All Grown Up

[Signy Forstrom]

Signy had been happy that Xavier had wanted to go to the yuleball together, she really liked spending that time with him. Signy had to admit that she had growing feelings for him, and patrolling with him only made those worse. She didn't want to be too interested in him, because he'd be graduating at the end of the year, but the prefect liked him a lot. He was so laid back and easy to talk to. She intended for this to just be a fun and light night, she didn't expect anything to come of it, but she put on a flattering outfit, fitting her developing figure, she certainly hoped he liked it as much as she liked it. Signy could admit that walking in the heels were still a bit difficult for her, but she found this year a little easier than the last, and she'd left both her hair and face natural. She didn't particularly understand how to manage her hair, and make up would just make her look too much like a doll, so she walked down to the hall, with a bubbling in her stomach but looking forward to the night they'd spend together. She arrived at the great hall, and realised she'd gotten to the hall before him, but she was happy to wait, standing near the entrance, swaying to the loud music.
​

 

[Xavier Jeffreys]

The yule ball did not hold as many happy memories for Xavier as he was sure it did for other students, with one of his worst memories being attending the ball by a choice not fully made from his own accord and one with an ulterior motive to use him. It didn't take a genius to connect the dots and realize the amount of anxiety the ball brought up for him, no matter the times he had attended since and the amount of fun he always had with Signy as his date. But with it being his final year at school, the promise of spending time with his favourite person, and a few other reasons he was yet to admit to said favourite person, Xavier felt obliged to swallow what made him worry and attend that night.

Asking Signy to attend with him had been easy and stifled his nerves temporarily, though after showering and putting on a suit borrowed from Ares, Xavier couldn't help but begin to worry again. The walk down from his dormitory didn't help this fact causing him to feel entirely out of his depth when he arrived, a mix of nerves over the ball generally and being with Signy overwhelming him. Taking a deep breath, Xavier tried to calm himself down as he looked around for his friend. The sight of her swaying to the music brought a smile to his face but wasn't enough to keep his heart from racing as he approached her, the way she dressed that was effortless yet beautiful causing butterflies to flutter in his stomach. "Hey." He greeted, sounding more put together than he felt before leaning forward to give her a hug that lasted a moment longer than it should have. He realized his feelings for Signy ran deeper than friendship a long time ago, and he knew he needed to tell her before leaving school lest he risk the friendship they had, but other than blurting the truth out randomly for the sake of being honest he wasn't sure how to go about it. It was a sensitive subject and Xavier cared too much to ruin what they had by being insensitive. ​

 

[Signy Forstrom]

Signy smiled as soon as she saw him, her heart picking up his pace as she looked at him in a suit. The girl reached out and put a hand on the top of his arm, feeling the suit material underneath, "You clean up nice," she complimented him softly, it seemed a little out of the ordinary for him, and Signy doubted it was a suit that was often worn by Xavier. She certainly did prefer when they were just hanging out in the grounds, spending time together looking for bugs. It was a night to make that effort and she'd made it with him and he had returned the favour. Signy had to admit she wasn't sure that Xavier liked her back in the way she liked him, but maybe he did, maybe that was what she felt between them. "I like it," she added as her hand reached up to his hair and touched some of the strands. She did really like it, Signy couldn't help but love how effortless he had made this all look. "Do you want to dance?" She offered her hand returning to her own body and her gaze settling upon his, "I've got an airy skirt so I don't have any issues with dancing," the prefect said with a smile. She wasn't sure if they would dance, or how they would dance, but she was all for it. Spending this time with him in all the traditional senses of it.
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[Xavier Jeffreys]

Xavier stilled as Signy brought a hand to his arm and then his hair, commenting on his appearance in a way he never expected. Showering and wearing a suit that was at least on the verge of acceptable seemed like the bare minimum for a ball that asked everyone to dress formally so it surprised him Signy was so pleased with his effort. Though he could admit the fact she was pleased at all made him want to dress nicer more regularly to impress her. Maybe his usual attire of gumboots, cargo shorts and t shirts simply wasn't enough and changing the way he dressed on a regular basis to something with more effort would mean she might feel somewhat the same way he did about her. He didn't have might time to think about his clothes however as Signy soon changed the subject to dancing. His heart began to race more at the thought of dancing with her, knowing in a stereotypical sense that would be the time to admit his feelings but feeling self conscious that he would dance awkwardly or something would happen to distract them both from dancing together. Regardless Xavier nodded, saying "Dancing sounds great," before leading Signy into the great hall and onto the dance floor. A slower song began playing and Xavier instinctively placed his hands gently on her waist while swaying to the slower pace of the music, assuming this was the way to go about dancing with Signy and ignoring how self conscious he felt when the butterflies in his stomach became more intense.​

 

[Signy Forstrom]

Signy wasn’t sure what to make of the silence which spilled over, but her expression was soft as she kept her gaze upon Xavier. He had always been a solid in her life, though this one presented in front of her was a different boy than she had grown largely accustomed to. As someone who had grown up on a farm, she knew that being in casual clothing for the outdoors was more comfortable than the formal wear found at an event like this, but the fact he’d cleaned up and dawned a suit. The girl liked it, though it was odd to see him thus. Her thoughts about it were interrupted as he accepted her offer to dance and she allowed him to lead her to the dance floor. She felt his hands upon her waist and put her own arounds around her neck, resting upon his shoulders. A slow song to start was good, it allowed her to feel connected to him, her own feelings towards him on the tip of her tongue but un-said. She let the silence continue, dancing with him to the slow pace of the music and keeping her gaze upon him. She could imagine doing this for hours with him. The song would inevitable change soon, ”This is nice,” she couldn’t stop herself from saying. She knew it wasn’t a particularly imaginative thing to say, but she definitely thought it was true. Like with everything she ended up doing with Xavier it was just nice. It was as close as she would come to an admission at this point.
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[Xavier Jeffreys]

Xavier knew he was more quiet than usual, choked up from his nerves towards the night and the many things on his mind still unsaid. He also knew the reason the butterflies in his stomach ran rampant and what caused the blush that spread over his cheeks as he and Signy swayed slowly to the music. But what he still did not know was how much longer he could hide what he felt from her. Last year his feelings, although apparent, were easier to swallow as they attended the ball together because he knew he had time to figure it out. But now his final year at school was underway and with his graduation around the corner everything was amplified, worries that if he did not tell her before the year was over what they had would be lost circling his thoughts. He could barely think straight when Signy said dancing with him was nice, only managing a nod in response before another silence fell between them. He used the silence to word everything in his mind but when the song eventually changed to something more upbeat Xavier moved his hands away from Signy's waist, looking around the hall and back to her, feeling interrupted when he knew the music changing was inevitable. He decided it was better to move elsewhere to talk to her. Slow dancing was one thing but he did not know if he could handle a fast paced song when his heart felt like it could beat out of his chest at any moment.

Xavier intertwined one of his hands with Signy's, nodding to where the refreshments were before leading her there. Getting drinks was normal for friends, and he reassured himself the action of pouring himself and Signy glasses of punch was enough of a cover for him to feel comfortable beginning to explain his feelings to her. "I want you to know, you mean a lot to me." He said, handing her one of the drinks he poured. It wasn't in so many words but it was what he could manage while he tried to gather everything else he wanted to say.​