Thicker than Water (Marauders Era) PART II

24 June, 1995 - Unprepared (II)

"Vin! My lovely Vinyard!"

"And... you're officially drunk."

"I am no such thing. Your name is Vin and you brought wine. So today, you are my Vinyard. Isn't she Kama?"

Kama, sitting serenely on the couch, quirked an eyebrow at her wife. "I brought the wine, Mir," she informed Miriam gently. "Like always."

Miriam frowned, swaying slightly and putting a hand on Lavinia's shoulder to steady herself. "But Vinyard is such a good nickname," she whined, pouting rather exaggeratedly.

Kama shrugged almost apologetically and didn't say anything, though an amused smile played on her lips and Remus, sitting on the other side of the couch from her, looked like he was trying very very hard not to laugh. Miriam scowled at the both of them before turning to Lavinia. "Next time," she informed the blonde, patting her shoulder to emphasize the point, "You're bringing the wine. And then, my comedic genius can be properly appreciated."

Lavinia chuckled and shook her head less in denial and more in bemusement as Miriam gave her shoulder one last pat before meandering across the living room to Ethan, presumably to find someone who would thoroughly enjoy her so-called comedic genius. Indeed hardly a moment later, Ethan was chuckling at something Miriam had said, grinning broadly.

Lavinia snorted at her two friends before moving around the coffee table and dropping onto the couch between Kama and Remus. "I should cut her off soon," the woman observed, her lips forming an affectionate kind of half smile.

Lavinia turned to her, raising her brows. "I think you should have cut her off a little while ago," she countered a touch drily.

Kama waved a dismissive hand. "It's Mir," she pointed out with an affectionately exasperated little sigh. "She's playing it up."

Lavinia shrugged and nodded an admission of that, turning to look again at her friend who was now pulling Ethan from his chair and telling him to hurry up because she wanted to dance dammit. Ethan admittedly put up very little fight to this and was soon setting down his glass to dance with Miriam to the music emanating from the old and rather temperamental turntable in the corner.

Lavinia watched the two of them for a moment, smiling as they danced with absolutely no grace but all the joy in the world. When Miriam dipped Ethan, Lavinia laughed with the rest of them, especially as Miriam turned to Kama and stuck her tongue out at her as though the whole thing were punishment for not appreciating her joke properly.

Next to Lavinia, Kama snorted and shook her head. "I'm trying to decide if I should be jealous," she murmured contemplatively.

Lavinia made a non-commital noise, still watching the ridiculous dancing in front of her. "You can stop wondering," she replied after a moment, a chuckle entering the words as Miriam attempted spin on the spot and ended up wacking Ethan across the face hard enough that the later protested and batted her away.

"Yup," Kama concurred, taking a very dignified sip of her wine. "Definitely not jealous."

Lavinia sniffed in slight laughter, glancing at the woman, who shot a half smile in her direction before continuing. "Speaking of jealous," she added, her smile now rather teasing. "Do you have your eyes on anyone?"

Lavinia snorted. "No," she denied almost incredulously, pulling a face at the idea. "I'm as single as they come and happy about it," she added when Kama shot her a disbelieving look. "Merlin, Kama. It really is that simple."

Which wasn't strictly or even loosely true, if she was entirely honest. Which she wasn't going to be because the honest answer was that it was complicated and then some and Lavinia didn't exactly have the time or energy to spend riddling out feelings that weren't going to matter in the long run anyway. Or so she kept telling herself. Because if she went a step beyond honest... it hurt to riddle those feelings out and realize that no matter what conclusion she came to, nothing at all would become of it. And it would only make her heart ache, something she was rather certain she'd had enough of for a lifetime.