walk slow | [montse]

“Yes, see, doesn’t it look like a squash cucumber type thing?” she repeated, bringing the vegetable closer for inspection. “You ought to try them, they go alright with things like cheese,” she considered her statement for a moment, “probably not nacho cheese but who knows,” she shrugged at the idea. “I’m always up for new combinations of foods,” she offered, in case he dared to try it. She’d be curious to know if the two items worked together if not, she’d want to hear what he thought about them from him.

“Are you sure? I really don’t mind, you know,” she noted again, not wanting to push for her way but also not wanting him to believe that she had brought him out to pay for everything on their behalf. Montserrat liked romance like the sort one found in the fairy tales but was fairly modern when it came to paying for things. Even with her friends, they would often take turns paying for things or split the check altogether. “What about we go halfsies on them?” she suggested, pulling out her wallet as well. “You’re taking half of these anyway, and no protests whatsoever!” she insisted before the handed some of her coins to the woman at the stall.

“We will say that you paid for my half and I paid for yours,” she added with a smile, wondering if he would tell his friends about their date or if he was the sort to keep those things to himself. He didn’t seem like the vegetable type, but she hoped he would indulge her just a little and try them. Maybe they would make him think of her somehow and that thought alone made her smile again.

"Sure does," Jeremy told her with a little chuckle even as he shrugged his shoulders, clearly having no idea what a cucumber or a squash really looked like. When she said they could try them with nacho cheese though he perked right up, nodding quickly, and smiling brightly. He'd try any vegetable if he could smother it with cheese. It was really that simple. Jeremy meant to pay for everything but when she protested he didn't put up much of a fight, realizing she was just as generous and kind as he was. She informed him he was going to be taking half of the produce home and he agreed to her terms with another smile, handing his portion of the payment over to the clerk after she had. "Alright, but I've got the next thing," he said, hoping they would have time to check out one more stand before the evening came to a close. It was starting to get later but he didn't really have a curfew, so time was endless.

The idea of her paying for his and him paying for hers made him feel warm and tingly, it was such a cute thought, and the romantic in him found it kind of sweet. He was learning all good things about Montserrat and although he still wasn't sure what she saw in him the goofball hoped it was the best stuff only. He was lazy, immature, his hair was out of control (usually, but today it was super shiny thanks to the salon day he'd had with Freya earlier in the week), and he was going nowhere fast in his job but he did have a good heart and an energetic spirit. Hopefully, that would be enough.

Jeremy reached for the two bags the vegetable witch had prepared for them, planning to carry hers too until they were ready to head out. Partly because he thought it was a chivalrous thing to do but also because she already had the stuffed animal in her hands so it was the least he could do. Turning toward her Jeremy waited for her to be ready to move to the next thing and just watched her. She was unbelievably good looking, honestly, it was a miracle she even gave him a second look, and every time she said or did anything he was even more impressed. 

"So, we've gotten a little drunk, our faces painted, won a stuffed animal with a squirt gun, and bought some veggies, what should we do next?" Saying it all out loud sounded so impressive and Jeremy was already chalking this up as a date well done. He didn't have a lot of experience but he was a professional at having a good time. It was probably because he didn't care about acting silly or making a fool of himself, but he hoped she was having as much fun as he was.

“You really don’t have to, Jeremy,” Montserrat insisted, but found it cute that he offered even before they had moved on to something else. It could only mean that he was eager to continue their date, she decided, and it made her feel a little less worried that he might not have enjoyed their time together. Reading other people was difficult for the witch, especially when she refused to use whatever advantages her consensimensy allowed her. Montserrat was eager to see how things progressed, how he might explain his feelings or thoughts about her if he had any, and didn’t want her own feelings to be influenced by the ability that had shrouded her from seeing the truth in the past. When it came to her work, it was a blessing, but when it came to her dating life, it was a curse.

She didn’t protest when he took her bag along with his own, smiling in appreciation at his gesture and finding it very kind of him to do that. Not that she expected him to always pay and carry her stuff around but it was nice to have someone, especially a handsome, funny guy like Jeremy, do it on her behalf. And for a bit, it certainly made her feel very special. She pulled the stuffed animal closer to her body as he did, realizing that it probably wasn’t a good time to demand to hold his hand again since he was carrying all the stuff but also wanting to regardless.

So, she devised her own little plan. Looking around at the little stands in the area they were in, she thought about what they might be able to see next. “So much to do, so little time,” she muttered a little. She had to admit that she was a little bummed that they were not going to be able to visit every stand at the fair but she could always come back if work didn’t get busy. Then again, it wouldn’t be nearly as fun as it had been with Jeremy, she decided. Noticing a book that caught her eye, she moved over to a stand of what seemed to be used goods for sale, taking the opportunity to hold his hand and pull him along excitedly.

“Is that Mysteries of Magical Medicine!” she said enthusiastically, coming closer to inspect the cover. “This is,” she started, tapping her finger on the cover of the book before turning to Jeremy, “the most interesting book I’ve ever read. First book I read when I got interested in healing, it has all sorts of horrible cases that went unsolved,” she added, her eyes lighting up as she flipped through the pages absentmindedly. “Oh and those are neat,” she pointed in the direction of what seemed to be a decorative candle turning to him, “Are you and your mates the sort to decorate and such?” she wondered.

Jeremy barely heard her when she spoke, the sounds of the fair and the crowd getting louder around them as they headed back toward the main thoroughfare. But the thought he heard enough to get the gist of what she was saying at the wizard felt the exact same way. Too many things to do, and as much as he wished it wasn't so, eventually they would have to end the night and head on home. He was looking forward to the next time he could see her already. Hoping it would be soon, already plotting out equally fun things they could do. A part of him worried today had been too much fun, that he wouldn't be able to top it, but the more confident side of him pushed that thought down. Jeremy was a wealth of ridiculousness, he would always think of something fun for them to do if she agreed to another date.

He beamed when she took his hand and pulled him toward the rest of the fair, it surprised him and send little shooting sparks up his arm. It would be an understatement to say he had a lot of recent physical interaction with the female race. A serious understatement. Following behind he clung to her hand and then stopped when she did. Jeremy wasn't big on books but if she liked it then it had to be something special, right? He listened to her synopsis and his head tilted to the side a little, "Like gross stuff?" He asked before he could stop himself, his inner child shining right on through. Jeremy, like many of his chosen peers, was endlessly entertained by silly injuries and nasty wounds. Boys will be boys, right? Though he could never be a healer, honestly he was usually the one falling off the roof or getting magical tape permanently affixed to his face and in need of a healer. In that sense, they were like two sides of the same sickle. "Do you have a copy?" Jeremy followed up quickly with a little smile.

Turning to look at what she was pointing at Jeremy shrugged, he burned plenty of things at home but candles weren't usually in the inventory. "Uh, not really," he answered turning back to her with his smile back on his face. Quietly he considered the beads hanging in the doorway that had been tangled into a giant knot and never taken down, the piles of dirty dishes, and the sign that said 'Will Work for Nachos' in the hall. "I mean unless you count beer cans in the shower caddy and the pile of shoes we lost the matches for." Jeremy wasn't ashamed, but he also wasn't planning on bringing her home for a tour any time soon. His bedroom was awfully messy, a thick layer of discarded clotheslined the floor, seventeen half-full cups of water teetered dangerously off of the nightstand, and Merlin knew what was probably living underneath his bed. Honestly, Jeremy if a clean room was a prerequisite for getting a girlfriend Jeremy would be single for life. "We do have a futon we call the Spare Bedroom though, so that is kind of fancy." He finished the thought with another laugh.

Picking up the candle with the hand that held both of their bags (because he hadn't let go of hers yet, and wasn't planning to). The bags clinked against some glassware on the table and knocked one of them over. It shattered when it hit the old stones of the street and Jeremy gave the witch behind the line of tables a sheepish smile. "I'll pay for that," he said softly like he had said it before (and he certainly had).

“Right, I suppose you shouldn’t read this with dinner or anything like that but very interesting, definitely worth a read,” she encouraged. It might have been unladylike to suggest a book that contained so many questionable things but she figured that it was worth reading, and to be fair it was directly related to her profession of choice. She might have been mild-mannered to most who knew her but deep down, Montserrat was still a very curious person who enjoyed learning new things, even if said things were considered strange or even gross  by the standards of the general population. “At my parent’s house,” she said with a smile, “I’ve always considered bringing it to my house but it seems a little out of place there, but I often flip through it when I’m visiting my parents,” she added.

It wasn’t an interesting detail about her life in the least bit but it was something that she wished to share with him. Montserrat felt a strong affinity to her home and life in Spain, something that she hoped she’d have the opportunity to show him in the future. It felt a little early to go as far as to say that she was ready for him to meet her parents but she did want him to experience something nice, in the same manner, that he had gone out of his way to show her something like the fair. After all, Jeremy could have just found a spot where they sat and spoke. She wouldn’t have minded either way but this felt thoughtful.

“Well I’m sure that the beer cans and pile of shoes add personality to the place,” she teased gently, trying to picture what his house might be like or how he lived with his roommates. Even if it sounded a little messy, there seemed to be a sense of fun to everything Jeremy was involved in. “You have a spare bedroom? Extremely fancy. When Joan comes over, he has to crash on the couch but to be fair, it isn’t terribly uncomfortable,” she added, taking a breath as soon as she heard the glassware fall on the floor before bursting out in laughter. It was obvious the woman wasn’t pleased with that but it was a careless mistake, she was sure.

Montserrat took a step back from the stand, pulling Jeremy back a bit as well, “This is probably a safer distance,” she added with a smile, shaking her wrist as soon as she felt the bracelet she had around it glow and vibrate slightly. It had been charmed to tell her when she was being called into the hospital but it was her day off. “Not now,” she muttered, the vibration only intensifying before she sighed. “Seems like I’m being summoned to St. Mungo’s, must be an emergency,” she said, her tone a bit disappointed but she held up her wrist as proof, hoping he didn’t think she was just trying to blow him off. “I’m really sorry, this literally never happens,” she added apologetically.

Jeremy hadn't meant to break the glass but once it had happened he was startled by it. He was always breaking things, always knocking things over and stepping on stuff, he wasn't exactly aware of his surroundings. He shrugged again, handing a few coins over to the lady behind the table and hoping she didn't scratch him with her long nails when she snatched them up. "Sorry," he said as Montserrat was tugging him to a safe distance. Silently he thanked her for it and then remembered something she had said about the spare room at his flat. "Oh no, it's just a futon crammed into the corner of the living room," Jere followed up with a light chuckle before getting distracted by the buzzing that was coming from her wrist.

Head tilted he inspected the little glowing bracelet as she explained what it meant and his smile turned into a slight frown. He tried to hide it, but he wasn't good at that sort of thing. Clearly disappointed that she had to run Jeremy didn't even consider the idea that she might have been faking it. That it could have been some elaborate ruse to get her out of date when it went south. Instead, he just pouted a little and then began to nod. "I'm sorry you have to go," Jeremy told her sincerely as they backed away from the stand, hands still intertwined. "But I understand."

He pushed through the crowd and led them back where they had come from to where the designated apparating zone was. Wizards were still popping in and out and he saw the little traffic signals telling them went to come and go from where they were walking. Busy places like this needed organization, otherwise Wizards tried to apparate to exactly the same place at the same place and two things could not occupy the same space. "Maybe we can see each other again? This week maybe?" He asked, not brave enough to look her in the eye in case she wanted to decline. He wouldn't have blamed her, she was a ten and he was like the letter H, not even on the same scale. She was still holding his hand though so he took that as a good sign as they arrived at the apparition pads.

“They’re just a few cups,” she said as soon as he apologized, not really taking into consideration how the woman might have protested differently. But Montserrat dealt with this sort of thing all the time with children and absolutely hated when parents became upset if their child committed a simple mistake as if they themselves had never had such a thing happen to them before. Not saying that Jeremy was a child by any means, but Montserrat found his mannerisms endearing and somewhat verging on innocent. She laughed a little as he explained what he meant, wondering if they had the extra futon because they invited guests over often. Montserrat was used to the parties her parents liked to host on a weekly basis, discussing life over wine and fancy meals in their patio into late into the night. The idea was nice, but the witch valued her personal space.

She looked up at him apologetically once again, she really did feel guilty for leaving but also knew that she wouldn’t be paged unless it was an emergency. “It’s the downside of this healing business,” she added, “never any time to do anything fun,” she smiled, “but really thank you so much, Jeremy, I had a lot of fun,” she confessed finally as they walked to the apparating zones. Montserrat did feel like she was dragging her feet a little on the way there, but the bracelet buzzed again, and it seemed to be doing it a little more urgently than before. She sighed internally; this sort of thing was just her luck.

But all was not lost, it seemed when he asked her a question and she turned to look at him a little surprised that he had asked her there in person. Montserrat noticed that he wasn’t looking at her so she wasn’t sure if that meant that he was obligated to say what he had or was simply feeling a little shy. Either way, it was an easy answer for her. “Oh absolutely, I would love to,” she said, reaching for her bag of fruits from him and holding on to her Kneazle in her arm. “Owl me any time you’d like, and I can rearrange my schedule, maybe we can try that pizza place I was telling you about? If you’d want to go, of course,” she added.

She looked up at him, feeling a little embarrassed suddenly with all of these people around them. “Jeremy, could you lean in a bit, there’s something—” she started, waiting for him to lean forward before she leaned in to kiss him, her lips lingering on his for a moment before pulling back, giving him a dimpled smile as she stepped back. “So pizza this week?” she said, trying to play her boldness off a little, “let me know, and we can do a bit more of that then too,” she added, referring to the kissing but in general all of the fun they had had on their first date, apparating almost immediately after that. And that was that, one of the more interesting first dates she had had in a long time.

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Walking with her Jeremy hadn't noticed the slow pace they had been headed in, he was never in much of a hurry to get anywhere (which was odd considering he was always late) and even if he had noticed he wouldn't have changed speeds. Jeremy wanted to spend as much time with her as she would permit him. Including setting up a tentative next date right now which was apparently a big first date no-no. He had never had this good of a first date before, and he wasn't about to follow anyone else's rules, not when it was going so well. He needed to check in with her and make sure she wanted to go on a second one as much as she did. Though in hindsight he supposed it would have been easier on her if he had owled the invite instead, so she would have to tell him no straight to his face... for a moment he worried about it, his lip between his teeth, but then she responded.

And he quite nearly skipped the last steps to the apparition zone. "Really?!" He said quickly, clearing his throat with a shy laugh and continuing in a deeper voice, "I mean, cool cool." Jeremy didn't hide the excited smile that reached all the way up to his eyes though, why would he hide that, he was excited! So, so excited! "Yeah that would be fun, I will owl you soon." He promised and he meant it. Jeremy didn't really have a "schedule to clear" but he wanted to check in on when the next Trivia night was so he didn't accidentally double book. And the Fantasy Quidditch meeting, of course.

Leaning down when she started talking Jeremy assumed there was a leaf or a bug stuck in his hair (or gum, didn't matter that neither of them had been chewing gum, not everything made sense) and waited. He was so used to things getting stuck in his wild mane of red locks it was commonplace now, and it helped him be completely blindsided by what she was really planning. He saw her leaning toward him, instinctively closing his eyes as he thought she was about to detangle something from his curls, and then felt her lips on his. Jeremy kissed her back lightly, his face breaking into a wild smile as she pulled away. The dopey look on his face was ridiculous, he felt giddy and electric and Woah. "Yeah, that sounds really fun," he replied with a chuckle and a bit of a blush. Before he could say anything else (and ruin the moment) she took a step back and disapparated with a light Pop! sound and Jeremy blinked a few times. He needed a minute, his mind was racing, before he was able to step on to the little X and apparate back to the flat.

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