Breaking the Ice [Dimitri]

It had been almost five days since the night Dimitri had ran off, with no explanation. He had obviously been flustered, but the witch had no idea what had happened. Of course, a part of her knew, but she was so shocked about that discovery that her brain hadn’t actually put two and two together. She had gone to bed, frustrated and mildly aroused, without knowing what exactly had happened.

It had been that Friday evening, though, when Nerisei was curled up in the loveseat of their Common Room, reading a steamy fanfiction story, that she finally understood exactly what had caused Dimitri to stop their dancing session and flee. A part of her already knew that, of course, since she had rubbed against that prominent part of him -and enjoyed it-, but it was only now, 4 days later, that she finally figured everything out.

Dimitri had been aroused. By her, possibly.

He had actually got an erection.

Nerisei’s eye had almost popped out of their sockets, and her mouth hit the floor in seconds. Oh, dear God! What had she done! All this time, she was trying not to make him feel uncomfortable around her, and now, that had to happen? How much more uncomfortable could she possibly make this?
Though, why had he been aroused? Was it the rubbing? But, why would he get aroused by it if he didn’t harbour any feelings for her? Unless…

No, Neri. He said there’s was no way, the voice in her head insisted. She knew that she shouldn’t get her hopes up. She knew that very damn well. But how could she not?  If he had actually got a hard on because of her, that meant he liked her in some way. And Nerisei felt so… honored about it.. This was a compliment for a girl. Knowing that the guys she was in love with was actually turned on at the idea of her. It meant she had an effect on him.

But he was denying everything.

In a matter of seconds, the Common Room was filled with people, including the girls from her Dorm. Nerisei didn’t make a move to join them, even though Anne insisted she should sit and play with them. “Neri, come on! We will play spin the bottle, and Dimitri’s friends are here too. That means he will be coming along any moment now..,” Anne whispered and nudged her. “I’ll stay here, thank you, Anne.”

Though, the other witch was right, because Dimitri soon joined them in the Common Room. Nerisei’s eye followed his movement, and her eyes caught his briefly, before both of them turned away, cheeks red. Dimitri knew that she knew what what happened. It was obvious. Anne urged her to come play again but Nerisei shook her head. The girl gave up and the witch turned back to reading her fluffy story in piece, her eyes darting to Dimitri, who seemed to be lost in a book, after he had, too, denied to play with them.

Dimitri glanced at her once in a while too, she could feel it, but she didn’t dare to look. She was conflicted. They had to talk about what happened, and put it behind them. They had agreed on staying friends, yet, after what happened that night, they barely even looked at each other. This was something natural. They had to solve this before she lost him again.

The Common Room was slowly emptying, but neither of them moved. A few goodnights here and there, but that was all, Nerisei curled in the loveseat like a cat, dressed in an oversized sweater and some tights, and Dimitri sitting in the sofa, reading his book undeterred. It wasn’t until everyone had gone to bed, that the silence finally broke.

“Dimitri…” Nerisei said, ever so softly. She didn’t know what to do, honestly. Hesitantly, she pushed herself off of the armchair and moved where he was sitting. Once she was comfortable, in a cross legged stance, facing him, Nerisei decided to speak.
“We… we both know what happened that day. But that doesn’t have to break us apart…”
Wrong words, Neri, the voice in her head scolded. How could she say this without sounding weird?

“I just… I think that, we don’t have to think about it too much, you know? It’s a natural reaction, it happened, it’s over now, and we can move on.”
Her eyes found his, and the witch nervously bit her lip. She could only hope that Dimitri would understand. She couldn’t lose him. Not over such a thing.

Nerisei was worried. She didn’t want to make Dimitri feel uncomfortable, even though she knew very well he already felt that. All she wanted to do, was fix this situation, before things got out of hand. She liked spending time with him, and she wasn’t hiding that fact at all. But unless they solved this issue between them, there could be a possibility they would never talk to each other again.

The apology came soon after, and Nerisei had to smile softly as Dimitri looked, once again, flushed. Even in occasions like this, he still managed to look adorable and make her insides melt in record time. This should be illegal. Stop it, the voice in her head said. This was not the time for her to think about things like that. The point of this conversations was to break the awkwardness that had been created.

“I didn’t… I mean, just because that happened, doesn’t mean that’s what I want from you, or all I see you as… I… it was just a very stimulating dance, and I’m sorry for embarrassing you like that, and leaving abruptly…

“I just didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t want you to think I wanted…”

Neri blinked a couple of times. She could understand why he was apologising. He hadn’t meant to get… that excited, while they were dancing. And perhaps, this was the first time this was happening to him, so it was completely natural for him to feel insecure and ashamed. But embarrassing her? This was a form of compliment for a girl, knowing that someone was turned on because of you, especially if it’s the guys you like.It was far from an embarrassment. Though, it seemed, for Dimitri, it was a whole different story.

And then, it was the fact that he had admitted he had no idea what to do. Though, as the explanation came from him, that he didn’t want her to think that all he wanted from her was… sex, Nerisei’s eyebrows almost touched the sky. Why would she think something like that? Dimitri had made zero moves to get closer to her in that manner, and he had also made it perfectly clear that they were friends. Was there something he wasn’t telling her?

“Please, try to forget about it? It… shouldn’t happen again.”

“Okay, listen. First of all, you didn’t embarrass me. In any way. Secondly, I never believed that this was what you wanted from me, Dimitri. Neither did I make the assumption that you wanted to have… have sex with me.” Nerisei made a soft pause, watching his face carefully as she said the word that he had avoided earlier. It wasn’t a crime. It was simply a word that described an act, and that was it. He shouldn’t feel ashamed about it.

“And as I’ve already told you, I don’t want this to be the reason we stop talking. I know, very well, that it was an accident. We.. umm… sometimes, our bodies don’t follow ‘rules’. It happened, and it’s over. There is no point in acting like we are stranger because of it. And of course, as you said, it won’t happen again. But.. say… say that it happened again, you don’t have to run away from me. You don’t have to hide from me, Dimitri. I won’t judge you. I won’t leave you. And I, most certainly, not mock you. We will simply act as if nothing happened. Because it doesn’t change what I feel about you. It doesn’t make me want to stop spending time with you.”

The Ravenclaw witch took one of his hands in hers, softly, and gave him a big, encouraging smile. Everything is fine, she kept repeating in her head, hoping, that her body would hear.

The witch smiled as, once again, Dimitri apologised. Nerisei understood that he felt bad about this whole situation, but it was okay. She had just told him so. Why did he have to apologise over and over again? He didn’t do anything wrong. Well, in her eyes, at least, he hadn’t done anything that could be deemed wrong. But he was a Pureblood. A gentleman to extreme lengths. And to him, this was, probably, even worse than ‘wrong’.

“This isn’t a situation we’re drilled with, so I’m not sure how this goes now…”

Nerisei laughed along with him at that, feeling the tension lift just slightly. Of course, she knew that things weren’t how the used to be between them, but she was positive all would be sorted with time. They would forget this ever happened, and they would move on, doing all the things they were doing thus far. Their lives wouldn’t change and they would remain exactly how they were…

Just friends.

“I suggest, you go upstairs, have a nice shower, lie in your bed and close your eyes. Sleep it off. Act as if it was all just a big, fat nightmare. Okay?”
Nerisei gave Dimitri a big smile and a nod. She didn’t want him to dwell much on this. There was no point, after all.
“Forget this ever happened, and wake up tomorrow as the Dimitri I know.” And love, the voice in her head added.
“Wake up as my friend, once again.”

After that, Nerisei cupped his cheek with one of her hands, softly caressing the skin, before pulling back with a big smile. “I will head to bed now. Sleep it off, and wake up as your friend who would love to study with you tomorrow evening. If you don’t mind, of course.”

Nerisei waited until Dimitri gave a nod of approval, before she waved him goodbye and moved upstairs to her dorm. A sigh left her lips as she laid in her bed, and she closed  her eyes. Sleep took her almost immediately, and her dreams were filled, once again, with Dimitri’s face.