“You have pretty eyes.” The far from sober witch told the wizard in the booth with her. Her accent was heavy through alcohol, the Norwegian stronger after a few too many cocktails. One such cocktail was clutched in her left hand as she lifted to her lips, dark eyes still carefully watching her ex-boyfriend and current annoyance.

They’d been out for the evening with old schoolmates. Maya had known JJ would be there but it hadn’t put her off, they would need to get over each other’s company. They worked on the same floor at work, they’d known the same people at school. They couldn’t escape each other.
Now, throughout the evening, the couple had barely said a word to one another. Maya had been too busy enjoying some freedom from being a single mother. She’d dressed up in a short black dress, her colourful dragon tattoo on display on her right forearm. she’d put on makeup, brushed and styled her hair. For once, Maya didn’t feel like a mum, she felt like a normal witch with normal friends and a normal life.

Perhaps that was why she’d had so many drinks. She couldn’t handle them, never had been able to. But she’d been enjoying herself.

And now, somehow, she’d ended up in a booth with JJ and they were sat rather close.

He was handsome; he had been at school. But he’d been an idiot at school. Now he had the job she’d always wanted.

Maya didn’t think much about her action when she leaned in towards him. Her cocktail was placed on the table next to them, her hand placed on his thigh as she went to kiss him.

It was nice to be out with  Maya and some friends without it being weird or awkward. JJ had a tendency to say and do the absolutely worst things possible in any given situation. While he had a couple vodka sodas, he was far from drunk. In fact, he had been very careful to not get drunk tonight. After blacking out the night of Adon beig attacked by dementors, JJ became cautious. Responsible. Or well, more responsible than he usually was.

At least this meant that his wand would not be confiscated by the bartender, and he wouldn't end up waking up friends at 4 AM to be let in.

Maya had never been able to handle her liquor,  but she tried. JJ kept an eye on her so that she wouldn't make any decisions she would later regret, and no way was he going to let some jerk take advantage of her.

They were having a nice conversation, laughing and generally getting along when she-- fuck. Was she leaning in for a kiss?

His dark eyes widened and he caught her face between his hands, squishing her cheeks almost comically. "Uhhh!" JJ blinked, stammering a bit as he continued.  "Maya. I mean, this is nice and all but.... You're... Not sober. And I'm close to sober. So how about no."

He grabbed her face. Instead of accepting the kiss like any self-respecting twenty something, JJ actually grabbed her face and kept her back. Maya swiped and batted his hands away, now staring at the wizard with a frown. Since when did JJ turn down a kiss? Since when had he become so choosy? Who cared if she’d had a few cocktails and he hadn’t? They’d kissed before. A lot!

“Merlin, JJ, it’s just a kiss.” She rolled her eyes, sitting back against the seat. Perhaps this was why she’d dumped him in the first place. She wasn’t looking for some chivalrous guy, she wanted to bad guy. That had, unfortunately, landed her as a single mother with an absent father.

With mild irritation now evident on her features, Maya pulled her hand off his thigh and waved it at his glass.
“Have another drink and stop being a bore.”

Instead of being appreciative of him being a decent human being with a modicum of good morals, she thought he was boring. He'd rather be a boring guy than an exciting one who took advantage of people who weren't sober. It didn't matter that it was 'just a kiss.' If she was sober, it probably would have meant more than 'just a kiss.'

He looked at his empty glass, and then back at Maya. This. This is what he meant by her being a mean child of Satan. This is what he was talking about when he had called her 'emotionally defective' a couple months ago.

"I'm not going to drink and be dumb like you!" JJ snapped, picking up his glass of water and taking an angry gulp. "Merlin forbid that I want to remember tonight."

“You think I’m dumb?” Maya asked as JJ tried to prove a point by having a sip of his water. “I’ve not drunk that much that I won’t remember tonight, JJ.” Not that he would believe her. She was still convinced that he really was bitter from her dumping him for Bug after Hogwarts. That had been a mistake; not that she’d tell JJ. Perhaps not at least after this few cocktails.

But he thought she was emotionally defective and mean. They’d barely spoken at work since that discussion. She’d actively avoided him until this evening when her guard had been lowered.

“So now I guess we can add ‘dumb’ to the list of ways to describe me. Not only am I the mean and emotionally defective spawn of Satan, I’m also pretty thick.” Her voice was quiet so as not to alert the people in their vicinity, but she looked visibly hurt, irritated. “Perhaps you need to look at yourself.”

She started to move towards the edge of the booth chair to leave.

Ugh. He was so tired of this constant back and forth with Maya. Everything was always a fight with her eventually.

"You don't have inhibitions right now. Excuse me for being decent and not taking advantage of you!" JJ crossed his arms over his chest. "And you're not stupid all the time, just when you drink." He tried to crack a smile, "Besides, if you were sober you'd have better judgement and you wouldn't try to kiss me in the first place."

So what if he insulted himself? He was allowed some self-deprecating humor. "If you want to go, then go. I'm not going to stop you. But I'm not going to make out with a sloppy drunk." Another joke, though an ill-advised one.