fall into me | t. scamander

tender

"I think you like him."

Mei's heart stuttered to a stop, "what? No."

"I think you do though," Kevin clucked his tongue at her as he pushed his dark strands back from his face. The two seventh years were in the library and it was a dreary Monday afternoon right after classes where they were catching up on lost work that had been neglected in favour of the Winter Ball. A case had been opened a few hours after the Professors found the spiked up juice, and security had been on high alert ever since.

Rain pelted down onto the windowpanes in a soft melodic symphony as the library rumbled with soft murmurs of students preparing for their mid-term exams, Mei and Kevin included. They had gone through a rigorous training in Defense Against the Dark Arts class and in all honesty, the physical toll of their class activities had worn them both down before the end of the day. Raina, who still had a lot of energy in reserve, had decided to go down to the Herbology lab to get a head start on their newest assignment — feeding the chomping cabbages without getting your fingers bitten off in the process.

Which was probably why Kevin was using this moment to corner Mei in such a confrontational manner.

"Have you spoken to him since?"

"Spoken to who?" Mei played dumb as she made herself read the first sentence of her DA chapter on hippogriffs. Nothing seemed to register in her brain.

Kevin rolled his eyes, "have you spoken to Theseus since the winter ball?"

"Why should I?"

Her japanese friend looked at her like she had grown a third eye, eyebrows raised and looking unimpressed, "he came without anyone asking for his help, Mei. Surely that must count for something."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh stop playing hard to get and just admit it already."

"I—" she felt a blush rise upon her cheeks and turned her head away, "he was being nice, and he felt bad after what happened with Autumn. That's all, really."

"It didn't look like he was just being nice though," Kevin twisted his pen with his fingers, "but it depends, on whether you like him or not."

"I—" the memory of his fingers brushing over her cheek caused her heart to ricochet inside her chest. Shoot. It made her tingly all over just thinking about it, "he's a good friend, nothing more. And I think it's better if we stay that way."

Kevin made a sound that sounded as though he disagreed with her statement, but said nothing more thankfully as he returned back to his own potion-making studies. That allowed Mei to look out of the window as she drifted off in her own thoughts, turning over Kevin's words in her brain while trying to get some clarity of her own.

Of course Theseus Scamander was attractive. He was literally everything that a girl could ask for in a boyfriend; hot, with a pleasant personality, and goofy enough that she didn't feel at all intimidated. So if Mei had to ask herself whether she liked him, then the obvious answer would be that yes; she felt that sort of attraction to the auburn-haired prefect. But—

Mei shook her head.

He was arrogant and was nice to just about anyone that would give him a second glance, knew that he was beautiful enough that all girls would throw themselves at his feet even if he didn't do anything, and his relationship with Autumn...

It bugged her. Just the thought of it caused her fingers to curl inwards and press into her palms until they stung.

They looked so, so good together. And it bothered Mei so, so much.