WHO: Hugh Abbott & Sarah Daniels
WHAT: She admits she still has feelings for him
WHEN: Evening
WHERE: Ministry Gala
Sarah had decided halfway through the affair that coming with Tiberius was the best thing that she had ever done. For some reason, it was just a little less painful watching Hugh dance with Ally from the other side of the room when you were watching from the arms of your own date. But Ty couldn't be with her the whole night, she knew that, although she was completely unprepared for how helpless she felt, walking off to find a small, unoccupied table alone. She pursed her lips tightly before grabbing a glass of champagne off a tray passing by and let her eyes follow her date as he socialized with all the important people of the Ministry.
Of course it would make no sense for her to go with him to do that. She was on the lowest level of Ministry hierarchy and she'd probably be bored out of her mind. Still, Sarah couldn't tell whether she felt better acting like a fish out of water and looking attatched or not having to fake a smile but feeling totally insecure and alone. Guh, whatever; she took a long drink of the champagne continued to watch Tiberius.
After all, if she was watching him, she wasn't watching Hugh. And that was always good.
Hugh suppressed a yawn and repressed the urge to look at his watch for the millionth time for the past minute. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy spending time with his friends and seeing everyone dressed up and pretty, but these social funcions... well, he didn't hate them, exactly, he just found them kind of pretentious.
He leaned against the refreshment table. It seemed like hours since he had last seen Ally; she had disappeared in search for the higher-ups. Things between them... well, it seemed strange. Strained, to be more exact, and much as he didn't want to admit it, the two were slowly but gradually growing distant. Yet did he actually dislike it?
Hugh turned to reach for a glass of champagne and nearly bumped into a very pretty girl. "Oh, sorry-" he began automatically, then stopped, his eyes widening slightly. "Sarah!"
Wow.
"Oh--hey, where have you been? I haven't seen you all night!"
That was a total lie, as she'd been tracking his moves almost the whole time she'd been there, but of course she wasn't going to admit to that. Of course, the first thing she noticed was that Ally didn't seem to be with him, and wondered for a moment if she could really have missed that much by not paying attention for a few minutes. If she had seen Ally was off somewhere else, she would have come up to him herself.
"You look... really, really nice," she commented with a smile, looking him up and down. Really, he did; he was very good at pulling off the suit he was wearing, and she couldn't help but think she'd probably never seen him looking this good.
"You look... great," Hugh said, unable to stop smiling. She really did; the last time he saw her looking so gorgeous was maybe when they were back at school and when they had attended those school balls, but now... She was just flat-out beautiful.
Merlin, he hadn't meant to stare so much, she probably thought there was something wrong with him. He shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of his champagne. "Oh, you know, I've been around, doing lots of things... most of them sitting-related, for the past hour. Where's your, ah, date?" For about one second, Hugh completely forgot that Sarah had gone with a date, but the facts came roaring back at full speed.
Sarah felt a telltale warmth in her face at Hugh's compliment, which for some reason made mer a lot more happy than the one that had come from her date at the beginning of the night. Quickly, she hid her face behind her glass by taking a drink of the champagne, noticing that she had already almost drained the glass. When had that happened?
"Thanks, I--" She stopped at the mention of her date, taking a moment to find him again in the crowd of people. At the same time, she happened to catch sight of Ally, right in the middle of the same group of higher-ups. "Tiberius went off to talk to some of his co-workers... over there, yeah? And I see your girlfriend is doing the same."
Hugh nodded and was about to say something very witty when the music changed - into a very upbeat song he knew that was one of Sarah's absolute favourites (from his Hogwarts days). He glanced at Sarah, and raised his eyebrows, extending a hand.
"Care to dance?" he asked with a grin.
Sarah laughed, looking around the room as if she could see the music (grinning all the while; she adored this song!), before looking back to Hugh. "Do you even have to ask?" she said, taking his hand without hesitation before pulling him onto the dance floor.
Oh Merlin, she was such a dorky dancer.
So Sarah wasn't the greatest of dancers, but then again, Hugh wasn't either. He couldn't help but laugh though, as he invented some of his own moves on the dance floor (despite the amused staring). "I think we are the best dancers in the whole wide world," he shouted over the music, taking Sarah's hand and twirling her around once.
"Well, obviously!" she replied, allowing the twirl before grabbing both his hands and pulling him into a swing-style set of movements she wasn't sure of the origin of. Oh gosh, she was laughing so much and she didn't even care that people were staring and how was it that her night had gone from dismal to amazing from the time she had gotten there to the time she had started to talk to Hugh?
Such fun guys shouldn't be wasted on stuffy, socialite, ambitious girls. Oh wait--no, she didn't just think that. Not at all.
Hugh let go of Sarah briefly to rock on the balls of his feet, moving his arms back and forth before he took Sarah's hands again, twirling her. As the song ended, he dipped her with a flourish. Merlin, this was so much fun. He couldn't remember the last time he had this much fun with Ally; normally she would be trying to make him dance properly and scolding him (nicely) for stepping on her shoes.
He almost didn't notice the lights dimming or the song changing to a slow, romantic one, and he looked down at Sarah before pulling her upright. So it was a slow song. That didn't mean they couldn't dance to it, right?
So why was his heart feel like it was suddenly going five hundred miles a minute? He covered up his sudden discomfort with a big smile. "A dance for thy fair lady?" he asked with a fake posh tone, holding his hand out.
Sarah hadn't noticed it either, until she had accepted (a bit dumbly, too) and was in his arms and actually, properly dancing. Oh goodness, oh this was--so nice. Curse her for thinking it, especially when both his girlfriend and her date were in the room, but it was. It was nice and she loved it and she--guh, and she still loved him.
This could not turn out well, any way you looked at it. She had to stop, she had to stop before she did something stupid--"I'm sorry, excuse me," she said quickly, forcing herself to let go of Hugh. Sarah turned around and walked (briskly) off the dance floor and down a side hallway, determined not to look back.
Hugh stood still for a moment as he watched Sarah depart abruptly, then his body kicked into motion. Dodging past the slow dancers and the crowds of people, there was only one thing on his mind - Sarah. "Wait!" he called out, nearly avoiding a drunk woman spilling her glass of firewhisky on him.
By the time he caught up with her, he was nearly panting with exertion, and without thinking, he grabbed her wrist. "Sarah..." He trailed off, frowning slightly.
Sarah could hear his footsteps coming up behind her and as much as she tried, she couldn't stop--fucking stop--what was her problem, she was crying and this was so stupid and what--
Somehow hoping that he wouldn't notice if she just kept turned away and her head down, she kept trying to gain her composure (obviously, to no avail). "W--what, I said excuse me," she replied to him after a long time, cursing the shake of her voice. But really, why had he had to follow her, just leave her alone? She couldn't be around him now, she really couldn't. Sarah made an attempt to walk further down the hallway, only to realize his hand was still around her wrist. Fuck.
"You're crying," Hugh said quietly, concerned. Sarah was crying, and ugh, he wished he could do something about it. So he did what was becoming so natural to him - the not thinking thing, that is - and wrapped his arms around Sarah. It felt so... right, for a lack of a better word, so instinctal, that he didn't think twice about it.
"Tell me what's wrong?" he said softly, wanting nothing more than to hold Sarah forever until whatever was paining her stopped.
"You've got to let me go--you've--" Sarah squirmed, but it was halfhearted at best.
He was hugging her and fuck it she couldn't pull away and why was he allowed to do this to her? How long had it taken for her to get over him? Years, years, holy fuck, and all for it to come crashing back down in front of her. What had she been thinking, going to work for him? Once she realized it was him who was supposed to be her boss, she should have forgotten about it and gotten another job... but no, how could she, because she was in love with him and she couldn't because it was him and this was such a wreck, she was such a wreck..
"You're what's wrong, Hugh, it's--I'm so sorry, but I--I still love you and you--I--you need to stay a--away from me."
"What if I don't want to stay away from you?" Feeling dizzy, not feeling at all like himself, Hugh bent down and kissed her.
He forgot that he had a girlfriend who he was admittedly nearly on the rocks with. He forgot that Sarah had come with a date. He forgot that they were now friends. He forgot himself, and all he could focus on how perfect this felt, despite Sarah's tears.
All protests left Sarah the second his lips touched hers. She was completely blown away by how insanely right this felt, her mind was sent into a whirlwind of a million emotions at once and she felt suddenly that if he weren't holding her still, she might actually faint.
Her body seemed to move of its own accord as her hands went to either side of his face and she leaned into the kiss. If she had had coherent thought currently going through her brain, Sarah would have realized how much she was probably going to regret this later.
Thank Merlin she didn't.
Hugh savoured the kiss, and it was with the greatest of reluctance that he pulled away. He thought that his most of his rational brain cells must have been dead, and gazing down at Sarah's eyes, he couldn't help but think of how right this all was.
"Hi," he said huskily, curling an arm around her waist, a small smile on his face.
"H--hey," she whispered. Her voice was still cracking and her eyes were still burning, but she wasn't crying. Okay, this man was amazing, there was just no getting around it. This was horrible, but she couldn't even think of Tiberius or Ally right now--no, not any more, this meant too much to her to just let go.
Hoping that the rational part of him didn't come back any time soon, her hands slipped down his shoulders and to his arms. "Welcome back. It's been a long time."
"It has, hasn't it?" Hugh pulled her closer, closing the remaining gap between them. "I knew you were still cute, by the way."
Oh, there were consequences, horrible consequences to be reckoned with, but for now? Hugh honestly couldn't remember when he felt more happy.
Sarah laughed lightly, at that moment thinking that no words had ever sounded better. Guh, how had she lasted even this long? Better yet, how had she ever gotten over him, all those years ago?
Oh, that's right. She hadn't.
Leaning forward, she pressed her forehead softly to his, closing her eyes. "What are we going to do?"
Okay, reality. It was time to face reality and admittedly, Hugh wasn't quite ready to do that. He felt extremely guilty; he was technically still with Ally, and no matter what, he had sincerely never wanted to hurt her. It was just... all these old feelings about Sarah came rushing back to him, and...
Sarah really was his first love.
"I don't know," he said honestly, giving a soft kiss near her mouth.
"Do you want to get out of here?" Sarah asked, before realizing what she was saying. No, obviously they couldn't just leave; there was Ally and Tiberius and that would be so bad and oh--"No--no, sorry, we can't. Dates and girlfriends and all that."
She shook her head and looked down at the floor (or where the floor would be; she couldn't see it when they were this close), not having any better answer to her earlier question than he had. "Obviously this... isn't going to work. We have to do something or... do nothing." As much as it broke her heart to realize, once he was rational again, doing nothing was probably what he'd choose. You didn't just give up your amazingly gorgeous girlfriend because your old cute one had come back and kissed you.
