‘‘Obviously. She was in a rush to get out of the house since Weasley Wizard Wheezes was about to close,’‘ he rolled his eyes and gave her a serious, yet tired look. ‘‘No. She refuses to enter the house. She drops Wyatt off and goes to courses.’‘ He thought she had missed a year in University, but wasn’t sure. Even though math has never been his strong suit, it did look that way to him.
His laughter was succulent and lively, as if this has been the best night of his life. It truly was a good one, he had to give her that. ‘’Mercy on who?’’ he played innocent, turning his ex-wife’s name into a noun. After her attempt, he untied the scarf, still holding it over his eyes, and tied it properly, with a bow. Shame it had to be taken off so shortly after. ‘’They’re half brothers,’’ he argued helplessly, not even with an intention rather than just for the exchange of words itself.
For the first time, it was a present that, he felt, surpassed any expectation and anything he could have bought himself if he could. Looking at the crystal pieces of a chandelier in a charmed manner, he picked a random one, which displayed the pair on their third pina coladas, on an empty beach. He simpered fondly at the memory and squeezed the crystal tears into his palm, placing them in his pocket afterwards.
‘’Genius,’’ he breathed out, eyes stealing the electric blue of the Christmas lights placed on that balcony. He took off his scarf completely, but only to stuff it in the pocket as well. ‘’No need for blindfolding. My present has nothing to do with the eyes.’’ Flashing his eyes mysteriously, like in the middle of a magic trick, he pretended to pull something out of the very same pocket he was placing things into just a moment ago. Empty hands. ‘’It’s at home,’’ he explained, embarrassed. ‘’A Nimbus 3000S. I don’t think you fly enough anymore. You’ll also have to take a break from work from the 12th to the 17th. We’re flying to Sri Lanka to adopt a monkey. Maybe sans the monkey part.’’
‘‘I’m sorry.” It might not have been the right reaction and she surely didn’t actually feel it, though Colin looking weary she would soften over always, but it seemed the thing to say and it slipped out as automatic social cue response. “Have you and Wyatt been having a good time getting to know one another?”
She laughed at his comeback and left his question rhetorical, answering only with a hmm like acknowledging the point or having to think about who was more likely to need mercy, though there were jokes left to be made about safe words. She continued the other exchange about the Marks keeping about the same tone as Colin had, not arguing but discussing. ‘’What context other than bone marrow donation does half siblings matter?”
She didn’t quite hold her breath but she did watch Colin’s reaction a bit on the anxious side of anticipatory, knowing he’d say something positive and appreciate the sentiment regardless but not quite sure until she saw the reflection in his eyes that said he was enchanted, if he’d think it too sentimental or clashing with the theme he was trying to create with the hotel or find something about the crystals tacky. By the time he called them genius, validation she wasn’t to the point of being needy about but meant a lot all the same, she was beaming and looking more charmed than he was. “Yeah, I know. I’ve just earned free passes to not try at all the next few gifts.”
She followed the track of his hands, not sighing to tease him about flouting tradition he’d started by being the first to require blindfolds for gift giving or forgetting his gift. She was actually grateful she wouldn’t have anything to carry with her and worry about breaking or losing considering what was soon to come. There was no big reaction to the reveal of the present or the name of the broom, she smiled bright and genuine, it was a good pick as far as gifts went and though nothing she had been thinking of, it was mostly because she wasn’t thinking of ‘wants’ in that way much at all these days. She knew the latest Nimbus was supposed to be a great model though she hadn’t read all the specs like she would have to now. “It’s been months at least,” she acknowledged his point about flying--she couldn’t specifically remember the last time she flew for fun and though it wasn’t sad it also wasn’t something she should give up and sweet of Colin to be thinking of--breaking in before going silent when he continued to elaborate on the rest of the present. Excitement for the trip was, it wasn’t quite fair to say more genuine, but more palpable, Roxanne’s eyes lighting up now, though part of her--part she quickly told to shut up--internally sighed and tried to say it wasn’t the right time to swan off for a getaway. “Not the monkey. I no longer want a menagerie. Well, I mean maybe if it’s a really cute monkey and it finds us, or we go all out and take a leopard, but I’m going to drag you to explore Sigiriya for sure. I’ve always wanted to go to Sri Lanka! I love it, both parts”
