Though, he'd never really thought about how speaking another language could be a brilliant advantage for him. He'd have to test that theory out eventually.

"I'll get it myself, though. And you know what? I'll be a gentleman and get you something too. What would you like?" he asked her, choosing to ignore the awkward vibes coming from his mates.

'Snog already!' he thought, assuming that would clear some of the tension. The way they were looking at each other? Not difficult to understand. It was the way he and Juhi always looked at each other, before they suddenly started rapidly moving down the path to serious.

[clover_manalo]

"Oh. Right," she said lamely in response to Phillip's gesture. There were four of them, remember, not two? How the food fight had progressed into something all mushy and gooey (not pertaining to the pudding mess), Clover didn't know. She was just at a loss, staring at Phillip and recalling their lovely trip to the Pitch and how warm and fuzzy he made her feel and... Juhi and Erik were watching. It had got awfully quiet.

She scooted herself around to face them better, smiling at them. "Sorry I ruined your food, everyone. All those sandwiches," she giggled. "I didn't mean to spill tea on Jujubean but..." another giggle, "well, it was funny!"

Pulling out her wand, she pointed it at her face. "Scourgify." There, that was better. At least the pudding wouldn't dry and cake to her skin. She stealthily aimed it at Phillip's pudding-face too, not wanting to leave him out. Another Scourgify and they were both clean and shiny. For the most part.

Fumbling down in the food that had gone, well, everywhere, she served some more ham on bread and served it to Phillip, looking guiltily at him. "Um, there you are. All better." A sheepish grin at him, and then she set about making her own sandwich as Erik and Juhi were taking care of each other's food.

And on that note, Erik looked positively ravenous. When was the last time he'd eaten? Pah!

[juhi_saraf]

"Thanks, Erik," Juhi whispered, doing her best to ignore the vibes coming from the other two, as well. She risked a glance at Phil, who appeared to be indicating her and Erik in some way, and relaxed.

"But you know, I think I'm done with turkey and ham. I'll try the chicken, as it hasn't been on my face in some other capacity all day," she said somewhat sarcastically, her voice back at normal volume. Juhi leaned over to pull the fruit and things within reach of Erik, and grinned at him. He'd been sitting on the blanket with his MOUTH OPEN, after all, poor kid must be hungry.

Then she groaned when Clover apologized, but she was laughing, really. "No, Coco, don't say you're sorry. Then I'll feel guilty because I'm NOT sorry. That was ridiculous and will be a spectacular addition to my list of embarassing stories." She was relieved someone else was speaking again and picked up the tea pitcher.

"Trust me to refill your glass?" she asked Clover, and tried to look as diabolical as possible.

[p_davenport]

Phillip forced himself to move slightly farther from Clover as the four of them attempted to return things to normal. However, he wasn't really sure what that meant, anymore. Following Clover's example, he turned away from her, making himself acknowledge Juhi and Erik's presence again. This was ridiculous; they were his best mates, too, but he kept getting so bloody distracted by her.

Phillip rolled his eyes at Juhi's comment about the sandwich meats. Then he laughed at her comment about the whole thing, it was rather funny. This whole thing was ridiculously funny, really. But there was nothing to do but shrug and move on with things. He laughed harder at Juhi's response, "Oi, no one should be sorry. It was ridiculous, but then when aren't the four of us acting a little ridiculous together, eh?" he winked, trying to be his old self again and ignore the butterflies in his stomach as Clover turned her attention back to him for a moment, helping him clean up.

As she fixed him another sandwich, he gave her a sheepish smile of his own, "Er, thanks" He sat back and tried to focus on eating his sandwich and was decidedly not staring at Clover as she fixed her own.

Then Juhi tried to look devious and he burst out laughing. The last thing Juhi could be was villainous, especially when the whole mess had surely made things seem awkward there for several moments. Not even she was batty enough to want to start it all over again. Still not looking directly at her, he said to Clover, "Oi, I'm not sure you should, Clover. Dangerous, that one," he gave Juhi a devilish grin before turning back to his sandwich.

[erikcohen]

Erik made Juhi her sandwich and handed it to her, suddenly realising he'd completely lost his appetite. What was with him today? Maybe he should get some more sleep at night, or talk to Pomfrey about his concern for his well being. That sounded like a good plan. GET HELP.

But not from Phillip, who was a prat. Except not. Erik understood that apparently his mate was going through some sort of transitioning phase with Clover, but did that mean he had to get tossed aside? He'd tried to include Phil in things! Phil had just disappeared on him!

"Kiinnita huomiota.... to me!" Erik mumbled, laying down on the grass and watching the clouds.

They weren't particularly fascinating clouds. They were boring, simple fluffy clouds. But FLUFF was seemingly the trend for the day, so he might as well go with it, right?

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts... Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, teach us something PLEASE!" he sang loudly.

He was no good at group picnics. At least not when he couldn't make up his mind about whether he was hungry or not, and every two seconds he wanted to flirt with his girlfriend, but there were people present, and he couldn't remember what Clover was interested in, and Phil was interested in CLOVER.

Vicious circles and his poor, poor brain. He missed Zonko. and Daisy. and BERTIE BOTT'S. and his brother. and writing songs. and watching quidditch matches, and....

[clover_manalo]

"Welcome," chirped Clover happily as Phil thanked her for the sandwich. And suddenly she was being THREATENED WITH TEA AGAIN EGADS. She stared warily at the thermos in Juhi's hand, then gave her friend a sly grin.

"Sure, g'head," she said breezily. "Spill on me and I'll pour the whole thing over your head, yeah? Raspberry flavoured Juhi! I bet Erik will be pleased to just eat you right up!" Clover cackled, yes CACKLED, and waggled her BROWS at her mate. She turned to do the same to Erik, when she realized he had fallen backwards on the blanket and was ignoring them all in favour of the sky.

And then he started to sing. Clover was about to tell him to keep his day job, but she kept her mouth shut in case he got all fussy again. Couldn't he take a joke lately? SHEESH. He was probably wishing he could just stick with Juhi and bugger the rest of them, but he should remind himself that this was Clover and Juhi's picnic and he was damn lucky to get an invite! And it's not like she really cared how he and Juju behaved in front of them. They were dating. That's what dating people do.

Yes, Clover might have actually thought or said all of that if she was a SEER or LEGILIMENS. Instead she just arched a brow at his odd behaviour and told him to "hush up and eat something, scrawny."

Heee. Clover lacks tact sometimes. :D

[juhi_saraf]

Juhi had rarely been so grateful to hear Phil laugh at her. And she was even happier to realize he was laughing with her. She gave Erik a smile as he handed her a sandwich, and smiled at the other Gryff. "Well, yes, we are ridiculous together. I think this might have been a new level of awkwardness, but NO APOLOGIES." Of that she was sure, and she grinned at Clover. Laughter was good, and she had really been looking foward to hanging out with her mates.

Bah, Phil. Juhi gave a him warning glance, and tried not to laugh with him. Quit blowing my cover, Davenport! I can be devious if I try hard enough, thank you very much. Juhi waggled her brows back at Coco, and then, OVERLY careful and slowly, poured tea into her glass. Looking up to smile innocently at her, she didn't notice when it overflowed a little. "ACK! NOOOOO!" She collapsed into giggles, and handed Clover her the glass of tea, carefully. "Just perfect. Very, uhm, full?"

Erik wasn't eating, though? Juhi hesitated, and put down her sandwich. She watched him closely, laying on his back and singing at the clouds. She frowned a little at his moodiness, but out of concern more than anything else. She flicked her glance very briefly at Phil, and then leaned over and brushed Erik's hair off his forehead, letting her hand linger there briefly. Floppy hair. She was looking in his eyes when Clover told him to eat, and she smirked at him. "Skinny Skippy?" she asked him softly, her smile more genuine.

[p_davenport]

Phillip eyed his best mate warily as he lost interest in food and had instead opted for clouds as company and then started singing the blasted school song. He shook his head, clearly, they needed to talk.

He laughed as the girls went on about the tea and Juhi managed to nearly spill it again. He'd merely rolled his eyes when Juhi gave him that warning look. He knew well enough what she was trying to get across to him, but he wasn't about to do what she wanted. They'd known each other too long for that. He just laughed at her some more.

Clover told Erik to eat something and Juhi suddenly wore a worried expression. She even looked pointedly at him, but what could he do? If Erik was going to insist on being moody, Phillip wasn't going to stop him. He understood her concern, but he absolutely refused to have any sort of serious conversation with Erik with Juhi and Clover there. What they needed to talk about could get ugly, or it could get deep, or perhaps just plain weird. Not that it mattered, as Phillip was clear that it would be between the two of them, alone. Some things a bloke just didn't talk about with his best mate in front of birds, no matter who the birds might be, or what they meant to either bloke.

He hoped that Juhi's attempt to distract Erik would do some good this time. He'd like this picnic to be pleasant for everyone. The four of them hadn't spent very much time together since the school year had started and he didn't want to ruin the first chance they'd had to enjoy each other's company in ages. He returned his attention to his sandwich, not really hungry, but determined to eat it, anyway, in case the girls started giving worried glances his direction for lack of appetite, too.

[erikcohen]

Erik smirked as Clover told him to eat something. He was pretty scrawny, for a fifth year and all. But it wouldn't be fair to compare him to Phillip! Phil played Quidditch. He was bound to have more muscle. Not that anyone was comparing to Phil, he was just the only other male around.

"Taidan olla rakastumassa," Erik sighed as Juhi placed a hand on his forehead.

His eyes widened, and he tried not to look too frantic. It was probably a very good thing that no one at this gathering knew how to speak Finnish.

He sat up, cleared his throat, and smiled nervously at her. He didn't know how to answer her question anyway, so he decided it would be best to change the subject all together. And probably make up with Phil, who hadn't really done anything wrong.

"Er... so I finally beat Dustin at a bean eating contest. Are you proud?" he asked them all, hoping the look in his eyes conveyed his apology to Phil.

And then he winked at Clover, as he felt he'd ignored her a bit, and he put his arm around Juhi's shoulder.

There. All better.