RP: Looking to Relax

[rar_angelina]

Date: Friday, 23 August, 1999 | Evening
Characters: Angelina Johnson, Dean Thomas
Location: Belladonna
Status: Private
Summary: Angelina goes out for a night of relaxation.
Completion: Complete

Comments

[rar_angelina]

Angelina mouthed a charm and nodded her head. That should be an interesting one. Completely safe, too. She imagined the sweets would need to be blue, and when she looked up to scan the room for shades of blue, she saw Dean standing near her booth. He was looking at her--strangely. Lost in thought, she decided. His eyes looked distant, which told her he wasn't really looking at her.

Her movement must have shaken him loose from his thoughts because he walked over and said hello. Angelina rolled her eyes and grinned. "You caught me," she said before leaning her chin against her fist. "Don't tell anyone, yeah? I'm a workaholic sometimes. But I like my work."

She wasn't sure that Dean wanted to sit down with her. She didn't know how he felt about Katie's friends now. It's not like she and Dean hadn't talked before he and Katie were dating, but still...

There was a part of Angelina that wanted to talk to Dean about Katie--but how would she bring up that subject without seeming heartless or nosy?

Angelina was still bothered by her evening with Katie. She didn't feel like she'd gotten any solid answers. Angelina was disappointed that Katie and Dean hadn't worked out, and she'd never want Katie to be so upset again, but there were holes in the story. Katie's defensiveness and snappy behavior was proof of that--or else Katie now found Angelina annoying. Angelina suppose either could be the case.

"Would you like to sit?" she asked finally as she shuffled her papers into one pile.

[rar_dean]

"Well, I'm the last person who can fault you for that, yeah?" Dean said, waving the small sketchpad he'd had clasped under his arm. "Either for being a workaholic or enjoying it. I'd still be at the studio myself, but my boss said I needed a break. And she's the expert, after all, so I have to listen."

He was a little surprised when Angelina invited him to sit. She hadn't been at all unpleasant so far--had been downright friendly, actually--but then she wasn't the sort of person who'd need to make someone feel rotten just because they'd passed one another in public, no matter how she might feel about them. But asking him to sit was something else entirely. He smiled a little brighter.

"As long as I'm not interrupting anything," Dean said, nodding toward the papers she'd just pushed aside. "It's sort of strange coming here alone, I guess, but it seemed like a good idea." He shrugged, then slid into the booth.

[rar_angelina]

Angelina had already noticed Dean's sketchpad, and she nodded. He slid into the set across from her while she stacked her papers and pushed them to the side.

"You're not interrupting anything," she said, feeling better with each second--at least things didn't have to be awkward between them because of a mutual friend...or past friend. Angelina briefly wondered if Katie would feel betrayed to know she was sitting and having a drink with Dean. But she pushed the thought away--surely Katie wouldn't really care, would she?

"We all need a break from time to time," Angelina said. "Your boss is right. Carmilla, my boss at The Sweetshop, sends me home quite often. Are you sketching something in particular or just coming out tonight for inspiration?"

[rar_dean]

"Well, sometimes working is a break," Dean said, setting the sketchpad on the table in front of him. He drummed the fingers of one hand idly on the cover. "But then part of my job is just doing things I always did for fun before, you know?"

Settling back in his seat a bit, he reached for his beer and took a long drink. No, this definitely wasn't bad. He wondered if maybe Angelina hadn't talked to Katie at all. "I just wanted something...different for a night. Have a drink, maybe a few dances, and if I get some good ideas while I'm at it, then...." He shrugged.

"What about you?" Dean laughed a little. "I've never heard of dancing being inspirational for chocolate-making, but if it is, I'd certainly like to hear about that thought process."

[rar_angelina]

Angelina sipped her Purple Pixie. She was halfway through it--what happened to drinking slowly? "You know," she said, "I never even thought I'd ever end up where I am now, so I suppose I never baked or created chocolate sweets for fun. But now, well, I love it."

She nodded her head. "Me, too," she agreed. "I didn't feel like sitting home on a Friday night. Plus, the music here is usually quite good. And the drinks," she said as she tilted her head toward her glass, "aren't half bad either."

She laughed lightly. "You should never underestimate the inspirational powers of chocolate. Any woman can tell you that." She grinned. "But why sit at home and dream about chocolate when you can go out and watch people, have decent conversation, a few good drinks, and dream about chocolate?"

[rar_dean]

"How did you end up at the Sweetshop? I don't think I ever heard that particular story." If Angelina was as engrossed in her work as he was, he was curious to hear how that had happened if she hadn't always been a baker. He'd always drawn things, even before he thought he could make a living from it.

"I can't even imagine trying to paint that concoction. I think mixing that particular shade of purple might actually be impossible, even for magic," Dean said, eyeing her drink with a playful raised eyebrow. "I usually don't mind sitting at home, just because it seems like I spend so little time there as it is." Though a lot more lately, he thought. "But tonight demanded activity, I think."

Dean laughed even more. "Oh, believe me, I've been told. Grew up in a house of five women, and a grandmother who's hands down the best cook I know. Personally, I think why dream about chocolate when you can eat it?"

[rar_angelina]

"Well, I quit working at the ink shop," she said, trying to give Dean a short explanation. "The owner was a racist. Hated Muggleborns. And George was good enough to let me work at the shop for a while. Then, one day I went for a walk and saw a sign for an assistant chocolatier, and I thought, 'why not?'" She shrugged. "I went in for an interview, and I found a job I actually like, by accident."

It was hard to believe that she had started at The Sweetshop for nearly ten months ago.

She lifted her drink and laughed. "Fairly loud colour, yeah?" She sipped the last bit of it up through the brightly coloured straw. "I don't mind my flat exactly," she said--though she minded it a lot more since her break up with Lukas, "but sometimes I just need to get out."

Angelina grinned. "You're a smart bloke," she said. "Eating chocolate is always the best choice." She slid her empty drink to the edge of the table. "So...what have you been doing lately?"

[rar_dean]

Dean listened as Angelina went through the short explanation of her job history. "Scribbulus, yeah? I've heard a few things here and there at the place working in Diagon Alley. Made sure never to make the error of dropping in for new ink, that's for certain." He regarded her over his glass, taking a quick drink before saying, "That's rather brilliant, to stumble across it by chance and end up loving it."

He nodded. "Agreed on getting out. Cheers," he added, raising his glass as she finished the last of her purple whatever-it-was, then taking a long pull from it. "You want another? I could dash over." He nodded toward the bar, figuring it was at least polite to offer.

"Well, painting a lot, of course. Started a new one last weekend, though it's giving me some problems. I just can't seem to get a few of the details how I want them. Part of the reason I wanted a change of scenery tonight, actually." Dean shook his head, giving a self-deprecating laugh. Then he thought for a moment. "I'm getting out and seeing friends as much as I can, though. Seems to have been a party nearly every weekend for awhile, so that has helped."

[rar_angelina]

Angelina smiled. "Serendipity, yeah?" she said in response to finding her current occupation completely by chance--especially since it had turned out so well.

"Sure," she said. "I'll take another, thank you."

Dean mentioned he'd been stuck on a painting. "Are you having trouble because you're a perfectionist?" She understood his comment about getting out and being with friends helped. "I've been there," she said. "The 'needing-to-get-out-of-my-head' moments." She didn't think Dean would care about her recent relationship troubles since he had his own baggage to deal with. "But I've been trying to get out more recently, too. Seeing friends has made all the difference for me," she said.

[rar_dean]

"Be right back then," Dean said, grinning as he extracted his long legs out from under the table and headed to the bar. He'd planned to be dancing and buying drinks for people he didn't know tonight, but he couldn't complain at the company he'd gotten. Angelina had always been great when she wasn't yelling at him about Quidditch plays. Standing with his back against the bar as he waited on her drink, he watched the dancers on the floor, thinking that making a trip to Belladonna hadn't been quite as barmy as he thought.

It took a few minutes to get the drink, but soon he was back at the table. "Here you are, madam." He set the purple thing in front of her and then slid back into the booth.

"I can be a bit of a perfectionist," Dean admitted with a nod. "But this is more...." He considered his words for a moment. Carine had put it better than he thought he ever could have. He hesitated for a second, wondering how deep he should let the conversation get, but he couldn't see any reason to not be honest with her. "Lack of confidence? I know it might sound strange, but I decided to try something a bit different this time...and then with everything that happened with Katie."

He took a long drink of his beer, sighing a bit. "Sorry. Didn't want to get on that topic, but I'm afraid it's been unavoidable at times lately, you know? It's just thrown me off a bit." He gave her a small smile. "I don't want to put you in an awkward spot, though."

[rar_angelina]

Angelina thanked Dean for the Purple Pixie. She sipped it through the straw and nodded her head. "Not as strong as the last. Good," she said, and then she frowned playfully. "Unless my senses are already numbed." Then she laughed.

Dean tried to explain why he was having more trouble than usual on his present project, and she definitely understood feeling stuck because the mind couldn't focus or the emotions were out of whack.

He mentioned Katie, and she turned her eyes away from the dance floor to look at him. She could tell he was being honest--honest and hesitant. Angelina sighed. She hadn't wanted to talk about Katie either--more for Dean's sake than her own.

"No reason to apologize," she said. "We don't have to tiptoe around the truth." She cleared her throat and wondered how much she should say. But if Dean was being honest then...

"If I'm in an awkward spot, it has nothing to do with you," she said. "I...I had Katie over to my flat a few days ago." She paused. "It was...different."

[rar_dean]

Dean nodded slowly, looking down into his beer. No, tiptoeing around the truth didn't feel right, but neither did spreading the story to half the wizarding world. Still, so far he'd really only told Seamus and Luna anything beyond "we broke up," so he didn't figure anyone could accuse him of being overly talkative on the subject. But Angelina was Katie's friend....

Then Angelina mentioned having talked to Katie, and he looked up at her, surprised both that she'd talked to his ex yet was still talking to him, and at her description of the encounter. "Different?" he said, studying her face. "What do you mean?"

He took a drink. "You don't have to elaborate if you don't want to, of course."

[rar_angelina]

Angelina glanced down at the table before looking back up at Dean. "Katie and I have been friends for a long time," she said then stopped and sighed. "Well, we were much closer in school. But people drift apart sometimes," she said. "No hard feelings, of course, it just happens sometimes."

She reached for her glass. She needed something to busy her hands. There was a rising feeling in her chest that made her feel conflicted. She'd yet to talk to anyone about her night with Katie--was it wrong to talk to her ex-boyfriend?

"Katie and I have drifted apart, but it doesn't mean I don't care about her. It just...happens," she said again. "Anyway, she came over, and I didn't know anything about the break up. Of course you mentioned it to me because I was daft enough to ask you about her Sorry about that.

"And Katie told me what happened..."

Angelina sipped her drink. She looked up at Dean. "And I'm confused. Her story--it was difficult to follow. I just...I mean, you don't have to, but I'd like to hear your side of things."

[rar_dean]

Dean listened as Angelina talked about her and Katie drifting apart, nodding a bit. He'd seen some of it from Katie's side, though he hadn't thought it was quite as much as Angelina was describing. He had friends he rarely saw, yet they seemed to jump back in where they left off when they did see one another, like Luna and Hermione, so he'd figured it was the same for them. But people could change, he knew, and it sounded like these two had changed away from one another. It was a little disheartening, actually; he couldn't imagine that ever happening with Seamus.

He waved off her apology. "It's fine, really. Ex or not, it doesn't exactly offend me to hear her name associated with mine or anything. You really didn't have any way to know."

Katie's story was difficult to follow? Dean wondered what was so complicated about it. The emotions behind it were definitely complex, and so was his decision-making process, but the story itself wasn't particularly so. He ran a hand over his head. "I guess that depends what you want to know. I don't...mind, especially if Katie's already told you. I just don't want to give you more information about me than you ever wanted to hear." He gave a small, nervous laugh.

[rar_angelina]

Angelina frowned. She didn't exactly know how to describe Katie's behavior that night at her flat. She knew Katie's emotions were real and that she'd been disappointed by both her Quidditch tryouts and her break up with Dean. Both had been terribly unexpected. Then her failed suicide attempt. The story had been deeply troubling to Angelina, but Katie has also been quick to anger, frustrated with Angelina's questions, and defensive.

"More information would be welcomed at this point. I tried to talk to Katie about it--about her side of things, and, honestly, Dean, it was confusing. Her story looped and folded on itself." She frowned. She wasn't explaining herself properly. "Plus, Katie became irritated with me when I asked her questions."

[rar_dean]

When Angelina explained a little further about her impression of Katie's story, Dean almost felt sucked right back into the discussions he'd had with Katie himself. "You've no idea how familiar that sounds. I--I felt like I was talking myself in circles the whole time. Like nothing I said could throw her out of the loop she was in."

He sighed then, settling back in his seat again and taking a few sips of his beer as he considered. It was hard to know where to start. "I assume that she told you about Flint, then. About not making the Leagues and ending up getting pissed with him? And that he kissed her?" When Angelina assented, he continued, "When she told me, I wasn't so much upset that he kissed her. I mean, Flint's a bastard, it doesn't really surprise me, you know? But she purposely avoided me that night and willingly spent the evening with him, even if she hadn't originally intended it that way. And that hurt."

Dean paused, finishing off his drink. Maybe in a minute he'd get another one, but right now he wanted to get this out. If nothing else, maybe it would be nice to hear someone else's opinion. Someone who might be a little less biased than Seamus. "We'd had...discussions about Flint before. How much attention he paid her, vice versa. She'd always said it was no big deal, that she didn't want anything to do with him. But when I pointed this out, she defended him. Said that he wasn't such a bad guy and that she'd actually had fun with him that night...and I guess she thought that would make it okay, but it really only made it worse."