Open Quiet Afternoons

[Shane Ackley]

Open after Cyndi

Shane was somewhat pleased to be back at school, the holiday had been a welcome reminder as to why it was nice to be away from his aunt and uncle, his young sister and younger cousin. The house had been filled with noise and insistence of his sister to spend half of her time with him. The boy had started spending more and more outside of the house, heading to dog parks and skate parks where he would be able to hang out with some of the local muggle kids. It had all been a nice distraction, and he was pretty sure that if he turned up in the next year he’d start being able to go to parties. However being back at school the teen was finding himself a little bored. Classes hadn’t quite started back, and he wasn’t keen to reach out to any of the people he’d spoken with in the last semester. Since even if he’d been friendly with enough of them, it had been a different kind of friendly, and any he hadn’t flirted with were not people who likely to spend any time with him ever again. Certainly not people he wanted to spend time with again, most of them. The teen had just taken to wandering around the school, a small worn book in his back pocket, looking for something that he could do, he’d eventually gone to the kitchens, he’d figured he could grab some coffee and do a little light reading. The teen sat at one of the tables, feet up on the bench in front of him, the book he’d been carrying in his hand, sipping the fresh coffee. He wasn’t much of a reader but there wasn’t much else to do yet.​

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

The break had been a good one for Jacob. He stood taller now, both literally and figuratively. It was nice to have fresh robes that fit, though he'd never admit that to his mother, and he'd spent a lot of time enjoying the company of friends. All in all, it had been one of the best breaks he'd had so returning to school had been rough. Ever hungry, Jacob decided to jog down to the kitchens before an afternoon quidditch practice. The teen entered the kitchens a little lost in thought as he ran over some ideas to share with Marcos in his head. He hoped that planning out what he wanted to say ahead of time might lead it to come out in some coherent manner. Then he glanced around, looking for a house elf to ask for a snack but he found another person already there. It was the new guy, the one from the spin the bottle game. Sitting there like that, it was hard for Jacob to imagine the guy was as close to his age as he was. No, he seemed so much older. Sophisticated. "Hey" Jacob stated, his voice a bit deeper than it had been a few months prior, as he spotted a plate of cookies and moved closer to it to grab a few.

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane looked up from his book and looked towards the boy who’d just greeted him. Shane lowered the book a little and let a little smirk grace his features. This boy, Jacob or something, he’d been at the spin the bottle game, and Shane was sure that the boy was on the quidditch team for gryffindor. He was cute too, which certainly was a plus. ”Hey,” he said in response, he lifted the coffee cup to his lips and lightly sipped. ”You’re Jacob right? I remember seeing you at that game of spin the bottle,” Shane had taken great care to pick up on people’s names and who they were. Since he was coming in with little to no knowledge of people in Hogwarts, Shane had thought it important to listen out for things like people’s names and paid attention to who people were so that he could talk to people. ”I’m Shane, technically I’m no longer new anymore, I think that ship sailed a little when I started kissing other students during games but I did only transfer last year,” The teen put down the book that he was reading and extended his hand to the other boy with a little hint of a smirk on his features as he introduced himself. Talking with this boy would be quite good, it would be a better thing for him to do than the book that he’d been reading. He hadn’t been that interested in it, and he just prefered the easiness of possibly flirting with someone.​

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob had walked into school feeling older. He was taller by a good four inches anyway. But next to Shane, he felt young again so he added some extra bounce to his step, planning to fake confidence until he actually felt it. It certainly helped that the older boy remembered his name and where they'd met before. Jacob nodded, a small smile on his face. He listened to Shane introduce himself, though he knew exactly who he was by now. The older boy had made quite the splash in Jacob's mind anyway. After a moment, he was working out how best to balance his cookies as he took the few steps to breach the gap and shake Shane's hand. Growing up the son of a politician meant he'd learned a handshake that meant business, firm yet quick. He settled into a nearby stool, his cookies on the counter. "Yea, I remember you. Hufflepuff, right? I have a lot of friends in that house" he added pleasantly. "Did you enjoy your break?"

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane looked at Jacob, there seemed to maybe some hint of recognition of who he was. That spin the bottle game had brought him nothing but good things, at the very least people knew more who he was. He was still constantly introducing himself, but he felt like even that he wouldn’t have to do as often. He shook the younger boy’s hand and let a little smirk cross his features when the boy said he remembered him and even remembered what house he was in. ”I bet you do,” he smirked a little as he said it, ”Admittedly, I don’t have too many friends in Gryffindor, but I’d be happy to change that,” Shane didn’t really have friends, not in the way that this boy probably had friends. Shane could say he was friendly with people but it wasn’t exactly because he was looking to be friends with them. Shane was usually flirting with them, being actually nice, friendly and well genuine was much more difficult for him. ”Can’t really complain, played with the family dog, spent time at the muggle skatepark, had a lot of fun with the muggles in it, dodged complaints about my grades,” Shane replied, keeping the details free from it, but keeping a light expression on his features. ”What about you? Did you do anything fun?” Shane returned with a lightness in his tone.​

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob had already opened his mouth to say something else when Shane replied. His comment - I bet you do - hit Jacob in a way that made his mouth snap shut, a blush crossing his face. Shane's next words didn't help, and Jacob found his mind floundering around for something to say. He had nothing though and could only let out a soft laugh, his nerves getting the best of him for the moment. He found his footing a few moments later when the conversation continued with Shane talking about what he had done over the break. "I got a dog!" he blurted out, pretty excited at the news. It had been his birthday present from his parents. They'd finally relented, and he figured their divorce had something to do with it, but he didn't care. He'd been asking for a dog for years and years and now he had one. "And uh, I spent time hanging out with some of my friends from here, school, and practiced quidditch and biked around a lot."

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane let a real smile grace his features when Jacob mentioned that he’d got a dog, Shane loved dogs, it was the only thing he really loved, other than maybe his family, but dogs were just so much better than people, so much easier to love and be loved by, ”What kind of dog did you get?” he asked with a curious expression, he still wanted to flirt with the other boy but he was also quite genuinely curious about this boy’s dog. He let the smile about the dog go and focused more on the little smirk returning to his features as Jacob went on to describe what he’d done over the break. ”Sounds like you had fun,. You’re quite into your sports right? On the quidditch team right? I heard you’re really good,” he took a light sip of the coffee he had while keeping the little smirk in place. The boy was cute, Shane wouldn’t mind talking with him in the slightest and flirting with him either. He wasn’t sure if Jacob really swung that way, but he could only think that his flirting was going well, and he hadn’t yet been rejected so maybe he was in luck. ”Would you like to join me Jacob?” Shane move slightly, straddling the bench and patting the area in front of him where his feet had just been for Jacob to sit with him.​