Save me from what I want

[Lola Kessler]

((ooc: In the theme of St. Vincent I named this title. Not that it matters but Lola is wearing what Serena/Blake Lively is wearing))

Lola Kessler walked into the house alongside Caleb, well technically a little bit ahead of him since he had opened the door for her. Glancing around at all the people obviously already in the swing of things, decorations hanging from the ceiling, and drinks overflowing from the kitchen and various other places it seemed. Looking back to Caleb she smiled. Merlin he was handsome!

“Am I really supposed to be here? You know, being a Gryffindor and all?” she joked, “I instill defiance and a potential for pandemonium, who knew,” she teased then asked in a similarly teasing voice, “So, is there anything I need to watch out for?” Lola merely smiled and laughed at him. “Right then, must meet this drooling stupor whilst drunk friend of yours.”

[Caleb Graham]

The door of Billie, Amy, Claire, and Blaine’s abode was ajar, many were already gathered there milling around as Caleb walked into the house, his friend, Lola at his side as they talked and laughed about something or other. Caleb felt uncharacteristically nervous. He really liked Lola Kessler. She was funny and smart, she made him laugh and they could hold great and even meaningful conversation. It was easy to talk to her. The fact that she was pretty seemed like an added bonus.

He glanced sideways as Lola asked him a question and smiled at her teasing, “Well technically no, but I’d like to get out all that rebellious energy I never really put to good use at Hogwarts.” At her continual teasing he smiled, “Hmmm, well no, everyone is really nice, except for Rhys, not that he’s not nice mind you, he is, sometimes a bit too nice. Rhys tends to get a bit overly friendly when he drinks, and he tends to drink himself into a bit of a stupor,” he clarified, Lola merely smiled and laughed at him, and he smiled back at her. Caleb really didn’t want her to meet Rhys. As good as a friend as Rhys was he couldn’t risk his French speaking, fancy friend Rhys to steal Lola away from him. Knowing Rhys he probably would manage it somehow.

[Rhys Armitage]

Reclining on the sofa where he'd been crashing for the past few days, Rhys rested his face on his hand and continued to casually chat up a girl he'd just met, a friend of Amy's or Billie's or someone's. He rested his hand on her arm and sighed. "Well, my mum is French, see, so I've been speaking it forever. But living in Paris and really immersing yourself in the culture just makes all the difference. You should definitely go." He was about to help her learn to properly pronounce the word 'croissant' when he noticed the pair who'd just come through the door. "Excuse me for a second."

As if on cue, he bounded up to Caleb and Lola. "Grahamsome, looking handsome. This must be your friend! Lolaaaaaa, L-l-l-l-lolaaaaa," he sang a little too loudly (because OBVIOUSLY she'd never had that song sang at her before). He took her hand and smiled. "Rhys Armitage. Enchanté!"

[Lola Kessler]

Lola couldn’t help but smile as Rhys bounded over almost on cue and began singing ‘Lola,’ as if she’d never heard it before. Whenever she told anyone (anyone who had ever listened to muggle music that is) her name they responded with many variations of that exactly song, some actually in tune, others not so much. Lola refrained from rolling her eyes and instead her smile only broadened with a nod.

“Lola Kessler, friend of Caleb’s,” she hitched a thumb at Caleb beside her. Holding out a hand to shake Rhys she said, “Je suis enchantée à vous rencontrer ,” I am delighted to meet you in a flawless French accent, to which Caleb looked to Lola in surprise and said, “What other secrets aren’t you telling me,” with a smile having no idea she knew French. “I am a woman of many surprises,” she teased glancing sidelong at him with what was meant to be a mysterious sultry expression but crumbled into her usual sunshiny smile.

[Rhys Armitage]

Rhys inclined his head forward, giving Lola an impressed look. "Ma mère est française, donc j'ai parlé français toute ma vie. Mais j'ai vécu et travaillé à Paris l'année dernière. S'immerger dans la culture est essentiel," he spoke with rapid fluidity, laying on the French accent more thickly than was perhaps necessary -- really taking the time to indulge in each smooth pronunciation. And... telling Lola almost verbatim what he'd just told the other girl in English.

"I moved back home to London over Christmas," he explained while stretching his hand out. "I've been doing translation work for the Department of International Magical Cooperation. The Spanish and Italian usually come out when you get a few drinks in me," he grinned flirtily, though painfully aware that 'a few drinks' was a pretty massive understatement for him. "What do you do, Lola?"

(ooc: I went for simple sentences so uhhh let's hope the French didn't get too mangled in translation. )

[Kevin Walsh]

Kevin sat sprawled out on the floor with a giant bag of crisps, stoned and content. Ever since his secret whatever-it-was with Elena started, a lot of 'What the hell's wrong with Kevin?' rumblings had been going around. He'd been... happy. It's wasn't even always at someone else's expense. He was almost pleasant to be around.

It was strange.

"GRAHAM. COME HERE. I NEED TO TALK TO YOU," he shouted while gesturing wildly at Caleb.

[Billie Fry]

Billie grabbed a bag of ice from the freezer, before stopping in the hallway to get a sneaky glimpse of the girl Caleb had brought to the party. "You have got to be kidding me," she muttered as she realized that she recognized the face -- another girl who worked at the Magical Menagerie. Boys are fucking ridiculous. She should have known when the first two things he thought to say about her were that she liked Quidditch and animals. Hmmm, who did that sound like?

Shaking her head, she dumped the ice in a bucket of beers and wandered out to the main room. "Listen up! Anyone playing Spin the Bottle needs to form a circle here in ten," she yelled over the music. It was an uncharacteristically smart move for Rhys to get Billie on board with his attempts to get a game going. All he had were vague platitudes about 'free love', whereas when Billie wanted something, she'd twist arms to get it to happen.

[Lola Kessler]

Lola gave a little shrug and smirk over at Rhys, “Do you always insist on repeating yourself?” she asked teasingly, having overheard what he had been telling the other girl, obviously trying to impress her. Lola glanced over to Caleb who she knew was probably utterly confused, and complete lost on their conversation, but smiled at him nonetheless. She marveled at how Caleb was politely standing there, comfortable, calm and collected even though he probably couldn’t understand a word they were saying, well maybe aside from française.

“Cool,” Lola nodded as Rhys spoke of moving back to France. “I am probably better at Spanish than I am at my French. I was only in France for the summer,” she explained. Turning for a moment to Caleb as he excused himself she smiled, “Sure,” and gave him a seconds longer look than she should have before turning her attention back to Rhys, “I work at the Magical Menagerie. How is it working for the Department of International Magical Cooperation?” she asked. Then at Billie’s announcement, “I’m in,” she shrugged, turning to Rhys then with a small smirk she asked, “Should we start forming a circle?”

((ooc: It was great. ))

[Caleb Graham]

Caleb smoothed down his blue shirt awkwardly having no idea what Rhys and Lola were saying. He knew a very basic amount of Spanish, and by that he meant how to ask ‘where’s the bathroom? Or, May I have a beer?’ were pretty much the extent of his vocabulary aside from hello, goodbye, and nice to meet you. He felt he could still fair pretty well in some foreign country somewhere if need be.

Meeting Lola’s gaze he responded to her warm smile with one of his own. God she was beautiful! Why couldn’t he just ask her out on a proper date? He was pitiful, he decided. Kevin’s voice distracted him however.

“Excuse me,” he said to Lola, hesitantly leaving her side, Rhys was the last person he wanted to leave Lola alone with but she could take care of herself. Though to be honest Lola wasn’t the one he was worried about, he didn’t trust Rhys. Caleb had clearly stated that he liked her. Okay, Caleb hadn’t clearly stated anything, but anyone with half a brain could see that he liked her, right? Caleb sighed as he walked over the place where Kevin was sprawled on the floor.

“What?” he asked his best mate. Then noticing the strange look on his face Caleb’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion…. what was that expression… contentment? Then glancing over at Rhys and Lola, who seemed like they were having a lovely time, he bitterly watched Lola laugh and smile, grabbed Kevin’s arm, “Come on, we’re playing.”

[blaineanderson]

Blaine was dapper as ever as he brought out a few more bags of crisps from the kitchen, someone had been eating all of them. Meandering over to Billie then he asked “Do you need anything else, pretty girl?”

He glanced around at the crowd, it was a good turnout. Lots of Hufflepuffs, and a few non-Hufflepuffs. He smiled as he saw Caleb. If only he wasn’t straight. Blaine grabbed a beer, picking one from O’Connors bar. He smiled and opened the beer and took a sip. It was perfection.

[Rhys Armitage]

Rhys simply grinned and shrugged blithely at Lola. He was banking on charm, not sparkling original conversation. He then looked over at Caleb. "Sorry, I forgot. Graham only speaks Quidditch." He beamed and clapped Caleb on the back in a way that suggested he was not sorry at all.

"Well, Paris is beautiful in the summer. Have you spent time in Spain?" He dropped his empty cup on the table beside them, shooting Billie the thumbs-up from across the room to let her know they were setting this thing in motion. "I get to see the world, talk to new people every day. It's great."

Rhys made a big show of being reluctantly 'talked into' the game before conceding. "I guess it could be a laugh? Let's do it! Too bad all these other people are here..." Rhys smiled at her before crouching down and squinting at the carpet. "I reckon this floor's on an angle. We ought to sit over here, unless you want to spin Kevin all night," he said while lightly leading her towards a spot on the floor next to him. They both knew he was bullshitting, but that was how he rolled. The kissing bit was where his real strengths kicked in, anyway: it was safe to say he wasn't pulling all of these girls based on personal intellect.

[Kevin Walsh]

"What what?" Kevin asked in confusion before his reason for calling Caleb over dawned on him. "OH! Right." He reached for a hair clipper he had stashed under the sofa. "Wanna shave Armitage's head once he passes out? He's been here for like three days, I don't know why no one's done it yet. Would have been my first instinct."

He then looked over at the blonde girl Caleb was watching and pointed suddenly. "That Lola? Shit, dude. You need to get on that. We live in a brave new world where Elena Biermann has decided she wants to nail me on a semi-regular basis, my friend, so if you squander what is clearly a golden opportunity, consider this friendship terminated. Terminated!"

He watched Billie while clawing at the new bags of crisps that had suddenly appeared before him. "If you wanna snog me so badly you could've just asked," he grumbled at Caleb. Kevin wasn't particularly interested in getting up off the floor at that moment, but he didn't care enough about anything to protest.

[Billie Fry]

Billie rested her chin on Blaine's shoulder and sighed. "I need Walsh to stop eating all my food and Graham to realize he's over there trying to date Amy-lite. Can you do that for me?"

She stood back and picked up a bottle of the beer that Blaine had chosen. "Is this good? My drink of choice is generally 'something sweet and fruity that accidentally stumbled upon alcohol'," she said, squinting while she cracked it open. Her tough and aggressive nature had no bearing on the fact that she was still very, very girly. "So, hey," she said while poking Blaine in the ribs, "Did you inviiiite anyone?" She tried to sound casual, but it was fairly transparent to everyone that most of her motivation for throwing parties involved hooking people up.

[Amy Weatherson]

Amy slumped down into one of their bean bag chairs, just aside from where they were forming the circle to play Spin the Bottle, happy to be just a spectator rather than participate. She caught the straw in her drink - extremely pink and sweet, undoubtedly 'girly', was how she preferred her alcoholic drinks - between her teeth and absentmindedly drank as she watched people gather. Of course Rhys was the one enthusiastically leading the proceedings, she smiled to herself at this and shook her head as she waved a small 'hi' to Lola as the girl sat beside Rhys. Then, looking round the room she wondered where Caleb had got to - it seemed he and Lola were inseparable lately, 'much like me and Caleb used to be' she thought with a slight sigh.

Refusing to spend this party feeling sorry for herself she spied Billie and Blaine chatting and sidled up to them, "Heyyyyy guyssss," she greeted enthusiastically, perhaps putting a little too much zeal into her manner which seemed especially over-the-top-happy (even for her). "So, did you invite someone? Spill Anderson," the brunette ordered, trying her very best at a 'stern' tone of voice.

[Elena Biermann]

Elena walked in carrying a load of beers, most of which she had “borrowed” from her brother. She set them down next to the crisps and took a seat beside Rhys. She disliked the bloke really, but anything to avoid Kevin, and she knew Kevin would never sit beside Rhys.

“Hey Rhys,” she said nonchalantly opening a beer and taking a few sips. She sort of hated watching Kevin’s stupid smug face from across the circle, stuffing his mouth with crisps. “So what are we doing?” she asked gesturing to the circle before taking another swig.