Since Finola had put Maia in the Hospital Wing, they'd hung out several times, each time much more successful than their first interaction. Well, it would've been hard to get much worse. After Maia had spent half an hour gushing to Erica and Jessie about Flo at one point, Jessie had very bluntly asked when Maia was going to ask her out. (Erica had shaken her head disapprovingly at Jessie.) That had broken Maia for a few minutes, before she had to admit to herself that, yes, she did have a crush on Flo. Maia wasn't even 100% sure if Flo was into girls, but hey, she might as well ask. The worst thing that could happen was that Flo laughed at her... but Maia was trying not to think too hard about that. Besides, she couldn't imagine Flo doing that. The two of them had plans today to wander around Hogsmeade together, so Maia was determined to pluck up some courage (she must have inherited at least a little from her mum) and ask Flo on a date. Maia was actually on time to their agreed meeting point in the Entrance Hall so she leant against the wall to wait for Flo.
Flo was pretty sure that being late was not how to impress gorgeous girls, but alas, here she was. She was running - well, jogging - to try to make up for it, but she was definitely going to be a few minutes late. Honestly, it wasn't as if she could make a worse impression than putting Maia in the Hospital Wing, and Maia had still wanted to hang out with her after that. Whether she'd want to date Flo was another story, but she'd made her peace with that. Sure, Maia was drop-dead beautiful and funny and sweet, but she could be content just being her friend. She got there just three minutes late. "Sorry I'm late," she said, doing her best to breathe normally and stand up straight like she was a healthy example of a human being.
Maia was pretty sure Flo had been rushing from the way she was breathing a little heavily but decided not to comment on it. It was unfair that she had been hurrying but still looked gorgeous. When Maia went jogging, she looked like she was dying. "Don't worry about it!" She said with a smile. It was only a couple of minutes, she'd barely noticed. Honestly, as long as someone didn't purposefully hurt Maia, she was pretty easy to get along with. "How's it going?"
Flo was fairly certain she hadn't managed to cleverly disguise how out of breath she was, but that just proved her devotion. It was a compliment. "Ah, so kind, but I've never met a thing I didn't worry about!" Hm, that might be a little too fourth-therapy-session for a casual friend hangout. She'd better move on quickly. "Great, thanks!" she said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "How are you? Shall we mosey off on our adventure?" She got weirder every week, she was sure.
Maia snorted at Flo's comment, though she wasn't sure if it was a joke or not. Flo didn't seem like someone who worried about everything, but maybe she hid it well. It was healthy to have a good amount of worry, anyway. Maia smiled at Flo's enthusiasm. "I'm good thanks!" She nodded, "Yes, let's mose! Allons-y!" She rolled her eyes at herself a little before starting to head off, but life was too short to not act like the person you were. That was Maia's philosophy.
Flo was relieved when Maia just snorted; clearly she'd taken it as a joke. She didn't think of herself as anxiety-ridden, really, she just worried what other people thought of her a little too much. Which sucked considering she was a loudmouthed boisterous idiot who got even worse around her best friend. "Glad to hear it!" They moseyed off together. At least the weather seemed ok today, for November. Which was a little worrying, actually. Couldn't wizards do something about global warming? Maybe they could just set some cooling charms? "Where to first?"
Maia was pondering how to say 'hey, I like you, let's go on a date sometime', wishing she'd asked someone for advice, when Flo asked where they should head first. Ah, yes, they didn't just want to aimlessly wander, otherwise they'd do 'a Maia' as her mum affectionately called it and look up from their conversation to realise they were in Hampshire. "Ooh, can we go to Honeydukes? I want to get Erica some chocolate." She had been a mess since breaking up with Brynn (although she had reassured Maia she should go on this not-a-date-but-she-wished-it-was) and Maia wanted to do something nice for her.
"Ooh, yes please," Flo said, thinking about all the chocolate she could eat. Chocolate was so good. That saying about the best thing since sliced bread was so silly. Sliced bread was fine. Chocolate was brilliant. It should be the best thing since chocolate. "Oh, yeah, how's she doing?" Considering how long they'd been together, they were a bit of an institution at Hogwarts, and everyone in the school knew about their breakup and seemed to have an opinion. Finola's opinion was 'good for her', although she could appreciate that it was still upsetting to break up with someone even if they had the worst personality. She'd heard enough second-hand from Roxy to think that someone should probably dropkick Brynn Grant into the sun.