Common Room Confusion [Sirius]

[lovelylayla]

Being a teenager was often extremely annoying. Especially when strange feelings about old friends started forming. Layla had been friends with Sirius Black since pretty much her first day at Hogwarts. After she had been sorted into Gryffindor, she ended up sitting next to him for the feast and they became fast friends. He was a year older than her, and she always loved spending time with him. But lately she’d started feeling awkward around him and she couldn’t figure out why. Layla found herself both wanting to be with him and strangely wanting to hide from him. She’d never had a crush before, but she was starting to think that maybe this was what it felt like.

So here she was, curled up on one of the very comfortable and plush armchairs positioned diagonally to the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. A cup of hot cocoa nestled between her hands as she stared absently into the crackling fire. She let out a sigh and adjusted the blanket on her lap, covering her feet back up. With a barely audible sigh, she gently placed the cup on a side table and picked up the book next to it. One of her uncle’s muggle friends had a daughter who read practically every minute of her waking life, and she would often recommend books to him, and Sheldon would pass along the names to Layla.

She had decided to pick up this particular book, Arsène Lupin mostly because of the name. While she didn’t hang out with Remus that often, ― the combination of Sirius and Remus together often made her feel left out because the two were so close (and when James joined the mix, it was just a recipe for disaster) ― the book’s name still made her snicker a bit. It was pretty much a French Sherlock Holmes, and Layla always loved a good detective novel. Though she seemed to keep getting distracted or spacing out, and she hadn’t been able to get past the second chapter because of it.

And because she hadn’t been able to get past the second chapter, she hadn’t gotten as engrossed in it as she would have, had she read more. Her attention seemed to be elsewhere as she read the same sentence for the second time. Putting down the book with a frustrated groan, Layla picked the hot cocoa back up and took a long sip. A smile graced her lips as she sighed contentedly, hot cocoa had always been her favorite cold day drink. Hearing the portrait slam closed, Layla jumped a bit in her seat. When she saw the person who had been previously occupying her thoughts had entered, a light blush spread across her cheeks and she tried to cover it up by hiding her face behind her book.

[Sirius Black]

Rolling over, Sirius let out a yelp before grumbling loudly in pain. Pushing up from the stone floor, he glared up at his bed, the one he'd just rolled out of, rubbing his forehead. What time was it? hadn't he asked James to wake him up. By the looks of the empty room though James had neglected to remember or had simply just decided it was to much hassle and completely blown him off altogether. It wouldn't have been the first time, all it meant was Sirius was going to be able to exact some kind of revenge later on, which of course was always fun.

Grumbling again Sirius pulled himself up off the floor, wincing at the painful welt on his head, he stifled a yawn and grabbed the shirt from the end of his bed. The room was scarily quiet, being who he was Sirius didn't like the silence at all, he liked noise, chaos, people having fun around him. With his shirt hanging open, showing off the wife beater vest beneath, he slipped his feet into his boots and left the dorm room. There was no real destination in mind he just needed some kind of social interaction, even if it involved winding up the Slytherin's though that was usually more fun when he had James at his side, that way the trouble caused doubled.

Stepping out into the common room, he looked around for his friends only to see they weren't there. Sighing he took a step towards the portrait before stopping, as it opened, a smile spreading over his handsome face. The portrait slammed shut when no one stepped through, and Sirius turned around to face Layla as she looked up. He hadn't missed the blush in her cheeks and when she hid behind the book he laughed and walked over to her, plucking the book from between her fingers to glance at the cover as he dropped into the seat beside her. "Why you wasting time reading kid...?" he sighed, dropping the book on the other side of the seat beside him, out of her reach as he turned a smile her way. "Where you been...not seen you around for a couple of days...and you know I'd remember seeing your pretty face lately..." he teased, hoping to encourage a smile out of her.

[lovelylayla]

As her book was plucked from her hands, Layla made a strange sound somewhere between a squeak and a growl and she looked up at the thief scornfully. “H-hey!” Her voice wavered, much to her chagrin, and she glared unconvincingly. Narrowing her eyes dangerously at his words, Layla crossed her arms and looked away. She’d always hated that Sirius still thought of her as a kid. Even though she was still just barely a teenager, she was only a year younger than him and it wasn’t as if he was that much (or any bit) more mature than her.

Looking back over at him, she uncrossed her arms and unsuccessfully tried to reach for the book. “I’m not wasting time.” As an afterthought, she muttered: “And I’m not a kid.” Despite her annoyance, she blushed harder and looked away again when Sirius smiled at her, trying to hide her flustered state. Resisting the urge to huff when he asked her where she had been lately, Layla thanked her lucky stars that he hadn’t noticed she had been avoiding him lately. She continued looking away and chewed her lip absently when he called her pretty, but couldn’t resist smiling softly at his words. “I’ve been... busy. With homework and stuff” she responded lamely.

Trying to seem normal, Layla looked back over at him and forced a bright smile his way. “I know what you mean though, we haven’t seen each other in a while.” That was only partially true. Yes, she had raced through her meals so that they wouldn’t run into each other, and yes she had done everything she could to avoid him, but Layla had continued attending Quidditch games, and watch the Gryffindor team practices ― as she had before the crush developed. Though, she tried to stay as invisible as possible in both cases. She felt somewhat stalker-y, but even if no one saw her, she wanted to be supportive of her House.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius looked at Layla in surprise hearing the small growl coming from her. Laughing he shook his head, and stuck his tongue out when she attempted to glare at him. It was obvious his use of the term kid had been what had set her off because she'd crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes dangerously. Reaching out he patted her knee and smiled brightly, giving it a gentle squeeze, "I'm teasing you beautiful...smile...your so much prettier when you show off those pearly whites. he said, waggling his eye brows at her.

"I know your not a kid...trust me..." he told her, smiling again, finally pulling his hand away from her knee and plucking her book back up, though he didn't give her it. He was enjoying seeing that blush in her cheeks far too much, she was so easily embarrassed as of late and he couldn't really understand why...yes he was sometimes that dense when it came to the opposite sex. Layla didn't look back at him as she chewed her lip, but she smiled when he saw the small smile on her face, "Homework and stuff? Now that is a waste of time when you could be spending time with me...your favourite person in the world..." he said with a scoff, though finishing with a smile.

"Well lets change that now...I was going to hunt down James but I'm sticking here...with you...we need a catch up...you my dear have been extremely difficult to catch as of late, even at practice...one would think you were avoiding me." he said, flipping open her book, reading through it a little as he did. Swinging his arm around the back of the couch he held it up, "You be so kind as to let me borrow this...I'd like to see whats so interesting about it..." he asked her with a smile.

[lovelylayla]

Cursing herself with every fiber of her being, Layla felt her heart skip a beat as Sirius squeezed her knee. She loosened her crossed arms (though still keeping them crossed) and couldn’t help but smile lightly when he called her beautiful. Sirius had always been very flirtatious, and though he was usually less so towards her, she still expected it from him so she wasn’t sure why she was getting so flustered. Despite said fluster, she still managed to stick her tongue out at Sirius playfully when he waggled his eyebrows at her.

When he spoke again though, her tongue retracted quickly, the tip sticking out for a bit before retreating. Something in his words made her heart beat faster, and she hoped dearly that he wouldn’t notice. She knew that the moment Sirius figured out her feelings, he’d tease her relentlessly and eventually break her heart. And that would probably kill her.

Even though she never spoke of it, she’d always felt conflicted about her birthmother’s choice to abandon her. Jay was an amazing dad, and Layla loved him dearly... but that didn’t change the anger and confusion she felt whenever she thought about Nicolette. She’d been told that her ‘mother’ had no choice, that her grandparents had forced her to abandon baby Layla at the hospital, not even allowing her to name the baby before they left.

Because of this early trauma, Layla had always been subconsciously ― and sometimes consciously ― worried that something was wrong with her, even that she was incapable of being loved. She never said anything, but she constantly feared that her loved ones would leave her. So she tried not to let people in. Not that she wasn’t affectionate; she always seemed cheerful and there was always a smile on her face, but she kept herself closely guarded. Her true friends were only people that she’d grown to trust after a few years. And strangely, Sirius had become one of them. While he often seemed like a playboy and a flake, Sirius was actually a loyal friend... but now that was the problem.

He was a loyal friend, but he’d never been in a relationship with a girl that lasted more than one night and that worried Layla. While he was unlikely to do anything to betray her trust, he was fairly likely to lead her on and even... She didn’t want to think about that. Even though she’d probably enjoy everything he had to offer, Layla would want more. She wasn’t the type of girl that would be satisfied with one night, and she’d fall hard. The type of fall that ended with a sudden stop and lots of pain.

Hearing him speculate that she had been avoiding him, Layla looked over at him sideways with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. “Now, who ever said you were my favorite person?” She leaned in closer, despite her previous worries, and continued smiling mischievously. “Could it be that I have other friends I care about too?” Scoffing, she leaned back again. “Plus I actually have been busy with schoolwork. I’ve been falling seriously behind in a few classes and if I want to stay on the team I need to get my grades up.” She smiled at him. It was a big fat lie, but Layla was sure he wouldn’t notice. Somehow, she’d gotten fairly good at lying, especially to him. Probably because of all the practice she’d had.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius narrowed his eyes playfully when Layla stuck out her tongue at him, "Be careful or I'll bite it off..." he chuckled playfully, smiling softly as he looked back away from her. It was strange how easy it was hanging out with Layla, she was a good friend and he was extremely protective of her for that. Licking his lip he sighed quietly and looked back up at her smiling again when he saw that mischievous sparkle light up in her eyes as she looked back over at him.

"Oh come on gorgeous you know I am...you totally love me...I dare you to deny it..." he waggled his eyebrows playfully at her before winking at her suggestively as he leaned in closer to her like she'd done to him only seconds previous before she leaned back again. It was easy enough to fool around like this with most girls, but he had to admit it was a first with Layla, she was usually a little more reserved with him, especially lately and he wasn't sure why. "Of course you can have other friends babe but I doubt they're as awesome as me." he said full of confidence, smiling at her brightly.

"You falling behind in classes? Now that I don't believe...your just avoiding me princess admit it..." he said, focusing on her solely despite hearing a few more students enter the common room. If they weren't his fellow marauders then he wasn't really interested in seeing who it was, for now Layla had his full attention. "So come on if your telling the truth what lessons are you struggling in? Tell Uncle Sirius..." he said, patting her leg again, not bothering to move his hand from her leg instead he rested it there.