If I say something weird, let me know... Who: Marietta and Anthony What: Their first date. Where: Via Condotti, London When: 25th of February, Evening. (backdated) Status: Complete.
Anthony pulled out Marietta's chair once they were shown to their table by the waiter. She was dressed in a beautiful blue dress, which flattered her figure wonderfully. Once she was settled he took his seat opposite her. He shifted in his chair until he was comfortable, then looked at Marietta with a smile.
"Well? How do you like the restaurant?"
Marietta lowered herself gracefully into the seat, slipping her hands beneath her legs to smooth out the blue dress which Cho had helped her to pick out. It was classic and simple, but emphasized her figure without being too sexy. Marietta loved it as much as she loved the thin silver button-down cropped sweater and matching silver clutch they'd gotten to go with them. Marietta adored the outfit, right down to the matching navy blue strappy shoes with tiny silver buckles. Marietta had no idea how to pick out a date outfit, but Cho had done a great job of helping her.
As she settled into her chair at the small table, Marietta gazed around the restaurant and smiled. "It's lovely." As lovely as the single red rose he brought when he met me at my flat, she thought to herself with a private, but happy, smile.
"That's good. My brother recommended the place... uh... he's a chef and knows these kinds of things." Anthony smiled. He had been looking forward to this date since Valentine's Day and, as he sat there, he couldn't believe that they were actually on a date. He picked up the wine menu and glanced over it as a waiter approached. "Would you like some wine?"
"I didn't know your brother was a chef," Marietta said with a smile. She'd known he had a brother, because he'd been at the ball. After a moment, feeling she out to reciprocate, she said carefully, "I'm an only child." After a brief tense moment, she turned her attention the wine menu. "Wine would be lovely. Perhaps something red?" She skimmed down the menu, pleased that she had some knowledge of wine. At least enough to say, "The 1997 Chianti 'Riserva' Le Corti looks good."
"Looks good enough for me." Anthony laughed. "I know nothing about wine," He confessed when the waiter walked away. He took a sip of water that was on the table, watching his date the entire time. "Jacob is a good guy, once you get to know him. Having a brother is good when you need someone to vent to about your parents." He paused. "Do you like being an only child?"
The question made Marietta frowned. "When I was younger, I always wanted a sibling. If only because then I wouldn't be so lonely." She paused, her mouth in a tight line. "But my parents never wanted any ch-" Hesitation covered the near slip of a tongue. "Never wanted any more children." She reached out, her hand gripping the glass of water almost too tightly. She took a small sip, using the time to control herself, thinking that her awful childhood really wasn't proper date conversation. In an attempt to steer towards what she hoped would be a lighter point of the topic, she asked, "Did you and Jacob get along well as children?"
"I'm from a Jewish family, we had no choice but to get along." Anthony laughed. "We had our quarrels, but we loved each other." He looked at Marietta and noticed her expression. Family was something that upset her, he thought; something that we don't have to discuss on our first date. "But that's them, not us. Please, how's work?"
A wistful smile crossed Marietta's face at the thought of family getting along, family loving each other. Something she'd never had, but always wanted. She seized on the change of topic, though at the moment work wasn't much better than family. "It's, uh- all right." She paused and swallowed, averting her eyes. "It's been a bit awkward lately, what with that rumour the Gossip Witch posted." Her eyes flicked up to meet his. "Which wasn't true, by the way." She wanted him, of all people, to know that.
Anthony nodded. "I know. I don't believe anything that she posts. I've been targeted by her lies too." He shook his head in mild disgust. He saw the waiter approaching with the bottle of wine and smile. "Wine's here."
Marietta smiled, a hint of a teasing tone slipping into her voice as she said, "So I shouldn't worry about some matronly witch in America stealing your affections?" She blushed slightly and turned her attention to the waiter, who filled a glass for each of them before setting the bottle on the table. With a murmured thank you, Marietta lifted the wine to her lips and took a slow sip. "Mmm," she remarked quietly as she set the glass back down. "Very full-bodied."
"No, no matronly witch in America. She's angry enough with it, though. I got three howlers in the mail from her, her husband, and her daughter." Anthony sipped his wine. "I agree, very full-bodied." He smiled as he looked at Marietta. "I suppose we should figure out what to eat before the waiter gets impatient."
There was a hint of a smile as Marietta said, "Three howlers? Why they send them to you?" She paused, "Well, I guess it's hard to send a Howler to the Gossip Witch when no one knows who she is." She shook her head looked down at the menu. "Oh, yes." Surveying the selections, all of which looked good, Marietta finally decided, "I think I'll start with the vegetable soup, and then have the chargrilled chicken paillarde for my entree." She glanced up at Anthony and smiled. "How about you?"
"I'll start with the risotto and have the Char-grilled Sashimi grade tuna steak for my entree." Anthony took the menu from Marietta and handed both to the waiter once the order was placed. When the waiter was gone he turned back to his date. "I heard about a run-in you had with Donaghan Tremlett, what was that about?"
"Which one?" Marietta asked with a tiny laugh. "I'll just assume you mean the first one." She folded her hands in her lap, twining her fingers together as she added, "The Ministry needed him brought in for a lecture on something he did, but none of the departments wanted to be the ones to do it. I volunteered. It shouldn't have been that hard, but then he demanded I bring donuts to the meeting, and I didn't think it was proper." She paused, and then admitted with a smile, "Well that, and I hate being told what to do. There was a bit of an argument, which resulted in him ordering me 24 dozen donuts and two kegs of coffee delivered to the office every day for a month. I tried to get it fixed so that the donuts would go to a homeless shelter, but he refused to go along with it and changed the order back. I ended up bringing the donuts to the shelter myself every day after work."
"Wow!" Anthony exclaimed. "You know, I'm having a meeting with Donaghan tomorrow and now I'm not sure what to expect of him." He took a slow sip of the wine. "Cat said he was a good guy, but your experience says otherwise."
"Well he's not so bad," Marietta admitted after a sip of her wine. "I mean, I thought he was horrid, at first. But I ended up running into him at a bar one night. That was the day after that horrible rumour came out, and my father-" She paused, blinked, and skipped ahead, "I was really upset, and he was surprisingly nice to me. I saw him at the Valentine's Ball, and he was very polite there, too." She was quiet for a moment, sipping her wine. "He can be nice when he wants to, I think. But he's also obviously used to getting what he wants, and being treated a certain way."
"Well, whether or not that's true I'll find out soon." Anthony smiled. "So, I haven't told you; I'm writing a book on celebrities. I was out at a bar a couple of weeks ago and I met Cat Runcorn; she suggested that I write about something out of my comfort zone and suggested I write about her and other celebrities."
"So you've finally come up with an idea for your book?" Marietta beamed warmly at him. "Congratulations!" On the outside, she smiled, but inwardly she felt relief at knowing the reason he'd been seen (and photographed) with Cat Runcorn in Germany. "So what was it like, being with a celebrity?"
"Aside from the music, she's just a normal person that likes to have fun." He smiled, finishing his glass of wine. "Which is something that I want to convey in my book. Celebrities are just people, with their own lives that aren't often thought about. Merlin knows the Gossip Witch doesn't care about the person behind the celebrity."
Marietta snorted. "The Gossip Witch doesn't care about people, period. Just what she thinks will cause the most drama I think." She stopped as the waiter appeared with their first course, not wanting to speak of things like witches in front of the Muggle staff. The waiter placed the vegetable soup in front of Marietta and the risotto in front of Anthony. They sat in silence for a moment as each tasted their food. After several spoonfuls of her soup, Marietta lowered the spoon to say, "Mine is delicious. How is yours?"
"My brother didn't lie." Anthony said, swallowing a bite of risotto. They continued in silence for a few more moments as they ate. Anthony looked up at Marietta as he drank a sip from his second glass of wine. "Have I told you that you're beautiful?"
A brilliant red flush tinged Marietta's cheeks at his compliment, which had come unexpectedly. "I- No, you-" She took a deep breath and finished softly, "Thank you, Anthony." She lifted her head to meet his eyes. "You look very handsome too," She added with a shy smile.
"I have to be honest, I've never really dated before so... if I say something weird, let me know." Anthony smiled.
"As far as I'm concerned, you're doing wonderful, Anthony." Marietta ducked her head to hide the blush, just as the waiter came to remove their appetizers and set down their entrees. With one last glance at Anthony, Marietta turned her attention to her food and began to eat.