Cut to the Feeling [Open]

"There isn't any cocoa here!" Alicia tilted her head in thought for a moment, "At least, I don't think so. Unless you're wanting to go ferreting through cabinets." To be fair, if it meant she was going to end up with some hot cocoa Alicia was more than willing to go digging through all of the cabinets. At the end of the day surely it would be able to be chalked up to a few wild party goers if there was a bit of a disaster left from that sort of rampage. Cocoa was meant to make everything better, or at least chocolate. Cocoa and cookies sounded fantastic. Calm the nerves and all of that. "If someone supplied me with endless cocoa I'd probably love them forever." Not too difficult to buy her affection, but if someone was shelling out that much for cocoa they couldn't be too horrendous.

Alicia jumped at Romulus's exclamation, shooting him a sharp glare. Her eyes shot to follow his arm to the person he was indicating, spotting her former friend. So this was the moment of truth, was it? A sense of dread mixed with a touch of happiness. Alicia could recognize Amelia relatively easily, sure, but it wasn't anywhere near the same as the last time that that Alicia had seen her. Back at Hogwarts, wasn't it? She wasn't sure if she was looking forward to that part of this whole situation, but she was looking forward to seeing Lucas and Amelia thrown at each other. Now, that was the fun part.

"Yes, go and fetch her!" Alicia exclaimed, perhaps a bit too eagerly, but this was something to look forward to. "Can't keep them apart!"

Lucas didn't want to go along with this, not because he was afraid of getting hit (it wouldn't be close to the first time), but he was almost afraid for Amelia. What if him 'disobeying' Wood, led to the guy hurting Amelia? He had always had a bad vibe from the man, which had gotten more intense when he had started dating Evans all the way back in Hogwarts. With the guy being drunk tonight, he didn't want to chance anything. He had been through enough of that himself to never wish it upon even his worst enemy.

He had been hoping Amelia would be in a different room, where Romy wouldn't notice her. But of course she had to be across the room. At least she didn't hear Romy loudly shouting to her. Maybe he could still slip out. Especially as now bystanders were looking over. He just wanted to shrink into the darkness and hide until Romy forgot all about this, or he could slip out of the party at a reasonable time. Leaving now would just be suspicious. "I see her." he muttered quietly. Why did this have to all be pointed out. He could have been fine not seeing her. Well he would have missed her, but knowing she was very much taken wasn't something he wanted to deal with that night. "I'm sure Wood loves her in that dress." he said, trying to ignore the shaking and the comments insinuating she looked pretty. This was just torture. "Come on man, just leave it. Please?"

Romy yelled out again, and she continued to not hear him. Even with his pleas, he wasn't going to be stopped it seemed. But then he headed off towards her, without taking him along. Maybe this was his chance. He could go hide or something. Even Alicia seemed excited to see their old friend. All Lucas had was a pit in his stomach. Why did they both think there was anything there, when there never had been. Well except that one glorious kiss? "Excuse me Alicia. I'm just going to use the restroom." he said before slipping off before Romy could get to Amelia. Hopefully they'd forget all about this. He went into the restroom and closed the door and just leaned against it, trying to ignore the pangs of jealous, sadness and wanting which were all bubbling under the surface.

"Meels! Hey Meels!" He called out waving his arms in a frantic S.O.S. fashion to no avail. "She can't hear me." He huffed, actually disappointed in himself for not being able to catch her eye. "Neither one of you did something to piss her off, right?" He looked to both Alicia and Lucas with big eyes as if the two would freely give over that information even if that had been the case. Such was the overly trusting nature of Romulus. He could be like a big puppy dog that way.

"Luke why are you being so difficult?" He groaned dramatically, heaving his lengthy body across the room to follow his best pal with his shoulders slumped. He wasn't about to let him get away that easy. Weaving through the crowd he reached the bathroom and wasted no time in rapping his beat up knuckles against the door. "You have to piss now?" He asked in disbelief (there was that trusting nature again), leaning his ear against the door. "It's not the best time Luke. We're gonna lose her again." He warned tucking some of his unruly black hair behind his ear. "Come on buddy you have to come out of there eventually. And you have to say hi." He wasn't about to lie about his intentions. He was very truthful and a good soul. He knew, even with the fight that Lucas was putting up, that he liked Amelia and would regret it if he didn't.

It was then that someone was pushed back into Alicia bumping into her. "Oh. Sorry." Came the somewhat frazzled voice belonging to Amelia Evans. When she looked up and saw who it was her eyes widened. This was not someone she expected to see today even if half of the Quidditch lineup was currently at her residence. But what to say to her long lost, formal bestie? "Hey..." Yeah, sure. That would work. Super poetic. 

Alicia blinked widely at the implication that she had actually done something to upset Amelia, "No." It was barely audible, especially since the music was still blasting. She didn't know that they had so much as a huge falling out but rather a more gradual drifting apart. Maybe that Alicia hadn't owled more frequently, but she hadn't received too many owls herself either. It was something that had just happened, especially after the war. She'd gotten so wrapped up in Quidditch and everything else that the letters had just stopped eventually. But, Alicia hadn't held much of a grudge over that for a while, not now that she'd achieved some semblance of acceptance. Or whatever this was.

Alicia watched bemusedly as Lucas excused himself, though there was no way that she was buying that bathroom line. Even she, with her complete and utter lack of subtly, could do better than that. She didn't make a move to follow Romy, though. It wasn't as if she was going to be of any use dragging Lucas back anyway. The most she could do was hang on, not exactly a move that was going to get anything accomplished. Though, it would be interesting to have to resort to herding him like sheepdogs. She'd probably pay to see that, actually. But that would mean quite the scene, and Alicia hadn't been big on scenes for a while. She would be more than willing to settle with being more than amused at seeing Alicia and Lucas together for the first time in ... forever.

"Oh, it's fine. No harm, no foul and all." Alicia spun to face whoever had bumped into her as she spoke, her eyes flying wide at the sight of Amelia. She snorted in amusement at Amelia's greeting, despite the nerves that were now fluttering rapidly through her. It was rather pitiful, but it wasn't like Alicia could do any better. "Yeah, hi." She gave a little wave, as if that was going to do any good. "So, how's the Quidditch?" Like that was the best and least awkward opener there was. "I hear you're still at it." Stating the obvious, but she couldn't come up with much better than that.

Sure excusing himself to use the restroom wasn't the smoothest thing, especially with how uncomfortable he must have looked, but he had really needed to get out of the situation and reset himself. He didn't understand why they were so intent on forcing him to see Amelia. Sure he may regret it later, but if it kept her from being hurt, he'd live with the regret. He'd see her again soon enough. It also wasn't like the last time he had seen her was back at school. They had seen each other within the last year. It may have been when she came to Australia with Team USA, but he wasn't completely sure. Tonight just didn't seem like a good time to see her. Not with her drunk boyfriend hanging around.

Even though Romy didn't take long to knock on the door of the bathroom after Lucas had gone in, Lucas was already sitting on the floor with his back against the door. He just couldn't do this. "No Romy. I just can't do that." He said referring to meeting Amelia. He couldn't lie to Romy like this. "She's with Wood. He's very drunk. It's better for all of us if I don't see her or get close to her. I don't need anyone getting hurt." He also didn't want to make a scene. Even if no one did end up getting hurt, he didn't want to make a scene at her house. "You don't have to worry about me Romy. Go enjoy the party. I'll be fine." But would he really?

"Yeah." She was still playing. Of course she was. What else was she good at and what else would pay the bills? She wasn't good at much else... Except being awkward with her once best friend. "It's ok. The usual." It was weird to see her there in front of her. It shouldn't have been but it was. After so much time. Next thing she knew maybe Lucas would walk through that door like some sort of major blast from the past. Yeah. Yeah right!

"What are you doing here?" The American couldn't help but ask. It was blunt but not rude. More awkward and confused than anything else. She was still quite surprised to see her in her new living room. "I mean.. It's nice to see you I just didn't, uh, expect to." Well, this was incredibly weird. She rubbed the back of her neck and glanced around the room as if searching for an out luckily Oliver came to the 'rescue' (for once). The surly Scottish boy stepped into view wrapping his arm around Amelia's waist possessively.

"Er.. Look who it is. Spinnet. Long time no see. How's the knee treating yeh?" He asked with a grin, obviously a few beers deep.

"It was her hip." Amelia corrected her boyfriend quietly stepping away but holding onto his hand giving it a squeeze. Merlin, she hoped he stopped drinking and stayed in this happy, talkative mood all night. Not likely but still.. She had to have some hope. "You feeling better?" It felt like such a stupid, hopeless question to ask but she had to.. Right?

"Course she is. She's Alicia Spinnet, Evans. Don't you remember how damn resilient she is? Bollocks. Knock her down and she gets right back up." Oliver boasted cheerily lifting his half full glass and taking another gulp before moving along trying to drag Amelia with him.

"It was nice to see you Alicia." Amelia said quietly.. But was that true? Then she was dragged away.

Meanwhile Romulus was busy pounding on the door and once catching sight of Alicia was all too quick to wave her over. "HEY! You!" He jumped up and down trying to get her attention and when she got close enough he continued to gush pointing animatedly. "You look mighty. Petite, which is a good thing, but mighty. You can get him out of here." He hit his hand against the bathroom door and then yelled against it basically bellowing. "BECAUSE WE ALL KNOW HE AIN'T PEEING." He groaned, becoming even more frustrated and slid away from the door leaning against the wall allowing Alicia to take over. "Have at it m'lady." He mock bowed, still buzzed.

"Erm, I was kidnapped from my house." Alicia shrugged awkwardly, it hadn't been that horrendous but it had felt like that at the time. "A couple of old teammates decided a party would do me good, I suppose." She was regretting letting herself be dragged out of her flat significantly less now. She felt mildly like they were back at Hogwarts again, except not at all. The ghost of the familiarity that they had had was both there, and not there at all. Alicia snorted lightly at Amelia's comment, "I didn't expect to see you either." It was nice to actually see her in person again, but the surprise wasn't particularly appreciated. She glanced around the room for a moment, "Nice house, though." It was a fair bit nicer than her own flat, but she wasn't sure what she would even do with all of the space - let alone keeping it all clean.

Alicia narrowed her eyes marginally at Wood, deciding it'd be better to just ignore him, before shifting her gaze back to Amelia, "It's doing fine, better than it was." She shrugged, it was better than she had thought it would ever be back when she had first been injured, so that was something. "Still aches sometimes." She murmured, she still couldn't stand for too long or anything but it could be worse given how long she'd taken to start working on getting back on her feet. "Those bludgers are nasty, I'd avoid them if I were you." Her attempted joke fell a bit flat, but then she usually tried to avoid thinking about her injury, let alone talking about it.

Alicia rolled her eyes at Wood's comment, "Knock me down and I'll knock your teeth out, Wood." She had certainly been tempted more than once over their school years, herself. He was a pain and it certainly didn't sound like he had gotten any better with age. The urge to suck him in the jaw certainly hadn't lessened much. He still rubbed her the wrong way, and at least Lucas didn't do that. Now, he was an ok bloke, and had never been much of a pain in her arse. Alicia frowned momentarily as Wood started to drag Amelia away before stretching a smile across her face, "Nice to see you, too." It was, no matter how strange it was to see her again or how awkward it was. "Come by the shop sometime, maybe I can fix up your broom for you." The offer was rather tentative but Alicia rather hoped, deep done, that Amelia might take her up on the offer.

Romulus's screeching at her drew Alicia back out of her thoughts, watching Amelia disappear into the crowd. She gave a rather put upon sigh and walked towards him. "How do you think I'm meant to dig him out of the bathroom when you can't?" This was certainly not the turn she had expected her night to take. She groaned, "You are going to owe me for this." Because she certainly wasn't inclined to be the weirdo beating down the bathroom door. Alicia rapped lightly at the door, still rather dubious that she could somehow weasel him out when his so-called bestie couldn't. "You can't hog the bathroom all night, you know. There are other people out here." She sighed, rapping on the door more insistently. "If you don't come out I'll unlock the door myself, or just blow it off." Alicia wasn't quite in the mood for blowing things up, but she could if she had to.

Lucas wanted nothing more than to curl up in a hole and hide from the world right now. He had been perfectly fine just watching the party and seeing everyone enjoy themselves. He got enjoyment out of watching Romy dance around on the dance floor. But being pushed to do something he was afraid would hurt someone he cared about was not something he wanted. How could he live with that if they pushed him to see her. He'd be better off just staying here all night or leaving if that was the case. For now, he just sat on the floor with his knees drawn up to him and his hands in his hair. Why had he even bothered coming tonight?

And now it seemed Romy had drafted Alicia to join in on trying to get him out. Why did they care so much? He wished they would just leave him alone. "Why can't you just leave me alone and go and enjoy the party?" He asked, a slight edge to his voice. He just wanted to be at home curled up with his dogs reading at this point. But his dogs and books were all back in Australia. "I won't come out unless you promise not to push the Amelia thing anymore. If you do I'll just leave." Leaving and getting away from the party was better than being pushed to do something he didn't want to have happen. "I just don't want anyone getting hurt." He didn't care about him or Wood. He was mainly concerned with Amelia. He always was.

"I'm not saying you're better or stronger than me. I'm just bored." He admitted with a slump shouldered shrug, reaching for a nearby cooler and pulling out a bottled beer. He slammed the end against the table causing the cap to pop right off and he caught it with his left hand showcasing a cheesy grin Alicia's way as though she might be impressed with his useless party trick. "Sure. I'll owe you. I'll fetch you a drink. How's that? Eh?" He offered his big smile growing knowing that she probably meant some sort of cash settlement or a gift but drunk at a party one less drink to have to walk for would have to do.

"Here's the problem Luke, mate." He joined Alicia at the door leaning against it. "If we put aside that I'm bigger and more strapping than you, even if we completely ignore that, the bottom line is, and maybe you've forgotten this eensy weensy tiny itty bitty fact... We're bloody magical dude." Setting the beer aside he reached into his back pocket retrieving his wand, bobbling it and nearly dropping it on the floor. "Step back." He informed Alicia pointing the wand at the door knob and key hole. Using magic while intoxicated at a party? Probably not the best of ideas but Romulus wasn't exactly an idea man.

"HERE WE GO. One.... two....."

"Oh yes, and I'm your source of amusement then?" Not that Alicia minded terribly if it kept her from just standing around and stewing in her own thoughts. She arched an eyebrow dubiously at his trick, snorting lightly, "Very impressive." She commented, sarcasm tinting her voice. Was she meant to be impressed? Surely she could accomplish something similar with magic, or a touch of practice. She had more than enough time these days. Now, a hand stand or something of the sort by someone of his stature might be significantly more interesting. Alicia rolled her eyes at his offer but nodded, "That'll have to do." She replied, leaning back against the wall and eyeballing the door. Would a quick and easy Alohomora even work? 

"I don't know, I'd say this is me enjoying the party." Alicia crossed her arms in front of her chest and shrugged. Her eyes widened in surprise at the implication that Romulus actually meant to blast the door from its hinges. She wasn't opposed to blowing things up but there were a few too many people hanging around for her comfort. Alicia hopped back two paces and quickly cast a shielding charm around her. "I swear, if you catch me in that spell of yours I just might hurt you." Alicia narrowed her eyes on him, there was no way in hell she was trusting whatever magic he was keen on performing right now. Though to be fair, if she had much of a better idea at the moment she might be trying to stop him or something.

Of course Lucas would regret not saying anything to Amelia at the party, but he would have regretted saying something to her and then something happening to her more. There had just been something.. off about Wood when he had grabbed his wrist to warn him off of Evans. Almost like something remind him of his own father. If there was something like that, who know what he would do. Plus he was already drunk. Not a good combination. But he couldn't very well hide in the bathroom all night. Even if he wanted to at the moment just dig a hole and disappear for hours on end. He was just wondering why Romulus was so persistent when he could go off and enjoy everything.

It was the threat of a spell from Romulus that got him to sigh and push up to standing. Letting Romy cast a spell when drunk also probably wasn't the smartest of ideas. Especially not in Amelia's house. He took another moment to relax a little more before opening the door a crack and said "Romy you casting a spell with more than a couple drinks in you is not your smartest idea." He didn't need to be in the path of any spell casting that evening. "Can we just drop the whole seeing Evans thing, and enjoy a few drinks before I have to head back out of the country?" He opened the door a little more to show his face. Really he just wanted to enjoy his last evening in the UK before heading back to Australia the next day for a season of quidditch. Little did he know he would be heading back in just a few weeks due to a trade. How that would change things.

She might hurt him? He wiggled his brows at her. "That a promise?" He joked with the spit fire of a woman, he was already having a lot of fun with her. Alicia seemed 'game' and that was a quality Romulus greatly revered in any friend or potential friend (but who was he kidding everyone was his friend whether they knew it or not). They would get along splendidly even if she didn't necessarily think so yet.

Finally the door opened and though Lucas looked like he would rather be anywhere but out in the open Romy was all grin. "I'm filled with bright ideas." He reassured (or so he assumed that he did) his best pal. "Fine. Fine. You don't hafta to say hi... Besides it looks like Meels poofed anyways." He noted looking over his shoulder and around the room, hands on his hips. "I would say she apparated but we all know she's shite with magic." He stuck out his tongue looking back to his two buddies. He hadn't made the comment to be rude but it was the truth. Besides, he and Amelia were close both being keepers. Then again Romulus assumed he was close with everybody.

"Man... I hope my 'strang schoolmates don't act the same if they're at a party with me." Romulus commented trying to bring some air into the room and lighten the subject matter. Anything to get Lucas out of his funk. "I also hope they're won't be as sober as the two of you are." Romulus remarked reaching out to snag two beers from a passing by cooler handing one to Alicia and one to Lucas, bowing a bit.

Alicia briskly dispelled her shielding charm once it became rather apparent that Romulus wasn't going to be blasting down the bathroom door. Pity. She crossed her arms across her chest and arched an eyebrow in challenge at Romy, "It certainly is." She was more than willing to stick around if this was how the keeper was. She'd rather missed banter, and just talking to people outside of the shop. "You're more than welcome to test me, though." In fact, she might be looking forward to it just a bit - which probably said a lot about how much she got out and enjoyed herself anymore, not that she wanted to dwell on that bit.

"Bright idea, probably not. But it'd certainly be interesting." Alicia shrugged innocently, she might not be willing to do the spell herself but she was more than willing to watch the fall out. "I do wonder if it'd level half the house, or just be a puff of smoke." She hadn't actually seen too many people attempt drunk magic, so the results would have been a first for her at least. She practically groaned at the mention that Lucas wouldn't be able to greet Amelia tonight, giving a rather put upon sigh. "You can just say hi some other time, then!" Alicia responded, a bit more upbeat, she'd make sure of it if she was ever in the same room as the two of them again.

"Oh, I'm terribly fun at parties. The most fun in fact - but that's only around fun people." Alicia grinned broadly in challenge, easily taking Romulus's bait. She accepted the drink from him but rolled her eyes at his insinuation. He obviously didn't know her and parties, at least before.

Lucas finally emerged from the bathroom when Romulus finally agreed to dropping the saying hello to Amelia. The weight of the decision to stay away to keep her safe was weighing on him enough to show in his eyes. He needed a break from it. "She could have used Floo." He said giving a possible explanation for her disappearance. Of course she was likely just in the next room, but still. "Maybe next time I'm here or if she comes Down Under." he nodded in agreement. He was still operating under the assumption he'd be heading back to Australia for a year. Little did he know he'd be getting traded in just a few weeks. And it would both lead to reconnecting in a great way with Amelia and losing her for years.

"They didn't go over parties like this in Ravenclaw. Too many socially awkward individuals wanting nothing to do with everyone else." he said lightheartedly. They were probably the house that had the least practice with parties, but he had had been to quite a few since he graduated. But he usually liked the wall. It was who he was. He took the beer from Romulus and said "You know you don't have to be drunk to have a good time." He never really got very drunk. He liked having his wits about him.

"What's your excuse then? Because last I checked I'm one of the top three most fun people in this room. Near the top actually." He traded barbs right back, his hands resting on either side of his hips and standing proudly in a Superman-esque stance. "I'm Captain fun." He grinned cheekily, before turning his attention back on his bestie who seemed less than thrilled. How could he be this way?... And at a party of all places! There was no room for sour faces and attitudes here. Not on Romulus' watch.

"Evans? Use floo?" Romulus remarked in stunned disbelief. "Yeah maybe if you wanted half of her here and another half to end up in Timbuktu." He gaped. Amelia was beyond skilled at Quidditch but magic.. Not so much. It was a small miracle that she had made it out alive at the Battle of Hogwarts but she probably had some help there. Her friends and teammates probably stuck close. Hopefully another situation like that wouldn't rear its head again because Romulus didn't think the American keeper could luck out twice in a row. "You're right. I don't. But it sure does help." He jabbed his friend in the side trying to get him more on board and so that he would stop being a stick in the mud. "If you're not gonna talk to her you can at least talk to somebody or pretend to look like you're having fun. For photos and whatever."