Not-so-alone Time ((Cue Aden))

Although the attention Aden put on her was unexpected, Amelia did not eschew it as much as the attention of others. Aden was, at least it seemed, superficially interested. He did not know her well by any means, and thus the flirtatious looks and flattery were, she suspected, a ruse meant to attract her to him. He did not ask too many questions, he did not wish to know her past demons or future goals. He just wanted, and for him that was enough.

He snorted at her response, to which Amelia replied by rolling her eyes. If he could belittle what she said with such a caveman-esque bit of eloquence, Amelia found no reason to respond verbally at all. Aden didn’t stop at the snort, however, and she soon found herself the focus of yet another one of his penetrating stares. Although he looked only at her eyes, she felt as though he could see the entirety of her exposed body, feel her heart beat through the water.

His words dripped with charm, a trait he clearly possessed in abundance, and Amelia found herself immobilized by his attractiveness and charm. While immune to nearly everything her peers could throw at her – annoyance, pestering, dislike, snarky comments, indifference, most spells – Aden’s attention and comments did not bounce off of her protective barriers the way the other things did. They seemed to stick to her walls, not knocking them down but burning holes through them slowly, in such a way that Amelia had no reliable means of stopping them.

He’s too close… Amelia’s mind repeated, her instinctual response kicking in as Aden moved closer to her. Her mind reeled with what he had said: Scientific girl… experiment… hypothesis… reality…, all of these taking on meanings outside their rational definitions, and all because of the way in which Aden was looking at her and the tone he had adapted. He was smiling broadly now, Amelia’s eyes widening as he moved toward her. She backed away as far as the wall would let her, her spine meeting with marble far sooner than she would have expected or liked. It was hard enough to escape Aden’s charms when he kept his distance; this proximity was going to make it that much harder to maintain coherent thought. As he placed one arm and then the other next to her shoulders, Amelia found herself physically trapped within the confines of his strong upper body and tongue tied to boot.

Amelia may have been against forming real connections with people, but she wasn’t dead. She had experienced puberty just as the rest of the world had, and though she had been able to rationalize herself away from sexual thoughts most of the time, she wasn’t blind or immune to the fact that Aden was likely every teenage girl’s fantasy. Her mind told her to get out now, but her body ached toward him. Although in any other situation her mind would have won out easily, the close confines she found herself in made her body’s voice that much louder.

Now looking like a doe caught in the headlights, Amelia turned her head as Aden leaned toward her, thinking he was going in for a kiss, but the boy had other intentions, though no less intimate than the first. His lips close enough to her ear that she could feel the heat of his breath, Aden whispered a hypnotic phrase that send Amelia’s mind spinning again. He was close enough to her that even the tiniest of movements was perceptible through the water, the scent of him wafting off of his warm body. She had been placed in a position where she really needed to think her actions through, but the situation itself prevented that from occurring easily.

Just push him away and get out of the pool. You never should have stayed after he came in. This is what happens when you don’t listen to me.

Her mind put up a strong argument, willing her to give in to her “flight” reaction for what would be the thousandth time this year. When faced with a situation she didn’t know how to deal with , her gut reaction – and often the one she went with – was to escape the scene as quickly as possible. Her brain, however, wasn’t the only one participating in this debate, and her body did not hesitate to make an equally compelling, if not as eloquent or well thought out, argument.

But I want him.

Faced with the prospect of sitting perpetually perplexed before him, Amelia knew she had to make a decision. She had to say something. Pressured and constrained for time, Amelia grabbed ahold of the first idea which came to her mind, although she would regret it immediately afterward.

“I’ll race you for it,” she said, her nerves showing in her voice. She hadn’t even bothered to try to match Aden’s sultry tone, for she was quite certain her voice was incapable of that degree of sexy. As soon as the words left her lips, her body’s voice became that much louder, drowning out any rationality her mind had hoped to place in the situation.

“From one end of the pool and back again,” Amelia continued, making up the details as she went along, speaking quickly to keep herself from stumbling over her own idea, though she was beginning to doubt its merits already, “There’s nothing for you to trip on here, so you might actually stand a chance,” she added, her words themselves more confident than the voice which carried them. “If you win, we can try your… experiment. But if I win, you get to try it with Myrtle.”

What are you doing??? Amelia’s mind protested loudly, though Amelia tried to hide her lack of conviction as she met Aden’s eyes. You never gamble! You wouldn’t even gamble on a sure bet, and you are willing to gamble on this???

But once again, her body had the perfectly blunt retort.

Oh shut up.

Aden waited their for his reply, as she took her sweet time. It had to be how far he pushed the envelope her mind was spinning trying to come up with a response for something so out of her norm, and something you wouldn't really prepare yourself for.Aden watched had her body backed further into the marble wall, and like had done when he jumped into the water he followed her closing her in even more.

A race? She would be willing to race Aden for it how odd, but intriguing none the less. If this was the same girl he first met when running then she would have given him the cold shoulder as soon as he started to undress, and she defensibly would have hoped out of the bath as soon as Aden cornered her. when he lips pronounced the word myrtle it stuck out at Aden like a knife, there was no way that Myrtle could look any better then what fiction depicted her has. The question was would she really make him test this with Myrtle, who was probably spieing on the two right now.

Aden bit his lip not really getting what he wanted, but another chance to try. Aden rolled off to the right leaning against the same cold marble slab. it was odd to line a bath with marble, because it takes an awful lot to heat up the material. "Alright i will race you for it, and trip is that what you thought I did?" Aden said with a small laugh. it is true he had fallen on purpose. Not like him falling was the only reason she one though, she probably would have won all on her own she was much faster then he was.

Aden kicked off the edge of of the bath swimming to the edge that she had indicated to start from. Aden was a pretty good swimmer, he would swim a mile everyday over the summer, as the pool was the one places Aden could go without being squawked at by his parents to make an appearance. None the less this bath was a little bit smaller then his pool so Aden's turn would be off."Alright to that end in back, and this time their won't be any fake loosing."

Amelia waited for Aden’s reply, nervously playing with a curl of her hair which had formed into one serpentine strand after she had jumped into the water. Aden was a specimen to behold – There you go being scientific again. Isn’t that what got you into trouble in the first place? – and while she waited for his response she watched his face change as he thought. He bit his lip, putting just enough pressure on it to highlight the fact that he seemed to be almost pouting. She supposed a boy like Aden did not often get rejected in his advances, though Amelia’s body reminded her that she hadn’t rejected him; she had given him a chance to prove that he really wanted it.

When he rolled away from her, Amelia’s mind grasped for a moment at the idea that he might turn her down, give her a “door number two” to escape through, but, as Amelia had guessed, Aden did not back down to the challenge. He agreed to the race, that trademark smile still on his face and adding a retort to her tripping comment that made her laugh aloud. Amelia doubted very much that Aden had intentionally fallen, mostly because she believed he had no incentive to do so. She smirked at the back of his head as he pushed off the wall from where the two of them had been sharing a very small space. As he got further away, Amelia’s mind became clearer and it became more difficult to justify to herself why she had ever proposed this race in the first place.

I knew this was an awful idea. Now look what you’ve gotten yourself into. And with a prefect no less. Someone you will be forced to see and work with for the rest of your years here. You know, for someone so smart, sometimes you can be incredibly stupid.

Although her more rational side had a definite point, there was no turning back now. If she got out of the pool now, Aden would always think of her as the girl who had backed down, the girl who couldn’t take the pressure. This didn’t bother her as much as the fact that she would have to live with it herself; Amelia never backed down to a challenge, and she rarely lost. This was just another way of proving to herself – the person whose opinion mattered most – that she wasn’t just talk – she could back up her words with actions.

Her mind screaming in protest, Amelia pushed off the wall and followed Aden to the impromptu starting line. Amelia had swam the length of this bathtub so many times before that it was a miracle she got anything else done. With very few activities that could be done solo, Amelia had tried and perfected most of them. Running, playing music, reading, swimming, all of these she could do alone, and considering the amount of time that encompassed she had gotten quite good at all of them.

“No, there won’t,” Amelia said, agreeing with what Aden had said as she reached where he was now gripping the wall, “But there will be some real losing.” She smirked at him before turning her eyes away from him to lock them on the opposite wall.

“Ready?” she asked, not waiting for a reply, “On your mark, get set…”

“Wait!” a shrill voice from behind her interrupted. Looking up, Amelia could see the ghostly form of Moaning Myrtle – speak of the devil and she shall appear – floating above their heads. The bespeckled girl with her oily brown pigtails stared wide eyed down at them, that sickening smile on her face.

“Could I do the honors?” Myrtle asked, lowering herself through the tiled floor so only her head was visible.

“Um…” Amelia stuttered, always a little freaked out by the ghostly girl’s presence. She looked from Aden to Myrtle once before shrugging her shoulders. It wouldn’t hurt anything, and it might keep Aden from claiming an unfair start if she won, “Yeah, sure. Go ahead.”

“Woooo-nderful,” Myrtle crooned, placing her semi-transparent head directly between hers and Aden’s, “On your marks, get set…” the pause before the final word was excruciating, Amelia’s muscles contracted like coiled springs.

“Go!” the ghost shouted, the bathroom filling with the ghastly cackle just before Amelia flung herself forward, her head slipping below the water as her legs and arms propelled her forward, the water blissfully blocking out the sound of Myrtle’s amusement.

Aden readied himself by placing his feet up against the wall and reaching back with his hand. This position would help Aden get a great push off from the wall. He smiled over at Amelia as she referenced to his previous loss, but that would not happen now. Then she referenced to their being some real losing, and Aden barley managed to squawk out “Ya Yours” Before Amelia called out ready. Aden’s adredline began pumping through his veins, and he was ready to leap off the wall.

Aden was brought down from his cloud of hyped up anticipation by the literally ghostly shrill of a one miss moaning myrtle. The pale figure came swooping down settling halfway underneath the tile with just her head visible. Aden was never really comfortable with ghost they were kind of like half breed very improbable and just not meant to be. Aden was a big believer in the study of Thencolmy the science of magic. In fact that school of thought is what drives Aden’s dueling strategies that had one his way to third last year.

Aden readied himself once again his body had gone dull in the false start before, and now he had real motivation to when and it was setting his transparent head in-between Aden, and his alterative motive for winning. Her squealing high pitched voiced uttered the one syllable word and Aden was off his legs propelling him a third of the way before he could even catch up to them with his hands.

His hands cupped to scoop the water, and displace it behind him. Thinking about it was really and indirect way to move through the water. Aden was thinking about the last time he had swam, and that was this summer when he had reluctantly decided to try a swim against the English channel, which of course he did not complete. It was a stupid country club bet that he lost of course. The turn was ahead Aden dived and kicked off the second wall, as he headed back towards the start as he began to resurface.
Aden had not paid any attention to Amelia, but he was pretty sure that she was behind him when he reached Myrtle. Aden was sure he had come in first when he moved the water from his eyes. (btw I have a third option that involves Aden winning it is up to you though.}

((Sorry for the delay in post. The holiday took up some of my posting time.))

The water swirled around Amelia’s head and torso, the change in temperature evident between the air and the water. Fully submerged, her feet moved up and down, up and down in rapid succession, propelling her forward. The silence beneath the water left her alone with her thoughts, which raced around and around, threatening to make her lose her focus.

What if you lose? Her subconscious probed, leaving her body to move itself forward without conscious direction from her mind. What will you do then?

The thought of a loss, of what that would mean, caused a break in Amelia’s determination. For the few seconds her body had been without direction, she knew she had lost ground. When she broke the surface of the water, nearly half the pool behind her, she could see Aden half a meter in front of her – a long distance when it came to swimming. Plunging her face back into the water, Amelia’s arms rotated parallel to her face, freestyling toward the end of the bathtub. Concentrating only on her breathing and maintaining proper form, Amelia reached the edge of the pool and executed the turn, dolphin kicking her way back to the surface.

Upon reaching the surface, Amelia took a large gulp of oxygen to replenish her lungs and muscles for the last few meters. She pushed against the water as if her life – and not only her privacy and peace of mind – depended on it, cupping her hands and kicking with all the energy that remained in her long, pale legs. When she knew she was close to the wall, Amelia extended her arm, her fingertips hitting the cold marble and cuing her rise to the surface. Her head shot up out of the water and she gasped in a large breath of air, pushed the hair out of her face, and opened her eyes.

To see Aden already looking right at her.

Amelia’s heartbeat, already accelerated from the exertion of swimming the length of the pool and back in such a short amount of time, became successively more rapid the longer she stared wide eyed at Aden. The boy had beat her, fair and square, but she couldn’t imagine how it could have happened. She was completely at a loss for words, her breathing the only thing she could concentrate on for any acknowledgeable amount of time. That and the fact that she had lost.

Oh shit. Amelia thought, in what her mother would have considered “highly unladylike”. But for once, Amelia could not even bring herself to care, for that was the only thought which repeated itself like a broken record, over and over in her mind as she stared, mutely, at the Gryffindor boy before her.

Aden was jubilant, but at the same time he was distraught with the fact that he had won. Did Aden really want to force this girl to go through with that bet. It just did not seem like something he would do coercing this girl to get naked in front of him, because she lost a swimming bet, of course she started the bet. Aden kind of forced her to do something though. Aden’s face reflected his conflicted mind, with his smile finally diminishing to shine.

When Myrtle saw who the winner was she left without saying a word obviously upset that Aden had won instead of Amelia. With that notion in his mind Aden could not help but shiver all the way through his spine. With his face shaking briefly but fairly intensely. It was did and she would not doubt notice it, but Aden could not help his body did that every time something creeped him out.

Aden turned to face Amelia for the first time since the initial victory look, and he could tell that she was dreading the fact that she had lost. Her mind was obviously wandering to thought about how her family would feel or her friends, or even how the boy that forced her into this situation would fell about her if she did it. She would feel that he and others would look down on her after that she was a classy lady after all, and Aden was a classy guy. While this was a fun distraction Aden could not force her to do that.

Aden spoke calmly for the first time tonight as well as giving her a simple smile. “You know I want you to keep your clothes on right?” he said with a small laugh, fearing the fact that she might not know that. “I am a Wizard aren’t I? what use do I have for Science.” He said in a nonchalant way, even though he was a big believer in Thecnomancy the study of the science of magic.

Amelia was so distracted by the scenarios running through her mind she did not even notice when Myrtle took her offended leave. She stood, or rather floated, almost completely still, staring at Aden. The only signs that she hadn’t been stunned was the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed and the occasional blinking of her eyes, far less frequent in her current state of shock.

When Aden looked away from her, Amelia also averted her eyes, staring blanking at the wall which held the door to the bathroom, not taking in any of the grandeur which had been sculpted into it. She was too busy fearing the worst. Her mind, now having recovered from the shock of losing, was busy chastising Amelia for ever having made the bet in the first place, gloating and bathing in self-righteousness.

I knew it. I knew it. This is why I always win. This is why I am in charge.

Amelia knew that what she had done had been unreasonable and entirely out of character for her. She never gambled on anything she didn’t think she could win, and this had been far from a sure thing. Something had swayed her decision, and she had a feeling that something had a lot to do with the way Aden looked without his shirt on and soaking wet.

How could I have been so stupid? Amelia thought, now dreading having to take off what little clothes remained while Aden watched. She had never been naked in someone else’s company, save for Myrtle who once mistook her for a long-haired boy in her first year when she had yet to develop any semblance of womanly form. She couldn’t imagine how she would endure it, but before her face could blush just by the mere thought of it, Aden’s voice interrupted her mental punishment.

His voice was calm, not at all what she had expected for a man who was about to leer at the naked form of a girl. When she turned to look at him, his smile had returned, not in a creepy way, but in a friendly, ‘I’m-on-your-side’ way. The words which passed through his lips were the last thing Amelia expected to hear, and more than she had even thought to hope for. She stared at him blankly while the sentence processed before breaking out in a genuine, ear to ear grin which raised her cheeks and threw her freckles into relief. She actually laughed out loud she was so surprised by his answer.

“I…” Amelia began, stopping because she was overcome by laughter. She was actually incapable of speech for almost a full minute, so overcome was she by a mixture of nervous laughter and genuine gratitude – which coincidentally also presented itself as laughter. She knew when she finally contained herself that she must have seemed a crazy person to Aden, but at the moment, she couldn’t bring herself to care. Instead, she reached over her head to turn a tap which sent gold-flecked bubbles into the pool, quickly filling the tub with hot, sparkly globes.

“I’ve always liked the gold ones best,” Amelia said, the smile on her face having faded slightly from its original glory, but still lingering as she lifted one of the bubbles onto her tiny palm and raised it to eye level. She knew this drastic change of topic would likely throw Aden off, but it was an automatic defense mechanism her mind was employing to get past what had just occurred, something she could only have controlled if she really wanted to. And she didn’t, really, want to.

her Laughter took him by surprise, but under neath it he could tell that she was indeed genuinely relived by Aden's gentlemen like qualities. When the Laughter kept on coming Aden was a bit concerned for her sanity as she seemed to be going off in a manor close to a loon. Aden excused i though has just shock to Aden's complete and utter personality change. He was probably closer to him real self now, and he wondered if she would still be interested by him with out the hot head visitant that he seemed to always have when she came around him.

When the Golden wave struck the pool with it's glistening awe Aden was delighted to see that they could both move on from the previous events that had partaken tonight. Aden had always liked the golden one too, although gold was one of his favorite colors. Not the gold that was really gold, but other things that displayed as gold.

Aden submerged his head into the water taking a moment to revel in the warmth on his face. Aden resurfaced soon after lifting the golden bubbles onto his head. Giving him a nice golden transparent hat with odd bumps everywhere. "I have too, so is this all you do? physical activity and classes, because I have never seen you in the Great Hall for a long period of time, or never in Hogsmeade. Doesn't this get i don't know Lonely?" Aden said startling himself with his sudden inquisitive nature.

Aden was puzzled at the Ant-socialness of this girl. How was it even possible to be Antisocial at a boarding school. Aden had been to a few boarding schools before he came to Hogwarts and he had never met someone that had manged to be apart of no one life per say. Aden was overall just puzzled by this girl as well she was smart and athletic, and as far as he could detect she had a pretty fair personality to boot.

Amelia watched the golden bubble in her palm, iridescent and reflective. She could see the reflection of her face, slightly skewed by the curve of the surface of the bubble, her hair slicked back by water and sticking to her bony shoulders. Her freckles stood out staunchly against her pale skin, a collection of constellations across her nose and cheeks. These were the things she would have expected to see in the reflection, but it was the smile which threw her off. She did not usually come face to face with a smiling version of herself, but she did not fail to notice the way it made her glow from the inside. Or maybe that was just the gold in the bubble.

Before she could become too deeply involved in the paradox of the glow her reflection (or was it her?) emanated, Amelia closed her palm and the bubble popped, leaving flecks of gold stuck to her hand. She looked over to see Aden’s reaction to all of this, but she saw only the top of his head just before it too disappeared beneath the surface of the water. She waited for a few moments, losing sight of the boy as he was covered by golden bubbles, mistaking the place would resurface as about six inches away from where his head actually appeared. She smiled again, this time because of the way the bubbles adorned his head and neck. The gold colour blended with the colour of his hair, serving as an oddly shaped extension of his coif.

Her smile was temporary, however, as Aden’s generally joking or flirtatious nature was replaced by one who asked questions. One thing Amelia had taken to immediately about Aden was that he asked so very few questions. Thus far, it had been enough for him to be in her presence, occasionally flattering her and making her blush, but never inquiring as to the emotions which led to the flush on her cheeks. This question took her by surprise, making her defenses rise again as she averted her eyes from him, looking instead at the bubbles which collected around her torso, still mostly submerged in the warm water.

“Being alone doesn’t have to mean you’re lonely,” Amelia said softly, defending her aloof nature in the way she always did. To her, loneliness was an emotion others felt, not one she experienced. In order to feel lonely, one had to know what it meant to feel companionship. She had never known what it felt like to be close to someone outside her immediate family, and even those relationships were not formed of camaraderie, but rather of convenience, “Nor do you have to be alone to feel lonely.”

Amelia knew this better than most, for even when surrounded by people she felt alone; like she was among them, but not of them. When others ran down the hall, chasing after their friends, or sat down to a meal with their housemates, Amelia was alone. When the castle emptied itself for a quidditch match, Amelia took up her place in the abandoned library. Even when surrounded by other students in a classroom, she didn’t feel as though she related to the others, like she could talk to any of them. Being with other people did not make her less lonely; it just highlighted how alone she really was. Being by herself might occasionally make her feel what others described as “lonely”, but at least then there was no one to ask questions.

“And I am a student, after all,” Amelia added, turning back to the boy and pulling herself out of her private reverie before Aden could start asking questions about that too, “Classes are a required part of my daily routine. I run because I like the high, and I swim because I have the facilities. It would be wasteful to ignore the few perks to being a prefect. Heaven knows we put up with enough to get them.”

Hoping to take the focus off of herself, Amelia turned the question around on Aden. It also wouldn’t hurt to gain some new information about the boy who seemed to perplex her so, often times without speaking at all, but merely by putting himself close enough to her to addle her brain.

“Perhaps you would care to tell me of the activities I am missing out on by being here?” Amelia proposed, “What does Aden Williams do with his free time?”

Of course being alone meant you were lonely didn't it? Aden had always though that way. It just was logical to know that if you were alone you were lonely. For here being alone was a good thing, and it didn't have any bad notations associated with it. Aden being a little baffled by the subject chose to thing of it in a some what childish manor wondering how plots that threaten to leave the person alone and rich affected Amelia if she liked to be alone. It was all off-worldish for Aden, but so was every thing about Amelia and perhaps that was the truly delightful thing about her.

Aden listened with intrigued years as she went on, but that was just a base line excuse nothing that mad Aden thing as her answers often did. This lack of insight was aggravating for Aden if he wanted some elementary answer he would go talk to one of the 6th year hufflepuff bimbos who would do anything to get into the bathroom, and even more to be in the tub with him. that was not what Aden wanted though, and Amelia's brand of personalty was exactly what he wanted of course now it seemed that he was only skimming it.

“Perhaps you would care to tell me of the activities I am missing out on by being here?” Aden didn't really know what she was missing, but their was something lacking from her life style that was for sure. Aden in his free time well that was simple he hung out with friends he talked to people and he did random thing such as jump in an overly large bath tub with a girl who was to say the least socially awkward and very unappreciative of the action.

"I do the one thing that you do not!" Aden said grimacingly with a face of contemplation plastered over his usually joyful complection. He raised his hand creating a ripple of force of displaced water, and once he broke free of the tension he placed his hand on her shoulder. "I interact with people in my free time." Aden said truthfully he was not trying to upset her in any way and he hoped that his comment had no such affect although he could see how it might very possibly do that.

Aden wondered though if her theory about being alone was really true for everyone or if it just worked out for her that way? If it did just work out for her what caused it to be that way? Would it better to be that way even if you missed out on something else great? Even more was it better to experience something good if it cause you to feel what Aden thought was one of the worst feelings or was it simply better the leave both of those things in the dark? "Amelia have you ever had a great time just sitting around doing nothing with friends?"