Running into you (Ari/Jace)

Jace was nervous.
And being nervous wasn't really Jace-ish.
But today he really was, he'd been for the past week, but it had never been as bad as today.
He was even too nervous to lift up his own truck, so he had it placed under a bench that he was sat on in an empty compartment, finally on the way back.

The reason that the black-haired boy was nervous, was simply because he was going back to Hogwarts, back to all his friends and back to.. Ari.

He and his brother, Josh, had been forced to leave the school after second year because their muggle aunt and gardian Mikayla had been sick and no one was there to care for her, but he and Josh. But after all the stuff that had happened that year, he didn't like to talk about it so they hadn't told anyone, not even their best friends.

Jace sighed, looking out the window while he wondered how the others would take his depart and his sudden show up again. He knew they were probably furious at him still, because honestly he was furious at himself.

Ari maneuvered her way along the train, lifting her arms above her head as she squeezed between a gaggle of first years who, it seemed, all had a tendency to stand in packs and block off the entire corridor.

Peering into the windows, she searched for an empty compartment, but seemed to be having no such luck. She finally settled for one where she could only see a dark haired boy sitting alone. Sliding the door open, she peered inside. "Hello, mind if I -" But her sentence was abandoned as she moved further inside the compartment and looked straight into the other boy's face, her own only inches from his. "Jace Renaldi?" she said slowly, before flinging her arms around his neck.

"Oh Merlin! Where the hell have you been?" she asked exasperatedly, the end of her sentence turning into a slap across the jaws. Once she'd done that, she felt a lot better and returned to her hugging. "Oh my God, oh my God!"

The rain outside kept pounding on the window, drops trailing down it and Jace found himself staring after them amused, making up some sort of contest to see which drop would reach the bottom first - he was that bored and wished he had something else to do.

Yes, he had indeed hoped for something interesting to happen, but when it did he had never even dared to hope it would be something as wonderful as this:
Seeing THE Ariadne Ellingham again after more than a year - there were no words to explain it.

He wasn't even sure if he hugged her back, he was frozen as a stone, his face not even moving when she slapped him, all he felt was a short sting on his cheek and his eyes were forced closed for a moment before they opened wide again.

Finally his arm's were able to move and he found himself gripping tightly to the girl.
"Ari.." he managed out, "... Hi." he fell silent, repeating his words in his head, before mentally slapping himself:
Did I just say.. 'hi?'

Ari smiled as he hugged her back and laughed a little as he said "Hi." It was nice to know he had kept etiquette after all this time.

"I thought you weren't coming back," she said, grinning, wondering why she felt so emotional. "I'm just glad you are." Her eyes narrowed. "Although a letter would have been nice, Mr Anti-social. For all I knew you could have tripped on an amoeba or choked on a jelly baby."

She moved so that she was sitting next to him. They seemed to have struck through the awkward conversation barrier they always had used to have. "I guess I can say I've missed you," she said, poking her tongue between her teeth in a grin.

Jace wasn't sure if to grin, smile or simply groan.
But he found himself laughing maybe a bit nervously. "Yeah, would you buy it if I said I can't write?" he asked, smiling a bit before adding "I was.. busy."

He really felt the need to slap himself (perhaps he could aks her to do it again). "I wasn't sure if I'd ever be able to come back... but I know Josh and I should've at least owled someone." he sighed again. "But we didn't, and I'm sorry..."

He gave her a sheepish look. "But I'm glad you missed me, I missed you too." he smiled, his eyes looking straight into hers for a moment before he forced himself to turn his attention towards the window again. "So, when Letti, Mel and Lola and the rest see me.. will you protect me or watch me die?" he grimaced slightly.

"I wouldn't buy it for a second," Ari replied pleasantly. "But it's good to have you back."

She pretended to consider this question, mmming and ahhhing before laughing. "I'm not sure if I can protect you from the wrath of Mel on her alone, let alone combined with Letti and Lo. You'll have to count on James to protect you, so you can hedge that bet." She smiled widely at the idea of unleashing her friends on Jace. "Where is Joshua, by the way? Is he around? Or do you return alone?"

Jace smiled, shaking his head again. "I guess I'll just have to die then," he grinned slightly. "But how will you survive? Loosing me again?"

He leaned back,running a hand through his hair. "So... Letti.. has she been in school? I got an owl from her that said she wasn't going to make third year, just like me and Josh." Jace felt a sting of guilt in his chest, both Letti and Mel had owled him but he had never owled back.

He sighed, closing his eyes. "I'm so glad I'm coming back, even though there'll be a 'let's murder Jace fest!'" he opened his eyes just to roll them. "But yes, Josh is on the train, looking for Lola I bet, I hope he gets killed too, then we can have fun together in Hell."

Ari narrowed her eyes playfully. "Oh, you rate yourself highly Mr Renaldi," she said with a smirk. "Who's to say I'll care?" She would care deeply. Who would she have banter with?

"Letti's been around, but I haven't seen her for ages," Ari admitted. "I've missed her dreadfully. It's only been me, Lo, Jackson and McKinners. So not too many people to murder you. Although a 'let's murder Jace fest' would be great fun. I'd eat popcorn." She put her hands in her lap and smiled.

"If Josh gets killed and you get killed I hope you get seperated," she said with an angelic smile. "And Lo and I will be down to torture you, you can count on it." She sighed. "But I'm glad to see you again. I have missed you."

Jace nodded, running a hand through his hair. "I guess everyone was a bit missing in action last year, werent they? We missed you guys too." he added. "It was really boring at home, I missed school even, even the homework. Though mostly free periods and the food." he grinned, thinking about the feast he would soon be having. "Oh, the food."

His eyes darted towards the window. "So, Melly and James still hitting it on together? Dating even now? And.. you? You seeing someone?" he struggled a bit with the words, his face gaining a faint red colour.

The dark haired boy had always felt that the dark haired girl infront of him was really pretty and maybe even developed some kind of crush on her, but he also knew he didn't really have the right to question her about boyfriends or be anything close to the "j-word," he hadn't been around for a whole year.