He didn’t know what he’d been expecting, in saying that to her – but it was nice to say it to someone, all the same.
And Gemma was someone safe to say it to, anyway. Not that they had ever been that close before, at Hogwarts or anything; and not that she had ever given the impression of someone who sat and listened generally (she was loud and outgoing and active, a doer, a distraction, or at least she should have been –) but he realised, now, that maybe she was just an open person. And – like it or not – an open door went both ways.
And she would be gone again sooner or later, so anything he admitted to might as well be thrown onto a distant tropical wind somewhere, never to be seen again. So he shot her a lopsided smile at her answer, a joking invitation he couldn’t actually take her up on, though he fancied a small part of him might honestly have liked to. “Thanks,” he said, trying to impress his gratitude on her across the table in just the word and just a look.
“I should probably go,” he added, sucking in a breath and breaking the spell. She should go and enjoy her New Year’s Eve with people who might actually be fun. “But it was good to see you. Really.” (And now he would miss her when she left again, but what was one more person to miss, anyway?)
And Gemma was someone safe to say it to, anyway. Not that they had ever been that close before, at Hogwarts or anything; and not that she had ever given the impression of someone who sat and listened generally (she was loud and outgoing and active, a doer, a distraction, or at least she should have been –) but he realised, now, that maybe she was just an open person. And – like it or not – an open door went both ways.
And she would be gone again sooner or later, so anything he admitted to might as well be thrown onto a distant tropical wind somewhere, never to be seen again. So he shot her a lopsided smile at her answer, a joking invitation he couldn’t actually take her up on, though he fancied a small part of him might honestly have liked to. “Thanks,” he said, trying to impress his gratitude on her across the table in just the word and just a look.
“I should probably go,” he added, sucking in a breath and breaking the spell. She should go and enjoy her New Year’s Eve with people who might actually be fun. “But it was good to see you. Really.” (And now he would miss her when she left again, but what was one more person to miss, anyway?)
