magically insane

Ch. 24: birthdays

Elaine Ashryver woke up to a quiet room. The only noise was a muffled, near whisper chatter from outside the window, and George's breathing; slow and steady. She turned around in his arms, so she could face him. He remained asleep, pulling her closer as if she were a pillow.

    Elaine stifled a laugh and she watched him; his eyes moved, as if he were looking around in a dream, and his mouth moved like he was talking.

    She began tracing the ups and downs of his face, a thing that was almost a thing between the two, being a frequent occurrence. He opened his eyes slowly, smiling.

    "Morning, Lou," he greeted, closing his eyes again. She kissed him, and he opened his eyes when she pulled away. "That's not nice."

    "It's my birthday. I don't have to be nice," she joked, flicking his nose.

    "I thought you didn't want to acknowledge your birthday," he teased, pulling her closer. She was now right up against him, trying to get back some personal space.

    "G, the amount of body heat you give off is gonna suffocate me under all these blankets," Elaine said, laughing. Though she thought it wasn't possible, he pulled her even closer.

    "You're the one who insists on the blankets. Plus, i'm cold," he replied, sounding like he was about to fall back asleep.

    "Oh, no you don't!" as she protested she tried to get out of his hold, pushing away from him. "Let me go, brat!"

    "It's so early, let me sleep!"

    "You have work today, today is Monday. Get up or I'll be forced to call in backup," Elaine warned. George let her go enough so he could see her face fully. She stuck her tongue out at him and he went to bite it. "Gross."

    "Yea, yea, yea. Who would be your backup? As far as i'm concerned, we're the only ones here."

    "FRED!" Elaine yelled. George's eyes widened and he looked at her in panic and surprise.

    "You wouldn't dare," he said, shaking his head at her.

    "FRED! HELP!" Elaine yelled louder. There was a loud crash, then a bang, and then their door was open and Fred was there, wand out and hair crazy.

    "Who's there?" he asked, looking around the room.

    "George is holding me hostage. I need backup," Elaine told him. He gave her a long, tired look. She almost felt bad. "It's my birthday?"

    "Right, yes. Georgie, let her go or else." Fred pointed his wand at her brother, smiling faintly. "I don't wanna do this. I really don't."

    "Then don't do it and let me have my time with Elaine," George replied, looking up to his brother. In doing this he let go of Elaine, enough so she could jump out of bed and stand triumphantly.

    "Success! Thank you, Alfred," Elaine smiled. He gave her a weird look.

    "Call me that again and I'll shove you back into bed," he warned, pointing his wand at her now. She smiled, glad they never used magic as a playful threat when they very well could.

    "Okay, Alfredo," Elaine said, smirking. Fred looked at George, gave him a 'how in the world do you deal with this' look, and then left.

    "You're lucky I like you. Otherwise I'd just pull you back into bed myself," George said as his brother closed the door. He sat up a bit, watching as Elaine picked out her clothes for the day.

    "Blah, blah, blah, whatever. I'm just glad I found a nickname other than Freddie. Don't get me wrong, super cute name, but I feel like Alfred could really be my thing, ya know?"