joelle | d.m

37 | love language

January, 1995.

"Which one though?" Draco held both of them up again.

Joey's face contorted. "They're the same damn colour."

"No, they're not." He was deciding between the black tie in his left hand and the black one in his right hand. The difference between the two was that the one in his left hand was a wee bit lighter in the sunlight. "They're different, Jellybean."

They were in a shop at Hogsmeade because he needed a new tie, although the ones in Hogsmeade were not his usual. It would have to do. He needed a new tie because one of his black ones had a rip in it, so he needed to get a new one to replace its spot in his drawer immediately.

"Look again." Draco turned to face her and held the lighter one to his chest. "This one is lighter," he told her before holding up the dark one against his chest. "This one is darker."

"They're both black, Malfoy," she deadpanned, obviously fed up with his shopping. "We've been in this same spot looking at ties for forty-five minutes. They are both the same colour. It's just terrible manufacturing if they're slightly different shades, but labelled the same."

"But, Joey," he said with a stressful sigh as he lowered the ties. "They're not both black."

She yanked the boxes of the ties out of his hands and held them up for him to see. "What does this say?" she asked, using her forefinger to tap at the bottom of the box. "What colour does it say?"

"Black."

"Good boy—"

"Don't say that." His eyes widened ever so slightly as a tingle trailed to his groin.

"What?" She blinked.

"Don't say those two forbidden words," he warned.

"Good boy?"

He gasped and immediately hushed her by pressing his index finger to her lips. "You cannot say that," he told her furiously in a mere whisper.

A crease drew between her eyebrows. "Why?"

"It turns me on," he whispered promptly, and dropped his finger from her lips. "I could very well get hard here, like now. So don't say that."

She tried to contain her giggle. "It turns you on?"

"Very much." He nodded importantly, as though agreeing to a new business client.

"Sorry. Duly noted though," she said amusedly. Then her face morphed seriously as she gestured at the other box. "Anyway, and what colour does this one say?"

His jaw ticked. "Black."

"There you go." She shoved the boxes back in his hands.

"As my girlfriend, you're supposed to be supporting me," he grumbled, and held the two boxes low, so he could compare them.

"I supported you for the first ten minutes of looking at those identical ties," she countered, leaning against the shelf with her arms folded over her chest. "After that passed, I was becoming impatient."

"Clearly." A breath of air unleashed from his lips and his eyebrows pinched together in seriousness. "Should I even get black? Or another colour? Maybe an ash green? Or grey? I think maybe a dark grey."

She pushed herself off the shelf and she walked away from him without a word.

"She's gotta stop doing that," he muttered under his breath and chose a random black tie. As he was going to the counter to pay, he realized that his girlfriend was no longer in the shop. She'd left him completely.