The Great Outdoors

[Drew Thornton]

Drew opened his eyes and leaned back slightly to get a good look at her, hoping he hadn't crossed any line by saying that. He hadn't meant anything more than actually falling asleep and besides, he had admitted a heck of a whole lot more to her and she hadn't gotten mad.

She didn't look upset and in fact looked kind of hopeful. Drew had thought about suggesting it a number of times, wishing he had been able to hold her in his arms like that as far back as January. Even after she had stopped being so distant, he thought there might be opportunites for them to stay out too late, but she always asked to be walked back to her dorm and he always obliged.

"Yeah... why wouldn't I be okay with it?" he asked carefully, wondering what would make her think he wouldn't. Maybe he had been a fool for not bringing it up earlier?

[Felicity Hjort]

The first reaction he gave her she thought maybe she'd crossed the line by asking him. He pulled back, barely, but she still felt it and he just looked at her. Silence wasn't always a good thing, but sometimes he was just thinking when he was silent. But what if he thought she crossed the line? Would he be mad at her for wondering about it? Would he just shake his head and tell her that it wasn't a possibility? Since he only just looked at her, she kept her eyes on him. Felicity knew he wouldn't be angry enough at her for asking to yell, he'd asked and tried a few things before and she hadn't ever yelled at him for it, so it'd be silly for him to yell at her for asking a question. But she wanted to know, would he be all right with that?

"I don't know," Felicity answered with a small smile. They'd discussed a number of things they weren't ready for and she wasn't sure how he felt about this particular subject. "I mean, we've talked about a lot of things but never really about something like that and I just kind of figured that meant you weren't ready to try it."

Of course, with the things they'd discussed, they hadn't talked about everything there was, just a few of the major points. This hadn't been one of those things that really crossed the blonde's mind, though she had thought about it once or twice before. Not knowing how Drew would feel about it was what stopped her from asking or trying.

[Drew Thornton]

Drew had to smile, thinking it a little funny that he might not be ready for that step. He couldn't recall any time where she had tried to cross a line he wasn't comfortable with. It had always been the other way around and while sometimes she surprised him, she had never ventured someplace he was willing to go.

Drew leaned back in to give her another small kiss. "We've got to talk stuff like this out," he told her, knowing they had gotten a lot better about it. The problem was, it wasn't always the right time to bring up certain topics. "I guess I figured it would come out wrong if I suggested something like that."

[Felicity Hjort]

Accepting the kiss, Felicity grinned back at him and his assessment. He was right, they needed to talk about stuff like that, well, about anything and everything so they knew they were on the same sentence at least of the book. Back when he'd helped her out of the tree the previous September she told him they were on the same page, sentence, possibly word, but since then they had jumped all over the place away from one another, and she was sure she much preferred being on the same spot as him. It made reading a whole lot easier.

"We did just talk it out," she told him with a shy smile. It was brought up and neither of them were frustrated about it. They talked it out and in less than a few minutes, it was a new record, she was sure of it. "Sleeping together?" she asked him and then rethought on it. "Yes, I guess that doesn't sound right at all, does it? I probably would've thought the wrong thing again if that was how it was said..." her fault on not being able to hold her first thoughts back as well as she wanted to. "Maybe we should say napping together?"

A whole night was not what she had in mind. Just a couple of hours, besides they had House curfews.

[Drew Thornton]

Drew snickered back. Yeah, they had just talked about it, but of course, he had meant earlier. If he was thinking about it way back in january, he should have found away to broach the topic. Okay, so perhaps January might not have been such a great idea, but April would have been nice, falling asleep in the snow on her birthday.

He gave a nervous sort of hum when she tried the wording out. It had been exactly what he had been thinking of. Sleeping together, spending the night, none of it sounded quite approppriate for what his intentions were.

"A nap would be nice," he agreed, though he saw no problem with missing curfew. "Or maybe an extended nap... and then... I can make you breakfast in the morning?"

[Felicity Hjort]

It wasn't something that occurred to Felicity that Drew may have thought on the idea on more occasions than she had. The fact that she'd thought it over once or twice had been enough for her, but she really didn't think Drew would've thought on it more than that. Then again, he had admitted to her before that he'd thought on a number of things that didn't really cross her mind. And when he snickered she just rolled her eyes in the dark at him. They'd talked about it, so that was that.

"A nap would be nice," she agreed wholeheartedly with him. But she wasn't sure what he meant by an extended nap. Did he mean three or four hours instead of two? But then he really through her with what he asked. Breakfast in the morning after a nap? "You want to get up early in the morning to take a nap and then make breakfast?"

Felicity was confused. Since she normally got up around five or six, that meant he wanted to wake up at four and then nap together and get up at six? But if he wanted an extended nap, he wanted to get up while curfew was still in place?

[Drew Thornton]

He had a feeling he was about to cross the line with the suggestion, but now that he had put it out there, he couldn't very easily take it back. If it was any consolation, she had never gotten mad at him for overstepping boundries... well, except for that first time when he tried to put his arm around her, but that had been totally different.

"Well, it wouldn't be a nap really," he said, trying to figure out how to explain it without sounding like a jerk now that he had brought it up. "I mean... kind of like this... but... all night? Like... you and me... spend the night?"

[Felicity Hjort]

It wouldn't be a nap? Then how could they go to sleep and then wake up and he make breakfast? It just wasn't working in her mind very well. If he wanted to go to sleep then they would have to nap, wouldn't they? And if he wanted to make breakfast when they got up, then they would have to go to sleep. At the moment he was only doing well to confuse her.

But then he continued and she wasn't fond of his suggestion. There were so many things that went against what he was suggesting. What would others think if they found out? She didn't like caring what others thought, but she didn't want them to think of her like that, nor of Drew like that. There were a number of things that were said in the girl's loos about him and she really didn't like those things being said, why fuel the fire? And curfew mattered. They had to make that curfew otherwise they'd be in a lot of trouble, not to mention what of Drew being a Prefect? And if he was made Head Boy?

"Drew, I don't know about that," she answered him, wondering if he'd be upset. "I mean, what about--about curfew? We can't miss that without getting into trouble, right?" She was sure she knew where his intentions lied, but again, he made her question them slightly. No, she knew where they were. They were not in the sense of sleeping that a lot of people would think, he just meant napping, but that was all she wanted to try.

Casting her eyes downwards, the blonde began picking at his shirt across his chest a little. She wanted to try napping with him, but not an all-nights worth of sleep. "I mean, what if we tried a nap first?" Maybe in nice weather under a tree, just to test it out. That way intentions were known fully and nothing could be done if they slept where anyone could happen upon them. "And maybe we could make lunch, or a brunch?"

What if she wasn't comfortable with the idea of sleeping when it came time to try it?

[Drew Thornton]

"There are ways around curfew," he said quietly, thinking of all the times he had stayed out after hours. It was really a matter of a few hours and as long as you didn't do something that would draw attention to yourself, it wasn't too hard to go undetected.

But he wasn't going to try to convince her, especially since she sounded so uncomfortable about it. He really didn't want her to think he was trying to get something more that he was. "You're right... you're right," he told her and while he was disappointed, he knew this wasn't something he could negotiate. On top of that, he had made her uncomfortable and that was the most disappointing of all. "That's a better idea. We can do that, okay?"

[Felicity Hjort]

Felicity had heard a number of people talk about how they were able to get around curfew hours and she didn't understand how they were able to. The few times she was out after curfew she'd always gotten caught. That night before Celina was to cast the spell on her she was caught by the Slytherin Prefect and when she was out chasing Celina's cat one time she'd been caught, or rather she ran into Corey. Were all the Prefects so nice that they didn't mind not getting the students into trouble for the things they did?

Nodding, Felicity rather liked the idea of trying it, but she didn't think a whole night was that great of an idea, at least at first. Just a nap where hopefully they both would be fine with trying to sleep and it wouldn't be too awkward. She loved lying down with him, so what was so different about closing her eyes and letting herself drift off for a bit?

Leaning in, Felicity touched her lips to Drew's gently. "You're not mad?" she asked tentatively. He didn't sound mad, but he sounded off and she didn't think she liked that any better. Even if he was upset she wasn't going to change her mind about it. A nap was fine, beyond that and she knew she wasn't comfortable with it.

[Drew Thornton]

Drew shook his head, knowing he had no reason to be mad, especially when she was still kissing him after he had acted like such a jack-ass. Yeah, he was a little disappointed, but that was hardly the same thing. Besides, the disappointment was mostly with himself for being an idiot and trying a line that was way out of reach.

"I'm not mad," he said with a crooked smile, echoing in words what he had already said. "I can't really be mad at you." Frustrated, disappointed, confused, but hardly ever actually mad.

[Felicity Hjort]

"I'm glad you're not mad," she told him, letting out the breath she was holding slowly. There was no reason to hold her breath, she just felt the need to at that moment. Even if he was a little bit upset it wasn't going to change her mind, she wasn't comfortable with the idea of an all-nighter and he'd never gotten mad at her for telling him no before, and this would just be a silly thing for him to be mad over, but she wanted to make sure.

"So maybe we can try a real nap?" she asked, all ready thinking of the possibilities. "Maybe outside under our tree? Or in that hammock we never got to use...?"

[Drew Thornton]

"I think I'd like that a lot," he told her, already making plans on how neat it could be. He snuggled into her tighter, and though he had been disappointed a few moments before, he was feeling kind of giddy over the prospect now. "We could pack a picnic if we went by the tree... our tree." He really liked how she called it that.

"We could maybe take the hammock out there, huh?" he suggested, knowing he had kind of blown in in the room of requirement that day, but glad she was willing to give him another shot with it.

[Felicity Hjort]

"Me too," she added, though it'd been her idea. He moved in tighter and she snuggled right back into his arms. She wasn't upset that he'd suggested trying a full night, but she just wasn't comfortable with the idea. When she didn't act very nice without sleep, she didn't want to not be able to sleep through the night and be really angry the next morning, especially if he wanted to cook for her. The idea was nice, but she thought maybe this was something that really needed to be taken in little steps and not a giant leap.

When he reiterated her words, calling the tree their's, Felicity couldn't help but smile over the sound of it. It was their tree, it was where he'd gotten her unstuck, where she'd jumped at him from, and where Celina had taken a picture of them for her to give Drew for his birthday. It was their tree, not just any old tree, but their's.

"I'd like that, taking having a picnic ready. And we could try and take a hammock out there," she agreed with another smile. "I think that'd be fun."

[Drew Thornton]

With a plan being made, and the prospect of actually getting to spend some intimate time with her, it wasn't so bad thinking about going to their own tents for the night. Sure, he still would have rather stayed out there under the stars with her in his arms, waiting together for the sun to come up, but now, he had things to figure out.

"We should probably go to bed tonight though," he told her with another small kiss on the top of her head. "Our own beds..." he added quickly, thinking it probably came out sounding wrong.