how it feels to be alive {tom riddle}

five: lacy

She watched him read for a while, resting her head gently on his shoulder as he made more notes in his journal.

She pulled out her phone after she'd watched for a while, looking through her social media. Tom peered curiously at the screen.

"What even is that? Is it a wizarding device?" He questioned.

"It's muggle actually, they're pretty good. The muggle world has advanced so much, you wouldn't believe it." She replied.

She showed him the different features of her phone, exploring each of her apps and explaining their function and purpose. He stared intently, taking in every detail.

She opened the photos app to show him what muggle photographs were like now, also pressing on a few videos she'd taken.

Tom was quite impressed, although he'd never admit it to anyone aside from Lucia, as he knew she wouldn't critique him for it.

"Do you want to have a go? I'm going to quickly go down the reception to see what takeaway we can get delivered for dinner and book the room for a bit longer. I can't be bothered leaving the hotel to get food." She said, handing him the phone and grabbing a purse. She walked out the door.

He began to scroll through an app with a blue logo saying Facebook. After a few minutes he decided to return to the muggle photographs she'd taken, flicking through them.

In one photo, her and another girl with darker skin and frizzy hair were holding martini glasses, sticking their tongues out seemingly at a busy bar. Their outfits were like the one Lucia had been wearing the night before in their coverage. So she was telling the truth that this was what people wore these days.

He kept flicking through various photos of her with friends, but stopped when one photo popped up.

Her long blonde hair was down, and she had taken the photo in the mirror. But the shocking thing was that she was only wearing a black lacy bra and underwear.

He felt blood rush up to his cheeks. Did everyone take photos like this?

He suddenly felt very guilty, thinking back to her comment about indecent things on her phone. He flicked to the next photo, hoping to find another picture of her and her friends instead. Yet it was the same lack of clothes, but this time not in a mirror. She was lying seductively on a bed, the sheets twisted around her legs.

He'd seen enough and felt terrible that he'd seen these pictures not meant for his eyes. They were very attractive of course, but quite a shock. He tried to ignore the tightening of his jeans and quickly flicked out of the app.

Why the hell did she leave her phone with him to look through if she knew those photos were on there? He felt very guilty and pressed the backs of his cold hands to his cheeks to get rid of the hot flush.

She was definitely unlike anyone he'd ever met before, but it didn't bother him like he'd expect. In fact this difference actually made him like her even more, because he didn't feel like she was constantly seeking the approval of others.

He heard the beep of the key card being pushed into the door as Lucia returned, and quickly picked up the Herbology book again. She walked in holding various pamphlets from the reception.

"What kind of thing do you like?" She questioned as she walked over, sitting on the edge of his bed and laying out the pieces of paper. "This is what they had from the area, but if you don't like any of this, we can have a look at something online."

"I don't really mind. I'll eat most things." He explained. He never had much choice at the orphanage when he was younger, so he'd learnt to like most things.

"I feel like pizza I think." Lucia declared, picking up a menu of a pizza joint not far away.

She picked up her phone, and Tom's body stiffened. Would she know what he saw?

He was relieved when the photos didn't pop up when she unlocked the phone, and she tapped on the phone app to type in the number of the pizza place.

She rang up to order a couple of pizzas, assuring Tom that you had to have leftovers because it always tasted better for lunch the next day.

"Did you like the phone?" Lucia asked as she hung up after ordering, "What apps did you end up giving a go while I was out?"

Tom felt heat in his body again, "Yeah it was quite impressive actually. I looked through Facebook and a couple of photos with your friends in them." He tried to sound casual.

"Oh my God, I'll have to show you this one photo from Hogwarts I took last year..." She started as she opened the photos app. The dreaded photo popped up on the screen.

To his surprise, she started to laugh. He had expected her to be angry at him for snooping too much.

"Bet this gave you a hell of a surprise. Sorry about that, I forgot they were on there." She said almost casually.

"Indeed." He said warily, allowing himself to smile along with her amusement.

"You're just learning all about the aspects of the modern world, aren't you? Wait until I tell you about Tinder." She laughed.