party shaker

Angie could not 'date'. She did not, could not. How on earth her parents managed to convince her on these setups, was still a mystery to her. Well, never again. She'd endure this one stupid thing, and then no more.

Luckily, she wasn't placed in the lamest of places. The Golden Thestreal seemed legit. Better then some stupid... anywhere. Now all she had left to worry about was what type of overly lame guy she'd been set up with. Not that Agie knew much about him, but to her, if her parents set it up, he was lame.

So the redhead sat there, feet on the table. Honestly, if somebody didn't turn up soon, she promised herself that she would just leave.

Somehow, the Golden Thestral seemed far less daunting than the quaint tea shops that so many of these dates took place at. That was promising, at least. As for the date itself... Cai wasn't any too hopeful.

Making his way inside, he looked around, gaze finally alighting on the girl from the picture his mother had made him study before coming. Caius gave a soft laugh, an amused grin flashing across his as he saw how she was seated. Perhaps an interesting date, at the least. That would prove a nice change from the last four. He made his way over to her.

"Hi. Angela, right?" he greeted, offering his hand to shake. "I'm Caius."

That was it. She was leaving. But, just before she could, he had arrived. Damn. She'd have to survive this first, and then Angie was free.

The young woman nodded in approval as she studied him. So far he didn't seem too lame, but it was just a matter of time before she would be bored to death.

"Last time I checked," Angie nodded, flashing him a confident smile and shaking his outstretched hand. "Yeah."

She lifted her legs off the table and leaned forwared expectantly. The redhead didn't know what to do, and made a mental note to look up what to say on 'dates'.

Caius took the seat across from her, gaze studying her briefly. Judging from the shift in her manner before he arrived and after, she was about as happy to be here as he was, possibly less. In fact, unless he was mistaken, she had just made up her mind to leave. She would suffer through, it would seem, probably at the expectation of her own parents.

He blinked, shutting down the ongoing analysis. She was an arranged date, not a target. (Though, his mother might argue that given the circumstances, these ideas were not mutually exclusive. They were to Cai.)

"From what I've been able to ascertain on previous meetings, I think this is where we order something," Caius remarked, joking lightly. "And then, of course, we should proceed with the somewhat awkward but polite conversation. Did I miss a step?"

Merlin, he hoped this wasn't one of those times he'd managed to read a person entirely wrong.

Angie resisted the urge to bite her lip. Somehow, it was a habit that she couldn't let go of, but it annoyed her to pieces. Her lips got all swollen, and Merlin knew how much the redhead hated that. Ew, no.

Instead, she occupied herself playing with a napkin.

Looking up, Angie nodded. "I suppose so."

"Right," Caius uttered, beckoning the waiter. He allowed her to order for herself before giving his own. It seemed that this would turn out to be every bit as awkward as all the dates before it.

"So, my mother has not told me very much about you," he began. "What sort of interests do you have?"