I'm a peach?  Aurora furrowed her eyebrows at the comment, wondering what he meant by that.  Crab-apple?  What is that supposed to mean?

Aurora quirked her eyebrow as he talked about Vulpes.  He is a bit odd, but he's my kind of odd. she thought idly with a soft smile, looking at Huxley curiously.  I should talk to Vulpes about Huxley.  I wonder what he's really like. she noted, but then mentally slapped herself for wanting to know more about Huxley.  Since when do I care about what someone is like?  I never talk about other people with other people, that's gossiping.  What's wrong with me?

"How dare you, ma'am," he said with mock offense. "I am first and foremost a gentleman."  Aurora shook the unwelcome thoughts away and turned her body towards him.

"Yes, you are.  You offered me fruit and a place to sit, which is very polite." she agreed evenly, auburn eyes searching his light blue ones.  "I'm an artist, so I know what it looks like to critique new works.  I'm not saying you're being critical, of course.  But you are watching me like you're wanting to know how I work, what makes me tick." she added with the same indifference.  "Which is only natural, of course: I do the same thing.  But Vulpes talked to me because he was genuinely concerned," she shrugged and rubbed her bare arms, looking out into the distance.

Huck leaned forward quickly. "No way! You do art? I do art. ...I mean, sometimes, anyway," he added, actually a little self-conscious. "I'm not... very good at it, but... what kind of thing do you do?"

Like many teenagers, Huck was concerned with the not-actually-very-relevant concepts of "realness" and "fakeness", and her comment actually wounded his self-image. "Hey," he said, his voice taking on a more serious tone that he rarely broke out. It was a little rusty. "What makes you think I'm not being genuine? I'm having fun here, aren't you? I mean, do you think I waste my time with people I don't wanna talk to? Because I don't."

In total bare honesty he wasn't sure why she didn't consider his company the privilege it was.

He wondered idly whether people thought his behavior was contrived. He certainly chose his words carefully and had a specific intention for each inflection in his voice, but he rarely set out on a mission to use and abuse people. It just seemed to turn out that way a good deal of the time.

"What makes Vulpes Connor more genuine than me?" he asked, his frustrating grin back in full force. "Is it the hair? Tell me if it's the hair. 'Cause I can do something about mine, if you want." He held up a short, stubby lock of his dirty blonde hair and motioned to it like a supermodel demonstrating what fabulous prize the contestant could win if the price was right.

Aurora cocked her head at him curiously, wondering what kind of art he did.  Looking at him, she couldn't really see him being an artist as well.  This sort of thing rarely happened to Aurora: observing people and picking out what they were all about was one thing she was talented at.  It made monitoring others intentions that much easier.  Huxley was another matter--she realized--something not to be taken so lightly.

Am I having fun? she asked herself seriously as Huxley brought it up.  Well, I'm not bored... she thought, wondering whether or not she stayed here to be polite or she was genuinely enjoying his company.

He asked what made Vulpes more genuine than him and started talking about his hair, which made Aurora want to laugh.  Biting her bottom lip to keep the laughter at bay, she looked away and took several breaths.  "I think your cockiness is going to get you into trouble one of these days," she said in amusement more to herself, a quirk of a smile forming at the corners of her mouth.

"Before I bumped into you, I was actually sketching something at my spot by the lake." she said lightly and cocked her head at him.  "I didn't peg you for the artsy type." she said with glittering eyes of admiration.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time. ...Or the last, I'm sure. It is my gift and my curse, I'm afraid. I'm a bit like Spiderman that way," he replied, leaning back again and pretending to be very impressed with himself- which he was, of course, but no one needed to know that.  Her little smile was gratifying to him. He loved forcing people out of their comfort zones and out of their little shells. It's a talent that comes easily to two types of people- quirky, carpe diem, free spirit girls and handsome, cocky, sickeningly charming gits like Huck.

"Well let that teach you a lesson, then," he grinned. "I am impossible to be figured out. Like a cheap parlor trick. ...Er, scratch that," he shook his head. "Well, out with it. C'mon. Let's see it," he said, motioning to her sketchbook imploringly.

Aurora fought to roll her eyes at his ever-growing cockiness.  Just take the somewhat compliment, for Maker's sake.  Aurora had never dealt with someone like Huxley before, and she hated to admit it, but he was starting to get on her nerves: which was a very difficult feat.  Looking away, hoping to hide the increasingly-difficult-to-prevent scowl, a soft breeze ruffled her hair in every direction so that her lavender-scented shampoo wafted to her nose.  She inhaled deeply, reveling in the familiarity of her mother's signature flower, relaxing her.

That was broken by Huxley's sudden request.  Show my sketchbook?  To him? she thought, surprised.  Aurora never showed her art to anyone; not even Eric.  She looked down and noticed her bag was gaping open, revealing her sketchbook and light brown buckle boots.  Mentally kicking herself for not noticing before, she sighed and looked up at Huxley curiously.  "I'm not really the type to show my work to anyone," she said, hoping to derail him from his motives.

Huck smiled, more warmly than anything else, and shook his head with a twinkle in his eye. "No, me neither," he replied. "Not 'til it's finished, anyway. Nothing worse than the feeling of someone judging you on something half-finished."

He remembered with annoyance every instance of someone rubbernecking over his shoulder to watch what he was doing. With someone watching, every move he made seemed to be glaringly wrong and he was sure it was very obvious to everyone. If he could have, honestly, he would have built a secret cave to work in and only brought his pieces out when he was totally satisfied with them.

He felt bad for asking. "I'm sorry," he said, putting on his best apology face. "Can I buy your forgiveness with the best strawberry in the bag?"

Aurora's mouth twitched at his admission.  We have something in common, at least. she thought as a smile threatened to grace her lips.  It always made her uneasy when Eric or other students would come up to her as she was sketching.  She would always close it back up and wait for them to get bored and leave, or become ill at ease under her steady stare.  Aurora half-smiled at his apology, looking away idly.

"Can I buy your forgiveness with the best strawberry in the bag?" he asked, making her look sideways at him as if to say You think I can be bought off by tangy fruit?.

Instead, she licked her lips lightly and sighed sadly.  "You don't have to apologize, you didn't know." she said politely as her eyes glittered.  "But I wouldn't say no to another strawberry," she said lightly with a quirk of a smile.

"Well sure I did," he shrugged. "I mean... I should have known better. I wouldn't want people to ask me."

He squirmed a little. Being sincere was only easy for him with people he knew very well. As far as might-as-well-be-strangers and sincerity... well, needless to say, he wasn't a fan of it. Which would explain why, following a bizarre burst of honest sentiment, he would lapse harder back into his annoying self. "So why Gryffindor?" he asked, looking up mischievously. "You seem like more of a Ravenclaw to me... nose in a book, out alone on the lawn...? Aren't Gryffindors usually more... social?"

There were only two strawberries left; he picked out the dinky, greenish one and handed the last plump red one, still in the bag, to Aurora.

Aurora watched him as he admitted the error of his ways in suspicion.  He doesn't seem like the type to do that sort of thing to people he just met. she thought idly, but then sighed in disappointment when he reverted back to his old cockiness.  What does he mean, 'Why Gryffindor'? she asked curiously.

"My nose isn't always in a book, it's always adjacent to my sketchbook." she corrected lightly, face remaining blank.  "Yes, I am not a social person.  But aren't the quiet ones always the ones to watch out for?  You never know what's really going on with them; what they're planning, what they're capable of..." she trailed of mysteriously and smirked, grabbing the last strawberry.  "I'll have you know that in the face of danger, I will not let hell or high water stop me from protecting those I love.  I'll throw myself amidst a fire to keep them safe." she looked away and thought about Eric.  "Isn't that what Gryffindor stands for?" she asked rhetorically and took a bite out of the strawberry.

He folded his arms and squinted, grinning. She certainly wasn't what he had expected when he had goaded her into coming to join him; in fact, almost everything she said took him by surprise. And that was rare- Huck considered himself a pretty good judge of the human condition, and being thrown off track more than once by a person was unsettling for him. Unsettling in a kind of way that he found interesting, though.

"I guess so," he shrugged. "I don't really hang out with too many Gryffindors. It's a pleasant change of pace though, just so you know."

Huck pretended to be looking up at the sky, at the encroaching night, but he couldn't have cared less about the sky and thought it was dumb when people did, honestly. "So, what about Headphones McGee?" he asked with a little smirk. "Would you throw yourself on a fire to keep him safe?"

He actually was very interested in her response. In a flighty, heart-beating-faster-than-usual way.

Aurora studied him momentarily, trying to see the person behind the facade.  He truly was an interesting specimen for Aurora.  There was something about him that she couldn't quite figure out, and it was starting to seep its way to the forefront of her mind.  Why do I care? she wondered nervously, biting her bottom lip.

Aurora snorted at the term: "Headphones McGee" but looked at Huxley thoughtfully when he asked her if she'd throw herself in a fire for him.  She smiled lightly and nodded.  "Yes, yes I would." she said softly.  "He's my first and only friend," she said, shrugging.  "And he's amazing." she added, looking up at the sky like Huxley had.  The sky really was so beautiful, she noted.  More beautiful than usual, for some reason.  She leaned back against the stone wall comfortably and couldn't help a soft smile from gracing her lips.

"Wait a minute," he said, putting one hand over his heart. "Does that mean I'm not your friend?" he asked, his voice teasing. "You've just been using me for my dazzling conversational skills and my health-conscious snacks, haven't you?"

He kept a mental checklist of things to do, and updated it then with the pretext of taking an extra-long chug from his water bottle.

Number eleven: Hunt down Headphones McGee. Take his headphones, and beat his face with them.

The first ten mostly had to do with doing his laundry, getting a haircut, and getting his summer plans finalized with friends. It was an unexpectedly dark turn for his little list to take, certainly.

He finished his sip with a totally unchanged expression, looked at the bottle, and then back to Aurora. "Thirsty?" he held it up. "I never backwash. I promise." He winked.

Aurora looked at him in the corners of her eyes and pursed her lips lightly.  A string of unusual retorts came to mind, but she didn't want to humour him.  Instead, she finished the rest of the strawberry and licked her lips in satisfaction.  "I came over to be polite.  I ate the strawberries because they're tasty... and to be polite." she said simply and looked at the offering of bottled water.

I -am- kind of thirsty, she thought idly, but then thought better of it.  "No thank you," she said softly and looked back up at the sky.

"I think you'd like... Headphones McGee," she said lightly with a smirk.  "Eventually," she added and smacked her lips together.  "As for being your friend," she started a little more seriously, "I don't know if you'd be up to it."

"Suit yourself, darling," he shrugged, taking another long sip of water. "Sorry. I know this makes me look like a hamster," he laughed a little. It was actually a fairly big social phobia of his. In tilting any beverage up, he was terribly paranoid that everyone would think he looked like a hamster sucking at a hanging water bottle on the side of its cage. Even thinking his hardest, Huck couldn't remember when or why this had started. And despite the fact that no one had ever brought it up to him (and the rational part of his brain thought that no one had ever in fact thought that) he refused to tilt any drink past an angle of about thirty degrees. If the rest of the drink was impossible to access, so be it.

Huck cocked an eyebrow at her. "Me? And the amazing technicolor hairpiece?" He looked away from her, laughing a bit and shaking his head. "Ohhhh God, what you don't know could fill a book," he said not unkindly. "Look, I don't have an issue with the guy. But he's not exactly... my type?"

"I'm not up to it?" he asked in half-feigned half-real shock. "Up to what? I dunno if you know this but you are talking to a gent who can run a 5k in seventeen minutes. I'm pretty sure I can handle friendship and magic and all that My Little Pony rubbish."

Aurora tried so hard the past few minutes not to laugh, but this really pushed her over the edge.  Mentioning looking like a hamster, calling Vulpes the 'amazing technicolor hairpiece' and him saying he's not his type had her pursing her lips together as if water was about to pour out.  She tried calming herself to keep the humour in it all insignificant, but as soon as the 'My Little Pony' part came up, Aurora burst out laughing like she only did with Vulpes or Eric.

She didn't hide her face like most girls did as they laughed, or hunch over.  Instead, she leaned her head back and let all the laughs out, unashamed.  Nothing coherent ran through her mind at that point; because she was so wrapped up in the humour, it didn't matter.  She didn't care that she broke her composure with Huxley or that she was making a spectacle of herself.  Tears started forming and Aurora's laughter finally died down.  After a moment of calming down, she looked at him: eyes alive like never before, and a permanent smile etched across her face.

"Trust me, Huxley, there are things you don't know that could fill a book." she said breathlessly and shook her head.  "Friendship isn't something that ever came easy to me, and it's a big deal.  I don't want to call just anyone a friend.  Vulpes's my friend because he helped me out, unconditionally, even though I didn't ask for it.  There was no ulterior motives or joking around.  I could tell he was sincere.  With you, I don't understand.  I'm usually good at knowing others intentions, but you're like... I don't know," she trailed off and looked away, mood turning serious.