When he'd offered to help Candy with the heavy lifting part of moving, Declan hadn't had any ulterior motives, honestly. He was just trying to be a good friend. Because that was what he was, and all he was - Candice's friend. He'd accepted this.
Or at least, Declan had thought he'd accepted it. As he set the glass of water the blonde had so kindly provided for him on the counter and reached out to take her face in his hands, he thought that maybe he was going to have to reevaluate that assessment. You know, some other time, when he wasn't too busy leaning down to press his lips against Candy's.
His company had been welcomed- and he'd been a great help getting the furniture in without magic, and then helping her move it around with magic. She had just given him a glass of water, she turned from the freezer after putting the ice tray back, and her eyes flew wide open when he cupped her face in his hands. Candice's mind told her that this would be much more romantic if she closed her eyes and kissed him back properly. She'd thought about him snogging her over and over again since Hogwarts- but now that it was happening, she was... well... freaking out.
Candy let him kiss her. Why wouldn't she? He was very attractive, very nice, and currently he was the perfect specimen of every romance novel's sweaty, manly man. So yes- she did let him kiss her, for a moment or two at least, before quickly ducking out of his way, covering her blushing face with her hands. "Why would you do that?!" she half questioned and half screeched, peeking at him through her fingers.
Okay. Well. That hadn't gone so great. At first it had seemed like it was going to. She seemed fine enough with it. But then Candice was pulling away and hiding her face and almost yelling at him. Shit.
But really, why would she think he'd do that? Candy was beautiful and sweet and he'd had this dorky little crush on her for a long time. And now that Ward seemed to be out of the picture, Declan had thought maybe he'd actually had a shot. Articulating all this, however, turned out to be more difficult than feeling it.
"I...um..." Declan ran a hand through his hair and sighed, and hitched his shoulders in an embarrassed shrug. "I don't know. I just... wanted to?"
"I need to go to the bathroom," she told him- instead of addressing the situation anymore. She hurried through the kitchen to the small bathroom in the dining room. She shut the door behind her and leaned against it, squeezing her eyes shut. "Stupid Candice!" she scolded herself. "Stupid stupid stupid Candice! The first time a man has kissed you in four years and you ask him why." She stood over the sink, and stared at herself in the mirror. "What is wrong with you?" Candice let out a loud, disgruntled groan before turning on the cold water and splashing her still hot face with it.
"Declan Murphy finally kisses you after ten years and you ask him why and you run away." Candice turned off the water and patted her face with a wash cloth. "Real smooth, Stevenson. Real smooth." Maybe Kurby had a point. But that wasn't what she wanted to think about right now. Declan Murphy had just tried to kiss her (Candy would have expected this if she ever listened to Teagan) and she shouldn't be worried about what Kurby would think. She was mad at Kurby anyway! He was mean. And tried to sabotage all of her personal relationships.
Candy reached over to lock the door when she heard Declan's tentative footsteps outside of the bathroom. What if he opened the door and just did it again? Candy wasn't sure that she could handle that- she still hadn't processed the first time. A second time might make her explode!
Declan had kissed girls before. He wasn't exactly a Casanova - he would be the first person to admit that. But he'd kissed girls. In the past this had been met with varying degrees of success. Some had seemed to like it, others didn't, and one had gone so far as to slap him. But he'd never had a girl hide in the bathroom from him, at least not over a kiss. And that had to be a sign, right? A bad one.
He should have known better, honestly. He and Candy had known each other since their school days, and the time to make a move had probably passed about nine years ago. By this time, he had, no question, been relegated to the Friend Zone. And once you were in the Friend Zone? It was impossible to get out. Candice probably thought of him as more of a brother than anything else, no wonder she was repulsed. Godric, he was such an ass. He'd known this was a bad idea.
And he wasn't really sure what to do about it. Running away was very tempting, but that would make things absolutely, crushingly awkward the next time they ran into each other - and they would. Candice was Teagan's best friend, and Wizarding London was a pretty small world. Declan was going to have to deal with this and deal with it now, and hope that maybe she could be convinced to just forget about it, since the event had apparently been so traumatizing for her.
Shame faced and hesitant, he made his way over to the bathroom door. He shuffled his feet and awkwardly cleared his throat before gently, tentatively knocking on the door. "Candice? Look - I'm um, I'm sorry. Can we just... Can we talk about this?"
Candy stared at the door, unsure of what to do. She knew that Declan had no idea what was running through her mind, and figured he was freaking out. The voice outside of the door sounded hesitant. What was she going to do? Candy knew that if she didn't handle this correctly she'd ruin her chances. Declan wasn't the only one who had convinced themselves they were stuck in the friend-zone. It had just been shocking. All of the chances that Declan had in the past to do something about this, and he chose now? Not that she was complaining- Declan's kiss had not been unpleasant. Just... had taken her off guard.
But talking about this would be a level of awkward Candice wasn't sure that she could handle. Having to explain to Declan she had, indeed, had a crush on him since Hogwarts would be... weird. And it would embarrass her. She sighed, and looked at herself in the mirror again. Candice readjusted her sweater, gave herself a very resolute nod as well as a small pep talk before opening the door. She could do this- she would do this.
She looked at him for half a moment, took a deep breath, and stood up on her toes. Without giving herself much of a chance to chicken out, Candy smooched him.
Now it was Declan's turn to be surprised. When she'd opened the door, he'd been waiting for her to yell at him or, maybe, slap him after all. He even flinched, just a little, as she stood on her tiptoes and... kissed him? His eyebrows rose, but he wasn't about to question it. Instead, he reached out to hold her elbows, helping her balance, and kissed her back.
At least until his brain chipped in with the absolutely idiotic question, "So, wait - you really did just have to pee?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth he blushed, shaking his head at his own stupidity. "Wait. I mean - that's not what I meant. You really don't mind? When you ran out of the kitchen, I, you know, sort of thought you were mad at me or somethin'."
Candy leaned into him when he helped her balance- rather enjoying the moment. When he pulled away she sighed quietly, not opening her eyes until he asked her if she really had to pee. Candice opened one eye to look at him- wondering whether or not Declan was really ruining their moment (for a second time it was a ruined moment) by asking about her bladder. She opened her other eye, and shook her head. "No I didn't have to... uhm... do that." Candice wished it would have been that simple. But she wasn't sure that hinting that he had kissed the pee out of her would be flattering.
"And I wasn't mad. Just... surprised." She was bushing. Candice could feel how hot her face was, so she made sure to stare at the ground. At their shoes. At anything but Declan. "I mean- you just haven't... I mean I thought you didn't..." Words- they were not working for the witch at the moment, much to her dismay. She would much prefer for this to not be so awful. She twisted her hair around her finger, finally looking up at him. "So you... I'm not just your sister's friend?"
"Um. No." That wasn't exactly the most eloquent way to answer Candy's question, but Declan had never exactly been good with words. Especially when it came to the whole expressing-his-feelings thing. It was just... it was awkward, you know? Made him self-conscious. He had a tendency to trip over his words and put his foot in his mouth - like the bathroom comment.
But he figured Candy deserved more of an explanation than that 'um, no' was going to give her. "I just... I've liked you for a long time. I'm not really, you know..." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Good at this stuff. And I didn't think you were interested in me, like that. But then Ward came along and I thought I'd missed my chance entirely and when he screwed up I just thought... I had to tell you, before someone else came along, that I, you know... I think you're beautiful, and sweet, and an amazing cook," he leaned down to press his lips, briefly, to hers again, "and I just really like you. If that's okay with you."
"You were jealous?" she asked, with a slight grin. It shouldn't have made her happy to hear that, but it did. It was flattering. And he said he'd liked her for a long time, and he was worried he'd missed a chance- and he just wanted to do something, before someone else came along. Declan Murphy thought that someone else would come along and steal her away- that he would have competition. And then he said she was beautiful and sweet and a good cook and he kissed her again- and she liked that.
And yes- it was okay with her. "I think that would be... very nice," she said quietly, and then kissed him again. Kissing Declan Murphy was very nice. "Just promise me one thing?" Candy waited for him to nod. "Anything that Kurby Bagnold says, ignore it. He's stupid and he doesn't know what he is talking about."
[March 8th] So please give me a sec to catch my breath. (Declan Murphy)