When In Public

[Jack Trove]

Jack caught sight of her coming, and felt the bottom of his stomach drop out of his @ss.
A beautiful, beautiful image, that.
He was obliged to talk to her. It was blindingly obvious that - and Olivia, for all her apparent… carelessness was not one to miss the obvious- Jack had been avoiding her. As his date with Sophie had loomed closer, and his dread had loomed with it, Jack had been feeling the unfortunate emptying of his intestinal juice on a much more frequent base than comfortable.
But here- in public-
Shít, it really was unavoidable. The Common Room was buzzing, but Jack was well aware of the half a dozen heads that’d whipped around in Olivia’s direction and his as she’d entered the room. That buzzing now rang with a superficial note; one Jack didn’t trust.
Jack had his public image to keep up.
Olivia had hers.
So-
“Hey!” a confident smile creasing the corners of his eyes, Jack rose to his feet and waved at Olivia.

[Olivia Skye]

Well, it had been a while.
It was like he'd been avoiding her. Jack had been back for quite a while now, and yet Olivia had only seen him twice - both rushed meetings, and every time she'd tried to arrange a time for them to meet properly, he'd always been somewhere else, or impossible to get hold of. There was Warrior Training, of course, and rugby practice - but there had always been Warrior Training and rugby, and Olivia couldn't quite shake off the feeling that there was something more to this than just a lack of time.
The rumours were everywhere, of course. Jack and Olivia were such a well-known couple, speculation and gossip was always rife. It was as though every time Olivia stepped into the common room without him, another person added to the general noise of how she and Jack were on the verge of a break-up, or that there was someone else involved, attached to either herself or Jack.
And every time she heard this, a couple of butterflies would stir up in her stomach; because of Reuben. Of course, it had only been one date, only one kiss, nothing more - so she didn't have a lot to feel guilty about, but still, she did. Because, even though Jack had been gone, and even though it was only once and it felt like a dream sometimes, it was still a date, and it was still a kiss. She still shouldn't have done that.
Even worse were the rumours surrounding Jack and someone else. Jack had been in England for a long time, and it had been a long time since he'd arrived back, and he'd always been somewhere else...
Olivia hated to admit it, but it was certain that she and Jack were on the rocks. However, although at the back of her mind she wondered, she didn't really believe that Jack had had someone else. He wasn't that sort of guy; and if he had cheated, why would Olivia be feeling guilty over something...?
She hadn't cheated. Olivia was not the sort of person to cheat, she wouldn't do it... she hadn't meant for it to happen. It was just a spark, a spark that she shouldn't have followed up on, but she did.
But, right now, it was looking just like a one-off.
Everyone was allowed to make a mistake. Yet, it didn't feel like a mistake -
Not the place.
She smiled over at him as he called her over, conscious of the eyes trained on them and as always, of his attractive, confident smile.
If it was still confident, nothing could be that wrong. And if it was still enough to evoke a smile from her - if she still felt warm when he smiled at her, like now - they might be able to salvage this.
"Hey!" he grinned.
"Hey," she smiled, but there was a slightly reproachful tone to her voice and smile. No one except Jack would be able to pick up on it from where they were. "It's been a while."

[Jack Trove]

No, really?
Jack bit his tongue just in time. Sarcasm was not the best policy here. What was it Olivia used to say..?
“Sarcasm is the last resort of the mentally bankrupt.”
Brilliant. Nobody could ever deny she was brilliant.
“I suppose it has,” he sighed, leaning backwards and spreading his arms across the back of the sofa.
It was an open invitation. He wasn’t going to initiate anything. If she wanted to sit down, she could. If she didn’t, hey, it wasn’t anything to do with him. He looked relaxed. She looked relaxed.
Normal.
God. Look at her.
He remembered what normality felt like, of course. He remembered the flames that used to rampage through his veins in perfect imitation of the bright flames of her hair that carelessly swept past her shoulders. And he remembered the heated feeling of her skin against his. He remembered the sickening feeling as a ball of fire rose in his chest; and spat up his throat.
He remembered wanting her. Constantly thinking about her, wanting her; needing her by his side, and in his arms.
Only the smallest flicker of fire remained now, in his stomach. Wavering.
“It’s Madeleine’s fault, I reckon,” he chuckled lightly, “girl’s a feckin’ slave-driver. With Will, you lot are getting it easy.”

[Olivia Skye]

Olivia nodded, sitting down beside him and crossing her legs. “That’s what you think; I’m being put on nights constantly. At least Madeleine hasn’t decided to give you training sessions at one in the morning yet.”
Somehow, she didn’t feel right leaning back against his arm, so she stayed sitting upright, but stretching out her crossed legs to give the impression that she was sitting comfortably.
Why couldn’t she lean back against his arm? What was with that? She’d always felt comfortably physically with Jack, if not in conversation – but physically, always. So what had changed to make her unable to do this?
Was it her own conscience, or was it the rumours? It couldn’t have been the rumours, because, well, she trusted Jack. But there was nothing on her conscience… it was one kiss. Just one kiss. It was nothing for her to feel guilty about, really. It was just that she wasn’t…
Oh, forget this.
It was Jack.
She leaned back, resting her head on his arm and tilting it to smile at him, feeling like a hypocrite. “So aside from overworked, how have you been? I take it you’re feeling better?”

[Jack Trove]

... better about what?
It felt a little odd to have Olivia's warm head resting against his arm again. He wondered at length what it would be like to sit like this in public with Sophie; to have her blonde hair coiling over his arm rather than Olivia's fiery locks.
Random observation: Kira was Sophie's Head. Both girls were blonde.
Will was Olivia's Head. Both girls were ginger.
... hmm.
Back to the subject- as Jack was awfully good at distracting himself- he frowned at Olivia, and found that... well... he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.
So Jack gave Olivia the only reasonable response that could be expected of him:
"... better about what?"

[Olivia Skye]

“…better about what?”
Olivia frowned, matching his expression. “You were sick?”
She hated the way that the way the words had came out of her mouth sounded like a question, rather than a statement. Yes, he had been ill. Very ill, seeing as he had had to postpone his arrival at school for that term. And while it had been a little while ago, he should still remember it.
“Before you came back, you weren’t well, and you were still looking a bit run down when you arrived back… I know it’s been a while since then, but I haven’t seen you since. It’s as though you were avoiding me,” she added, with a deliberate tinkling laugh, although she wasn’t entirely sure that she was joking.
It still didn’t feel exactly comfortable, her head resting against him. Why, she didn’t know. Something just… something wasn’t right. Maybe it shouldn’t be right, but it felt… it felt strange. She and Jack weren’t…
It just wasn’t right, but here was not the place to talk this over. She knew how would end, and although it may come as a relief to both of them, this wasn’t the place, or the time. Olivia didn’t want to have to tell him what had happened here, where people could see them.