Diamonds on the soles of our shoes [Rose!]

People say I’m crazy
I’ve got diamonds on the soles of my shoes
Well, that’s one way to lose these walking blues
Diamonds on the soles of my shoes

Bugger Add stood in the mirror dressed uncharacteristically in a muggle a muggle dress shirt and dress pants, holding a tie in each hand. Behind him on the bed posts of his bed hung the matching jacket and fedora. As much as he found non magical people and anything related to them alien, he had to sometimes admit to himself that they had style. He only dressed this way on very, very rare occasions. Most of his wardrobe consisted of robes of rich colors and fabrics, but tonight he wanted to look a little different because, well, because tonight was different. It had been ages since he’d seen his best friend from school, Rose and he wanted to dress up; dress robes just didn’t really seem to fit the occasion, they were far too formal, but they were going out to a nice restaurant and a suit seemed perfect. The only problem was, he couldn’t decide on a tie. One was a solid navy, the other a flashier purple paisley. He only had two others but he’d narrowed his small, secret collection down to the two in his hands. Finally, he decided on the paisley and slipped it around his neck, fumbling as he tried to tie it. That was always the tricky part.

The sound of big band filled the room, his favorite wizarding band The Lazy Bowtruckles were blasting their horns in the background. He could never figure out why but he loved wizarding jazz, he’d never quite jumped on The Weird Sisters band wagon, so to speak. Smiling at himself in the mirror, Add straightened his tie before turning on a dime, slipping his wand out of his pocket and pointing it at the phonograph in the corner of the room. He crossed the room and took his jacket off the hanger and threw it over his arm while putting on his hat with the other hand. He glanced at the clock on the wall and started for the door, only stopping to slip his jacket on before he walked out of his apartment and closed the door behind him. He was still humming the melody of the song that had been playing and could hear the bass line in his head as he walked through the hall of his building and out into the night.

As soon as he was out on the street, he closed his eyes and concentrated on his destination before disappearing with a ringing pop, the uncomfortable feeling of pressure closing in on him. When he opened his eyes, he was in a densely wizarding populated area of London, within walking distance of the restaurant that he was meeting rose at. He was right outside the door of the liquor store and stepped inside, making a beeline towards the freezers in the back. He tapped his foot idly as he looked at the champagne selection, trying to decide which bottle would be the most expensive without being too flashy. He didn’t want her to think that he was trying too hard to impress her. After all these years, he still hadn’t stopped trying to win her over and he knew that a bottle of champagne wasn’t going to cut it. They were celebrating, though! Rose was moving into a new apartment and coming back to London and it was about damn time. Add finally made up his mind and opened the freezer door to grab the bottle, tucking it under his arm and closing the door.

Once he was outside, he made his way to the restaurant and stepped inside. It was quiet and dark and seeing this, he immediately regretted his selection. Would Rose think it was too romantic and run screaming for the hills? It was a fusion restaurant that incorporated some once unheard of gustatory magic into its repertoire; they charmed their food to change flavor once it was on the palate long enough and became a different ethnic food with each bite. He wanted to try something different for tonight, as if to show Rose that she’d made a wise choice for choosing to move back to Britain. He checked their reservation and sat down on a bench by the door, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees in a relaxed posture. They were going to meet in about five minutes, if she was on time that is. Rose could walk in an hour late and Addreig would still be ecstatic over seeing her. He turned his bright hazel eyes to the door and waited patiently, looking expectantly for her to walk through the door and brighten up his night.

Rosaline Bane was never, never, ever late. Not ever. Except for today, of course, when her whole day seemed to be going all to shite. She was, of course, glad to be returning to the United Kingdom. However, she still had some unfinished business back in Neroli: namely clients of whom she had to take care of. Thankfully, her grandfather had found her a suitable replacement in the form of one of her distant cousins. She merely had to give her the list of contacts, their usual potion of preference, suitable meeting places, and so on and so forth. However, her little trek back to Neroli had taken a while longer than she had previously anticipated, due to the fact that she had a buyer for her flat. So, she had had to meet with him. He had seemed like a nice enough wizard. Italian, of course. Arcangelo. What a lovely name...

She was really, finally coming back home. Sure, she would miss Italy. Mostly the weather, really. But, after all, there was no place quite like home. Particularly when the times when she had gotten to see her loved ones were so few and far between. Her mother had been whining, for a lack of better words, ever since she had moved. Hopefully, now, she would be satisfied and Rosaline could spend more time with her new little sister. Ilona was already growing so fast.

She was also looking forward to this dinner with Addreig. He was a lovely person, for the most part. Honestly, the only issue that she seemed to have with him was his opinions on homosexuals, which had caused her to become angry with him more than once [one of her own brothers, after all, was of that particular persuasion!]. She also did not at all approve of his treatment of his brother, Cabhan.

All the same, Rosaline was delighted to be seeing him again. She pulled her cloak more tightly around herself as she strolled down the sidewalk in search of the restaurant that Addreig had specified. Hopefully her dress would be suitable. He hadn't exactly said what the dress code was at this particular establishment. She was likely only about five to ten minutes late, tops. Hopefully he wouldn't mind.

Walking into the restaurant, she immediately spotted him and gave him one of her rare, small smiles. "Hello, Addreig."

Add sat on the bench near the door, his foot tapping to an imaginary beat, hazel eyes scanning the restaurant. He’d been there about five, maybe ten minutes judging by the clock on the wall opposite him. The hostess had come over to him after about two minutes or so of him sitting there and offered him a glass of water. He was clutching it in his free hand and every so often brought it to his lips and drank. Having emptied it in just a few minutes, Add stood and strode over to the bar and set the glass down, flashing the bartender a smile. He turned and went back to his seat and had barely sat down for a moment when Rose walked in the door.

“Hullo, Rose.”

Add said in an almost too quick reply, his words practically overlapping hers. She looked positively stunning and he stood there entranced for a moment. His eyes flit up and down the length of her form until he felt he had stared too long and they found their way up to her face. Add smiled warmly and stepped forward, tucking the champagne bottle snugly under one arm and pulled Rose into a tight embrace with the other. As he stepped back, he placed a gentle kiss on her right cheek and offered her another warm smile. It was so good to see her after all this time; they hadn’t seen each other in about six months and that was far too long for his liking.

“It’s so good to see you – let’s never go this long without seeing each other, if we can help it. Okay?”

Add turned toward the hostess stand and strode over to where the hostess was already clutching two menus. ”If you could follow me,”she said quietly and walked off to the back corner of the restaurant to a table underneath a pair of pendant lights. It was out of the way, but not so quiet and overly dark as to be too romantic for their dinner. Add followed the hostess dutifully and stood by one of the chairs, his hands resting on its back as he waited for Rose to walk to the table. He may not want to scare Rose away by being too romantic, but he couldn’t resist playing the gallant gentleman and was perfectly intent on pulling out Rose’s chair for her. As she made her way to the table, he slid out the chair and waited for her to sit down.

“Rose dear, please, sit.” 

Addreig Daley. Rose thought that he was a lovely person, despite what Cabhan had to say about him. She simply attributed it to them being siblings. After all, siblings did have a tendency to have their disagreements. She and Iago were proof enough of that, even though she had not actually known that they were siblings until just a few years ago... She was embarrassed by the memory, and very few people had even known about her attraction to her older brother. Well, before she had known that he was her brother. Obviously, she no longer felt that way about him. Obviously.

She smiled more brightly as Addreig greeted her with a tight embrace and a kiss on the cheek. Normally, she wasn't the type to enjoy physical affection. However, with a select few such as him, she had made an exception.

"I believe that we can come to an agreement on that." She laughed softly, looking up at him for a moment before he led them over to the hostess stand. She took note of the bottle of champagne under his arm as they were then led to their table by the hostess. This was a rather nice place. He had good taste. And he was quite the gentleman. She had almost forgotten about how polite he was, what with the horror stories that she had heard from Cabhan lately...

She smiled more brightly, yet, as she sat down in the chair that he had pulled out for her. "Thank you, Addreig. I really did miss you, you know."

“I’m not going to let you out of my sights again.”

Addreig said with a wry smile, his eyes adopting a twinkle unusual for him. Rose seemed to bring that out in him. He stood awkwardly by his own chair for a moment and didn’t notice how long it had been until the waitress cleared her throat and slid a menu in front of his place setting. Add smiled down at the woman and muttered a gruff “thank you”. As he sat down, without him even having to ask, a second waiter brought a champagne stand and had an ice bucket dangling from the crook of one arm.  Addreig was surprised to say the least and he took note of the gesture, but the miserly side of him reminded him that the young man was probably only hoping for a better tip. Still, Add shrugged and thanked both the waiter and the waitress and let the waiter place the bottle into the bucket. As he and Rose were both poured glasses of water by a third member of the wait staff, Addreig was wondering if he would have to take into account all the hands that had served him and his party so far. Once they had been taken care of, the wait staff dispersed and left Add and Rose alone for the time being.

“The wait staff is no less than…attentive at this place. It was recommended because of the food, but my colleague should have told me about the service as well.”

At the risk of sounding pretentious, Addreig laughed to spite himself and took a sip of his water. He hadn’t asked to have the champagne opened yet and he was glad the waitress hadn’t offered. Add was hoping to wait until after dinner to make a toast to Rose’s big move. Granted, he was perhaps making a bigger deal out of it than he had to, but he simply was just so glad that Rose would be so close to him. In the wizarding world, distance was not as much of a problem as it must be to muggles who couldn’t apparate. Still, having Rose so close would probably mean that they could see each other more often and not have to worry as much about coordinating their schedules. At least, in Add’s perfect world, that was the case. To him the distance did mean something, even though he could be at her doorstep instantaneously either way; the idea of her being in the same city as him just made him feel more at ease.

“I missed you too, Rose. You have no idea.”

Add gazed across the table at her and was taken aback as if he had just not realized how beautiful she looked. In fact, beautiful was an understatement. Resplendent, more like, he thought to himself. Add felt his cheeks start to flush at the thought and before there was the possibility that she could notice, he opened his menu and buried his face in it. With only his eyes visible over the back cover, Add glanced between the appetizer selection and Rose. He remembered so much about her, but he could never remember the kind of appetite she had. Did she eat a lot or did she have a dainty appetite and only picked at her food? Add himself was ravenous and was eyeing the sampler, although he wasn’t sure how something that was meant to showcase all the ethnic foods offered would be done considering that the restaurant’s whole pitch was that the food changed as you ate it. The whole idea was at once very confusing and very interesting; he really had to try it.

“Rose, love, how do you feel about trying the sampler? That really has to be a trip – I can’t imagine what they’d do with that.”

"Is that so?"

Rosaline gave him another smile. It was so good to see him again, after so long; particularly in an establishment such as this one. "It is very nice." She nodded in agreement. On top of her big move, she would also have to bring up the fact that she was, indeed, planning to open her own potions shop. In Knockturn Alley, granted, but a potions shop nonetheless. Though perhaps she could leave out the fact that she was going to run it alongside Conall Regan, once he graduated of course. Rose seemed to remember Addreig's dislike of the younger boy. Part of that was due to the fact that Conall had been her first kiss, and the closest thing to a boyfriend that the girl had ever had. Addreig had been very upset with her for that... She didn't want to think about that right now.

Addreig had missed her, and she didn't really want to ruin that. Perhaps she could tell him some other time, then, and if he was happy for her then they could celebrate again? She smiled across the table at him before he buried his face in the menu. She followed suit.

She hated deciding on what to eat in a restaurant. Her brow furrowed for a few moments, and she still hadn't decided when Addreig spoke to her. Sampler?

"That sounds terrific. Let's do that."

“Yeah, it is.” He gestured towards the champagne. “I want to celebrate your moving back here. Call me selfish, but I’m going to love having you nearby.”

Add leaned back in his chair and gave his complete attention to the beautiful woman sitting across from him and took a moment to really think about why it had been so long since he had seen her. Addreig had long ago begun to idealize Rose and had placed her on a pedestal, though he could never remember when it started or why. Regardless, there was definitely a great deal of admiration between them; at least, he liked to think that it was mutual. As his mind wandered, he found himself staring at her and when he finally realized it he dragged his eyes away and waved to the waiter who responded immediately by coming over and standing at attention. “We’ll have the sampler as an appetizer and we’ll place our dinner orders in a few minutes,” Add said curtly.

Without even a thank you, he turned back to Rose and smiled, “So tell me, what else is new? It’s been ages; something else has to have happened to you besides the big move.”

Add shook his head and reached for his water glass, lifting it to his lips and taking a small sip. He was trying not to stare at her too much – he didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that he still had quite the schoolboy crush on her. He was ignorant to the fact that she had probably already noticed. Though it was probably just nerves, Addreig was quickly getting the impression that the night wasn’t going as planned. Although Rose usually had him so at ease, something was making him so stiff and his usual aloof nature was setting in. He suspected that their time apart was to blame and he didn’t like that fact, at all. He needed to loosen up and fast.

“Me, I’ve just been working.” He said shrugging, the corners of his mouth turning down in a slight frown. “I need a hobby, I guess – listening to music all the time doesn’t really keep a chap occupied much.”

Rosaline found herself smiling at the thought of Addreig being "selfish" with her. Of course, a voice in the back of her head had to knock her down a notch or two by reminding her that she was not the only woman that he likely said these things to. Addreig was a charmer. She had to be careful with him, just like any other man: friend or not.

She still had not decided on what she would like for dinner, and was relieved when her companion asked for a few more minutes from their waiter. However, she was not impressed with his lack of manners. Rosaline offered the waiter a polite smile, and a quiet, "Thank you." before he departed. Hopefully, then, he would not be tampering with their meal. She did not trust people, which was why she at least attempted to be polite to most. That is, at least until they proved themselves unworthy.

"I am opening my own potions shop. I'm not quite settled on a property, quite yet, but I have been going over a few options..." One property on Knockturn Alley looked especially promising.

Rose was a little amused, but not at all surprised, to hear that Addreig had been mostly working, as of late. He did seem the "all work and no play" sort. "Is that so? Perhaps you could learn to play an instrument? Make your own music?"

“Oh, right. I neglected to thank him, didn’t I?” Add ran a hand through his hair and shrugged his broad shoulders. “Though, you always have been kinder than me, haven’t you?”

Addreig wasn’t the best at compliments that weren’t meant to be flirtatious; that was really the best he could do, but he meant it all the same. She meant the world to hi and always had, ever since they became friends he looked after the younger girl and had admired her even though she never gave any impression that she wanted to be more than his friend. He’d die before he ever let anyone know that he was a hopeless romantic. Not Addreig Daley, never. Trying to draw his mind away, he peered down at the menu and within a matter of seconds snapped it shut. He was going to go with the duck with an array of changing sauces that ranged from garlic to sriracha and back again.

“That’s great Rose!” He loved the idea that she was going to be successful, he couldn’t ask for a better outcome for her. “Where are some of the prospective locations?”

Add drained his glass of water and as soon as he set it down on the table, the waiter was right over his shoulder with the pitcher. This time, Add did utter a curt thank you to the young man and nodded briskly when he was done pouring. The waiter was still standing attentively at their table, his pad out and at the ready. Add knew that he was waiting for their dinner order, but wasn’t sure if Rose was ready yet. Perhaps he could order first which would give her another minute or so to decide. He slid his menu to the edge of the table and without making eye contact with the waiter ordered the duck special. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the young man nod and scribble something on his pad before he turned to Rose.

“I’ve always wanted to learn to play a brass instrument or the upright bass.” He said, leaning forward to prop his chin up on the back of his hand.  “Do you know what you want yet?