InsaneJournal

Katie usually didn't mind having lunch with her mother except when the only thing her mother could talk about was Katie's dating life which was, of course, non-existent. Never mind that she spent the entire Quidditch season training and practising and now that she finally have free moments in which to breath, all she wanted to do was relax and enjoy time with her mates. No, that was just an excuse to her mother, who insisted -- again -- that Katie ought to meet a nice wizard and settle down. Or something. Maybe those weren't the words her mum used. She couldn't remember. She tuned her out and wished for a Bloody Mary instead of the tomato juice she had during lunch.

She tossed her purse onto the sofa and then fell onto it herself. "I've got a blind date," she announced, having spotted Angelina out of the corner of her eye. "I can't believe it!"


Angelina glanced over to Katie from her place next to the kitchen counter, quirking an eyebrow in curious surprise. "A blind date?" she echoed- oh, she'd heard the words clearly enough, but they were just too good not to repeat aloud. "Better you than me." Reconsidering, Angelina added, "Oh, wait, I'm supposed to be sympathetic, right?" She moved to the sofa, sitting sideways to face Katie, and patted her shoulder stiffly, her voice teasingly monotone. "There. There."


Katie closed her eyes for a moment and rubbed her temples, pressing her fingers hard into her pressure points. Then she swung her head sideways to give Angelina an 'I am so not amused' look. "He's, like, fifteen years older than me! He works with my mum. Can you believe she's trying to set me up with a co-worker? I think he was a Ravenclaw! The worst part is, I have to go on the date, you know. I can't tell mum no. Oh Merlin, I hope he's not a complete boor. Or, wait, maybe I hope he is. I don't know."


Angelina shifted on the sofa- she had sat down with her legs underneath her, but the position hurt her hips, even after that brief moment, and she moved instead to extend her left leg out and off the sofa, pointing her toes to the carpet below. At the mention of her would-be date's age, Angelina wrinkled her nose. "Gross. Think we can get someone to Polyjuice as you for the occasion?"


"Are you offering?" Katie replied back with a grin. She held up a hand. "No, no I wouldn't wish that on anyone, especially not on you. Honestly, I don't know how many more times I can tell my mum that I don't want her to set me up with someone." It wasn't like this was the first time this had happened. The problem was that, until this time, Katie had always had an actual excuse to get out of it. This time she didn't.


She gave an indelicate snort of laughter, shaking her head- even though Katie had revoked the question a moment later. "Make up a practice session?" she offered, instead- that was a more neutral approach, perhaps. "Or- hell, I don't know, Katie. Can't you just not go?"


She pouted because she wanted to say that yes, she could just not go but in reality, Katie really did have a hard time saying no to her mum. That was probably why her mum told her about this face-to-face instead of owling her. If she had owled her, Katie wouldn't have had any problem saying no. "I think I'm already locked into it unfortunately," she said sullenly. "Suppose the best thing that'll come out of it is not having to pay for a fancy dinner somewhere, yeah?" Always looking on the bright side of things.


"You are the worst Gryffindor ever," Angelina replied. It was hyperbole, of course- and she didn't really mean anything malicious by it, but... "No amount of filet mignon and crème brûlée," the first high-priced dishes that came to mind, "could make me go out on a date with someone I don't fancy." Of course, Angelina might have been a bit biased- by the time her mother was Angelina's age, she was already a widow with a toddler underfoot. So Mary had never really been intent on matchmaking, where Angelina was concerned.


Katie considered that for a moment. "Well, it's not like I've even met the bloke," she said carefully. "Not," she added quickly, "that I think I will fancy him at all but I also don't know him. It wouldn't be very fair for -- oh what was his name? -- Avendar McGhee to judge him so badly!"


Angelina just rolled her eyes. "Katie, darling, I adore you. But you are hopeless. Avendar McGhee," what a ridiculous name! "is very nearly old enough to be your dad. But," Angelina held out her hands, palms toward Katie, "who am I to judge what you're into."


She glared at her friend. "I'm not into him! I don't even know him." Katie grabbed the edge of the nearest throw pillow and swung it lightly at Angelina with a half-grunt of laughter. "That's it. I'm owling my mum and telling her I've got to have my gallbladder removed or something equally ridiculous and will be unavailable for all blind dates for the foreseeable future."


Angelina caught the pillow, hugging it to herself and laughing brightly. "See! That's my girl!" She looked undeniably proud of the fabrication that Katie proposed. "I'll even lend you some of my St Mungo's parchment for the occasion." She had rolls upon rolls of it from her mediwitch classes, after all, even if she wasn't yet officially anything yet.


She scowled for a moment. "Somehow I think laying about surgery is a bad idea because the last thing we want, and the last thing you should want too, is my mum over here interfering."


While it was true enough that Angelina didn't want Katie's mum mucking about in their apartment- or any of their parents, really, come to that- she didn't seem too bothered by the threat of it. "So we'll get Fred and George to put up a few mum-targeting wards to keep her away," she offered, simply.


"Or I just get Fred and George to get me something to make me appear sick but not sick enough for surgery. Just sick enough to get out of dinner with this bloke from my mum's work." At that, Katie grinned triumphantly, like she should have thought it it like that right from the start.


She laughed, nodding her agreement. "See, it pays to have friends like them!" Fred and George would have preened if they'd heard her say that, of course, but such was the way of things, between friends. Angelina leaned back against the arm of the sofa- then reconsidered, shifted the pillow (that Katie had thrown) behind her for lumbar support, and lay back again. "Might be good to keep a stock of it around, just in case of emergency blind date scheduling."


"It'll only be me," Katie lamented. "I can't imagine your mum setting you up. Or Als'. But what do I know." He grimaced and stood up, stretching. "I was going to go down to the gym, the Muggle one that's got a pool. You in?"


Angelina watched Katie stand up, considering the question. "Yeah, sounds good. Let me just grab my kit."