Freefall {Freya}

Emil couldn’t believe his luck.  Freya had agreed to go out with him!  He’d liked her from the moment he’d met her, but they’d never really spent any time just the two of them.  He honestly couldn’t remember a time when he’d been around her when all of their friends hadn’t been there also.  And while a coffee date was rather noncommittal, at least now he knew she wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea of seeing him like that.  Not to mention the way she’d smiled when she said yes.  He couldn’t get it out of his head, hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it for the last three days.  It was the only thing that helped quell his nerves, the possibility that maybe she could like him for real.

It had been a while since he’d asked anyone for a proper date.  Recently, he’d only been hooking up with girls he met at parties, likely to never see them again.  He couldn’t see himself doing anything that casual with Freya, however.  They’d been seeing more and more of each other ever since Prosper and Arianna had started dating.  Prosper had been all for the idea of Emil going for it with Freya, and that alone – his best friend not thinking it was a terrible idea – had given him the courage to ask her.

Now he was quite nervous.  He glanced at himself in a shop window as he passed it, running a hand through his messy hair.  He thought he looked alright.  He hoped that she wouldn’t mind that he was wearing clothes she’d probably seen a dozen times by now; it seemed so pretentious to him to go buy something new, and if she was that superficial, they probably weren’t going to get on that well anyway.  He noticed almost nothing of his surroundings as he walked down the busy street toward his destination, his pace a bit quicker than normal.  He didn’t like the unnatural tightness in his stomach, but he couldn’t help being a bit anxious.  What was the worst that could happen?

At last, he stepped into the café and glanced around.  There were several small tables, one large one with many seats, a coffee table surrounded by a sofa and a couple of armchairs, a shelf with some tattered books, and many leafy, green plants placed throughout the shop.  He’d been here a couple of times and had always liked the vibe.  It was a bit shabby, but in a charming way, and full of hip, young people... but none of them Freya.  He looked up at the clock behind the counter.  Great.  He was fifteen minutes early.  Emil, who was always late!  Emil, who couldn’t be on-time to his classes or his job to save his life.  Did he go up and order something while he waited for her?  No, that was impolite.  But his mouth was terribly dry.  He elected instead to go help himself to some water.  Standing awkwardly next to the water pitcher and taking a large gulp from his cup, he glanced at the clock again.  Perhaps thirty seconds had passed.  He sighed.  Maybe a cigarette would help him relax.  He felt his pockets and realized he hadn’t brought any.  Damn.
 

Freya adjusted her glasses on her nose as she stepped into the place. She was a little out of breath, having gotten lost on the way and then ending up having to rush to make it in time. She felt a bit flustered already as she stood there and awkwardly searched for his face in the crowd. Freya decided that she liked the aesthetic of the place. It was sort of similar to a hipstery venue near where she lived that hosted poetry readings and other artsy sort of events. She wondered vaguely if this place did anything like that. After a moment, she caught sight of him, standing as he saw her too. Freya smiled, her cheeks tinged with pink immediately. She was used to it by now but it still made her want to roll her eyes at herself. She pushed some blonde curls back from her face and made her way over to him.

"Hey Emil," she said, a little breathless, her eyes crinkling a little at the edges as she smiled. She briefly overthought whether she should go in for a hug of if he was going to kiss her cheek - French people seemed to do that a lot, she'd discovered - as she approached him. "I hope you weren't waiting long," she said, "I was early so I thought I'd walk but then I got lost and ended up in a completely different cafe and then freaked out and thought I'd get here late..." She trailed off, then laughed a little at herself. She talked a lot anyway, but more so when she was nervous. Quickly, too. She didn't even consider that he might not have understood anything she'd said.

Emil was handsome, she thought, taking the seat he indicated. He had the cheekbones, the eyebrows and his eyes were kind of stunning. Not just the colour or the shape, either - not to discount that, of course - but there was some dreamy aspect to them when he looked lost in thought or perhaps caught in a daydream. Freya had been a little startled meeting all of Prosper's friends, actually, because they were all ridiculously good-looking. Prosper included. Was it a French thing, she wondered? She didn't remember so many model-types in her year at school. Girls or boys. The blonde hadn't spent much time with Emil, couldn't remember a time when they'd been alone together in the few times they'd met, but he seemed very relaxed all of the time which she appreciated. Freya was flustered easily by men and his more subdued enthusiasm took the edge off her awkwardness. Not that it was much help now.

Nothing much had happened in Freya's life romantically for the past year. She'd gone out on a couple dates, kissed lots of people at parties, and had slept with one guy, who she wasn't even seeing. While she'd had ephemeral crushes on her barista, the guy who worked in the quidditch supplies shop near her work and one of Erika's (human) associates, she hadn't really gone full-crush on anyone for a long time. She kind of missed the feeling. Since Ari had started seeing Prosper officially a few months ago - and gone on that ridiculous holiday with him to Greece - Freya had really started thinking about romance and its absence from her life. Now that Finn was training a lot and travelling away a bunch for his career, she was at home alone a lot too. Maybe that was why she felt so fluttery when he turned his pretty eyes on her.

"Um," she said, briefly distracted and trying to cover it up with a quick smile, "So do you come here often? Do you live near here?" Freya realised that she didn't really know that much about Emil. He was a dreamy French artist, friends with the more outgoing boyfriend of her best friend. She leaned forward a bit, resting her cheek in her palm, elbow on the table. "I don't really know much about you," she admitted, laughing again.

.

She liked how he said her name; all soft edges and curves. Freya lived in a pretty multi-cultural and transient city, but almost all of her friends were British. Not even just British, she thought, but English. Finn was Scottish, but Ariana, Jeremy, Danny, Tess... All born in England. Freya had done a little travel outside of the UK, but mostly just to the places that everyone went - Paris, Berlin, Barcelona etc. When she was younger she'd barely left the UK, and would have killed to go anywhere else at all; she made a mental note to start planning something more interesting later. For now she'd just appreciate his accent and try not to get caught up in it.

"It's good to see you too," Freya replied, her flushed cheeks not losing their rosy hue anytime soon. She adjusted her glasses as he started talking. Andorra? Freya had to roll her eyes at herself internally; the one thing she'd thought she'd known about him (that he was French) wasn't even right. It made sense now that she knew; his accent was distinctly not-French now that she was paying attention. Freya nodded as he spoke, keeping eye contact and giving other nonverbal cues to show she was paying attention. Neroli? She'd heard of the place, but hadn't been. It occurred to her that she really didn't know much about him. Was it shallow of her to be here, all flustered and fluttery more or less just because he was handsome and seemed nice? She shrugged internally, dismissing the thought.

"Yeah, England," Freya said, nodding and pushing her glasses up her nose with one finger. She smiled brightly, "Tinworth, actually, in Cornwall. Do you know Exeter? Bath?" Not seeing much recognition in his eyes, the blonde waved a hand, it wasn't important. "It doesn't matter. West of London, basically," she summarised with a happy shrug. "Ari's from near there too," she added unnecessarily. She was rambling a bit again, but that was pretty normal. Her friends knew her habit of talking too much, too quickly, rambling about random things... especially when she was nervous, flustered or excited. There were elements of all of those here. She knew it, too.

"Hmm?" Freya's honey-brown eyes flicked from his pretty face to the menu he was holding. She tilted her head a little to look at it. "Are we eating here?" she asked curiously, "Or should I just get a drink?" Honestly, she'd sort of momentarily forgotten they were in a cafe at all.