Despite the fact they were still standing in the entrance to the Great Hall, where approximately 200 students were sitting eating lunch, Jessie beamed and did a little dance, wiggling her hands in little fists up and down. She wasn't even really aware of what she was doing, she just blurted out: "That's great news! I have feelings for you too!" Merlin, it felt so good to get it off her chest. She hadn't told Erica or Maia (although from the looks they sometimes gave her, they might have already guessed) and she would not have confided to any of her siblings. Except maybe Drew. "Oh, Merlin, I realised I liked you right after we kissed, so then I avoided you, which was awful, but I thought you might not be happy about it, but then if you like me too then you probably were happy about it (unless I'm a bad kisser, in which case, awkward!), so the last 2 weeks were completely unnecessary and I'm so happy to be talking to you again!" She rambled, unable to contain her excitement about this development in their friendship.
Al had thought he couldn't like Jessie any more than he did, but there she went, proving him wrong by doing a little victory dance. There were definitely people watching them. Dinner and a show. Maybe they should go somewhere more private for the rest of this conversation. That might look a little bit suggestive, though, so he remained where he was. It took his brain a moment to catch up to what she'd actually said, so lost was he in this musings, but he beamed at her, elated. She actually liked him back! He owed Kyle ten Sickles. Nuts. "I also realised I liked you after we kissed and spent two weeks avoiding you, so I guess we are both idiots." It was a little comforting, though, to realise they were on the same level here, working on the same level of experience and emotional maturity. "I'm glad we're talking too; it was awful trying to avoid you," he admitted.
Jessie rolled her eyes at how dumb they both were, but at least it meant they were attempting to stay afloat in the same boat. She had felt like a very poor Gryffindor the last 2 weeks, feeling unable to gather enough courage to talk to him. It seemed ridiculous now that they had made up and fallen back easily into the same comfort level as before. Al's smile made her automatically grin back at him. "It was horrendous for me, too," she said, genuinely relieved that they were on the same page. "I have so many things to tell you; every day I'd find myself thinking of something to tell you and then realise I was trying to avoid you. Let's never do that again, okay?" Erica and Maia would probably be praying that they wouldn't break up, too; they'd had to put up with a mopey Jessie, which was apparently even worse than a cheerful and chatty Jessie.
"I can't believe Lily was right. Well, I can, because she usually is. Don't tell her I said that though." She would never let it go, and she was annoying enough as it was. She was just really good with people. James was an animal person, Al was a plant person, but Lily was a people person. "I look forward to hearing all of your things. I don't have much to tell you, I've basically just moped around the greenhouses for a fortnight and really, really annoyed Kyle." Jessie made him a less boring person, what could he say. "Never again," he said solemnly. "Even if we break up, we'll still be friends. Shit, we're not dating yet. Okay, well, will you be my girlfriend?" That was probably the worst proposition ever, she was definitely going to say no. Maybe he should go and live in the greenhouses forever.
"I'd never dob you in like that, don't worry. You just know that as soon as we tell her, she's gonna tell you how right she was, though." Jessie was amused (and slightly sympathetic) at the thought. Lily was eerily observant, though, so Jessie wasn't in the least surprised that she'd guessed that Jessie liked Al. "You say you're looking forward to it, but wait 'til I've talked your ear off for 3 hours about, like, one slug that I saw that looked like it was in the shape of Italy. Which, interestingly, actually happened, even if Maia maintains that it was just a normal slug. She barely looked at it, though, so she's definitely wrong." Jessie had strong opinions and had been focusing on anything in her eyeline for the last few weeks to avoid thinking about how much she missed Al. "Poor Kyle, now he'll just have to listen to you gush about how great I am again," she said with a cheeky grin. "Albus Severus Potter, I would like nothing better than to be your girlfriend," she replied with a sappy grin. "And, yes, we should pinky promise to keep being friends forever." She was partly joking but she also took pinky promises seriously - she had ever since she was 5 and had panicked that something bad would happen if she didn't keep her promise to give Drew half of her chocolate bar.
"That's because you are the best," Al told her. It was probably more because Jessie had an equally smug sibling in Hayden, and knew the struggles. "Let's just not tell her then," he suggested, amused by the idea of hiding it from Lily and only Lily. She would probably figure it out though; she always claimed to be mildly psychic. Interestingly, she hadn't done that well in Divination, and had utterly hated it. "Ooh, a slug in the shape of Italy? Maybe it was from Sluglia," he punned, with a little grin at his own joke. "Well, Maia clearly doesn't have your grasp on geography," he said loyally. "He will, he'll probably cast a Silencing Charm on me. Again." In Kyle's defence, Al had been going on about plants at 2am, and he'd told him to shut up five times already. He grinned back at her, delighted at how well this conversation had gone. He couldn't have guessed that a game of Truth or Dare would turn into this, but he should really thank Ari. He held out his pinky. "I pinky promise to be your friend forever."
"Aw, you're the best," Jessie replied with a grin the size of Texas. She sensed that, considering they were already pretty irritating as besties, they would annoy people even more now they were dating. "As much as I'd love to keep you from Lily's smugness, you know I'm terrible at keeping secrets. Most of the school will know by tomorrow, you realise." She was probably going to tell everyone she met for the next 24 hours, at least, that's how thrilled she was. She giggled at his pun. "You and I have superior Geography knowledge, you're right," she nodded, appreciating him sticking up for her even when she said the dumbest shit. "Wait, when did he do that? I'll fight him." She balled her hands into fists and did little fighting motions. After shaking pinkies (Merlin, they were too cutesy), she announced, "Well now we're dating, we have to formally seal this promise," leaning in for a kiss. A proper kiss, which they hadn't done yet. Safe to say she was a little nervous.
"Well, I can't argue with that," Al said, preening. "Oh, good point. It's futile trying to keep things from Lily, anyway, I'm sure she's secretly a Legilimens." She would definitely know the moment she saw him, and she'd say it was from how he was walking or smiling or some rubbish, but he was almost convinced she read minds. "We are very intelligent, for sure, but we should probably stay in school just in case. Y'know, to make sure." He couldn't help but smile at her pretending to be tough. She was probably the toughest in her family, but that wasn't saying much. Then again, she was a Beater, so she could probably hold her own. "I guess we do," he said, and leant in, closing his eyes. He'd kissed people before, but this was different. This was Jessie, so his brain sort of exploded.
They were the best people; Jessie would take no criticism. "That's true, she is scary that way. She'll probably even say she knew it last week, as well," she rolled her eyes affectionately. Hey, Jessie realised one perk of dating your best friend was that you already knew all their family members already, so there'd be no awkward introductions. "Hmm, okay, if you say so. Not that they teach anything like Geography here." She rolled her eyes. In a way, she was glad her parents had made them go to Muggle school when they were growing up. She closed her eyes too, completely forgetting about the fact they were in public view. If she'd thought kissing Al was amazing before, it was nothing compared to now. Her brain actually went quiet for a few seconds (which was a truly momentus occasion). After they finished, she leant back and smiled. "So, do you still wanna date me?"