Closed Ignoring Feelings for Tonight

[Branson Archer]

Branson wasn't sure how serious this was as a date, he knew they were going at least as friends, and Branson didn't mind that, but given that he knew he liked her and didn't know if she felt the same way he wasn't too sure about it. He didn't want to say anything and then find out that she didn't feel the same way and make it awkward. But he knew that to hold on to it would be wrong too. He wouldn't do anything this night, not wanting to ruin the yuleball. He was wearing his usual suit and was waiting for Blair by the entrance, just a little in the hall. He smiled to himself as he spotted his sisters at the drinks table. He was glad they were able to still be so close. And from what he'd spoken to them about both were happy, with mutual and individual friends and interests. He spent a moment just watching them, knowing that he could spare that time until Blair appeared. ​

 

[Blair Bianchi]

Blair had fun getting ready for the ball, however, the closer the event came, the more anxious she became. She had never thought of anything romantic, especially with these dates with Branson, however, now she understood that she had paid a lot of attention to the details of her looks, she spent way more time trying to look her best than she usually did. And she felt too excited and overwhelmed about this night for it to be just friendly. She wasn't sure how to behave now since she had never felt anything that made her question her intentions before, it caught her offguard. Especially with a fact that she was pretty sure that whatever she had for him, it was one-sided.

However, she came to the Yule Ball in a long, dark green dress and heels. She was tall herself and the heels made her even taller. She looked around to find Branson and when she finally noticed him, she approached him from behind and then casually spoke up. "I guess we're back to the snowy theme," she lightly huffed and giggled, she was just getting used to the Christmas at summer and now they are back at the snowy theme. "You look wonderful," Blair finally said softly smiling at him, seeing him finally made her feel more relaxed and confident that the evening was going to be amazing.

 

[Branson Archer]

Branson glanced round, noticing her as she just finished approaching him. He felt his cheeks flushed lightly and he felt all words leave him. He couldn't quite say anything. Branson took a moment recover. "You look beautiful," he said honestly, his words a little breathless. "Green is wonderful colour on you," he said to her, before just holding out his arm to her. "Do you want to get some snacks?" he asked a little nervously. ​

 

[Blair Bianchi]

Blair couldn't help but just smile all the time and even blushed a little when she saw his reaction. It even made her feel extremely special and beautiful, not a common feeling for her. "Thank you," she softly answered, still continued to smile. Then she took his arm, getting way closer to him than she was before. "Snacks, sounds good. And then dancing?" She offered too, it wasn't a secret that she liked knowing what they were going to do next. "I think that the ceiling looks way better than usually," she looked up once she noticed the snowflakes. She had noticed everything apart for the snowflakes, and she looked up smiling at the falling snowflakes. She tried to keep her attention on anything else not to think about how she felt about her partner.

 

[Branson Archer]

Branson smiled at her and nodded. He knew he went a little rigid as she got closer to him, but he pushed it aside, and nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a plan," he began moving towards the snacks, moving at her pace, since with her shoes it was probably easier for her to desire the pace at which they were to walk. "Yeah, I thought they might stick to the style of last year...which I wouldn't have minded but this is nice," He told her. He resisted the urge to say that all snowflakes were unique, knowing that she definitely knew that. Thankfully they'd reached the snacks table. "Hmmm, anything take your fancy here?" he always thought the spread was excellent. ​

 

[Blair Bianchi]

Blair put her hair behind her ear and nodded when he agreed with her offer. She wasn't used to being on heels like the ones she decided to wear for this night, so she tried to focus on where she was stepping and how to not embarrass herself. "I thought so too but honestly, I'm glad we're having a snowy Yule Ball, I think it's actually amazing how opposite it is to the weather outside," she admitted with one hand lightly trying to touch the snowflake but it disappeared before it landed on her, right as they were enchanted to do. She loved snow a lot even if she was more of a warm time person. Blair thoughtfully looked at the table of snacks once they got there. "That's a lot of snacks," she chuckled at all of them, trying to choose what she wanted. Blair wasn't the one to eat a lot of snacks, she had always tried to keep her perfectly in form as it was required for her sport. "I think I'm gonna go with these ones," she took some snacks that seemed to be just an assortment of fruits and berries on a stick. "What are you gonna take?" She asked after she was done with making her choice.

 

[Branson Archer]

Branson considered it and then nodded. "Yeah it's nice," Branson had to admit it was. Given that he was used to summery christmases and this was usually the space where he experienced the more european yuletide, it was always a bit of a nice change to it. Bran said, "Are you going back to Russia for the holidays or staying here?" he knew of course she was living with the new Stefan guy and with the sibling, but perhaps she wouldn't be. He looked between the snacks and she picked something, he then picked up a couple of biscuits with little snowflake icing on top. "This," he took a bite of it. He looked back at Blair and smiled, "How are your OWLs going?" Until they finished snacks he assumed they would just chat, and that seemed like the logical way to go. ​

 

[Blair Bianchi]

Blair was glad that he agreed with her, it felt nice that they shared opinions on this. "No idea, will need to find out whether Stefan even has time for that. I mean, I lived there with my mom but we don't talk anymore," she lightly shrugged her shoulders, she was aware that she still hadn't talked with him about the situation that happened with her and her parents, living places, last name, found sibling, status change. She looked at his pick and gave a nod, well, it did look tasty, she had to admit it. "Well, potions were boring but transfigurations were difficult but interesting. We had to vanish some animals like snails, mices and ducks, conjured ducks, of course," she easily spoke up about the lessons, she felt nice that she had no exams this semester. "How were your exams?" She hated her last years exams honestly, she wasn't the smartest person when it came to lessons, yet, she was better when it came to more everyday things. And so far it seemed that Branson was way smarter.

 

[Branson Archer]

Branson nodded at her, "Okay....well, if you stick around in New Zealand, do you wanna come round to mine this time? I can't promise a massive library but we can sit in the garden and read or play quidditch?" he offered. he'd gone round to hers, so it was only fair he invite her to his this time around. He didn't agree that potions could be boring, and transfiguration being difficult was likely. "Good, I got O's," he told her. "I found Divination quite tough this time around, card reading is not as simple as it seems," he shrugged. He finished off his snack, since really it hadn't been all that big. "Do you think its better to have exams all in one, or split up?" he asked, since she probably experience the better bit of having them all in one, a semester without exams was probably not the worst thing in the world. ​

 

[Blair Bianchi]

Blair excitedly started to smile when he offered to visit him this time and chuckled when he said that they didn't have a huge library but had different offers. "Oh God, I'd love to, honestly, it sounds fun!" Bianchi was keen to see Bran's place, it was a good way to get to know him even more. "No way! I'm proud of you, it's amazing results. And yeah, I think that Divination can be hard, especially when it comes card reading," she was proud of Branson honestly. Blair had never liked Divination or anything that came to the intuition, however, she had a huge respect for anyone who were able to do or understand it. "Well, split up will always be the best because you don't manage to forget everything you learned but it's cool to have some changes," she easily answered, she liked the system of OWLs, tho, it was a biggest to get used to it. "So, how do you feel that it's only one semester and you will be in OWLs year?" she chuckled, she had a weird feeling about it in her fourth year, tho, now she didn't really feel like a lot of things changed.

 

[Branson Archer]

Branson smiled at her and nodded, it would be good to have her come round and to be able to spend more time with her, which she was always keen to do. He gave a little shy smile as she complimented his work. "Yeah, it's all about intrepreting but I can't always see what it's saying you know," Branson considered what she said about the split exams. He nodded. "It's a bit daunting..knowing they are close but still far enough away," Branson said. "Are you ready to go dance?" he asked with a grin. He'd finished his snack and though the discussion as always was interesting, this was a dance and he was quite keen to get to dancing. He extended out his hand to her so they could go dance. ​

 

[Blair Bianchi]

Blair continued to smile and nodded at his answer. "Still, maybe you could help me with reading it? I didn't enroll in Divination because I honestly can't see anything at all," she admitted after the offer. Well, it wasn't like she was really interested in Divination in any case, except for one, when it could be learned together with Branson. "It's gonna be fine, if you're rocking exams like this, I think you will rock OWLs too," she gave him an encouraging smile before starting to happily smile even wider. "Yes!" She immediately answered, she absolutely loved dancing. She took his hand, ready for dancing. After that she slowly started leading towards the dance floor, hoping that he was ready to go. "It's a really good song," she softly smiled when a new song came in and only then she remembered that it was a pretty slow song. It made her a bit nervous of it but the song actually was one of her favorite ones that wasn't in Russian.

 

[Branson Archer]

Branson considered what she said, it would probably be good to have someone else to do a reading on. Where he spent more time going slowly since they wouldn't know what it was. "Okay, when I next need to practice reading I'll hit you up," he assured her. He was glad when she wanted to go dance and followed her out to the dancefloor. He began dancing with her, feeling a little odd about holding her hair but just let it happen. The song was slow but he wasn't sure if she wanted to slow dance but he moved his other hand and offered it too, they maybe wouldn't waltz or anything but they could slow dance a little to the song without getting too intimate. ​

 

[Blair Bianchi]

Blair easily gave a nod, still smiling. "Sounds good," she agreed with him, well, she honestly like the idea. They could spend time together, he could practice Divination, Blair is trying to understand at least something that's going on yet just enjoying the time. When they danced, Blair tried to keep her gaze on Branson but at some moments it became hard as well, she wasn't used to slow dancing with him, and her sight landed on her brother, he seemed to get in a light trouble. Good luck with that, kiddo. She wasn't going to bother them, she knew that he would end up at some drama, so Blair paid attention to Branson, not the first year drama. "You know, I'm actually really happy that we're here. Together," she softly smiled, feeling a bit awkward to say that, so just looking a bit down, trying to hide that it was actually hard for her to admit.

 

[Branson Archer]

Branson was happy to dance with her, he couldn't spot his sisters in the crowd of people dancing but h ewas sure they were still about. He kept his attention on Blair and smiled at her, he felt encouraged that she liked him from what had been said. "Me too," he replied with a little smile. He was glad to be here with her. He thought about telling her there. Admitting it to her. "I really like you Blair....," he said, he thought it was safe to say that, it wasn't the strongest statement in either way but it was a statement.​

 

[Blair Bianchi]

Honestly, Blair expected that he would say that he was happy to be here with her too, tho, she didn't expect the following part. Her face almost fell for a second, she liked him too, yes, she did, without a doubt, even if she was scared to like anyone. She just had no idea what to answer, he was perfect and Blair just hoped that she was gonna reach the level too. "I like you too. A lot," she finally looked up and smiled, knowing that it was both sided, it felt good to know that instead of just guessing.

 

[Branson Archer]

Branson felt his dancing slow as she replied. He met her gaze and smiled a little. He wasn't sure if it meant what he thought it did, but he thought it was enough to maybe convince him that his feelings weren't entirely one sided. He gave a little laugh, "I don't know why this is so difficult," he said. since he'd never been one to struggle with speaking or admitting how he felt but Blair just always threw him through a loop. "Can I kiss you?" he asked, the words draped in the nervousness he felt. He Hopefully he wasn't misreading this.​

 

[Blair Bianchi]

Blair gave a soft chuckle when Branson spoke up first after their admissions. "Well, I guess we will never know," she lightly joked, it was her way of how to handle situations that she wasn't used to. She had never felt anything except for friendship towards anyone, so she was just blind guessing what to do next. However, it seemed that Bran had figured it all out better than she had. "Don't ever ask that again, you can do it," she laughed after his answer easily before leaning in confidently, well, she had decided to overthink it all later, she didn't want the Yule Ball to be awkward, she wanted it all to go perfectly. And she felt more confident after his words. Tho, she slowed down a bit before actually kissing him, waiting a moment to be sure that he was still fine with it.

 

[Branson Archer]

Branson gave a little nervous laugh, but at least they were on the same wave length about it too. With her still agreeing with him, he was nervous about what she might say, that she might not actually want to do that. He was a little thrown by her first statement but smiled. He nervously raised leaned in and then met her in the middle to kiss her. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest, this was what he wanted, and it was actually happening to him.​

 

[Blair Bianchi]

And this time Blair was thankful that she played that spin the bottle game, at least she knew what to do now. So she carefully pressed her lips onto his, taking the lead in the kiss if he let her. She unconsciously moved closer to him and just enjoyed the moment, not thinking about anything that was going on around him. She felt like there was only him and her, no one else.

 

[Branson Archer]

Branson had never kissed before but he suddenly began understanding why Jordie had been so keen to be in love and loved because it was nice. He didn't know if it was just because it was Blair and he liked her a lot, and knew her so well too. They'd been friends for a while. He liked spending time with her, was this just the next step of it. He pulled out of the kiss and then smiled a little, feeling a little breathless, "That was really nice," he said. ​

 

[Blair Bianchi]

When Branson pulled away, Blair just longed still for a second before opening eyes and lightly smiling at his reaction. "Yeah, it was," she agreed with him once she finally looked back at him. If anyone would tell her just a few hours ago that she would kiss Branson, she wouldn't believe. She didn't really believe she could catch any feelings towards anyone before the graduation, however, it happened and she just had to hope it was gonna go well and her previous opinion wouldn't get true. She didn't want to mess up anything after the kiss, so she remained quiet, trying to not break the moment. Blair was considering to give in for another kiss but she wanted to be sure that Branson was okay with that.