Closed Like a Daydream

[Hazel Ashworth]

Hazel's good intentions of doing better in her classes was a bit easier now that she had fewer classes. She was actually caught up with her homework for once. She had hoped to catch one of her friends in the Student Lounge, but she didn't see any of them there. With a twinge of resentment, she imagined the three of them hanging out in the common room together without her. She knew they couldn't help that they were in Ravenclaw, but over time it did start to grate on her a bit. There were always small moments and inside jokes she wasn't a part of. It was annoying.

Stalling out her nailpolish, Hazel decided to just do her nails while she was here. She had a design in mind, and she needed a few different colors for it. She got started painting her nails, starting with a light blue on her thumb. She hummed to herself as she worked, still occasionally glancing around in case a familiar face walked in. Once her nails had to dry, she would be bored out of her mind. Hopefully someone interesting would show up before then.

 

[Oskar Strom]

Oskar couldn't quite explain it but it was like the castle felt...fragile. Like if he looked at the windows too long, or if he sneezed on the stairs they might tear like paper and he'd be free falling. It was his last year and he wasn't sure he'd made any kind of impression. It was messing with his head. Instead of the common room he wanted to be somewhere a bit brighter and somewhere with people, even if they were strangers. But as he walked into the student lounge he found the opposite. Not a stranger at all. He smiled when he saw Hazel, he walked over to the table she was sitting at and leaned against it but didn't move to sit right away. "Hey." he said softly. "Not interrupting anything am I?"

 

[Hazel Ashworth]

It was like all of Hazel's wishes came true at once when she saw Oskar come into the room. Her instant infatuation with him had blossomed into a full-blown crush. Somehow, it felt more real and less childish than any of her crushes before this. She quickly looked away, pretending not to have noticed him as she watched him approach from the corner of her eye. She nearly smiled in triumph when he spoke to her, finally turning to look at him as if she just noticed him. "Hi!" She said brightly. "No, not at all. You can join if you want, if you don't mind the smell." She said, screwing the cap on the blue bottle of nail polish she had been using and turning her attention to Oskar instead.

 

[Oskar Strom]

Oskar had tried to seem cool but when she smiled at him it took everything in him to keep his face from heating up while his heart did a flip. "Great." he said a bit too quickly when she offered the seat to him. "Oh, I don't mid at all." he said dismissively as he sat. It was honestly hard for him to keep track of a lot of things around her. They had hung out quite a bit over the break but he had tried to keep his distance when she had told him about her break up. He didn't have much experience when it came to navigating those feelings but he was pretty sure asking her out the next day wasn't a good move. But now they were back at school and he feared if he did make a move now, someone else would do it first. "Settling in ok?" he asked, getting the usual back to school talking point out of the way. He barely gave her enough time to answer before he piped up again. "You know, I've been meaning to ask you something."

 

[Hazel Ashworth]

Hazel wished she didn't have half-done nails when talking to her crush, but she tried to tell herself Oskar probably barely noticed. She smiled as he joined her at the table, shrugging a bit at his question. "It's fine. I didn't do that well on my OWLs, so I'm trying to salvage what I can." She joked lightly, trying to keep the tone light. Her heart started beating faster when he mentioned he had been meaning to ask her something. Hazel sat up a bit straighter. "Yes?" She asked hopefully.

 

[Oskar Strom]

Hazel mentioning exams was almost enough to derail Oskar's train of thought completely. His grades had never been very good since coming to Hogwarts, he blamed it on everything being in a different language than his old school work but the reality was more of a lack of motivation. Still he'd scrap by the reminder wasn't aways comfortable. "Oh, I understand." he said sympathetically. "I didn't do great either, but I'm sure you'll do great." he added encouragingly as he built up his nerve once more. "Well I know we've hung out a lot over the break, and I've really liked it. You know spending time with you." he began and wiped his palms on his legs to hide how much they were sweating. "And I don't want to rush you or anything, I know you broke up recently." Oskar continued but winced as he had to bring up her ex but he wanted her to know he was being considerate. "But, well I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me sometime?" he asked and it felt like a weight off his chest, but for some reason he couldn't stop talking. "I know I can't exactly take you out out anywhere you know but I like you and would like to keep hanging out but like...officially." he rambled and hoped she'd interrupt him soon.

 

[Hazel Ashworth]

Something about Oskar admitting he hadn't done great on his own exams made Hazel feel more at ease, it also made her like him more. She had never quite put it into words, but comparing herself and her grades to her ex boyfriend hadn't always been very good for her self esteem. She had liked how serious and studious Kyousuke was, but it was refreshing to talk to someone who didn't care so much. She laughed. "I won't, but if I do above average it'll be a win." She joked lightly.

She sat up a bit when he started to talk about them hanging out, not quite daring to believe he was about to ask what it sounded like. She had to force herself not to grin too widely when he talked about her breakup, as it meant it was going where she had thought it might. "Yes." She said immediately. "I'd love to." She knew some people said you shouldn't be too eager, but it was hard not to show her excitement. "I'd love to go out and hang out... officially." She said with a giggle. "We could hang out at the Brightstone weekend? Or Halloween Feast?"