Even the common room wasn’t safe to hide in since last night; by morning almost the entire school knew that she had been found in a closet with a half naked Devlin Matthews. She was not going to be able to live it down, thank goodness it was her last year of school with only a few months to go. The fact people thought she was dating Devlin did not please her but it was much better than the truth, she would be horrified if they knew she had been cheating on her homework. Nicola had to get an E in potions otherwise she wouldn’t be able to the get the job she desired, she was just barely scrapping through with the E and the essay could seriously alter that.

The common room, even though it was not safe a few snickers were better than the library or the great hall on this Friday night. She was sure if she was anywhere that more than just a few Slytherins could snicker at her she would not focus on her homework. Nicola was reading through the essay she had finished hoping it was up to par for an E at least. Feeling satisfied she rolled it back up and placed it in her bag that sat on the ground. Pulling out a textbook for Charms class she started to do a bit of studying. What else could she do? She had to keep herself busy otherwise she was bound to see people making kissy faces at her or laughing.

Nicola had yet to go see Kyle after that stupid incident, she worried about the state of him now. She had to explain what really happened, but in the simplest way possible perhaps leaving out the buying of homework off of Devlin. She had to ensure him that nothing happened in the closet with Devlin and that something resulted in him having to remove his shirt and pants, and her own shirt. Like she could come up with anything remotely believable. Nicola couldn’t focus on her own textbook.

The usual doing nothing was really caching up on Gavin. He had a million things to do and he totally forgot about the three essays he had to finish next week. Shifting in his bed, he felt rather uncomfortable. His back was aching from all the books he carried from the library, how nerdy, and he felt like he had a cold coming on. His hair a mess, still wearing the pajamas he put on 10 minutes ago, Gavin decided to head down to the common room to find an empty desk to work at. Anything would be better than laying in bed for the essays.

Sitting up, Gavin gathered all the things he needed. He brought two quills just in case with some ink and brought three books down. One for each essay. He did hear the rumor that was going on with Nicola and his friend Dev but he didn't care. If she wanted to have other guys then more power to her. Besides, he had other girls to be with. He didn't want to fight for Nicola, what was the point? Being in a closet with his best friend and having the obsessed Kyle always watching Nicola was too much. Maybe that girl Fauna would be a bit fun to be with.

Down the stairs, Gavin spotted Nicola. He smiled; she had that affect on him, and set his stuff on an empty desk. "You look happy." Gavin told her. It was not entirety true. She kind of looked bummed. Maybe a kiss would cheer her up. If Gavin wanted to get his homework done he was going to have to start now and work in the great hall during meals if he was also going to keep up with his other homework.

Nicola heard a familiar voice that dragged her from her book, if he was going to make fun of her then he was going to get a piece of her mind. She closed her book and weakly smiled at him. “I have been better,” she curled some hair behind her ear as she pulled one leg up onto her chair and rested her chin on her knee. With her book on the desk she traced her fingers over the letters that made up the title of her charms book. “I am sure you know why,” she didn’t sound happy and her voice was rather quiet.

Looking over at the desk he put his things on. “I suppose you are going to do some homework?” She asked as she started drawing shapes on her knee on the fabric of her sweat pants with her finger. Nicola wasn’t sure why the fact Gavin knowing about what happened made her feel so bothered. She was not an idiot and she knew that when Gavin kissed her before it was nothing more than a reason to get Kyle more agitated but she still thought about.

“What classes are you working on?” Nicola asked curiously, she looked at him curious if he would make any remarks on the rumours floating around. Did he even care? She couldn’t believe that she had ended up in a closet with Devlin and that things just from bad to worse.

Watching Nicola trace images on her leg, Gavin decided to sit next to her. She looked very beautiful today but he didn't dare say anything. In fact, he did care about Nicola a bit. She should feel special; he never liked a girl as much as he liked her. He usually played games with them for fun or for bets but he didn't want to start getting attached to a girl who was playing around with other boys already. He had no idea what kind of relationship he was in with Nicola and deciding to bring up the subject about the other day wasn't a wise decision.

"I guess I should start on some homework." Gavin laughed. He hated doing homework. If he enjoyed it maybe he would get better grades. He wasn't saying his grades were bad, in fact they were wonderful, but he didn't like to show how much he actually cared. Gavin had no idea what he wanted to do when he got older, maybe open his own pub or work for the bank. He always enjoyed working with coins. He looked at Nicola and put his arm around her trying to comfort her. It was a funny attempt to comfort her if you were watching them from across the room. He looked like one of those guys trying to slowly put his arm around her without her noticing.

"Hmmm Classes?" Gavin repeated. "I'm working on Potions, History of magic, and Divination. Fun right?" Gavin scratched his head.  This conversation wasn't going the way he had planned.

Nicola just assumed they were going to sit near each other and work on homework, but as she felt his arm move around her she couldn’t help but just move closer and let her head rest on his shoulder. It was strangely comforting, despite the fact she knew it would start yet another round of rumours since she was now ‘snuggling up to’ Gavin when she was supposedly dating Devlin. Right now she didn’t care it was just a bit of a comfort for the moment.

“It doesn’t sound fun to me,” she looked up at him. “Oddly enough I struggle with potions.” A weak laugh left her lips but the laughter didn’t show on her troubled features. Nicola was not enjoying the small talk though, she was curious what he knew of the rumour and if he believed it. Nicola felt uncomfortable with how much it bothered her to know his opinion; Nicola was never one to let something like an opinion bother her usually.

Nicola looked up at him, “So how is the leg?” She still felt bad that she had been the reason that duel even started. Nicola knew that Kyle was protective but still he didn’t have to go off on Gavin because she was with him. “I am sorry about that whole thing.”

"Potions is a weak subject for me as well." he said. Gavin never really enjoyed potions as much as other kids his age. He wasn't a very patient guy when it came down to Potions and some of the things he had to brew were annoying. For one it took forever and two it never came out right. Doing an essay was worse than actually completing a potion. He rolled his eyes and closed them, he hated school.

Gavin let out at laugh. "My leg is fine actually. Fauna's rats actually bit me a couple of time on the same leg but it healed fast. You know, doing magic helps healing things too." He didn't want her to feel guilty about everything that had happened. It was too much to put on one single person and Gavin had to admit, he was egging on Kyle since he first saw him.

"Don't worry about it okay," He said pinching her cheek like she was a baby. He was expecting to get slapped but he didn't care.

Well if she wasn't going to bring up the subject than someone was going to. "Well I see you had fun yesterday." Winked Gavin.

Nicola just nodded her head, at least someone could feel her pain. Most of the kids in Slytherin liked potions or so it seemed to her. Nicola just hated it; she did not the aptitude of skill the class required. Nicola just worked hard on it and was just scrapping by with the required grade.

“Fauna’s rat bit it?” Nicola was not squeamish about rodents or bugs, but being bit by a rat whether it was a pet or not did not sit well with her. “That girl is strange,” Nicola said to nobody in particular it was just an observation that one couldn’t help but make. “I still feel bad about you leg, but I am glad it is better.” Nicola knew it wasn’t all her fault, well really not her fault at all because Gavin was the one that dragged her up there.

Feeling his fingers pinch her cheek she looked at him and pushed him a bit. “Seriously don’t do that,” she hated it when her grandparents did and therefore she hated it when anyone did it. She looked at her playing with the edge of the cover as he had to bring up yesterday. “Guh not you too.” Nicola groaned as she looked at him. “You know it isn’t funny.”

“Nothing happened, it was definitely not what people are saying or what it looked like.” How was she going to make anyone believe that without telling the truth? “I wasn’t doing anything with Devlin and I am not dating him.” Nicola was sure she was sounding overly defensive but she was annoyed that the entire situation had happened.

Gavin wasn't sure how his perspective on Fauna was anymore. She did seem weird though, like Nicola mentioned which everyone knew, but she also had this sweet side. He still felt bad for forgetting her name and therefore he would make it up to her some way or another. He chuckled to himself; it gave him the idea of Kyle always seeing Gavin with girls. How ironic.

"I guess she is a bit odd." Gavin trailed off. He didn't really like gossiping about people, unless it was Gibson. But other than that he didn't really care for the thing. He knew she was just relating something to Fauna, which he liked because Nicola didn't go into detail, but he left the subject at that.

Finally, she was going to talk about that little thing that happened between her and Dev. He thought it was hilarious. "Yeah I heard about it. Dev told me about it and man he said you were a good kisser. Why didn't you tell me you had a thing for him?" He wasn’t going to let her get away with it. He just couldn't help but make fun of her.

The common room seemed to have a relaxing mood. The two of them were alone, which was strange, and they both had a lot of work to do but both didn't even bother to do it. He didn't want to admit it but he liked talking to Nicola. Hell it was a lot better than doing Potions. "And I heard Dev, Gibson, and you were all in a closet together. You should have invited me."

“I don’t have a thing for him!” Nicola said gruffly and looked at Gavin. Why were boys so annoying? “I don’t have a thing for Dev at all.” She looked around the common room briefly to see that they were all alone. Well at least she could have this conversation without other people bothering them. Her focus was back on Gavin and she rolled her eyes. “I think you would know more about whether I could kiss or not rather than he.”

“Oh right cause a lot of good it would have done to invite you into a closet, Kyle would have been worse off than a broken nose with you and Dev.” Nicola grumbled as she looked at him it annoyed her how much this seemed to amuse Gavin. “We weren’t doing anything in the damned closet.”

Nicola racked her fingers through her hair as she looked down at the ground. “You are enjoying this far to much you know that, and I don’t find it very funny.”

Nicola was talking way too much. He didn't understand women and all their hormones and for that reason he didn't get into relationships. All they did was whine and complain, whine and complain. He was so happy he wasn't a girl because then he wouldn't have to look so stupid every time they got into one of their little attacks. Nicola wasn't that bad but she seemed to break down with all these rumors going on.

For some reason, Gavin felt bad that this happened to her. If it bothered her so much. He wasn't going to mention it to her anymore. "Woah woah. You talk too much Nicola." Gavin said and he grabbed her face and kissed her. Maybe that would shut her up and calm her nerves. Gavin had that amazing affect on people. He could make everything go away.

"Now, can you relax a bit? No one saw me kissing you so don't start having a heart attack. We are all alone now but I guess you just cheated on your boyfriend. But I thought you were my girlfriend before you kissed Dev. So now you cheated on me with Dev and then you cheated on Dev with me. Man Nicola you're on a role." Gavin laughed and pretended to wipe his forehead with his back sleeve.

“I am,” she was about to say something when she was completely cut off by a kiss. As his lips broke from his she gasped a little. Nicola was a little shell-shocked as she looked at him, why did he keep doing that? Nicola understood the kisses from before because they were just to piss Kyle off but now she was confused as to why he was kissing her.

“He isn’t my boyfriend, for Merlin’s sake.” Nicola looked at him frustrated, “And I wasn’t your girlfriend to begin with either.” Nicola rolled her eyes. “You are finding far to much amusement out of this.” Nicola was a not as annoyed as she was before because her mind was half on the kiss and half on what he was saying.

“You know you are so frustrating.” Nicola couldn’t quite figure out why Gavin was getting under her skin so much. “Why do you keep kissing me?” Nicola didn’t wait for an answer though and kissed him. Yup it was official Gavin was a good kisser and Nicola liked kissing him. Nicola pulled away from Gavin a little shocked she had actually kissed him.

"Well of course he isn't your boyfriend, I'm your boyfriend." he said. Joking with Nicola was easy, she didn't get so touchy all the time and she seemed to enjoy herself as much as Gavin was. She wasn't all into the "Let's talk about our feelings" kind of nonsense. He hated when chicks did that. Moving in a little closer he couldn't help but laugh at her face after he kissed her. She still held that expression.

“Why do you keep kissing me?”

What kind of question was that... Gavin thought Nicola liked him or at least that was the vibes he was getting from her. He didn't know how to answer the question and luckily for him Nicola kissed him right back. The kisses that they shared together were rather cute. It wasn't those long romantic type ones; it was like the three year old kisses were when they tried to show affection to someone.

When she pulled away from the kiss he was a bit disappointed. Gavin did not want to stop kissing her but he had to because then it would just be uncivilized. Besides, they just started going out. "Nicola, Buy me a drink first. I'm not ready to kiss someone who I hardly know." he laughed jokingly.

"So you asked before why I keep kissing you? Well what do you think?" One of the traits of Gavin was that he never shared his true feelings. He was usually rather shy and sometimes funny with all his nasty and rude remarks, which he didn't intend for them to be funny but all the same, he hated to show any emotion that actually described him and would rather avoid personal conversations

Nicola couldn’t quite read Gavin as best as she would like; sometimes he could be so sweet and others a complete arse. Nicola half expected Gavin to turn into an arse during any nice moments he might have, but it was better than any touch feel emotional situations. Emotions and touchy feel were not exactly what Nicola was comfortable with. “Your girlfriend really?” Her tone rather sarcastic Nicola was not going to admit to herself that she somewhat liked the sound of it. Hormones and crushes were such a right mess and far to confusing.

The kiss felt silly to Nicola like it was immature and awkward. The first kiss she had ever initiated herself and she felt like she had mucked it up and like she was some little kid. Of course he had to speak up and joke around, “Oh shut up,” she had to laugh though because it was a bit amusing.

"So you asked before why I keep kissing you? Well what do you think?"

That was a hard question though what was she supposed to say to that without sounding stupid or conceited. “Honestly I don’t know why. I figured the first time it was to egg Kyle on, and I am sure it was part of it.” She sounded a bit unsure of her words, which was not exactly normal for her and she was definitely regretting asking the question as it was heading it to area of potentially emotional.

Honestly I don’t know why. I figured the first time it was to egg Kyle on, and I am sure it was part of it.”

Gavin laughed awkwardly. "If that's what you think then it's true." The kiss was half and half. He did want to kiss Nicola but he didn't want to do it so soon. He loved to tease Kyle, who wouldn't with the temper he had, but that still wouldn't make Gavin kiss a girl. Some girls were just ugly at Hogwarts, like the witches from the scary stories, and he didn't dare come in a 1 mile radius of them. Those were the ones that would get attached to anyone. Gavin did not like attachment. It only made people weak.

Sifting in his seat, he brought his fact right in front of Nicola. Gavin never felt uncomfortable with these sorts of positions but Nicola would probably be. He loved to make her nervous. "I guess you’re not worthy to be my girlfriend." joked Gavin. "I mean common I'm Gavin Snark. No girl can keep up with me." Half smiling he pushed Nicola, lightly, and then he sat up straight trying to make himself look superior.

He didn't know what to really say about Nicola. She wasn't a bad kisser and he heard a rumor that he took her first kiss -- which was always a wonderful thing to know. Like any guy he counted how many first kisses he took and with hers, he had no idea how many. He lost count.

“That is what I think,” Nicola felt like she was just saying that to make herself believe it. She would like to believe it was less to do with Kyle but she just felt like that couldn’t be true. Always the friend, or at least that was what Nicola thought. She was enjoying the attention though it was a bit of a ego boost.

Nicola leaned back just a bit as Gavin moved closer trying to keep the uncomfortable feeling she felt out of her features. He made her nervous when he was this close as this was territory she had never experienced before. “What you breaking up with me before you even ask me out?” A forced laugh left her and she sounded very uncomfortable. She moved a little as a reaction to the push and rolled her eyes. “You aren’t as great as you think. I am sure I could keep up with you.”

He seemed to be enjoying this, he always seemed to enjoy himself around her so that had to mean something right? Nicola shifted in her seat dropping both legs to the floor and opening her book on the desk. She played with the pages of the text as she attempted to look like she was reading but in the end she just looked back at Gavin.