Over the last several weeks Jai’s anxiety had taken over again, and after a weekend spent not sleeping or eating but sorting and organizing every single solitary thing he owned. It was time for him to get out and to get over Jordyn.

Jai needed to give himself a pep talk. He was in the bathroom of Signature, washing his hands and staring at himself in the mirror. He still had trouble recognizing himself sometimes, especially after the beard became a permanent fixture. Jai would have never taken himself for a beard-having guy, but then again he had done a lot of things lately that surprised him.

He made eye contact with himself. “Don’t mess this up,” he said sternly. He then huffed into his hand to do a quick breath-check, then exhaled deeply again to relax. “Let’s do this,” he whispered to himself before walking out of the bathroom as confidently as possible.

Jai stood by the bar awkwardly, trying to avoid eye contact with the bartender so that he wouldn’t have to order anything before his date got there. He felt compelled to organize the cups of straws and stirrers, which were horrifically intermixed.

Elysia Adela Hughes was not normally a nervous person. She was brave and fearless – after being a Hogwarts champion the year before and taking several bludgers to various body parts, there wasn’t much that the Hufflepuff couldn’t handle. Heck, she was even planning a career in the Beasts Division in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures – most situations she could face head on.

This was not one of those situations.

Her stomach had been in knots all day, and though she was no social leper – Elysia felt far out of her element. Her outfit had been picked out by her housemates, ”Stick to the black and yellow,” they said, ”It’ll bring you comfort,” Well, their little plan wasn’t working, because she felt far from comfortable as the witch made her way into Signature, removing her floppy hat as she entered the lavish building.

Elysia had been on dates before, certainly, but none were quite as lovely and extravagant as this. It was proof that she was finally becoming an adult. She was going on a real date with a real man with a real job and real responsibilities. Soon, she would have to have those things as well and that was terrifying. This was a far cry different from dating Zel, who was kind and sweet but also young at heart and was different still from her flirtations with Marco Caldara – He might have been nice to look at, but could she see a relationship with him?

She shook thoughts of other men from her mind as she strolled up to the bar and tapped Jai lightly on the shoulder, giving him a wide smile. Now that she was actually in front of her date, the butterflies in her stomach decided to have a dance party and Elysia wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. “You have a beard!” She said, completely forgetting that a greeting or a ‘you look nice’ should probably have come first.

Jai was entranced by the napkin assortment but was soon distracted the sense of something bright in his peripheral followed by a tap on his shoulder. That would be his date. As he turned to see her, Jai’s heart did a little jump and for some reason he felt like laughing, but he swallowed it and managed to keep it a smile. Don’t mess this up!

“You have a beard!”

“What?!” Jai feigned shock. He rubbed his beard. “Oh, yes. That I do.” He smiled playfully and stood up next to her, and after a moment did the kiss-cheek-tap-hello thing that was so popular amongst adults. “You look … really nice.” Jai grinned, then fidgeted a bit but bulldozed past the awkwardness he felt by scanning the room. There were a few occupied tables, but the booths were mostly free. “Sit?” he asked, gesturing to the one in the corner.

“Did you want a drink?” Jai asked as they began to walk. He forgot that she was of age now -- they had been in the same house at Hogwarts, but Elysia was in the year below. Most people took up the habit a little earlier than they were technically supposed to anyway, and Jai was one of them. He stood to let her be the first to slide into the L-shaped booth.

The butterflies in Elysia's stomach settled into a comfortable silence when Jai ignored her obvious lack of manners and complimented her - a compliment that sounded genuine. And he'd kissed her - well... not really a kiss, just a standard greeting really - something she'd done to many people over the years in a platonic manner. Still, the thought in itself was enough to bring a slight tint of pink to the Hufflepuff's face. "You look rather dashing yourself," She said while following her date to the booth he'd chosen, still feeling that this was all just a bit unreal.

Being the perfect gentleman, as any self-respecting Hufflepuff ought, Jai offered to let Elysia slide into their booth first and offered her a drink. She slid casually into the booth, not too close to the middle for awkwardness or discomfort, but also not near the edge where intimacy would be an issue if the date had chemistry. As for the drink, Elysia was sure her face looked akin to a stunned gnome - that was certainly not a question she'd been prepared for. Would the staff even serve her alcohol if she wanted? She was of age, sure, but didn't Hogwarts have some rule about students being sloshed while school was in session?

It was, on the other hand, an adult thing to do. She was out for a fine evening with a fine man - and adults had alcohol with their meals. Taking a deep breath, Elysia mentally shook herself and dropped the shocked expression quickly. "A glass of elf-made wine would be lovely," She responded before placing her hands in her lap where she proceeded to nervously smooth the yellow fabric adorning her frame. Why was she so freaking nervous? It was just Jai - a guy she'd kinda known-ish for like 6 years, this couldn't possibly turn out badly.

"So..." She said, casting her mind for a topic to bring into conversation, "You work for the Ministry, right? How has the transition been between Zephyr and Glass?" Then she bit the inside of her cheek, hard - because why was she so dumb as to bring up work on a date? Then again... she was trying to be personal with him, work was probably a large part of his life - something that could be an easy icebreaker.

After giving the drink orders Jai looked back at Elysia and smiled. He was 19, so he didn’t usually have to think twice about ordering alcohol. He was impressed by her order, finding that wine of any type was an acquired taste. He ordered some for himself as well - it had been a while since he’d had any.

Conversation started awkwardly enough, with Elysia asking him about work. Jai reflected on the past few days in the office and shrugged. “My job isn't very interesting,” Jai confessed. “There’s always paperwork to do, no matter who’s in charge.” It was the curse of every bureaucrat; paperwork and death, those were unwavering facts of life.

“How’s school?” Jai asked. Another boring question, but Jai was genuinely curious about what was going on at Hogwarts. Not to discretely hear about how his ex-girlfriend was doing. Definitely not. He didn’t really want to know about Jordyn; he assumed she had found someone else, and his sister hadn’t exactly quelled those suspicions.

Their drinks arrived and Jai picked up the glasses, placing Elysia’s carefully in front of her. He held his up. “Hey, cheers,” he said, leaning in and gesturing toward Elysia’s glass. He looked from it and back to Elysia with warm eyes.

Elysia was extremely grateful that bringing up work didn't kill the date. She wiped her sweaty palms on her thighs when they had taken their seats and gotten comfortable. Elysia's smile grew as Jai told her about his job in the Ministry - even though Elysia knew there was much that he couldn't discuss with her. The Department of Mysteries was aptly named, but hearing Jai speaking about adult things made it easier for Elysia. After all, she would be joining him soon, though in different departments. It was terrifying, but knowing that Jai was just like her a year ago - and now he was actually doing things with his life, well that meant something to Elysia.

When Jai brought up school, Elysia's cheeks reddened again - it was just another reminder that she was still considered a child. Jai was sweet and the girl didn't think for even a second that his question had been meant to remind her of her youth - but the result was the same regardless. "Oh, you know," She said, smiling through the awkward feelings that had arisen in her stomach. If Jai had truly thought she was a child he never would have invited her on a date and her feelings were just because it was a new and nervous situation she'd found herself in.

"It's been hard as hell, actually," She responded, letting out a little laugh, "Trying to prepare for NEWTs and keeping the Quidditch team at the top of their game has kept me on my toes. Trying to figure out what to do with my life after I don't have those things to worry about has almost killed me," A shrug accompanied her words, letting Jai know that she wasn't complaining, simply explaining.

"Oh! I managed to secure a position in the Beasts department, pending my NEWT scores of course," She exclaimed, true excitement flowing through her voice, "Maybe we'll see each other in the cafeteria,"

With their drinks in front of them, and Jai's chivalrous attitude toward her, Elysia's awkwardness was quickly fading. Her glass was lifted elegantly with one hand, "Cheers to you," she said, leaning toward Jai and clinking the two glasses together. Her blue eyes met with her date's lovely brown ones - and she kept that contact as she lifted the glass daintily to her lips and took a sip.

Jai was genuinely happy to hear about what was going on at his alma mater. Despite all of the panic attacks he’d had within its walls, Jai missed the place. When she started talking about quidditch Jai suddenly remembered that she played quidditch and exclaimed, “Oh yeah! How’s the team doing?” Jai nodded a silent thanks to the waitress who left a pair of water glasses at the table, as well as a dessert menu. While she talked a bit more about school he listened and took a sip of wine while actively ignoring the fact that there was an uneven number of ice cubes in his glass of water.

"Oh! I managed to secure a position in the Beasts department, pending my NEWT scores of course…. Maybe we'll see each other in the cafeteria.”

“That’s great!” Jai cheered. He couldn’t help but smile at her upbeat enthusiasm. The energy was contagious apparently; Elysia’s good mood spread to Jai. Elysia was so sweet and cool, and she was gorgeous.  He wanted to say something charming but all he could come up with was, “I think we should definitely see each other in the cafeteria.”

As their glasses clinked, their eyes connected. It was like a flirty game of chicken. Jai caved and smiled bashfully. He noticed that his heart was pounding a little bit, which made it difficult to think of a clever thing to say. Of course he wanted to say something devastatingly charismatic but came up dry. He took the menu that the waitress had brought. “Want something sweet?” he asked with a grin.