Stuck in Second Gear

Adrienne wasn't convinced that the game would turn out too well for her - or either of them, potentially - but at least his first question was straightforward enough. He had not picked something that was particularly embarrassing, either. So at least it was starting out well, she supposed.

"Ben first, then Audriana after Ben had ended up in Azkaban," she replied. "I'm not sure if that's really common knowledge, the arrest bit. His father's doing, you know. I can't blame him or say anything bad about that. But I dislike them because they ruined my reputation at the Prophet. I can be fair and accept my own mistakes. But they took advantage of me when I was trying to get somewhere in my career.

"That's not something I can get past easily. I wanted to take a side without openly attaching myself to the Order, and they ruined that."

Really, she could've gone on to explain further, but Adrienne trailed off and shook her head down at her glass before taking a long drink from it. When she looked at him again, she added, "your turn."

"Ben?" Selwyn was puzzled, until he remembered Audriana's backroom meeting.  "Oh, you mean Pierson.  He's not an Order member.  Nor's Audriana.

"Not that I particularly feel the need to defend the Order right now, but those two are... Well, honestly I think they may be worse.  I think they might be the diametric opposite of the Death Eaters."

He took another tiny sip of his drink.  Living with Addie was exhausting.  Not because of anything she did, just because he suddenly found himself caring what someone else thought of him.  Selwyn didn't even need a game like this one, since he already dreaded Adrienne's reaction if she ever found out he'd lied.  Hell, he was constantly second guessing himself just in case he did it by accident.

"They have that same kind of fanaticism.  They held this meeting at the Leaky Cauldron a while ago to discuss muggle integration.  Of course, that concerns me so I went along, but they didn't really want a discussion they wanted to dictate how it should happen."

"They did mention something about the papers.  I guess that's where you come in."

Ever since Adrienne had first hinted that her fall from grace had something to do with the Order, Selwyn  suspected it had more to do with Audriana's plan.  He felt better for getting his own involvement off his chest.

"I choose dare."

Adrienne was sorely tempted to correct him and tell him what Melissa had told her. But that would involve sharing Ben's secret, which she wasn't sure she was allowed to share. She may not have cared for Bentley at all, but she did care for Baldric in her own way, and for Millie and her family.

His take on the two in question, however, didn't surprise her. "I think Audriana expected more of a following. But there is something seriously off about her, even if I can't put my finger on it. She seems to be interested in more than just the success of the Order. Don't you find it odd that her family doesn't seem to play into anything she does? She's got twin girls, you know," Adrienne informed him lifting her eyebrows briefly before taking another drink.

At his response, she realized she was not quite qualified to come up with dares. She knew what a Gryffindor would demand. Or a Slytherin, for that matter. But she was neither of those things. Not that she believed everyone fit perfectly into the house they had been assigned or anything, but she didn't have that sneaky bravery that friends of hers did.

"Okay," she began slowly, trying to buy herself time to come up with something. Her head tipped backwards onto the top of the couch before tilting her chin to look at him. "Do your best impression of me."

Merlin, she was going to regret agreeing to this, wasn't she?

"You make her sound like a psychopath," Selwyn replied. "That would explain why she tried to kill the Minister. Being caught wouldn't have worried her."

He cleared his throat and turned his attention back to more pressing matters.

"Are you trying to embarrass us both?" he asked. "Because I can think of better ways to do that."

He raised his hands to frame his face and pitched his voice so it came out as a squeak.

"I'm Adrienne! I love transfiguration!" he managed before being overtaken by a fit of giggles and collapsing back against the cushions.

"I think that deserves applause," he said as he got his breath back.

[ooc: sorry I took so dang long to reply to this. I'm staying with my friend and every time I opened this up to reply, she's told me we're going to the store for something else in her new apartment. But it's far too early, so I figured better sooner than later.]

"And you act as though I've been around her more than you," Adrienne pointed out. "I'm merely telling you what I know."

Of course, she would deeply regret taking a drink after challenging him, though she had not expected to. Some part of her had thought he would be quite serious about it, reminding her of things she didn't want to deal with. But this was quite different, and she nearly choked on her drink as she sucked in a breath and then began laughing.

"That's dreadful!" She teased, not sure if she meant it or if she just wanted to rile him up a bit."I do hope you've got more creativity now that I'm telling you I want a dare," she added, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. If he could be cheeky, she could certainly give him a hard time because of it.

Selwyn propped himself up on his elbows to extract himself from the cushions and get a better view of Adrienne.

"Creativity's overrated," he told her.

There was a moment of awkward shifting until he could take his weight on one arm and so extend the other to beckon her toward him.

"I think we both know what happens when you choose that option," he went on. "I dare you to come over here and show me what that pretty mouth of yours can do."

"Oh, and to make it creative, lets say you have to get your lips on mine without putting your feet on the floor."

A faux-innocent smile graced his features as Selwyn stretched out as far as he could along the couch without actually touching Adrienne.

Adrienne was turning to look at him as he spoke, and she immediately set her glass down to just stare at him, her lips open in surprise. She narrowed her eyes at him, her expression somewhere between disbelieving and a smirk. How interesting. Adrienne had always loved interesting things. At least he had called her mouth pretty instead of smart. Oftentimes the latter was not a compliment, after all.

Still, she probably should have been offended or embarrassed, but she was actually amused. "This was your goal all along, wasn't it?" She asked. Her words had an almost blurry edge to them, thanks to the influence of the alcohol. She got her point across, though, speaking as intentionally and clearly as she could manage.

Even as she said it, she was leaning forward, her hand sliding along the back of the couch towards him. "You're probably thinking you're quite clever, aren't you?" She added with a laugh. Despite the show of derision, it was likely as clear to him as it was to her -- she wasn't backing away from the challenge as she would have a year before.

His legs, of course, were rather in the way. But that was the point of his qualification to the dare, so she had to work around it. And, really, what other choice did she have? So she moved closer, her knees pressed into the cushions on either side of his hips. Her gaze held his as her hair fell over her shoulder and her right hand settled on his chest. There was a brief moment of nervousness, during which she drew in a breath, but it passed when she considered that this was far more than she had been granted before. So she beamed at him for a moment before finally, finally closing the gap between them.

Adrienne wasn't sure if his pulse jumped, or if that was just hers, but it hardly mattered. Her lips brushed over his, hesitantly at first, and her spare hand curled into the hair at the nape of his neck.

"Sweetheart, we're not even close to my goal," Selwyn murmured.

He made no attempt to hide his appreciation of Adrienne's form as she was forced to practically crawl up his body to reach him. That had been the point, after all.

"Mmmm," Selwyn was transfixed with watching her attempt to navigate her way across him without touching him. Did she even know how hot that was or was it just nerves?

"Devious," he drawled looking up to catch her eye. "I think I'm devious. It's like clever's stylish cousin."

He went quiet as they both seemed to fortify themselves, then Adrienne smiled at him before dipping her head to complete her dare.

As Addie's lips grazed his Selwyn wondered whether he'd pushed her too far. Maybe she really was just humouring him. But then her hand was in his hair, eliciting a groan and he thought again. Tilting his head back - god that felt good - he parted his lips to see how amenable she was to all this.

Adrienne had always held the firm belief that someone calling her Sweetheart would be thoroughly annoying. Partly because Kaiden had tried it once, but it was said in possibly the most sarcastic voice he had ever directed at her. This time, the tone could perhaps have been sarcastic, she supposed. But this was vastly different. Sure, the comment was questionable. But it was strangely charming. Or was that just the drink talking?

It hardly mattered once he made that sound in the back of his throat and derailed her train of thought. She was hovering over him, and it felt like the space between them was palpable. The parts of her that were touching him felt like they were heated, and everything else was silently asking to feel that warmth as well.

He made no move to close the gap, so there was a moment in there when she wasn't sure if he had actually thought she might chicken out. But his mouth opened and she felt the relief register as hers did to match. For a few moments, she increased the pressure and went so far as to sigh against him. But that jolted her back to the present so she released him, pressing against the cushions again with her knees, ensuring that she just hovered above him.

Adrienne wasn't quite sure what to do with herself, so she just blinked down at him, preparing to apologize before realizing that this whole thing had been his idea. Frankly, she couldn't think of a single thing worth saying, so she bit down (foolishly, perhaps, though entirely naively) on her now slightly swollen lower lip and just waited.

While what they were doing was undeniably pleasant, Selwyn couldn't help feeling that his attentions were needed elsewhere.  Namely, along Adrienne's neck.

He was just about to rectify the situation when she was suddenly pulling away.

Okay. That was fine.  A moment ago, she'd seemed to be quite enjoying herself, but perhaps she'd had second thoughts.

He scanned her face to see if there were any clues there, but she just looked confused.  That wine probably hadn't been a good idea.

Selwyn raised a hand to tuck her hair back behind her ear.

"You okay?" he asked gently.  "It's just a silly joke, Addie, I'm not going to turf you out if you tell me to get screwed."