WHO: Bianca Vaisey and Bertram Aubrey
WHAT: Bianca's late to a date and Bertram's...up to his old ways?
WHERE: Random restaurant!
WHEN: Tonight



Bianca gaped at her watch, hopping down the pavement of Hogsmeade as she tried to slip on her heels and make it to the restaurant. The time couldn't be right! She could not be two hours late! Bianca cursed her job and its random calls and late hours! She had been out the door when the speed owl arrived, and Bianca was sure that any volume her hair might have had was completely flat and deflated.

Why didn't criminals realize that hitwizards had lives too? Couldn't they do their dirty work on the regular nine to five schedule?

She forced herself into her shoes and Bianca realized that it was probably hopeless to think that Bertram had waited around for her. Sulking, she entered the restaurant, figuring that she could at least get a drink before she had to ramble a long and winding apology to him. Things had been going really well, too! The whole...nice and easy, get to know each other kind of well. Bianca stretched, wincing at the pain in her neck before she started toward the counter.

It wasn't that Bertram was a terrible, horrible person. No, not really. Honestly, he was pretty sure that waiting two hours for someone that he hadn't even -- well, not technically -- shagged yet was as saintly as a man could get. Could she really blame him if he'd gotten bored and noticed one of the nearby waitresses making eyes at him around the one-hour mark?

No, certainly not. By this time he'd been able to swindle a drink or two out of her (something that wasn't strictly necessary, but reassured him about his ability to woo people) and she was fawning over him just a little, reaching over to tousle his perfectly blonde hair.

He smirked, reaching forward to snag a drink from her tray with an 'innocent' smile. After all, he could make her think he was going home with her even if he had no intention to. Just to pass the time.

She thanked the bartender for her drink and swiveled around on her stool. This was really bollocks. How was she supposed to form any sort of relationship with a bloke when her job required her to drop everything she was doing and immediately report to work? Bianca had no idea how the men in their squad handled any relationships, but then she took a second to actually think about the blokes and their women and...well, their records weren't much better than hers.

It was the life of a hitwizard, she supposed.

Bianca took another drink before she put her glass on the counter, her eyes scanning the crowd. Maybe Bertram had waited for her. Though, he did have a daughter to get back to...or maybe he'd just found a waitress to play with his hair. Bianca's eyes narrowed at the sight of her date receiving attention from a waitress who must take on the role of whore after-hours! Honestly?! This was---she knew his reputation, of course, but they had been getting on so well! Okay, and she knew that she was two hours late, but she'd never been late before! Was Bertram so easy to dismiss her after one insignificant mistake?

She could be dead, for all he knew! She was a hitwizard, this was her job and she was going to be late sometimes and if he couldn't handle that then, well----Bianca blinked as she realized she sounded like a crazy person in her head. This could be a total misunderstanding! And what claim did she have over Bertram Aubrey, anyway? They'd only gone on a few dates, snogged a little bit...she wasn't his girlfriend, or anything. Did Bertram Aubrey even have girlfriends?

Still, though, she was here, she had shown up, and it was only right to head over to Bertram and show him that even though she was late, she did still keep her dates and such. Bianca was glad that she'd chosen her lower set of heels, because it made stalking over to his table much easier.

Bertram had to hand it to Bianca - she was a scary bitch when she was angry, and the waitress could definitely tell that Bianca was not pleased with her. She scurried off like a scared rat and Bertram glanced up to see what could possibly have made her do such a thing.

When he did see Bianca, he grinned - a two-beer-hazy kind of grin, but still a genuine one. He had waited around for her, and it wasn't like he had any sort of attachment to the waitress past the fact she was paying off his tab for him.

All the more money to ... spend on Bianca, right? Er, sure.

"You'd better have rescued some adorable kitten from a tree, missy, or I am going to have to call bullshit on you breaking our date plans."

He was---he was actually smiling at her? Look at that stupid grin on his face---Bianca scowled as he called her 'missy' and shot a glare toward the waitress she'd scared away. Good! She was a hitwizard, damn it, the bloody bint should be scared! Bianca crossed her arms, feeling her face grow red as she continued to go over the situation (and her rage) in her head. Bertram had the gall to tease her after she'd caught him flirting with another woman!

"Oh, do you still think you're on a date with me?" she snapped, looking back down at him though she really felt like lifting her chin and scoffing like the obnoxious pureblood women she avoided, "Because if you were still on a date with me, you would not be letting some waitress shamelessly flirt with you in front of the entire restaurant!"

And she didn't care if she had said that a bit louder than she'd wanted!

Oh, so Bianca actually was a girl underneath all of that hitwizard toughness. Huh.

It wasn't a problem, really, but he was pretty sure he was going to have to switch tactics if he was going to avoid some sort of loud, messy bar fight that ended with Bianca using his face to wipe the top of the bar. He frowned when she chided him, pushing to his feet so that she could stop staring him down.

"Well, I figured I should probably score some free drinks while I was waiting patiently for you to arrive instead of staring dumbly at the tele like some half-witted idiot." For once he didn't feel like he needed to defend himself further than that -- it was the truth.

Bianca bristled greatly, straightening her shoulders and standing as tall as she could. Damn him for being taller than her--damn her heels for not being tall enough! She frowned as he tried to explain himself, and Bianca let out a scoff.

"And that's all fine and dandy, isn't it?" she asked, incredulous. Bianca wondered if he really thought that it was appropriate to flirt with women when you were with---waiting for---another woman! Was his attention span that short? It was certainly disrespectful! What if she had taken up a flirtatious conversation with a cute bloke while patiently waiting for Bertram to arrive, hm? That would seem as if any desire she had to actually see him was less important than not being amused!

"If you were so bored you should have just left! Do you know how embarrassing it is to see the bloke you got all dolled up for let some other bird play with his hair? These shoes hurt, damn it!" Bianca let out, finally allowing herself to stomp her foot in fierce annoyance (and to actually show him how sharp the damn points were).

"I'm sorry if I didn't want to waste too many knuts on drinks while I was waiting for you and opted to get the naive little girl serving drinks to bring me ones for free," he retorted with a frown. "And I have this feeling that if I'd opted to smack her hands away from my hair her manager might've tried to kick me out and make me pay my tab."

If Bianca couldn't trust him to at least not do anything other than get free drinks from a bint, how on earth was she going to trust him with all of his (admittedly large number of) female friends who seemed to fawn over his child? That was going to spell trouble all over the place.

"I was just killing time until you got here, and you know you'd be just as bloody mad as you are now if I'd left!" Women.

"Oh, yeah, the only reason you were talking to her was to save a few knuts, says the pureblood Slytherin who lives in a mansion!" Bianca was very hard to convince that she was wrong, after she already settled on the fact. No! Bertram should not have been flirting, and that was it! If he had any respect for her, he wouldn't coerce women into giving him free things!

She sputtered at his accusation, she was not an irrational kind of girl! Bianca just knew what was right from what was wrong, "I--would---not be! I was all ready to write you an apology and---I felt terrible for being late! I rushed here and! I didn't think you'd actually---stay!" Which was why, she was realizing, that it hurt more that he had turned his attentions to the waitress, "I'm more than willing to accept the fact that I---should have taken a second to owl or---but in the moment you just----"

Her hands flailed about slightly as she couldn't find the words. Why didn't he understand? Her job was important, and---Bianca pursed her lips tightly, "We're dealing with a great amount of disrespect, Bertram, and I don't know how all your other girlfriends have dealt with your---ways of persuasion, but I'm not going to tolerate it!"

"Maybe that's the problem then, isn't it?" He was not used to raising his voice when he was fighting around girls, but the fact was that Bianca was actually ... making valid points that he could follow through and believe (like that she felt bad and would have owled him an apology). "I'm not at all used to the women I'm dating not being extremely demanding and self-centered. I mean, you've met Franzy, right? And I'm pretty sure that even though I only knocked up Rachel, you have to know the rumors about how fucking crazy SHE is."

Something about her 'always knowing' or something. Ha.

Good on Bianca for standing up to him, though. Honestly. He frowned a little harder and then crossed his arms. "I'm sorry." People didn't get serious apologies very often from him, maybe she should get a bloody video camera. "I guess it's a habit I'm going to have to break." Because he was rapidly finding that he did want things to go somewhere serious with her.

Bianca blinked up at Bertram as she listened, managing to stop the rant she was ready to relay at him. He was sorry? He was admitting there was a problem? His ex-girlfriends had seemed a bit high maintenance, Bianca had always thought, and her cheeks flushed immediately as she realized that he had realized that she was not like them. And that she had referred to herself as his girlfriend, and he hadn't rejected the idea. Everything was suddenly very hot, and Bianca pulled her hair back to give her something to do while she figured out what to say.

"Well---" she started, twisting the tie, "that's good, then. I accept your apology." Bianca dropped her hands to her hips, "...and I hope you accept mine for being late...there was a chimaera up a tree that got out from the zoo."

She crookedly smiled at the irony and hoped he'd appreciate it as well.

"See? Now -that's- an excuse." Okay, he was definitely going to ignore everything that had just happened, at least on a superficial lets-not-talk-about-it level. He nodded firmly and slid up to his feet fully so he could lean in and give her a quick peck on the lips.

"Now, did you want to eat dinner, or is there some other sort of emergency that you'll need to attend to in five minutes that will have me eating cold chicken myself?" He arched his brow at Bianca, half-smirking.