a little bit of momentum |charlotte|

[JAKE AUSTIN LAWRENCE]

Jake wouldn't lie and say that he was at all excited about the evening's events. In all actuality, he wasn't looking forward to it at all. Charlotte was a pain in his ass pretty much every day of his life, so being paired with her for an event that should have been fun? Well, he knew that would just make her about ten times harder to be around. What really didn't help was Piper's date. She'd been paired up with Hampton Greyback, and while he knew that it really wasn't fair to judge, he didn't like the pairing one bit. He barely knew the guy, this was true, but he didn't like what he did know. Plus, if he was being honest with himself, Piper going with anyone but him was a bother. It was highly likely that he would be spending all night long watching his best friend dancing with someone who was possibly dangerous, and feeling oh so jealous the whole night through. Maybe, if he was lucky, he'd be able to steal at least one dance with her. But, judging by the fact that his own date was Charlotte Leroux, that wasn't very likely.

What made it all so much worse was knowing that Piper looked absolutely gorgeous tonight. They'd been together only moments before. She'd (technically it had been Andy at the time) helped him get ready a bit, changing his tie from the red it had been to a blue instead, since she hadn't seemed to want Charlotte to kill him for not completely matching the blue of her dress. He'd kissed her cheek in thanks, and Andy had hurried up to finish getting herself ready. When he'd seen what she was going to be wearing...well, it would be safe to say that he'd fallen that much more in love with her, not that she'd been any the wiser. She'd returned to the common room wearing her dark hair, the blonde charmed away. It had taken him off guard to know that somehow he'd brought Piper out, and once the idea had settled, he felt a warmth spread through him. Just knowing that he’d most likely been the reason to urge Piper out was gratifying. It was a little reminder to him that there was hope for her in the future, and he might be able to help. Of course the cheerfulness that brought him could only last so long when he remembered that she wasn't in fact his date, and that she'd be going off with Greyback, looking too gorgeous for her own good.

So really, it just wasn't fair. He'd never seen Piper look more beautiful, and watching her walk away from him had not been one of his happier moments. But of course he just ignored the tight feeling in his chest, and the jealousy surging through his veins, because there really wasn't anything he could do about it right now. Instead he turned and continued on his way, heading in the direction that Charlotte had insisted that they meet. She'd sent him an owl a few days prior letting him know that he was to be wearing a blue tie to match her blue dress, and that he'd be meeting her at the foot of the stairs in the entrance hall. It was so very like her not to give him any sort of choice in the matter, that was pretty much how she treated him on a daily basis. But being that this was trivial in the grand scheme of things, Jake hadn't put up a fight. Well, he'd been planning on forgetting that little detail about the tie, but Andy had been sure to correct that misstep. Part of him wished she hadn't, because it would have been pretty funny to see Charlotte's face when he'd turned up clashing her.

It took Jake a little longer than expected to find Charlotte in the crowd, being that there had been quite a few other couples that had picked this spot to meet at. He looked around, his eyes searching for a flash of blue while he also constantly found himself looking back for yellow. He didn't want to lose Piper in the mess of a crowd, he just didn't like the idea of leaving her alone and vulnerable with Greyback. But it seemed as though he'd already lost her, so he told himself to keep an eye out after he had at least found his date.

His eyes found Charlotte a moment later, standing directly beside the stairs, one hand grasping the rail and looking as if she already was annoyed. He was dreading walking over, that was until he actually got a clear look at her. Her gown was strapless and form fitting, the blue dark and inviting to the eye. She glowed in the gown, and he couldn't help but stare. She looked plainly beautiful, and extremely sexy, which was really an adjective that he'd constantly been trying to ignore when it came to her, because nothing good could come from those thoughts. But there it was, she was sexy, and he couldn't deny it any longer. His eyes wandered down her body almost against his will, before he forced himself out of the stupid hormone induced trance and stepped forward into her line of view.

“I do hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long.” Jake said, with a touch of sarcasm in his voice. He was pretty positive that the annoyed look on her face somehow had to do with him, as it often did. They might have been partners, equals, but that didn’t stop Charlotte from constantly finding some reason or another to badger him. He had a sudden strike of annoyance at that and the fact that she was just so damn attractive. He really hated when the packaging didn’t match the contents, it was a tease. If she could only be as nice as she looked...well, he wasn’t going to let that train of thought go too far. It was just a bad idea. He came a little closer, leaning against the railing and raising his eyebrows. “So...ready to go in, or what?” His words came out a little eager, though it solely had to do with finding Piper again. The longer she was out of his sight the further his stress level was going to go up, that he knew for sure. He offered Charlotte a reluctant smile and then his arm, deciding that there was no reason not to be a gentleman even if he didn’t exactly feel like being one. It was going to be a miracle if tonight flew by as fast as he wanted it to, and without a single scratch. It was honestly ridiculous to even consider it a possibility, but Jake couldn’t help hoping.


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[CHARLOTTE REAGAN LEROUX]

[/i] Charlotte ignored the tense, sarcastic tone she heard in his voice, instead shaking her head. “Right on time, actually,” she said cheerfully, turning towards him to glance him up and down, much like he’d just done to her. She found herself absentmindedly brushing off his shoulders as she continued to smile. “You look nice,” she said, her hands moving to straighten his tie, which had been a little askew. She was pleased to see that it was blue, not only for the matching outfits, but to see that perhaps somewhere inside Jake there was something in him that wanted to win her affection, even if she could be a bit nagging at times. She really wanted him to know that even though she could sometimes be difficult, she really could be a nice person when she put her mind to it, and that was what she was determined to prove to him tonight.

“So...ready to go in, or what?” Jake offered her his arm somewhat stiffly, but it made Charlotte smile, quite pleased. “Of course,” she agreed, and she slipped her arm into his, completing the glamorous picture. She wasn’t entirely sure how the rest of the night would go down, but for now, it seemed as if things wouldn’t be quite as bad as Jake seemed to expect. They’d had their tiffs in the past, but for now, they might just be able to have a decent evening together, and after tonight, who knew what else might happen. Charlotte wasn’t sure, but she was certainly eager to find out.


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[JAKE AUSTIN LAWRENCE]

Charlotte was being downright cheerful, and Jake couldn't say that this was normal behavior. She was smiling at him, and not in an irritated, sarcastic fashion, but more in a warm, happy way. It was a little bit unsettling, making Jake wonder if there was something else going on here that he was missing, like maybe Charlotte had something waiting up her sleeve. He didn't really know what to think, but he figured he may as well just go with it. A happy, sweet Charlotte was better than what he was used to, and a night without any sort of stress was honestly what he needed. He honestly didn't expect things to stay this way for too long though, which was a shame.

Don't get him wrong, though. It wasn't like Jake hated Charlotte or something, she was just normally so hard to deal with. Half the time it seemed like maybe she hated him, and so it was only natural to feel so unbalanced when she suddenly was acting like a normal teenage girl. Now that she was being so agreeable he might as well enjoy it. So he led her through the crowd and then passed through the doors into the Great Hall. His eyes had moved eagerly across the tops of heads as he went, still keeping a keen eye out for Piper, but not catching her once. He pushed the slight tremor of worry from himself and turned his eyes back to the room before him.

It was decorated as elaborately as he'd ever seen it. Floating candles, streamers and bright flowers atop the many tables that curled around the whole room. There was a loud, pulsing beat of music that surrounded them, and already there seemed to be a rather large group of people dancing in the center of the Great Hall. It seemed like the party had already gotten itself started, the atmosphere was bubbly with excitement. It was nice to have something different like this going on, a change of pace from the normal day to day. It was pretty that nearly everyone was in agreement with that, too. Jake grinned widely at a few of his friends as they passed by his side with their own dates, before turning back to Charlotte, looking down at her with questioning eyes.

"So, would you like to get a drink? Or maybe dance?" He wasn't really sure if Charlotte even liked to dance, but he couldn't think of anything else useful to say. Tonight was meant to be fun, and even if he was feeling a little bit nervous for a number of reasons he was still going to try his best to keep it that way. He tugged Charlotte lightly by the elbow, heading over to the table covered with various refreshments. There was some delightful looking bottles of butterbeer, plenty of pumpkin juice, and then something that looked like a sort of punch. Jake turned to her, eyebrows raised. "So, drinks, dance? Any preference?" He smiled, eyes flickering out to the crowd of students dancing and mingling. He momentarily caught sight of a dress quite similar to Piper's, but he was quickly disappointed when he noticed that it was being worn by a fifth year Hufflepuff. It seemed that keeping track of Piper tonight just wasn't going to be very easy. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and focused his attention back on Charlotte, hoping that she'd be up for a dance. Keeping them moving meant that he'd be able to keep looking for Piper, which was really all he wanted to do right now. But then of course, his eyes slipped down Charlotte's body almost against his will, and he found it very easy to admit that getting to dance with her would have plenty of other perks as well. Tonight was about having fun and letting loose, after all.

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