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thehumansymphony · 7 years

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Hey look a Todd Post!

It’s been a long long time since I made a post like this. I’ve missed it. This got super duper long so it’s going under a cut:

So yesterday Chorale had its annual Fish Fry fundraiser and nature walk at a local civil war battlefield. So I was there from 10-4 to help set up and cook and then clean and pack away.

It was a lot of fun, despite me getting a mild case of heat exhaustion (which I thankfully recognized the symptoms of very quickly and I was able to take care of myself before it got too bad).

And then later that night was the Symphony Orchestra doing the Requiem of Resistance in memory of those that were kept and died in the Terezin ghetto (the "clean and civil" nazi) in WWII. They did Verdi's Requiem and had narration that had stories from some of the prisoners of Terezin. It was incredibly moving, especially considering the current political climate.

I'd bought two tickets about 6 weeks ago because I was hoping I could give the extra to todd as a "thank you" for all the tickets he has provided me with. Unfortunately, his dad purchased tickets for the 3 of them shortly after I purchased mine so I was left with an extra ticket. And every time I found someone that wanted to go with me, they had to bail. So I ended up giving the extra ticket to a woman from Chorale.

At the fish fry, as we were cleaning up and loading up his car, todd mentioned that his dad had decided against going to the concert because he wanted to watch a women's basketball game on tv. So todd offered me the seat- which was in a much more accessible part of the auditorium for me than where my seats were- so I texted the woman who was taking my ticket and I offered her both of them. So she found a friend to go with her and I sat with Todd and his mom. And I also hitched a ride there with them since we figured parking was going to be insane.

The concert was pretty nice. Todd and I had both considered singing in the choir they put together (a lot of our friends sang!) but we decided against it when we saw the rehearsal schedule. They'd only meet like 4 times between the beginning of January and the first dress rehearsal which was just not enough. And he and I had been talking about how we really hoped the concert would go well for our friends and that it wouldn't be a disappointment. And it wasn't. It wasn't perfect by any means but it was great and the Chorus managed to hold its own for the most part.

I will admit that as soon as the house lights went out, I started dozing off. The concert was 2 hours long (no intermission) and I dozed through maybe 20 Minutes of soloists... but I always woke up for the Chorus. I was so proud of my people. I managed to find a couple after the concert and congratulate them on a job well done.

One of our friends, my lovely Donna was talking to us about performing. And then she just sighed and smiled at us and asked, “what’s next?”. And Todd tells Donna that we should get her one of the The West Wing Weekly “what’s next” shirts. And Donna needed us to explain what he was talking about- So, Todd and I are both huge fans of The West Wing and the podcast that Josh Molina (Will Bailey) and Hirshi Hirway are doing, The West Wing Weekly. And so Todd explained that the way Josh and Hirshi sign off every episode was:

Todd- “Okay?” Me- “Okay.” Todd- “What’s next?”

And Donna just grinned at us because ofc we’re standing there smiling like dorks after our public display of nerdery.

(Side note 1- TWWW is awesome! If you’re into The West Wing, I highly recommend checking out the podcast.

Side note 2- They have a shirt with the design of the Signal used in the season 1 finale of the show (1.22 What Kind of Day it has Been). The Signal has kind of become Todd’s and my new way of nonverbal reassurance with each other. Because we’re fucking nerds.

Side note 3- I’ve never had a huge interest in getting a tattoo but I keep thinking about getting one that says “What’s Next?” I may need to be talked out of this.)

As we were leaving the concert hall, Todd checked the basketball game's score and the team his family had been rooting for (i want to say FSU but I'm not sure...) had one by a good margin. So Dottie tells Todd (after they both finish cheering in the street) to call Jon and see if he wants to meet us somewhere for a beer (at which point I'm wondering if she forgot that I was in the car too) but alas Todd's father did not feel like leaving the house.

So instead, Dottie suggests that they just go back home and have beer, pretzels (ordered from somewhere in PA because nothing is better than the pretzels from home I've been told), and cheese. So we get back to Todd's and I was gathering me stuff to go to my car and head home (it's like 10:45 at the latest at this point) but Dottie stopped me and Invited me in to join them.

So, naturally, I couldn't turn down the opportunity to hang out with them. And Dottie offered me first pick of the beers in their fridge (all craft beers from different breweries) when I confessed that I normally had todd make recommendations for me. So she opened the fridge and pointed at todd and told him to pick something out for me. So he crouched in front of the fridge for a moment before selecting a pilsner and then he grabbed the appropriate glass from a cabinet and poured it for me. (“No of course we don’t have too many beer glasses what are you talking about?”) And his mom set out some pretzels and cheese and nearly forced the bowl into my hand and told me to help myself.

And then we joined Jon in the living room and watched some coverage on the men's Final Four stuff. After basketball, an episode of Angie Tribeca came on so we watched about 15 minutes of that before Jon went to bed. As soon as he got upstairs, Todd lunged across the coffee table to grab the remote and change the channel while Dottie got up to tidy up a couple of things before also heading up to bed.

Todd flipped around until he came to something showing The Australian Grand Prix.

I've never watched an F1 race before but I knew a lot of the drivers (thank you Top Gear). It was fun. Todd kept doing silly accents to give commentary on the race and I was trying to stifle giggles so I didn't wake up his parents.

They still have their Christmas tree up. (Dottie told me they were hoping to have it down by easter.) I was sitting right in front of it so I was constantly looking at it and the different ornaments. Almost all of them are totally homemade by Todd or one of his parents. I love it so much.

Todd noticed that it was catching my attention so much so he kept coming over to point an ornament out and tell me about it. I'm pretty sure I called him a crafty bastard at some point but I'm not 100% sure at this point...

I also accidentally verbalized that I liked that his house felt homey. I've thought that since I first went inside his house last year but I've never said it out loud because I'm pretty sure it's a bit weird... and todd gave me a look so I had to try to explain. Some peoples' houses feel like they have no personality- like they just exist to give someone a place to stay and you can't tell that's it's actually a home? But Todd's house has personality. It feels like a home. It's welcoming and warm and makes me feel cozy. I can look at the art around the house and pick out who might have gotten it. So I got through babbling about that and he just gave me this small smile and pointed out some of the art he'd picked out (the architecture prints were kind of a giveaway).

We were still watching the Grand Prix and talking about the history of different aspects of racing. It was really nice???? I never thought I would enjoy watching a race that much but I think watching with Todd just made it really great??

We both knew it was getting late (and I had been zoning out and dozing off for the last hour or so whoops) and I kept saying I was going to get up and head home at every commercial break but then the race would come back and we'd get sucked in again.

Finally, about 1:40, I caught a reflection in the window of Todd's head slowly falling forward. I was trying not to snicker when it finally just FLOPPED all the way down to his chest. He started back awake and I turned to look at him and he was making one of those "did anyone see that?" faces. It was so ridiculously adorable that I couldn't help me smile a little. He saw me looking at him and kind of blushed and ducked his head as he gave me a sheepish grin.

"It's been a little bit of a long day, hasn't it?" I asked, holding up my fingers pinched together.

He copied the gesture and mouthed "a little bit" before he yawned.

So I decided that I really needed to leave before we both fell asleep in his living room. So I finally got myself up and I was grabbing my bowl off the side table when Todd got up to grab my glass. And we went into the kitchen and I was looking at more art that I hadn’t noticed before. So Todd came over and told me about the one I was really focusing on- a wooden block that looks like one of those puzzle cube games. And he told me that it was an architecture school project where they were given X number of wooden blocks in different shapes and sizes and they had to make something from it. And then he pointed out that the art print on the wall behind it was a tessellation of the block. It was just so cool.

And he decided to walk me out so we both stumbled out the front door and down the steps, giggling a little at our exhausted lack of coordination. But we made our way through the garage and out towards the street where I’d parked. And as I turned to leave I was saying that I’d see him on Monday at Community Chorus.

“Yes, Monday. And I’ll be there early because I have rehearsal for Ireland.” *Grimace* “Have they figured out what they’re going to do with those of us who AREN’T going to Ireland? They can’t possibly have us milling about during a rehearsal- it’s too big of a disruption.” “I think that’s exactly the plan.” *Yikes faces from both* then a whispered: “it wasn’t well thought out.” “It certainly doesn’t seem to have been.” “And how am I supposed to sell tickets before rehearsal if I’m in a rehearsal before rehearsal?” “Let me know if you’d like some help. I enjoyed helping with the tickets at UNITY.” “Well, I may have to make use of your services. But this time can we do it without the sprained knee?”

I responded very maturely by blowing a raspberry.

Somehow we got from there to songs that we’d like to do for the summer concert (Theme: A Night at the Movies- songs from the silver screen). We’ve been teasing Todd for the last couple of years that his “small group” is getting closer to being half the Chorale. My first year singing with them, we called it “Todd’s Ten”. Last year we added someone to it so we called it “Todd’s Eleven”. So I asked him if he had any thoughts on what “Todd’s 12, 13, 14…” would be doing.

He has some really great ideas- my favorites right now are “God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys and a mashup of “Beyond the Sea” and the song it’s based on, “La Mer”. I adore Beyond the Sea and I’m always excited to do things in French.

And Todd mentioned that he thought it would be nice to make up a group of the younger chorale members (since a majority of our singers are nearing the age for Social Security and retirement). He started listing off some of the singers: “You, Alana, Kelli, Adam, Katie, Me…” I was mildly amused that he was counting himself amongst the younger members since he's always making jokes about getting old and being middle-aged (he turned 37 a few weeks ago). But I remembered that at our cooking class fundraiser last summer, Todd, Katie, and I were sat together. And Chris had made a comment that, as the 3 youngest people there, we were then dubbed “the kids table”. And it’s become a bit of a joke for Todd and I since then. So I suggested that this hypothetical group could call itself The Kid’s Table and Todd laughed. Perhaps a little too hard, as it kind of echoed around the otherwise silent cul-de-sac.

I’m pretty sure we would have chatted a little bit longer had my mother not woken up, realized I wasn’t home, and texted me to ask if I needed a sleeping bag. Which is when I realized it was nearly 2:15am.

I apologized profusely for keeping him up so late but Todd just laughed and assured me that it was totally fine. (Like, my dude, if a friend constantly kept me up way into ridiculous hours I would probably not be that chill about it. And especially not if someone was totally not supposed to hang out at my house until 2-fucking-am. Like there are only maybe 3 or 4 people that I would be cool with doing this.)

But, with this new maternal motivation, I finally made my way all the way to my truck. As I got in I could see Todd in his garage watching to make sure my truck started okay before he shut the door and went back inside.

Honestly, I think that if I hadn’t left when I did, we both would have probably ended up asleep in his living room. And i wonder if we would still have been there in the morning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every few months or so I’ll think that I’m starting to get over any crush feelings that I still have for him. And then we’ll have time together like this and I’ll just. Kind of fall for him all over again.

It seems like on a weekly basis I’m thanking my lucky stars that I have someone like him in my life. I’m not sure what I’ve done with myself that made the Universe think I was deserving of a friend like him. But I am so, so thankful it did.

( @ez-miller)

#The Todd Chronicles #Emily has a crush #Cumbergoddess #Reshmarambles #olivia #helena

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dracimalfoy1988292 · 3 years

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Veintitrés

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"You're such an over-achiever!" James yelled, pointing a finger at Ivy. She shrugged with a smirk on her face. "You're taking six classes? Six!?"39

"Yes. Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Alchemy," Ivy said with a dignified nod. James scoffed.

"What even is Alchemy?" He muttered. Ivy chuckled for a second before saying goodbye, taking a hard right to Transfiguration with Hufflepuffs. Since so many students were taking N.E.W.T. level Transfiguration, they had to split it up. Already, on the first day, McGonagall was strict as ever.

"Nonverbal spells. Harder than they look, but give you an advantage when defending yourself against enemies. Read the first chapter of your Transfiguration book and sit quietly when you're finished," McGonagall said stiffly as the students flipped the pages.

Ivy read, tapping her foot against her chair as she scanned the pages, finishing quickly and waiting for the rest of the class. After a while, McGonagall handed out matches and instructed them to cast the match to needle spell nonverbally. Some of the class laughed cockily at how easy the spell was.

"I know it's an easy spell, but you won't be laughing once you try it. To cast a nonverbal spell, you must think of it really hard, nothing else, no distractions," McGonagall said as the students began to get to work. It was quiet for a few minutes, just the sound of wand swishing filled the room. It took Ivy a few minutes until she got it.4

"Very good, Ms. Scott. You may get a head start and read tonight's homework, chapter two and three," McGonagall said, announcing it to the whole class. Ivy got out her book once more and began to read until class was over. She packed away her things into her bag and walked out as James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter joined her in the hallway.

"Now we all have Potions. I wonder what we'll be doing," Remus said.18

"Probably something boring," James said with a thumbs down as they walked into Potions, sitting at circle shaped tables. After a few minutes of waiting, Slughorn began class.

"Alright class. For the first day of school, I've prepared something fun. Does anyone know what this is?"4

Slughorn stepped aside to reveal a glimmering, pink potion. Ivy felt herself want to lean in towards it once she saw its mother-of-pearl sheen. She recognized it immediately. Her hand shot up into the air.29

"It's Amortentia, sir. The most powerful love potion in the world," Ivy began as Slughorn motioned for her to continue. "You smell what you're attracted to, so it smells different to everyone. Since it's so addicting, it can cause powerful infatuation."16

"Very good, five points to Ravenclaw. Like Ms. Scott said, you smell what you love. That can be anything. From foods to objects to people. But be careful. This potion is addicting and can be dangerous." Slughorn said. "Alright, please turn to page three and begin brewing Draught of Living Death."

As they got the supplies and pulled out the cauldrons, Sirius nudged Ivy with his elbow.

"What do you smell?" Sirius muttered. Ivy inhaled, trying to get a good whiff of it. The steam emerging from the potion changed colors accordingly to what she smelled.

"I smell fresh parchment, and how it smells outside when it rains, and coffee... and—"13

Ivy clamped her mouth shut, her cheeks immediately turning bright red as the next scent registered in her head. It was some sort of masculine scent she smelled every time she hugged Remus.

"And that's it." She finished hastily. They all looked at her skeptically.

"No it's not, you were about to say something else," James said carefully as Ivy avoided their eyes.

"Well I thought I smelt something else but I was mistaken. Moving swiftly on, Sirius, what do you smell?" Ivy said forcefully. The boys understood that she did not want to talk about whatever else she smelt in the mysterious potion.

"I smell leather, and firewhisky, and firewood," Sirius said, nodding at every word. Ivy diverted her gaze to Remus.14

"What about you, Remus?" She asked. He breathed in, resting his chin on his hand.

"Chocolate, butterbeer, books, and... something tropical," Remus sad, finishing with a thoughtful look on his face.39

"Tropical? What is that supposed to mean?" Peter asked as Remus shrugged defensively.

"I don't know! Like... a piña colada. Coconuts, or something," Remus said inhaling again to get a better whiff of the mysterious scent. Sirius laughed, beginning to add gradients to his cauldron.51

"Have you ever even had a piña colada?" Sirius said, laughing as Remus shrugged.

"No, maybe I just like how it smells, I don't know," Remus said, laughing with him.

Ivy began to put the ingredients in the cauldron, her eyebrows furrowed. She added the powdered root of asphodel and exhaled. Peter seemed to be struggling. She stirred twice clockwise and added the sloth brain, then began to try and cut twelve sopophorous beans. It seemed the whole class was struggling quiet a bit. The only person who was completely done was Severus Snape, which Ivy thought was unbelievable.7

She tried to puncture the bean, but it rolled away quickly. She groaned frustratedly, trying again. It was proven to be extremely difficult because she hadn't been able to cut one yet. She looked across the room at all the students, also having trouble. She made eye contact with Severus Snape, who seemed to be trying to get her attention for a while. He motioned something with his knife.

Ivy made a confused face. He then held up the numbers one and three, mouthing 'thirteen' and 'crush.' Ivy was rather bemused but still tried to make sense of what he was saying. Then it hit her. Thirteen beans instead of twelve and crush them to get more juice. Ivy flashed a discreet thumbs up and picked up her dagger, crushing them. He nodded and went back to reading his book.113

It was smooth sailing after that. The concoction turned a lilac color and then clear, signaling she did it right. It wasn't as good as Severus's since he must of had more tips and tricks up his sleeve, but it was still Draught of Living Death.

"Well done, Ivy! You never fail to impress me, five points to Ravenclaw," Slughorn said, walking by and looking at the clear potion. Ivy smiled, exhaling through his nose as she glanced at James. His potion was a dark blue, as Sirius's was orange. Peter had given up since his potion was already completely wrong in the first step. Remus was still trying to cut the beans.

"Crush them," Ivy said quietly, motioning with her dagger. Remus scrunched you his face and shrugged. He didn't really have anything to lose. He began to crush them, and it was much easier. He smiled at her and muttered a thanks as he placed the juice in the potion. The finished product wasn't horrible, but not exactly good either.

"James, what did you smell in Amortentia?" Ivy said. He shrugged.

"Broomsticks, chocolate chip cookies, and something flowery." James replied, his eyes transfixed on the dark blue potion. It wasn't supposed to be blue.

"Flowery? Like, Lily Evans?" Ivy replied, lowering her voice and glancing over at the red head.

"Yes, I assume." James muttered, flipping the page of his potions book. Ivy smiled and moved onto Peter.

"What about you, Peter?" Ivy asked. He shrugged.

"Like, how Honeydukes smells and some kind of citrus fruit," Peter replied, staring at his failed potion in disdain. They nodded and waited for class to be over.19

They all walked to lunch, talking on the way.

"Oh, I forgot my book in potions, Ivy, walk with me," Sirius said as he grabbed Ivy's arm, dragging her along. They walked away from the group and towards where they just came from.

"Why did you ask me to come with you?" Ivy said once they got a few steps away from the rest of the group. Sirius didn't reply and continued to lead her in the wrong direction, stopping once the hallway was empty.

"Alright, Ivy, what else did you smell in Amortentia?" Sirius said, his words echoing, leaning against the wall.

"I don't know what you're talking about," She said as she began to walk away. He grabbed her arm again and dragged her back in front of him.

"Yes you do. You were totally about to say something else. It was kind of obvious, you turned red as roses," Sirius said. Ivy shifted her weight from foot to foot, visibly nervous.

"I was mistaken. I thought I smelled something else, but I didn't," Ivy said. Sirius made a disbelieving face at her.

"You're lying. You shot James down as soon as he asked," Sirius pointed out.

"I'm not lying. It was nothing, drop it," Ivy said in a threatening tone. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Stop bullshitting, it was totally something," Sirius hissed, pointing a finger at her.

"I'm not bullshitting!" She exclaimed, crossing her arms.

"We have told you so many secrets. Remus, the Marauders Map, us being fucking Animagus's! You should tell me one that doesn't even seem like a big deal," Sirius said logically, lowering his voice just in case anyone was listening.

"You didn't tell me about any of that, thank you very much, I figured it out. And for the last time, It's Animagi, not Animagus's."

"Stop deflecting the question!"

"I'm not deflecting anything!"

"Ivy—"

"—Fine. You caught me," Ivy said sarcastically, glaring at him. "If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone. Not even James, or Peter, and especially not Remus."

"I promise," Sirius said, holding a hand over his heart and the other in the air, already having an idea where this was going.

"Okay," She began, taking in a shaky breath, "I smelled something, like... I don't know, 'manly', I guess."

Sirius looked at her, blinking and waiting for more information. She was looking at the ground, her cheeks bright red.

"Okay?" He said, placing his hands on his hips. Ivy managed to look up from where she was staring at the floor so intently.

"Like..." She said, trying to find the right words. She sighed, frustrated with herself. "I smelled Remus."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Remus Lupin?"48

"Who else?! What other Remus goes to this school!? Oh, we have Remus Williamson, and Remus Shelton, and Remus Graham, and Remus Hunter— of course I'm taking about Remus Lupin!" Ivy cried shrilly, listing off the imaginary Remus's on her fingers.4

"Calm down, it's okay—"

"—No! I don't know what to do with myself," Ivy said, pacing back and forth as she ran a hand through her hair. "I— I've never felt this way about someone! I don't fancy people! And frankly, for the short amount of time this has been going on, I don't like having feelings for a boy, or a girl for that matter!"16

"What scent is your shampoo and conditioner?" Sirius asked randomly. Ivy stopped pacing to look at him with a confused face.12

"What?"

"I said—"

"—I know what you said!" She huffed, breathing heavily. "My conditioner and shampoo is like, some coconut type of scent."

"Kind of like a piña colada, right?" Sirius said, smiling widely. Ivy looked at him with a confused face.1

"What are you getting at?"

"I'm saying that Remus smelled you in the Amortentia, and you smelled him," Sirius said, Ivy shook her head.

"Piña colada scented things smell good, he just likes the smell. And even if it was me, you can be attracted to people without actually liking them. Maybe that's it! Maybe I just find him handsome," Ivy explained, nodding at her theory. Sirius scoffed.

"I won't deny that Remus is handsome but no, that's not it. You guys have major chemistry! It's obvious how you two look at each other! Anyone with eyes can see it!" Sirius said. Now he was pacing. "Remus doesn't even know he smells you. What a dumbass!"35

"I think you're wrong, but fine, believe what you want to," Ivy said as they both began to walk back to lunch. "Don't tell him that I smell his stupid cologne or whatever."

"Of course not, my love."

"Don't call me your love."

"Oh why not, my love?"10

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