"Mine are." Luckier. He'd decided it just now. And the reasoning was because every time he kissed her, she let him kiss her again. So obviously his kisses were lucky since it wasn't ever just one.

Was.... now maybe good? Not for kisses because Professor James rules, but... for other things? For saying things? The casualness of his next statement was a lie, given how much effort he'd put in for this night and all.

"You... you could be my girlfriend now, if you wanted to be." West said, trying to sound like it was no big deal but actually the fifteen year old Slytherin was almost holding his breath waiting for an answer.

Luck and kisses were immediately forgotten as soon as West started saying stuff, because it made sense now. Kind of. Not really.

"That's not even a question," she pointed out. It sounded like a suggestion. Or like he was giving her permission or something. Why was he acting all nervous and fidgety? He knew exactly what Alice was going to say when he DID ask. It wasn't like it was a secret. As long as she could throw jelly slugs at his face and tell him she'd be his if he could catch, things were going fine, didn't he know?

.. but there weren't any jelly slugs. Or anything that could be caught, really.

He wasn't getting an answer until she had food to throw at his face. Like a cookie or something. That was tradition. It worked that way, even in fancied up broomsheds.

"The question part was implied." Did she need a high rising terminal on that then? He rest his chin in his hand and watched her closely. "I want you to be, starting from today."

.... and he was being stubborn.

"Implications are hard to understand. People want lots of things. Like, I want jelly slugs. Do you have any?" Alice ducked under the table and started groping, looking for stray bits of food to toss in case he didn't have any of those.

She still wanted a question.

West kept staring at her. Serious business staring of the intent kind where he didn't even blink.

"I always have jelly slugs." He said and tugged a small packet out of his jacket pocket. He held them up but didn't give them over to her.

He had them? She tried standing up so quickly that head hitting and near knocking over of the table happened. Whoops. Carefully crawling back out from under the table and back into her seat as to avoid another head injury, Alice rubbed her sore skull and stared at him intently.

"I need those."

He just sat there.

"If you were my girlfriend, I'd give them to you." West said, still being stubborn. Because that was the next logical step up from sulky.

She set her jaw in adamance, resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at him like a little kid. "That's okay, I don't need them until you ask anyway."

'Cause she was getting asked. Properly. And then he was getting food thrown at his head.

That was how it was going to go. Alice had decided already, he didn't get a say.

"....................................." West opened the packet and ate one and just eyed her.

She was going to try and out-stubborn an Odessa? Okay then.

Bring it.

He was staying girlfriendless, then. Alice reached for her glass and sipped from it slowly, still staring.

A sentence. Starting with a question word, ending with punctuation that wasn't a period or an exclamation mark.

It wasn't that hard, West.

Questions totally WEREN'T necessary, he'd outright SAID he wanted her to be from today and she ignored it. So he ate another jelly slug and made a show of REALLY ENJOYING it.

It wasn't even his fault. It wasn't.


Mmm GOOD jelly slug. And none for YOU Alice Fischer.

Juice was just as good as jelly slugs.

Okay, maybe not. But jelly slugs weren't as good as having her for a girlfriend, and Alice stubbornly clung to that thought.

Question. Five words. Go.

"There's dessert too." He said, continuing to spoil his with jelly slugs. Not even because he wanted them, but because she did but she wasn't cooperating with stuff he wanted and he'd gone to all this effort and everything.

For her. On account of he properly liked her and properly wanted her to be his girlfriend even so that people knew and stuff.

"Do you want dessert?" See? Question. There was one.

"Other than jelly slugs?"

Question, but only four words, not five. And only one of the approved words was present. Alice wasn't taking it.

"Sure. Do I get dessert before or after you ask me?" Because he was asking. It was happening.

"Other than jelly slugs, and I already SAID stuff." Frown. "I don't want any dessert now anyways." He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair stubbornly.

"You've said that stuff before, though. While you were with her. You've said you wanted me to. Never asked."

With a question mark.

It was also okay that he didn't want any. If he was still giving it to her, Alice was hungry enough for the both of them.

....... West didn't like this feeling. This.... whipped feeling. Like the part where agonizingly he KNEW that he'd cave in eventually. Maybe. Nope. He rebelled against it. No way would HE be some whipped kid on account of a really pretty girl. He called for the elf again who served up apple crumble with vanilla custard. No ice cream because... well. That stuff was everywhere and all so a change was good. West wasn't paying any attention to the dessert though.

"I want you to be my girlfriend. And nobody else's. And only snog me." She was getting statements and that was that.

The dessert and the elf went unnoticed again, because Alice was too busy staring him down. She'd out-stubborned Selina Skylar, surely she could take some Slytherin. Caving meant losing, and she didn't cave. Ever. Not even to Odessas. Not even to Wests.

"Put that into question format and you're golden." But until he asked, these lips, see them? Free to snog whoever.

She still wanted those jelly slugs.

"You can't tell me how to SAY things." West said and picked up his spoon. He dug it into the custard without even looking.

And just to be facetious and difficult, he dipped one of the jelly slugs in the custard too, and then theatrically ate THAT.

"I'm not. You can ask however you want." As long as he asked.

Finally noticing the dessert, she picked up a utensil and prodded at the custard, speaking up again after a moment or two. "You can do all of these proper things like fix up a shed and make the insides presentable and put all that effort in for just one evening, but you can't ask me to be your girlfriend properly?" People asked proper questions on proper dates.

He specified. His fault.

West's mood was going sour and he just shrugged at her. The sulking was back. "Forget it then."

He transferred his attention to food and focused really hard on dessert, slumping lower and lower in his chair as he ate.

No. No, he couldn't ask. There was her answer.

Alice was sulking too, thinking back to certain train rides with vampire bunnies and other Ravenclaw boys who hadn't asked either, only suggested. There was definitely something wrong with the relationship between question marks and people who liked her.

"You can have mine if you're still hungry." She nudged her food toward him halfheartedly, looking up at the fireflies and away from the slugs. "Chicken filled me up and stuff."

"You're a liar. You're still hungry." And West... leaned over a bit hesitantly and placed a jelly slug on top of her crumble. Just one mind you. Only one.


....

......

..... strugglestrugglestruggle. It was like a whipping noise echoed in his head.

"..............please? .............Be mine?"

Look who had just out-stubborned an Odessa.

As soon as the first question mark was evident in his voice, Alice was all beamy and looking away from bioluminescent bugs and completely elated. She won. See? No caving. Leaning forward and tugging the slug off her custard, she promptly broke it in two and tossed one half way high up in the air.

"If you can catch."

Wha-what? West reacted fairly quick but he also hadn't been expecting that, and made a wild grab, then toppled backward in his chair, landing on his back and bein smacked in the eye with the half-slug for his troubles.

'pparently he couldn't catch.