April 5th, 1978
Who: Emmet Belby and Giada Vance
What: Date in the ball pit!
Where: London
She was on a daaaaaaaaaaaate, with a boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, who was cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!
Something along those lines had been bouncing around in her head alllllll day, and Giada had been scolded at least seven times during lunch and tea time and dinner (they had a really early like, five o’clock, but she didn’t eat much, another reason for the scolding) for twitching too much. Honestly. She could barely move without getting reprimanded, and had heaved a great sigh of relief when her parents disappeared in a whirl of green fire in the parlour, to another one of their gatherings. Giada hadn’t waited a second after the fire burnt down before running out of the room and up the stairs to her bedroom to get dressed, to put on her makeup, to do her hair---all in the span of fifteen minutes because her parents didn’t leave until seven-forty and she was supposed to meet Emmet at eight and ohmygoodnesshewasgoingtoleaveorsomething
likethat.
When she was finally ready Giada barely registered that she was leaving until she was actually there, and she tripped over her feet when she appeared in front of the restaurant.
Emmet was usually always early and after booting a very nosy Caradoc out (who would have thought that he was such a gossip queen?) he’d apparated over to the restaurant to wait outside. His day had been spent working out specs with contractors trying to see when they could get the store front fixed and the ministry were being fools about it of course; but the store hadn’t been properly fixed since the last time and it was beginning to crumble in front.
He was kind of disappointed that he had been gone for all the excitement, he’d been out haggling with their rowan wood supplier and while he didn’t want to be in the middle of all of it, he’d heard that You-Know-Who had made and appearance and well, it was kind of intriguing. Emmet was very curious by nature so it kind of peeved him that he didn’t get to see this so called Dark Lord in person.
But it was very lucky for Giada that he was there early because one, he’d figured out that this usually very-empty-on-Thursday restaurant was being rented out for a party and that the hostess shouldn’t have taken his reservation even though he made it on Sunday. Two, because it had given him enough time to think of a new plan, lame as it was. And three, because he was there to catch her as she tripped over a crack in the pavement right outside of the restaurant.
If he’d been a little nervous with Caradoc hovering about (seemingly over for some missed buddy time even though he’d shown up just as Emmet was getting ready) he was sure as fuck nervous now. Giada looked absolutely beautiful and she was all dolled up for him. Emmet grinned as he helped her regain her sense of balance.
“Hi,” he said, breathlessly, “you all right there? New shoes? I know I have trouble when I get a new pair of pumps.” He smirked at her to show that he was teasing and Emmet never wore women’s shoes unless there was a lot of alcohol and his mates egging him on (and Caradoc, to come up with the idea in the first place).
“Oh---new shoes?” Giada looked down at her feet and examined the shoes. When had she bought these? Maybe like September. Yeah! Yes, September, because she’d just started working at the station and needed comfortable shoes. Her mother was always making her wear heels because apparently that made your legs look better, but they always ended up hurting her feet real bad so she’d bought these to walk around with when her mother wasn’t constantly scrutinizing her because they weren’t that high but they still were really nice and if she got caught in them her mother wouldn’t smirk too much.
She’d stared at shoes for a good ten seconds before realizing why Emmet had asked about then and let out a laugh, “Oh! Oh, no, I’m just a klutz, and really bad at apparating. I don’t do it much, so.”
Giada flushed a bit now that she realized she’d probably looked like a dope, but at least he’d been there to catch her. Ooooh, Emmet had caught her, as in, he put his hands on her and oooooooh goodness, that was nice, and she blushed a bit deeper and before she died of the sudden rush of blood to her head Giada threw her hands up, “So! Hungry?”
Emmet smiled at Giada’s sweet laugh and straightened his shirt just a little out of nervousness. “Uh yeah, I’m famished only,” he shrugged and motioned to the door that had a sign reading ‘Closed for Private Party’ “Our reservations were cancelled and they didn’t think to call me so we’re going to have to find some place else to eat.”
He felt really bad about it too, because he’d been looking forward to taking her to get Italian, which she said was her favorite food. “I feel like kind of a prat for not calling ahead and well, I have an idea but I don’t know if you’re up for it.”
It was that time of night when everyone was out to dinner and all the restaurants on this block were full up (he’d checked) except for one. And if it had been any other date he probably would have no qualms about it but this was Giada and from what he’d heard from Caradoc, she’d probably never been to a place like this and. Bugger.
Emmet’s shoulders slouched just a little and he gave her kind of a pitiful look, “I mean if you want to reschedule, that’s fine but.” He’d been really looking forward to this date all week.
Giada narrowed her eyes at the sign, frowning at the closed curtains and the stupid private party that was going on behind them. She really hated those fancy parties, honestly, it was the same gibber jabber over and over, and it was always the same routine; meet a new boy, be forced to sit with new boy, annoy new boy by not saying a word all night and then get scolded by her parents for being absolutely insufferable, even though she hadn’t done anything to be insufferable.
“Well that sucks!” she said with a pout, then smacked her hand over her mouth, looking at Emmet in an apologetic fashion. Not that---okay, that wasn’t that bad of a thing to say, but Giada was used to getting in trouble for unladylike language and errrrgh. “I mean. Darn. But we can go do something else! I don’t see why not? Unless you don’t want to?”
Aw, no, maybe he wanted to go home, and that whole private party thing was some big trick to get her to leave so he could go and have a nice night with some prettier girl.
Emmet let out a bark of laughter at her outburst. “You can curse in front of me whenever you want. I’ve heard worse, I promise,” he slung his arm around her shoulders in a friendly manner. Even though he was really nervous now. What if she didn’t like this place and well she seemed mild mannered enough that she wouldn’t say anything if she found it disgusting.
“Just this way, milady,” he said in a hoity-toity tone, leading her down the block to where the McDonald’s was. Emmet really loved this place but it was so bad for you, but that’s why it tasted so good. He could never bring Caradoc here so it was a rare treat that he actually got to go. Plus this one had a play-land. “It’s called fast food. All the food is pre-prepared for you so you don’t have to wait for it at a table and there aren’t waiters.”
They were a little (okay a lot) overdressed for this kind of restaurant, but Emmet liked to think it made them look eccentric. He brought her over to the line and showed her how to order. “I think you’d like a Happy Meal,” he said, leaning over to whisper in her ear: “They come with toys.”
He grinned at her and raised an eyebrow at the guy standing behind the counter who was looking at them like they were from outer space or something. “Two Happy Meals only medium drinks instead and throw in an extra toy, please,” he ordered, pulling out his wallet to pay; it was really good he’d grabbed some cash before leaving.
Giada tried not to grin too stupidly at his arm around her butwhowasshekidding? The most she’d ever got from a guy was a peck on the lips from some stupid game at some stupid party some stupid day her parents had decided to stupidly host another event. And that hadn’t even been willingly, so she was quite pleased that she was already getting more action in less than five minutes than she had in her entire life.
Oh, that sounded horribly pathetic, didn’t it?
Anyway, the bright lights of the restaurant (if…that’s what you could call it) caused her to squint and then Emmet had pointed out the menu which was up on the wall instead of in…an actual menu, so Giada really didn’t know what to think. She saw the waiters (were they waiters? Usually you didn’t see them handling the food but there they were) behind the counter, messing with drinks and chips and handling yellow round packages of who knows what, and toys? Oooh, when was the last time she’d actually had a toy, hrm? Seemed like never, oh gosh, look at how bright the sign for the different flavors of milkshakes there were, honestly, she couldn’t fathom how muggles managed to make things so pretty and awesome without magic, she really couldn’t. Except that she could, because she worked at a muggle radio station and she saw muggle stuff all the time.
But whatever.
She followed Emmet after their food had been put on a tray (that was different!) and…wait, was that their food? It was…in a bag. Were they leaving? Sometimes she saw people at restaurants take a bag home, but they never had childish drawings on the side or ooooh a maze to solve and he had mentioned a toy, yes?
“Where are we going to sit?” Giada asked, managing to stop herself from walking into Emmet because he’d stopped and she had been focused on this funky statue of a clown, wondering why on earth there would be a funky statue of a clown in a restaurant. Her eyes were still locked on it in bewilderment as she asked her question, her hand reaching out lightly to pat his arm. She really needed to learn how to focus better.
Emmet grabbed some ketchup and mayonnaise in the little thimbles and turned to smile as she patted him on the arm. “Sit?” he asked, humming lightly looking around. This place was pretty empty, so really they could sit anywhere.
“Here, grab some napkins and come with me,” he said, grabbing the tray and leading her over to the kids playland. Emmet grinned at her and took his shoes off, just like the sign said and moved to the playpen full of coloured plastic balls. He made his way carefully over to the other side and sat down, putting his knees up so he could balance the tray on his knees like a little table.
“Come on, I won’t bite,” Emmet grinned at her and opened his hand to help her sit down. It was probably awkward in a dress but he wasn’t going to make fun of her or anything. “And you better enjoy this,” he told her seriously, “I don’t bring just all my dates here.” Actually he’d never brought anyone here but whatever, it wasn’t like she would care.
“So, the trick is, to eat just one chip. If you can do that, you win the prize at the bottom,” he gave her a teasing grin as he pulled out their hamburgers and made a little set up so she could get to the food too. This was really nice and kind of funny even though you really weren’t supposed to eat in here. They were adults and he could make sure they didn’t get food everywhere.
Giada had a bit of a time with the napkins. What on earth was this, you had to—she could never just use one napkin, and…well, now that she thought of it, she did only use one, it was those cloth napkins, but she was always using it so by the looks of these small paper ones she'd need a lot, but she couldn't get more than one at a time out.
"Bugger," she muttered when she managed to take almost half of the stack out. Giada fiddled with keeping the napkins in some sort of pile, following Emmet with her head down until her feet banged into a ledge. She looked up and saw that it was a ledge into a pit full of multicolored balls and, okay, you didn't see that every day. Giada didn't know what to think of this, but followed Emmet anyway after taking off her shoes and sticking them into the little cubby holes.
When she was finally settled beside him, Giada took a good look at all their food before turning to him in question, "Why would they give you all of those if they only want you to eat one!"
“Because they are oh so tasty and well once you have one it’s completely impossible to not have more,” he said dutifully, throwing his tie over his shoulder so it wouldn’t dip into any of the condiments. Emmet pointed some of the things in the room out and patiently answered all her questions (of which there were a lot, especially after an entire soda) about all of the muggle stuff and how he knew it and before he realised they’d finished their dinners and were just sitting their with their little rubber robot toys. Playing, of course, because that’s what you did with toys.
Emmet didn’t think he’d ever met someone who could talk this much and still have more to say. She was funny and nice and completely genuine, unlike any of the stuffy purebloods he’d gone to school with and that Caradoc made him hang out with sometimes. He did find it a little funny she was so sheltered but there was something so adorably sweet about her naiveté and it was really attractive.
He glanced at his watch and toward the workers that were coming in and grinned at Giada. By the time they were back out in front of the building, Giada had talked the guys into giving her a milkshake (he was pretty sure it was the remnants from whatever was left in the machine but it was free and Giada seemed to be liking it, so whatever) and they were laughing. “Did you see the look on his face if I asked how much it would cost to rent the ball pit by hour?”
“Because they are oh so tasty and well once you have one it’s completely impossible to not have more. It's a marketing scheme; they give you more than you should to get you to get more,” he said dutifully, throwing his tie over his shoulder so it wouldn’t dip into any of the condiments. Emmet pointed some of the things in the room out and patiently answered all her questions (of which there were a lot, especially after an entire soda) about all of the muggle stuff and how he knew it and before he realised they’d finished their dinners (all the chips and little chip bits too) and were just sitting their with their little rubber robot toys. Playing, of course, because that’s what you did with toys.
Emmet didn’t think he’d ever met someone who could talk this much and still have more to say. She was funny and nice and completely genuine, unlike any of the stuffy purebloods he’d gone to school with and that Caradoc made him hang out with sometimes. He did find it a little funny she was so sheltered but there was something so adorably sweet about her naiveté and it was really attractive.
He glanced at his watch and toward the workers that were coming in and grinned at Giada. By the time they were back out in front of the building, Giada had talked the guys into giving her a milkshake (he was pretty sure it was the remnants from whatever was left in the machine but it was free and Giada seemed to be liking it, so whatever) and they were laughing. “Did you see the look on his face if I asked how much it would cost to rent the ball pit by hour?”
"I know, right? I mean, they really should let you rent it for birthday parties and stuff because I mean, come on---little kids can be in there all day, I could be in there all day, so!" She wasn't going to be able to finish this milkshake, she knew. It was free so Giada didn't feel too bad about that, but she held onto it because she didn't want to throw it out. What time was it? Her parents wouldn't notice she was gone, but she had to be at the station by at least eleven-thirty, and…well, nah, she could make it by eleven-forty five because now she definitely didn't need to get her coffee before hand, which usually took a while because she usually started talking to the vendor and then she'd have to run in.
But, that wasn't for a while now, she figured. Or at least, she hoped. Or wondered. Something like that.
They walked past the Italian restaurant with the snooty private party and Giada pulled a face at it, only to turn to Emmet a second later with a wide grin, "I'm glad they cancelled our reservations!"
Ever the gentleman, Emmet slipped his suit jacket off and draped it around Giada’s shoulders, squeezing them just a little with a grin. It wasn’t too cold out but it was late and the sun was down so it had to be a little chilly. Plus it was just a nice gesture right?
“I’m glad you’re glad,” he said with a little laugh. Because really, he’d been terrified that Giada would have turned on her heel and left after she found out the restaurant was closed. He was glad though, she seemed like a really easy going person and Emmet really liked it. He glanced over at her, wondering if he should reach for her hand but decided not to try for anything; if it happened it happened.
“I don’t want to be rude, but,” Emmet bit the side of his mouth for a moment. “I wouldn’t have thought that a girl like you would be into rubber eraser toys and muggle music. I’m kind of curious though, as to where you first heard The Beatles.” Everything in Emmet’s life pretty much revolved around music (minus Caradoc, the stuffy prat) and it was hard to stay away from the topic, especially after their conversation last weekend.
Giada's mouth opened to answer the question, but shut it quickly because she wasn't exactly sure. She'd heard the music a lot in the dorm room (Ravenclaw girls really weren't as stuffy as the rest of the school seemed to think), and her brother was always listening to the records when their parents weren't home. Oh, how she missed having Patrick live in the house, it was dreadfully boring without him around and with Allison all married and pregnant and being off and away, her music was all she really had.
"Oh, well..." A girl like her? So she guessed he knew about her home life, haaaa. Yeah, well. That wasn't exactly the most opportune place to hear such amazing tunes, she knew, and Giada tugged his jacket a little tighter around her, because maybe he was testing her again, to see if she was faking it or not. She knew that it was a little weird, for a pureblood, high society girl to even know that The Beatles weren't a bunch of creepy crawly bugs.
It was sort of embarrassing though, and Giada shrugged, looking down at her shoes. Emmet already knew she was a bit of a dork (and a klutz, and a bit clueless in some areas…), but she really didn't feel like adding 'sap' to her growing resume.
"My brother had 'Abbey Road' on one day when he was home and babysitting Allison and me, and 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' came on and it made me laugh so hard, and…" she put a hand to her face, feeling her blush grow, "and Patrick—my brother—he said he'd never seen me look that happy, so we sat in his room and listened to all the other records he had and…that's how it happened. It's stupid, but---"
Emmet really wanted to pull her into a hug and hide her away. Giada was just too adorable and he really didn’t want to share that with anyone. He’d never met someone so sweet and innocent but still so real at the same time. Giada wasn’t an idiot, just had a lot of thoughts and he could completely understand the being klutzy thing (he’d found that if you just stood still it was harder to trip over things).
“That’s really cool. My brother got me into it, too, but nothing like that,” he laughed, bumping his shoulder against hers. “Ammie, well his name is really Damocles, but he was supposed to be babysitting me, and I must have been about eight or nine and he wanted to meet his girlfriend. He must have been oh, fifteen or sixteen at the time, maybe even seventeen, but so they wanted to go on a date but, you know, what can you do with a little brother?”
Emmet shrugged sheepishly, “So we went to the high street and I got lost, wandered into a record shop. The girl behind the counter was so shocked that I’d never heard The Beatles, she made me listen to them. We’d listened to at least two records by the time my brother finally showed up and by that time I was hooked,” he grinned at her.
His brother had gotten into so much trouble for leaving him like that, but it had so been worth it. “The shop girl was probably about Ammie’s age, and when I was thirteen she gave me my first kiss while we listened to Sergeant Pepper’s.”
"Well that's really cute!" Giada said with a laugh, stopping just to stare at Emmet for a bit as she pictured that night in her head. Aw, he must've been a cute little thing, and she totally understood being the tag-along little sibling. It was hard, even though the age difference with her siblings was a lot smaller than Emmet and his brother, but still.
She didn't have to latch onto The Beatles or muggle music in general, Patrick did a bunch of cool and different things, but Giada had a definite reason for deciding on the music being the thing to 'rebel' with, as little as she did it.
"My parents hate muggle music, which makes it so much more interesting."
She’d barely finished her sentence and he was kissing her. Not hard, but he couldn’t hold it in anymore and she was so cute with her laugh and her little defiant smirk and Emmet just couldn’t take it anymore. He’d been watching her mouth and was just fascinated by her lips and it was probably really rude to not really pay attention to what the lips were saying but. Whatever.
He was kissing her now and it was just as sweet as her. Emmet put one hand on the side of her neck gently to encourage her a little and well she wasn’t killing him just yet. That was very good. Because that would be the worst story to tell Caradoc (not that he was going to admit to being refused by a girl of course or that he would tell Caradoc anything).
Oh! Oohhhh, he was kissing her, like really kissing her. That was niiiice. But he hadn't asked! Should she be annoyed that he hadn't asked? Ahhh, no, she couldn't be when it was feeling this good. Giada really didn't know what to do so she figured she'd let Emmet show her how and her hand gripped onto his arm (well, both, the hand on her neck, she had her hand on his elbow and guh). Her mind really shouldn't be thinking about all these different things, right? It was her first big kiss, her first kiss on the pavement, her first kiss outside, her first kiss not at one of those snooty parties and the first kiss with a guy she actually wanted to see more of.
Ohhhhmygosh.
Giada couldn't fathom how long they'd kissed (enough for her to lean heavily into Emmet because the rest of her body kind of turned off to focus everything into the kiss), but when they finally broke apart she had to shake her head a bit to get back into focus.
"Haaa, thanks."
Thanks? Emmet boggled for a moment but managed a smile. Thanks? What-what kind of response was that? He rubbed her back a little, feeling really confused. He hoped it didn’t show on his face because she’d kissed him back and pretty much melted into him but had she not liked it? Emmet reached up to tug lightly on the lock of hair that had fallen from its place and sighed. Was this it? Was she going to leave now and not owl him or want to see him again because he’d been lame and kissed her? He really did not like the idea that he’d not see her again.
“Er, I suppose you’re welcome?” It was more of a question, but he was still feeling really confused.
Giada let out a laugh and feeling a bit bold (beeeecause he still had his arms around her and he was touching her hair and guh) she pushed up and kissed him again, her hands slipping up his chest to hook around his neck. She reaaaally didn't want to know what time it was, because that would mean she'd start worrying about getting to work and if she'd be able to stay awake, and right now all she wanted to pay attention to was Emmet and his very nice lips and his wonderful smell and just revel in the fantastic mood she was in.
Heeeeehehe, when was the last time she got to feel this light and silly and happy? Ohhh, she hoped Emmet had a good time too, she really wanted him to ask her out agaiiiin. Maybe she was being too open and upfront with everything and maybe he was just being nice and kissing her goodnight never to owl again. Oh no! She really hoped not!
Okay, well that was a very good sign. And she fit so perfectly in his arms, he wasn’t too tall for her. He hated dating short women, it was so difficult to kiss them properly and it was awkward in other situations too. Emmet wasn’t one for big public displays of affection, hand holding and hugging were fine but snogging? This was definitely new and different and Emmet really couldn’t care what other people were thinking right now.
In fact, Giada was so intoxicating, he deepened the kiss slightly. Emmet knew he was bordering on the ‘too far’ line for a first date but it wasn’t like he was inviting her back to his place (even thought he really wanted to). Kissing was an art form and Emmet wouldn’t say he was a master, because well he was only nineteen and he’d only kissed approximately eight girls ever; but he really liked kissing.
More than sex, because that was about getting your jollies off and kissing was like talking but without words and more meaningful. Emmet grinned into the kiss at that thought, he really needed to learn how to shut his brain off when he was doing this, it kind of took some of the fun out of it.
