#nolynn

"Don't worry about ordering," Brayden smiled up to his friend as he stood from the corner armchair of Wildwood Coffee, noticing her glancing around for the Finnigan, "I know how much you like Earl Grey. It should be here in a minute."

Nolynn looked over to Brayden from the doormat of the coffee shop with a smile gradually forming on her thin lips. She glanced down to the floor, and then back up to him before nodding and meeting him at the table he was reserving for the two. She didn't know why Brayden had owled to meet her other than the boy having a proposition about something; they hadn't spoken in a long while, and Nolynn was starting to feel its effects when she saw him in person again that day. She'd lost touch of a number of her friends throughout the passing year or two, and Brayden had been one of them. It had been so easy for Nolynn to not bother writing or calling anyone after graduation and it almost scared her. She'd spent most of her days with her parents and her cousins and her aunt; she'd only seen Elijah once since she'd graduated; and forget about Kamil, Brayden, or any of her other Hogwarts friends altogether. The one and only time she'd seen Jeremy even was at his father's funeral the year prior. Only then was she completely realizing how much she'd isolated herself. Even with trying to find a job - and then finding one, she'd merely go through the routinely motions of putting on a smile before going back home. Not to say the girl wasn't feeling a little bit better, of course, but she'd been spending any contentedness she had at home rather than out with friends.

Seeing Brayden again not only gave her a tingling feeling throughout her body, but Nolynn also decided to keep the idea of owling her friends open very very soon.

Brayden let his arms float upward as he grinned, leading Nolynn right into a hug. "Been alright?" he asked during the embrace.

Nolynn continued to smile dreamily, wrapping her arms below his and around his torso. "... Alright. Got a job at Madam Puddifoot's as a waitress in the mornings on some weekdays, but that's about it right now," she answered after a second's pause of thinking. Nolynn and Johnathon tended to travel over to Diagon Alley together those mornings, and then Nolynn would sometimes spend a little while in Scrivenshaft's before going. Of course if she was finished working before her father, she took the decency of striding over to Johnathon's apothecary shop to give him the heads up that she was apparating home.

"What about you, Bray?" Nolynn questioned back as the two let go of the hug and as Nolynn started disrobing her winter gear, "How's the Ministry treating you?"

Brayden took a breath and switched placed with her at the table, so Nolynn got the armchair and he took the wooden chair instead, presenting the armchair out to her as his other hand balanced on his knee while he sat down. "Good, good," he nodded. "Still training in between any missions, but that's never going to end. Besides, I think I was lucky enough to sneak away from any 'newcomer initiation' they do," Brayden grinned lightly. "Looks like they give the new guys a bit of a hard time at the beginning to see how hard they can be pushed."

Nolynn laughed softly to herself. She didn't necessarily think it was right for those with experience to give the newcomers of any business a hard time, but it wasn't anything she was surprised about. The girl was, however, happy that Brayden didn't have to go through any of it. She knew he was able to take any punches thrown at him, but she'd hate to hear of it actually happening.

"So a proposal, you'd mentioned in the letter," Nolynn started. "Why don't you go right into it, we can get this settled first, and then relax and follow up on each other's lives?" Considering that was the main reason he'd beckoned for her, she figured, Nolynn thought it best to get the fastest and most important conversation out of the way first so the two didn't lose their time catching up.

Brayden nodded, "Okay, well ... you don't happen to have any padlocks to go with any keys in your key collection, do you?"

"Sure I do," Nolynn nodded as a matter-of-factly. She was very familiar with her collection that she could answer at the drop of a hat of what she possessed. "I have maybe four or five at most, though."

Brayden nodded once more, "Now keep in mind that you can say no if you don't want to ... but my sister's looking for a padlock and a matching key-"

"Mila?"

"Mm mm," Brayden shook his head, keeping a calm smile on his lips. "Allison ... And knowing her, she'll do whatever it takes to get what she wants and get what is perfect. She's been having a hard time finding a perfect padlock and key, but I told her that you have a nice collection that maybe you'd let her look at ..."

Nolynn was taken aback slightly, twisting her head to the opposite angle with her mouth slightly agape, "Are you saying that Allison is willing to see me?" The girl was completely aware of how much the former Slytherin loathed her, so without any sarcasm at all, Nolynn was very surprised at the proposal being made.

"As- ... degrading and rude as it sounds ..." Brayden nodded, "Uhm- yes, she's even willing to see you and your collection if you'd allow her to poke through to see if you have something she'd consider 'perfect'. But again," Brayden shook his head to reassure her in a way, "you in any way can turn it down if you don't want to give up any of your collection.

Nolynn was speechless for a moment, but rapidly made a comeback and shook her head, snapping out of her stupor.

"Uh ... No, it's alright," Nolynn nodded shortly after shaking her head. "I have no problem with giving her a padlock and key if she sees a match fit." A genuine smile shown from Carter's lips, "I'd be happy to help her out, in fact ..."

"Thank you," Brayden nodded. "And is there anything you'd like in return?"

Mind meeting me Wednesday afternoon at Wildwood? I've got a proposal I want to run by you. We can also have some coffee (or in your preference, tea) and catch up? I know, it's been ages.