Open Just Friends

[Lysander Summers]

Unlike the previous year, Lysander had put a little more effort into his appearance for the Yule Ball. His hair was combed and gelled, and he'd specifically picked out a red rose from the gardens to match with Nicole's dress. They were meant for Valentines, but he was sure Mhairi wouldn't mind if he borrowed one. The thought to coordinate hadn't occurred to him until Spencer had brought up clashing colours and how a lot of couples matched. He and Nicole definitely were not a couple, as they'd established, but he did want to make a good impression since they didn't really know each other very well. He still wasn't sure why she'd even asked him in the first place. From what he knew, Alexei hadn't gotten a date, and he was a part-veela, so it was strange that he'd been asked out of the blue when there were way prettier boys going alone. Sander hovered awkwardly outside the doors to the Great Hall while he waited, idly fidgeting with the petals of the rose on his jacket and watching as some of his friends went in early with their own dates. A large part of him wanted to go and hang out with them and have fun, maybe even collect snow like last time, but he never would have been able to find Nicole in the crowd if he did.​

@Nicole Fisk

 

[Nicole Fisk]

Making her way upstairs, Nicole felt her face flush when she saw the red rose Lysander had paired with his suit. She was pleasantly surprised that he'd actually dressed up, she'd honestly been half expecting Lysander to show up in shorts and sneakers or something. "Hey, you look.. nice," She said, moving to brush her hair out of her face and mostly just rubbing her hand over her face since it was clipped back tonight to stop her from doing exactly that.

"Thanks for waiting," She added, hoping Lysander hadn't been there too long. She'd spent a bit of extra time getting ready fussing because she couldn't find any nice socks for her shoes, hoping the length of her dress would cover the awful black school socks she'd ended up having to use so she wouldn't get blisters. And then she'd been fretting about all the fly-away hairs she couldn't slick down, not to mention the sudden thought that Ryan might be at the ball and embarrass her. It was so much that she hadn't even had much time to be nervous about the fact that she actually had a date to the dance tonight until she was actually here in front of Lysander. "Should we head in? I was hoping we could find Wendall and Jenna at some point too," Nicole said, straining her neck to peer into the hall at all the couples.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander turned at the sound of Nicole's voice, lips breaking into a grin when she complimented his looks. "Thanks! It's my dad's old suit." He explained, turning around on the spot to show it off. One of the perks of having two fathers was that there were plenty of old clothes stashed away at the bottom of a box somewhere. "I like your dress. It's pretty." It looked a lot like a leopard, if leopards were red, so it was cool in his books, and quite different from a lot of the other dresses he'd seen. It didn't quite beat Alec's butterfly dress from the year before, though he didn't think many did, and he wasn't about to point that out. "Yeah, let's go!" He agreed, thrilled with the idea that he'd get to see his friends during the night, too. "Sounds great. If they don't end up smooching or something." He remarked with a laugh. He didn't really think they would, but you never knew. Wendall and Jenna seemed to be really good friends, though they were also dates, in a way that was probably totally different from himself and Nicole, who weren't real dates. The boy went to hold his arm out for Nicole to grab, before realising it might have been a weird gesture and instead shoved them into his pockets. "So what do you want to do first? We could grab a drink, or dance. I have muggle friends that taught me these really awesome moves from The Internet." He told her, on the offchance she found his cultural diversity very impressive. Not too many wizards knew all the good muggle dance moves, he was pretty sure, so he was eager to show them off.​

 

[Nicole Fisk]

"Oh wow, I can't imagine Professor Summers as a kid," Nicole said when Lysander mentioned the suit being his dad's and shaking her head. The best she could was imagine him like a smaller version of himself, which wasn't right, or just his head on Lysander's body, which was just weird. She flushed at Lysander's compliment, he was probably just being nice, but she appreciated it none-the-less. "Thank you," She said, smoothing out a wrinkle. Nicole giggled when Lysander mentioned Jenna and Wendall 'smooching', scrunching up her face. "Ew! I hope not," Jenna could do so much better in her opinion, though she wasn't about to say that in front of Wendall's best friend. "It is kinda nice that our best friends are going together and stuff though," She said thoughtfully, frowning when Lysander made some sort of aborted gesture with his arm before putting his hands in his pockets. It wasn't exactly gentlemanly or anything, but Nicole didn't think she could tell him off like he was her little brother for it.

Dancing sounded a bit too intimidating to start with, though she was curious about whatever Lysander seemed to be talking about. She doubted what he was describing was quite what she had in mind when it came to the sort of dances you should do at a ball though and Nicole didn't know if she could handle it if Lysander acted too embarrassing. "Oh wow, I don't think I've ever seen muggle dance moves, but let's uhm, grab a drink first and see who we can see?" She offered pragmatically. At least Lysander was enthusiastic.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander had to agree that it was hard to imagine either of his dads as kids, even after seeing photos of them around his own age in the trophy room, or hearing stories. They'd always been adults to him, and seeing them as anything other than that was weird. They looked totally different now, and it was hard to believe they'd actually had their own lives at the very same school. When Nicole mentioned not having seen muggle dance moves before, Lysander thought it was his time to shine, only for it to immediately be shut down. "Okay, yeah." He agreed, somewhat disappointed. Plenty of time for it later, he guessed. They were supposed to be what was currently cool in the muggle world, and he'd spent a lot of time practicing his moves for the holidays. The boy wandered to the drinks bowl and ladled himself a cup, offering a second to Nicole, before looking into the crowd for anyone else he knew. "I know Wendall is wearing purple, he should be easy to see!" He told the girl. As soon as the words had left his mouth, he noticed at least two other people wearing purple, and realised it may not have been as simple as he expected. He took a sip of his punch and glanced around. He could make out Alexei in the distance, though so far there'd been no sign of Emma, one of the others he'd been hoping to see.

By the time he spotted Wendall, his friend was already smiling at him from across the room. Lysander grinned and waved back. "Look, there they are!" He nudged Nicole to point the other couple out. There seemed to be a whole mix of emotions happening between the two, though from the distance it was difficult to tell what was going on. Nothing bad, he hoped. His best friend had already been through a lot and he didn't want to see him upset again. "I think they're having fun?" He commented, curious as to what Nicole could make of it. He didn't know what he expected from the other two going together, or even what he expected from his own night.​

 

[Emma van Houten]

Emma had been excited to go to the ball to hang out with her friends, but she hadn't really managed to find any of them yet. To be fair, she had gotten a bit distracted by the snack table and the decorations and also seeing where her siblings were, but now she was focused again. Emma looked around, trying to spot Lysander, Nicole, Connor.... or any of her roommates. It was crowded, and many of the students around were taller than her. She had heard Nicole and Lysander were going together, so spotting one would probably mean she could find the other too. Emma wasn't sure what to think about the two of them going to the ball together. She assumed they were going as friends, but they were still a boy and a girl going to the ball together. They'd probably be photographed together for the yearbook too. It felt weird, and Emma wanted to know what was going on. She grinned when she finally spotted Lysander, and she bounded over to him excitedly. "Lysander! Nicole! Hi!" She called, waving. She stopped in front of them both, looking between them with a big grin. Emma may be a bit uneasy about the fact that they were going together, but she couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease two of her friends at once. "How's your daaaaate?" She asked them, making her tone as annoying as possible as she dragged out the word.

 

[Nicole Fisk]

Nicole followed after Lysander as they made their way into the hall, trying not to buy into the idea that everyone was staring at them somehow. Most people were busy dancing or talking to their own dates, no one cared about her, or her dress, or who she was with she told herself sternly. She nodded in thanks as Lysander passed her a drink, joining him in scanning the halls for Jenna and Wendall. "Oh he went with purple? Okay.." She said mildly, hoping that didn't clash with Jenna's dress. "They're not making out right?" She asked with a giggle, turning to look in the direction Lysander pointed out and smiling to see Jenna. It was nice to see her friend so happy.

Nicole had been wanting to join Wendall and Jenna, but she also didn't want to interrupt anything. She knew tonight was important to her friend, as much as she'd appreciate a little break from just standing one on one with Lysander. He was nice and all, but Nicole had no idea what to say. It was a relief then when Emma showed up, and Nicole let out a little happy squeal, hugging her friend as she joined them and fussing over her dress. "Emma hey, you look so cute-" Nicole said, cutting off when Emma asked about their 'date', feeling her face flush. "It's not a date date," She said, glancing quickly over at Lysander. "Did you come with anyone?" She asked, hoping to deflect. Emma could tease them all she wanted but at least they had dates.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander pulled a face as Nicole asked if the other two were kissing. "Not yet!" He laughed. He would have preferred it to stay that way. It was Wendall they were talking about, and he just couldn't imagine his friend ever doing that. He didn't really want to. Getting a girlfriend would probably mean he wouldn't be able to hang out with him as much. Standing there and watching the couple hit it off was the only thing Sander could think of to do, since Nicole didn't want to dance yet, and he wasn't exactly sure what kind of conversation to bring up with how little he knew about her and what she liked. He thought to ask her about how her cat was, genuinely interested to know since he'd seen her at the Menagerie, though he was slightly more interested in the topic of why she'd asked him to the ball in the first place. He tapped a little bop against the side of his cup while he thought about whether to bring it up, but as he turned around to ask, he was cut off by the sudden appearance of Emma from the crowd. "Emma!" He greeted with a grin. He watched with some amusement as Nicole fussed with the other girl's looks, but his smile froze when Emma referred to their date. He exchanged a look with Nicole and shook his head with an uneasy laugh. "Whaaat? No, no. We're just friends." He agreed. "You know, like last year, when you and me were catching snow." He followed up quickly, to further prove the point that he could hang out with people at the ball without it being a date. He nodded his backup as Nicole asked if Emma had her own partner, before gasping as a sudden thought occurred to him. "Do you think Jacob and Sierra are here together?" He asked the redhead, having almost completely forgotten about their Quidditch conspiracies. Now was the best time to see if there was any truth to it.​

 

[Emma van Houten]

Emma giggled as Nicole's face flushed. "You came here together." She insisted. "That makes it a date." She said with a nod. Lysander also said that they were here as friends, like they had done last year, but Emma insistently shook her head. "But we didn't go together, and we didn't ask each other." She said, pointing at him. "So it's different." She grinned. "And no I'm not with anyone, which is why I'm tagging along on your date," she said with a smug look. "Unless you two want to be aloooone?" She then made smoochy noises before bursting into giggles again. But Lysander's words did catch her attention, and she immediately looked around for either the Gryffindor captain or the older girl. "Oh! Probably? Have you seen them?" She asked, distracted from them and their date for now.