Closed you again?

[Simone Moreau-Chen]

Simone checked the time on her phone for what felt like the hundredth time in five minutes. The nervous bouncing of her leg shook the small table, making the surface of her latte ripple. She stared at it and tried to calm down, why was she even nervous?! It was just Katy. Katy, who had once been one of her best friends before she transferred to Beauxs. But this was also the Katy who she hadn't seen or even really talked to since she left Ilvermorny two years ago. She groaned, why had she come to the coffee shop so early. Because it was better then hanging around dad's new bachelor pad apartment, she thought bitterly.

She took a sip of her drink and burnt her tongue. Simone whined and pulled out her phone again, checking to see if there were any messages she missed. There were a couple from her school friends, her bonsquad, and she smiled. She didn't read them yet, she was far to distracted. But it was nice to know there were people out there who didn't hate her even if Katy did. But she had agreed to coffee, so even if Katy did hate her, she couldn't hate her that much.

 

[Katy Miller]

To say Katy had some unfinished business with Simone might have been an understatement. She had been one of Katy's best friends at school until she had to up and leave because of some family drama or whatever in their third year. Now, out of the blue Simone was back for a visit and Katy's emotions didn't seem to know what to think. She was mad at Simone for leaving, but nervously excited at the chance to catch up again. It was just her luck that Simone would decide to come back to the States to visit the same summer her traitorous cousin decided he wasn't. Katy would be angrier at everyone up and leaving her to go travel the globe if she didn't want to do exactly the same thing. Maybe that was why she was so mad, because they all managed to get to it first.

Arriving at the coffee shop, Katy took a moment to collect herself, spotting Simone through the window. They hadn't really spoken since Simone left, barely an owl or a text between them. Honestly, Katy had been too hurt to miss Simone much at first, and now it had been long enough she'd half felt like she was holding onto the grudge on principle more than anything now. Steeling herself, Katy swept into the shop, plastering a bright smile as she walked over to Simone. "Well hey, Simone! Long time no see," She said pointedly, not dropping her smile as she sat down. "Did you order already or did you actually wait for me this time." Honestly Katy really had missed Simone, they'd gotten along great at school, but now face to face with her it was easy to remember why she'd been so made when Simone had first up and abandoned her in the first place.

 

[Simone Moreau-Chen]

Simone’s heart started beating faster as she spotted Katy. She looked so familiar even after two years she couldn’t help but smile and wave to her friend. Hopefully they were still friends, she thought as Katy sat down. “Hey yourself! It has been way too long!” Simone said, excitedly. Simone felt a pang of guilt when Katy asked if she had ordered already. She had gotten here so early she didn’t even think twice about getting a drink. “You know I can’t control myself around caffeine.” she teased with a smug grin to hide her actual emotions. “What do you want?” She asked. “It’s my treat. Dad feels guilty about leaving me alone for most of my trip and gave me way too much pocket money.” she insisted. Simone stood up got go to the counter, grateful for any excuse to move around and let out some of her nervous energy. Katy hadn’t blown up and yelled at her yet, so that was a good sign. “You have to tell me everything! How is everyone? Has school been dreadfully boring without me? I’ll be right back” She said as she floated off to the counter to order Katy’s drink. Carefully she put the other girl’s drink down in front of her and then took a sip of her own, thankfully it had finally cooled down.

 

[Katy Miller]

Simone didn't immediately throw herself at Katy's feet and apologize, and Katy eyed her warily as she just acted like this was a normal catch up chat and not the long overdue reunion after Simone had essentially friend-dumped her. But Simone offered to buy Katy's drink so Katy was feel a little more magnanimous than when she had first walked in. And it really was good to see Simone again, even if Katy couldn't shake this weird fear that Katy just didn't know her very well anymore and would have to find some way to navigate the gulf the distance had put between them.

"Well as long as you're milking this for all it's worth," Katy said, nodding and giving Simone her drink order, making sure to add in a few extra add-ons to get her money's worth. "You're probably going to need another drink before I get done telling you all the stuff you've missed," She added before launching into as many juicy or interesting stories as she could, especially ones that sounded extra fun, just to make sure Simone knew what she'd been missing out on when she'd run off to another country. But eventually Katy ran out of steam and found she honestly wanted to know more about what Simone had been doing. She'd made peace with why Simone had left, even if she still didn't like it, but it still stung that she and Simone had lost touch so badly. "So, how were things over in France. You find some cooler friends to replace me with and stuff? And you uh. Made some peace with your dad I guess?" Katy said, hoping it came off as joking and as bitter as it sounded to her ears.

 

[Simone Moreau-Chen]

Simone wanted to laugh a little at the extravagant drink order but managed to keep it inside, except for a small half smile that she hid behind her cup. She listened intently to Katy’s stories and couldn’t help but ache a little bit for what her life could have been like if her parent’s marriage hadn’t imploded. She would have been there for all of these moments and it made her a little sad. “Oh you know….french?” said awkwardly with an exaggerated shrug of her shoulders when the conversation turned to her. She wasn’t really sure where to begin. Her life was so different at Beauxs then it had been over here. She just didn’t want to make it seem as if she was bragging about how great her life was now, especially after ghosting her best friend at the same time. “No one could replace you.” Simone said seriously, and it was true. She loved her new squad but Katy will always have been there first. “Paris is really cool. They don’t like it when you skateboard at the Louvre, but whatever. As for school, believe it or not I have managed to make some friends and I haven’t even got any of them killed yet, you should be proud of me.” She said with a laugh, “They did somehow convince me to join the quidditch team, so that fact may change before graduation.” Simone looked down at her cup and Katy had been right, it was empty, she did need more than one drink to get through all the catching up they had. She wished she could just get up and avoid the last part of Katy’s question, but she didn’t. “And yeah, I guess. I think it's more of a ceasefire more than anything else. I know he’s upset I basically took mom’s side in the divorce but, I don’t know. I just thought he’d be happier to see me considering I’m legally required to spend half of my summer here.”

 

[Katy Miller]

Katy was a little bummed when Simone dodged her question about Beauxbatons, though she supposed she was probably better off being spared the details of Simone's super glamorous new life and friends. She was more mollified when Simone at least said Katy could never be replaced. It was an apology for ditching her, but it was an acknowledgement that Katy wasn't the only one who had valued their friendship. "Damn right no one could replace me," She said softly, throwing Simone a bone and smiling at her joke about her friends. "It takes a very specialized skillset to survive being friends with you, I was worried," She added. And Katy had been worried, really. Under the hurt of being ditched, she had missed Simone and worried about her. Which only made her angrier the longer things went without hearing from her. Katy supposed she probably could have managed to find Simone at some point, owls were clever like that, but it was the principle of the thing.

Katy had to double-take when Simone mentioned quidditch though. "You, on the team? That I wanna see. What are you like uh, a beater or something?" Katy said, trying to remember what Quidditch stuff Elliot had mentioned before. It wasn't super complicated but Katy had just never really paid it much mind, knowing more about Quadpot and the likes. She frowned when she heard Simone's dad was being still being crappy, fiddling with her cup. "Nothing says family like legal obligations, huh. Well, At least it gives you a reason to come visit. You could always escape to my place if he sucks too hard." Katy said, half surprised to hear the offer even as she said it and quickly taking a drink before she could take it back or something else equally petty.

 

[Simone Moreau-Chen]

Simone smiled and realized just how much she had missed Katy, with her ability to get right to the point. She couldn’t shake the guilty feeling that had settled in her chest, it wasn’t just her fault they stopped talking. Conversations and two way streets and whatever. But that didn’t make the feelings go away as they seemed to dance around the heart of the issue. “Yeah, I’m surprised you made it as long as you did.” Simone said with a laugh. “I’m just glad you’re eyebrows grew back from the time we set off Wildfired Whizz-Bangs in the bathroom first year.” Suddenly remembering the hijinx she managed to get into, it's a miracle she wasn’t expelled. While she was far from mature, she had calmed down slightly being at Beauxs if only to be less of a nuisance to her mom. She wondered how her friends would react if she tried a similar prank in their dorm room now.

“Chaser, actually.” she corrected with a smug grin, surprising herself with how excited she actually was to talk about quidditch. What had happened to her? Simone leaned back in her chair and put her hands behind her head, enjoying Katy’s surprise. “I’m not too bad either. Managed to make the team without ever playing before. Nadine could not figure out if she was more furious or proud.” she said with a laugh. “You could say that again.” groaned, and went back to sitting normally. She didn’t like talking about family stuff much. It was always such a buzzkill. But it was nice to be able to talk about it with someone. “I may hold you to that. We can annoy Logan into the wee hours of the morning. Just like old times.” Simone teased, the idea was more appealing to her than she expected. A desire to go back to a much much simpler time.

 

[Katy Miller]

Katy nearly snorted her drink out her nose when Simone mentioned The Eyebrow Incident from their first year. "I was just an innocent bystander, I have no idea what you're talking about," She recited dutifully, giggling again. Her mother had been furious when she'd heard, but thankfully she'd not worked out Simone's involvement. "But I could have pulled the eyebrowless off, totally," She said. It was kind of fun getting caught up reminiscing, though under that Katy could still feel a pang of sadness that everything was in the past tense now.

She raised an eyebrow when Simone talked more about being on the quidditch team. Simone had always been reasonably coordinated, Katy remembering nearly wiping out on a skateboard when they were younger and Simone being frustratingly cool on it. "Nadine's one of your school friends?" She asked lightly, picking at her napkin to help feign disinterest. Katy probably didn't need to know about the people Simone had replaced her with, and yet she was deathly curious. She had to frown at Simone's family situation though, it really did sound like it sucked, and Katy wanted to cut her some slack. But Katy wasn't her lame dad, Simone could have at least written to her. But the idea of Simone coming over for the holidays filled her with such longing Katy couldn't help but grin. "Oh my god, please. Elliot's not coming home this Summer and Logan's been insufferable since he graduated. I think Mom'll let me get away nearly anything right now as long as it'll stop us trying to kill each other."

 

[Simone Moreau-Chen]

Simone let out a giggle of her own when Katy snorted. She had nearly forgotten about that little quirk and felt a sudden surge of fondness. “Ok sure. If you can call lighting them an act of a bystander. How quickly your memory fades, maybe you need to get that checked out.” She teased. “Oh definitely. You have the bone structure for it.” She agreed with a laugh and dramatically put the back of her hand to her forehead.

“Yeah she is.” She confirmed. “She’s kind of uptight but she’s really nice. And is probably a big reason I’m not failing all of my classes.” She explained and hesitated before saying anything more. Simone wasn’t sure how much she should mention about her school friends. She wanted to talk about them, they were important to her and she didn’t want to keep things from Katy, not when she was sitting right in front of her. She didn’t like separating her world into two parts, she had enough of that when it came to her parents. “We actually have this dumb nickname for our little group. We call ourselves the Bonsquad. Bijoux, Orelie, and Nadine already called themselves that by the time I got there but they said I could be the S in squad, and that it was meant to be since my name fit.” She said with a nervous laugh and fiddled with her long empty cup.

“That’s too bad Elliot not around.” Simone sympathized, vaguely remembering Katy talk about her little cousin. “Maybe you’ll just have to get back at him and come visit me in Paris next summer.” she offered and raised her eyebrows. “That sounds like Logan, not sure if I would stop you guys or just get popcorn.”