Quote:
Originally Posted by
fire_faerie 
"You hate celebrating?" Rachel repeated, slightly bemused. How could ANYONE hate celebrating? On those rare occasions where she actually was ABLE to celebrate, she had been practically bouncing up and down for weeks. It was sad to see that it wasn't like that for everyone.
"When I was younger, my parents had this celebratory dinner with their fancy guests on my 10th birthday and I would not be exaggerating when I say that I absolutely loathed it. With a passion," she nodded, remembering the horrible event. She had just wanted to have a cake in the shape of something funky, like all her friends had, but instead she got mini dishes of panna-cotta (which was great) drenched in some sort of liquer (not so great)... If Reid's birthdays had all been something like that, then she felt sorry for him.
Plus, she could now understand why he didn't enjoy celebrating. "Tell you what - I'll sniff around while you're shooting, see if there's anything fun we can do. If there is, then we'll celebrate out but if there isn't maybe if you wanted, we could have a small gathering of some sort - just us and a couple friends... Nothing too extravagant - whatever you want. How does that sound?" she suggested gently, reaching out with her free hand to move a blond strand to the side of his face, framing it and smiling fondly at him.
"Do people actually do that? It sounds horrid," Rachel said in a disgusted tone, turning from him to stare at the camp fire just ahead of them. She had of course heard stories and read books about women who married or got together with rich people - and the other way round, males were also despicable - but she just couldn't understand HOW people would want to sacrifice all the joys of life for something so materialistic. Money doesn't buy happiness - as she proved the moment she left it all behind and traded it with her life with Jake. And truthfully, she doubted that she had ever been happier.
Turning around to where both her and his hands were now pointing, she saw a much larger tent than her own and nodded as he explained that Neko was there. "Yeah, kittens tire easily - my own kitten, well, teenage cat now really would always be an energy bomb and then quite suddenly, fall asleep on my lap or under the bed," she told Reid, while catching a glimpse of the tiny tent that was hers behind Reid's. She tried not to sigh - Reid was lovely and all, but the fifth year would have to get used to being out-shined in pretty much everything from now on if she wanted to stay happy.
She honestly didn't mind it - all the glamour, all the money, the wealth - but no one could deny people needed adjusting to it. And she was no different. Forcing those thoughts towards the back of her head, she focused on one fact that almost made her laugh; while Reid might be a star in the outside world, at Hogwarts she had power greater than him. And that, in her mind, balanced everything out pretty nicely.
"Mostly it's just my own birthday I hate celebrating, I enjoy celebrating other peoples birthday's though. I remember when I was younger I looked forward to all my friends having a birthday because their parents would always let us do something fun. On my friend Jason's twelfth birthday his father took us to the set of a movie he was working on. His dad's a stunt man so we got a tour and everything. I actually got lost and accidentally went into a room where they were auditioning for another movie. It was what got me into acting more than modelling." Reid recounted the day with enthusiasm, clearly remembering what had happened in his minds eye. That day would have to have been the turning point in his life.
"Can you ride?" Reid asked, an idea formulating in his mind. Clearly Rachel wanted to celebrate his birthday so he might as well give in and help her decide where to go. Plus he needed to go visit his horses anyway and all his friend's horses were in the same stables...
"Yea they do it. That's Hollywood though. And my old school." he gave a kind of self-deprecating look, remembering his first relationship. "It's mainly a school for the rich and magical but there are a few scholarship students who would pretend to like you just so that they could be seen with you and hopefully get some money off you." Reid shrugged as if to shake it off before turning his attention back to focus solely on Rachel.
"And will I get to meet this cat that you speak of?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow in slight question. Following her slightly disheartened gaze back to his tent he sighed realising what she must be thinking. "I just hope it doesn't fall down on her, or me. It took me about two hours to get it standing and then another hour to put my things in it and make a comfy bed for Neko. No matter how many times I go camping I never seem to master the art of putting up a tent. Which is actually a good thing I guess. I mean I can't be good at everything right?" he asked, telling her the truth about the tent. He'd even hurt himself while putting it up but decided it better to leave that little fact out.