(Untitled)

[avis_abernathy]

Week Name/Date/Time: 'Commencement' / Wednesday June 28th, 2006 / 7:32 PM.
Location: Gryffindor Tower, then to The Ball
Open To: Ben
Currently Involving: Avis

Yes, apparently Avis Abernathy did clean up nicely. Though it did help when Tatiana was recruited as your personal stylist.

But a whole lot of help it did if all Avis was doing was sitting in her

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[ben_connelly]

“I LOOK LIKE A PANSY,” Ben yelled from the other side of Avis’ door, finding that climbing on top of furniture and over banisters was a lot easier when he wasn’t beaten up and bleeding everywhere. “IT’S NOT GOING TO BE FOR NOTHING. GET YOU’RE ARSE OUT HERE, ABERNATHY, BEFORE I KILL YOU.”

He didn’t look very pansy-ish, actually. Ben looked… very good. But, of course this was lost on him, all Ben saw was him wearing a suit. He thought he looked like a poofer, not attractive in the least.

Ah, boys. So oblivious.

Ben glared, raising his fist to pound on her door. “I’M NOT DANCING. THIS OUTFIT’LL LURE MURRAY OVER ANYWAY, IF I DANCE, I’M DONE.”

MERLIN, girls. She needed to get out here so he could go to the STUPID dance and get this STUPID Nancy-suit off.

Sure, so they never really made plans to go together. Ben just assumed it was unsaid, really, and expected it just to be that way after the Winter Ball. Again, anything that wasn’t a boy would realize one couldn’t just assume things like this, balls and dates and the like, but Ben’s Boy-Brain figured everything was all set, even though they’d never actually agreed on anything.

“C’MON ABERNATHY, BEFORE I START…. SINGING AND FINXING MY HAIR OR SOMETHING.”

[avis_abernathy]

Avis had sighed and was just about to storm out and drag that idiot out, after maybe screaming at him for a good hour or so, when she heard screaming outside her door. Her heart jumped a bit and she groaned, "FINALLY," as she seemed to bolt off the bed and fling the door open.

Maybe Avis had just wanted HIM to make the first move. . .oy, that sounded like she was waiting for him to ask her OUT or summat lame and insane of the sort! No, she. . .was waiting for him to. . .er. . .think of her! Yeah! To not be as lazy and actually do something himself!

That made sense, right?

Avis stared at Ben as she opened the door, very, VERY pleasantly surprised. That outfit wouldn't just lure Murray over. . .it would lure Avis over.

Well, a "tired" or "confused" or "weak" or any other excuse-Avis over.

"Wow," was all she managed to say, smiling at him widely, unable to do much of anything else. Hopefully Ben wouldn't notice.

[ben_connelly]

He stared.

All googly-eyed and boyish.

“I, er…” Ben stuttered, mouth unable to close completely to make actual words. “You…” He narrowed his eyes, scratching at his hair, becoming just slightly pink. This was… very odd. He’d never been speechless around a girl before, especially not AVIS. Physical things were lost on him, but this… her… oy.

“You look…” he tried again, blue eyes wide. “Er… wow.”

Ah, yes. The awkward stutterings and half-compliments of Ben Connelly. Certainly unmatchable.

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind and actually BLINK, frowning at the “wow” she gave him. Seeing as he was Ben, this was automatically taken as a very bad thing.

“I know,” he whined, running a hand through his hair. The hair, of course, that chose today to swoosh up to the ceiling, seeming to defy gravity. His hair was always messy and defying gravity, sure, but today it was… even weirder. “I know, it’s horrible. There was just… NOTHING there, and I don’t have suits or anything ridiculous like that. I look like a sodding bird.”

"That's what I'll be getting all night, 'Wow,'" Ben continued, pouting. "Wow, mate, didn't know you were a girl! Wow, Connelly, wanna dance? All the other girls are jealous of your outfit."

More pouting. Sodding hell this stupid thing was horrible.

[avis_abernathy]

Well, at least she snapped out of her own weird funky mood. Avis blinked as he stared at her, instantly thinking something was wrong. No, he couldn't have been staring for a GOOD reason, right? She frowned and suddenly felt terribly insecure, looking down at her dress and pouting, "Oy, what, I look like utter shite, don't I? Do I have summat on my face? Is my hair all. . ."

A stream of endless girly insecurities poured out, terrified there was something he found terribly wrong.

"No! No! I mean. . ." Avis jumped towards him almost, instinctively putting her hand on his shoulder. "You look. . .oy, man, you look amazing. I. . ."

Okay. So she'd REALLY have to fight back that urge to snog him again. He looked. . .unbelievably handsome. Unfair, really.

Shaking it off, she closed the door behind her and laughed, "Noooo, what you'll be getting all night are birds staring at you wanting to dance with you. You look bloody handsome, you do."

She didn't know why she got a jealous kick in her stomach, worrying that girls MIGHT actually notice that yes, there was something about Connelly, but. . .she'd ignore it. Hopefully.

[ben_connelly]

“No, sodding hell, you look…” Ben shook his head slowly, letting out a quiet laugh. “I… wow. Av, you look… incredible. I… wow.”

OKAY, BEN. TIME TO STOP BEING A LOSER.

He shook his head again, mentally ordering himself to STOP being such a loser about this. Of course Avis was beautiful, but… wow. Again.

“I don’t!” Ben argued, pleased he could be distracted from looking at her. Self-pity and utter disgust with one’s outfit was good for that. “I told you, I look like a sodding fairy! And what the hell is this goddamn thing on my tie?” he asked, yanking at a small chain that drooped across it. “It was the only white one there.” Ben pouted some more, not believing her in the slightest.

As to be expected, of course.

He snorted at her, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, they’ll want to dance with me because I’d be the only bloke they know wouldn’t try to grab their bums. Poofers don’t swing that way, do they? I LOOK LIKE A GIRL.”

[avis_abernathy]

Avis turned red, nearly as red as her dress, and looked at her feet. Her feet in Converse, of course! They'd be hidden from the flowing gown, after all, but she HAD to wear them. She merely smiled and blushed, looking up at him shyly, fighting hard to kick that feeling in her stomach that liked hearing that she looked incredible from Ben.

She smiled and shook her head, "I like it. Especially the stripes, they. . .I dunno, man, it's just. . .it's handsome." She was as speechless as Ben was apparently.

"OY shuddup, if you looked like a girl, I wouldn't want to snog you again just by how you look right now," Avis laughed out loud, hoping to GOD that Ben would think it was completely a joke.

No truth in it, right? Right! Er. . .yeah!

Avis punched his arm playfully and jokingly hitched her dress up around her ankles, deciding to climb down the banister and furniture as Ben had. Um. . .and not because she wanted to sort of show off a bit of leg. Er, NO! Because Ben didn't care and Avis didn't care and. . .

Suits. They were dangerous.

She jumped on over the railing, awkwardly holding the hem of her dress up, looking at Ben expectantly. "Okay then, let's go! I suppose you're just gonna' assume I'm your date to this thing, right? Don't formally ask me or anything!" she admonished with a smile.

[ben_connelly]

“Oy, only I’m allowed to make fun of it,” Ben threatened, pointing a finger at her.

Of course. No compliment would ever go down well. Ever.

He froze for a moment. “I… er… what?!” Ben… that… she didn’t… no. Luckily, Avis laughed, causing Ben to let out a slow, rather unsure one himself. He scratched at his hair again, looking at the floor, slowly allowing himself to smile. “You’re such a git, I thought you were serious.”

Sadly, the showing-off-of-leg went unnoticed by Ben, who was still rather oblivious to these sorts of things. He laughed, though, at seeing her shoes, feeling somewhat lame he’d decided to ditch them for actual dress shoes tonight. Why Avis decided to go down the way he had to, Ben had no idea, but he followed after her anyway.

Ben jumped to the floor, suit jacket flying up a little bit in the air. He briefly debated sticking his arms up to help Avis down, but thought that’d be a little weird. Just in case she wanted his help, though, he turned around, looking up at her expectantly.

Again he blushed a little, frowning. “I… well… isn’t that how it’s SUPPOSED to work?” Ben said, essentially asking to be smacked upside the head.

[avis_abernathy]

Avis' brown eyes went wide and she got that flippy feeling in the pit of her stomach again, falling hard into that trap of 'What IF' and such. Luckily she kept the smirk on her face, thank GOD for that. She narrowed her eyes and drawled jokingly, "Wellll. . .what if I WAS? I'd still be a git though, right?"

Okay. This was proving to be a bit more difficult than she expected. It seemed so good in theory, almost graceful and very awesome. . .had Avis been those things. She just ended up bumbling down the banister, almost falling, messing up the top of her dress, peering down at Ben to help her. "Well, I guess it's an unspoken thing then, right?"

She gathered her dress up a bit, plopping on the landing and leaning in a bit to have Ben help her down, wrapping her arms around his shoulders with a chuckle and jumping on down awkwardly, using him as support.

[ben_connelly]

Still feeling VERY awkward, Ben laughed, shoving her in the arm a little. “Shut up,” he admonished, trying hard to get that blush of his to go away. “And yeah, you would be. Don’t freak me out, you bastard,” he said, smiling at her, recalling the ‘bastard!’ argument they’d had a few days before.

Freaked out. Good substitute for “hopeful.” Yep.

He watched her with an amused expression, still trying to ignore how beautiful she looked. Ben laughed at Avis’ ungraceful-ness, the horrible git he was. “… That’s what I thought,” he said hesitantly, as if he wasn’t sure that was the right answer.

It probably wasn’t.

Standing on his toes, Ben grabbed Avis’ waist, lifting her down softly.

[avis_abernathy]

Avis grinned cheekily, only SORT OF hoping and praying he was just kidding and that didn't quite freak him out. . .

No, she was catching herself on her mardy this time around. She merely rolled her eyes and hissed, "Bahhh-stahhhd" at him in a very Scottish accent.

Avis probably could have jumped down on her own; she rarely took help when she was offered it. Call it a stubborn Gryffindor trait. That sort of took a back-burner when Avis wanted to be closer to Ben. . .not all snoggy or anything. Well, she just didn't know. She rather liked the idea of trying to get close to him in other ways, as she'd usually like to do to him.

She landed on the floor clumsily still, snorting with laughter and hugging Ben still, letting go of him and straightening out her dress awkwardly. "Oy, okay, are we good to go?" she asked.

[ben_connelly]

Well, Ben supposed he was freaked-out, too, as well as hopeful. He was freaked out because he knew if she were to kiss him, he wouldn't refuse. He wouldn't pull back. He wouldnt stop her. Which meant... well, which meant they'd kiss again.

Which they couldn't do.

"Bah-staird yourself," Ben said, trying to mimick her accent, his own only sounding a bit more muddled, perhaps a little more Irish than it normally was.

That's why Ben hadn't stuck up his arms immediately, really. He hadn't thought she'd actually accept his help, though Ben didn't really care either way.

"YOU are," he said with his usual pout, hands stuck in his packets as he stood awkwardly. "I still look like Beckett and Murray got together to put together my outfit."

[avis_abernathy]

No, they couldn't.

Avis would have really, really liked to, but. . .no. Sometimes this bugged her a lot more than other times, regretting that she hadn't pushed the issue and told him it was okay for them to kiss again.

It would have made her just the kind of girl she hated, so she was all kinds of conflicted on this one. And, as being a hypocrite was a fate worse than death in her mind (even if she really was one a good fraction of the time, she merely never really noticed it unless it was pointed out!), she would have to keep the fond memory of kissing Ben just that; a memory.

Emphasis on the FOND.

Avis smirked at his attempt, "Oy I like that, you should talk like that more often!"

She rolled her eyes and swiped toward his stomach. "WHATEVER, BEN, whatever!" she exclaimed and shook her head, walking on down to the common room and towards the exit. "Well. They do have bloody amazing taste. I really do like the stripes, and the hair, and the tie, and the. . ."

She stopped herself, blushing a bit. "Well, I just like all of it."

[ben_connelly]

Well… he sort of really wanted to, too. But no, he was staying firm. She WOULD become like all of those girls he hated, and he’d be right there with her, like… Lazy-Eye Pitt. Ben wasn’t going to be like that, no matter how badly he wanted to most some of the time. Ben knew he didn’t, nor could possibly allow himself to have real feelings for Avis.

All this was was confusion. Ben was completely certain. Best friends didn’t shag and make-out like Davison and Lazy-Eye did. No. Just… no. They’d never become that, not ever.

Wanting to kiss her meant absolutely nothing.

“Shut up,” he laughed, shoving her again. Ben was used to teasing from Avis, of course. He hardly minded.

“I’m serious!” Ben whined childishly, half-heartedly trying t catch her arm to keep Avis from hitting him. Failing, he just put his hands up weakly, not really thinking about what he was doing.

“There are no more ‘and the’’s, Abernathy, you said everything,” Ben informed her cheekily, voice teasing. “I HATE all of it. The things I do for you, honestly…”

Still. Ben didn’t mind THAT much. Avis had to have expected lots of complaining when bringing him to a dance.

Dragging, more like.

[avis_abernathy]

Avis knew this quite well. Sometimes she just wished she could ignore that nagging feeling of hers and just say "to hell with it." Part of her just wanted to kiss him and say they didn't have to worry about turning into any of the lame couples in the school. . .

But it was, of course, probably just confusion. And it would pass in time, right?

Avis swiped towards his forearms playfully, chuckling at him. "Serious about what? You looking like a girl? Well, you're seriously WRONG, you are!"

She turned around, raising an eyebrow in an inquisitive manner, smiling sweetly. "Who said you dressed all up for me? You wouldn't do that, would you?"

Oy. Odd stomach feeling.

She was probably just hungry.

[ben_connelly]

Oddly, Ben also wished he could just toss everything aside, not care about looking stupid or being rational. Sometimes, he wished he could just kiss Avis and not resist trying to feel like that, just to act on it. Even though that “sometimes” was becoming a “more often than not,” Ben was still stubbornly standing by what he said.

Yep, confusion. This wasn’t real, all these wacky things he was feeling. Ben wasn’t going to act on anything that he knew was only temporary, only an odd patch. Certainly not with anything like this, especially.

Of course it would pass in time! Easily! Especially with his “Let’s be sluts!” Plan.

“I’m not,” he insisted stubbornly, shaking his head. Surprisingly, his hair didn’t flop around as it usually did. It was probably too busy trying to touch the ceiling. “You’re just biased. And lying. I look like a pansy, I do, like I should be in Slytherin, or something! I… no. There’s no way this possibly looks good. It doesn’t, especially not on me.”

He needed to stop whining. Now it was just getting ridiculous.

“Of course I would,” was Ben’s gruff reply, tone revealing he didn’t think it was anything unusual at all. That was how he felt about most things, that he’d do anything to make her a bit happier.

[avis_abernathy]

Ah, yes. That would change it.

Even if Avis' idea of "changing" was "being so depressed and jealous I'd eventually not care."

. . .No, that wasn't bleak at all. CONFUSION, THAT'S ALL THAT WAS.

Avis looked at him with a You're clearly insane, you are expression and sighed, shrugging. "Okay, I'm biased. You look like a pansy, you do," she repeated robotically, just to tease him. "You should be in Slytherin. There's no way you look good."

Avis was actually surprised. Or flattered. She couldn't exactly tell. She merely looked over her shoulder at Ben with a content, impressed, happy smile and looked back down at her feet, at the scarlet fabric covering the worn Converse. Opening the portrait hole, she held the exit open for Ben, trying to hide a proud little smile.