Strategy { Oliver Wood}

Chapter Thirty Seven

"What do you mean this is great?!" Ace looked at Melanie in pure disbelief that she looked so happy at the moment. Since the first time she mentioned how cute Oliver was, Ace never expected to hear her be so happy about the boy she crushed on kissing another boy.

Melanie just continued to smile at him before clapping her hands together. "You don't understand, Ace."

"No, I really don't." Ace said. "So please, explain."

"I got back from my date with Oliver, but before I headed up to the tower, I kissed Oliver and-"

"Wait you kissed him-"

"Let her finish, Ace!" Andy told him.

"Alright, alright. Continue."

"Anyways," Melanie said, " I kissed him but I didn't feel anything and I realized on our date that we really aren't that compatible, like we have little in common...but it all makes sense now. If Oliver likes boys...I mean..I figured he was just in love with quidditch. But this is even better. I'm happy for him and I'm happy for me, because I didn't want to give off mixed signals. Now I don't have to feel bad, because it wasn't just me! Merlin, I feel great, I just want to take a victory lap around the castle."

Brandon stood beside Jenna while shaking his head slightly.

"I definitely did not see this coming."

"I did." Jenna said.

"You did?!" he turned to her.

"No.." she laughed. "I don't know who saw this coming. But it makes for one hell of a story. Now let's go to the Great Hall, I'm hungry and I really want to eat."

The group left leaving Ace alone with Melanie. She looked up at her dear friend who looked relieved but slightly nauseous from all the information he had received in such a short time.

"Are you okay, Ace?"

"I'm still trying to figure all this stuff out..I thought you would be upset...I mean you were always talking about Oliver.."

"Well yeah, I had a crush on him." Melanie said. "But after actually spending some time off the quidditch pitch and not insulting one another, I realized that while Oliver may be a good person....he's actually kinda boring for my taste. I mean, I like quidditch but I could not spend an entire date talking about it and remain sane.Oliver can, and Merlin bless his soul...but I can't. Maybe Todd can. I hope he can put up with it. He knows Oliver better than any of us..so..."

"So you're not upset?"

"No." Melanie shook her head. "I'm actually okay with all of this. Because Oliver's happy, I'm happy...I'm sure Todd's pretty damn happy. Nothing worked out how I thought it would, but that's alright. Life works in mysterious ways, doesn't it?"

"That it does, Mel. That it does."

"Come on." she said offering her hand to him, " let's got eat some dinner. We can celebrate with pie."

"But you said you were going to eat real food."

"Well...I lied." she grinned." And do you know why?"

Ace chuckled to himself. "Because pie?"

"Exactly."

Oliver sat at the Gryffindor table beside Todd, he hadn't spoken a word since Todd had kissed him in the hall and Todd made no mention of it once they were seated at the table. He listened to Todd converse with the fellow Gryffindors at the table while trying to wrap his head around everything. It had been a discovery that Oliver realized he wasn't into women, but a complete shocker to find out that his best friend held romantic feelings for him.

He looked across the way to see Melanie had entered the Great Hall and was sitting among her friends. She had a bright smile on her face, which made his stomach feel sick. He hoped he wasn't the cause of the smile, because he really didn't want to hurt the girl. After getting to know Mel on a personal level, he was able to find out that she wasn't just some annoying Ravenclaw out to destroy him quidditch. She actually was a decent person with a sense of humor and while he didn't hold any romantic feelings toward her, he still wanted to maintain a friendship with her. But that didn't seem possible if he in fact broke her heart.

He sighed to himself when suddenly, two hands were slammed down in front of him.

Oliver looked up to see Carter standing in front of him.

"Uh...hey Cart-"

"Save it." Carter told him. "What's your problem, Wood?"

Oliver's eyes widened as everyone at the table was now looking over in his direction.

"I don't know wh-"

"First you don't have interest in my sister, then you have interest in my sister, you ask her on a date but then you go ahead and snog this guy!" he pointed to Todd.

Everyone at the table gasped.

In that moment, Oliver wanted to crawl under the table and hide for all eternity.