our universe

- F I R S T D A T E -

Juniper stood in front of her closet. She was stumped, frozen, staring at the array of clothes. She needed-

"Viv!" She called, if anyone could help her it was her pink haired best friend.

Vivian flew into the room, breathless, "Thank god! I was wondering when you'd ask me."

"I haven't actually-"

"Shh!" Vivian silenced, immediately tearing clothes out of the closet. Juniper saw a tight black mini skirt fly by and paled in horror.

"V..." Juniper warned, hands on her hips, "Simple. Please."

Vivian scoffed, "Simple? You've come to the wrong place babe." She continued rifling through the dresser and crouching down to pull shoe options.

"I'm starting to realize that." Juniper shook her head, laughing.

A half an hour of styling, primping, and fretting later, Juniper was deemed ready to go by each of her friends. Vivian had coaxed her into wearing a skirt, pleated though, like their uniforms, and not too short. Though, it was still showing far too much of her legs in Juniper's opinion. Now Viv had wanted her to wear a very revealing corset style top, but Rory and Jade came in to save her. Rory picked out a very nice maroon jumper and Jade suggested she wear sheer stockings so her legs wouldn't feel quite as exposed. They wrapped all this up with the oversized leather jacket she'd been gifted by Victoire and Juniper insisted she wear her black converses. ("We're going to be walking in Hogsmeade!")

Jade, who was the best at makeup in their year, despite hardly wearing any, put a touch of blush on her cheeks and a swipe of mascara on her lashes. Vivian managed to contain Juniper's hair in a messy but cute messy low bun, and Rory lent her a pair of small gold hoops.

Juniper twisted and turned in front of the mirror, doing a full 360 for the girls. She was actually pretty satisfied with how she looked. He would definitely notice she put effort in, but not so much it looked like she was trying too hard. She tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, waving goodbye to her friends and heading down the stairs. Xavier was meeting her outside Hogwarts in five minutes.

Juniper was about to clamber out of the portrait hole when it swung open, Teddy Lupin on the other side. He was the last person Juniper wanted to see right now. She hadn't exactly told anyone besides Viv, Jade, and Rory that she was going on the date, Teddy only knew because he read the note over her shoulder. Immediately, all of her insecurities raced to the surface. She felt like a child playing dress up, the gold earrings which had moments before seems sophisticated were now garish.

Teddy's eyes widened, "Whoa- Junie you look-"

Juniper braced herself, waiting for his comment, "Let me have it Lupin." She sighed, exhaling, "How bad is it?"

Teddy was taken aback, his brow furrowed in confusion, "That's not what I- I was going to say beautiful. You look beautiful Junie." His voice was soft as he ran a hand through his blond curls sheepishly.

"Oh- erm...thanks." Juniper blushed, caught off guard. She cringed silently at her error, why was she always expecting the worst from him> Beautiful. He'd never called her that before. At least she didn't think he had. Beautiful.

Did that mean he thought she was beautiful right now, just at this particular moment? Or did it mean he always thought she was beautiful? Or was he simply saying it for the sake of a compliment? Or- NOPE. She needed to stop devoting her time to analyzing Teddy Lupin, all she wanted was to go on this date and not think about how odd he was acting these days.

Juniper cleared her throat, "Well- I should be going..."

"Right." Teddy nodded quickly, glancing down at the floor as Juniper left.