As she giggled and read the text, Jai had a wide grin on his face. He wasn't even really listening to the words she was reading (although he had heard the word 'breasts' quite clearly). Jai was just watching Jordyn be cute, because she was being especially cute right now -- giggling and all that. He simply watched and wondered how on earth he'd managed to win himself a girl so great. Someone amazing enough to make him feel this goopy inside.

She only read for a short time but it was enough to get Jai wrapping his arms around Jordyn, smirking as he looked into her eyes. He kissed her nose and then bent her a little backwards and kissed her even deeper, spazzing out a little and falling slightly into the bookshelf. The tiny fumble had caused a few books to fall from the shelf to the floor, but amazingly, Jai ignored them and opened his eyes to look at Jord again. "You're so cute," he whispered huskily before continuing to snog his adorable girlfriend.

Today Frederick Dodger was not in the mood for students. He was hardly ever in the mood for teenagers, the whiny high-pitched bags of sweat that filled his house with mud and litter. Sighing, he trudged out of the back of his house. To make matters worse, he'd gone on a bender last night with his brother and a band of mates, so he was massively hungover. What had to be a banshee traipsed through the cafe, loudly wondering where the sugar was. As if such a creature needed more sugar. Alfie'd better be charging them for the tea, or else this day wasn't going to be worth rolling out of bed for at all.

Without addressing anyone Freddie grabbed a bottle of red wine from the small fridge in the shop behind the counter. He waited as it immediately replenished itself. Ah, the wonders of magic. Freddie smiled for a moment, thinking about how great it all was, when he heard a loud giggle and squeal from the depths of his bookshelves. Oh, they better not be messing about in there! He immediately began hunting for the source of the noise without bothering to open his wine.

Finally he found the instigators: a couple that was hilariously different in height. The lad was towering over the tiny giggling gal. He listened and heard words like 'engorged' and 'breasts.' They started snogging and a few books went flying off his shelf. "Oi!" Freddie shouted when they didn't bother fixing it. Furrowing his brows, Freddie cast a non-verbal spell that sent his wine cork flying at them. It hit the wall directly next to them and after a loud POP ricocheted off, narrowly missing  a glass vase on the bounceback. "Wot the bloody hell are you doin' over there?" He marched over to the kids. He remembered being one of them, once. He'd been that lad, trying to find a private place to fool around with his lady-friends.

"Listen, mates. I've got an empty bedroom upstairs, all you've gotta do is ask." He was being only somewhat serious, but it was probably pretty accusatory to say such things to young students. Freddie leant down and picked up the books they'd been reading. He didn't know where these books had come from,  he'd probably ordered them as a joke. He raised his eyebrows. He held up the books to the kids and gestured with them. "Just don't be messin' about in me shop!"

Jordyn wasn’t going to complain when Jai wrapped his arms around her and kissed her nose… then her lips.  She might have dropped the offending book in the meantime, but it hardly seemed to matter because he was kissing her again and Jordyn didn’t really know if she was a good kisser – but whatever either of them lacked in skill, they made up for in enthusiasm – as evidenced by the jostled bookshelf and the fallen novels.  “Oh!” she squeaked, grasping onto the front of his sweater, Jordyn looked down briefly, then back at Jai, surprised when he just indicated that she was cute.

She managed to giggle again before he kissed her (it was weird being so bubbly), then released hold of his sweater and was able to drag her hands upward, running her gloved hands through his hair, settling on resting on the back of his head.  She’d never snogged someone in a shop before, but she couldn’t help it.  It felt like the end of the year was coming so fast and she wanted to enjoy having a boyfriend at school as much as she could…

Maybe at some point, she would have mentioned something about how she couldn’t breathe or the way her heart was fluttering in her chest and made her warm all over (which could probably be taken another way), but as soon as she heard another voice, Jordyn felt an immediate strike of panic, cold and swift right through her.  Her skin stood up in gooseflesh and Jordyn choked, lips that were thoroughly kissed parted as she breathed heavily, feeling like she’d gotten caught with her hand in the cookie jar or something. 

While her eyes were still on what appeared to be the (very shabby) shopkeeper, Jordyn lowered her arms and immediately assumed the same body language she had when Professor Storm had caught them (why were they so bad at this?).  “I’m sorry,” she muttered, “we’re sorry,” a quick correction, and she looked to Jai, “We were… just going to buy…” her eyes searched the shelves quickly and she pulled something, “This!” 

She looked down at the title and could have died: The Longest Broom: Why Size doesn’t always matter.  Oh Godric. 

They were kissing and Jordyn had her hands in his hair and she was rubbing up against him and this was great and then all of a sudden -- "OI!" -- abruptly it was over. Jai still had a kissy-face on for a moment after they parted, he was so surprised. He blinked (a bit stupidly) and attempted to adapt to the situation at hand. The shopkeeper was here, and he wasn't pleased.

As Jordyn perpetually apologized to the man for them, Jai quickly bent down and placed the books on the shelves. But of course this is Jai Patil, obsessor of order, and so he had to put them back perfectly where they belonged. Unfortunately this drew his attention to the fact that there were many books out of order, and since his stress levels had just spiked during the interruption, he began rearranging them obsessively. He was like a machine, moving books around the shelves at full speed, seemingly ignorant of the fact that he was needed in the conversation.

The scene before him grew more and more bizarre, even by Freddie's standards. The short girl immediately began apologizing profusely while the guy looked pretty dumbfounded. Understandable, Freddie decided. He felt a touch guilty for intruding on their intimate moment.... but not that bad. Just as Freddie was about to insist that it was fine and then start asking invasive questions about their relationship (as he was known to do), the lad finally did something -- he put the books back on the bookshelf. Frederick was about to commend him when the boy kept going -- rearranging with the speed and and accuracy of a carefully-aimed hex.

Freddie couldn't do anything but stare, he was so surprised and intrigued. What in Merlin's beard could he be doing? He blinked at the kid -- Frederick Dodger was at a loss for words. Should he tell the kid to stop? In reality he was doing Freddie a favor. It looked like he was putting the books in some sort of order, which Freddie only barely did. The books went on the shelves, that was the important part.

He turned to the girl and in his comedically thick Cockney accent asked, "Wot's that about?" Freddie gestured with his thumb at the kid and then guzzled down wine straight from the bottle. It apparently didn't matter to him that it was the middle of the afternoon.

It was that moment in anyone’s life where they distinctly remembered why no one was ever supposed to even think “it couldn’t get worse.”  At that moment exactly it became obvious that it could definitely get worse.  The anxiety Jordyn felt must have been nothing compared to what Jai was feeling because she was about to hand him the book to put back… but he wasn’t paying attention at all. 

His eyes were trained on the bookshelf and it surprised her a little bit – so this is what it looked like for him?  She knew they had talked about their various problems before, but she supposed she hadn’t really understood.  If anything this moment was making clear to her, it was that she definitely didn’t understand what was going on with him.  Sure, she was mortified, her stomach was churning – but…

Glancing down at him again, hyperfocused on the shelf and then back to the store owner, Jordyn held the offending book (she wouldn’t give it to Jai at the moment) behind her back and wondered what she could do to help.  “He… um….” She bit her lip and tried to find the words.   It duding help that the rumpled looking individual took a very long guzzle from – was that a bottle of wine?!  In the middle of the day? 

Jordyn had always enjoyed this bookstore… but she’d never – she put her free hand to her forehead and shook her head.  Too much to deal with, she realized quickly.  “He really hates disorganization,” she simplified – it was Jai’s business, not this guy’s and Jordyn had to do something to help.

Crouching down, she touched his arm gently (not wanting to startle him).  “Jai?” she ran her fingers over his arm, “Are you okay?” She gently squeezed his elbow, hoping to drag his attention to her, maybe that would help a little bit? 

When Jordyn touched his arm, Jai snapped out of his whirlwind of organization and looked at her. He suddenly remembered the situation he was in and felt humiliated. This whole thing was turning into a disaster - and fast. Poor Jordyn... he was definitely embarrassing her even more than himself, and she was probably so freaked out. Jai hoped that she wasn't too mad at him; they'd discussed his problems before, but she'd never seen him fully in action. He looked over at the shopkeeper who looked rather mystified.

"I have..." Jai looked down at his toes and began to mumble. "I have this disorder. I can't help it sometimes." He sighed and kept his eyes on the ground. He was still thinking about the books but he was determined to stay focused on this situation. This was not the time to have an anxiety attack, it was time to take responsibility for his actions.

Jai looked up at the shopkeeper and said "I'm really sorry." He didn't know what else to say; Jai couldn't imagine what this man must be thinking. Once he was on the other side of an attack, he was able to reflect and see how petty all of his behavior had been. he didn't want to look at Jordyn, ashamed and worried that she was furious with him for making matters even worse.

Jordyn was surprised when Jai actually looked up at her.  He was sort of glassy looking at first, like he needed to blink and refocus.  There must have been some really crazy thoughts going through his head.  She felt bad – she hated freaking out about anything – she couldn’t imagine if she did something like that.  Not that she was embarrassed or anything! 

Rubbing her face as she stood up, Jordyn laced her fingers with his, wanting to get him to feel better.  “It’s okay,” she answered for the surly shopkeeper.  What he thought didn’t matter to some degree.  “You don’t need to apologize for something you can’t help,” she squeezed his hand with reassurance and then looked back to the dark haired individual who hadn’t left yet.  “I think we’re going to pick something different,” she smiled a little and put the book on the shelf, quickly pushing Jai away and down another set of rows.

She wanted to make sure he was okay – and that he wouldn’t feel worse.  She could just imagine what the man could say that would make him feel worse.  He didn’t exactly seem like the type who had unbounded compassion for people.  So, Jordyn didn’t even bother to keep them there. 

“Hey,” she finally smiled when they were alone.  “Are you okay?”

This whole scenario was, in its truest form, totally whack. As the couple dramatically interacted and the boy carried on with the shelving, Freddie looked on, his expression implying that he was rather bored. His pounding head reminded him that he had a hangover, and he swallowed down a bit more wine. The girl attempted to ease the situation admirably, and Freddie blinked as the boy tried his best not to look disoriented. He was not very convincing, was he?

Freddie wasn't judgmental of these kiddies -- he'd seen far stranger things in his years on the streets. Once he'd seen a man wearing an outfit made entirely of aluminum foil. A hyper-organized student wasn't the worst thing his eyes could lay eyes on. "S'all good, mates. Lemme know if ya need some..." He gave the tall kid another once-over and looked back at the girl. "...Privacy, or..." He was pretty flummoxed. "...A job application..." Hey, the kid was doing a good job with the books. Better than he did, and certainly better than his brother. Alfie didn't give a rat's arse about books, never mind their order. Freddie slunk back into the labyrinth of shelves with every intention of taking a nap.

Jai wasn't entirely present in the scene yet but he was still aware that he was royally screwing up. Jordyn held his hand and he knew it was sweaty, and he was embarrassed -- overwhelmingly embarrassed. Jordyn seemed to be taking care of the problem, and he felt so bad for having to make her do that.

"Hey... are you okay?"

Frustrated, Jai tried to form the right words, but the humiliation of it all was overpowering. His whole body felt hot and he mostly wanted to get out of this bookstore. He closed his eyes, wishing he was in bed under all of his covers instead of here. Anywhere but here would be good, actually.

He nodded instead of speaking, trying his best to gather his thoughts. He let out a deep breath, desperately trying to relax using the methods he'd learned from the school counselor. It was semi-working. His breaths were shallow and short, but eventually he was able to get a grip. He was still mortified, feeling guilty that he'd spazzed out like that. "I'm so sorry, Jordyn," he said seriously. He still wasn't quite looking her in the eyes, just kind of shaking his head in disbelief.

Jordyn felt so bad.  She didn’t even know where to start in trying to make him feel better about what happened.  She didn’t really care, after all, since it was just Jai and she wouldn’t want him to change anything about himself.  She just wished she could make him less embarrassed about something he couldn’t control (since the look on his face could only be read in that way). 

“Stop,” Jordyn said assertively.  She didn’t want him to be upset for something he couldn’t control – the storeowner wasn’t mad.  He said as much, and even offered him a job application.  She ducked her head (as though she needed to) and tried to catch his eyes with hers – she wasn’t going to let him avoid her gaze. 

Reaching up, Jordyn touched his cheek with her glove covered hand and she smiled softly at him.  “It’s okay,” she assured him, “trust me.”  Jordyn got on her tiptoes and gave him a sweet, chaste kiss.  “You don’t need to apologize to me,” she added as soon as she settled back down off her toes. 

“Do you want to go to?” she asked quietly, “We can get some butterbeers,” she smiled sweetly at him, “like the first time we talked? Or we can just go for a walk – it’s really nice out.  I don’t mind.”  She just wanted him to be happy, and as much as Jordyn wasn’t always seen as the nicest girl, or the most considerate one, but he looked so sad and embarrassed.  It pulled at her heart strings (she was surprised she actually had them).  She bit her lip and let her hand run down his arm.  “What do you think?”

This was really bad. Jai felt awful -- he knew that Jordyn loved books, and he'd wanted to do something fun for their date today. He thought she'd really enjoy this and that he would be able to handle it, but.... apparently not. In the moments before Jordyn peeked up at him and gave him a kiss he would have fully understood if she broke up with him there on the spot. In fact, he was pretty convinced that she wasn't even there anymore.

But instead she did something totally unexpected. She looked up at him (she was so much shorter than him!) and touched his cheek and told him it was okay. That he didn't even need to apologize. Frankly, Jai was floored. His shock was pretty clear in his eyes.

She asked him if he wanted to go, and that was exactly what he wanted to do, but at that moment he just wordlessly pulled her in and gave her a really long hug. He needed a second to recuperate and hugging her felt really good. "Thank you," he whispered finally.

Jordyn didn’t know why he looked so shocked at her.  It wasn’t like she suggested anything crazy.  She noticed there was a problem, she cared about the person there was a problem with, and she wanted to fix it.  Underneath all of the hard edges and dark clothing, Jordyn did care about people.  She cared about Jai a lot. 

There was a weird sort of discomfort she had in the fact that he did look at her like she was incapable of being empathetic.  She knew other people thought of her that way, but it seemed so different to know Jai did.  She didn’t say anything about it – this moment wasn’t about her.  She just let him wrap her in a hug while she took a step forward and rested her head against his chest. 

She leaned into him for several moments, sighing thoughtfully and drummed her fingers against his upper chest. “It’s what any good girlfriend would do,” she assured him before stepping back to look up at him.  “I am a good girlfriend, right?” she asked biting her lip.  They’d been dating for a little while… and well, he did seem surprised that she would be caring at all.  Maybe she wasn’t doing this right.  Jordyn mulled her jaw and let out a deep breath, waiting anxiously for his answer. 

Most of Jai's energy was focused on calming the hell down, but when Jordyn asked if she was a good girlfriend -- well, the inquiry came as such a surprise that he forgot for a moment that he was freaking out in the first place. Jai's chest fell down and he looked at Jordyn, mystified that she was so unsure.

Jai had dated other girls - nothing like this at all, but there'd been others. Barely able to be considered girlfriends, these girls had been into Jai's sheepish dorkiness because it was trendy to do so, but they couldn't tolerate his neuroticism and usually ended up breaking up with him. Of course this hadn't been too much of a loss for Jai, who was mostly just nervous that he'd make a fool of himself in front of them. He did his best to hide what he considered to be the worst parts of his personality because they just couldn't deal. Jordyn, though... she wasn't scared off. She was staying, and she'd seen parts of Jai he hated to reveal.

He felt guilty that she looked so nervous, waiting for an answer from him. He held her shoulders and looked her square in the eye, which he hadn't done since the shopkeeper had busted them. "You're perfect," Jai said earnestly. "You're an amazing girlfriend. More than I could have ever dreamed of." He wrapped her up in a hug again.

Sometimes Jordyn didn’t understand boys.  The way he looked at her when she suggested that they leave was almost the exact same way he looked at her when she asked if she was a good girlfriend.  It was a legitimate question.  Before Jai, the only boys who ever showed interest in her usually wanted something else from her – she had played the fake girlfriend more than once (and without her permission as well!).  So it wasn’t a far stretch to say she was anxious about his opinion.  She had trouble registering that sometimes it wasn’t some fake thing cooked up to attract the attention of someone else. 

But Jai looked so serious when he held her shoulders and looked her square in the eyes.   Jordyn swallowed hard, finding it difficult to accept a compliment even when it was being offered.  She slumped into the hug again and let her arms hang a little more loosely, trying not to let any of the previous tension really get to her. 

When she pulled back, Jordyn let out a deep breath and looked down before shaking her head.  “Enough of that,” she said bashfully and bit her lip before she took hold of his hand and tugged him softly toward the door of the shop.  “Let’s go,” she peered over her shoulder at him and smiled, “There are a couple of butterbeers waiting with our names on them.”