Catching up the Coxen Way {Oz}

[Riley Coxen G7]

Riley hadn’t spent too much time with her brother since getting close to the daughters. She didn’t really see a need to, really since he never seemed to give a damn about what was going on in Riley’s life anyway. He was too busy spending time with his best friend Oliver and being the center of the female attention throughout basically every girl in the fifth year, plus some in other years. Why should Riley try to butt into her twin brother’s life if he didn’t want her there to begin with? What was the sense in that? Riley was sick of trying to tether herself to her brother and try desperately to fit in with him and his friends. Now she was her own person doing what she wanted, free of any ties. Well, there was Jack of course; but he was more of a pleasant tie to her. She didn’t mind spending so much time with him. Of course, the thoughts of the Daughters and of course the overprotective words of caution from her brothers had caused Riley to have a few doubts lately. Of course, Riley couldn’t lie. She loved Jack, she really did. But part of her wasn’t sure where she was headed from this point. Riley enjoyed being in control and knowing what she was getting herself into. This rarely ever happened in her case, but she did like to have that sort of a security blanket to say the least. With Jack, Riley was running around like a chicken without a head. She had no idea what was going on or what she was doing. She made stupid mistakes frequently and often had to pay the consequences that resulted from her foolish actions. Quite literally, Riley had pretty much given everything she had to Jack. He was her first crush, her first kiss, her first…well everything really. She had no idea what she was doing or what she was getting herself into. Mia, the most romantic of all the girls; told Riley that this feeling was to be expected. It always came with the first love. Love. Wow, that’s a scary thought. Riley thought to herself, nibbling her lower lip nervously.

The girls had accepted Jack as a temporary plaything, but it was obvious they didn’t trust him. They weren’t the only ones it seemed. Riley’s entire family; or rather those that went to school with Riley and couldn’t help but hear about Jack had already expressed their clear disapproval of the older Slytherin boy who seemed to be changing Riley so dramatically. Riley and Oz talked very briefly about the matter of Riley’s first serious boyfriend, but they didn’t speak about it much. The conversation had been short if anything. Oz asked Riley if the rumors are true, she said they were, he made a comment about his blatant dislike for Slytherins, Riley inserted a sarcastic comment, and they went on. There wasn’t much more to it than that. However, over this winter holiday, they had been able to get close again. Of course, this was only because Oliver went on a holiday with his family and Oz couldn’t spend time with him, but (and she wouldn’t admit this to a soul of course) Riley enjoyed spending time with the brother she had missed so much during these months after their father’s death. They had a lot of catching up to do of course, but unlike many siblings, Riley and Oz didn’t ‘catch up’ by talking and sharing stories. They caught up by getting back into the swing of the old days. Just yesterday, Riley and Oz planned this huge prank on all the members of the Coxen household and every neighbor within a mile around them. Most of it had been Riley’s idea, but it was Oz’s brilliant idea to have the stink bomb expand into the town around them. Riley and Oz had been immune to the stink obviously, but Yasmin practically blew a fuse when the neighbors called to complain, blaming Yasmin’s ‘rowdy’ children. The seventeen calls from the neighbors had resulted in the inevitable grounding of both Riley and Oz while the rest of the family went out for dinner at the family’s favorite resort for two days. Riley had been a bit upset about the punishment, but Yasmin never really understood what a proper punishment included. She didn’t realize that by leaving her two most troublesome children alone in the house for a weekend would equal more trouble and even more angry calls from the neighbors.

Riley and Oz had both agreed that a party wasn’t exactly the smartest of ideas, since Yasmin could pop in to check on them at any minute and they’d already gotten in trouble enough for one holiday, but of course that didn’t mean they weren’t going to abide by the “absolutely no tv or going out” rules. Of course, Yasmin had forgotten to mention that friends weren’t allowed over the house, so if Riley wanted to invite Jack over later she would technically would be allowed to. However, Riley wasn’t sure she’d be all to comfortable with having Jack over while her glaring twin brother was so close by. Riley sat in front of the television (after lifting the protection spell her mother had cast on it to prevent the kids from using it) with a bag of popcorn open just next to her as she watched a muggle football game. The game had been new to her of course since she was used to Quidditch, but it was a sports game so it was able to easily hold Riley’s interest. Today though, Riley had other thoughts on her mind.

Usually, Riley was never the most pessimistic of people. But what if Jack, who seemed so wonderful and sweet now, turned out to be just what everyone expected of him? What if, after a few drunken nights at one of Veronica’s parties, he decided he didn’t need Riley’s company anymore? In reality, she didn’t know all that much about Jack, so she didn’t really know if he was the type of person who would do such a thing. Just the thought that her new love would ever leave her was sickening and unsettling. She wanted to trust him, and usually she did--but she couldn’t help but be nervous. Trying to get her mind on anything but her doubts about Jack, Riley beckoned her brother to her side. “Oz! Game’s on! Get me a drink on your way in?” Riley called to him, practically pleading for a distraction.

[Osmond Coxen G5]

"Do-do-do-do-do."

Osmond hummed semi-quietly to himself as he came speeding down the stairs into the kitchen wearing blue pajama pants and a gray tank-top. Honestly, being grounded wasn't much of anything to him; though he must admit, he didn't exactly like it when his mother was mad or upset with him. Now that Bruce was gone, he almost felt it his responsibility to try and make their mother happy at any given opportunity. But, he also liked to have fun and as much as possible, which often lead to trouble, but he couldn't help it. That's usually what happens when the Coxen Twins got together. It was a harmless joke that he and Riley had played, all in the name of fun, but of course, no one else saw it that way. But he was used to it all. New prank, old everything else.

He opened the fridge and glanced around. He wasn't sure exactly what he wanted, but he knew he wanted something. Luckily, their mother kept a shelf full of butterbeer; which is a new habit she recently got into, seeing as how Bruce absolutely hated the stuff and didn't allow it in the fridge. He reached for one, and a smack filled the room, and he whipped his hand back, a red spot clearly visible on the back. Oz laughed and took his wand from his pocket. Within the next four seconds, he had a nice cool butterbeer in his hands chugging it. Yasmin definitely had the most interesting protective spells he had ever seen, but with a little practice and education from Hogwarts, he and Riley eventually learned to break their mother's spells which made situations like the present better. Though, he must admit, he really wanted to go away with them for the weekend.

Being in the house was so boring. But, at least he had Riley, and with that thought, she called from the living room.

“Oz! Game’s on! Get me a drink on your way in?”

"Yeah, okay," he called reaching in the fridge grabbing two butterbeers. He left his empty glass bottle sitting on the grand marble island in the middle of the kitchen, and proceeded to the living room. While he had broken a charm himself, it seemed Riley had too as she was watching television which he was sure Yasmin had charmed, seeing as how no television was a stipulation of their punishment.

"Football," he said lazily and goofily as he plopped down beside his sister. He popped the caps off both bottles and handed one to her. "Cheers," he said clinking his bottle against hers. Half an hour passed and the two had laughed and made jokes about football and how odd it was, and at one point, they both rose up off the couch to stare closer at the screen; the muggle quarterback had been hit so hard he flipped and his helmet went flying. "Wish I could do that to Jack," Oz said under his breath, though he knew Riley had heard him and he didn't care. He had told her before that he didn't like Jack or any Slytherin for that matter but of course, in true Riley fashion, she did what she wanted to do; see Jack anyway.

He didn't and wouldn't tell Riley, but that was the main reason he had clung to Oliver as much as he did lately. He was slightly hurt that Riley had went ahead with Jack even when she knew he didn't approve. For the most part, he listened to her whenever she didn't like a girl Oz had decided to talk to. So, was it much for him to expect the same reaction from her when he expressed his dislike for the older Slytherin boy? But, Oz couldn't lie or hide it; he missed his twin to death, and he had been having so much fun with Riley ever since Oliver had went off with his family. Things needed to be handled, or at least gotten to a point where the two could agree. He reached in the bag of popcorn and threw one at Riley to get her attention; it hit her square in the forehead. "So, what's up with Jack stinky?"

[Riley Coxen G7]

Oz had never made his blatant dislike for Riley’s boyfriend unclear. It had always been obvious that he wasn’t too fond of Riley’s current situation. Of course, he probably had no problems with Riley’s new friends, since they were all gorgeous popular Gryffindor girls. Though now that Riley thought about it, he’d never really mentioned the daughters in any of their very brief conversations about the recent events since their father’s death. Most of their conversations were centered on their pranks, their differences with Oliver and Jack and such, and the current state of their now broken family. Their most recent conversations had sadly been about their different opinions about Jack, but Jack was the last person Riley wanted to think about right now, though she couldn’t exactly help it. Thoughts about Jack just naturally ended up in her head somehow. She wouldn’t be able to help them even if she wanted to, like she did now. It wasn’t as if Jack had done anything wrong to be honest. In fact, Riley’s problem was quite the opposite. Jack was being absolutely perfect, and that was what scared her the most. Things were going too good, and she was afraid that she was about to use up her limit of good luck and something bad would happen.

What if one day, (perhaps a day not so far away) Jack got tired of Riley? It had barely been two months since they had started dating, and she’d already slept with the guy. What kind of person did that? Wasn’t Riley supposed to be the smart girl and decide not to get drunk at a party and lose one of the most important things a girl had to offer? But no, Riley had to be that one stupid girl who decided to give it all up to her first boyfriend just a few weeks after they had started dating. The worst part was that Riley wouldn’t take the experience back, even if she had the chance. If someone handed her a time turner right now and told her she could go back in time and change that night at Veronica’s, she wouldn’t have. And that was what scared her the most. That was what really freaked her out. That she cared and trusted Jack so much that she didn’t care that she had quite literally given herself up to him.

Riley had given Jack the opportunity and the leeway to take Riley’s heart and crush it with his bare hands. She hoped he wasn’t the kind of person that would ever do that to her, but she honestly didn’t know him enough to know for sure. And even though she really didn’t know all too much about him, but the scariest part was she really didn’t mind. The reckless, emotional, and more dominant side of her was content for just as long as she could call Jack Reid hers. That side tried not to think about all the ways Jack could hurt her if he ever were to try. Riley tended to be a bit too trusting of others sometimes, and that would come back to get her one of these days. Until then, both sides of Riley tried to push these sorts of thoughts out of her head. She accepted her brother’s butterbeer, secretly wishing Yasmin kept more alcohol in the house. She didn’t drink. Cora and Bruce were the only two that ever really did, and Bruce was dead and Cora was rarely around anymore. So, since they were both basically gone, Riley couldn’t sneak anything good to drink whenever her mother left the house. So, in the meantime, butterbeer would have to do.

Riley immersed herself in the muggle game, watching as the men tackled each other roughly. If Riley tried any of these moves in Quidditch, she’d most likely get kicked off the team. Football was an interesting sport to her, and it was very intruiging to see the differences between the muggle sports and the magical ones. The sport really was quite interesting, and before Riley knew it, she was too busy following the actions of all the players to really think about the ordeal she was going through with Jack. It was when Oz spoke that temporarily forbidden name did Riley twitch just a bit. She sighed, taking one final gulp of her butterbeer. She’d had fun sitting watching the game with her brother. This was time that she had rarely been able to spend with him on most days since he always seemed to be with Oliver. She glared at Oz after his snide comment about wanting to tackle Riley’s boyfriend. She rolled her eyes. “Please Oz, like you’d ever get close enough to try. He’s much stronger than that wimp on tv.” Riley said proudly, knowing this was true. Jack did have very good strength. And very good…everything else. She sighed. She didn’t want to think about this right now, not when she was so vulnerable and full of pointless doubt. Even though Riley was very touchy with the subject of Jack Reid as of late, she couldn’t help but snort at her brother’s comment. “Stinky? Come on Oz, you couldn’t even come up with something just a bit more mature?” She said, getting up and brushing the popcorn off her lap. “I’m getting another drink. Want one?”