you're never satisfied, tag ;; kirley

[valmai b. alden]

AND I'M AFRAID I WON'T GET OUT ALIVE

Valmai cringed slightly as she pulled her shirt on over her head and looked down at the table to see the copy of her wedding license that had been sent just that morning via an official Ministry owl. With it was a letter to congratulation Mr. and Mrs. Alden on marriage and to inform them that everything was processed and recorded properly. Ugh. Every time that Valmai looked down at the paperwork it made her feel a little sick. There had also been an owl for her personally to let her know that everything regarding her vault at Gringotts and records at the Ministry had been changed to her new legal last name. Valmai Brynn Alden. Long gone was the name Morgan that had been hers ever since she was six years old and her mother had decided she was tired of having her daughters share a last name with their absent father. She had taken his last name in her moment of love potioned stupor and now there was no way to change it. Not until their time limit was up. Matt had been the one to tell her that getting the marriage ended was easier said than done and that the Ministry wouldn't grant a divorce until her and Drew had make a legitimate go of it. So here they were trying to prove that they were making an effort at this marriage all while Valmai counted down the days until she would be free.

In all honesty living with Drew wasn't the worst punishment in the world, because Valmai was assuming the Ministry was trying to punish her for her rash behavior. Before their huge mistake they had been legitimate friends and had had a lot of good times together. With his troll of a girlfriend out of the picture Valmai finally got to hang out with uninterrupted and without him having to behave himself for fear of what his lady would say. Drew was a lot of fun to be around because he could keep up with her during a night of drinking and he always had the most interesting things to talk about. Stuff about the muggle world that she had no clue about because she had never been that interested in muggles before. That was starting to change, muggles had some insanely interesting inventions. Right now her favorite was television. Drew had been the one to take her to the sports bar and to teach her about what television was. Now Valmai wanted to get one of her own so that she could study it. However, she just couldn’t reconcile herself to the being married to Drew and having his damn last name. It felt so odd.

Tugging her shirt fully on she turned away from the paper no longer wanting to look at it and dwell on her issues of the moment. Drew was gone working at one of his jobs, she didn’t remember which one, and she was on her way out as well. It was a day off from practice and Valmai had promised Kirley ages ago that she would meet with him during his next Hogsmeade weekend. She wanted to see him, he had been just a year below her at Hogwarts but he played Quidditch and the guitar. Valmai didn’t know much about music except for the fact that she thought musicians were pretty sexy. What girl didn’t? There was always something so attractive about a guy whose fingers could fly over the strings of a guitar like that. It made her wonder what else he could do with those fingers. Valmai knew that Kirley was in a bit of a rough spot right now, the entire McCormack family was. As far as families went the McCormacks were pretty amazing and Valmai often found herself being envious of the life that Meaghan and Kirley had. Their mother was a famous Quidditch player with a successful career who had managed to have a marriage and two children. Valmai’s mother was also once a famous Quidditch player but Gwendolyn Morgan could not have been any more different from Catriona McCormack. As mothers the two were like night and day. When the news had arrived that Kirley and Meaghan’s father had been killed, Valmai had genuinely grieved although mostly by drowning herself in vodka. She had stayed at the McCormack house many times and their father had always been kind to her. It was a true shame that he was gone.

However, she was not going to the Three Broomsticks to dwell in sadness. She was going there to cheer Kirley up, put a smile on that boys face because he deserved it. After the party they were all having a rough go of it and she knew that he was no exception. Getting to Hogsmeade was just a matter of Apparating and when she entered the pub she found Kirley already waiting for her. ”Am I late?” She said, breathless but no too concerned. She had never been known for being punctual. Kirley had gotten them a booth and instead of sitting across from him she slid in right next to him and instantly pressed her lips to his in greeting. Kissing him was not a new thing. There had been days in the McCormack when she had gotten bored and had used Kirley for her own amusement. Maybe using was a bad term, he had always clearly enjoyed it. There had been nights when she would sneak from her little trundle bed in Meg’s room and into Kirley’s bedroom to climb into bed with him. Eager groping between the excited gasps of two teenagers exploring their limits. So Valmai considered kissing Kirley her divinely given right. She had made him a man so she should be able to kiss him whenever she wanted.

”Have you missed me?” She said playfully, grinning as she pulled slowly away from the kiss. ”Gin and tonic! Extra limes! Make that two” Valmai shouted at a passing waiter and tossed some gold on the table to let the man know that this was serious. She wasn’t sure if Kirley liked gin. Reaching over she slid her hand over his thigh, dangerously high. ”So how was the party for you?” Valmai asked pleasantly enough. Everyone had horror stories about the party and she was curious about what kind of trouble Kirley had gotten himself into.

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[KIRLEY J. MCCORMACK]

Kirley McCormack was alive.
He hadn't seen Charlotte Greengrass since that morning after the party - and he considered that a bloody triumph and a half. She really got under his skin with what she said, but not even those threats were as bad as holding Felicia in his hands. She was the tangible (broken) proof that he'd fucked up big time. Him and Tina were trying to patch her up, but it was going about as well as patching up his relationship with Lizzy. She seemed okay now but he knew she really wasn't. He just didn't know what to do about it. Ever since February, it felt like his life had been one big complication after another; for sixteen years, nothing ever went wrong (at least, nothing that couldn't be patched up in a couple days) but lately...

It was a Hogsmeade weekend. He and Val had been making plans to meet up for ages - she even sent him that note (and picture) after his dad died. But then he had detention and Lizzy and then the party but he finally had a chance to see her. When she'd been at Hogwarts, Valmai had been one of the hottest girls in school - and the best Quidditch player. She'd stomped him as a Chaser, and Kirley wasn't surprised that the Magpies saw how much raw talent she had. His mum would've done the same as Val's - pulled him out of Hogwarts - if she thought he had a real chance at hitting it big, catching his big break as a musician. But even though he thought it was great, Kirley was still a bit gutted when he found out she wouldn't be coming back to school. He'd fancied her for most of fifth year, and not just 'cause she spent a lot of time over at his house (with his sister, mostly).

She was definitely his favourite of Meg's friends. He looked forward to her visits because it usually meant she wouldn't have a load of other blokes all trying to get with her - and who wouldn't want Valmai Morgan sleeping in their house? How about their bedroom? That was definitely the high point of his summer. And even though they had a load of history - at least by his standards - it was never awkward with Val. They were just messing around and it was all in good fun for her. He didn't think twice about meeting up with her even though he had a girlfriend, because...it wasn't all about that. She was a lot of fun. They were still friends. Just friends.

"Am I late?" By a couple minutes, but Kirley didn't mind having the time to get himself together while he waited for her. She walked in the pub and he just grinned - she had that kind of effect on people. "You're famous, I'm pretty sure you can show up whenever you w-" He broke off in the middle of his reply when she slid in right next to him and, uh, kissed him. Just...right on the mouth. Right like...that. Kirley didn't know what to do and it happened too fast for him to do anything. "Uh." Right. That was his fault. Val didn't know about him and Lizzy and she was just...um, being herself. And he definitely didn't kiss her back so it didn't mean anything. She was just- hey, Kirley justified to himself what he might say if somebody happened to catch that and pass it on, it was just like the French do, right? Even though they usually kissed on the cheek but it was the same sort of thing. Just like a handshake. A Val handshake. With lips.

"Have you missed me?" See, just a handshake - and a normal question too. "'Course I did," he replied, his voice a little uneven on account of the kiss and the- his awkwardness. It was true. "I feel like the Prophet gets to see you and Meg more than I do." Since they were always in the tabloids or being interviewed, or having their pictures taken. He couldn't wait to have that kind of life - only as a musician, not a Quidditch player. And see that? He was thinking about her as Meg's friend, and it wasn't a crime to meet up with your sister's friends, right? Right. Kirley opened his mouth to say that he didn't drink gin (actually, that he was off alcohol for good after what happened with Lizzy and the whiskey, and then the love potion dressing which he didn't drink but he...he just wanted to be himself, sober and not making a broom-load of mistakes every other day) but Val had already ordered it, and she tossed gold on the table, and he just- nevermind.

Annnd that was her hand. On his thigh and, uh, not in the place where...friends usually touched each other's legs. Not that he did that to his mates because that'd just be...weird. Kirley didn't know to say - should he tell her to stop? Should he ignore it? Should he push her hand down? Who did that? Knowing Val, it was probably nothing and uh, no, it didn't distract him at all. "So how was the party for you?" And it was really confusing for him because what she did and what she said were two different things and Kirley just- he didn't want to hurt her feelings, especially if it didn't even mean anything and he was just assuming shite that wasn't true.

"Um." Right, he just decided to ignore her hand because she wasn't doing anything and she was asking him a...well, she was asking him about the party. He shrugged uncomfortably - and that had nothing to do with Valmai. "Not so good." That was the biggest understatement in days. "I got one of those love potions, you know? And, uh, I proposed to this girl by accident." And he broke his guitar, then got slapped. "My girlfriend was really mad." There. He mentioned the word - girlfriend, which he had. "Can't blame her though, I was being stupid." It practically made him want to give up salad for life - now he had such a bad taste in his mouth everytime he thought about it (or maybe that was just the flavour of the "dressing"). "Did you have a good time?" Maybe Val had been one of the lucky ones - although from what he'd been told, it wasn't that fun for the sober people to be surrounded by crazies all night.

words: 1100 | tag: valmai | wearing: jeans, t-shirt, jacket

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