Open Sizing Up

[Brooke Townsend]

Open after Daph and Kadi post with Ivy and Delilah

Brooke had been feeling pretty good about this year so far, so even though she'd met up with her friends to ostensibly get some homework done, she was in no hurry. She'd been mulling over her plan for the semester since their classes had started, and rather than letting her plan out when she'd need to set aside time for essays, Brooke couldn't help but think about a few key dates. Namely, the school dances. "Who do you guys think is the most datable in our year?" she asked Delilah and Ivy, tapping her cheek with the soft end of her quill thoughtfully. "Like say, you had the pick someone out of our whole year to ask out, and they were guaranteed to say yes, who'd you pick?" Brooke also had to say she was deathly curious about who her friends might have their eye on as well, if any. They were reaching a point where dating someone would definitely make them look better, or cooler at least, and while Brooke had a few ideas, she had to wonder what Ivy or Delilah's take was.

 

[Ivy Ashworth]

Ivy was trying her best to focus her attention on her Ancient Runes book, taking a few notes. It was one of her electives and also one of her more difficult classes at the moment, and she had hoped to focus on it entirely. But it seemed like Brooke had other things on her mind, and Ivy stopped writing as she frowned up at the Slytherin. "Where did that come from?" Ivy asked her skeptically. "Do you like someone?" She asked, wondering if that was why Brooke brought it up. Ivy considered her question. "I haven't thought about it much." She said with a small shrug. She felt a little awkward around romance and dating, and had been hoping to avoid the whole idea of it a little bit longer. If someone had written a dating guide for part-veela girls, Ivy would love to read it. How was she supposed to know when someone liked her or when someone just thought she was pretty because of her stupid magical genes? But she had never brought this part of her life up with Brooke or Delilah, and didn't think she was ready to do so now. Besides, she didn't even know how it felt when she liked someone.

 

[Delilah Thorne]

Delilah liked studying with Brooke and Ivy. It kept her more focused than she ever was alone but today she was distracted and found herself staring out the window more than she was staring at her book. She heard Brooke say something but it wasn't until Ivy spoke that she actually paid attention. "Boys?" she asked warily, figuring out the original question. They had never really talked about boys before and she felt totally caught off guard by the question. She could feel her cheeks heat up as her mind raced for an answer. "I don't know. I haven't really talked to a lot of boys." she shrugged. The only boy that came to mind was Lumio but he was neither in their year or datable, for them at least. The only other boy she hung out with was Sawyer and she could only imagine what Brooke would say about him, but it was the only name she had. "Um...Sawyer is pretty nice, and funny." she offered, uncertain. It felt like she was lying but it wasn't exactly untrue. "What about you?" she countered and looked at Brooke coolly, not wanting her to get out of answering the question just because she asked first.

 

[Brooke Townsend]

Brooke widened her eyes, looking innocent when Ivy seemed caught off-guard by her question. “Not particularly, I’ve just been thinking about it,” she said, raising an eyebrow when Ivy claimed she hadn’t been. “You sure? No one at all?” Brooke clicked her tongue in disappointment, turning to Delilah and pleased when she actually had an answer. “It doesn’t have to be a boy, but that’s an interesting answer,” she said, making a show of tapping her lip thoughtfully. “Sawyer’s a bit of a dork, don’t you think? I think you could do better,” she decided, running through a mental list of kids in their year. “If I had to pick someone hmm. Maybe Emmaline? She’s awfully smart. Or maybe Ruben? He’s on the quidditch team, though just an alternate. What do you think, Ivy?” She said, turning back to Ivy now both her and Delilah had mentioned someone, maybe Ivy would feel less coy. "What about one of your roommates? Could you imagine taking Blue Hoshino to a dance? The clothes she'd wear," Brooke said, tucking a smile behind her palm.

 

[Ivy Ashworth]

Ivy frowned a bit when Brooke said she didn't like someone, not entirely believing it. She had brought it up just out of nowhere, after all. "Sawyer is nice." She said, defending him a bit when Brooke called him a dork, even if he kind of was. Ivy shrugged. "I mean, everyone in the third year on a Quidditch team would be an alternate, right?" She said, pausing. "Except Flynn, I suppose." She said a bit more quietly. Ivy sighed when Brooke brought up Blue, shrugging. In truth, Ivy liked Blue more than some of her other roommates. She was weird, but at least she did her own thing. "I don't know." She repeated. Even if she had liked someone, she wasn't sure if telling Brooke was a good idea.

 

[Delilah Thorne]

Delilah listened to Brooke’s reaction closely but tried to act completely calm and neutral. She did glance at Ivy and felt a little sympathetic as Brooke pried for a name, and she blinked when that attention was turned in her direction. She fought a frown that wanted to form on her lips when Brooke pointed out she had jumped to assuming boys. She wasn’t sure what her friend was thinking and that was what made her nervous. But she did finally frown when she called Sawyer a dork and she wasn’t sure how to feel when Brooke said she could do better. Maybe she could but she would rather enjoy being around them and not just care if they were cool. “Sawyer is on the quidditch team too.” she pointed out and was glad Ivy also stuck up for him.

Delilah laughed tentatively when Brooke brought up Blue. She hadn’t talked to the Gryffindor much but she had to admire the other girl’s boldness, even if it gave her second hand embarrassment more often than not. “Are you going to ask anyone to the dance?” Delilah asked the group but looked at Brooke specifically. She had the most names on hand and Delilah was curious if it was all hypothetical or if her friend was actually going to do something about it.

 

[Brooke Townsend]

Brooke made a mental note that Ivy also thought Sawyer was nice, giving them both a smug little smile. "'Nice', huh. Okay, sure," she said knowingly, making a show of busying herself with her classwork while casting the pair of them pointed glances. "Flynn, right. I think Hufflepuff has some starters, but I doubt there was a lot of competition," Brooke said, waving a hand flippantly. "Starter, or even alternate on one team isn't the same as starter on another. But does that mean you'd wanna go with Flynn then, Ivy?" Brooke said, dropping her pretenses of doing classwork again to lean a little closer across the table.

She leant back some when Delilah asked if she had any plans. "No plans yet, but I'm sure we could all find someone if we tried hard enough. It'll be fun," she said, shrugging. They were about the age where going with just your friend group, or worse, alone, was going to start looking a little sad soon, and Brooke hoped they could all get out ahead of that and find dates while they still had a little social standing. If only Ivy and Delilah would stop being so cagey.

 

[Ivy Ashworth]

Ivy frowned at Brooke as she asked her about Flynn, glad she probably couldn't tell how her cheeks were heating up. She crossed her arms. "I just pointed out he's the only one in our year who is a proper Quidditch player. That doesn't mean I want to date him." Ivy said sharply. "He's-" but Ivy didn't know how to describe him. Before, she wouldn't have hesitated before calling him awful, but lately... he'd been better. "...not an option for a dance." She said finally. "I don't even know if I'm going." She then said, shuffling her papers. "It's a bit of a waste of time."

 

[Delilah Thorne]

Delilah fought the urge to roll her eyes at the way Brooke said the word ‘nice’ as if it was the last thing someone would want to be called. Her eyes flicked between her two friends as Brooke pushed Ivy about Flynn. This was quickly becoming one of the most uncomfortable conversations she had ever had and she wanted it to be over already. She always knew dating would become an issue but she just thought she’d have more time to find someone she liked or came up with a reason not to bother. “Why not?” Delilah asked Ivy without thinking and regretted it since it would inevitably drawing out the conversation further. "I don't know. I think they're kind of fun. And they're a nice way of celebrating the end of exams." she said with a shrug.

 

[Brooke Townsend]

“Does that mean he’d be an option for something else?” Brooke asked when Ivy spoke about Flynn, sensing she’d hit a weak spot for Ivy and pressing down where it hurt, smiling bright and curious as Ivy spoke. She nodded emphatically when Delilah supported going to the ball. “Nothing looks sadder than skipping out on the dance,” she pointed out mildly. “Except maybe studying all the time and still failing,” she added, tapping her chin gently with the feather end of her quill. Brooke had found the secret to a lot of her success was looking like she wasn’t really trying. And going to the ball was part of it. “If you don’t go, everyone’s going to wonder why. Unless you’d rather hang out with Flynn,” she added, grinning and giggling when she looked back at Ivy.