August 2021, The Hotelroom
James was sleeping peacefully in his bed, but unfortunately woke up by his awful sister banging on the door. She didn't stop and James had to physically drag himself away from the comfy sheets and open the door to stop the banging.
"It's lunch time, you idiot!" she practically yelled in his face. James just stared at her wide eyed, he had not been prepared at all for this to happen not even ten minutes after he had woken up. "We are going to lunch."
"What are you talking about?" James asked as he rubbed his eyes.
"Stop being dramatic and get your arse out of your bed, now!" she said. James noticed that Albus had left the room and turned back to his sister. "Leave without me, I'm dead inside." he declared dramatically as he waved his hand at his sister, gesturing for her to go away.
"What did you do all night?" she questioned as she crossed her arms over her chest, dismissing James' gesture.
"Practise." he stated, rubbing his eyes.
"Quidditch?"
"No, I can't do it here. I was out in the tennis court, doing laps, push-ups. The usual, you know."
"Yeah yeah, I know you like exercising but mum and dad wants you to come with us to lunch." she explained as she walked into the room, opening his trunk.
"We are going to eat with a family Rose met at the resort-" she started as she took up a blue t-shirt and a pair of shorts.
"But I want to see Ava." he whined and closed the door.
"Unfortunately you can't. So stop whining and get dressed." she demanded before handing him the outfit and walking out.
He grumpily put on the shorts and t-shirt before quickly messing up his hair and leaving the hotel room.
As he walked into the reception he spotted Ava and her family talking to his. As he connected the dots he held out his arms as some sort of welcome gesture as he exclaimed, "What a pleasant surprise." looking directly at Ava.
"You are related to Rose here?" Mrs Jones asked with a smile. Her husband didn't seem to enjoy himself just as much now as he did before.
"Yeah, we are cousins." he stated happily as he looked over at Ava, unfortunately she didn't look back because she was in an intense conversation with Rose.
"Yet so different." Mr Jones whispered to his wife. He still didn't like this boy nor was he going to give him a chance.
"Shall we head towards the restaurant?" Hermione interrupted the moment that was getting more awkward by the second. James trudged along the rest of the group with Albus by his side. He was still sleepy and wasn't even hungry.
The restaurant wasn't too far away so they got there quickly, it was a cosy and small place. Not too crowded and their menu looked good. Judging by the people that worked there, it seemed like a family were running it.
There were a set of twins, a boy and a girl who took the orders. They seemed to be no older than twenty. A little kid played with an iPad in a corner while an elder lady sat next to him. She tried to get his attention away from the device with a toy but she was unsuccessful.
They couldn't see into the kitchen but James guessed that the parents were in there, cooking the food.
The girl twin came to take their order, a brunette with brown eyes. She was wearing a red apron over the outfit that was pretty similar to her brother's. She was wearing a beige blouse and a black skirt. He was wearing a beige shirt and black shorts.
"Are you guys ready to order?" she asked in a Croatian accent. James stared on the menu, he still hadn't decided. The adults quickly ordered their food so the girl turned to the youngsters.
Rose and Hugo ordered risottos and Lily a soup with chicken. James looked up towards the waitress, he contemplated between a risotto or a roasted beef meal.
Immediately the waitress fixed her hair and stood up straighter, putting on a sweet smile whiling doing so. Ginny and Harry shared a look at her actions.
"What would you like, handsome?" she asked with a smile. James smiled back before he asked, "Do you have something that is good if you want to build muscles?" he asked honestly, he and his cousin had a competition of who could get the most fit over the summer and he was taking that bet very seriously.
"You're funny!" she exclaimed, playfully hitting his shoulder. "I actually want to know." he said troubled. Then unexpectedly she leaned forward, her chest eye level with James' eyes as she pointed at a meal. "The risotto is my favourite, don't know if it's any good for building muscles though."
James' eyes was studying the menu hard, he hadn't even taken a second look at the waitress. He had thought about the risotto. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice Ava glancing insecurely at the gorgeous girl next to James.
"I think I will take the risotto then." James decided after some time, during that time the waitress had taken the rest of the orders. She nodded as she wrote his order down then walking into the kitchen, swaying her hips. But James didn't look at her, he looked over at Ava.
"What did you order?" he asked with a big smile.
"I got a rice and beef meal." she answered simply, glancing at the brunette making her way to another table, then talking with her brother and laughing about something. She even caught her glancing over at James.
"How daft could you be, James?" Lily asked rhetorically. "That waitress was clearly flirting with you."
Even though everyone knew about James' infatuation with Ava, they at least expected some sort of reaction from him. "She was?" he questioned with a confused expression.
James looked over at his parents and saw them nodding, so did everyone else except for Albus, Rose and Ava. Albus didn't care enough to take part in the conversation and Rose and Ava seemed to be whispering about something.
He tried to find a way to enter their conversation but he couldn't even hear what they talked about. It was kind of hopeless to even try, but he did.
Even after half an hour when the elderly lady came with the food, he still hadn't found a way into their conversation. So he gave up and turned to his food, scooping up some risotto with his knife.
-
"Hey, Charlie has a deck of cards why don't we play something?" Ava asked as they finished their meals and the plates had been taken.
James was deep in his thoughts and didn't pay attention to the things happening around him. Ava leaned over the table and snapped her fingers in front of him, his mind came back to reality and his eyes immediately went to her nails, they were painted white and it looked really good on her.
"Hello? James?" she questioned as she tilted her head.
"Huh?"
"Wanna play cards with us?" she asked when she got his attention.
"YES!" he yelled, gaining the attention of every single soul in the restaurant. "That was enthusiastic." Ava said before she laughed lightly and rolled her eyes
She started to give everyone that was playing seven cards each. "What do we play?" James asked as he rubbed his hands together.
"Go fish!" Charlie said excitedly as he smiled.
"How do you play that?" Rose asked as she took up her seven cards.
"It's a pretty simple game actually, you are going to collect a set of four cards, for example four queens. You collect cards by asking people. If we for example say that I have one nine, I can turn to Charlie and ask him if he has any nines, if he has one or more, he gives me all his nines." She started, looking to see if everyone followed.
When they nodded to show her that they understood, she continued, "If he gives me one card or more, I get to ask another person, it doesn't have to be nines I'm asking for and I can ask Charlie again if I want to. But if he doesn't have any nines, he says 'Go fish.' and I need to take a card from the pile with the rest of the cards. Then it's the next persons turn."
They had played for a long time, James managed to win once, but Charlie seemed to be really good at the game. Ava managed to win twice but after Charlie's seventh win, the adults had paid the bill and wanted to get back to the hotel.
Ava had looked over at James who was grinning profusely at his sister. Then he mouthed something in the style of 'I told you she liked me.' referring to all those times while they played cards and James had gotten the whole table to laugh, even the adults and Ava, several times. He had not meant to be funny every time but it still counted.