WHO: Bianca Vaisey and Bertram Aubrey
WHAT: Nice walk through the park!
WHERE: ....the park!
WHEN: Tonight!



It was too nice of a night to be stuck in some stuffy restaurant. Bianca appreciated the effort, but she was a person who could not sit still for too long and had rushed through the courtesies of a sit down meal. Maybe it was the shoes she was wearing, but she definitely felt out of place and was grateful for the night air as she and Bertram started a stroll through a nearby park.

Bianca stuck her hands in the robes of her jacket, wondering if she should have worn a dress. This was a date, wasn't it? Bertram had taken her out to dinner, no matter how quickly she'd pushed through it. Her slacks and somewhat dressy shirt were far more presentable than most of the clothes in her closet, but maybe she should have pulled out that one dress she saved for special occasions. Bianca looked over at Bertram with a smirk, chewing on the straw of the fizzy drink she'd just purchased from a street vendor.

"Is it true you crashed that rockstar's wedding?" she asked, eyebrows going high. Her shoes slapped against the pavement as they continued to walk, deliberately striking the cement to punctuate her words, "Butt arse naked?"

Bertram was pretty sure that no matter what this was, he was enjoying it. The truth was that he wasn't a terrible person at heart - it was just far easier to continually play the ever-sleazy bachelor than to put any effort into a relationship. Since his unfortunate infatuation with Rachel managed to blow up in his face in the most spectacularly public way ... ever, he hadn't had much interest in putting effort into relatonships. That was part of the reason that poor Franzy had just not been the right fit for him. She'd gotten ... out of control, too impulsive even for him in some ways.

That's the reason he'd crashed the wedding. She needed to realize that she was too impulsive, that if she couldn't commit to a guy after he showed up naked and drunk at her wedding ... well. Okay, the drunk part hadn't been planned, but he'd been planning to show up and ward her off that path anyway.

"Oh, it's true. Completely naked and entirely too smashed to bits ... but still dashingly handsome enough to deter the bride-to-be from going through with that ridiculous wedding." He furrowed his brows at Bianca.

She was ... smart. In some ways she reminded him of Emmeline, another one of those long-standing crushes that he'd had enough sense to keep his cock out of. Apparently she was hung up on some book-smart dweeb, now, so he'd lost his chance yet again.

Alas.

Bianca held the straw between her teeth, eying Bertram carefully. She hadn't been too sure about the details of the wedding debacle, but with the comments about the bride it made everything a bit clearer. He'd obviously had a thing for her, if he wanted to make sure that she didn't go through with the wedding or marriage. That wasn't too long ago, really; how easily did you get over a person whose wedding you would crash?

Try not to think too much, she told herself. It wasn't like she was going to sleep with him on the first, or second (or even third--) date. They weren't going to go fast enough for her to regret dealing with Bertram, she was going to figure out where exactly he wanted to go. The fact that she was actually planning not to sleep with him was something; this date had gone well enough for Bianca to think into the future, and how all of this could go down. Of course, he could totally get tired of waiting to shag and stop talking to her at all, but that would be his loss and she would get over it. She was pretty sure.

"Must've been some bird if you were willing to cause such a scene," she noted, pushing the straw down into the bottle and tossing it into a rubbish bin.

He snorted. "It was more like that was the only thing I knew could possibly get her attention." Because Franzy was ... well, a little bit thick when it came to understanding things, even thicker than him (which took some skill). "And despite what people probably tell you about me, I am not in fact completely heartless and terrible to my ex-bedmates." Because had he ever really been dating Franzy? He was pretty sure not too many people knew about it.

Okay, so maybe Bertram was planning to get into her pants, but that didn't really make her all that different from the other girls who'd managed to show attention in him. He was pretty sure he wasn't going to get into them quickly, though, which definitely made her different from the last few girls he'd seen.

"I have actually not talked to anyone about you," she said, lifting her chin. Of course, she immediately realized that sounded terrible, and Bianca put a hand out, "What I mean to say--I work with a bunch of men who don't want to hear about my personal life, so, no, I haven't heard a thing about whatever your reputation may be."

She pulled her hair back and twisted the ponytail she'd made into a bun at the top of her head. Bianca was never able to keep her hair tidy and neat like her mother always wished her to, and she was actually a bit proud that she'd made it this far into the date without tying it up. Maybe it was a nervous habit, things were coming to an end and she didn't know what to do. It had been easy to talk to Bertram and try to figure him out, until just now, but that was her own fault.

Bianca thought back to his words, however, and stared at him curiously, "Ex-bedmates? Really? Haven't you ever had a real girlfriend?"

"That depends on what you mean by 'real'. I would say that most guys probably consider someone they knocked up to be a girlfriend, but Rachel was really just someone that I was infatuated with and that pretty much hated my guts when she wasn't fucking me." And now that Rachel was married he was sure she could go back to hating him full-time. Joy.

He shrugged his shoulders. He'd never really wanted to commit to someone after that -- Franzy had tried to get him to, he supposed, and that was one of the reasons they'd parted ways the way they had.

"...but no, I guess not." Not in the 'have to take her out to dinner to get her into bed' sort of way, at least.

She couldn't imagine what it would be like to be pregnant with some bloke's kid that you didn't even fancy. Bianca couldn't imagine even having sex or relations of any sort with a guy you didn't have some sort of feelings for. She felt a bit prudish at the thought, and wondered if most women these days were able to have that sort of fun without feeling out of place or awkward. Not that---she had experience, but it always came after she'd known the bloke for a while, when feelings were admitted and---

---she was sounding like a romantic when she really, really did not want to be.

"You got a beautiful daughter out of it," Bianca said, pointing out the positives and hopefully avoiding any awkward talk of broken hearts and all that was in between. She looked forward and saw that the trail in the park was coming to an end, the street lights of the city becoming more prominent. Bianca frowned and wished she hadn't thrown out her drink to have something to occupy her nerves.

Probably not most women, but Rachel had been ... an interesting girl a few years ago. He couldn't attest to how she was right now, in truth, but he hoped she'd at least lost her seething hatred for him. It wasn't his fault that they'd gotten pregnant, not 100%. He'd been the one to step up to the plate and take care of their daughter, so she really didn't have all that much room to complain.

Bertram half-smiled. "Yeah, yeah. I know, and that's about all." He paused. "But you probably don't want to hear me whine about my teenage years." That was the girl's job, wasn't it? And now she was frowning. Oh, he'd managed to offend her while talking about himself and nothing inappropriate? Great.

"You ... all right, there? You look like you're about to ram me into a tree." And not in the sexy way like he was hoping, he was fairly sure.

"What?" Bianca snapped out of her reverie and blinked at Bertram before flushing. "Oh, no, I was just--the trail's ending, we're almost back at the street." Which meant the date was ending, and it was time to figure out if there was going to be a next one. She'd had a lovely time, and while that should have been a good, happy feeling, all she could feel was nervous and insecure. She didn't know where to go from here. Bianca hadn't had a real boyfriend since Hogwarts because work had kept her so busy (an excuse she used with her mother all the time), and she hadn't actually gone on a date in---Merlin's pants.

She stopped and crossed her arms. Bianca hated feeling awkward and out of place, and she was especially not enjoying the feeling now because she couldn't pinpoint the cause. Was it because of Bertram, or was it because she hadn't been on a date in Merlin knows how long? Too confusing for a girl who liked to have the facts laid out in front of her, eventually leading her to the truth.

"Yeah, that's--it," she lamely explained, sticking her hands deep into her pockets. Merlin, she needed to hang out with girls more; they were supposed to have advice for situations like this.

"So I should duck in cover to avoid becoming a bloody smear against that poplar over there, is what you're saying." He had just been joking, but it wasn't really all that typical for girls to be nervous around him unless they were trying to hide their insatiable lust for him. He hesitated, then took a step forward and rested his hand awkwardly on her arm.

"Because, you know, I'd hate to ruin a good evening by becoming a tree-related casualty. I'm sure Mungo's wouldn't appreciate it." He wasn't at all sure what to do now. The date had gone well, but how often did he ask for a second date?

Usually there was no reason to ask for -- well, was this even a third date he'd be asking for? Had their first meeting counted?

"I don't suppose I could hold back your unending rage against me by offering to take you out again." Bertram glanced to her, curious and trying to keep a straight face.

Unending rage? Oy, is that what she'd managed to make him think? Or was she completely missing a joke and looking like a fool for blinking quickly at him? Bianca's mouth gaped for a moment as she tried to figure out what he meant (and what was he going on about? Tree-related casualty? There weren't any Whomping Willows about here---).

"Yeah," she responded before she could help herself. Bianca silently promised that she was going to work a double shift to get all of this insanely annoying awkwardness out of her system. She did feel a little better already, though; one of her worries had been if he was going to ask her out again, and look at that, he had. She smiled and patted his chest, her hand involuntarily lingering as she spoke, "That'd be fun. My turn to pick, though."

"So long as your restaurant choice doesn't drain my rapidly dwindling wallet," he teased with a shake of his head. It was true that he should probably get some sort of ... job, but he'd been spending so much time with Amissa that leaving her at home was quite distressing, to be honest. He felt her hand against his chest and was mildly surprised by it, taking the opportunity to bring his fingers down and stroke her wrist.

"Or something that I have to catch and kill myself first, to impress you. Isn't that what you big, strapping auror-types do?"

Bianca grimaced, "Oy, I'm a hitwizard, don't lump me in with those buffoons in the cubicles." The grimace was short-lived, however, and she laughed, flushing at the touch of his hand. Okay, okay, so this was nice. What had she been so worried about? Bertram was asking her out for another date, she got to decide what they were doing, and all would be well.

Huh. Nice. Bianca smiled again, "I'll make sure it'll be fun for both of us."

She hung out with men enough to know what wouldn't bore them, so the ideas were already spinning in her head. This would be fun, this would be good, and as long as she had a say in where they were going and how fast, then...yeah, she could enjoy whatever 'this' was. With that thought, Bianca chuckled and pushed forward to kiss him.