Dates were nerve wracking for some. The two had been fighting since their first meeting, he could hardly consider them just getting to know one another. What they were doing at this point was trying to figure out if it was worth their while to continue on the path they were on. Simon noticed that he and Colette seemed to run into each other more than he ran into most, so if that wasn't a sign for him to get the wand out of his arse and relax a little around her he didn't know what was. If she was looking to use him for an article for her paper she would have already, and he needed to stop being suspicious of everyone who came into contact with him.

Not everyone was a Reid, not everyone had a motive. This was a valuable lesson he had yet to learn. Years of being thrown under the Knight Bus and tasting the cold rubber of it's tires would do that to you. Simon never was good at trusting strangers, so if Colette cared for him she had to be the strangest one yet.

Having made plans, he was not going to back out now. Simon was wearing a pinstriped suit with a dark shirt and a crimson tie. Looking himself over, he fixed his hair so he didn't look like a raga-muffin. Granted he had money now, he actually could afford to look decent, he still found his eyes going to the lower end outfits in stores and picking the affordable wines and foods. When you live on a budget or scrounge for food and change you never really look at labels.

With the instructions to her flat written on a piece of parchment, Simon looked at the now raggedy piece of paper before sighing. “Here goes nothing,” he pulled his wand from his pocket and apparated to the nearest point to the apartment. Making his way towards her flat he realized he was missing an essential piece of dating and courting nonsense, stopping at a florist he picked up a bouquet and made his way to the door written on the parchment. With a deep breathe he knocked on the door firmly and waited for the entrance to be opened. Looking down at his shoes he noticed a spot and grumbled something incoherently.

Maggie was curled up on the couch with a good book. A cup of tea that had turned cold rested on the coffee table in front of her. She heard the occasional sounds of frantic footsteps and crashes from upstairs, but she knew better than to 'help' Colette get ready for her big date. Maggie liked keeping her head attached to her body, after all.

When someone knocked on the door, she looked up from her page, waiting to see if Colette would run down and answer it. Who was she kidding? It was up to her. Letting out a huge sigh (as if her book was so important), Maggie stood up, stretched, and walked slowly towards the door. The guy could wait. It didn’t really matter if he waited on their doorstep or in the living area- Colette would be a while.

Maggie opened the door, raising her eyebrows in approval when she saw how nicely he was dressed. Damn. Colette knew how to pick them!

She gestured him inside. “Are those for me?” She took the flowers and smirked at him. “How sweet of you. Bringing flowers for your date’s roommate.”

Maggie headed into the kitchen with the bouquet, unconcerned if he thought she was serious or not. She had to mess with his head a little. He’d dated Kia before dating Colette, after all, which she thought was somewhat skeevy behavior.

“Colette’s still primping,” she explained as she filled a vase with water, and then started cutting the ends of the stems. “She got home a bit late from work, which means we have time for awkward small talk,” she glanced at him and grinned in her sarcastic, ‘oh joy’ kind of way.

“I’m Maggie. Though we’ve met before- Simon, right? I met you while you were dating Kia, my other roommate.” Might as well come out with it. “I know I have awesome friends and all, but don’t go after all of them, okay?” Her tone was teasing, though she was half-serious. Colette seemed to really like him, so of course, Maggie didn't want her to get hurt.

It was the female condition to leave a man waiting. Always leave them wanting more, leave them waiting at the door, leave them with the check. It seemed a lot more like work than anything romantic when a man was trying to take a girl out for the first time. Not to mention their rocky start, Simon was pretty sure whatever this was, he wasn't going to be given a easy time.

Simon caught the curt tone coming from the girl who stood in the door frame to greet him. Granted she wasn't as completely vile as some of the other wenches he had to get through to talk to girls, but she wasn't exactly friendly in her attempt to greet him. Simon watched the flowers vanish from his hands and with her towards the kitchen. "I would have preferred to give them to her myself," he muttered nearly inaudible as the woman took complete control of the situation.

The nerve of some people, touching things that did not belong to them. Simon could only wonder what sort of man, er or woman she was into. They must have been a push over, he figured. Any man who could deal with a bird this uppity an accusatory obviously gave up his bean bags long ago. Simon hoped to keep his from being clipped for as long as he could humanly control it.

Irritation was already starting to loom for him, when she questioned him for his name and mentioned his former connection to Kia. "Yes, I am Simon though I cannot for the life of me remember meeting you." Bristling a little, "Eh, correction on that count, I never formally dated Kia, I just happened to save her life. There is a difference," Simon looked about wishing that Colette would finish up so he could get the hell out of that conversation and into a better aire. Eyes darkening "Believe me when I say to you I have no intention to make my way through the 'rest of them' as you put it." In fact if they were anything like Maggie, he could very well run in the opposite direction.

Maggie didn’t hear what Simon had said when she took the flowers, but that was probably for the better. In her mind, she was just being her normal, teasing self. She didn’t see anything wrong with putting the flowers in a vase while Colette was getting ready. Of course, she wasn’t an expert when it came to dating and flirting rituals. Maggie figured Simon was lucky she hadn’t waited for him on the front porch, polishing her wand and giving him the ‘get Colette back by midnight’ talk.

She shrugged at him when he said he couldn’t remember meeting her. They had met during the last Memorial Ceremony, after all, so it had been a very crazy, scary time.

Maggie raised her eyebrows at him. So he’d never dated Kia. Maybe she got her facts wrong, but she remembered Kia had talked about him as if she’d really liked him. Maggie resisted rolling her eyes at his defensive tone.

"Believe me when I say to you I have no intention to make my way through the 'rest of them' as you put it."

“Okaaaay,” she widened her eyes a little, feeling defensive herself. The expression on his face told her she must have said something that struck a nerve.

She gave him a suspicious look and moved over to the staircase. “Colette?” She called up, then paused. “Hurry up!”

This was getting way too awkward, too fast. Maggie headed into the living room, plopping down on her spot on the couch. She glanced at her book longingly, but focused her attention back on Simon.

“Do you want any tea, or anything? You don’t have to stand there brooding, you know,” she smirked at him, hoping he’d take the invitation to sit and maybe even banter with her.

“So… how did you and Colette meet?” she asked, privately wondering if this little encounter was going to get any better, or if she was just fooling herself.