Open I Found, Maybe Us

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton was a little nervous about this yuleball, he had invited April to attend with him, but he hadn’t really thought about what that meant. He liked April, of course he did, she was perfect, she was his bestest friend ever but he had this little gnaw in his stomach since the halloween feast, well, he could admit maybe it had started at her father’s wedding, seeing her in that dress which was odd, because he’d seen April in multple dresses before so there was no reason whatsoever for any change in his personal feelings for her. But, he’d asked her to the ball, as FRIENDS, of course, nothing more even though he actually wanted to ask her as something more, but he didn’t know if she felt the same way about him and he was not willing to put his first foot forward. He didn’t want to be the one that took that leap, never. The hufflepuff walked to the great hall and spotted April easily in the crowd of people and he waved happily at her with a little bounce in his step. ”April!” he greeted as he got over to her and wrapped his arms around her happily in a hug, ”You look……” he faltered a little, ”Beautiful,” he managed to say while looking at her, faltering when he actually looked at her, and the word he said was a little quieter than the rest. ​

 

[April Ward]

April was nervous for tonight, even though she was trying to tell herself she wasn't. Why should she be? She had gone to the ball with Norton before. They had met up at tons of events and always had a great time! He was one of her best friends! But tonight he had asked her as his date, and though they were going as friends, it felt... different. April had been looking at Norton differently ever since the Halloween Feast, and she didn't like it. She didn't understand what was wrong with her, but she couldn't stop noticing how handsome he was. She was waiting for him in the great hall, wondering if she was a little under dressed. A girl moved by in a beautiful red gown, and April wondered what Norton would think if she wore something like that. The idea was tempting, but it wasn't very her. Besides, she didn't care what Norton thought about her dress. Did she? The music was playing, so April was moving to the beat in place as she waited for her date. She noticed him as he waved at her, and watched as he approached. She grinned as Norton greeted her, and returned the hug even though it made her weirdly nervous too. "Norton, hi!" She said, trying her best to sound completely normal and not excited. But when he told her she looked beautiful, she had no idea what to say or do. The way his voice changed was strange, but not unwelcome, and she wondered if he really meant it. April felt her cheeks heat up a little, but was glad it probably wouldn't show. "Oh, uh... thanks." She said softly, scratching her ear. She looked at Norton then, and realized he looked even better in a suit than he had in his costume for Halloween. She stared for a silent moment, then cleared her throat. "You look good." She mumbled awkwardly. And he really did. It wasn't fair.

 

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton smiled a little more shyly than before, he didn't know why this felt different, why he felt like he would say the wrong things or act in the wrong way, it had never happened before when spending time with April. They'd always just gelled so well together, but it was perhaps that his feelings for her were admittedly growing different. They were changing or evolving and he wasn't too sure how to express it to her. Calling her beautiful was something he had done before, and he'd called her pretty a lot of times, and he had certainly always believed it, but seeing her now, looking at her and saying the words it felt a little different. he wasn't complimenting her for the sake of it. It near stirred something in him, like he wasn't just looking at April his best friend in a pretty dress, but April, someone whom he liked a lot. He smiled a little awkwardly at her return of the compliment, ducking his head a little, he wanted to dress better for these occasions, wear things that suited him. He wondered still how to get over this little weirdness between them, but honestly could not know how. Norton decided the best thing to do was dance, they always danced well, and when he danced all of his problems washed away. "Do you want to dance?" he asked her holding out a hand to her, keen to drag her out on to that dancefloor. ​

 

[April Ward]

Something about the atmosphere between the two of them felt very different than normal, and April wasn't sure if she liked it. She kind of wished Kauri was here, because she knew things with him would at least be familiar. But she also liked that she was alone with Norton. Why was she feeling so weird about this? She looked down at her dress again, feeling a little undressed still. But they were clothes she could move in, and that was what was important at a dance. So when Norton asked her to dance, she readily agreed. At least that was familiar territory, and something that might break the awkward silence. "Always!" She said, perhaps a bit too loudly. After hesitating just a moment, she took Norton's hand and let him pull her to the dance floor. She started to move to the music, moving her arms around happily. "This was a great idea." She told her date. Dancing made everything better.

 

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton was pleased that she agreed to dance and knew that dancing would make everything better, it was easy and fun and he couldn’t help but enjoy dancing with her. It was just like old times for them. It felt like things were back to normal, no odd feelings in his stomach no weirdness, nothing it was just two friends dancing away to the loud and good music. He danced with her easily, moving about in the usual erratic movements that didn’t have any rhythm and didn’t have any sense either. It was just blind fun. It was just moving around and he was just smiling and grinning at April. This was easy, this he could do with no problems. He could dance with April and just live in the moment, and did so for a few of the more upbeat and fast paced songs. It was more frustrating when the upbeat songs seemed to end briefly and a much slower couple-y song came on. He could see other pairs changing their dancing style and no amount of jumping would perk this up. Maybe he should take the time to dance like that with her. ”If you want?” he offered, holding out his hands in a way to mimic what some of the others were doing. It would bring them far closer and though they had done some dancing similar, much like with other things this just felt different. It felt different, maybe continuing dancing would be the best thing for it. Even if they were standing close to each other.​

 

[April Ward]

Dancing in a silly way with Norton was a relief and a comfort. It was way closer to how they usually were, and April let herself get lost in it a little. She made sure to keep her movements as silly and fun as possible, rarely looking at Norton's face for longer than a second before spinning or twisting away. But then the music betrayed them, and a slower song started playing which made April's heart freeze for a moment. Normally, the two of them would either go on dancing the way they were, or use this song as a reason to take a break. But she knew that this wouldn't be the case now, and Norton soon confirmed it by offering her his hands. She hesitated for a long moment, both wanting to take his hands and afraid to do so. But finally, she did it, knowing that above anything else, she trusted Norton. "Sure." She said, trying and failing to sound casual. Even though she was a good dancer, this sort of dancing was new territory for her. She stepped a little closer to Norton, but didn't close the distance as much as some of the other couples on the dance floor did. Looking down at their hands, she started to sway to the music, then glanced up at his face. "Have you danced like this before with anyone?" She asked, hoping the answer was no so they would be on equal ground here.

 

[Norton Gillespie]

The boy wasn’t sure if this other sort of dancing would be something that she would want, they’d always just danced a little crazily. They’d always bounced about and just had fun, this was different, but this was kinda them at this together as like maybe dates so maybe it would be a good idea to dance together in the way that some of the other people around them were. He wasn’t sure how to do it, but was a little pleased when she agreed. He looked around them for what others did and took one hand in his and placed the other tentatively on her waist. He laughed a little, unable to help himself, an almost embarrased laugh, it felt admittedly nice, but it was odd. ”Not really,” the boy replied to her question as they swayed, ”I’ve jokingly done something close, but not like this,” he admitted with a little smile. He didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing, if she had done it before, ”It’s just a bit boring, who doesn’t love erratic dancing, that’s fun!” he knew they were doing this like this right now, ”You?” he asked back but he wondered if perhaps he had said too many negative things about how this kind of dancing was to him, ”But I like dancing with you,” he hastened to add.​

 

[April Ward]

April felt strange, dancing like this. She remembered how she had always made fun of the older students for doing this boring swaying to the music thing, but as she looked at Norton she realized it wasn't all bad. But she did think she still preferred something with a bit more movement and flair. She was oddly relieved when he said he hadn't really done this before, and she shook her head. "I haven't either. I tend to dance on my own. In my own way." She told him with a small shrug. She glanced at his face, smiling slightly. "It is a bit boring." She agreed, though she didn't think the hand on her waist was very boring. She was acutely aware of it, even though she was trying to seem unbothered. "I prefer erratic dancing too." She told him with a slight grin. Dancing with you is fun! But this doesn't really feel like... us." She shrugged. "Doesn't mean it 's not nice, but when there's a faster song you better believe I'm going to jump up and down and show you some awesome moves!" It was easier to joke and mess around than talk about serious things, so April made sure to do so. She didn't quite meet Norton's eye, in case he could sense how much she enjoyed being this close to him.