Can't have Champagne, but Ice Cream, that I can have : closed, Colton

Madeleine had been craving the strangest of foods since she got to London, and she was thankfully, able to get a job, which helped her have the money as well as to help Aeva with bills and things too. She was growing, little by little, but she knew that there was far more to come…

She was a Healer, afterall…

But other than ice cream, the red-haired witch wanted terribly badly to make friends, to find people she could actually trust, people who could have her back, if she desperately needed it… She didn’t want to leave that only to Aeva, she was the older sister, and she didn’t want her younger sister to have to stress about that too, not while she was training, or ever…

Maddy was supposed to be able to protect AEVA and not the other way around…

”How may I help you?” she heard and looked up and smiled towards the man behind the counter.

“Yes, may I please have a Butterbeer Ice Cream cup please?” she asked, as he went off to get her ice cream. She glanced around as she waited, and smiled towards the man behind her in the line. “Have you ever had that flavour?” the red headed woman asked him.

At first, Colton had visited Hogsmeade only when his team had scrimmages with Scotland. The town was a favorite of the Irish team, and Colton always had a good time going to the three broomsticks with them - though, his favorite time still was when he'd met Darcy there. It had been something different at least, unlike most nights where they just ordered drinks and Colton watched as his team wooed all of the women in the pub. Of course, his teammate had tried to do the same to Darcy, but Colton had butted in to save the girl the trouble. And he'd been pleasantly surprised to find that she was an incredible person! But, as time went on, Colton began to visit Hogsmeade not only on the rare occasion that they had a match, but whenever he got a spare day and was in the mood to shop or have a butterbeer or anything. The town had grown on him.

With winter just around the corner, Colton had apparated there today with the intention of buying his family's Christmas presents. And he would, but he couldn't resist the urge to stop into the ice cream parlor when he passed it - true, it was cold outside, but when the ice cream parlor sold warm ice cream flavors, that wasn't really a problem. It had been a relaxing day so far, and up until now nobody had noticed him. Or, they were just getting used to him - Colton had always hoped that if he spent enough time around the public, they wouldn't pester him for autographs each time they saw him. And though it seemed to have take a few years, it was finally starting to seem like it was making a difference. A few people even smiled at him as he walked down the street today, saying hello to him, but continued walking. Which was brilliant, and Colton couldn't have smiled brighter back at them!

And it seemed that this woman in front of him didn't recognize him at all, because she turned around and asked him a question without batting an eye. Colton smiled back down at her, glad that today was full of people who were treating him normally. Though, the woman's french accent gave her away straight away, and he knew right away that she wasn't from here. Though, truthfully, neither was Colton, although he'd lived nearby for several years now. "Yes, of course," Colton told her. "It's brilliant - easily the most popular flavor of anything around here." Colton actually wasn't sure if they had butterbeer in France. He'd been there plenty of times, but truthfully rarely ordered butterbeer. "You'll like it - I'm a little torn though, myself, between the Extra Dark Coffee, and the Caramel Hot Chocolate." Colton just wanted a warm flavor, but he was terrible at making decisions like this - you know, the important life decision that choosing your ice cream flavor was. "What do you think?"

It was true that Madeleine didn’t know the man that she’d spoken to after she’d asked for her ice cream, but that didn’t mean that maybe he couldn’t be a friend? Right? After all, it was pretty much clear to her that her sister didn’t really want to love her or care for her anymore, and she was the one to blame, even though the fault lied on Jean-Claude. Maddy had to listen to him, or he would hurt her worse than he did already, and she was scared.

Maddy wasn’t generally a fearful person, but Jean-Claude had made her that way. And it took her being pregnant to get away from the man who’d been hurting her for years in more ways than one. And so she turned towards the man behind her, thinking that she’d seen him before, but not too sure where, she sort of let it slip down her back and she wanted to try to make friends with him, to have someone in her corner who wasn’t her sister, who seemed to not want her around, even if she hoped that she would.

The truth was, Maddy wondered if she shouldn’t just leave Aeva’s house, but she hoped that her sister would let her stay, because all she wanted was to be safe, and with her sister! She was scared, and pregnant, and she didn’t know what else to do without her sister there! But when the man smiled back towards her, she couldn’t help but look to him with a smile as well. He was pretty cute, and that was a good thing in her own mind for her to think. And she wondered if maybe there could be something that could come of this, maybe a friendship? The red-haired girl just wanted friends, people who she could trust, and she didn’t know if it would work, but she wanted it so badly…

“It is good that it is a good flavour, yes?” she asked him, never having actually had a butterbeer in her life, though she’d wanted to. But Jean-Claude wouldn’t let her do too much… “Ohh those sound good too, but I’m not sure if coffee is good for me… You see, I’m going to have a baby…” she said to him, "but that Caramel Hot Chocolate does sound good, maybe I’ll have a second?” she said to him, wondering if that would taste good… “Well, if you got the Caramel Hot Chocolate Flavour we can both share, I mean, If you want? We can ask for extra cups?” she offered. Wondering if that would work, or if he would think that she was crazy or something. Because she wasn’t crazy, she was just pregnant and had been abused...

"Yes, but you should try the real thing, whenever you have the chance," Colton told her, still talking about the butterbeer ice cream. "The Three Broomsticks is just down the road - it's a pretty popular pub. Definitely stop in if you have the time, you'll be glad that you did." Everyone in Britain seemed to find it strange that there were people out there who hadn't tried Butterbeer, but Colton was pretty familiar with most of the local favorites from around the world, from travelling so much. He was aware that France didn't have butterbeer - he himself hadn't tried it until later in his life, because New Zealand didn't serve it either. He smiled down at the redhead when she mentioned that she would be having a baby. "Really?" he responded, not being able to help looking her up and down. "Not for a while, I'd imagine - you don't look it." She didn't. She was quite small for a someone who was expecting. Not that it necessarily meant she wasn't further along, but since she's brought it up herself, Colton didn't feel too rude asking. "Well, congratulations in any case."

Colton looked at her appraisingly for when she suggested that they could share, trying to decide if maybe she did recognize him and was simply playing dumb to gain his attention. But he smiled after a moment, because the woman seemed pretty genuine. "Sounds reasonable," he replied with a shrug. Soon, it came to be their turn at the counter. "A large butterbeer, and a large caramel hot chocolate please," Colton said, paying for both without giving the woman a chance to interject. Just because she didn't know that he was famous and rich didn't mean he could dare let her pay for herself when he could more than afford it. After grabbing two extra cups, he turned to hand hers to her. "Here you go - um, actually, I didn't get your name yet, did I?" He hadn't. That was a bit unlike him. "Sorry about that. I'm Colton," he said, smiling. "And you are?"

Retreating to a table along the wall, Colton helped himself to a seat, waiting for the woman to join him. He didn't wait long to dig his spoon into his ice cream, eager to try the new flavor. Colton loved ice cream - a random fact that not many knew about him. He liked to keep certain things from the media, even if it only gave him some illusion of having a bit of privacy, rather than the real thing. "This was a great choice!" he told her, grinning. Then, taking another bite, he redirected the conversation. "From where in France are you from?" he asked, only knowing her country by her accent. Colton himself was from New Zealand, but other than the British themselves, most of Europe couldn't really tell the difference between his accent and the common one. "And are you just visiting? Or do you live here?"

“The real thing… That sounds as if it would be very good… If only I could have alcohol…” Madeleine said to him, nodding when he looked up and down, letting her know that she didn’t look it. “Well, I’ve only just found out, I’m only a few weeks in, so I’ve not really… well, I haven’t started to really show just yet. But there’s a baby in there, I’m only starting to grow only a little bit.” the red headed woman said to him, pulling her shirt tightly back, so that the small little pooch was now able for him to see, if he looked close enough.

“Thank you for the congratulations though… It’s not really all that noticeable just yet, but… He or she is in there… About the size of a pea or something a little mite bigger.” Maddy added, suggesting that maybe the two of them share their ice creams, so that there's more than one flavour for them to try. When he ordered for them, and then paid for it, the red haired woman opened her mouth to say something, but no sound came out. He grabbed two extra cups and asked her what her name was, introducing himself at the same time. “I’m Madeleine… Sorry I was so rude and didn’t introduce myself, that’s quite rude of me...” she added, following him towards a table along the wall and sitting down next to him.  Maddy had always loved ice cream, but especially now, being pregnant, she was feeling very much as if she was craving it…

“It does taste very good, they both do…” she said to him, a smile on her face, shifting one of her hands to her stomach, feeling the need to just be sure that things were okay down there too, though if he had noticed it she was almost sure that he’d think that she was nuts or something. “I did live in Nice for some time…” she said, “Was it the accent?” Maddy wondered aloud. “And well, I live here now… But… Colton? Where are you from?” the red haired woman asked, hearing a difference between accents nearby them and his own, though it was only slight, to her, it was there.

Oh, right. Pregnant people couldn’t drink. Of course, Colton knew that. It wasn’t as though he’d suggest she drink a glass of firewhiskey. But the amount of alcohol in butterbeer was so minute that it was practically non-alcoholic. After all, they let thirteen year olds drink it in Britain, when the actual drinking age was seventeen. But Colton supposed she knew better than him, so he just nodded in reply. “Yes, but at least you can have ice cream, right? That’s better than alcohol anyway,” he told her with a smile. Even when she pulled her shirt back against her stomach, Colton still couldn’t really tell that she was pregnant. But he hadn’t known her before she was, so maybe it was obvious to her family.

“Oh, not at all,” Colton replied hastily when she apologized for being rude. “It just didn’t come up straight away. It’s nice to meet you Madeleine,” he said happily. “Do you have other children as well, or is this your first?” Though he did care to hear the answer, Colton was actually wondering how old the girl was. She looked young, for having a baby – possibly around his age. Not that twenty three was too young to have a child, but not everybody started a family so early. If she said that she had five other children, he could at least determine that she was older than she looked, though he doubted it.

“My sister loves to experiment with all of the flavors,” Colton told her, carrying on the conversation casually. “And by that I mean that she’ll order grass and marshmallow ice cream, or some other ridiculous concoction. And she actually eats it. I’ve never seen her not finish.” Colton wasn’t unadventurous, but he didn’t see the point in ordering ice cream that could taste like dirt. Literally. “Yes, the accent gave it away,” Colton told her, laughing. Surely she had to know that – a french accent was difficult to mistake for something else. “I grew up in New Zealand,” he told her, glad that this conversation was so normal. It was obviously because Madeleine had no idea who he actually was. Which was nice. “What brings you to Britain?” he asked.

“Yes, thankfully I can have ice cream.” Madeleine said to him with a smile on her face. Her red hair fell in front of her face, and she pushed it back with her hand to get it out of the way. “And yes, it is better to have ice cream, but yeah.” she said with a soft smile on her face.

“And I’m really glad that you didn’t think I was rude, because I would hate to think that I was. Because I’m never rude to anyone and certainly not to a stranger, or someone I just met…” Maddy said to him, trying hard to make sure that he knew she hadn’t been trying to be rude. “It’s really nice to meet you too, Colton, and, this is my first baby…” Maddy answered, thinking about how scared that she felt about this.

About all of this.

“I’m only twenty-one, and well, this kinda wasn’t planned.” she said to him, not even sure where that came from, or why she thought it would be okay to tell him, or anyone that. “And grass is a flavor here? What even does grass mixed with marshmallow TASTE like?” she asked, thinking about that idea and wondering if that would actually be good. She did like marshmallows, but she’d never tasted grass…

“I guess I hadn’t realized how strong my accent is, but New Zealand! Wow! I’ve never been there, but I’ve always wanted to go, what’s good to see there?” she asked, smiling towards him. “Well, my sister lives here and after what happened, I knew that I needed to come closer to family…”

Colton felt his lips tug upward at the redhead’s words. ”Well, yes, at least there’s that then,” he replied, deciding that being thankful for ice cream was a good outlook to have. He made a point to tuck it into the back of his mind, where he kept a mental list of things to tell himself and others during hard times. Sure, you may have lost your job, or gotten injured, or the world may be going to shit – but at least you can still have ice cream. Though, with his luck, he’d wind up saying it to someone who was lactose intolerant or something. And then, what else could he say? If your life was terrible and you couldn’t have ice cream – well, what bright side was there to that?

Rude? No, definitely not. If anything, this girl was a bit unnaturally polite. But he didn’t mention that out loud, instead just waving off her comment. ”No, of course not,” he replied with a smile. Colton was particularly good at not reacting to things – being surrounded by the press all the time, he had to be. But when Madeline blurted out that her baby was an accident, he couldn’t help his eyebrows quirking a bit in surprise. ”You’re hardly the first to go through it, at least, and  you won’t be the last – and at least you can have ice cream,” he added at the end, remembering it from before. ”And anyway, I’m sure that you’ll handle it just fine. Sometimes the things we don’t plan on are the best things to happen to us.” Like how he hadn’t planned to run into Darcy Wilde that one day, nor the next, but wound up with someone in his life who could see past his fame.

”I don’t know,” he replied with an amused voice. ”I’m not so adventurous that I’d want to try it. I don’t see the point.” French accents were one of the most blatant to Colton, but he didn’t comment on it again. ”Oh, there’s plenty to see- for example, the original Lord of the Rings set is still there, chock full of hobbit holes and everything,” he told her with a grin. ”Where do you live? Here in Hogsmeade?”