Time well spent

[Stephen Duquette]

The life of a Professional Quidditch player was one that Stephen Duquette had found hard to get accustomed too but on the date that marked his first year after signing on as a chaser for the Thundelarra Thunderers he couldn’t help but think back on it and how much he had loved every single moment of it. It may have hard to get used too but he had soon got into the swing of the whole thing and it was becoming like a natural thing for him. He had always loved Quidditch, it had been the biggest passion in his life for as long as he could remember and now that he was a Professional player for a team that he had loved and supported since he was a young boy, it was like a dream come true for him. Stephen had to admit that his life was pretty amazing right now. He had his dream career and people could only dream about having a career like his and here he was living it. It was still amazing to him but the pain that he frequently felt from bludgers during games normally brought him back to life and reality. Stephen had two loves in his life, after his obviously family and friends, one was Quidditch and the other was his actual love, his girlfriend; Becky Gale. He still couldn’t believe how lucky he was that he had her in his life. She was the love of his life and he had loved her for so long that he could only kick himself when he thought about how long he had spent pining over her, wishing she was his, when he was too shy to take any action on the matter. He was just glad that he had finally taken the step a few years ago and finally told her how he felt – the fact that she felt the same about him was just the icing on top of the cake.

With his thoughts on Becky and a smile on his face he got ready to go over to Becky’s flat. Since she had graduated from Hogwarts New Zealand, a day that he couldn’t have been more proud of her, the couple had gotten to spend a lot more time together than they did during her last year when they only had the holidays and Brightstone breaks. Although as of late Stephen had been a lot busier as the Quidditch season had started up again and he was training almost all the time. Although today he had been sure to get it off as Becky had asked him to come over, it didn’t take long for him to come up with an answer and was just glad that his coach had allowed him a day off from training. Once he was ready he apparated off to Becky’s flat and knocked on her door, waiting for her to answer.

 

[Becky Gale]

It was not a very good day for Becky Gale. She had gotten a phone call from Erica, which was slightly surprising, seeing as Erica rarely contacted her any more. Hearing her sister's voice was upsetting to Becky because she couldn't help but remember when the two sisters had been especially close. Erica had told Becky some bad news about their aunt and uncle. A car crash had killed them both. Erica had been quite calm while telling Becky this. Becky had been a lot closer to her relatives than the rest of her immediate family. Becky put down the phone and bit her lip to stop herself from crying. She had been especially close to Aunt Lucie. Lucie hadn't made fun of Becky for being slightly slow to understand things like the rest of the family did. Her two daughters were adorable too. Daughters. Becky felt the tears begin to roll down her face as she realized how her cousins would feel. Devastated and lost. They were orphans now. Becky wiped her eye with the back of her hand, smearing eye makeup all over the side of her face.

She heard a knock at the door and cheered up slightly. Stephen was here! Becky felt her face turn red, as it always did when she thought about Stephen. Her boyfriend. The fact never ceased to amaze her. The thought of it was just as impossible to her as it had been at the rosebush. In her hurry to answer the door, Becky tripped over her ridiculously long dress and fell flat on her face in the middle of the floor. "It's open!" she lifted her head and called down the hall, still lying on the ground. She tried to stand up, then figured that she couldn't be bothered and was far too tired to move.

 

[Stephen Duquette]

Stephen listened out to hear the other side of the door as he waited for Becky to answer. Sure the chances at that the door was open, it always was, and it wasn’t like Stephen was a stranger to her place so he probably could have just gone on in and she wouldn’t have said anything. While this was all true Stephen still preferred to do the gentlemanly thing and knock and wait for her to answer the door, or at least until she let him know that it was alright to go on in. He was starting to wonder what was keeping Becky until he heard a thud at the other side of the door. It was no secret that Becky was a bit ditzy and as such could be a clutz at times which wasn’t good for Stephen because he ended up worrying about her even more than he did on a normal basis. Hearing her call out and said that the door was opened, he breathed a small sigh of relief – at least she didn’t sound hurt. Opening the door and closing it quickly behind him he look down the hall and saw Becky lying on the floor, even in her currently position she still managed to look as beautiful as ever. “Are you alright, baby?” he asked softly as he rushed up to her, kneeling down on the ground beside her.

Putting his arms around her he helped to pull her up a bit so he wasn’t completely lying on the floor, “You’ll learn to wear normal clothes yet.” he said with a laugh lacing his words as he noticed what she was wearing, no wonder she fell. Looking into Becky’s face he frowned a bit, something was off. Pushing some hair behind her ear he cupped her face softly as he tried to search her face to find out what was wrong but he couldn’t tell. “Becky, what’s wrong?” he asked in a soft voice. He didn’t like idea of something upsetting Becky.