Come for a drink?

"Firewhiskey, please," Dave ordered as he perched himself up on a barstool, looking at the tender with a smile. It was the weekend and he had decided to stray from marking Muggle Studies papers and go to get a drink instead.

The stool next to him was empty and he sighed. No-one to talk to. Looking up as the drink arrived, he nodded and smiled in thanks, before taking a swig, grinning at the strong taste. Being a teacher meant that drinking opportunities were rare.

He looked up as someone occupied the seat next to him and almost choked. "Professor Vandever," he greeted with a coy smile, tilting his head. "Fancy seeing you here."

Blaire walked through the city, trying to decide where to go for a drink. The Golden Thestral was a nice place, she decided. She entered the pub and looked around for a place to sit. At the bar, she saw the familiar curly hair of David Arterton, her coworker.

"Firewhiskey," Blaire told the bartender as she sat down beside him. She turned to David and smiled in greeting. "Professor Arterton. Please, call my Blaire. You sound like one of my students when you call me that."

"Alright, Blaire," Dave said with a grin. "Don't want school outside of it." He turned to the bar tender. "Make that drink on me," he said, smiling. He looked back at Blaire. "That's not being sexist is it? I don't mean it to be sexist. I'm a total feminist at heart."

He smiled and looked around the pub. "We haven't spoken for a while," he commented jovially. "What's been happening with you?"

"No, not at all sexist. That was very sweet of you, though," Blaire said, her face going slightly pink. Blaire took the firewhiskey from the bartender and took a drink, enjoying the warm feeling it gave her. She sat there for a second, thinking of a way to answer his question. So many things were happening in her life, she didn't even know where to begin.

"A lot, actually. But, I don't really want to talk about it," Blaire answered, resisting the urge to cry. She turned to him with sweet smile back on her face. "How are you?"

"Good," David said with a smile. "And no problem. You're sweet." He grinned and turned away, taking another swig of his drink.

He could see that she was distressed and he wished he hadn't asked that question now. "It's okay, you don't have to," he said softly. "I'm sorry."

"Not much has been happening with me. School. Marking. School. Marking." He drew a circle in midair to indicate it recurring. "But life goes on, hey?"

"You're pretty sweet yourself," Blaire said, then, realizing what she had just said, started blushing really bad. She busied herself with drinking some more of her whiskey.

"No, no, I'm fine. Just lots of stress lately," Blaire said in a rush, reassuring him. She nodded. "Yeah, same for me. All this getting ready for OWLs with the 5th years is nuts."

Blaire took another drink of her firewhiskey, almost emptying it all. Her entire body felt all warm and tingly, thanks to the drink. Well, maybe not entirely the drink..," she thought, casting a glance at David.

David grinned into his drink, his face feeling a little red. "Why, thank you."

He turned to look at Blaire again, his stomach feeling a little fluttery. How long had they known each other for now? How many times had he come this close to asking her out? And every time it fell through.

An awful noise hit his ears. He glanced over at the main square of the pub, noticing that someone was doing some truly dreadful karaoke, and laughed. They were clearly out of their mind on drink.

"Care to dance then, B?" he asked with a smile, offering her his hand. "Or have you not had enough to drink yet?"

Blaire cringed when she heard some of the most awful singing coming from behind her. She didn't even bother seeing what it was. She was sure it was some drunken fool trying to do karaoke. She heard David laugh, and turned to him.

"Yeah, sure," Blaire grinned, taking his hand. She laughed a bit. "No, I haven't had enough to drink, but oh well. If I make a fool of myself, which I probably will, I can always pull it off that I'm drunk."

David grinned and led her to the floor in front of the awful karaoke singer. "I'm sorry if your eardrums burst," he apologised to her, grinning, as he stood opposite her. He laughed as she told him about making a fool of herself. "In that case, maybe we should get another round of drinks."

He took her other hand and held them both for a second, smiling at Blaire. "I don't know. The more he deafens me, the more I'm growing to like it. Sort of. With alcohol I bet he's a rock star."

"I'm already hard of hearing, might as well go deaf," Blaire said jokingly with a shrug. She looked into his eyes, enjoying the way they lit up when he laughed. She grinned at his suggestion. "Maybe we should."

Blaire felt like a thousand butterflies were going crazy in her stomach. She ducked her head to try and hide the blush slowly creeping onto her face. The butterflies picked up even more when he took her other hand. "Most likely. I bet to him, he sounds like Mick Jagger or some other rocker," she said, not caring that David probably had no idea who Mick Jagger was.

"Alright, then," David said, smiling, before ordering another round. The drinks arrived almost immediately and he handed her her glass, chinking his own with it.

"You like the Stones?" David said with a grin as he leaned forwards. Her hair smelt nice. David, stop it. "You have good taste. Unfortunately, I don't think he's doing a very good rendition of Jagger in real life." He smiled. She really was beautiful when she smiled. She was beautiful all the time. His stomach felt bubbly, and he didn't think it was just from the alcohol.

Shaking his head, he looked at her, biting his lip. Ask her. "You're really beautiful, you know," he said quietly, smiling shyly.

Blaire took the glass from him and took a sip. The effects of the last glass had started to wear off, so she shivered a bit when the drink started to warm her up again.

"The Stones are one of the best rock bands ever. They're legends," Blaire said, smiling. It was true, the Rolling Stone were one of her favourite bands. "I must agree, he certainly doesn't do a very good Jagger," she agreed, giggling a bit. Did I just.. giggle? She thought. Stupid fireswhiskey!

Blaire's face turned redder than it had all night at his compliment. "T-thanks," she stuttered, ducking her head.

David smiled as she blushed, the mad bubbling in his stomach growing stronger. He must have looked like an idiot, smiling as much as he was, before offering her his hand again and placing a hand on her waist in test, tilting his head to make sure she was okay.

And then, he leaned down and kissed her, closing his eyes, stomach fluttering, feeling dizzy. He kissed her, and the crappy karaoke seemed to blur into non-existence. It was a moment later that it dawned on him the reality of what he was doing.

"Oh, Merlin, wow, I'm sorry," he said breathlessly, panicked all of a sudden at the suddenness of his actions. "Oh, wow. Okay. Uh, wow." Say something else, you freak!

Blaire smiled back at him. She couldn't help but think how cute he was when he smiled, how cute he was all the time. She was barely fighting the urge to kiss him.

And suddenly, he was kissing her. It was like she was 'on cloud 9' as the muggles said. The butterflies in her stomach were now going haywire, but it felt nice. And then he pulled back, and Blaire was able to regain her track of thought.

Blaire took a moment to regain her breath, and then she looked up at David. He looked worried, probably scared that she would be mad. But she wasn't. In fact, Blaire was extremely happy. She stood on her tip toes and pressed her lips to his again, unable to stop herself from doing it.

Dave grinned as she kissed him again, putting his other hand to her waist as well as he pressed his lips to hers back, turning them slowly to the cruddy music, a smile on his face. He felt lifted, like a huge weight had been taken off of him, the bubbling subsiding to an exhilarated fizz.

He lifted one of his hands to her hair, cupping it gently against her jawline, before the kiss broke, and he took in a deep and slightly shaky breath. "I've wanted to do that for a long time," he admitted, laughing a little breathily.

Blaire smiled into the kissed. She felt so happy, she didn't want this moment in time to ever end. She tangled her hands in his curls, something that she had wanted to do for a while. His hair was so soft, just like she thought it would be.

Blaire breathed heavily when the kiss broke. Her heart was beating fast and it didn't seem to want to stop. "Me, too," she breathed out. She buried her face in his chest, willing her face to cool down and her heart beat to slow.