Closed Everybody Cut Footloose! PV Shawn McCarthy

Shawn's mother had always referred to him as "rhythmically challenged" which was a nice way of saying he sucked at dancing. He had purposely avoided any sort of ball or dance that took place during his first Hogwarts year, he had too much pride to allow anyone to see him dance horribly. But he wasn't just going stay that way, oh no, he would practice until he became the best dancer in the school, maybe even in the world! But this presented another problem for the young cocky man, he had nowhere to practice. If he practiced in the common room everyone could see him and that was just shameful. His dorm? Yeah right, and let his dormmates mock him? He was okay. So that left only one real option.

Sneak around to the rehearsal room at night.

It was an easy plan for the young man, Shawn knew no one else would be there and as long as he wasn't stupid he wouldn't even get caught. His walk to the room had been calm and uneventful, some portraits gave him a dirty look or threatened to get a teacher, but Shawn just ignored them or gave the painting a little scare. Shawn didn't realize the mistake he had made until he almost got to the room, he had no music. He groaned loudly, which echoed throughout the empty halls. Shawn looked around the dark hallways and decided it wasn't worth his time to go all the back to his room and then have to walk all the way back here, so with a shrug, he continued his journey.

Because nothing ever goes smooth and easy for Shawn, as he got closer to the door he could've sworn he heard music coming from the inside, gently pressing his ear against the door, he heard it a bit more clear, is that Elton Jon? Confused he cracked the door open to see a girl who had seen a few times before, either in the common room or in classes, and he's pretty sure he was on the Quidditch team, another Slytherin first year like himself. But it's who she was that was of note, it was what she was doing; dancing. Shawn quietly walked into the room before coughing loudly. "Uh...hey..." He cursed his awkwardness, surely this poor girl would end up screaming at Shawn, he sighed while awaiting the fury that would come with disturbing her.

Dear @Shawn McCarthy,

May 17, 2022

xxxxxxxxNobody told Maggie how awkward dancing on your own to some Elton John was. It was awkward, super awkward, because she was doing dance steps she didn't know the name of, moving back and forth and side to side and to and fro. Then she didn't know what to do with her hands, because they were just dangling at her sides. So that just got even more embarrassing, because Maggie started to windmill her arms, flap her hands, try to hit the beats that she could make out in the song with janky arm movements.

Luckily, nobody could see her.

Or so she thought.

"Uh...hey..." Maggie froze and spun around on her heel to face the boy who had entered the area. She was sure that she looked silly, standing there in her pajamas, trying to dance to a song that probably wasn't meant to dance to. As she stood, gaping at Shawn McCarthy in mystique and wonder and confusion, the song played on. That just made it worse.

"Hi," that was a good start. Saying hello. Maggie blinked and turned to the CD player, mashing the 'pause' button hard and good. God. This was just humiliating, god, god, god. "What, uh. Come here often?"

Maggie cringed internally. That was horrible. That was far worse than anything else she could've possibly thought up. Jesus. "I mean, uh. Do you like to dance?"

Shawn McCarthy

Interacting with: @Maggie Hawkins

Shawn's awkward intrusion had been treated as just that, awkward. Stupid, stupid stupid, was 'hey' really the best Shawn could come up with? But Maggie Hawkins asking Shawn if he came here often made him crack a little smile, it was a bit funny using the cheesiest pickup line known to man after getting caught dancing by yourself at around 12:27 AM. Back to the topic at hand, Shawn had clearly made the girl uncomfortable and now she was just being nice despite his idiotic actions up until that point. Shawn stuffed his hands into his pajama pockets, slowly opening and closing them in order to stay calm.

Alright Shawn the girl asked a question, a normal person would respond right about now. "Sure, I mean, I'm not all that great at it but I like it enough."

And now Shawn was lying. He hated dancing, well kind of. Shawn hated anything he wasn't good at, and he damn sure wasn't good at dancing. That's the whole reason he was over here, to get better at dancing. But instead, he rudely interrupted this poor girl and her dancing.

"I think you might want to check on that CD player, you pushed pretty hard." He tried to think of any way to get this situation to be less uncomfortable. This interaction had been too awkward for Shawn's cockiness to kick in quite yet. And somehow the right words weren't coming to him. "So, big Elton John fan?"

Dear @Shawn McCarthy,

May 17, 2022

xxxxxxxxOh, Maggie Hawkins was absolutely brimming with bad pickup lines and cheesy comments. Lucky Shawn. If he wanted, she could give him all the corny pickup lines that he could ever want, need, or handle. Her way of handling the awkwardness of the situation at hand was with dumb lines that nobody could ever need (or want) to have bouncing around in their head. Unfortunately, Maggie had lots of brain space. Like, a ton of brain space, because it wasn't occupied by other things that were probably of more importance. It was probably bad that at any point in time she couldn't conjure up, like, the answers to her History of Magic homework or the incantation for a simple spell, but if you didn't have space in your head for that, you didn't have space to think about how unfortunate it was. A win-win, if you didn't know any better. And Maggie obviously didn't know any better. Instead, pickup lines and (pisspoor) dance steps bounced around in her brain, pinging off of the sides like a ping pong ball in a metal room. Every single time the ball hit the surface, it made a loud ringing sound that made Maggie wince. As time bore on, you became desensitized from the noise of it all. Then it didn't sound much like annoying metal clangs, more like a gentle thud every so often.

"I like dancing. I'm garbage at it, though," Maggie shrugged and rubbed her right elbow with her left palm, squinting at Shawn, sizing him up. Determining how she felt about him. Not that first impressions mattered much to her, seeing as 90% of the impressions that she made on other people were poor, boundary-defying, or otherwise impolite. "Uh, no. Kinda. I'm cool with Elton John. We could mesh, I think. He's not my favorite. Just don't have many other CDs."

Talking too much. Way too much. "It's fine. The player is fine, she's resilient."

It was very clear that Shawn didn't know what to do, what to say, how to recover the conversation. Maggie certainly didn't have any ideas, save for one. But it was too ridiculous, too. Strange and odd and could it ever work out? Surely Maggie couldn't offer it up--

"Wanna dance?" She blurted. "I assume you came down here to dance, I mean, we could learn to dance together. Not in a weird way. I just think it would probably be easier to learn this way. Plus, like, built-in dance partner for school dances."

Shawn McCarthy

Interacting with: @Maggie Hawkins

Shawn had instantly gone red at the suggestion of dancing together with the girl. If he couldn't get his cocky attitude to appear yet, it certainly wasn't going to pop out any time soon. Dancing with a girl? Shawn had never done such a thing before, and he now was sounding like a prude or some sort of weirdo.

Okay, deep breaths. Shawn calmed down a bit counting to ten in his head, in what must have been a very strange silence for the girl opposite him. "Yeah, okay dancing together sounds good. You're right, I did come down here to teach myself how to dance cause, as I said, I'm not too great at it."

Shawn was shocked a bit by his own words. He was usually very confident but this seemed like a time for all that to go away. Shawn slowly realized in a very roundabout way that Maggie had sort of asked him to be her date for any future Hogwarts balls or other events, surely that isn't what she meant though, right? "By built-in dance partners, do you mean, like, as dates?" Shawn couldn't believe how timid he was being right now! In a normal situation, Shawn would have on a cocky smirk and respond with some sort of egotistical comment that made the other person roll their eyes or just laugh, what was up with him right now?

"Ah, nevermind that." WHY WAS HE NOW MUTTERING? "So, wanna dance to some Elton John then?" His half-smile must have looked very uncomfortable and awkward to the girl standing across from him, but he clearly wasn't himself at the moment. The shame he had in his current self was too much to put into words.

Dear @Shawn McCarthy,

May 17, 2022

xxxxxxxxOkay. Maggie was regaining her sense of confidence, losing that little awkward monster that perched on her shoulder and gnawed at her stomach when it got too hungry. God. How awkward. Even so, there was still a lingering little sense of strangeness as Shawn attempted to regain his voice. As he tried, though, Maggie brushed off her hands on her pajama pants, clearing her throat. "I'm just saying it could be awful helpful, you know, to know how to partner dance," she shrugged and placed her hands on her hips, watching Shawn with slightly squinty eyes. "Dates? You flatter yourself," she insisted, "Friends dance. I dance with my friends. Nothing wrong with a few choreographed dances to gain some attention."

Even though he clearly was losing his touch, uncharacteristically shy in the moment, Maggie could tell that Shawn McCarthy held himself in high regard. After all, Maggie had never really said the word date out loud, had she? Nope! Shawn was just a little presumptuous, was all. Nothing romantic about a platonic dance with your friend.

If they even were friends, that is. Maggie realized with a start that she'd never even introduced herself.

"Ah, I'm Maggie, by the way," she flipped her hair flamboyantly, sarcasm and sass laced throughout the entire action. "You might've seen me. I'm on the Quidditch team, see, it's no big deal."

Turning on her heel, Maggie started for the CD player once more. "This song's super good. Good for platonic," Maggie's head whipped around on the word to glare at Shawn, "dances."

Shawn McCarthy

Interacting with: @Maggie Hawkins

Shawn thought about Maggie Hawkins's words, not as dates? Well, why not? Shawn was attractive, Maggie was attractive, it made sense in his head. Sadly, what made sense in Shawn's head often doesn't make sense in other people's. "Alright, true enough friends dance together." Shawn found it strange that Maggie was adamant but, alright that's fine.

Maggie also may have had confidence rivaling Shawn's. Why was Shawn flattering himself when thinking of them as dates? It seemed like a logical conclusion to come to when given all the pieces that Shawn was given. Also, he was bothered by her sureness that he already had seen her at Quidditch games, of course, she was right and he had noticed at Quidditch games, as much as it pained him to admit.

"Nice to meet you, Maggie, I'm Shawn." Well he wasn't going to tell her that he saw at Quidditch games, that's embarrassing. On top of that, Shawn wasn't on any cool sports team that he could brag about, as of now that is.

As Maggie went over to the CD player and threw a glare at Shawn, he was a little shocked that she didn't set up him for what was coming at all. He smirked in reply to her glare and emphasis on the word 'platonic.' "Alright, alright, a platonic dance it is." His signature smirk grew wider, like it always does before he says something idiotic. "If you can control yourself, of course."

Dear @Shawn McCarthy,

May 17, 2022

xxxxxxxxOh, so Shawn had guts. He was gutsy. Maggie liked that plenty. Most of her friends were a little too bubbly for her taste. They had an extroverted streak, sure, but it wasn't accompanied by any of that characteristic confidence and cockiness that Maggie had. It was refreshing to meet someone like that. Plus, Maggie so frequently saw herself entangled with more quiet people. She didn't mind it, no, because those people made the most interesting friends and a perfect antithesis to Maggie's loud disposition, but this was just nice.

Maggie grinned and rolled her eyes, stepping into the center of the makeshift dancefloor and listening to the opening chords of the song. It really would be helpful if she had any sort of magical gramophone or something of the sort, something that might enable her to restart music without manually darting across the room to restart the music. Alas, Maggie didn't own anything of the sort. Instead, she owned simple muggle items that bragged simplicity and irritating user interfaces.

"Control myself?" Maggie laughed and held her arms out. Did she know how to dance? No. Did she know how to partner dance? Uh, absolutely not. Not one bit. "From what? Stomping on your foot? Slugging you in the face? Oh, god forbid. telling on you to a prefect?" Easy banter was something that Maggie was used to. Now that she had slid back into it, in a comfortable state of mind here with Shawn McCarthy, things felt far better than they had just moments before.

At the very least, they weren't awkwardly gawking at one another across the room or trying to make words that refused to form come out.