Don't Be Late

6:50.

Juliet, enjoying herself quite magnificently, was leaning against the simple brick wall that hid the café inside it looking at her watch with the single minded focus of a person on a mission.

In a way, she was on a mission. A mission to exploit her right to be unbearably annoying if her date was so much as a minute late. After all, she had stated very explicitly that he wasn't to be late.

A small grin of excitement clicked on her face as another minute ticked passed. In an odd way, she was almost more excited to see if he would be late, rather than on time.

Or perhaps she was just distracting herself with more manageable nerves. Either way, the out come was still the same: A young girl leaning against the wall, amused eyes flashing between her watch and here surroundings, looking far more amused than one doing what she was doing should.

6:54.

Mars watched her with an amused smirk. He was on time of course, but he had stopped to watch her as she waited. She seemed to be enjoying herself while she kept a close eye on the time. It was not until it was exactly 7:00 that Mars finally approached.

"If I didn't know better I'd think you were hoping for me to be late," he said. He handed her a small box of chocolates and a rose. He had not bought the flower-he didn't have that much money. Instead he had used a charm to make it from a broom bristle.

Mars had dressed up for the occasion, which meant only that instead of battered jeans and worn t-shirt, he wore a somewhat new pair of trousers and a button up shirt. He'd rolled up the sleeves. Mars only had a single pair of tennis shoes but as they were still fairly new he figured they were acceptable.

"You look nice," he said to Juliet.

"Why would I go wishing for a thing like that," her eyes danced as she took the items, his appearance in general plotting out the disappointment that she had indeed wanted him to be late - if only by a minute.

The girl fingered the hem of her dress for a brief moment, the only show of uncertainty she exhibited; it was the only bow she made to the nervous frenzy she had, had earlier trying to decide just how dressed up one was supposed to come for a date. The large boots, a rustic brown, had been her attempt to causal up the outfit further.

"Thank you," her tone was soft before she perked up, giving a small grin, half teasing, half very much sincere, "You don't look so bad yourself." She wasn't sure she'd seen him in anything but worn clothes, school clothes - or in the case of the prefect's bathroom, a lack of clothes. She wasn't surprised to find that he looked good in these ones too, if perhaps a little out of place (Or maybe that was her own imagination).

After her gaze lingered for a moment too long, she brought her attention back to her 'presents'. "You know, I think this makes me look bad, I didn't get you anything," she smiled slightly, before holding up the chocolates, "Though, you did owe me this, so I suppose..." she went back to the flower, twirling it slightly in her hand. The impish remark she was going to make was lost as she watched it. "It's very pretty."

"Isn't it the guy's job to get the presents?" Mars asked. He watched her twirl the rose. It seemed she liked flowers or maybe just roses. He would remember that.

"So are you," he said. He kissed her on the lips. "Ready to go in?"

Grinning slightly as she pulled away from the kiss, she nodded her head and twirled away towards the door, the nervous energy she had been ignoring early morphing into a sort of excited bubbly-ness that she couldn't quite contain.

"That hardly seems fair," she quipped, turning rather serious despite herself. "You'd think a guy would get tired always having to buy things; might get a little resentful."

She raised an eyebrow at Mars as she slid the chocolates into her small bag, thankful for magic (unnoticeable enlargement charm; bigger on the inside), before frowning at the flower for a moment. Putting it in the bag might damage it. After a moment's deliberation she decided it best to just hold on to it.

After waiting a moment to get seats in the 'under water' restaurant - The walls were giant aquariums, that made Juliet keep feeling the need to check over her shoulder - she was folded into her chair, playing with the edge of a menu and wondering what to say. She had never really been on a date before, and her over active imagination was insisting that there was a whole spectrum of things that she could not talk about.

For going that, after a moment she said the first question that came to her mind, "I think that fish over there is looking at me."

Mars shrugged his shoulders. "He might," he said. He walked beside her as they went into the restaurant and were soon led to a table. He noticed that she hadn't put the rose in her purse. She probably didn't want to damage it. This made him smirk a bit.

He acted like he was reading the menu instead of watching her reaction. She seemed nervous and antsy. Still, he waited to speak until she had spoken first, laughing a bit at her comment.

"Can you blame the guy?" Mars asked, glancing at the fish and back at her. "I know where I wanna be looking. No need to be so nervous, Trip. Be yourself. Say what you want. I don't mind."

"Its at the fish right?" she teased, the flippant response coming off her lips without a thought and sounding much more relaxed than some of her previous statements. "You definitely are eyeing that fish. Its okay, I won't be too offended. The staring aside, its not too bad of a fish."

Letting out a soft sound of protest that sounded only ever-so-slightly forced, the girl straightened out her menu with a snap, and made a rather point show of looking at it, "Nervous, who's nervous. Maybe, just maybe I developed a sudden inability to sit still, or now apparently, stop talking. Hmm," she raised an eyebrow a smirk warring with the blush that was creeping into her skin, "ever thought of that?"

"What can I say? Fish looks tasty," Mars said. He smirked. While she protested, he reached across the table and put his hand on hers. He stroked it with his thumb. "Not nervous? Course not. Obviously I was wrong."

"Ready to order?" he asked. He sat back and waved for the waiter, folding his arms as he walked over.

Another assurance of her complete lack of nerves died on her lips as her eyes glanced down at her hand, no longer merely resting alone on the table top but in fact captured in his own. She blinked one before grinning an almost childish grin. "Obviously you were."

Letting out a distracted "hmm" as she looked up from her menu, Juliet almost jumped to an alertness as she noticed the waiter. Frowning for a moment, she realized that she had in fact not paid any attention to the menu at all, and was now slightly lost as to what she wanted. Feeling only slightly pressured to seem like she could actually function properly in a restaurant, Juliet looked down at the article as quickly as she could, and said the first item that she saw that seemed even remotely acceptable.

"You know, my family never came to restaurants, unless it was a special occasion. Birthdays, holidays," Juliet shrugged her shoulders slightly, "It was hard carting four children somewhere they would all eat something." Clearing her throat she grinned and felt slight colour rising in her cheeks. Where had the confidence she had had before gone? "That's you're Juliet fact for the day."

He smirked at the way she jumped when she saw the waiter. It was obvious she hadn't actually looked at the menu. He ordered something he wasn't sure was on the menu but must have been because the waiter didn't say it wasn't.

Mars listened while she talked. He played with his fork without noticing he was doing it. "When I was younger, my dad took my mom and me out to celebrate one of his wins. He took us to some muggle restaurant and couldn't decide what to try, so he ordered almost everything on the menu. I always like to think everything tasted perfect that day. It was the last time I saw him alive. He was killed during training the next week."

"That's your Mars fact for the day," Mars said with a shrug.

Tilting her head to the side she listened in silence. Her usual reaction to such things - to gush in overwhelming sympathy - was muted by the fact that he certainly did not seem the type to wish such things. Instead she bit her lip for a moment before finally settling on a diplomatic, though not very mature, "That sucks. The killed bit, not the other bit. That sounded nice."

She offered a half smile then, nodding though she wasn't really sure what she was nodding about. "I never really, lost anyone. Surprisingly sheltered child - there was one person, once but I didn't really know her. I was just sort of there when she..." died seemed to be something Juliet struggled to say so instead she shrugged leaving her statement hanging in the air. "What can you do right? People die, others don't."

"It's life," Mars said. He was glad she had not felt the need to be overly sympathetic. He didn't like to be pitied. It was not something he was used to and he didn't really appreciate it when it was sent his way.

"Stepdad died, too," he said with an ironic smirk. "Mum never had much luck with choosing guys who stay alive very long." When the waiter brought their food he picked up his fork and took a bite. He chewed and swallowed in silence before talking again.

"Sucks you had to be there when that person died," Mars offered. It seemed the right thing to say, like it was proper to return the sentiment. "So are you looking forward to summer?"

Juliet shrugged her shoulder, "Life sucks sometimes. You meltdown for a bit, and then you get over it." Glancing at her own food with the curiosity of someone that didn't remember what she ordered - namely because she didn't pay attention - Juliet was pleasantly surprised to see that it looked edible. Chewing slowly she nodded her head.

"Who doesn't look forward to summer?" Her face light up just the slightest bit at the change of conversation. "It gets you away from school, freedom to do as you please. Summer is my favourite time of year. Especially at dusk when the weather is just right, and the sky's all bright." Clearing her throat, her grin turned bashful as she looked down at her food, eating again. "I suppose that's a yes then. I am looking forward to summer. You?"

Mars laughed. Juliet had a way of amusing him. "Didn't expect you to have such a dark view of life," he said. "Aren't Hufflepuffs supposed to be optimistic or something?"

He smirked at the way she talked about her plans for the summer. "Who doesn't look forward to summer?" he echoed. "Any time I am away from school is my favourite time of year. School is nothing but a bunch of work. I only go because I am expected to. Summer will be good though. Can't wait."

"Its not all that dark - its just, realistic," Juliet gave a half smile as she defended herself, "And hey, last time I checked Hufflepuffs were supposed to be hard working, patient and kind - I don't see any requirements for being eternally happy and optimistic in there." Taking a sip of her drink, she grinned rather impishly at him over the rim of her glass, "Its just that all you houses decide that we should be."

Setting her drink down once more she listened to his response as she slowly made her way through her own food. Cocking her head to the side she hummed in slight disagreement to his words, "School isn't always all that bad - you can learn something sometimes. I think the trouble with school is that you're forced to go, forced what to learn. It makes you feel too cooped up, even on the occasions what you are learning could actually be interesting."

"So do you have plans for summer, or are you just going go wild?"

"Right. Sorry. Didn't really memorize all the trait so I go by what I've heard. I don't really mind what people say Slytherins are supposed to be like. Mostly true from what I can tell," Mars smirked.

"I can learn more from eating my textbooks and studying on my own," he said. "And causing trouble is more fun than anything the professors teach."

He grinned rakishly. "Weeks with no rules and no one to force me to do anything? I'm definitely going wild. More excitement that way. What about you? Plans?"

Clicking her tongue, she grinned slightly through her faux disappointment and began to spin her spoon on the table top, "Not memorizing the house descriptions. What kind of Hogwarts student are you." Juliet herself barely knew much outside of her own house. Stereotypes weren't really her thing, overrated.

"Eating textbooks huh? I always though they would taste as dull as they read - I think its quite admirable if you can get down one page, let alone all fifty-thousand of them."

She raised her eyebrow at his grin, amusement and a little bit of something else crossing her expression, as she fidgeted in her chair, crossing her legs, "Hmm, well I don't know if 'going wild' is in my own plans - but I may just find a bit of trouble, if I'm feeling willing to try. Who knows, maybe I'll be good at trouble."

"A transfer student," said Mars. "Salem doesn't bother with different houses." He ate his food and took a drink from his glass.

"Trouble is everywhere. The thing is whether you find it or it finds you. I usually get impatient for it to come around. I think you'd be pretty good at trouble. Let me know if you want any help testing the theory."

"Convenient excuse," she laughed eyes twinkling over top of the class that she held in the air. She had finished the liquid that had been inside of it long ago, but kept the object in her head for something to do. It was becoming almost like a habit, rolling the glass in her hand as she spoke - using it as a half shield as she looked at the boy across from her over top of it.

Finally setting her cup back on the table, she leaned back in her chair, rocking it ever so slightly as she gave the boy a slight smirk, "Trust me, you are definitely on the top of my list if I ever decide to try that theory."