Signature was busy tonight. Friday nights were often busy, and as today had been the last day for Hogwarts students, a lot of the seventh years had come along for a school leavers party where alcohol would be imminent - unlike the end of year feast that Hogwarts had offered. A couple of the richer students had booked into rooms for the night, others had booked into various bed and breakfasts around Hogsmeade, and some who were lucky enough to have passed their apparition test would be apparating home. Perhaps not the wisest of decisions after drinking throughout the night. A sign above the door before the clientele left the premises read "Don't drink and fly" when clearly it should have mentioned something about not apparating either.

Finn had a special arrangement for tonight. Kiana Ferris had agreed to meet up with him for dinner, defying all of Newton's laws of gravity and probably most of the laws of flight too. He wasn't entirely sure whether this was a reluctant agreement on her part or not - her reply to his letter had been quite mysterious. But then, she was quite a mysterious girl.

He had toadmit, he was nervous. Tonight he had told his staff to treat him as any regular customer. He would have to queue outside, just like the other customers. He had to book a table, just like the other customers. Not that it had been hard - being the owner of the club did have its perks, and he secured one of the few booths in the restaurant that would ensure privacy from the prying eyes of his staff.

Finn stood outside of the club towards the end of the queue, his black cloak hanging over his right arm casually. Merlin only knew how this meeting would end. It could either be a very good night or a very awkward night, and Finn had no idea which way it would swing. It was a few minutes to half past eight, the time he and Kia had agreed to meet. Oh god - what if she stands me up? Maybe she and Margaret Groust have concocted a plan!? He felt the colour drain from his face as it dawned on him that this could have all been just an enormous joke to the girls, a payback for all those years of insults and teasing.

Outfit

Even though the warmth of that summer day seeped into the night, Kia felt goosbumps covering her slender legs and pulled at the edge of the short dress nervously. It was not her dress, in fact only a few of the items on her body were hers. The dress was a loaner from her dear roomates who decided that a date (or rather, a 'meeting' as Kia preferred) with Finn would require a nice outfit. She had wanted to go wearing jeans and a ratty teeshirt, since she was sure that Finn would just tease her anyways and she didn't want to bother wasting time dressing up. The girls, however, disagreed. "Show him what he's missing!" They had insisted as they shoved her into a flattering red dress and covered her face with striking makeup. She felt like an idiot.

The feeling of idiocy did not relent when she got to Signature. In fact, it got worse. First of all, she realized that there were dozens of pretty girls standing in the line outside, many of which wore nicer clothes on more flattering figures. It was more then apparent to her that Finn could have asked any of them to dine with him. Reminded of who she was meeting, Kia glanced around the crowd for him. It wasn't hard to spot him, for his bearing and the cut of his suit was above the rest, and she felt her stomach knot up even more in apprehension. As much as she hated to admit it, there was remnants of her crush still deep in her heart.

Taking a deep cleansing breath, Kia counted to three before approaching him. Trying to smile, as best as she could, she tapped him lightly on the shoulder and, nervously, commented "Hey... We match..." Merlin that was lame... She berated herself mentally. Now, no matter how hot she was, he would think she was still a nerd.

Outfit

One minute until they were supposed to be meeting. Finn didn't even want to look around, for fear of seeing faces staring back at him with expressions that said 'we know you've been stood up, mate.' All those men in the queue with girls on their arms must have been chuckling to themselves about Finn, regardless of whether they knew who he was or not. Nevermind, if she didn't show he would pluck some girl out of the crowd, just so he wasn't spending yet another night alone eating a meal for one and drinking a bottle of wine to himself. Arius would have a fair amount to say if that ended up being the situation yet again. He didn't want to have to do that, but it seemed as though-

Finn turned around abruptly as there was a tap on his shoulder. It was Kia. Finn almost laughed with relief but held it back in case she thought he hadn't changed at all, and still found it amusing to laugh at her. Instead he let a grin spread across his face and his eyes crinkled up slightly. "Hey... We match..." He looked down at his own tie and over to her dress and chuckled. "What do you know. So we do." She'd probably think it weird that he was so amused by that. Finn tried to brush the comment off as quickly as he could.

"You look..." He trailed off. What was the right word? Beautiful? She looked more than beautiful. How could he put it without sounding like a loser with a pick-up line? "You look fantastic." was all he could come up with. It was going to have to do for now as his breath had pretty much been knocked out of him by the fact that she was even there, and looked so good. "Shall we?" He held an arm out for her to latch onto. Suddenly it dawned on him that she would probably expect that they would skip the queue. "Oh - I hope you don't mind, but I wanted to have as normal a night as possible tonight, so..." He motioned to the back of the queue with a sheepish grin on his face. "It'll go down pretty fast though." he added as a consolation.

"You look..."

When Finn's eyes raked over her, Kia tensed slightly. Just like she had done at Signature when they met before, she waited for the insults to come. Did the red make her skin look sallow and green? Was the skirt so short it showed off her unsightly cottage cheese thighs? Was her make up so thick she looked like a streetwalker... or worse, a drag queen streetwalker? All were things he would have said in the past, and if he was lying about changing his tune, he would probably say them now...

"You look fantastic."

Kia was almost... disappointed. She had gotten so ready to snap and tell him exactly what she thought of him and his attempt to trick her into letting her guard down, and then he had to go and say something actually very flattering. Needless to say, she was at a loss for words. A flushed colored her cheeks and she smiled despite herself "Thanks... So do you..." she managed to say, though she was so quiet that it was nigh inaudible. She was thankful when he offered his arm and changed the subject.

"Shall we? Oh - I hope you don't mind, but I wanted to have as normal a night as possible tonight, so... It'll go down pretty fast though."

Kia had, in her pessimistic assumptions about the night, expected to have to wait like everyone else, but not because he wanted things to be 'normal'. Wasn't that... against the rules of dating or something? Making girls wait in line when you could easily have instant access. "Interesting... Isn't that the opposite of what guys want when they are trying to impress a girl?" She retorted, one eyebrow arched dramatically. In truth, she was actually glad that he wasn't trying to use his money and popularity to win her over. Personally, Kia hated men like that. The fact that he would forgo the usual luxuries of his wealth and power to spend a normal night with her was actually very comforting. Not that she would ever let him know she felt that way, of course. "... Or are you not out to impress me?"

Finn missed Kia's response to his compliment as she was so quiet. Her remark that he was doing the opposite of what men should do on a date made the corner of Finn's mouth twitch. Was this wrong? He didn't go on dates...he never took girls out for a meal or anything along those lines. He just met them in the club, and things usually went from there. And anything that could have been considered akin to dating hadn't happened for a while.

"I...assumed that trying to impress you wouldn't work." He suddenly realised how that may have sounded and stopped, letting his palm hit his forehead. "I didn't mean- I meant..." He sighed. "I meant that no matter how hard I try to impress you, I don't think it will ever be enough."

It had sounded like a compliment in his head, but he could understand how it would sound like an insult to someone who had been so used to hearing insults from him in the past. His ears began to burn a little with embarassment as they stood at the end of the quickly condensing queue.

"Are you...warm enough?" He asked, trying desperately to steer the conversation away from having his foot firmly in his mouth.

"I...assumed that trying to impress you wouldn't work."

Kia tensed when he started to sputter, a new wave of red settling on her cheeks, this time from anger rather then embarrassment. What did he mean by that? It wasn't like she was hard to impress, she just didn't see shallow and pointless attempts to use money and power as impressive. She was impressed by someone who had a caring heart and a strong ethic. Who could build a house with his bare hands for a homeless family out of the kindness of his heart. That was what she found impressive. Somehow, she doubted Finn was the type to get his hands dirty, let alone for free.

Why did he want to impress her anyways? He was handsome and rich. He could have his pick of any beautiful witch (or wizard for that matter) that he wanted. Hell, she was already getting some jealous stares from girls she considered much prettier then herself just from being in his vicinity. All Kia was to him, in her opinion, was a joke. Sure she didn't have glasses and buck teeth anymore, but she knew he could only ever see her as that dorky little girl she was years ago. Needless to say, she wasn't prepared to let him off the hook for all the torture he caused her over the years. Especially not because of a dinner and a dance.

"Are you...warm enough?"

"I'm fine." She said stiffly, though the moment she uttered it, she couldn't help but shiver lightly and wrap her arms around herself. It was getting rather chilly, though the chills timing lead her to believe that maybe it was all in her head. He hijacked her subconscious and made her feel the goosebumps spread up her arms. She wouldn't back down though, she wasn't some damsel in distress he could 'save' and somehow be all forgiven. Holding her chin high, Kia glanced around the line to see how far it was until the warmth of the club made it impossible for him to change the subject.

Speaking of the subject, Kia managed to find the courage to tell him what she was thinking. Slowly and deliberately, she started "... I won't apologize you know... for being hurt by you and your friends... after all you guys said and did to me in school. I won't apologize to you. But..." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, her pale blue stare muddled by her long dark lashes "... I won't say that I won't forgive you either... IF you prove you are really sorry. And I don't mean by using your money and power to treat me to dinner..." She didn't quite know how she wanted him to prove it yet, but she would figure out something he would absolutely hate.