Who: Jolene Flint and Santiago Cervantes
What: Pickle Fiasco
Where: The fanciest burger joint in town
Status: Uhhmm not sure if it's done, done, but the quidditch players are done tomorrow so..XD Idk Amanda you can comment all you want Santiago'll be all :] xD



"This is the classiest burger place you could find?" Nose wrinkled, she arched a skeptical brow at him as dubious glance was turned to regard the man standing next to him. It was one of those looks that wordlessly asked the question, 'you're kidding me, right?', an over-exaggerated snotty gesture that seemed terribly out of place there on her soft, delicate features. Or at least, it did until she broke character. She was never really that good of an actress, and was an even worse comedian; there wasn't a joke she didn't botch up when she told it. So her little act was pretty much doomed the second it started. Dissolving quickly into a broad smile, she reached out to grab his hand, lacing her fingers with his as she led him into the restaurant that was about to become the spot for their latest date.

It was, essentially, the Wizarding World's equivalent to a McDonald's, complete with a cute play area for kids (they even had little starter brooms in there, and some of the tykes were happily whirring around at breakneck speeds hovering two feet from the ground) and disturbing color combinations used in the interior decor. Bringing him up to the counter, she stood contentedly at his side, even bringing his hand up so that she could playfully nip his knuckle before the miserable-looking teenager behind the counter acknowledged them to take their order. "Hi!" she chirped, apparently oblivious of the way the acne-riddled youth was ogling her chest. "How are you tonight? I'll have the number 2. But I don't want any pickles, and can I have bacon? But I only want it on one of those, if that's ok?" That's right. She was ordering not one, but two cheeseburgers. And had every intention of super-sizing her order, too.

Having placed her order, she turned expectantly to Santiago with a bright smile and let him place his order before crossing over to the window where their food arrived moments later. Wizard fast-food was, unlike Muggle joints, appropriately named and took only seconds to receive, and she let him take the tray. After all, she didn't exactly want to risk tripping and spilling their food everywhere, now did she?

But that left the daunting task of finding a booth up to her, and after some deliberation she chose a table outside, far removed from the audible squeals and shrieks of the children running rampant inside. No sooner had she sat down than her hand was in the paper bag containing her food, rummaging for her burgers. "Ugh, you have no idea how long I've been dying for one of these," she gushed, absently swatting her long blonde braid over her shoulder as she removed her container of fries. "I think I'll try a lot harder not to break things from now on if I get burgers for my good behavior. Soon I won't fit in my clothes." Which would be a shame, because she was currently wearing a very cute pink sundress. Grinning just to show she was joking, she popped a fry in her mouth before offering a fry to him, baiting him like a fish with a worm.

He was nearly positive he was going to marry this woman.

Santiago had come to this conclusion during one midnight shift last week, when he'd been helping Adelaide Jordan with some charts in the nursery. Normally he wouldn't be found down there with all the crying and the stinky diapers, but the other healer had all but grabbed his ear to get his help with paperwork. The endless forms were daunting, but Santiago had found it somewhat comforting to be in the room with the big window into the nursery. It wasn't as if he hadn't thought about having children before, what with all of his friends and family starting their own broods, but it was the first time that he'd actually looked at a child and had a woman in mind when he thought about what his own would look like.

Which sounded strange, because what had he imagined before? Mini Santiago clones?

Adelaide teased him often, saying he was far too pretty to not have reproduced yet, an Santiago was beginning to agree (about both things, being pretty and the reproducing thing). He'd been scared that the thoughts of having children with Jolene was simply because he was getting to that point in his life, that he was just going to jump on the first woman he found suitable but...the thoughts had been there for a while now, and he'd dated other women and had never honestly considered marriage with any of them. But with Jolene, he was so far past smitten that he could not picture his future without her.

Deusito mio, that sounded so strange and it should be terrifying, but he'd never been more content.

Santiago ordered the chicken meal, with somewhat of an authoritative voice to scare the teen behind the counter's eyes away from Jolene, and proceeded to follow her outside and into the warm almost-summer night. He sent an amused and questionable look toward the fry Jolene was teasing with, and swiftly chomped half of it away.

"Mm, salty."

She smiled broadly and proceeded to pop the surviving half of the fry into her own mouth, resting her chin in her palm as her eyes narrowed thoughtfully at him from across the table. She didn't know what it was, but being around Santiago was just... comfortable. She'd never had that with anyone before, not even Logan. There was always that trepidation there, that small nagging voice that maybe this wasn't real, maybe this was just some kind of joke. It was hard to believe that a successful, good-looking guy would go for someone like her, at least from her own perspective. And Logan had confirmed those feelings, made her feel heartbroken and foolish for letting herself get that attached. But barely two months into her relationship with Santiago and she already felt... what was the word... secure? Safe?

She almost didn't realize she'd been dreamily staring at him until she remembered that she had two burgers to consume, and tore her gaze away with a small laugh. "So," she said casually, fingers already at work peeling the paper wrapper away from the first, "my brother is coming back next month." Palms carefully pressed the paper flat, making sure all four corners were completely rolled out and smooth against the table before she took the burger and took a chomp out of it. Barely two bites in and her face scrunched into a mask of disgust, the burger flopped back onto the makeshift plate and the top bun hastily removed. "They put pickles on it," she pouted, and set to work removing them, tossing them carelessly over her shoulder. She didn't realize, of course, that she had just succeeded in thwapping some poor passerby in the head with it, and went on with her train of thought completely oblivious of the dirty look she was getting.

"But anyway... yea. He's coming back from Monaco in a few weeks. And I've met your whole family now, and they're really wonderful." Another pickle hit the pavement behind her, inches from the scowling wizard's foot this time. "So I apologize in advance for when you have to meet Caden. I'm not sure if you remember, but he's... a little rough around the edges." She grinned sheepishly, and was in the process of biting back into her burger when the pickle-struck wizard finally approached, arms folded angrily across his chest. She rolled her eyes up to acknowlege him, the syrupy orbs owlishly wide. Excuse me, but I think these belong to you, he snapped, and smacked her discarded pickes onto the table hard enough to make her jump.

She almost swallowed her mouthful of burger whole as she spluttered to apologize. "I'm so sorry! Really, I didn't---" But the man was already on his way, grumbling under his breath. She watched him go for a minute before she looked back to Santiago, a crease forming between her brows. She sulkily took a huge bite back into her cheeseburger, clearly embarrassed. "Don't comment on that, please," she begged, her mouth still slightly full. "I intend on eating my humiliation away, thankyou." It wasn't her fault. She really did just have the worst luck.

You know, normally he would think it was quite rude, the throwing of food. Maybe Santiago was just too shocked that Jolene had gone and simply tossed away the pickles, but he had no inclination to reprimand her or anything of the like. No, he was actually somewhat impressed that she didn't care, even though he had the urge to go and pick them up. Of course, the passerby the pickles had smacked had already swept them up off the floor, and Santiago was silently apologizing to the man as he neared them, hands up as an attempt to calm him down.

Of course, Santiago probably would have been perturbed at getting randomly whacked with pickles, and since the man's complaint wasn't too harsh (or not harsh at all, really, he could have reacted much worse), he simply clamped his hands over his mouth to stop his laughter from bursting out. But his cheeks and basically his entire face was red from the laughter, and he just nodded furiously at Jolene's request and her new agenda.

All right, no, he couldn't help himself; Santiago dropped down to the table in laughter, hands covering the back of his head to ward away any reproachful smacks from Jolene. But seriously? Throwing pickles? It was the funniest thing he'd ever witnessed, and he loved the fact that she'd been quite innocent about all of it.

"Per--per--perdoname," he apologized through his laughter, tears nearly bursting out of his eyes. He couldn't even think about the prospect of meeting her brother at the moment (even though he technically already had, just not as her boyfriend), the Pickle Fiasco getting itself ready to go down into the record books.

Oh come on! It wasn't like they were inside and she'd done it... she just figured the birds would eat them or something! Though, in retrospect, she supposed it probably would have been wiser to just throw them out. Cheeks puffed as she inhaled the last of her burger, her face fell and then quickly scrunched into an expression of adorable frustration as he dissolved into peels of laughter. "Oh come on," she whined, crossing her arms across her chest and reaching quickly for her chocolate shake, biting into the straw as she awaited his hysterical fit to come to an end.

But when he kept laughing, she sighed and finally scooched herself around the table until she was seated on his side of the circular bench, flopping her cheek down on the table so that she could peer at him. She was still nibbling on the straw in her frustration; by the time this blew over she wasn't going to be able to drink from it anymore. "Santi," she pouted, and wiggled her fingertip against the shell of his ear, gently tickling. "It wasn't that funny." But she knew that it was.

She always found herself at the center of these unfortunate circumstances... she was beginning to think she was cursed. How was it that he could tolerate being seen in public with her? Betraying a small smile, she absently pushed some blonde hair from her face, raising her brows at him in a way that clearly asked, 'are you quite done yet?'. She didn't think she'd ever seen him laugh so hard before. It was actually really cute.

"I can't wait until I catch you doing something really embarrassing. This is awfully one-sided, don't you think?"

Santiago pulled his head up, elbow pressed hard onto the table as his hand covered his mouth, the other going to Jolene's knee to squeeze it gently. He really had to stop, really. He wasn't laughing at her really, just...more...of how the situation had turned. And the fact that she'd been throwing pickles. Okay, she definitely deserved the laughter this time. Falling and busting her head on walls, not so much.

"Sorry--sorry---" his muffled voice came from behind his hand, and finally Santiago was able to control himself. Of course, he was still smiling like a madman, but at least he could talk without his words dissolving into giggles. Santiago didn't say anything for a moment, to make sure his laughter had been stopped, so he smiled for a moment before letting a breath out of his nose, "I am looking forward to meeting your brother 'officially'."

He gave her knee another squeeze, shoulders moving up. Santiago really didn't think he had anything to worry about when it came to Caden, other than being a lot shorter than the man (which meant he could physically beat him down). Honestly--Santiago didn't like to brag (except he did, a lot--mostly to friends, though), but he was the chief resident of the biggest wizarding hospital in the United Kingdom. He had been prefect and head boy, and he had two younger sisters, two pretty younger sisters that he's had to protect for nearly all of his life.

At least his resume was impressive. Santiago knew that older brothers could really care less about those kind of things, but it helped him feel confident enough to deal with Caden.

"We should arrange something, for when he comes home."

She quirked a brow at him, undeniably amused by his rare lack of control. Reaching out to him, she peeled his hand away from his mouth and planted a kiss there on his lips instead, the squeeze to her knee illiciting a small giggle from her. "Are you really?" There was obvious skepticism in her voice; she was almost certain that he was lying. Heck, she wasn't even looking forward to it, to be completely honest! But he was trying and that was certainly admirable, right? "Yea? That'd be fun! Maybe I could even get Estella to go! That's Caden's girlfriend, she's really nice. Maybe she'll keep him on good behavior."

Another kiss was given before she propped her chin in her palm and mimicked his position, lips puckered thoughtfully to the side. "Santiago... we're not... moving fast, right?" She quickly looked at him, realizing how that must have sounded, and immediately went on to explain herself. "I just mean... I've never-- and don't laugh-- I've never had a real boyfriend, so I don't really know how these things work." To be honest, Caden's criticism had been haunting her since the other day. Everything that had felt right with Logan had ended so badly... she just didn't want that to happen with him. Not when that 'L' word was right there at the back of her mind. It was all just really scary and new.

"And it's not that I don't like how we are right now. Because I really do. I love it." She colored, shook her head, and blurted on, suddenly nervous. "I mean... really really like it, yea? And well, you've done this before, right?"

Deus, could she read minds? Santiago's smile faltered only slightly at her words, but as Jolene continued he became more at ease. So, she was feeling it too? Experiencing it? Santiago suddenly didn't feel so crazy, for having such serious ideas popping up in his head. Had someone told her that they were moving fast? Because...only mentally, he thought, that they were. If that made sense. Mentally they were moving fast, at least he was. He was the one thinking about how he had been jealous that his sister had gotten the winter wedding he had always imagined (not---always, just...these past few years), and he was the one thinking a summer one wouldn't be bad, either.

Ay, he was such a girl.

"How is it that--we are moving fast?" he asked curiously, but continued his thought process anyway. Santiago twisted his chair on its swivel to face her, moving back and forth slowly in thought. "We have not had relations--" how silly did that sound, like they were teenagers-- "We are not speaking of buying a house," but he wanted a house, his flat was far too small for the two of them--- "And..."

Santiago pursed his lips together for a moment, hands moving up to pull the tie out of his hair only to twist the band around again to keep his hair out of his face. "We are adults, smart adults who actually have some common sense and...I think...that if we love what we are in," he said that quickly, in an attempt to make it sound casual, "that there is no problem, yes?"

Sheesh, why didn't she think of any of those things to say to Caden?! All she could think to do was... well... panic and dumbly say 'No we're not!' when the accusation flew. She would just have to have Santiago explain it to him, she decided with a little sigh. Santiago with his... perfect eyes and dreamy smile and gorgeous accent. Yes, she decided, she could definitely listen to this man talk all day and not tire of a single thing he had to say.

She watched his hands as he lifted them to the elastic band securing his hair, absently reaching out and tucking a strand of it behind his ear when it fell into his face. It was an almost instinctive thing to do, but she colored anyway, letting her fingertips linger against the side of his neck to toy with the dark strands before she withdrew them to once again cup her cheek in her palm, somewhat disappointed when he tied it back up.

She continued to nod in mute agreement with what he was saying (she even blushed at his mention of their non-existent sex life while he tried to explain how grown-up they were....she was such a dweeb), but that last sentence gave her reason to pause, her smile widening, nose wrinkling in that nervous way she had. There it was. He said it too. The 'L' word. Of course, it wasn't exactly used in the correct context; that traditional three-worded sentence seemed to evade them completely, but it still sounded really nice to hear him say that. "You're right. You're absolutely right." She would just have to keep it to herself that she wanted to do all the things he said that so far they had not done. "And... I do. I don't want you think that I asked because I don't. I really, really do love... what we are in." And then she ruined it by scrunching her nose and giggling, nervous habit.

Santiago really hated clichés and sayings and things like that, but he was quite certain he hadn't been in love before this. Deus, he was such a girl for thinking these things, but--he had honestly been looking for this for a long time, he had wanted to find the kind of love his friends had with their wives, he was looking for that kind of incredibly friendship like Graciela and Alex, he was looking for this.

Was it too fast? Could he just be struck by the supposed love bug without realizing it? Santiago had dated a few women, he'd had long relationships at that, but never had he felt this remotely giddy just at the thought of seeing his girlfriend, and when he did see her? Deus, it was like his heart was performing a circus routine with his lungs; it beat harder than ever and he could barely breathe.

Deus he was a sap. In all definitions of the word, he was a sap, but Santiago was enjoying every second of it. He grinned as Jolene confirmed what she'd already said, what he had already believed, and Santiago leaned forward to kiss her soundly. She even kissed better than he could remember being kissed. How was that possible if it was not love?

Of course, he could not (or would not?) officially make the statement that was dangling in front of them so tantalizingly close right now---not at a burger joint. They'd met in unconventional ways and their dates consisted of coffee places and restaurants with ball pits, but he could at least try to make some things romantic. Hmm--he was rich, he could get her something, maybe. If they decided on an anniversary, they could do something, yes--

"Your fries are getting cold," he muttered, pulling away just barely.

Her giggling was cut short as she found her mouth suddenly covered by his, a quiet hum breathed against his lips as her eyes fluttered closed, body inclined towards him as she surrendered to it. She'd never met anyone who could give her butterflies every single time they kissed. When he pulled back, her lips were still pursed as though expecting more, eyes popping open only when he made his observation about her french fries. Breaking into another giddy smile, she looped some of her hair behind her ear and nodded, but made no quick effort to increase the distance between them. "That's ok," she mumbled back, "they can wait." His kisses tasted better, anyway, but she would never be able to verbalize that without turning the color of a tomato and bursting into another laughing fit. So she showed him instead, ducking in for another kiss before she finally pulled back, looking a little flushed as she reached for her shake again and tried to pull more of the frozen beverage through her mutilated straw.

She didn't bother moving back to the other side of the table as she opened her second burger, being sure to set the pickles aside on the wrapper instead of throwing them this time. She gave him a tilted look as she pressed the bun back onto the burger and, slightly sheepish, said, "Lesson learned," as she bit in. Chewing, her expression turned thoughtful. "So I was thinking that I would have you, Caden and Estella over for dinner when he gets back... Believe it or not, I'm a pretty good cook." Which was why they were eating at a fast food place, obviously. "The kitchen's probably the only place that I don't mess up."

"I think that is a great idea," Santiago said with a gentle smile that was threatening to break into an even bigger one. She wanted him to meet her family--not only her family, her brother and his girlfriend, that was stepping things up a notch, yes? Of course, she'd met Graciela and Alex, but that was a more casual setting, plus, when you had a baby as cute as Zacharias around, things were relatively easy to keep relaxed and light. Caden, Santiago had a feeling, was not going to be as sweet and kind as Graciela had made the evening.

But, he was ready to deal with it, for Jolene.

"A woman who cooks," he said with a proud, slow nod, "that is something a man looks for, at least--this man." Santiago would let Graciela inform Jolene that any home cooked meal he might get was from her kitchen. It was amazing that he wasn't the size of a blimp, with the fast food and cafeteria meals he satiated himself with, but Santiago figured it was all the running around the hospital that he did that kept him in shape. And his weekends at the park playing football.

"Would you like to try and catch a movie?" he said, as Jolene grew close to finishing her burger. And--as he finished his chicken sandwich as well, he had completely forgotten about it with the pickle fiasco.