Closed Leap of Faith

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot had been grateful that Ollivander's had been willing to take him back on for another year, even if it meant he would be spending another Winter in New Zealand. His parents had been willing to switch holiday breaks around, his dad even going so far as to seem somewhat interested in what Elliot's work was like, which was new. So, even though having two winters a year kind of sucked, Elliot was tentatively content with the arrangement. The other benefit, one he'd conveniently avoided mentioning to anyone except Katy (though that conversation hadn't exactly occurred by choice), was that it also meant he had plenty of chances to meet up with Alice over the break.

He was on his lunch break, trying not to fidget too nervously at he waited at a bench in the harbour, squinting at the sky and hoping it wasn't about to rain on them. He'd been thinking about Alice a lot over the break already. With the holidays just started, they hadn't quite hit the new wand rush for the new school year and Elliot had plenty of time and work and home to think about her. His conversation with Diana before school had ended had been scary, but something about it had helped galvanize Elliot. He finally actually knew for certain how he felt about someone, and he wasn't sure he could handle not saying anything to Alice about it directly for too much longer.

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice knew Elliot often went to America over break, so it had been wonderful to hear that he would stay in New Zealand this time around so he could work at Ollivander's. Once she had heard about that, she had jumped at the chance to make plans to meet up with him. It would be a lot better than having to wait for school to start again, she already felt herself missing him quite a bit and it had only been a little bit. So it was with a skip in her step that Alice headed to the place they had agreed to meet up, a bench near Elliot's workplace in Obsidian Harbour. Alice's heart felt like it was skipping as well as she spotted him, and she quickly made her way over to him.

As she approached, her mind cycled through possibilities of how to greet him. Should she hug him from behind? Try to be cute and make him guess who? But that didn't seem so spontaneous anymore now that she had thought about it beforehand, and she wondered if it would feel fake. In the end, Alice simply took a seat next to him and gently touched his arm. "Hi, I hope you didn't have to wait long." She said, smiling at him. There had been something in the air between them for a while now, which was making her feel a little nervous and giddy. It was that feeling that made her decide her next move. Nervously, she leaned in and pecked Elliot on the cheek, which definitely wasn't how she usually greeted him. But things were changing, and they were changing for the better.

 

[Elliot Briar]

"Hey-" Elliot said, half starting to stand up to greet her before making himself sit still as she sat beside him. He was trying to think of something to say when she leaned over to kiss him on the cheek and any words he might have said died on his tongue. "I- uh. Thanks," He said, grimacing internally and feeling his ears heat up. Clearing his throat and trying to ignore the memory of her lips on his cheek, Elliot focused instead on Alice, smiling a little dopily at her. He'd spent so much time thinking about her already and now she was sitting next to him and he couldn't think of a thing to say. "It's good to see you," He finally managed. "Having a good break so far?" Small talk wasn't exactly why Elliot had wanted to see her, but he couldn't bring himself to raise the subject he actually wanted to talk about yet.

 

[Alice Holland]

Seeing Elliot's face after she kissed his cheek made her realize it was the right decision, he was absolutely adorable. She grinned at him and couldn't help a slight laugh as he thanked her. She nodded in agreement when he said it was good to see her. She felt the same way about him, it really did feel like it had been ages even if it hadn't been. "It's good to see you too." She said softly. "My break has been alright. It feels strange, knowing it's the last one." She said with a small shrug. She then winced internally. There was no point in bringing up the fact that it was her last year at Hogwarts soon, it would just ruin the mood. "What about you? Busy selling wands I guess?" She asked with a smile.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Still feeling flustered about the kiss earlier, Elliot felt himself sober some at the mention of it nearly being Alice's last year. "Yeah, I bet," He said softly, guessing Alice was as about as keen to talk about that as he was. She asked about Ollivander's instead, which was easier ground to cover, though Elliot was trying not to fidget when he thought about what he really wanted to talk to her about. "The rush hasn't properly hit yet, but we're getting there. I like it a lot though," He said, glancing out at the harbour in front of them. Elliot really did enjoy working at Ollivander's but it could definitely get a little overwhelming as it got closer to September. "So I was wondering if maybe you wanted to maybe go out together. Like um. Properly? Like a date?" Elliot said, turning to face Alice properly, heart in his throat. He didn't know why he was so nervous, He and Alice had been to the dance together, she'd sent him a pink rose, and just kissed his cheek, but there was still that scared voice in the back of his head telling him she'd still shoot him down somehow. It was scary, but just the chance that she would say yes, likely or not, spurred Elliot to take that step anyway.

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice smiled as Elliot talked about his job, glancing down at his hand for a moment. She wanted to take it in her own, but wasn't sure if she should. The cheek kiss had been one thing, but hand holding was definitely a bit more awkward if Elliot didn't want to. Alice had the feeling he would probably hold her hand just to be polite rather than pull away. "I'm glad you like it, I bet you're great at helping those kids." She told him with a smile. He had always been a nice boy, and she thought it would be nice to be helped by someone like him as a young witch or wizard getting a first wand. Alice had been planning to bring up the idea of dating to Elliot, and was actually a bit surprised when he took the leap first. She looked at him, then smiled and nodded, wanting to reassure him. "Well, you beat me to it." She said with a soft laugh. "I was about to ask you the same thing. So, yes." She said, nodding. "I would love to." Now she did take his hand, squeezing it slightly.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot ducked his head at Alice's compliment, letting out a huff of amusement. "They're great until the wands start acting up," He admitted. Every now and then they'd get a violent reaction to a bad pairing and Elliot swore he could feel years of his life being shaved off every time he had to run after knocked down displays or clean up various messed from disgruntled wands.

Even though rationally, Elliot knew Alice was interested in him, he'd still felt like he'd just jumped off a cliff asking her out for real, his heart in his throat for the split second before she answered. Relief flooded him at her answer though and he glanced down pleased at her hand in his, feeling his heartbeat in his ears as he nodded. "Well, you asked me out last time, so it seemed only fair," He managed shyly.

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice laughed at Elliot's comment, smiling fondly at him. "Don't the kids ever act up?" She asked, remembering what it had been like to buy her wand. She knew a lot of the kids would be pretty rude, at least if she could use Diana at that age as an example. "I guess cleaning up the messes is a pretty big part of it." She mused. She had never really considered that before.

The feeling of Elliot's hand in hers felt... right. She smiled at him, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek again. She felt both nervous and excited, but mostly relieved that he felt the same way she did. "Well, I'm glad." She said softly. "Does this mean you want to be my boyfriend?" She added, just to be sure to be clear. "It's what I would like." She added, hoping that she wasn't moving too fast for Elliot. "If that's okay."

 

[Elliot Briar]

"I find things tend to go wrong in tandem," He said sheepishly. "It's the questions that stress me out, though. I'm always worried I'm about to be shown up by an 11 year old. Re-stacking shelves is nothing on that," He said, shaking his head.

Alice smiled at him and he gave her hand a little squeeze, feeling his stomach flip-flop at the contact. He supposed this is what Katy had meant when she'd said he'd known when he really liked someone. Because this felt pretty obvious now. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek again and Elliot felt his ears heat up. All it would take was him just tilting his head slightly and he'd actually kiss her. That train of thought was stalled out however by Alice's next question, and Elliot's stomach moved on from flip-flops into full blown summersaults. "I- Y-Yeah. Yeah I really would. Like you to be my girlfriend," He managed, beyond relieved that she'd taking this next leap herself. Elliot had all but run out of his own courage from this particular interaction, but he felt his heart soar at the phrase 'girlfriend', rolling it around happily in his head.

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice laughed fondly at Elliot's worries. It was so like him to be worried about the questions of an eleven year old, when Alice was sure he was more than capable of answering the questions the kids threw at him. "I'm sure you are amazing." She said softly, smiling at him.

The second time she kissed him on the cheek, Alice was very aware of how close Elliot's lips were. it wouldn't take much at all to kiss him properly, but she had been a little too nervous to do it. But as Elliot answered her question by saying she would like her to be his girlfriend, Alice realized there really wasn't any reason to be nervous. They were on one line here, both of them wanted the same thing. Alice grinned, squeezing Elliot's hand. "I really like the sound of that." She said softly. "I'd love to be your girlfriend." Then she finally did what she had been wanting to do all along, softly pressing her lips against Elliot's.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot's heart beat loudly in his ears as Alice smiled back at him. He could almost hear Katy's voice in the back of his head throwing around words like 'smitten', but chose to pointedly ignore it. It was easy to see in retrospect how he had messed things up with Lars the other year, and while that lingering fear that he would mess up things with Alice hadn't gone away, it was harder to think about it now, with her leaning in to kiss him. Everything felt different this time, Elliot realized with some clarity as she pressed her lips to his and a warm feeling surged in his chest. Kissing Lars had been fine, enjoyable even, but kissing Alice was different, an almost giddy feeling bubbling up as the kiss ended, and looking at Alice, Elliot was determined to do things properly this time around.