RP: A quiet dinner

[rar_percy]

Date: January 7, 1999
Characters: Hestia Jones, Percy Weasley
Location: Italian Kitchen, Hestia's flat
Status: Private
Summary: Percy and Hestia go out on their first Official Date.
Completion: Complete

Comments

[rar_hestia]

Hestia wasn't sure where Percy had planned to take her for dinner so she'd not worn robes. Instead, since this was their first date, she'd dug deep into her closet to pull out her dresses. She didn't like wearing dresses often, but she felt like wearing one tonight; being with Percy made her feel a bit more girly than normal. She pulled on her favourite dark blue dress only to find that she couldn't do up the zip. She took it off and threw it on the ground, sitting on the bed.

Part of her wanted to cancel, wanted to lock the door and curl up in her jammies with a tub of ice cream. Percy couldn't want her, not when she was too fat to fit into her own clothes. How could anyone want her? She scowled at the mirror and headed out to her living room to floo him. She could pretend she was sick or something, yes. Of course, he'd know she was lying when he spoke to Mrs. Tonks on Monday. As she reached for the floo powder, her eye caught the the beautiful bouquet of tulips that he'd sent her. She'd taken them home and placed them on her kitchen table, unable to bear leaving them in her office. Her heart swelled a bit as it did when she looked at them and thought about Percy and the wonderful kisses they'd shared the weekend before.

How could she just lie to him? Percy didn't seem to care that her stomach wasn't flat or her hips were too big. Indeed, he seemed to enjoy her hips, she thought, recalling how often his hands ended up there. She shouldn't wreck this before it started; decide that he couldn't want her before he didn't. Hestia put the floo powder back in the little dish and returned to her bedroom.

She ended up wearing a stretchy dark red dress she'd bought before the war. It didn't fit quite like it was supposed to, but it didn't look bad either. The rather low neckline showed off her cleavage nicely. She hoped Percy would enjoy that. She was putting on her earrings when she heard a knock at her front door. She hurried over and opened it, smiling up at Percy.

"Hi," Hestia said a bit nervously. "Thank you." She took the rose from him and smelt it, unsure what to do next. She really wanted to kiss him, but she didn't know if that would be too forward of her.

[rar_percy]

Hestia opened the door quickly, and Percy's eyes widened slightly as he looked her up and down- discreetly, he hoped. Her dress was clingy in all the right places, and he couldn't help that his eyes were drawn to her low neckline. She was certainly well-endowed, especially compared to the other women he'd been with. But he wasn't here to compare her to them.

"You look absolutely lovely," he said, handing her the rose as a greeting. He leaned down and kissed her cheek lightly. He noticed the colorful tulips were sitting on her table. He hoped she liked tulips- they had seemed unassuming enough to not be cheesy, but bright and pretty, kind of like her.

"Are you ready? I know I'm a few minutes early," he said apologetically. "And I wasn't sure where you would prefer, so I made reservations at Merlin's Garden, the Italian Kitchen, and Circe."

[rar_hestia]

"Oh, thank you. You look very handsome. That's a good colour for you," Hestia said, flushing lightly as he kissed her cheek.

"It's fine, I'll just need to grab my cloak and my handbag." She bit back a giggle when he mentioned that he'd made reservations in triplicate. "Always prepared, aren't you, Perce? Well, I had lunch with your boss today at Circe, so I'd rather go somewhere else for supper. How about Merlin's Garden?"

[rar_percy]

Percy flushed slightly, and then darker when he realized that their faces matched. He appreciated that she wasn't so smooth she couldn't get flustered, though, he supposed.

He tried not to laugh nervously when she said something about him always being prepared, and it twisted his mouth into a smirk. "That's me," he admitted. "Merlin's Garden sounds good. Should I Apparate us? I wouldn't want your dress to get sooty."

[rar_hestia]

"Oh yes, apparition sounds good," Hestia said. She went into the kitchen to place the rose in with the tulips, taking a moment to admire them, before picking up her cloak and handbag. Then she shut her apartment door behind her as she stepped into the hall with Percy, locking it with her wand.

She moved very close to him and put her arms around his neck, looking up into his face. "I'm ready."

[rar_percy]

Well, Percy thought, not feeling quite coherent even in his own head as he suddenly had an armful of Hestia.

"Yes you are," he responded inanely, and his traitor hands found their way, again, to rest on her hips. He closed his eyes, noticing that her hair smelled slightly minty. Not that he was smelling it, necessarily, at least, not on purpose. It just so happened that she was the correct height for him to smell it easily. And it was quite delicious smelling, so he couldn't not notice it.

He realized he was just holding her now, for probably several beats too long, so he cleared his throat and Apparated them to a safe spot near Merlin's Garden. "Here we are," he announced, unnecessarily, and forced himself to step back. He took her hand to compensate for the loss of warmth and... mint.

[rar_hestia]

Percy's hands were on her hips again which made Hestia smile. They felt really good there, she just wished he would move them a bit. A little pre-apparition caress never hurt anyone, after all. He seemed to be having difficulty focusing on the restaurant, as they stood outside her flat for several moments before he apparated them.

When they arrived, she took his hand and followed him into the restaurant. "It's a good thing you planned ahead," Hestia said, as they passed by the line of people without reservations. "Otherwise we may have gotten stuck."

[rar_percy]

Percy beamed. So she liked a man that planned ahead. Which was what he did. "Yes, well, I figured since it was a Saturday night-" he trailed off, somewhat awkwardly, and gave his name to the hostess. He had requested a more private table when he made the reservation during his lunch hour yesterday, so she nodded and led them to a small booth near a back window.

"How's this?" he asked Hestia. He would have pulled her chair out for her, but well, it was a booth, so he just waited until she was seated to do the same. He glanced out the window to see the street lights and the Saturday night life (well, evening life) milling about.

[rar_hestia]

"I'm very glad; I'm rubbish at that sort of thing," she said. She'd have to make sure that he planned all their future dates. She got a bit giddy when she thought about future dates and Percy. She was very glad she hadn't cancelled on him.

He gave his name to the hostess who led them back to a small private booth. "It's lovely," she said, sliding into the booth. She smiled at him before hiding behind her menu. He was going to think she was a bit daft if she kept grinning stupidly at him all night.

[rar_percy]

"I'll take care of this sort of thing, then," he said, grinning a bit. He had told himself not to compare Hestia to the others but he couldn't help remembering the way Angelina and her friends always wanted him to loosen up instead of just liking him the way he normally was. He smiled a bit wider.

She put up her menu then, so he supposed she wanted to look at it for a moment in quiet. He glanced over his own, giving her a moment. "Do you like wine? We could get a bottle, or, well- order whatever you'd like," he said, not wanting to order for her. If they were going to get a bottle, though, he hoped she liked red- white always have him the worst headaches.

[rar_hestia]

Hestia moved her menu back down to a more acceptable height. "Well, I suppose it really depends on what we want for dinner. I mean, if you order fish and I order steak, we can't very well split a bottle of wine," she said. "But if it works out, I think we should share one."

She looked over the menu. She'd had beef stew for lunch with Andromeda Tonks, so she should probably have something lighter for dinner. "I'm going to try the pasta with grilled vegetables and pesto. That looks nice," she decided.

[rar_percy]

Percy nodded. He had just thought it would be romantic; he didn't drink enough to remember that different wines were good with different foods. He hoped he hadn't flushed with embarrassment, again. And while he didn't often like drinking much at all, the idea of getting wine-tipsy with Hestia didn't seem too bad at all.

"That does look nice. I think I'm going to get the pasta with vodka sauce," he nodded. "It says here a Merlot or a Pinot Noir would be good with these. What do you think?" He frowned in thought. He thought that those two wines were quite different, but he didn't really understand how wines were matched with food, anyway.

[rar_hestia]

"I'm easy either way," Hestia said with a shrug. "I don't drink too much wine myself, I just know that red goes with red meat and white goes with chicken and fish. Well, most of the time anyways. Of course, we could also be terribly naughty and drink fruity cocktails instead," she said with a wink.

[rar_percy]

"I don't drink a lot of wine either," Percy admitted with a laugh. "I thought you might like it. Get whatever you want, though I'll warn you I know even less about fruity cocktails." He shifted a bit when she winked, but still grinned.

The server came then, and Percy nodded to Hestia. "I'll trust you," he said.

[rar_hestia]

"Don't worry, you're in good hands," Hestia said before turning and ordering them bellinis.

"I hope it isn't too sweet for you," she said after the server had left. "If you don't like it, you can always get something else."

[rar_percy]

He'd never heard of that drink before. "Bellinis? What are those?" he asked, a bit warily. He liked sweet, though, so maybe he'd like it.

He settled back into his seat, looking around the restaurant. There were lots of couples- like them, he realized- eating and talking. He didn't care to watch other women simper over their dates, though, so he turned back to Hestia and grinned. He was doing very well, keeping his eyes from her plunging neckline, though it was a bit harder now that they were facing each other and she wasn't hiding behind a menu. He was at least glad he couldn't see her legs- thank heavens for small mercies.

"So, how did it go with Andy today?" he asked, not allowing his mind to drift for too long on her curvy calves in her sheer stockings.