| Details for Distraction |
| Summary: | Kimiko and Eamon dance around what they'd really like to say to each other. |
| Date: | January 19, 1938 |
| Location: | The Three Broomsticks |
| Related: | Oblivious |
| Characters |
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"Eamon! Are you alright?" Kimiko knocks on the door to the Three Broomsticks' loo, after chasing after the poor young man who just poured hot butterbeer down his front. She nibbles at her lip, listening for some sort of response.
"Fine!" hollers Eamon, but it's still quite awhile before he emerges from the restroom with less butterbeer on him, but not less embarrassed. He peers about furtively, almost hoping Kimiko gave up so he doesn't have to face her just yet. Spilling your drink is hardly the epitome of teenage humiliation, but it rates up there for him.
Kimiko is waiting in the hall outside the restroom with a towel in hand, ready to help mop him up. "Oh," she glances down at the towel, "I thought I'd…um…but I see you took care of it. You weren't burned, were you? Do we need to go back to the castle to see Madam Spleen?"
"I, er, cheated," admits Eamon, holding up his wand before stuffing it into his pocket. After all, with so many legal adults floating around, who's going to notice a few underage cleaning charms in a bar? "I'm fine, though, really. I think the only think I hurt was my pride."
"Oh, you bad boy," Kimiko chides playfully. "Well, if anyone asks, just tell them I cleaned you up. I don't want you getting into any trouble."
"Is anyone else still here?" Eamon peers over her head, trying to see, and then returns his eyes to her, grimacing out a smile. "You didn't have to wait, you know… I, er, could have managed."
Kimiko nods, confirming that there are still other students around the corner. "Oh…right. Of course you could. I'm sorry…stupid of me. I just wanted to make sure."
Eamon's head turns again to her and his brows furrow. "You are NOT stupid," he reassures firmly. "I guess I'm glad you did. I guess if you thought I was a stupid clumsy oaf you wouldn't have followed me."
Kimiko smiles appreciatively at his assertion. "Of course I don't think that. Though," she starts hesitantly, "How did you manage to pour butterbeer all over yourself?"
Eamon's gaze slides away from her, his cheeks reddening. "I was distracted," he mumbles, about all the explanation she could hope to get from him.
Kimiko nods, wincing. "Oh…right. I'm sorry, Eamon. I should have turned around the moment I saw Hawker. That was thoughtless of me."
"Oh! No, no, not her." A twitch starts nervously at the corner of Eamon's mouth. "I don't care about her. It's not like I don't have to see her at Quidditch practice and in the Common Room and such…" He licks his lips and then offers her a small half-smile. "It wasn't her, and you don't have to apologize."
Kimiko furrows her brow in confusion. "Alriiiight. If not her, then what?" The sight of his half-smile turns up the corners of her mouth into a hopeful smile of her own.
Pause…Eamon takes a deep breath, clears his throat, and steels himself. "I, was, um…well, if you want the truth…I was.. I was… looking at you, Kimiko."
Kimiko's little gasp of air is audible, and she's pretty sure the drying of her mouth must be as well. "At…me?" Her voice cracks. "I…distracted you?" She swallows and wets her lips, hanging on the promise of his next words.
Eamon wrinkles his nose and groans. "Oh, don't look like that, Kimiko." He curls his fingers together and scuffs his foot on the ground awkwardly, looking down at the floor. "You're pretty, and I'm not blind."
Kimiko's cheeks colour, and her smile beams wide. She laces her fingers together, just to find something to do with her hands. "So…is that all, though? I mean…thank you. But…if you think I'm pretty…do you think…anything else?"
Eamon smells a trap, and immediately looks suspicious. "What else should I think?" he asks. "Is there something you wanted me to think?"
Kimiko recoils from the shift in his demeanor, her smile fading. "Wh-…no. I mean, maybe. Yes." Her eyes drop to her hands. "I just wondered."
Eamon frowns in an unsatisfied way. "Yes? What is it?" He leans forward a little bit curiously. He's not going to be the first one to say this, the threat of rejection too strong a thing to ignore, even if there's plenty of signs. "You can tell me."
Kimiko sighs with sudden frustration, blowing upward and sending her dangling black locks flying. "I can't tell you. You're supposed to say it. You're the boy."
Now Eamon looks really confused. "What am I supposed to say, exactly, Kimiko?" Reaching up to scratch the back of his head, he too blows out a breath. "I … like you, Saito. Is that what you're looking for?"
"Like-me-how?" Kimi blurts out the question far too eagerly as she takes a step toward him. "As a friend? As…what?" She positively quivering with anticipation.
Eamon now looks kind of terrified. Danger, Will Robinson, his brain screams. "Er. You know, Kimiko. I… like you?" He looks helpless. What part of like doesn't she get. "Sure you're my friend. But I don't really spill drinks on myself over friends, right?"
Perhaps Kimiko senses how she's cornering him, and she physically backs off. "Sorry." She takes a deep breath, centering herself. "I like you too, Eamon. I think you're great, and…I want to get to know you better."
"Well. That's settled," Eamon squeaks. "Maybe we can, um, study together, or something." Yeah, right, good job there, buddy. Studying. Way to woo her. She's not a Ravenclaw! "Or… or dinner! We could, uh, have dinner."
Kimiko looked mildly hopeful at the suggestion of a study date. But dinner? That yanks her eyelids wide open. "Dinner?" Her face lights up in a bright smile. "I'd love that. You mean just you and me, right?"
You and him and the sixty other people in the restaurant, sure. "Yeah, yeah, um, just you and I. You can pick the place, okay?" While he mentally makes a list of who he can borrow money from to pay for it. Poor broke boy.
Kimiko bites her lip, thinking. "Well…there aren't that many places in Hogsmeade. The Three Broomsticks…the Hog's Head," she wrinkles her nose at the latter, "Puddifoots, Rosie's Caff…"
"Er…whatever you want, really, is fine." Eamon waves his hands, trying to absolve himself of making a decision. "It should be somewhere you enjoy."
"Eamon…I want you to take me somewhere." Kimi strains at admitting it. She's adventurous by nature, but has those traditional influences telling her that he should take the lead. "I trust you. I'll go wherever you want to."
"Er, are you sure?" Eamon chews on his lip. "I've never, um…taken a girl out on a date before. I mean…I took Hawker to the dance but she picked our costumes and I just..um…showed up."
Kimiko giggles softly. "I think Mabel is accustomed to taking charge. I'm…not like that. And if it helps…I've never been on a date before, either."
"You…haven't?" Eamon frowns. Now the pressure is really on. "Okay. Well.. um.. Let's see. Tomorrow night then? I'll meet you in the Common Room at five."
Kimiko shakes her head, shrugging. "Nobody's ever asked me before. But…I'm glad you did." She shivers excitedly, nodding. "Five o'clock. Got it."
"Right. Um. Well. I'll see you then." He'll probably see her before, actually, but he's too jazzed up to worry about that. Right now he's got to go find a loan. So he turns, waves, and heads off rather abruptly. Strange boy.
Kimiko watches him go, momentarily dumbfounded by his sudden departure. But once he is gone and she can process what just happened, she lets out a high-pitched squeal of delight and twirls in place! She gives a count of thirty before she rushes out to shop for a new dress!