A wonderful night

[Aimee Darkhart]

Aimee missed Jace. It was as simple as that. The once inseparable couple barely saw each other anymore. Jace was too busy being a quidditch player and though the blond was admittedly jealous that his team saw more of him than she did, she couldn't hate the man for following his dreams. She was following hers too, it was just that hers involved more sitting around waiting for inspiration to strike. Nevertheless, she loved Jace dearly and she knew beneath the constant play-by-play speeches about match that he loved her just as much, hopefully. Aimee sighed and wandered over to the bathroom across the hall. Peering at her reflection she pulled her hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ears and took a good hard look at her face. Searching for something. Recently her mind had toyed with the idea that maybe the reason Jace wasn't around much was because of her. Maybe she wasn't pretty enough to be a quidditch players girlfriend? Maybe she wore too much make up? Were her eyes to spaced apart? She felt her paranoia creep back to the surface. "No." she muttered firmly turning away from the mirror, "He's busy, he's on tour." she said making her way to sit down again when she noticed a familiar owl sitting on her writing desk. Hurrying over she pulled the letter from it's leg and sunk down into the chair to read her lovers familiar scrawl.​

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Dearest Aimee,
Meet me at the park by the lake at 7pm. Dress nice.
Love Jace xx

Squealing with excitement Aimee leapt up and ran over to her closet and pulled the door open. Taking in the clothes in front of her she pulled out her favourite dress, pulling off the sweatpants and tshirt she had been wearing she slipped the dress on. Smiling at her reflection on the back of the wardrobe door the blond glanced at her watch and laughed, she still had an hour to kill. Walking back to the bathroom she began fixing her hair, plaiting sections and clipping them back. She and Jace hadn't been on a date in a long while, it was so out of the blue, it was so exciting. She couldn't help but wonder why now, what was so important that they had to meet today in an hours time? Maybe he was going to be promoted. To what? He was a professional quidditch player already. Maybe the captain? Aimee grinned, that would be a lovely thing to have happen. Finishing her make up she went back to her bedroom and slipped on some matching shoes. Checking the time again it was almost 7pm. Turning on the spot she apparated to a secluded spot a few metres away from the lake, in the shade of the park. The park was deserted apart from a few ducks splashing in the lake. Spotting Jace's back she saw he was setting something up on a picnic blanket, creeping up behind him she wrapped her arms around his waist and planted a kiss on his cheek. "What's all this then?" she murmured in his ear so happy to see him.​

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[Jacen Venturino]

Jace Venturino could barely remember what the love of his life looked like. They had been pulled apart by commitments and he was beside himself most of the time. He missed her. But Quidditch was something he had wanted to do since he was a child. He had planned his entire existence around it. He would sneak out late at night to play quidditch through school with his friends - other getting in trouble because of it. He didn't care. Detentions came and left quicker than he blinked when he thought about the game. Aimee was someone he could confide in whenever he need struck, through all the problems he had gone through with his family, some uncomfortable revelations and even the distance between him and Aimee when they first started dating, nothing seemed to really break them. But time was such a slow, cunning character. It had been slowly ripping them apart and Jace had not even realised it, until he started writing to a young fan who was lost. Then it really struck him. The blonde himself was lost. So, when the season had finally ended for his team, Jace was ready to do something extra special for the love of his life. He hadn't seen her in Merlin knew how long. He wanted to see her, and he had everything planned. But he had to contact Aimee first - and hope that she did not think him unfaithful. With his owl on his arm and his very short, very simple letter tied to its foot, he looked at his owl sternly. "Now, make sure you don't get this wrong. I'm counting on you to do this." His owl was... slightly unreliable. But, he was sure his owl would get it right this time. Well, he hoped.

Jace had everything perfected, well, as much as nature would allow. On the back of the letter he had given instructions, just to make sure she would not be lost. Everything was set out nicely. Some magic candles, pumpkin pasties and other sweets and cakes. He even had some butterbeer. He had considered firewhiskey, but decided that he didn't want to drink the night away, but he wanted something equally as nice. He was dressed in a simple suit, dark blue, with a stripy tie. He never really could get the whole formal thing down pat. Aimee was way better at that sort of thing. Sometimes, he even forgot how to do his tie. He had to get a teammate to do his. Now that everything was set to near-perfection, Jace took a step back and admired it for a bit. One particular thing he was proud of was the series of fluffy pink things in the middle - an ornament of sorts. It was a sort of in-side joke between him and Aimee. He always wore something pink and fluffy when he played. He didn't care abut what others thought. It was a testament to Aimee. He ran his fingers through his hair again. His hair was okay, though it wasn't combed or anything, it got a good figure-comb through. That was all it needed. He grinned and turned his head when he felt a set of arms wrap themselves around his waist and the still familiar smell of Aimee's perfume. He could never forget that. He gestured to the table. "Oh, this? Nothing," he spun around to face her and rested his forehead against hers. "Fancy meeting you here, Miss Darkhart."
​

 

[Aimee Darkhart]

Aimee was awestruck by the spread that Jace had produced. The flickering candles were casting shadows over the delicious looking food. It was beautiful and so romantic, she didn't know he had it in him. "If this is nothing I would love to see it when it was something." she said wrapping her arms around his neck so she could pull him close and bury her face in his neck. It felt so good to finally hold him after being apart for so long. Pulling back she kissed him gently savouring the feeling of his lips on hers. "Ah but you invited me good sir, surely you shouldn't be surprised by my graceful arrival?" she countered with a grin. Looking him over she noted the swanky suit and tie, a wonky tie at that. "Who tied this a monkey?" she giggled reaching out to straighten the tie, hoping that it wasn't him. Fixing it Aimee smiled and leant forward to steal a chaste kiss from her love before slipping from his arms and taking a closer look at the table. The cakes looked divine and she couldn't stop herself swiping a tiny cupcake and quickly sticking it in her mouth before she could stop herself. It tasted heavenly. Suddenly realising that this wasn't considered good manners she swallowed so quickly she almost choked. Coughing she had to reach for a butterbeer to clear her airways. This wasn't going the way she planned. She was ruining a romantic evening. "Sorry" she muttered blushing scarlet.

Aimee tried to move away from what had just happened by studying the rest of the table more closely, she laughed when she spotted the pile of pink fluffy things in the center of the table, she couldn't believe that he remembered and inside joke from when they were 17, "You remembered!" she said with a grin, "That's so cute!" she tried to work out what they were from just looking at them but they just looked like pink fluffy shapes from where she was standing. Reaching out she picked up the largest on and examined it, it was a large fluffy toy of some description, though what animal it was she couldn't be sure. Setting it back down she picked up the next one, she couldn't work out what it was at all. Confused she turned it upside down to see if she could make more sense of it, however when she did so something slipped out from the fluffiness and clunked onto the table. Frowning and worried that she had broken what ever the pink thing was she began searching the table to find the thing but she couldn't see anything on the table that made sense. Turning to face Jace she smiled sheepishly, "I think I broke the pink fluffy thing, did you see what it was that fell off?" she asked him. He would know right? He did buy it after all. The blond felt like crap, first she had choked then she had broken something that Jace had bought as a reminder of them first getting together, she was ruining everything. Feeling utterly embarrassed for making a complete fool out of herself she went to sit down on the bench, well she tried. It seemed that where she thought the bench was behind her it was actually many inches to the left so she missed entirely. Squealing she reached out and grabbed the tablecloth, forgetting completely that it wasn't attached to the table and managed to pull the entire romantic get up all over her lap. Cakes and butterbeer tumbled all over her dress staining it all different colours. Horrified and dripping she dropped her head to hands and began to cry. "I'm so sorry I ruined everything. It's no wonder you don't want to spend time with me. Maybe I should just go home?" she hiccupped, not even wanting to look at Jace after making such an idiot out of herself. She had ruined everything​

 

[Jacen Venturino]

Merlin Aimee looked beautiful tonight. He grinned as she spoke and rested his chin on her shoulder. It felt good the hold her again, he truly had missed her. But he understood that she couldn't just pack up all the time and go off with him. She needed stability, and his profession would not provide that. He was okay with that. He trusted her, and knew that she trusted him. It felt good to not be arguing with her, or missing her. Everything was just going to perfectly. And after their kiss, which ended much too soon for his liking, he returned to grinning. "Me invite such a lovely lady, such as yourself, here?" He tightened his hold of her and swayed slightly. "People would talk, Miss Darkhart. And the tie... yes, well you are rather close to the assumption of a monkey tying it." He winked as she fixed his tie. How women seemed to always be able to do that astounded him. Did every girl on the planet just take a boyfriend class where they learnt this stuff? Or did all women secretly wear ties and bowties in their spare time? He had yet to see any of his female friends, or Aimee do such things. So they much learn it genetically through birth. He turned around, still holding her hand, as she seemed to examine the table. "Is everything to your liking?" his face dropped as she began choking on one of the cakes. His heart skipped a beat and he quickly grabbed some butterbeer to help her wash it down, but he was three seconds from attempting to accio that cake from her throat it that didn't help. He wasn't entirely sure what that'd do, but probably wouldn't kill her. It was the first thing he thought of. He kissed her cheek. "Nothing to worry about, what's important is that you're okay." He had special things planned, and he was just relieved that she was okay.

Jace nodded as she looked at the pink, fluffy things. "Of course I did, that incident is forever burned into my mind." He watched nervously as she examined them closer. Her surprise was in one of these, the last thing he wanted was for her to - Sh!t she picked up the special one. With lightning reflexes, Jace swiped for the small box that fell from the fluffy thing and pressed it into his pocket. He shook his head at her sheepish smile. "It doesn't matter, we can find it later. Why don't we sit?" He gestured to the chairs with a gentleman-like wave of his hand and waited for her to sit. However, when she did, she ended up taking the entire table with her. Jace's jaw dropped. Everything on the table was now on Aimee - and she was crying. Blaming herself, as she often did. He shook his head and scooped her up in his arms. She was never that heavy, not that he thought, anyway. He circled around and kissed her cheek, before leaning against the now bare table. "Don't cry," he soothed, snuggling her. "How about we just get rid of all this romantic stuff, since we're both awkward, go get some Hershey's Kisses, curl up on the couch," he gently placed her beside him on the table, and knelt down in front of her. He pulled out the box with Aimee's Ring, and held it to her. There was also his ring, because while he was out shopping for Aimee's ring, he thought he might as well get his own pretty ring to wear. The amount of times he was going to wear this were probably going to be few, but it was for fun. "And get married? Because that would make this the most perfect night."​

 

[Aimee Darkhart]

Aimee began picking pieces of soggy cake off her dress. This wasn't how she had seen the night going at all. Her tendency to get flustered and clumsy around Jace had completely ruined everything. Her love had probably spent hours getting everything as perfect as it had just looked and now she was wearing it. It was no wonder that Jace enjoyed playing quidditch so much, even she wanted to get away from herself right now. She wasn't cut out to be a good girlfriend she couldn't do this graceful romantic stuff to save her life and now Jace probably hated her. Being picked up by the love of her life instantly made her feel slightly better, despite being soggy and still covered in cake Aimee snuggled her head into his chest, mostly to hider her tomato red face. Considering Jace's offer of just heading home she couldn't help but smile albeit briefly. How did he know exactly what she wanted before she had even thought of it? She guessed that maybe it had something to do with them being soul mates - she hadn't believed in any of that rubbish until Jace had come along. It seemed like such utter crap until he had come barrelling into her life and completely sweeping her off her feet. He had stuck by her throughout all of her crazy family dramas and she had never doubted for a second that he loved her as much as she loved him.

Nodding the blonde smiled, "That sounds like a better idea then trying to salvage a night I have completely ruined." Aimee said with a watery laugh. The soggy dress was starting to get cold and she shivered, pulling out her wand she quickly dried her dress off. Feeling instantly warmer Aimee stored her wand away again. Looking around she sighed, the park was a mess, however before she could stand to help clear things up so they could head home Jace was suddenly down on one knee in front of her. Gasping Aimee sat transfixed at the ring that the blond had just produced from his pocket. It was beautiful, he was beautiful, it was all beautiful, well except for her, she was still covered in a romantic picnic gone wrong. Not that, that mattered anymore, the only thing that mattered was the gorgeous man in front of her that despite everything still wanted to marry her. She felt her eyes mist over when an overwhelming wave of happiness and love washed over her. Slipping off the table grinning Aimee pulled Jace to his feet and kissed him hard on the mouth. "Yes!" she cried offering her left hand to him so he could put the ring on her finger. "Yes, yes, a million times yes!" she added positively glowing. Never in a million years had she ever thought that she would ever get married and yet suddenly her mind was flooded with images of white dresses and flowers and - pulling herself back to the present however she kissed Jace again, "I love you so much Jace" she whispered, feeling happier that she ever had before.​