Hold Me While You Wait // Scorbus

Five - The Yule Ball

Iza found Albus eating lunch in the Great Hall alone and squeezed into the spot next to him. He was staring off into space, wallowing in his pain of Scorpius unknowingly rejecting him.

"Hey, Al," she greeted, "have you seen Ady?"

Albus pulled his nose up in distaste as he turned to her, "She's off shagging Scorpius in a broom closet somewhere I believe."

"Oh," she mimicked his disgust at the image he put in her head. "I guess I'll just eat lunch with you if that's alright."

"Yeah, for sure," Albus smiled lamely.

She began filling a plate that magically popped up in front of her and chatted away about some drama she'd overheard in Transfiguration class. Albus just mindlessly nodded along, his mind hazy with thoughts of Scorpius.

His interest perked when she mentioned the Yule Ball.

"Are you planning on asking anyone?"

Al felt his shoulders shrugging, "I might just go alone. Haven't thought about it much," he lied. "Dances aren't my thing anyways, too clumsy for that."

"Hmm," Iza hummed, leaning closer to Albus so their shoulders touched, "I don't have a date yet either. I'd really like someone to ask me though." She glanced almost longingly at Albus as if to hint at him to ask. However, Albus was oblivious and blinded by his hurt from Scorpius earlier.

He numbly pushed his food around his plate, "I'm sure someone will ask you. We've still got a few weeks."

"Yeah," she sighed dramatically, "Maybe Alfie will ask me, he's pretty fit."

Albus merely hummed in agreement, "He's a nice lad."

She rolled her eyes and pushed away from the table, "Alright Al, I'm going to head to Herbology now, are you coming?"

"Nah, go on without me," he waved her off and she huffed, grabbing her bag, her robes sweeping through the air as she quickly made her exit.

••••

"Albus Potter, are you daft?" Scorpius' voice echoed through the empty dorms as he entered.

Al, who was propped up in bed, reading a book, replied with the same amount of anger out of confusion, "Excuse me?"

Scorpius let his rucksack thump onto his bed, "Adylinn told me that Iza's trying to drop hints about you asking her to the Yule Ball, but you're being completely oblivious."

Al furrowed his eyebrows, "She told me she wanted Alfie to ask her, that doesn't seem like dropping hints to me."

Scorpius groaned, "Just bloody ask her, okay?"

Albus' frown took over his face, "Why? So you and Adylinn don't feel guilty?"

"No? Why? What would we feel guilty about?"

"I know you have been trying to hook Iza and I up so you two can have your best friends as double dates and not feel guilty about abandoning us every weekend for each other," Albus huffed, "I get it Scorpius, you say I'm important to you but it's really just Adylinn you care about. It's always 'Adylinn says this' and 'Adylinn did that' and 'I love when Adylinn touches my dick.' Have you ever thought for a moment that maybe I don't want to hear about every detail in your sex life? And that maybe it makes me uneasy to see you with your tongue down her throat constantly?" He ranted. His face was heating up with anger and Scorpius was stunned.

He wasn't expecting this from his best friend, he didn't think Albus minded that much. He was always so willing to listen...

"Merlin, Al. I didn't know you felt that way. You could've said something..."