Birthday wishes [Zander]

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@zander

It was Zander's birthday.

She hadn't told him she remembered. He'd mentioned it in passing when he'd told her about the lunch he would have with his brothers. He'd said that him and his brothers all had birthdays in March. That information was quickly followed by the dates. So now, today was March 6th, the day Zander had so casually mentioned as the date of his own birth.

Braelynn didn't know what possessed her. To think she could.... plan something for him. It was silly, and childish and... oh he wasn't going to like it at all! What she wouldn't give to talk to her mother right now. To at least get some advice on what was, or wasn't a good idea. Her mother was an excellent planner and organizer, a true socialite. At first, Braelynn had tried to put something grand and elaborate together. She'd planned for hours in the library. The key word was 'tried'. Either nothing came to mind, or it was of a scale she couldn't possibly manage. To make matters even worse, she'd already asked Zander to meet her at a secluded spot by the pond. 

So here she was. No plans. Having lost all hope of being able to put together a decent.... party wasn't the right word but it was the closest she could think of. So, she'd gone down to the kitchens and begged the House elves to put together a picnic basket for her. When they asked what of, she'd drawn a complete blank, and stared at them like a confused and star struck girl. They understood quite clearly at that point what the basket was for, and went right to work. She hadn't even seen what they packed for her, hadn't realized she hadn't looked, until right this moment. Bay stood alone, the basket in her arms, as she waited. Waited for the boy that she'd fallen so deeply and madly in love with, that she could hardly think straight. 

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Zander tried not to make a big deal out his birthday, really. He went to lunch with his brothers that month, as they always did, to kind of celebrate it collectively. He had turned eighteen today, but as usual he didn't really tell anyone it was his birthday. Granted, his housemates knew and he awoke to some intense indoor fireworks in the at the foot of his bed and a few presents around him. At breakfast even more presents were brought via owl, only two though, and he simply laughed and took them with gratitude, opening them at his friends request.

He, of course, had already caught eyes with Bay today but classes still had to continue and he didn't see her there due to their different years and schedule. After breakfast, however, she had asked him to meet her by the pond around lunchtime. He agreed wholeheartedly.

He wasn't sure if he had mentioned that it was his birthday, but either way he wasn't expecting anything. Maybe she just wanted to spend a little time together. Either way, he showed up right on time to see the beautiful girl with a picnic basket, waiting for him.

He took a moment as he walked to take in how pretty she looked, the sun catching her hair, her eyes by the water... once he reached her his grin grew even wider. "Hey there, stranger," he chuckled, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek. "What do we have here?" he asked, gesturing to the basket.

@braelynn

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@zander

Braelynn felt all of her nervousness disappear when he appeared, walking towards her so casually, with a giant grin. Without thinking, her own smaller, but equally happy smile responded. Bay had opened up around Zander quite a bit in their time together, but there was still that hint of reservation, even now. That traditional upbringing of hers not allowing her to completely abandon it. "Hey." She responded, blushing ever so slightly as he kissed her on the cheek. Every time she saw him she was reminded of how much she missed him when they were apart.

Looking down at the basket in her arms, she blushed even more at his question, reminded of how silly this must seem. "I..... don't really know." She admitted. "I... um.... It's a picnic. For your birthday..." Why was she so nervous?!

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Zander loved the way her cheeks flushed like that. He chuckled, reaching out to place a hand on the basket. "You have a picnic basket but you don't know what's in it?" he asked, raising a quirky eyebrow. He slid his hand up the basket to the handle, but he didn't take it from her just yet. She had said she planned this for his birthday? Now it was his turn to have red cheeks. "Oh you... You remembered," he said in a mutter. His eyes locked with here and he was silent, frozen for a moment. Finally, he cleared his throat and clasped the handle of the basket. "Why you sentimental fool," he said, his grin returning as he pulled the basket gently from her hand and pivoted to offer an arm for her. "Shall we?" he asked, "where did you want to set up?"

@braelynn

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@zander

Braelynn looked down at the basket in question, frowning just a little. "I didn't know what to put in it..... So the House Elves packed it...." She admitted again. It was probably just an assortment of what they'd be serving for lunch, but you never knew what to expect with House Elves. They did tend to go a bit overboard. Which wasn't exactly a comforting thought, and she prayed they hadn't done anything to over the top. Wait, she shouldn't have admitted the House Elves' involvement! It would have been much better if he thought she'd put it together herself. More... personal and special. Her cheeks flushed a bit as she looked back up at him. "I'm not good at this kind of stuff.." She muttered softly.

Her smile returned though when she that blush, surprise that she'd remembered. She just nodded a little. Of course she remembered. She might fail at putting together a proper date, apparently, but she made up for it in mental capabilities. "I wanted to remember." Was her soft retort. Of course, she remembered everything she learned about him. Letting him take the basket from her, she quickly slipped her arm through his, "Over here. There's a nice spot just right by the pond." She led the way. IT was secluded enough that they wouldn't be disturbed, but they still had a pretty view of the pond and grounds.

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Zander didn't mind at all that house elves were involved. She liked his arm and led him to the spot over by the pond. "For the record, I'm not good at this stuff either. It's all right to leave it up to the experts," he chuckled. In all honesty, her never really tried his hand at cooking, which means he probably wouldn't be that good at it. He wasn't very crafty either, which meant his basket would just have a massive amount of food in it and no reason or rhyme to any of it. He had brought his guitar, of course, but kept it in his case, shrunken and in his pocket.

He set the picnic basket down and looked back to her, "well, thank you for remembering," he kept his gaze on hers for a moment before turning back to the basket. "House elves are pretty excitable about these sorts of things. Wonder what they've cooked up for us!" he chuckled, bending down to open the basket.

@braelynn

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@zander

Braelynn smiled as he admitted he wasn't good at this sort of thing either. "We're a hopeless pair, aren't we?" She teased lightly. In all honesty... They sort of were. Him a total romantic and care free. And her the sheltered rich girl who only seemed good at school. A future with him would mean a lot of learning for both of them.... She almost stopped at that thought, and tried not to blush. A future with him? She knew there wasn't one. There couldn't be one.... But she could hope.. right? To be honest, nothing would make her happier then to know that she could stay with him. It was a beautiful dream... But still a dream.

He met her gaze, and neither spoke, or looked away, for a moment. It always made her stomach feel funny when he looked at her like that. And it made her smile a little, nodding as he spoke. She sat on the grass as he opened the basket, leaning towards it a bit to see what was inside. It seemed... normal. From what she could tell. A few sandwiches, fruit, and pastries. "Well, I hope they didn't get too excited when packing this..." She muttered, still wary of the seemingly normal picnic basket.

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"Quite hopeless," he agreed with a curt nod, trying to sound all proper and whatnot. Not by any means mocking her, but maaaaybe goofing around about her rich people culture a little bit. It was strange to think that they had grown up in such entirely different worlds, but it was also kind of nice. That way they had enough differences to talk about and to work through. He was sure that they would never get bored for the rest of their lives together. Erh, however long that may be. Not implying that they were going to be together forever or anything like that. Erh, why, what were you thinking? Anywaaay.

The contents of the basket seemed fairly innocent, at first. He glanced over at her with a little smile when he realized that was only the first layer they could see. "Awe, a surprise though..." he reached into the basket and clasped the section underneath the food and lifted it up, setting it to the side. It was a little table of sorts that just fit nicely in the basket. Hiding beneath was an intense slew of roses and a little potion resting on top of it. Zander grinned again, lifting the bottle and twisting it open. Suddenly a sparkly type of fog swirled out of the bottle and into the air above them before expanding into a drapery of twinkling lights so bright that they could even be seeing in the middle of the day like right now. Zander stared up at them for a moment before turning to face Bay. "I don't think they got that carried away."

@braelynn

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@zander

"Awe, a surprise though..."

Braelynn frowned, eyes going a little wide at his words. What? What sort of surprise? What had the house elves done? Her mind reeled as she tried to think of what stunt they might have pulled. Please nothing to embarrassing! "Wh-what?" Her voice almost squeaked, barely managing to contain her extreme nervousness. He was smiling though... That had to be a good sign... right?

And then he was grinning and her face turned bright red. Of course there were roses in the bottom. And... a potion. It better not be a love potion! The color was off though... So she let out a slight breath of relief before the question came to mind. If it wasn't a love potion, what was it..? Zander was getting a kick out of this though, so wasn't that all that mattered? It was his birthday, after all. She wanted to make today special. Somehow. Maybe the house elves had been a good idea. So, as he opened the potion she audibly gasped, watching as it changed from a shimmering fog to drapes above their heads. She had to admit, it was some pretty charm work. Embarrassing but pretty. Cheeks rosy, she smiled as Zander finally looked back at her. "Much more low key then I was expecting." she responded, her relief obvious.

@zander

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As she made her statement filled with the tones of relief, Zander smile grew. Her cheeks were pink and he bit his lip, resisting the urge for the moment to lean over and kiss them. After a moment of simple staring at her, he finally spoke again. "Well, we should eat!" he announced, gesturing to the tray that he had pulled out a moment ago. He moved the rest of the basket to the side and moved the tray between them. He began to eat as he contemplated conversation topics. "Well, I suppose I'll have to do something for your birthday this summer. The question in, what on earth could we possibly do!?" he laughed.

His mind perused many ideas. A hike? A summer outdoor concert? Maybe she'd like to go to a classical music concert or something... either way, he was already searching his brain for what they could do together. "I mean, assuming you aren't sick of me by summertime," he chuckled. It was a joke, of course, but a brief tug of fear gnawed at him briefly. He shook it off by downing a giant bite of his sandwich. He turned to her with a big goofy smile, sure to keep his muth closed!

@braelynn
(soon our names will both be purple XD XD XD and he knows her birthday... somehow, shh.)

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@zander

Zander seemed.... genuinely happy. Well, he was always happy. But it wasn't just his usual happy-go-lucky self. It was almost like.... like he liked the surprise. That, in turn, made her even happier. And it made Braelynn realize in that moment that she'd gone about this whole thing the wrong way. All her original ideas hadn't been... well, him! This simple picnic, which had been a last resort, should have been the first choice.

Braelynn nodded as he said they should eat and started to dig in. It was ironic how, even sitting here it was easy to tell that they came from completely different backgrounds. Zander was much more relaxed, while Bay's posture, and even way of eating remained slightly tense and proper. Despite being alone she just couldn't dropped her rigid upbringing. His question caught her by surprise, and mid bite though, and she coughed, quickly covering her mouth to hide the indignity as she tried to swallow. "You don't have to do anything!" She protested when she was finally able to speak, quickly shaking her head. "My family is already going to make a big enough fuss as is, and Adalyn will want something grande and extravagant..." She stopped speaking. Because, no matter what her family did she realized one thing. Zander couldn't be there. Her gaze dropped to the ground. Zander was already aware of her... predicament. With Raleigh. He'd over heard them arguing once by accident. "Maybe.... I got permission to visit Susan and her family during the summer. Would you.... want to come?" She finally looked up, smiling a little. Susan had said she wanted Zander to come by as well. And, as strange as it sounded, she wanted her two close friends to meet Zander. Well. Meet him officially.

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Zander couldn't help but smile as he saw the way that Braelynn sat to in in comparison to himself. She was so proper and upright, he almost thought he should copy her, but he was afraid it may look like mockery so he didn’t bother. He grinned brightly as he somewhat broke that properness with his question and laughed as she shook her head. She protested bringing up her twin sister and her family, then dropped her gaze. He knew what she was thinking about. The unfortunate Raleigh situation. Plus, her family would probably eat him alive if he dared to show up at that party. Still, his grin didn’t waver, ”well, we’ll see,” of course he could still plan something for her, even if it couldn't be on her actual birth day.

Then she, tentatively, asked him if he’d want to visit her this summer when she was seeing Susan and her family. Zanders smile grew even more, ”that would be great! She lives in a freaking castle,” he chuckled. Really that wasn’t the reason he wanted to do it, but it was a cool bonus. ”Plus, I’d get to see you over the summer, which already sounds like will be the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to accomplish in my life,” he was teasing her now even though it was a rather serious situation… especially since he was graduating this year… yikes.

@braelynn

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@zander

Braelynn could see that Zander wasn't swayed. He still seemed to want to plan something for her. Part of her wanted to convince him it wasn't necessary but... She also thought it was adorable that he did. And considering how she'd (attempted) to plan this for his birthday? At least he deserved to return the favor if he really wanted to. Instead of speaking, she responded with a small smile.

She laughed a little at his excited reaction to visiting while she was at Susan's. "It is a castle, yes." It was pretty common knowledge that the Windsor kids were muggle Royalty. British muggle Royalty. That was probably the only reason her parents had agreed to let her visit her muggleborn friend. While they hated her blood status, they couldn't deny that was a prestigious title. "We'll figure out how to make it work." She finally stated. It was soft, but clear and determined. His graduating would make it a little tricky to see each other. But there was Hogsmeade trips. "Have you decided what you want to do after graduating yet?" Bay had set her sandwich down, her head tilted a little to the side as she watched him curiously. He seemed far less decisive when it came to his future then she was. Braelynn, as long as she could remember, wanted to study wand lore. Maybe even make them herself. Her parents had never approved though. Her working had never been in their plans for her future.

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He knew that he had won that battle, at least the conversation about it. His smiled back to her may have been a little proud, but he didn’t notice. She then confirmed that Susan did indeed live in a castle and his eyes widened and his mouth smiled even brighter. ”That is so cool. Does that mean I’d have to dress fancy? I don’t even think I have fancy clothes that aren’t my dress robes…” he muttered, trailing off a bit at the end with a worried expression on his face.


At her question about what he wanted to do after graduation Zander looked back up at her. ”Erh, not really? I mean, I have my guitar… that’s all I really have,” he said, ”I mean in reference to what I want to do with the rest of my life, I mean,” he said to clarify, his cheeks reddening a little bit. ”I mean, my brothers are like a cursebreaker, quidditch player and a future Auror… none of that stuff really interests me as a career, though. You,” he started, his tone changing to a softer one, ”will probably become a famous researcher or something, eh?”

@braelynn

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Braelynn grinned when he asked if he'd have to dress fancy to visit the castle. It didn't surprise her at all that he didn't have many 'fancy' outfits. It just.... It didn't suit him. He was far to carefree, and laid back. "No. Just be yourself." She reassured him. That, and for some reason him trying to be fancy and proper was.... unnerving to her. Because that was the world she'd grown up in. She liked him never having to cross into it. Meanwhile, she herself could use more laid back, and comfortable clothes. Heck, the girl had probably only worn jeans twice in their entire time of knowing each other! Even when they weren't in their uniforms, the girl was just more comfortable in skirts. Always had been.

She tilted her head at his indecision. It didn't surprise her much, actually, but it was a bit odd. Since he'd soon be out of school. Figure out that kind of stuff was important. She almost spoke, to ask if he'd considered becoming a musician, but he went on about his brothers, and then her, and she blushed, looking away from him for a moment. "I want to. At least something like that. I'd really like to learn more about wands. But-" She paused and looked back at him with a sad smile. Her own tone had softened, matching his. "That's more like a dream then something possible." She looked away and tucked her hair behind her ears as she focused back on what he'd said before he'd mentioned her. "I think you should do what makes you happy, no matter what that is."

@zander