the kiss list, adrian pucey
𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟐

chapter thirty-three, THE NAME OF THE GAME

✧ ━━━ · ✦ · ━━━ ✧

     "YOU CAN COME AND PLAY IF YOU WANT TO, ADRIAN."

     Adrian's eyes wandered everywhere but Bianca's, "I don't want to intrude or anything."

     Bianca scoffed, "You're too nice. Who said anything about intruding?"

     The pair were stood outside the Gryffindor common room, hair dusted with snow, and noses red like tomatoes after spending an entire afternoon in Hogsmeade together, exchanging gifts and playing chess. And yes, Bianca knows. Who would have guessed?

     Bianca had invited Adrian to spend the evening and the rest of their Christmas day playing board games and more chess, with her and her friends. It was a risky move, considering all of her housemates would now be aware of where she had been all day, but she didn't mind if it meant he would have fun. 

     "Do you want me there?" Adrian asked, skeptical of her answer. It sounded like flirting. It felt like flirting. But deep down, Adrian knew Bianca would never acknowledge it as flirting.

     It was a typical Gryffindor Christmas tradition for her small group of sixth years to drink eggnog and hot chocolate, and argue over the rules of the Muggle entrepreneur game, Monopoly, when it was clear Bianca was right because she knew the game the most (Bianca reckons the reason for their inevitable disagreements is because Fred Weasley can never admit that he isn't very logical when playing a game that involves business and spending). Throwing a Slytherin into the mix may cause problems, but even realizing that, Bianca wasn't sure of her answer.

     Adrian was a lot of fun — Bianca had come to learn. And maybe she didn't like losing at chess, but she sure as hell loved winning Cluedo, and there was no way Adrian Pucey could beat her at a game like that.

     Bianca laughed, untieing the scarf from around her neck, "As I said, you can come in if you want. They won't mind, and I definitely don't. But these halls are cold, and it's a fact that a fire is burning in there, so I'm going to go in," Bianca ignored his question entirely, and now Adrian was even more torn.

     Whilst Bianca stepped up to the portrait of the Fat Lady in the pink dress and stated the password, the door swinging open not long after, Adrian had a lot of questions running through his head. Why did she avoid the question? Was it because the answer was no? Did she ever think of their conversation as flirting? Should he go in, or stick it out and go have no fun with his own friends?

     No matter how fast his brain buzzed about, the only question Adrian managed to answer was that he was very much, a seriously bad case of an over-thinker.

      Bianca stood in the narrow space that was the portrait hole. The Fat Lady had made several statements of complaint since he was not allowed in, and because she had been left open for at least two minutes. Bianca ignored her and stared back at a very distracted Adrian. "Decide now, or I'm shutting this door on you." 

     Adrian drew his eyes away from the floor reluctantly and took a deep breath in upon realizing that the answer he was supposed to come up with, was due right about now. "No, it's okay. I'm not allowed in any way. Have fun. Talk to you tomorrow?"

     "Oh right yeah, tomorrow. Fred and George are holding a little get-together for Boxing Day. I never understood the significance of Boxing Day, but I'm sure it's gonna be fun. You wanna come?"

     Adrian faked a look of puzzlement, "Hang on," he put a hand up, "it's supposed to be me that invites you to parties? Not the other way around."

     Bianca hollowed out her mouth, "Ohhhh," she sang, "Because I have no social life?"

     "Because you have no social life," he repeated, linking his hands in front of him. "Exactly, you get it."

     She rolled her eyes. "Screw you. I'll see you tomorrow then? Or not. I forget that not getting a first-hand party invitation hurts your ego."

     Adrian chuckled, "I might pop by," he said with a nonchalant shrug, like the idea of a party-like evening with Bianca didn't excite him.

      Something about his words made Bianca sizzle up. Her insides were all warm and gooey. It was either due to the fact that she was excited to see him again the following day. Or due to the fact that she was weirded out that she was on a streak of seeing Adrian Pucey every day for the past week, that could be continuing tomorrow. "Goodbye."

     "Bye, Bi," Adrian turned for the stairs, casually letting the abbreviated version of her name slip out.

     "Enough with the nickname," she called back from further inside the common room, now with her back to him, "or I'll tell the bouncer to not let you in!"

     "Oh, so there's a bouncer now?"

➼

     PART OF BIANCA ALWAYS KNEW THAT CHRISTMAS IS THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF YEAR, but she had never taken a step back and appreciated that before. Because life was good. Everything was good. Suddenly her exams meant nothing because they were so far away and she knew she'd ace them. It was finally her year to win the Hogwarts Chess Championship. And a brand new year approaches, and Bianca can gladly say that 1992 was a good one. Life was good. The fact that it was still technically Christmas time, definitely added to her marvelous mood.

     Boxing Day is a weird one. Christmas is over, but not, at the exact same time. The decorations stay up, the snow still falls, everyone has this excited period where they marvel at their new presents, and the leftovers from Christmas dinner are still edible. No matter that the precious day is gone for another three hundred and sixty-five days because the festivities still live on up until New Year.

     "You seem happier," Leo whispered, as he poured Bianca another glass of eggnog. The liquid swished about in the cup, and Bianca took ahold of its sides. 

     The 'get-together' in question wasn't that big at all. Fred and George simply wanted to experiment with all the new prank and joke equipment they received for Christmas, and the Gryffindor common room was thriving. 

     The boy slumped back onto his make-shift chair up against a sofa — it was a stack of pillows arranged as seating because there was currently none available —resting his head on Bianca's shoulder.  "Thanks?" she laughed, taking a sip of the milky beverage.

     "No, I mean it," he said. "Your aura has changed or some shit."

     Now she laughed, "My aura has changed?"

     Leo stared into the dancing flames of the roaring fire, as Fred demonstrated something or rather, and George stood on standby, waiting for something to go wrong. "I think it's Adrian," he spoke after a brief moment of silence. 

     "And I think you've been paying too much attention to Trelawney."

     "Don't ignore it," Leo countered. 

     It had been a while since the two of them had sat down just as friends, and talked about whatever they had experienced in their weird and wonderful lives recently. Bianca didn't realize how much she had missed her best friend and his odd thoughts. But she guessed life just got in the way. Meaning, Leo matured and got a girlfriend, and Bianca lost maturity and got-a-boy-that-was-a-friend-that-she-once-hated-but-now-sort-of-doesn't-hate. 

     "Ignore what?" she asked.

     "You're good for each other," he said casually, still not taking his eyes off of the fire, and Bianca still not drawing her eyes away from the fireworks that had now been set off by George. Normally, that would have stressed her out — seeing fireworks being set off inside. But now? She enjoyed the simple beauty of it.

     "Excuse me?" 

     Leo had no idea what his words were doing to Bianca. The effect they had. Bianca didn't know whether to be confused, delighted, or disgusted that people actually saw her and Adrian as a good couple, that would benefit from dating. She was somewhere between utterly baffled and curiously pleased.

     "I don't know," Leo shrugged, still not removing his cheek from her shoulder, "he brings-"

     "Don't you dare say he 'brings out the best in me'," she snapped, with a smile tugging on the ends of her lips. It was too much of a rom-com conventional line for her to accept her best friend using it in a normal life context.

     Leo chuckled at her reaction, "What's wrong with that?"

     "Great. I'm happier," she said, lifting her shoulder with a jerk to playfully knock him off. Bianca narrowed her eyes into his. "Adrian Pucey has nothing to do with that."

     "Mmkay," Leo sing-songed — there was no way he was going to be convinced that easily. At the rate that Bianca and Adrian's relationship was moving, she'd have to publically humiliate him, get him kicked off the Slytherin Quidditch team, and then probably murder his parents and/or him just to prove she didn't like Adrian Pucey.

     Leo settled back onto Bianca's shoulder, after a moment of protest on her part, when the Fat Lady howled from her station, loud enough for the people inside to hear her complaints, even from the other end of the portrait hole. 

     "Someone let whoever that is in!" Fred yelled, trying to prevent the focus from leaving their practical jokes display.

     "Who's that?" Leo inquired.

     From the familiar words of the Fat Lady, Bianca suspected whoever was at the door, wasn't supposed to be anywhere near Gryffindor Tower.

     Just before Ron Weasley had pulled open the entrance to the lion's den, Bianca thought she'd fess up whilst she still had the chance, "I invited Adrian," she said flatly.

     Leo slowly lifted his head from its nestled pillow, which was her right shoulder, before looking at her — his expression a combination of self-prosperity and satisfaction, disappointment due to her lack of confession, and a little glimmer of hope was tucked somewhere in his retina. "Right."

     Graham Montague was the first through the door, striding with purpose, seemingly expecting some raving party where alcohol is naturally shoved in his direction, and the music doesn't stop. Ron looked slightly puzzled and slightly pissed off too, but when Miles Bletchley followed in afterward, the redhead became unbeknown as to how to stop two big, Quidditch-playing boys from entering, on his own. 

     Adrian came in last, a smart look to his complexion, a sophisticated bottle of wine in his hand, and a content smile to finally see the inside of the Gryffindor common room.

     Bianca gave Leo a quick shove, and a childish "shut up" before she got up from her DIY sofa on the floor, to greet Adrian and welcome him into this new territory. Part of her just wanted to make him feel comfortable, even as an outsider.

     Adrian was glad Bianca was quick to come and see him, because as pleasant and cozy as the Gryffindor lounge was, he still felt like an awkward loner, who didn't belong and received questioning glares because of it.

     "You came?" she smiled, watching Miles and Graham wander around the outside of the room. "And you brought friends?"

     Adrian winced slightly, "Oh yeah, I hope that's okay. They weren't getting off my back when I said I was 'going out' and I felt bad for leaving them to mope about like jobless slugs."

     "It's no problem," Bianca reassured, "Except, where's the rest of them?" she was almost waiting for an entire band of Slytherins to follow in behind Adrian, with their big and boisterous voices and enthusiastic attitudes to drinking. But then again, she knew Adrian would never do something that he felt would bother Bianca and her friends. He was considerate. Not selfish.

     "Cass is hungover. Marcus is being a prick. And I didn't know where Terrence was, so why bother?" he heaved a laugh. "Besides, I still didn't want to intrude seen as we Slytherins aren't particularly welcome here full stop. I didn't know how your friends would feel by lots of us being here, but I bought this as compensation," he lifted the bottle so it was visible. A fancy tall bottle of Rosé came into her view.

     Bianca's smile held so much comfort, that it felt like someone was hugging him tight and telling him everything in life was going to be okay. Adrian wondered why he was so worried about coming to a Gryffindor Boxing Day get-together even as a Slytherin. Because surely he knew that Bianca would always put him at ease. 

     "The more the merrier right? I'm glad you came."

     Something about those words made Adrian all warm and tingly. "Of course I did. When have I ever passed up the opportunity for a little party that involves drinking and playing games?"

     Bianca led Adrian over to where Leo was now engrossed in sweet conversation with Alicia, where the Twins were passing around various sweets, and where the life of the party always happened in Gryffindor Tower — by the fire, of course. "Okay, first of all," she said, "if alcohol is the thing you want then you came to the wrong place. We're drinking eggnog, which has like one cup of brandy in it max. And second, we're not 'playing games', we're watching Fred and George geek out at their new toys." she gestured to the two redheads, who sent her a rather offended expression.

     "Sounds like fun," Adrian chuckled, glancing over at his two friends, motioning them to join everyone. "But why don't we play an actual game? Huh? Truth or dare?" he shimmied up against Bianca's side, playfully nudging her encouragingly.

     Bianca scoffed, "I know the redheads over there have some maturing to do, but I at least expected you, at your big age, to realize that truth or dare is a kids game. A literal kids game."

     Bianca took her same seat again, patting for Adrian to sit next to her, "We're sixteen, Bi. Now stop complaining about the target age of party games, and your nickname," he added hastily before she had the chance to protest, "and have some fun."

     Somehow, Adrian felt weirdly at home. Normal, even. No one turned a blind eye at three Slytherins being at a strictly Gryffindor event, and Fred and George even showed deep appreciation for Adrian's efforts to have fun.

     "Ignore her, Adrian," George said. "She has this 'thing' for party games. But Truth or Dare would be a laugh, so why not?"

     Adrian was pleasantly surprised by not hearing his surname come out of George Weasley's mouth when the boy spoke to him. He was fitting right in, he thought.

     "I'll play, as long as whatever fruity thing you just gave us won't make me heave in half an hour," Angelina said, holding onto her pillow as she edged closer.

     "Well, why did you eat it in the first place then, Angie?" Fred smirked, settling down, a circle now being formed through the group.

     Graham and Miles took a seat in between Katie and Angelina, and Bianca was surprised at how quick the group had come together to play a game that Adrian had suggested. 

     Adrian sent a quick smug look in Bianca's direction, leading to her rolling her eyes. He then naturally stretched out his arm and placed it over onto the sofa. It draped down just beside Bianca's shoulder, causing her to readjust her seating position out of the stress of what to do at the moment. Adrian saw it as no issue — she was flustered. How cute.

     "I'm up for a game if you are," Leo said to Alicia, who shrugged innocently and muttered a sweet, "why not?" in response. 

     Once the remaining two Slytherins had agreed — they obviously were going to, there's no doubt about that — and Katie had shuffled closer to the circle, the game was ready to commence.

     "Okay," George clapped his hands together, rubbing them against each other, with a wide grin that spread right across his fire-lit face, "Katie," he said, looking in the girl's direction. The Chaser was quick to let a little groan slip, her eyes having a short tendency to roll. "Truth or dare?"

     By the time it was Bianca's turn to go, Bianca remembered how much she disliked the game. It was all the while amusing to watch her friends confess something they never planned to say aloud even to people they considered to be friends, or do something ridiculous that only the rest of the group found funny, but actually being the one in play, wasn't so fun.

     All attention was turned on her when Fred announced it was finally her time to face the game.

     "Actually, I've got one," Adrian piped up. "Bianca, truth or dare?"

     Adrian hadn't had a turn yet, and despite the hilarious shit the Weasley Twins were making their friends do, he hadn't been paying that much attention. Sure, yes, he was taking in the words that were being passed around the group, but Adrian had no real desire to hear Bianca's friend's darkest truths, because all he had an interest in, was Bianca. How would Bianca answer that? What should he ask her if she chooses the dare option? What truth did he want to know about her?

     And so, Adrian came up with one. A truth, not a dare. Something he had wanted to know since the dawn of their vendetta. Since the start of their bet. Since the beginning of their bond-making. 

     He highly doubted that Bianca would choose the audacious, foolhardy, more-on-the-dangerous-side option (dare). She would most definitely, Adrian was 99% sure, probably chose truth. 

     "Truth."

     She said it very simply. Very matter-of-factly. She gazed into his perfect set of eyes as she said it too. Like she knew he knew she was going to say the word. Almost confident it was no problem for her whatsoever.

     "Did you ever hate me as much as you made out to?"

     The room went silent. No, it didn't. The group did, but to Bianca and Adrian, it felt like the entire castle went quiet. Like the planet stopped spinning. In truth, the common room was as loud and as un-silent as ever. Various students went about their Boxing Day with a mug of hot chocolate and a deep conversation with a friend, that was broken up with laughs and sips. 

     The rest of the group was intrigued by the question. They had experienced firsthand the pair's feud. Whether that be from Miles and Graham's point of view having learned all about Adrian's 'hatred' for Bianca over the years. Or from Katie and Angelina and Leo's standpoint, having listened to Bianca's non-stop verbal hatred for Adrian. They wanted to know the answer almost as much as Adrian did, even if it wasn't the typical teenage-juicy question asked during a game of Truth or Dare as they had expected. 

     Bianca thought long and hard about this. And actually? That wasn't needed. It was a straight answer that all Bianca needed to do was deliver.

     Since the beginning of the I-hate-Adrian-Pucey lifestyle, Bianca had been determined to make his life a living hell, because she thought that's what he wanted for her too. In all honesty — something Bianca is not going to verbalize today — Bianca stopped hating Adrian Pucey around three days into their first year. 

     In actual fact, Bianca had been rather tipped off that the boy that had walked into her on the Hogwarts Express on September first didn't apologize for what he did, and that strong dislike remained for around seventy-two hours. Young Bianca held grudges, but a six-year-long one? She wasn't that extreme.

     Bianca never hated Adrian for walking into her — she learned to forget it and move on. The problem sprouted from the fact that the two eleven-year-olds never spoke, which meant neither of them learned that the other one wasn't so bad after all. They didn't make conversation in class if they had the opportunity because neither of them was particularly fond of sitting next to someone they believe had no manners. And obviously being in opposing houses didn't help. A natural sort of hatred was born. 

     "Natural" because when test scores became a matter of importance in later years, the two of them were determined to come out on top, and that meant beating the other. "Natural" because Bianca hated Quidditch from the start and Adrian gasconaded in being a part of his house team. "Natural" because for six years they liked being someone's enemy.

     And so, Bianca relished in passing snide comments and getting higher grades than Adrian. And Adrian liked having someone to pin everything on and complain about to his friends. 

     They enjoyed hating each other.

     So did she ever actually hate him? No. She just liked to think she did.

     Bianca stared at him, her head twisted so she had the perfect view of his face. The fire's reflection was illuminated across his cheek, making his skin flicker a shade of gold. She could see the faint silhouette of the flames in the grey, sparkly canvas of his eyes.

     She cocked her head to one side, "No."

     Some might say that when there is a perfect moment in life, fireworks go off inside you. 

     Adrian would class this moment as perfect, but there were no fireworks. Not even butterflies to jitter around in his stomach. 

     No, not for Adrian. He was instead hit with a wave. Scratch that, a tsunami of unfamiliar feelings that bundled up to create a ticking-time-bomb that scared Adrian shitless. Because what if that bomb went off?

     He finally drew his gaze away from the girl, after sending her a single, punctated nod, that told her absolutely nothing about what he was thinking, and he stared at the carpet. He stared at the carpet. 

     Bianca always thought Adrian was easy to read. He was an open book, you might say. His expression said it all, 99% of the time. If he was sad, happy, excited, disappointed, or just okay. 

     But she couldn't read him right now. What was wrong with her answer? Was it too vague? It was impossible to tell whether she had given him the answer that he wanted to hear.

     Except, what Bianca didn't realize was her answer had just completely changed the name of the game.