noah - it's not uncommon

[NOAH ADOLF MACNAIR]

He liked her comments, though he wasn't a fan of anyone nitpicking his work over his shoulder, but he enjoyed her chest pressed against his back and her hot breath near his ear. He realized fairly quickly that she did not in fact have as much work to do and was coming up with work to get done. He had to smile, she really was the most considerate person he knew. When he said he was almost done he looked up and saw how dead tired she looked. "I know you've been trying to come up with work to do to keep me company." He said with a little smile. "Go get in some adorable pajamas or something." Of course, that would be great for him as well as her but he totally couldn't say that.

He was feeling a little buzzed from his drinking between paragraphs and knew he had to get this done before he tipped over into tipsy or something. Noah knuckled under and scrawled out a large printed conclusion to finish up his paper and finally, it was done. He rolled the paper up and jammed it into his bag, slamming the library books closed happily, momentarily revived from sleepiness by the thrill of completion.

[JUNIPER DAHLIA HOLLOW]

Juniper was rubbing her eyes. "S'not a problem." she slurred in the middle of a yawn. But then he suggested changing into pajamas, and Juniper had to admit, that sounded appealing. So she got up, figuring she could also carry some of her books back with her. This time she levitated them - no one was around - and she made her way towards the dorm, the books magically following her.

outfit

She didn't have a whole lot of variety in clothing. The shorts were the same she wore when she ran into James that night. She put socks on because the common room floors were cold. The shirt showed off considerable midsection, but that's because she had since she was twelve. It was comfortable though, and there were sitting by the fire. She'd be warm and fine.

She sauntered back over and noticed Noah closing his books happily. She brightened, "Are we done finally?" she asked, extremely excited for her friend. Elated she snatched the bottle of wine and took a long swig of it. Wine was an alcoholic beverage she could drink no problem - it was the hard liquors she had trouble with. Still, while she wasn't lightweight, she wasn't a heavyweight either. Unlike Noah who probably had a crazy metabolism. She'd be singing in no time while he would still be merely buzzed.

She put the bottle down back on the table, and felt the wine settle in her empty stomach - when was the last time they ate? Yep, I'm going to get wasted very quickly, she thought.

[NOAH ADOLF MACNAIR]

When she came padding back in her high socks, short shorts and top that let her belly button shine through, Noah thought he might fall over, but instead tiredness and alcohol got the butter of him and he announced, "You, are adorable." Noah usually kept such thoughts to himself, but it was a late and his edit function was impaired from trying to say everything he knew about dumb plants for the past several hours. Word vomit just transferred from the written to the spoken word.

She let collasped into her chair and took a long swig of the wine and he had to laugh. "What? No lady-like sips?" he said teasing, because of course he drank wine rather daintily usually, good breeding or some shit. Just about anything else he would gulp down, like fire whiskey or butter beer.

He gingerly took the bottle from her and took a swig to match her, the alcohol sliding down his throat unsavored. His father would be ashamed. Just the thought alone made Noah smile.

[JUNIPER DAHLIA HOLLOW]

Juniper figured Noah was overcome with happy emotions, and therefore didn't take what he said about her too seriously. It didn't quite occur to her that he liked her. So, figuring they were the phase of their celebration where they gave each other congratulatory compliments, Juniper pointed right back at him, "And you sir, are awesome." It was lame in comparison, but awesome seemed the overall term to describe a guy who was smart, well-liked, and attractive.

In terms of her drinking etiquette, Juniper shook her head. "No time to be lady-like." She explained. "You've gotten a head start."

Juniper watched him take a long swig. "Hey!" she exclaimed, leaning over the table and grabbing the bottle from him. "At least let me catch up before you go showing off." She sat back down and took an even longer swig. When she finished, she made a face and shuddered. Damn that was a lot of alcohol in too short a period of time.

[NOAH ADOLF MACNAIR]

Noah laughed and took a little mock bow from his chair as she told him he was awesome. "Yes, I am awesome. I told some third years that when they thought I was a king for hanging out with you. You better watch out for those buggers." He said with a serious nod. Thirteen year old boys were bad news no matter how you sliced it.

He chuckled when she had to catch up. "But I like being a show off," he whined playfully as she took a giant swig that left her face pinched and disoriented. Noah gingerly took the bottle from her hands and put it back on the table. "Easy there tiger." He said with a laugh. he didn't want to be singing sea shanties with his underwear on his head if he could avoid it... Well... at this rate she'd be the one doing that and he would get a buzzed eyeful... worked for him, but still, she'd hate him in the morning if she was too hungover.

[JUNIPER DAHLIA HOLLOW]

It honestly didn't make sense to Juniper. Why would he be king for hanging out with her? She was the one hanging out with team captain and House stud. But Juniper momentarily couldn't speak because her system was being inundated in alcohol. Then she was feeling pleasantly happy and lightheaded.

Noah took the bottle from her hands, and Juniper suddenly giggled, throwing her head back. "Ha - tiger." Although that actually wasn't funny. She looked up thoughtfully, suddenly serious. "Oh god, you're going to have to deal with the drunk me." she though aloud. Without provocation, she kept talking. "I'm a ..." she thought back to her past experiences. "... flirty drunk."

"So sorry in advance if I make you uncomfortable." Juniper said, with an apologetic glance towards him. And then she took the bottle again, to distract herself from that exposing bit confession. She took a shorter swig, but it was still too much alcohol in too short a span of time. "Ugh!" she exclaimed, shuddering again. "This just tastes worse and worse." She put the bottle on the table herself and tried not to make a face.

[NOAH ADOLF MACNAIR]

Oh god she was a flirty drunk? Just his luck. They could make out and she would never know, chalk it up to drunkenness and it would never be visited again. And that, Noah decided, would suck. He was a goofy drunk, the kind that would wear lampshades on his head or go streaking. At least they weren't both flirty drunks. He would have rather her be an angry drunk because that would have been highly amusing for him, unless of course she was even hotter mad. "Nah, I think I've known you long enough that there isn't much you could do to make me uncomfortable." At least, not in a way he couldn't handle like when she leaned over his shoulder to help him work.

If she was going to get flirty, he was definitely going to need more wine so he took a large gulp from the bottle, not caring if she still wanted to catch up. In terms of who was drunker she already was. Noah was simply buzzed, his body was too big to be a lightweight. "Then stop drinking and leave more for me." He said with a laugh.

[JUNIPER DAHLIA HOLLOW]

Juniper nodded to what he said. "Well that's good." At least there was no fear of freaking him out. It would've been terrible if she drove her best friend away.

She suddenly became very interested in the windows, which saw into the lake. She always thought it was very cool that the common room was located partially under the lake. There was some sort of creature swimming past the window, and Juniper followed it - tilting her head. And then the creature got so far to the right that Juniper tilted her whole body. But with balance being off, that meant Juniper fell out of her chair.

She got up very quickly, "I am ok." She said, although swaying slightly on her feet. All the alcohol had rushed to her head.

[NOAH ADOLF MACNAIR]

Hewatched her quietly as she followed some creature with her eyes as it swam past the window behind him. Noah didn't really advertise it, but he hated the blake lake. It really freaked him out. You couldn't see a thing until it was right by your face, and that meant it had to be easy to get killed in there. Not to mention mermaid were nothing like old Disney movies his cousins watched, they were scary and ugly and he was terrified of them. Well, not as much as he was of the dark, but he didn't go advertising that either. He was supposed to be strong and handsome, smart and capable, tough and not afraid of anything.

Her fall jostled him from his thoughts and once she said she was okay, he laughed loudly. "I'm glad you're okay because that was hilarious." He informed her, offering her a strong hand to hoist her back up to her chair. "That seat is dangerous." he decided and dropped her into his own lap, one arm around her loosely. "Now you won't fall." he said.

Juniper was warm and smelled even better than he remembered. He resisted the urge to stroke her hair and shifted her to one leg so she wasn't squarely in his lap, that could make for a potential disaster.

[JUNIPER DAHLIA HOLLOW]

At least she could make him laugh. That was good. And then she somehow ended up on his lap - it happened way too quickly for her mind to process. But she felt secure, which was more than she could say for her own two feet. "Thank you." she said, taking in her new seat.

He smelled like something manly that she couldn't place. Aftershave? His chest felt very firm against her side. His arm very strong around her. She stared at his face. First his eyes and then his lips. Then she touched his messy hair and giggled. He always looked so put together, but even this was cute. She ran her fingers through his hair. Then she looked perplexed. "Why are you still single?" she asked, suddenly very confused. He was so handsome, it made absolutely no sense.

[NOAH ADOLF MACNAIR]

Then she was playing with his hair and the world seemed to stop. Her pretty eyes traced his features and he took the moment to relish how long she lingered on his lips and the feeling of her soft skin against his arm. Oh, if only she knew how hard this was! Noah had been thinking this was a little crush, one you could ignore, just attraction that shouldn't be followed up on, but tonight was telling him he had been dead wrong. And maybe it was the late hour and the alcohol talking, but he wanted to kiss her.

That really was an excellent question. He was handsome, smart, sexy, athletic... Girls fawned over him and he'd had many girlfriends over the year but he had been single since last spring, and it was a little painful to be alone again, but once he realized he liked June, he just couldn't settle on some distraction.

"Cause the chick I like is complicated," Noah settled on, figuring that gave nothing away and sort of answered her question., She was too drunk to notice much anyway right?

[JUNIPER DAHLIA HOLLOW]

Juniper's brows furrowed in concern when he said those words. Her hand stopped playing with his hair, and she draped her arm around his neck instead. How could it possibly be complicated? "Ah, well complicated girls are overrated." Juniper told him, nodding knowledgeably. "Over the summer I made out with this cute blonde. But then she started clinging to me, and she got way too attached, so I had to break it off, even though we never decided on actually dating." Juniper made an expression that said, weird, right? Juniper shook her head. "Women."

It didn't occur to her that June's attraction to women might be news to him. Sure she never told him outright, but that was because she didn't think it was a big deal and it never came up in conversation. Although Juniper did often tell him that his ex girlfriends were hot. Maybe he never knew that she actually really meant it.

While overlooking that fact, Juniper was falling into "best friend" mode and trying to give him a pep talk. "So yeah. You deserve the best. Because you are..." Juniper was going to say something really meaningful, but she started staring at his face again. "... so very attractive." she breathed.

[NOAH ADOLF MACNAIR]

This conversation only reiterated why he was falling for her. Her offhandedness about women, when she was one, was comical. The news that she liked girls was news to him, but not really surprising. She'd always joked about his girlfriends and he was sure he'd seen her make out with a girl at a party--- but he could have dreamt that. That was entirely possible. But then he wondered if maybe she was a lesbian and not into boys at all. Juniper had boyfriends but that didn't have to mean anything. Noah pouted lightly, pursing his lips.

Then she was leaning close again, trying to give him a pep talk but ending up distracted by his looks, which made him laugh. Her lips were impossibly close but they were friends, and maybe she only liked women. Way for her to make it even more complicated. He simply reiterated her earlier comment. "Yeah, women." But he kept his face close, unable to move away.

"Juniper?" He said, calling her by her first name for the first time in what felt like a long time. Noah had planned on asking if she was gay or just bi--which would so much better for him. But he couldn't follow through and scrambled for something to say. "You're attractive too." He said, mentally smacking himself.

[JUNIPER DAHLIA HOLLOW]

The way he said "women" made her laugh. It was fun to be in agreement about something. It felt like now they had more things in common. Juniper imagined, with a goofy grin, how they could talk about girls. At parties, she could totally tell him who to go for. But, all of the sudden, the idea of him going for another girl made her a little sad, too. Lonely, in a way.

And then he said her name and Juniper looked at him earnestly, feeling that whatever he had to say was important. And then he told her she was attractive, and June smiled, hardly believing it. Noah Macnair thought she was attractive. Not just a good, fun, supportive friend to have around. She wanted to say Really? You really think so? But words seemed utterly useless to convey what she was feeling and she closed the gap between them, kissing him on the lips.

Once she felt his lips against hers, it felt that was what she was waiting to do for a long time. But then, all too suddenly she pulled away, suddenly scared. "I'm sorry!" she said, truly afraid she screwed things up and was now going to drive her friend away - the one thing she was honestly afraid of. "I know you can't possibly like me but ..." But what? I couldn't help myself?

[NOAH ADOLF MACNAIR]

Noah watched her face, trying to read what she was thinking and then suddenly she was kissing him. She had warned him, but he had never been so happy to be taken by surprise. Noah wanted to kiss her forever, and the realization hit him like a mac truck on the highway. This was no simple crush at all. Her lips were soft and warm and tasted like wine. It was bliss, if he had to pick a word, and then all of a sudden she was gone and his lips felt cold while his face grew a little hot. Juniper looked terrified, and he couldn't quite figure out why. Was she worried he was going to freak out? Even if he hadn't been practically in love with her, he wasn't the type to get worked up, he'd attribute it to the alcohol and get over it.

"What?" he said, his eyebrows raised quizzically. For a smart girl, she was pretty clueless. "You're the reason I broke up with Madeline last spring... I've always liked you June." And really, he knew then that he always had, but he always chalked it up to friendly intimacy, which was fine for several years, but it wasn't enough anymore. Especially not since she just kissed him.