Tori was super excited and pumped about this blind date thingy. Despite all of Taryn's wheedling and whining and begging and pleading, she STILL hadn't told her best friend who her date was. That's why it was called a BLIND date, duhhhhh.

The redhead shook the soot off her as she floo'd to the place Paulie had chosen. She made certain it was all out of her hair and off her clothes before she started looking for him --- and oh, there he was! Sitting under an umbrella all happy-like.

Tori skipped over to his chair and paused when she got up close to him, deciding to sneak upon him from behind and put her hands over his eyes. Hehehee.

"Excuse me, sir," she said in an extra high-pitched voice. "But do they sell exploding lemonades here?"

Cuz that did sound thirst-quenching right now. HEH.

Miss Taryn sighed lightly as she peered through her sunglasses, hoping that she could spot her bestie and her bestie's boyfriend without actually having to take them off.

Her fingers twitched at the side of her face, about to take them off, when she spotted them. Over there.

Being cutesy.

Errr.. Taryn just took her time walking. She was pleased to see that she had arrived before her... 'date'. "Hello." She greeted the two and flipped her skirt at them. This was the part where they told her how PRETTY she was in her sun dress. Obviously!

Paulie ran the pads of his thumbs over the edge of the table... Hopefully no one was thinking he was a loner boy or something. You know, sitting all alone at a table and stuff. Not that he knew anyone else sitting at these tables, but still.. he glanced around anyway. That was, until, his vision suddenly went black.

A pair of hands had now covered his eyes, and despite the girl's attempt to disguise her voice, Paulie totally knew it was Tori. "Exploding lemonade?" She probably felt his eyebrows lift. "I donno. But I know they definitely don't serve them to Victoria Bunburys." He pulled her hands off his eyes and grinned as he tugged her down for an upside-down kiss. Spiderman style!

Not long after Tori arrived, her best buddy did, too. "Taryn!" He gave her a big smile as well, then noticed her showing off her sundress. "Well, Au-.. er, your date is gonna be swept off his feet, for sure." Man, he had almost given it away already. Phew.

Why on Earth had he agreed to go on a blind date?

Oh yeah Tori Bunbury, his good friend, wanted him too that's why. Princess Tori got what she wanted regardless of the others involved it seemed. Auggie had once had a really big crush on the girl but ever since he had found out she had a boyfriend, his fellow Gryffindor Paulie Foster, a boy he didn't really know all too well, he allowed his feelings to fall to the wayside. She was off-limits now.

So when he was asked to go on a blind date with someone that Tori was trying to set him up with was more than worrying to Auggie but he wasn't going to say no. The fact that he had never really been on a date before was really starting to eat at the young Gryffindor though. He wasn't sure what all to wear and finally had decided on just a pair of khakis and a dark red polo striped with lighter shades of the same color. His hair was just as curly as the school term before.

Once he had Floo'd his way to the place Tori had told him to go, Auggie stepped out into the sunlit resturaunt patio, almost being run over by a woman on skates. Oh it was one of those places. Using his hand to shade his eyes, he peered around the tables for anysite of the Slytherin girl.

Finally seeing her with Paulie, August walked over to their table, unable to see the other girl who was with them. The butterflies in his stomach had just spontaneously combusted into about twice the amount that were flying around in there to begin with.

"Hey Tori and Paulie, sorry I'm running a bit late."

EEE! Spiderman-style kiss! Tori almost giggled all while Paulie was kissing her but she held it together and kissed him back. Then she sat down on his lap and waved at Taryn.

"Hi BFF!" she grinned. "You look SUPER pretty." She smacked Paulie's knee for almost giving her BLIND DATE away. "Your DATE will def like that dress."

And speaking of her date... here he was now! "MR. BLIND DATE!" Tori announced loudly, hopping off of Paulie's lap to go give August a hug. "Meet YOUR date!"

Taryn! Taryn and August. Awwww didn't they cute together? She and Paulie were just SO SMART for setting them up like this.

Paulie gave a complacent smile, not arguing when Tori found her new seat on his lap. Okay, so three down, one to go! Where was August Goldstein? The suspense was probably killing poor Taryn, or it would have been for him if he were in her shoes. Oh, oh.. they should have hired some bearded old guy to pretend to be her date at first! Man, why had they not thought of that before? That would have been a riot. heheh.

But no matter, 'cause here was the boy himself. "Hey," Paulie greeted with a smile, though he made sure not to say his name, since Taryn hadn't turned around just yet. His eyes flashed to Taryn. "Surprise!" Even though this wasn't a surprise party, he sorta felt the need to say it anyway. "Ta da-ah. Now you guys should order a milkshake and stick two straws in there," he grinned. Hey, wait. He turned to his girlfriend. "Tori, we should do that, too." As long as they agreed on chocolate, of course, which, considering this was Tori, she would most likely want strawberry.

Taryn knew that voice....

She glanced over her shoulder and smiled when she saw her boy!bestie, "Hi Auggie!" She waved, too. "What are you doing here?" WHAT a COINCIDENCE. Maybe she could get his opinion on her da......

Er.... Taryn blinked slowly, wondering if she had heard that right.

"What?!" She looked from Tori, who was hugging Auggie, to Paulie who was all happy about this 'SURPRISE'. Then, finally, she glanced at Auggie himself. DID HE KNOW ABOUT THIS?

"I wasn't... expecting to KNOW him." Or for it to BE Auggie. Her boy!bestie.

Awkward....

Smiling awkwardly as Tori got up and practically shouted that he was on a blind date to the rest of the people who were at the tables surrounding them, Auggie hugged her back and waved over at Paulie as he went to sit down in the chair...next to TARYN!

"Oh hey Taryn, what are you doing here? Were you in the resturaunt first? You know what these crazy people are having me--?" he was cut-off as Paulie's words brought him down to earth.

This was a date for him and Taryn? But where was her date, and why had his girl not shown up? They could have at least warned him there would be a third couple.

Oh...

Taryn's outburst mirrored his own feelings, bringing back the awkwardness he had felt back at school when she asked if he thought she was pretty up in the treehouse. "Uh yeah. I thought a blind date meant you didn't know the person Tori." he eyed her pleadingly. Did she want to give him a heart attack?!

"Ohemgee we shoulddddd! As long as it's strawberry!!" Tori trilled, releasing August from his hug and clapping at Paulie. She finally sat down in the chair closest to him and positively beamed as she looked all around at her friends, especially Taryn and August! They were just going to lo---

---love each other. Except that they already knew each other, apparently. Tori's bottom lip jutted out and she stared from one friend to the other, her look of pride quickly turning into one of confusion.

"Wait wait waaaaaait." She held up a hand. "How do you guys KNOW each other already? This was supposed to be a SECRET."

Paulie got some LOOKS at THAT.

Yep. Paulie called it. OF COURSE Tori wanted strawberry. "Awh, shucks, Tor. I wanted chocolate." Hmmmm. He gave a shrug. "We can get a mix?" Best of both worlds?

............

Huh? Whatwhatwhat? They knew each other??! Not only that, but they were CHUMS! "Uhh.." What now? Paulie began matting down his hair in a repetitive fashion. "Well.... okay, I had no idea you guys were friends. And I don't think Tori knew, either." He looked to her for affirmation, but she was already giving him some sorta look. Soo, he turned back to Taryn and August. "Okay, so I suggested August as the blind date, so I guess it's my fault.." Yes, maybe he should have invested some more research into this. After all, he barely even knew August! Ei ei ei.

His torso flopped back against the back of his chair. Hmmm. "Well, me and Tori were quite set on being credited with pairing up the next Hogwarts golden couple, ya know. Any chances you two might spark some latent lovebug syndrome?" He gave a hopeful smile.

Hehh. And if not, which somehow seemed the case at the moment, then at least they were with good company and very delicious looking beverages.

What kind of question was THAT? Taryn was exhasperated. She had THOUGHT her BFF would know that she already knew a person. Especially a BOY. A boy who she had not only met once, but multiple times. A boy!bestie.

Taryn had no idea what was the right answer for that question. SURE... maybe... people 'sparked' with friends all the time. She'd actually heard that it was better that way.... that friends made the best boyfriends... but... errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... She didn't want to say NO. NEVER. Because not only was that mean, but it wasn't true either. Maybe Auggie wasnt... you know.. NOW, but maybe they were actually DESTINED to be! Taryn wasn't about to spit in the eye of destiny.

She also wasn't going to say YES because... well, right now, at the moment, he was just a friend.

She didn't KNOW WHAT TO SAY. If the heat on her face was any indication, she was blushing. That was such an awful question!

Taryn glanced at Tori as if the girl could speak her own mind FOR her. Maybe? Well, anyway, this was her fault and all... FIX IT!

Auggie couldn't believe he had agreed to this. Taking a deep breath, he ran a hand through his hair slowly trying to get a grasp on the situation, and drying his hardest not to look at Taryn. Things were already weird enough, there was no point in making her feel even more awkward.

Oh wait, Paulie just did.

O__o

Why? Why would he ever say that. Auggie just sat there mortified looking between his fellow Gryffindor and his Slytherin better half. Well what were they going to do now? He didn't completely dislike the idea of sharing this date with Taryn but they were friends. Did guy and girl friends do that? Was it ok? But did she even like him like that?

"Maaaaybe," Tori told Paulie, trying to picture how she would be able to slurp a milkshake without accidentally slurping any of the gross chocolate. Hmm. They'd have to have two straws, right?

....But then she noticed both August AND Taryn staring at her, giving her like, sad but dirty looks. "COME ON GUYS, THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN!" Tori mini!exploded, letting out a long puff of frustration. "Can't you two just PRETEND you don't know each other? It'll be fun. Think of it as like.... like an acting exercise, yeah. Just ACT like you're just meeting for the first time."

She nodded enthusiastically, very pleased with her own brilliant idea. "You can ask each other all sorts of those awkward questions you probably don't even know, too! Like when's your birthday, what's your favorite color, yada yada..."

It'd still be fun, right?

Heheh. Well, maybe there WERE feelings between them 'cause Taryn was definitely blushing and August was all 'let me run my hand through my hair to look like I'm doing something.' Mmmmmmhmm. Or.. well, maybe Paulie was misinterpreting things. BUT, there was hope, he thought.

He smiled over at Tori as she laid it all out to them. Yes, yes! They could at least act like strangers or something! At least he and Tori were on the same wavelength here. "Yeah, it'll all work out; just go with the flow," Paulie nodded, not having much else to elaborate on.

He glanced over to his left, then back to the two blind daters. "Better make up your minds quick, too - here comes our waitress." Yesser. A girl who looked about sixteen or seventeen skated on over to them on rollerskates and whipped out a pencil and paper. What'll it be?? "We'll have a large strawberry milkshake. Two straws. Oh, with whipped cream, too."

Ahemhem. Taryn? August?

ALRIGHT. That was it. She officially had the most unhelpful friends EVER. EVER. Taryn looked helplessly between Tori and Paulie, disbelief on her face. She didn't understand.. how... HOW...

Then, finally, she turned around and actually looked at Auggie for the first time since she realized he was her date. She stepped up to him and took his arm, leading him away from the crazy people.

"I need to talk to you." AWAY FROM THE CRAZIES.

Auggie listened as both Tori and Paulie tried to get Trayen and him in on the crazy of just ignoring their friendship and the fact that they already knew each other. How on earth were they supposed to do that. The Gryffindor couldn't even look at Taryn without thinking of their fun times together how was he supposed to pretend he didn't know her.

It was obviously hard for her too because she stood up and grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the happy couple with a hiss about needing to talk to him. "Oh, uh, sure things Taryn." he said as he too stood and was dragged away. He then saw the waitress standing there and yelled back to Tori. "Order me something please!"

He needed to face the awkward with Taryn.

Taryn didn't speak until she got them so far away from Tori and Paulie that she was 100% SURE they couldn't hear anything. Only then did she stop and then she let go of his arm, finally looking at him.

"This is weird. I'm not going to lie. I have to admit it." Obviously it was ALL a little weird, but it had to be said from HER, so... he could admit it too. "Do you think it would be awful to be on a date with me?" Cause... she sort of didn't think it would be so awful....

Glad to have her tight grip off of his arm, Auggust looked at her and tried to not make it seem as awkward as the situation really was. They weren't strangers, so what. But were they that sort of friend that it would make the thing COMPLETELY weird? He wasn't sure yet.

Now she was asking him if he thought it would be awful to be with her on a date. "Uh-h u-um no. No of course not." he said trying reassure her. Yeah it would be werid at first but he had nothing against her. She was fun and...pretty.

"I think I can handle a date with you Taryn." the Gryffindor grinned.

Taryn nodded at his answer. Right. RIGHT. They could totally pull this off, right...?

"Just.. so we're clear." Or maybe just so SHE had it right. "This is a real date?" She glanced back towards where they had left their friends, "Like... what Tori and Paulie do." They date. Taryn and Auggie were NOT exactly Tori and Paulie, though. "Except, this is a first date." Possibly an only date. Taryn wasn't getting all weird about this and messing up their friendship. "I mean, they had to think we would do well together to pick us.."

....Right?

Auggie listened to her, his head leaning towards her a bit as he tried to process everything she said making sure he understood her right. So they were dating now? Hmm. Just like, well sort of like, Tori and Paulie were? "Ok I'm in." he nodded once.

"Let's rock this first date." he didn't feel so awkward now. Taryn had sort of enstilled a sense of comfort in him now what he knew she was sort of nervous/awkward about the whole situation aswell. "Shall we get going then?" he asked looking back at the two dummies who had brought them here.

Really?

Taryn grinned. She'd never thought about going on a date with Auggie before, but it wasn't such a bad idea, especially since he seemed to be willing to give it a try too. It was a big weight off of her shoulders to know that it was just as weird for him as it was for her. Good. Now they could get OVER this part.

"Totally." She agreed with a nod, and glanced back to... "They'll have comments, you know." She added, before slowly taking a step forward. He DID know that, right?

Glad that they had finally settled this Auggie started to walk back to where Tori and Paulie sat waiting, probably pretty confused as to what was happening--if they even cared. He was stopped by Taryn once again.

"Yeah I know, but that's just Tori and Paulie being Tori and Paulie, right?" he grinned. Wait, he was dating Taryn? He was confused now.....

"Come on let's go back now." he said quietly with a small smile. He guessed they were at least.

Taryn shrugged. That was true, anyway. Tori was going to be TORI about this, but that didn't mean that Taryn should let it affect her day. MAYBE she was going to have a GOOD DAY with Auggie?

She blushed a little bit at the thought and just nodded at him. Right. They were going back over there now.

She smiled at the both of them and gave her BFF a 'we WILL talk later' look when they arrived. "Alright. What did we miss?" Hehe. No comments on the talk she'd just had with Auggie.

Just go with the flow. Right right, Paulie phrased it perfectly. Tori beamed at the happy soon-to-be-couple she and her boyfriend had set up and even turned around in her chair to watch them walk away together.

"HOW CUTE ARE THEY," she whisper!shouted to Paulie the instant the lovedoves had walked off. "Huh? How bout that... they're just brill." She beamed some more and then remembered that Auggie had wanted her to order him something too.

She quickly flagged down the waitress and got Augustaryn the same thing Paulie had ordered, plus a big basket of French fries for them all to share. That done, she settled back in her chair and laid her eyes on Paulie.

"How awesome are we, huh?" HEHEE. This was all going SO well! Just as she said that, though, Taryn and August returned to the table and there were lots of weird LOOKS going around.

Er........ "We were just talking about how much FUN this is going to be!" Tori answered her BFF brightly. "And... I ordered us some fries." Duh, cuz they were her fave.