Elusive // The Weasley Twins

37. Sober

Ever since her conversation with Alice and Olivia, Cosette had been carefully thinking about what she was wanting with George. She knew that she had feelings for him but the idea of going public and having his family look at her differently worried her.

She didn't want any of them to think that she never loved Fred, because she did. Fred was the person that she was planning on spending the rest of her life with but obviously that wasn't going to happen anymore.

Cosette didn't really have a choice but to get over Fred.

He wasn't going to come back.

And she did like George, a lot. Cosette loved how she felt when it was just the two of them. She loved the butterflies in her stomach whenever she saw him and if they weren't together, Cosette found herself missing him more than she probably should.

She liked how he had this ability to turn any negative situation into something lighthearted. George was constantly trying to make her smile and she loved how easy it was for him to make her laugh.

They had been friends for years. Nothing about the two of them together was awkward because they were already so comfortable being around each other.

George wasn't perfect and neither was Cosette, but he was truly the only person she could think about. She didn't miss Fred when she was with George. It was only after she left him did Cosette start to panic about what they were doing. Alice's words stuck out to her and part of her worried that subconsciously she was using George to fill the hole in her heart that Fred left, even if that wasn't her intention.

But they were so different. Their physical qualities were similar but that was it.

Fred was always very loud and more of the instigator when it came to them. He was the one who started conversations with strangers and he was also the one who had the courage to ask her out all those years ago.

George was reserved. He was helpful and caring and although he was just as much of a risk taker as his brother, he probably wouldn't have gotten into as much trouble in his youth if it weren't for Fred. Growing up, Cosette noticed how willing George was to lend a hand to anyone who needed assistance.

George was also the smarter of the two of them. He did most, if not all, of the paperwork and filing when him and Fred wanted to open up their shop. Fred tried to help but he was more focused on the physical aspect of the store, but neither of them complained about it. George was perfectly happy dealing with the logistics, being more of a perfectionist than Fred in that sense while Fred just worried about what the store itself looked like.

---

"No, no!" Fred sighed loudly and Cosette stepped aside for him to walk towards the window display and fix whatever Ron had just done horribly wrong. Ron moved out of the way for him and muttered something under his breath about why he was even helping if Fred kept correcting him every five minutes.

But Ron had a point, Fred was constantly interfering with everyone's task. Yes, this was his store and he wanted things done a certain way, but what the point of asking people to help if he just did it all himself anyway?

"Freddie, hey," Cosette walked up to the window display and looked up at him as he stood on the raised platform and worked on adjusting the strings of a sign. He glanced down at her for a brief second and Cosette lowered her voice so his siblings wouldn't hear, "You're sort of pissing everyone off."

"What? No I'm not," Fred furrowed his eyebrows but when Cosette shrugged her shoulders, Fred looked out into the store and noticed that no one was doing anything to help set up.