Closed Flirting with Disaster

[Nicole Fisk]

Nicole had no reason to be nervous about this. She had been planning parts of this date for months, spent ages picking the perfect outfit and fussing with her hair. She'd even asked Connor for advice. She had almost everything under control, there was almost no way this could go wrong. At least in theory. Standing just past the entrance to Brightstone proper, waiting for Eric, Nicole couldn't help but image the myriad of ways things could go wrong now.

She'd originally been planning that they could go for a walk together, and then maybe stop in the Three Broomsticks for a drink (as much as she would have loved tea at Madam Puddifoots, her reconnaissance had implied that might have been a bad idea), but now Nicole wasn't even sure she'd have the nerve to meet up with Eric, let alone do anything else. But she had to, Nicole reminded herself fervently. There was no point trying to date Eric if everyone found out she'd bail out of nerves before their first date. Smoothing down her skirt, Nicole forcibly tried to push away the anxious feeling, determined that today was going to go great. She and Eric were going to have a perfect date and she was not going to let anything change that.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric was still not entirely sure what had happened on the train ride over, why Nicole Fisk of all people had asked him out. The entire thing was new and kind of baffling, as Eric had never been on any kind of date before. He also didn't really understand how people seemed to be aware of this date, he hadn't told anyone. Even Connor had figured it out, which was kind of embarrassing. Eric had chosen not to talk about it with anyone, shrugging it off as not a big deal.

But maybe it was a bit of a big deal. He felt kind of nervous as he headed over to Brighstone, where Nicole was waiting. She was nice enough, pretty. He guessed he was flattered that she was clearly interested in him. "Hey." He said as he walked up to her as he spotted her waiting just past the entrance of Brightstone village. Eric had been here a few times before, though he didn't always go on these trips. Stupid people were so excited about them, that Eric had decided long ago he wasn't going to go unless he needed something. "You look... nice." He said, though he thought she pretty much looked as she always did. But he was pretty sure you were supposed to say things like that on dates.

 

[Nicole Fisk]

Nicole straightened up when she saw Eric approaching, giving him a small smile. "Oh this old thing, I just threw it on," She said waving a hand dismissively. She couldn't really tell if Eric had dressed up for the date or not, but she was pleased with the compliment regardless. "You wanna just take a walk around for a bit?" She offered, trying to think of anything Connor could have mentioned that Eric liked that she could bring up to talk about. She also considered trying to take his arm, but that felt like it was moving a bit fast. Instead, Nicole just hovered awkwardly by Eric's elbow for a moment, holding her arm at a slight angle, just in case, before taking a few tentatively steps down the street, smile still held in place.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric nodded. "Oh, okay." He said when Nicole said she had just thrown something on. It at least made him feel a bit better, he hadn't gone through any effort at all when getting dressed. Truthfully, he hadn't even really considered wearing anything special to this. Eric had sort of figured Nicole knew a bit better than he did what this whole date thing was about, and he nodded. "Yeah, sure." He said as she suggested they walk around. That sounded easy enough. Eric stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked down the street next to Nicole, looking away and glancing at the shops they passed a little awkwardly. "So, uh," he started, scrambling for something to say. "I heard Slytherin won the match against Hufflepuff." He eventually said, though he didn't care one bit about Quidditch. Somehow Nicole seemed like the type to go to matches, so he guessed she had seen it. "I guess the snakes are celebrating?"

 

[Nicole Fisk]

Nicole tried not to feel put out when Eric seemed to accept her comment about just throwing any old outfit on, but hopefully it just meant he thought she looked nice all the time. She tried to relax as they started their way around the main street, though she did have to reluctantly drop her arm fully against her side when Eric made no move to take it.

Nicole immediately latched onto the mention of Quidditch at least, eager to have an easy topic to talk about. "Oh, yeah, it was a great match, did you see it? Blake Irons is an amazing seeker," She started, having to stop herself from gushing about another boy on their first date and trying to push the memory of Lysander teasing her in the stands at the match. "It makes me wonder if Slytherin actually has a chance to meet these crazy conditions Professor Styx set up last year. Do you know he challenged us to have basically a perfect year all so we can get some silly trampoline?" Nicole shook her head, hoping she wasn't talking too much. "But um- Do you like Quidditch at all? Connor's on the team this year, right?" Connor seemed like a nice, safe subject to get onto, even if it made Nicole feel a bit weird to talk about her friend on a date.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric had seen the match, even if he wasn't entirely proud of that fact. He usually didn't go to Quidditch matches, as the sport was incredibly dumb and incredibly overrated. But Connor had been playing for the first time, and he knew he couldn't miss that. But as Nicole mentioned the Slytherin seeker, Eric rolled his eyes. "The only thing amazing about him is his massive ego." He said dismissively. "Seeking is all luck anyway, I bet." He added. Eric then frowned as Nicole talked about Professor Styx and a trampoline for Slytherin. "We have a trampoline and it's dumb." He told her. "Annoying little kids are jumping on it all the time." Eric then pulled a face at her question. "No, I don't like Quidditch." He said with a shrug. "I'm happy for Connor, but I wish he was doing something a bit less boring."

 

[Nicole Fisk]

Nicole laughed awkwardly when Eric mentioned Blake's ego, nodding vaguely in tacit agreement. She couldn't argue that Blake wasn't full of himself, but privately she rather envied how sure of himself he seemed. And you couldn't ignore how good a seeker he was either. But she didn't want to argue with Eric, especially about something like that, so she just nodded. She was a bit more relieved to be able to complain about the trampoline idea, agreeing with Eric that it was a dumb idea. "Right? I can only imagine it'll be a disaster if Professor Styx actually lets us use the one we have. Kids are just going to get hurt or something," She said, glancing at Madam Pudifoots with a quiet longing as they passed it.

She was disappointed to hear Eric didn't like Quidditch. She rather enjoyed it, even if it was pretty violent, and it would have been fun to imagine going to games with Eric. "Oh, okay. I guess so," She said mildly. "Connor played well though, at least. I was amazed he could hit so hard," She added hopefully, trying again to steer the conversation back to a more positive subject.

 

[Eric Holland]

It somehow surprised Eric a bit that Nicole agreed on the trampoline. He'd expected her to be more enthusiastic about it, and her view made him like her a bit more. "I don't think Styx actually cares if kids get hurt." He said with a shrug. "Watch, if you guys manage to get it, he'll install spikes around it or something, just to be sure they do." He said, snorting at the mental image. Eric was glad when they moved past the ridiculous tea shop, though he cast a quick glance inside as he suddenly feared Noel and Minnie might be in there together. But no, Minnie had said they had broken up.

Nicole did seem a little disappointed by his views on Quidditch, but Eric didn't care. It was such a basic sport, he really didn't think it was worthwhile. He kept himself from saying it in front of Connor because he didn't want to hurt his feelings, but besides that he wasn't afraid to let his opinion be known. "Connor is stronger than he looks." Eric said with a shrug. "He's just a wimp usually."