Closed A Picnic Surprise

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

The winter break had been slightly chaotic for Adorah. Between starting the search for her birth parents, her adoptive parents kicking her out, trying to get a headstart on her OWLs, and receiving a letter announcing her promotion to prefect, she had felt overwhelming excited to get back to the castle she now called home. One of the more positive sides had been exchanging letters with Aisa. Her parents weren't too fond of the owls, but it was a gentle reminder of what she had to look forward to once September hit. The letters were tame, as Adorah was too reserved to be super vocal about her feelings for the girl, but seeing as they had decided on more dates at the end of last semester, she figured that was enough for now. In her final letter, she told Aisa that she wanted to be the one to arrange the first date and that she would let her know when and where to meet once school started. It was the first time she would see her since arriving back, and she wanted to make sure everything was perfect. Aisa had been the one to move things forward the previous year, but Adorah wanted to show her that she was just as interested in her own way.

Adorah had told her to meet at the cliffs on that Saturday afternoon where she had set up a picnic for them. She had laid out a yellow plaid blanket for them in a spot that was secluded but with a view. The cliffs weren't very occupied by students, but she didn't want the chance of anyone awkwardly interrupting their date. She had packed a picnic basket with some sparkling apple juice, a light pasta salad, and some pumpkin cookies her sister had made. She had also brought an extra blanket in case it got chillier, as there was a slight breeze. She was worried that it might be too much becasue she had never been on a date before unless she was counting the dance. But that had been pre-arranged and had everything they might need. Her only romantic experience was from books. She sighed and took a seat on the blanket as she brought her knees up to her chest, waiting for Aisa to arrive.

 

[Aisa Hunter]

Aisa had enjoyed her break as much as she could, but things had been strange. Knowing Abian would graduate soon had made for a strange atmosphere, as both Aisa and their mother knew that Abian would leave the muggle world behind once he started working. Her brother had been talking about becoming a healer for years now, but now that it was nearing, it finally started to feel real. Exchanging letters with Adorah had been a nice distraction from all that, and a small window back into the magical world as she reminded her of Hogwarts. She was looking forward to seeing the Ravenclaw again, especially as they had agreed to go on more dates. Adorah had said she wanted to arrange the first one, and Aisa was excited and a little nervous.

Now that they were at school, Aisa was happy to see Adorah again. The girl had told her to meet at the cliffs on Saturday, and Aisa headed there after taking extra care with her hair and putting on a little makeup as well. The cliffs were a nice place to be alone, and honestly... it was kind of romantic. Aisa was curious what Adorah had planned, and walked quickly as she headed towards the cliffs. Once she arrived, she saw Adorah sitting on a blanket, clearly with a picnic ready. Aisa's heart did a little leap at the thought of her preparing all this, for her. She smiled as she approached. "Hi... this is amazing." She said softly, glancing around at the whole thing. She couldn't stop smiling, which was unlike her. "Thanks for doing all this." She said, sitting down next to the Ravenclaw.

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

Adorah enjoyed the peacefulness that the cliffs provided. She took in a nice deep breath of air when she heard footsteps approaching and saw Aisa. She shot up and smoothed out her dress, keeping her arms crossed in front of her. "Hi," she said, somewhat breathless. "You look beautiful," she blurted out and then gave a small laugh. "Umm, would you like to sit?" she asked the Gryffindor, gesturing to the blanket and taking a seat herself. She pulled out two glasses and poured some sparkling juice for each of them and held out the glass would Aisa. "Would you like a drink?" she asked, providing a smile towards the girl.

 

[Aisa Hunter]

Aisa blushed a bit as Adorah said she looked beautiful. Truthfully, she hadn't really dressed up. She thought Adorah looked a lot cuter in her dress, but it felt a bit weird to say that now that she had said it to Aisa "Thank you." She simply said, then nodded before sitting down on the blanket. Aisa smiled as Adorah held out the glass, and took it from her. "I would love one." She said, lightly clinking their glasses together. "I hope this wasn't too much trouble." She added, glancing at the basket and the food before looking back at Adorah. "I'll have to think of some way to wow you next." She said a little jokingly.

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

Adorah handed the glass to Aisa and took part in their toast. Taking a sip, she shook her head at the Gryffindor’s remark. “Not at all!” she assured her. “My sister actually made the cookies,” Adorah said with a laugh. While it had taken time to come up with where and how to make things more romantic, she felt like the whole coming up with a date thing came natural to her. The actually dating part was another story. She took another sip of her drink and almost choked when Aisa mentioned a next time. The prefect hadn’t even thought about a next time. You know, technically she had, but she didn’t know if it was too soon to admit that. She had thought about Aisa a lot and what next dates might be. Maybe attending the Yule Ball and getting to slow dance, attending a Quidditch game together, grabbing dinner during a Brightstone weekend, kissing her goodnight... Adorah felt her cheeks warm and shook the thoughts from her head. “No need to wow me. Just you being here is wow enough.” She knew her talk was cheesy, but she didn’t care. Pulling out some of the cookies, she offered the blue tin to Aisa. “Wanna start with dessert first?”

 

[Aisa Hunter]

Aisa smiled as Adorah spoke about her sister. "Did you tell her they were for a date?" She asked curiously. Personally, she wouldn't share that sort of information with her brother. He could figure that stuff out on his own, right? If he saw her with Adorah together she was sure he could put two and two together, and if not that was his own problem. She wondered how Adorah felt about this. The thought about her telling someone about her was both thrilling and a little scary. Aisa couldn't help but notice Adorah's reaction when she had mentioned a next date, and suddenly felt a little less sure. She seemed kind of shocked, had Aisa gone too fast? She wasn't entirely sure what to say now, and was glad when Adorah spoke instead. She smiled at her sweet comment, then nodded and grabbed a cookie. "I'm all for starting with the good stuff." She said, holding it up in a strange sort of salute. Merlin, she was being really awkward. "Thank your sister for me."

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

OOC: "Merlin, she was being really awkward." is my life motto and should be put on a shirt.

Adorah shook her head nervously and pushed some hair back. "Not really. I just asked her for cookies," she said laughing a little. She hadn't really expressed her interest in Aisa to anyone. What if things didn't work out? Then she would have to explain that to people, and that just sounded awful. If things ever became more official... then she would definitely want to tell people. She would feel like shouting it from the rooftops (although she wouldn't). Plus, her sister enjoyed baking and making food for anyone so it wasn't putting her out too much. She could easily be sharing it with the girls at Heta, and Juniper would have never asked. Adorah took a cookie along with her date and held it up, giggling. She tipped it almost like tipping a glass and took a bite. They were pretty yummy as most of her sister's bakes were. Afterwards, she took another sip of her juice and cleared her throat. "Umm, so there's something else I wanted to talk about on this date," she started, unsure of how to really proceed. "You know, you asked me to the Valentine's Day dance last year, and it was really a lot of fun. And I thought with the Yule Ball this year, even though it's really far away, that maybe we could go to another dance together?" Adorah spoke really fast and hoped Aisa caught everything. It wasn't quite the way she had rehearsed it in the mirror.

 

[Aisa Hunter]

Aisa wasn't sure if she was supposed to feel a strange sense of relief when hearing Adorah hadn't told her sister about her in detail, but she did. It wasn't like she wanted to hide whatever this was, but... being open and vulnerable was a thing Aisa struggled with. Having strangers know details of her life was sometihng she didn't love. Though she realized she didn't want Adorah's sister to be a stranger forever, she wanted to get to know her, as part of Adorah's life. The thought made her blush, and she quickly took a sip of her drink. When Adorah said she wanted to talk about something else on this date, Aisa's gaze moved to her in slight alarm. But as the other girl asked her out to the yule ball, Aisa relaxed a bit again and smiled. "Sounds like a great idea." She said softly. "I would love to go with you. Though I will have Accio stuff to do as well." She said apologetically. "Like last time. Sorry. It's never really been an issue before, I never liked the dances much." She realized that could sound like she didn't appreciate Adorah asking her to one, so she quickly added onto her statement. "I mean, I didn't before I had someone cool to go with." She said with a shrug, sending a quiet apology to Sully in her head. They hadn't technically gone together before, but he usually was the one keeping her company at these things. But that was different.

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

Adorah could feel her heart beating faster as she waited for Aisa to provide her an answer. Thankfully, she agreed to go, and Adorah felt like she could breathe again. She didn't mind that Aisa still had yearbook duties; as long as they got to go together, she knew it would be fun. She was a little taken aback when Aisa said she was cool. She couldn't remember the last time someone used that word to describe her. "Gee, what an honor," she joked and took another sip of her drink. "I don't care if we got to dance once. As long as I get to go... with you." Adorah gave Aisa a smile and looked out over the cliffs, just enjoying the serenity of the moment.