Closed Shifting Tides

[Andi Forstrom]

This was a pity date, Andi kept reminding herself. There was no other tangible reason she would ever decide to spend an evening with Rory Fergusson, not her loneliness and hurt after Aodhan ditched her to transfer schools, and especially not the growing feelings she was yet to admit existed. It was pity in its purest form, overhearing Rory in a bad place with his family and wanting to help while also distracting from the fact she overheard in the first place the sole reasons the date was a possibility. Not the fact she realized this awful, entitled Slytherin had some semblance of emotion and that he might not have been as terrible as she first assumed. Nevertheless, Andi was feeling nervous about the date as she got ready, something she knew shouldn't have been happening. A pity date was nothing to feel nervous about, let alone make an intangible effort for but this was what Andi noticed she was doing, frowning as she looked herself up and down in the mirror and feeling ridiculous. She had chosen a dress that was glamorous to say the least, more so than any dress she had ever worn, to the yule ball and otherwise, floor length too though which required heels so the fabric did not drag as she walked. Heels were the bane of her existence, and Andi knew she would regret the decision later but did not have the time to reconsider and wear flats when she realized she was almost late.​

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Swearing under her breath, Andi picked up the front of her dress slightly and walked quickly to the great hall, hoping she was on time rather than a few minutes late. Even if she was repeatedly adamant this time with Rory was a pity date and nothing more, she was also stubborn in showing up on time and didn't want to leave him hanging. When she arrived to the entrance to the great hall however, looking around and unable to see Rory in the crowd, her mood changed from hurried nervousness to annoyance as the possibility he might have agreed to go to the ball with her just to stand her up entered her thoughts. Andi ignored a forming knot in her stomach as she continued to look around, willing Rory to be somewhere, anywhere in the hall.​

 

[Rory Fergusson]

Rory knew this was a pity date, but he liked Andi, and half of this mess was because of her, so why not just agree to it. Rory hadn’t meant for her to overhear the arguement between him and his brother, but she had, and a conversation between them had led to this, it was a pity date that he was more than willing to take up. The point of it would be to feel good and normal, the point of it was to have a night where he could wash away all of his worries and pretend he was just a normal guy without six hundred decisions about his own future to make, and this being the point of no return. Should he not return home and apologise in this holiday, see the error of his ways then there would be no return home for him. So maybe this night would be that decider, the last thing he do, or the beginning of his life outside of his family. The teen finished getting ready, the white shirt, the suit jacket and he headed out of the door. The boy hadn’t meant to be late, but as it turned out he was just a bit as he made his way to the great hall to see her and to begin the night with her. Of course when he saw her, in the beautiful stunning dress, it was so beautiful, she was beautiful. He stopped a little as he approached, but of course he couldn’t not turn up, this was a pity date and he had landed a date with a beautiful girl. He finished approaching her and kept his gaze firmly on her face. ​

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Rory cleared his throat a bit as he approached to get her attention, ”Hey Andi,” he greeted with his most charming smile and tone, ”That’s a stunning dress,” he couldn’t help his linger eyes as he looked her over, truly stunning. She was truly stunning. ”Do you want to have a dance?” he held out his hand to her and gave a little smile. She’d probably hate spending this time with him in such a pity fashion but he would lean into it, if he wanted this night to feel as normal as possible, her hating him would do exactly that. ​

 

[Andi Forstrom]

Caught in the midst of looking around with increasing worry Rory had chosen not to show up, Andi did not realize she had been holding her breath until her eyes finally landed on him. She was relieved beyond belief he had shown up to their date, and hadn't allowed her to make a fool of herself in making such an effort to look nice for the sake of it. If he did end up leaving her there alone waiting for him it would have completely ruined any sense of a truce they had formed, and after the stress and swallowed pride of being polite to Rory that was the last thing Andi wanted to imagine. Nevertheless despite her relief he was attending the ball, she remained skeptical as he approached, eyes squinting slightly at his polite greeting and all too charming smile. Her instincts screamed at her this was part of the act he put on to get the girls he dated to believe his lies and cater to his whims, and she refused to fall for it for even a second.​

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"Rory." She greeted him in return, looking him up and down. He did admittedly look nice in his suit but Andi dismissed that thought as quickly as it appeared in her mind. When he extended his hand asking for a dance she simply nodded, placing her hand in his and allowing him to lead her into the hall. "I have two left feet and I'm in heels." She said as they walked. "While I usually do want to step on your toes, if I do tonight, it's not on purpose." Andi had never been the best dancer, even now that she had grown into herself a little more and was less lanky and awkward she found herself unable to keep time and still stumbled over her feet, so she thought it best to warn Rory before they reached the dance floor. "You will need to do twice the leading, got it?" She added, knowing that if she did not make it clear what he needed to do their effort to dance together would be a disaster for the both of them.​

 

[Rory Fergusson]

Rory was pretty pleased that she didn’t look too put off by him upon seeing him so maybe she wasn’t too unhappy about this pity date. The boy gave a little smile as she placed her hand in his and let him lead them to the dancefloor. Maybe she didn’t hate him nearly as much as she led on, since she was allowing him to touch her hand, though maybe that was just to help her keep balance. Rory looked at her as she spoke, nodding along and laughing lightly at what she said, so today it would not be intentional, on this day it wouldn’t be, ”And here ah thought ye would be just daeing it cause ye’ve got the excuse ae the shoes,” he knew that she wasn’t a huge fan of his, no matter how much he could assure her he wasn’t that bad, and more so that he definitely was trying to be better. There was no explaining why he had been so unbothered without having to delve into why he was now bothered, and in either case, Rory knew it was hardly a good excuse. His previously shitty behaviour could not be excused because it hadn’t mattered what happened to him. Rory reached a good spot and turned towards her and just nodded, ”Aye, ah could figure,” he was slower perhaps in his dancing, taking more evident and purposeful steps in an almost way to try to help her be better at dancing. His hand sat on her waist keeping the touch light. ”Ye look nice by the way, ah wouldnae have blamed ye if ye’d dress in casual clothes,” he said with a little smile, a little more shyly than he might’ve been if he was trying to be more flirty.​

 

[Andi Forstrom]

Andi wished she could allow herself to step on Rory's toes intentionally during a dance, and she was sure a year ago and under different circumstances she would have done just that, but still feeling pity for the argument she overheard, and stubborn that this date was meant to be a distraction from that, she refused to, knowing that upholding a forced politeness was her best choice. She could only speak for herself, but felt that she did not need the drama of the previous year's yule ball to be repeated and wanted to take some steps, or lack thereof in this instance to avoid any problems. As they reached the dance floor with Rory placing one hand on her waist, Andi moved to place the hand that wasn't holding his to his shoulder, following his lead entirely and moving her attention to her shoes, keeping track of her steps so she did not make a fool of either of them. Really she just wanted to appear normal, not drawing attention to herself and blending into the crowd of other couples on the dance floor. As they continued dancing she felt a little more confident and moved her gaze to Rory's face in time to hear him compliment her appearance. It bothered her a little to learn his opinion of her was low enough that he might have expected her to make no effort at all for this date, but she kept that thought behind her teeth as she responded. "It wouldn't be a real pity date if I didn't feel bad enough to make an effort for you." She said, simply. "It's good we both dressed up though, makes this seem less weird than it already is." Andi added, knowing that if she wasn't dressed up and feeling unlike herself, she would not feel pressure to act differently and their night would be monumentally different.​