Chapter Twenty-Six

                                    

                                          
[Sorry for the slow update, I had a ton of homework and finals but winter break is about to start so expect more updates coming!] 
                          
The next day, I decided to take Fred to all of my favorite nearby places for the entire day, then that night we'd meet up with Georgia and Hazel, which I was really excited for. And, eventually sometime down the week Hermione was gonna stay for a night because she only lived a few towns over. 
                          
"Do you think we're telepathic?" Fred asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. 
                          
"Huh?" I asked, looking over to him from staring at the ceiling. 
                          
"Like," he looked back at me. "Do you think we can think the same things? You know how you and your best friend will go, 'quick, what am I thinking?!' and then you both say something like pizza or... whatever and you think you're connected somehow? I'm wondering if we could do that except, like, every time. Does that make sense?" 
                          
"Hm, I don't know I guess I've never thought of it. Wouldn't hurt to try?" I said, and both of us began to sit up. 
                          
"Okay, what am I thinking?" He asked. "3, 2, 1-"
                          
An image briefly popped into my head and vanished in seconds, but it was enough for me to know what it was.
                          
"Georgia's earrings!" We both yelled, and started laughing. "I guess we do have it! You go." 
                          
I thought for a second. "Okay... what am I thinking? 3, 2, 1-"
                          
"Woah, wait. Um, I'm sorry I just started to feel super light-headed and nauseous. All I could see was like, black, but it was darker than black. My mouth is dry too," he said, rubbing his head. "What were you thinking of?" 
                          
"Augustus Rookwood, the guy I saw. I wanted you to be able to see him too, but I guess for some weird reason you can't," I explained. "Sorry, I probably should've forewarned you before trying to do something like that. Are you okay?"
                          
"Yeah, I'm alright, jeez way to ruin the fun Lo." He said, holding his hand in his head. 
                          
"I'll get you some ibuprofen." I said, beginning to stand up. 
                          
"Some what?" He asked, a confused look on his face. 
                          
"Ibuprofen," I said. "You know, like a pain killer. For your headache." 
                          
"Lola there's a spell for it, I'm alright really I am. Look," he said, casting the spell which made his aching face go away. "Ta-da! All better." 
                          
"I always forget that there's spells for things like that." I spoke lowly, sitting back down.
                          
"It's alright, Lo. You're still learning, you've only been at this for half a school year." 
                          
I smiled at him. "Sorry for traumatizing you with that." 
                          
He laughed. "Traumatizing me? You're the one with the trauma my dear." 
                          
I laughed along with him. "We're so fucked aren't we?" 
                          
"One hundred percent." 
                          
Soon after, I got into the shower before we were leaving to see Georgia and Hazel. We were just going to get something to eat for dinner, so it wasn't super formal but I still dressed up a little more than I would on a normal day, which was just straight cut jeans and an oversized sweater.
                          
While we were driving to the restaurant, I turned on the aux and played the playlist of songs I'd compiled that reminded me of Fred. 
                          
"Let me know if you like any of these songs," I spoke, turning it up a bit. "I feel like these are your style."
                          
I played him Trouble by Cage the Elephant and he said he liked it a lot, enough to have memorized the chorus by the end of it. 
                          
Once we arrived, we stepped out of the car outside of a small Greek restaurant downtown, Georgia and I mutually agreed to take both of them because Fred had ever been, and it was our favorite spot. 
                          
We walked in, and Georgia and Hazel had already been seated in a booth in the back corner, I waved to the hostess and pointed to Geo, which she nodded at, and we made our way and sat across from them. 
                          
"Hazel, this is Fred, Fred; Hazel." Georgia said as Fred reached his hand out for her to shake, which she took with a smile. 
                          
"Nice to meet you, Fred! I've heard a ton about you." She said, happy as always. 
                          
"Nice to meet you too, Hazel." He said, offering the same warm smile. 
                          
We all then began looking at our menus, though I knew what I was getting. I always made an effort to take a peek anyways, in case I changed my mind. 
                          
"Anything peek your interest?" I asked, looking down at what Fred was looking at on his menu. 
                          
"Well... yeah. All of it. I'm not really sure what any of this is though." He said. 
                          
Hazel looked up and laughed slightly. "Greek food is foreign to you?" 
                          
"Yeah, you have no idea." He mumbled barely loud enough for her to hear, and looked back down at his menu. 
                          
"Let me help, I'm going to assume our pallets are fairly similar, is that fair?" I asked. 
                          
"That's fair." 
                          
"I usually get the gyro, it comes with a side of fries," I said, and lowered my voice. "You'll like fries, I promise." 
                          
"I've had fries, Lola," he rolled his eyes in a playful manner. "But I'll take your word for it, will you order for me? I already forgot how to say it." 
                          
I nodded with a laugh. 
                          
Soon enough, the waitress came with a notepad ready to take our orders, so I told her what Fred and I wanted, and when she asked for a drink I just said to get us the same one again. I figured he wouldn't mind. 
                          
Once she left, Hazel picked up the conversation. 
                          
"Oh! Lola, I meant to ask, Georgie told me you'd left for like... a long time a few months ago. What ever happened with that?" She asked, and my face grew red and I looked to both Fred and Georgia for any reassurance or comfort, but I had to act quickly. 
                          
"I went to France. For this once in a lifetime program... it was a school thing. Like a transfer program." I fumbled, and wow I couldn't believe she believed it. 
                          
"Oh wow, that's really cool!? France is just beautiful, I went a few summers ago. What part were you in?" She said. 
                          
"All of it," I said, cursing myself for not remembering any geography of France because of how panicked I was. "I travelled around it for a while. I stayed mainly in Paris! The Eiffel Tower is so cool at night. Though, I wasn't allowed to bring my phone, it was some weird culture thing." 
                          
"How interesting! Well, you'll have to tell me more later!" She said. 
                          
I nodded slowly, hoping and praying she'd forget about it when that time came. 
                          
The rest of the meal went perfectly fine, and was actually super fun. Fred completely fit in with the three of us, and I was so grateful for that. 
                          
He really was just carbon copy of me, except even better because I got to enjoy him for myself.