Valentine’s Day was horrible. There! She said it! There were so many people kissing, hugging and giving each other chocolates everywhere. Since Gianna wasn’t getting any of the kisses, hugs, or chocolates, she was at perfect liberty to deem this day absolutely nauseating. And what’s the worse thing about Valentine’s Day? It sticks. Everything leading up to the day was pink and red and hopelessly tacky, the people even more so, and it lasted way longer than it needed to. It’s almost March, but just this morning she spent most of her time scrubbing off beer stains and glitter off the vinyl booths. She didn’t even know they served glittery drinks! Not fun.
Couples were also not fun. It’s way past the time for them to be doing stuff like wear matching red and pink jumpers with hearts and pugs on them, but apparently the couple she just passed didn’t think so. How she wished she could bill them for causing her deep-seated psychological trauma for years to come! Now she wouldn’t even be able to look at jumpers without that image coming to mind. Ugh. It had frilly cuffs too! Gianna shuddered at that bit of detail her brain wouldn’t forget. Horrible. But of course, the universe hated her. She just wanted to go home and spend sometime by herself without being bombarded by couples swapping saliva on the streets, but was that possible? Nooooooooo. Like she said, nauseating!
And she wanted to kick herself for feeling just a twinge of envy.
So Gianna took it out the only way she knew how. Pie. Sweet, delicious homemade pie that her boss was kind enough to let her bring back some, even though it was three in the afternoon and nowhere near late enough for it to be considered leftover. Eight slices that were still hot and ready to be eaten, and the girl wanted to squeal at the thought. Carbs? Calories? She’d worry about that later. Besides, she thought, pinching at her slender waist, I could use a little more meat on my bones. Too bad there was no one to share it with her, good food was always better when shared. Slightly dejected now, she took her time strolling through the streets she knew so well, swing her container of pie as she walked.
It was rather deserted, especially for Diagon Alley, even at the rather odd hour. Was everyone so preoccupied with work that no one even had time for tea anymore? Tsk. It was not quite warm enough to sit outside yet, but some shops still had tables and chairs laid out at the front. And there, Gia spotted a lone figure who seemed to be… Just sitting there? She would have walked right past him if there wasn’t something familiar about that hair and… Of course! Who else could it be? “Elijah Dasher!” She called out, “Fancy seeing you here.” Gianna waved enthusiastically and gave him a bright grin, almost skipping over to where he was sitting. Finally!
If it wasn’t obvious enough, Gianna was delighted to see him. He was never with her inner circle of friends, but they were always polite to each other and got along fine when the situation called for it. So she saw no problem with grabbing the seat opposite him before he could say no. He was probably going to say no; Gia remembered that about him, always preferring his own company, how strange! “Why the glum look, chum? I’ve got something that’ll fix you right up!” She dangled the container of food as close to him as possible without actually smacking him in the face. As soon as he realised how good it smelt he couldn’t possibly say no. “It’s your lucky day today, pie’s on me!” The pie was free of course, but Elijah didn’t need to know that...
