Outfit

Around 8pm

Trina Quinn was beyond furious.  As they say, Hell hath no fury like a witch scorned.  And Trina felt quite scorned.  Of course, whenever a woman is stood up on a date, she would tend to feel quite upset. Everything had been going absolutely wonderful with one mister Hunter Radley.  He was fun, charming, adventurous, and always exciting to be around.  But tonight, that seemed to have changed a bit. 

There she was, sitting at the nice restaurant the two had reservations at.  She liked being early, so got there and and took a seat at their table.  Then she waited for him to show up.  And she waited. And waited.  Trina Quinn, singer for Three Owl Standard, waited at a table for a man for one hour.  And not only that, she waited there for an hour as people kept looking over at her with sad looks because she was being stood up.

Of course, Trina was worried about Hunter.  Perhaps something happened as he was making his way over to the restaurant.  He was most likely apparating, which makes it difficult to get lost.  And since she’d owled him earlier that day, Trina figured he was in good health.  But perhaps something had happened between then and now.  Besides, it was their one month anniversary. One month ago, he’d taken the chance on meeting her and things had been going quite well.  They had been having quite a fun time going out, watching quidditch, and doing other fun things.  So she saw no reason as to why he wouldn’t be there.

After she left the restaurant, she found herself standing outside in Hogsmeade.  Trina felt she should at least try and calm down a bit before doing something drastic. Apparating to her house, she made some tea and had a venting session to dear Eliza, her reliable cat.  Not bothering to change, she sat down and tried to calm down.  Of course, Eliza couldn’t produce too much helpful advice, and Trina ended up deciding to go see if Hunter was home.  If he didn’t have a perfectly good reason as to why he didn’t show, she just might curse him.  Never before had she had this happen to her, and Trina had no idea how to go about handing the situation. She paced about the living room in her house, thinking of what to do.  Trying to stay calm, she eventually decided she would go over to his place.  Even if it was nearly midnight.

A little after midnight

Still in her nice dress and heels, her hair had been messed up a bit, and all she carried was her wand.  She found herself outside his house in the small village of Piddlehinton.  Trina looked up the steps to the place where Hunter lived and took a deep breath.  She walked up and knocked on the door fairly loudly to make sure he’d hear if he were anywhere in there. After a minute or two of waiting, she heard movement inside.  This meant he should be alive, and hopefully had a good reason as to why he hadn’t shown.  When the door opened, she saw him, looking perfectly healthy like nothing was wrong.

“Where were you tonight? We had dinner plans! I sat there for almost an hour waiting and you never showed! I was afraid something happened and here you are looking perfectly fine! I was humiliated! No doubt someone will have alerted that pesky Rita Skeeter and she’ll probably have an article on it in tomorrows paper. You better have a good reason for standing me up tonight or else you will be very sorry you decided to miss our one month anniversary.”

Trina had a tight grip on her wand, and probably looked pretty crazy at that moment. In all honesty, she really wanted things to work out with them. But if he was going to every so often just not show up to dates, she wasn’t sure if it would work out.  Trina wished she’d stayed more calm than she just was, in fact, she was pretty angry as she ranted, nearly yelling at him. She took a deep breath, and then waited for him to respond.

The second Tuesday of every month, Hunter's mother and all of her friends gathered at her home just up the road from his in Piddlehinton to play bridge, gossip, and have a few drinks. It was his mother's night off from the pub, and if he wasn't away covering a quidditch game, Hunter was always in attendance. The old women adored him, he adored them, and they always fought over who got to be his partner. Eventually it was settled that they would all take turns, and he would settle in for a night with his dear old mum and her friends, and surprisingly enough, would always thoroughly enjoy every minute of it.

So, just like every other Tuesday, without another thought in his mind, around dinner time he made his way over to his mum's house to eat and to help her set up her card game. The women arrived, and things went on as they always did. Around ten-thirty everyone started to disperse, and Hunter helped his mum put everything away and carry things into the kitchen. He sat on the counter, much as he had done as a child, and ate the left over cookies as she cleaned, and they talked. Hunter Thomas Radley was very close with his mum, and would punch the living daylights out of anyone who dared say one negative thing about the saintly woman.

The only problem with this particular second Tuesday of the month was that he and Trina Quinn apparently had a date. Hunter had- unknown to himself- forgotten this very important occasion. She was a beautiful, famous woman that he had been convinced was entirely out of his league. Then he had his chance. And it was hook, like, and sinker. They had gone out multiple times since, enjoyed each other, and Hunter was fairly certain they were well on their way to becoming an "item" and Trina was going to be (he hoped) a permanent fixture in his life for quite some time to come.

It made it difficult, however, to keep a woman around when one was ditching dates. But since none of that crossed his mind, after he got back home, Hunter crawled in his bed and turned on the wireless. He had some icecream on in one hand, and his old quidditch scrap book in the bed, looking it over. Hunter missed those days. But life was good now, he told himself. Even if his thirtieth birthday was drawing unbearably nigh and he still hadn't married, had babies, or found his way back onto a broom. Things were still good. Nostaliga never hurt anyone either, now did it? And it was in the middle of his lamenting over the old days, remembering past flings, and wishing he had a stiff drink and a few mates to shoot the breeze with that he heard a very loud knock upon his door.

It was after midnight, so it surely couldn't have been either of his parents- unless there were problems at the pub. Dragging himself out of bed, Hunter dropped his icecream on the nightstand and left the book on top of the covers. He pulled a robe around himself (he was only wearing boxer shorts, after all), cinched it shut, and made his way to the door. When he opened the door, there stood Trina. Immediately he smiled. She was all done up! He liked that dress. Had she just finished a show or--

Damn. He had forgotten! But wait- anniversary? He blinked, stupidly, as he processed her anger and her words and the fact he had completely forgotten about their date. First of all, they weren't a technical couple, were they? So they how did they have an anniversary? And why did she wait there that long without trying to get in touch with him? But, most importantly, didn't she know that the second Tuesday of every month was the time he spent with his mother? Hunter had no clue how to defuse the situation or what to say. So, he ran a hand through his hair and stepped out of the way. "If you're going to yell at me, it's best if you do that inside," he told her. Probably not the best way to start the conversation. But Hunter also realized flattering her (no matter how true it was) would probably only make things worse.

After she came inside, Hunter decided to address her original question. "And I've been here. Well, not here, but up the road at Mum's. It's the second Tuesday, every second Tuesday is Bridge. You know that. I told you that." Because naturally it was not his fault, not at all... At this point, Hunter pushed out his bottom lip and went for his most pitiful expression. "And shouldn't you be glad I'm okay?"

Hunter smiled when he saw her. Why did he smile? After Trina let her anger out, he pulled her inside so she could yell at him there. She still had a tight grip on her wand, as it was the only thing that was keeping her from slapping him at the moment. He looked completely clueless as to the fact that he’d missed their date. How could he have? Trina was still quite upset.

And then he gave her his excuse.  Hunter Radley was playing bridge with his mother and her friends.  Why hadn’t he told her this before? Why wouldn’t he have said that he couldn’t have a date because he already had plans? When she had owled him earlier, he’d said he couldn’t wait to see her. That should imply that he was going to be there. Trina recalled that he’d said something about bridge with his mother at some point in time.  But why would he have said he’d be there if he was going to be at bridge?

“You... bridge? You stood me up to play bridge with your mother? Now, you know I have nothing against her. But why would you have scheduled the date with me when you wouldn’t be able to go? You never said anything before about having bridge tonight. I even owled you earlier to make sure we were still having dinner and you said you couldn’t wait to see me!”

Trina felt as though she wasn’t making sense and just repeating things.  She was certain he’d never said that the second tuesday was always bridge night.  And the fact that he hadn’t said anything about not being there still had her angered.

“Of course I’m glad you’re okay.  But I still don’t get why you hadn’t told me you wouldn’t be there!” Trina let out a noise of frustration and sat down in a chair that was sitting in the living room. 

She still really just needed to calm down. Maybe he had told her and she’d neglected it? But it still wouldn’t make sense thinking of the owl he’d sent back.  Trina remembered now why she hadn’t had a good relationship in a while.  She sometimes allowed herself to get too worked up.  Or maybe that was because men could be so dang frustrating! Whatever it was, she took a deep breath and looked back up at Hunter.  Trina would have said something, if only she were able to unscramble her mind at the moment.  Now, she was trying to recall if he’d ever told her that there was bridge on every second tuesday.  Nothing was coming up though, and was just frustrating herself even more.  And Hunter probably just standing there thinking she was crazy.

Hunter realized, as Trina said out loud that he ditched her for his mother, exactly how bad that sounded. But, his mother was his best friend. "Don't say it like that," he whined. "You make me sound like... well, I don't know. Like a mama's boy." He was a mama's boy, though. After all, he had ditched his gorgeous almost-girlfriend to play bridge with a bunch of old biddies. "And I told you a couple weeks ago that I always play bridge on the second tuesday of the month."

He did remember owling her. But when he said he couldn't wait to see her, he had meant it much more generally. Hunter hadn't been referring to the date. To be quite honest, Hunter had skimmed over the note quickly because he didn't want his mother asking too many questions. When it came to introducing girls to his mother, Hunter went about it in a very specific, careful way to be sure that his mother liked them. "I couldn't wait to see you! I just..." He forgot, but he didn't want to take all the blame for it. She was angry, though. He could see that. She was damn cute when she was angry, too.

Hunter watched as she made a frustrated noise and flopped down in a chair. He frowned, unsure of what to do or say next. Hopping from the room, he grabbed the pint of ice cream from his bed side table and handed it to her, sitting down in the floor in front of her, peering up at her with what he hoped was a very innocent look... A look that would hopefully help defuse the whole situation.

Honesty was important in maintaining any relationship, he knew that. Sighing loudly, he pushed a hand through his hair and shrugged. "I don't know, Trina. I didn't really think about it. I didn't really read the owl you sent thoroughly. I was distracted. So I just jotted something cute down and sent it off. I didn't even think any further about it. It's just what life is for me, you know? I work out of town a lot and I'm busy, and my mum is the world to me. She'd be crushed if I didn't go, and all of her friends expect me there. So long as there isn't quidditch to be announced, I'm at the bridge game. I know it sounds stupid, that I would forget our date because of my mum. But I told you from the beginning she was still a huge part of my life." That was an understatement. He was very much mummified by her apron strings, not just attached.

"How come you didn't owl me again to remind me to come out there, instead of just waiting around? I'm sure everyone was staring at you, that couldn't have been good. I wouldn't have been able to just wait with everyone staring at me like I had a third head." She was a much stronger person than he was.

YOU ARE A MAMA’S BOY Trina wanted to yell at him. But for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to speak any more. If anything she was just tired and frustrated. And not looking forward to the papers tomorrow if someone had noticed her being stood up. She just sat silent in the chair trying to think of what to do. Trina wasn’t very used to trying in a relationship like this. To be honest, she hadn’t been in something that looked like it would be a lasting relationship. But Trina wanted this to work.  Hell, Dennis was now in a relationship that was going to work, hopefully, and that seemed like it wasn’t going to happen for a while.

Then, Trina just watched as Hunter left the room. “Where...” She started to ask as he headed back to his room. Then, moments later, he returned with a pint of ice cream. Trina was a little confused at why he had the ice cream in his room this late at night, but decided not to question him. She shrugged and decided to take a bite as he sat down in front of her.  Trina couldn’t help but think how cute he looked despite her being upset at him. She watched him sigh and then he began to talk.

“I know, I’ve heard the way you talk about your mother when you do. I just... Please try to be a little more attentive. How would you like it if the situation were reversed? How would you feel if you set a date and then I didn’t show?” Trina sighed. “Sometimes I wish I had a better relationship with my parents. I suppose it’s harder for me to understand because I don’t normally miss my parents when I’m away.”

Perhaps that’s what it was. Trina just didn’t really know what it was like to be that close to a parent that you’d forget anything just to go hang out with them. She should give him a bit of a break because of that. In all honesty, she might be a little jealous that Hunter has such a relationship with his mother. Moms were supposed to spoil their children, not force them to do things they didn’t want to all the time and yell at them for making their own choices. Sighing again, Trina was about to apologize for yelling at him, until he spoke again.

“Well, do I look like I have an owl on me? How would I look, sitting in a restaurant and sending an owl to remind my date that he was supposed to be meeting me for dinner? I figured if I waited you would show up eventually. Perhaps you got caught up somewhere and if I waited a few more minutes you would be there. A few minutes passed, then a few more, and then before I knew it, an hour had passed. And yes, when I got up to leave, people did stare at me like I had a third head. And no, it wasn’t something I enjoyed. In fact I would have preferred it had never happened. Because it makes you feel like shit.”

With that, Trina got up to leave. She wasn’t sure Hunter quite comprehended how she felt.  Trina felt the tears welling up behind her eyes. She didn’t want them to fall in front of him, but she couldn’t help it. Fresh air and a walk was exactly what she needed. Trying to apparate while emotionally unstable was not a good idea. So she headed for the door.

Hunter knew that Trina was right. If he had been in her shoes he would have been upset. He probably would have cried, and he would have thrown a fit, and demanded explanation and been very not-nice. With that realization, her level of patience was suddenly astonishing. It was sad, though, to hear she wasn't close with her parents. Hunter knew that some people didn't have that relationship, but he just couldn't understand why. Then again, some people's parents weren't exactly parental, either. His mother and father had been the absolute best. He was lucky, and he knew it, which was why Hunter worked so hard to maintain a good relationship with them and be a part of their lives.

He didn't say anything she got up to leave. Her last sentence hit him hard, knocking the metaphorical wind from his not-so metaphorical sails. Hunter stood up, grasping her arm gently- he didn't want to hurt Trina, or make her feel like he was forcing her to do anything. "Please don't go, Trina. I know you're upset, and you should be. You're right, if I was you I'd be pissed off and hurt, too. I just..."

Hunter sighed, releasing her and rubbing his face. "I messed up." It was the simple truth. Hunter had been wrong. He hadn't handled things properly, or like an adult. He had been careless and indifferent, and that wasn't the right way to do things. He did know one thing, though- he would be reading owls from now on.

"It's not okay for me to forget our date and to ignore your owls instead of reading them. I should have remembered. When we made the date I should have rememebred it was bridge night so that this wouldn't have happened. But I didn't. I didn't do any of those things. Instead I forgot and I haven't been very nice to you tonight. It's my fault, I get that, it's just hard for me to admit when things are my fault." He frowned, dropping his gaze to look at the floor, where one foot was lazily toeing the carpet. Hunter felt incredibly awkward, and wasn't sure what to do to keep Trina from leaving. He also had no idea what to say or do to make it up to her. Hunter knew that things were not always as easy as he wanted them to be.

"I'd like it if you stayed for a little while." What they could do was beyond him, but he was sure he could think of something cute that would make her realize he wasn't a complete and total ass that wasn't worth her time. Hunter had his moments, he could be immature, mean, rude and lots of other bad things- but over all he was a genuinely nice guy. Trina needed to see that, and she needed to see that she wasn't wasting her time on him.

When Hunter reached out and gently took her arm, Trina stopped. She kept herself facing the door as he talked. After he said he would have been pissed off and hurt too, she turned to look at him. Trina’s eyes were probably a bit puffy and red already, and her vision was a bit blurry.  He released her and kept talking. She stayed silent and listened. Of course, right now she wasn’t sure she could talk. The singer knew trying to talk when emotional didn’t always work.

Then he began talking some more, explaining and apologizing.  Trina took a deep breath and listened. She knew what he meant when he said it was hard to admit it was his fault. And perhaps she had been a bit hard on him, and throwing all the blame on him. Trina knew that just barging over and yelling at him wasn’t the best way to deal with it. And she should probably say that. She didn’t want this to be the end of their relationship, and could tell he didn’t want it to be either.  When Hunter asked if she would stay, she nodded and took another deep breath.

“I’ll stay. And... I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have come over here like this. I was a little too upset and didn’t really make a good decision. When emotions get involved, everything gets a little fuzzy. And to be honest, I haven’t had situations like this pop for quite a while. I didn’t know how to react, and I think I definitely could have done better.” Since he admitted his fault, Trina felt she should do the same. In order to make this relationship work, she knew it would need honesty.

“And, I’ll even write a note on every second tuesday of the month that you’ve got bridge with your mother. That way this doesn’t happen again.” She gave a bit of a nervous smile, hoping he would accept that and want to make more plans with her.  Trina figured that since he wanted her to stay, he would.  But she figured she should make sure.  She had probably looked really crazy when she first came over. Stupid emotional girl she said to herself, trying to imagine how she looked.

Hunter smiled when he realized that Trina had calmed down, and pulled her close to press a gentle kiss to her head. "I think you need to relax," he told her. "I'm going to run you a warm bubble bath, and find you something more comfy to wear. So long as you're okay with oversized man-clothes." He figured she would be. Most girls loved to wear their boyfriend's clothes... Not that Hunter was really her boyfriend, at least not yet. He thought he might like to be, but he wasn't sure if after the fiasco he'd made of the evening whether or not it would be appropriate conversation.

Releasing her slowly, he motioned in the direction of the bathroom. "I'll make it up to you, I promise. I'll run you a nice bath and I'll cook us some dinner." Hunter went in that direction, assuming Trina would follow him. He did not know many women who would turn down a bubble bath when a good looking man was getting it ready for them.

His master bathroom was large, obviously catering to his own arrogant needs. Hunter knew he was good looking and likes to pamper himself. The large bathtub was round and could easily fit at least three people in it. He turned on the water from all three spickets and tested the temperature, then dumped in some bath beads and oils. It was a simple smell- one that was clean, and not overly masculine or feminine. Then Hunter grabbed some big fluffy towels from a closet and rested them on the counter. "I'll find you something to wear. There's a robe on the back of the door that you can use when you get out."

Hunter closed the door behind him and then went to the kitchen. He put on some water to boil and found some noodles in the cabinet. Pasta was generally very easy to make, and tended to be difficult to mess up. He hoped that Trina would be able to forgive him, and he hoped that showering her with attention would help aid him in that.

Trina was very thankful that her emotions didn’t scare Hunter away. And now he was even offering to give her a warm bubble bath? She was quite surprised, to be honest. She’d never had a guy be this sincerely nice to her. Of course, she had also been used to guys who were only with her because she was famous.  Since Hunter was famous himself, Trina wasn’t sure what to expect. She’d never dated someone who was also famous before.

“That sounds wonderful.” She smiled the best she could, even though her face was most likely a bit red and puffy.  Trina followed him and smiled as she watched him prepare the bath for her. The bathtub was pretty big, though Trina was pretty sure hers was a bit bigger. Then again, she figured girls had the right to have bigger bathtubs than men. But Hunter’s was an impressive size.

“Thank you. I’ll try not to be too long.” Trina gave him a small kiss before he went out the door. She then treated herself to getting in the tub. The scents from the oils and whatnot that Hunter had put in the tub smelled quite nice. And they were quite relaxing. Trina allowed herself to drift off for a moment, and then decided she had been relaxing long enough. She didn’t want to stay in there too long and have Hunter be done with the dinner and be sitting there forever.

Getting out of the tub, Trina dried herself off and put on the robe. The towels and the robe were some of the softest she had ever used.  She used the towel to try and get her hair as dry as she could before heading towards the kitchen.  Trina stood by the doorway into the kitchen for a few moments, watching Hunter put the finishing touches on the dinner. She smiled as she watched. Even if she had been so incredibly upset before, she forgot about it now. How could she stay mad after he’d gone through so much trouble for her.

Crisis successfully averted. Trina wasn't mad at him anymore, and not only that, but it seemed he had turned a very bad evening into one that was at least somewhat decent. He had no doubt she would have been a lot happier if he had remembered to show up. But this was better than nothing, he supposed.

Hunter could smell her when she came to lean against the door frame. She smelled nice, clean, and when he turned to look at her, Hunter really liked the way she looked in his robe. He could most definitely get used to that sight. He put his spoon down and walked toward Trina, standing in front of her, just smiling for a few moments. Then Hunter wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her close, and used his free hand to tilt up her chin so that he could kiss her. "You look good in my robe," he told her, grinning, before taking the two neatly arranged plates to the table.

Hunter plopped down two glasses and then opened a bottle of wine. He pulled out a chair, and motioned her forward. "Dinner, is served," he said, mocking a French accent. After she sat down, he pushed her chair in, then sat down next to her. Hunter sipped the wine, and pushed a hand through his hair, offering her another lopsided grin.

"I really am sorry I almost ruined our night," he told her quietly, poking at the food with his fork. "I promise I'll do better in the future, assuming you're going to give me a chance or a future at all. I do really like you. You're pretty, funny, easy to get along with, and you're surprisingly low maintenance." Mostly because Hunter was the high maintenance one in this duo. He needed a hell of a lot of attention about ninety percent of the time. Hopefully Trina was up for that. "

"And I'm going to assume, if we're celebrating a one month anniversary, that this thing is official? This whole us thing? It's been a long time since I had a girlfriend..." A serious girlfriend, anyway. He'd had casual, very young girlfriends whose purpose in his life had been for fun and to show off to his buddies. Not a girlfriend who was worth a damn and who might actually stick around more than a few months.

Trina really did enjoy watching the man cook for her. It was something she’d never experienced before. Hunter then came up and smiled at her for a few moments before pulling her over towards the meal. She returned his kiss and smiled back at him. Giggling at his beautifully fake french accent, Trina took her seat in front of the plate.

“Thank you, kind sir.” She said, then took a sip of the wine. Trina then listened as he apologized again. “I probably overreacted a little and didn’t respond in the best way. And I really like you too, which is why I will of course be giving you another chance. I’m glad you still want me to give you another chance. I thought I would have scared you away for sure with my psycho whatever I just pulled.”

Trina took a few bites of the pasta and listened to him once again.  She watched him as he talked, taking note of the sincerity in both his voice and in the look on his face. She could tell he was being sincere because it was almost the exact opposite look from most of the other guys she had dated recently. It was a change that Trina appreciated. She smiled again, glad that he was being so sweet considering what he’d just witnessed in her.

“I was probably just jumping to conclusions in my head about some things. But it has been a month since we had that first kind of date when we first met. And to be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve had a real boyfriend. So I’m still trying to figure out how to work it all out as well. But if you’re comfortable with it... I’d really like it to be. I mean, I figure the press will put things together before too long and start the rumours.” She laughed. Trina was actually a bit surprised she hadn’t seen anything about the two of them yet.

“Though this would also mean that I’d have to introduce you to my father at some point in time. I mentioned your name and found out that my dad was quite a fan of yours. I know he likes quidditch and said I’d met you and he was pretty excited.” She smiled. And she hoped Hunter would like that. Trina had noticed that he always got excited about things relating to quidditch.

"Who cares about the press?" Hunter asked. "They're all vicious vultures. If it wasn't this, then I'm sure it would be something else. At least this isn't something that will ruin our reputations, right?" The press could be doing a lot worse than harassing them about being together. Hunter remembered five years ago when a girl claimed that she was carrying his child. That had been one hellacious storm of paparzzi. To say the very least about it.

He nodded when she mentioned him meeting her father. Hunter figured that would be a lot easier than introducing her to his mother. His dad would like her, but his dad liked everyone. His mother never seemed to be satisfied with any girl that he or his brothers brought home. "I'd be happy to go with you to meet your dad. I could get him tickets if you think he would like that. Have you got any brothers he might like to take with him? Or has he got any friends he'd like to take? You talk to him, get me a number, and he'll have tickets- best seats on the pitch." Anything to make her happy after he had fouled up so badly.

"I guess that also means you'll have to met Mum." He swallowed when he said it, frowning ever so slightly. That wasn't going to go over very well. "She's a wonderful woman, I promise. She's just hard to impress sometimes. But you make me happy, and as long as I'm happy, she'll be happy for us." But Hunter did have a tendency to be melodramatic and complain to his mother when things weren't going the way he wanted. Hence why she often started disliking his girlfriends. Hunter would just have to be very careful not to do that this time. "I hope you don't get offended if I don't introduce you right away, though. It's something that has to be handled delicately. I want to talk to her about you before I introducte you."

Hunter genuinely had no clue that might not be the best thing to tell his as of now girlfriend. The fact he hadn't told his mother about her yet had nothing to do with her, Hunter just wasn't sure where things were going and didn't want to get ahead of himself. He only told his mom about his girlfriends when she either caught them going into his house, or when they had been together long enough for him to be convinced that he was going to marry them one day. Which happened often enough in the past.

He focused on eating for a few mintues. He wasn't very hungry after attacking the pint of icecream while he was in bed, but it was good. "It's late," he told her, glancing at the clock. "You can stay the night, if you want. I wouldn't want you out this late, it's not safe. But if you go home, I want to make sure you get there safely."

Trina was glad that Hunter didn’t care about the press. And he had a very good point.  This most definitely wouldn’t be bad press. And she wouldn’t care about anything they said about the two of them. It would be the first time in a while that she felt she was in a good relationship, even if they had had a small misunderstanding.

She smiled. “No brothers, but he does have a couple friends he’d probably take. He’d love that, if it’s not too much trouble. I can give you his address so you can owl him whenever you can.” She’d probably leave the address before she left.

“Whenever you’re ready, I’d love to meet her. I know you care for her a lot. And I know mothers can be particularly difficult. I won’t be offended. And perhaps some day we can all play bridge together, if you don’t mind a beginner. Unless that’s something between the two of you, then I’d understand. Whatever works best.” Trina smiled.  She’d never had too much problem with moms in the past, but Trina knew that mothers could be very protective of their children.

They both ate for a little, and then he pointed out the time. She hadn’t quite realized how late it exactly was.  Then again, she probably had gotten to Hunter’s around midnight.  Though Trina wouldn’t have minded staying at Hunter’s, she decided she should probably get home.

“Thank you for the offer, but I think I’ll just apparate home. I can grab my things from the bathroom and perhaps return the robe to you later? Or I might just keep it, I don’t think I’ve felt a robe this soft before.” She smiled. “I’m sure I’ll be good to apparate, now that I’m in a better mental state.”

She gave a small laugh. Hopefully he wouldn’t be offended by her preferring to go home.

"You let me know how many tickets he needs, and I'll get him all set up," Hunter assured her. "And if he wants, we could all go together? You guys could sit up in the announcers booth with me. I'm sure that they wouldn't mind." He often had guests up there. Usually smitten young girls, so they might be surprised to see him with a real woman he was serious about, but hell, what did they matter anyway? "I can owl him, and ask him about it. Or you can talk to him about it..." He definitely hoped that Trina would opt to talk to her dad herself. He wasn't sure he really wanted to send the man an owl if he had never met him before.

Hunter wasn't disappointed when she said she wanted to go home. He'd hurt her that night, and he knew it would take a few days for her to fully forgive him for it. "If you think you're fine to apparate, then that's alright. And you can keep the robe- I've got another like it." He stood up and took her hand and pulled her into a very tight hug.

"I really am very sorry, Trina," he told her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "I promise I won't be such a bad boyfriend in the future. I'm actually quite a good boyfriend- but I make mistakes just like everyone else does." Hunter gave her a big squeeze then released her, heading to the bathroom. He gathered all of her things and put them in a bag, then brought them back to her. "You be safe, and send me an owl or something when you get home so I know you made it okay. I'll feel awful if I have to worry about whether or not you've splinched yourself all night."

He hoped things would be okay now. He did feel bad about what happened, but then again, Hunter figured she shouldn't have waited so long for him to show up. Hopefully he had smoothed things over well enough for them to put it behind. And apparently he now had a girlfriend... Hunter would have to let Archer know that he hadn't been crazy, that he had actually gotten the woman from the magazine. Wouldn't his brother be impressed!! Then he couldn't make fun of him for it anymore...