well, he was the earth and she was air. WHO: Aidan/Anubis (gravedirt) & Aria/Euterpe (museicalme) WHAT: Ah, the bliss of the arrowed. WHEN: Tonight at ~9pm. WHERE: The Delphos Lakeside Resort's restaurant.
A dinner reservation for 8.45, polished shoes, and a straightened tie, and Aidan was ready for tonight's date with Aria -- which was either their first, second, or third, depending on your definition. There'd been the slightly dressed-up night of drinks, the one which had spawned all of the madness thereafter. Some hangouts after that point, movies flickering from a laptop in the darkness and the girl nestling into his side. There'd been the spring break trip, which he'd intended as decidedly romantic but which he'd somehow miscalculated; they'd been more than friends but less than significant others. There had been kisses in the snow but nothing more than that, nothing like the white-hot physicality that propelled his rival(s). Even after returning from the trip, it had been a question of category and label. Of definition and role. What was she to him, and vice versa?
But tonight would fix all of those things. The location was exaggeratedly formal -- possibly beyond her comfort zone, but at least it would make the situation beyond clear to each other. This was a real date. She wouldn't have cause to misconstrue it like she did the Valentine's Day drink, or the vacation. Aidan's subtle approach would have to give way to good old-fashioned staples: you dressed up, you took her out for a fancy dinner, and you paid for her meal. And then you drove her home (or--alright, she'd drive them home, she was the one with the car), and... then you saw where things went.
First, though, there was the dinner to enjoy. They were arriving separately but leaving together; Aidan caught a cab in order to arrive early for their reservation and then loiter on the porch of the Delphos, staring off at the pitch-black lake in the distance. The restaurant inside the resort, on the other hand, was bright and cheery. Whenever the door opened for another guest to pass in or out, he could hear the clatter of cutlery and the rattle of porcelain.
Then: the unmistakable sound of an approaching car, crunching its way up the B&B's gravel driveway.
His heart jittered in his throat, sudden and unexpected, at the thought of seeing her.