Under pressure

[Jon Phillips]

'Date' was barely a word in Jon's vocabulary, let alone something in his reality. So the idea of going on a date was as foreign as dressing to impress as he had done that evening. It was so foreign to the professor that he did not know how he should handle himself or even accessorize his outfit, and was forced to wear a scarf of all things not for the sake of being fashionable, but because of the intrusive looking toothpaste stain underneath the collar of his navy shirt caused by nerves and sloppiness while he was brushing his teeth. Clearly he could not look after expensive clothing, not then and not ever. Regardless of his dilemma as he got ready, he wanted to impress Bonnie so he squared his shoulders as he walked to the restaurant they organized to meet at. Attempting to put all ill thoughts and any worries of how the night would play out into the back of his mind so he could have a good time and get to know the red head that gushed over his dog the first time they met better than he already did.

As he walked, still attempting to act confident, the thought that she was only interested in his dog did cross his mind. After all it was the reason she talked to him in the first place. In addition to that, the thought had occurred to him that his feelings of attraction and interest towards Bonnie might not have been reciprocated, and all the effort he put in to impress her that night would be in vain. That was of course a worst case scenario and he was just as likely to be the girl's friend rather than seeing nothing come from his interactions with her, but he could not help but worry despite his attempts to remain positive about this date as he approached the restaurant's entrance way. As he waited for Bonnie to meet with him, he nervously played with one of the tasseled ends of his woolen scarf while reassuring himself that he would be fine, that the night would also be fine and that he wouldn't let what happened in previous relationships affect him. Bonnie was kind, different to any other girl Jon had met. He had no reason to think anything otherwise.
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[Bonnie Fergusson]

Bonnie hadn't been on a date in a while and boy was she nervous, she had gone through the process of tying her hair up and then back down for a good fifteen minutes before finally settling on down, letting the straight ginger hair just cascade easily down her shoulders. The young woman had picked out an outfit, that she thought was neither too smart nor too casual, an easy compliment to her fair skin and vibrant hair. Finally at the end of it, she did feel ready for it. Going on this date with Jon definitely seemed right, his dog had been more than adorable and he had been cute and sweet. She hadn't thought she'd do the dating thing while in New Zealand, she wasn't looking to settle down, since moving back to Scotland in her mind was inevitable, it was just a matter of when, and of course she could not ask anyone to move back with her when they were settled here in this country, but regardless of that, she had decided to give it a try and he seemed like the kind of friendly, easy going person that would just compliment her life. His brother was an odd person to work with, he was very proper and polite, very organised in a way she didn't think Jon was.

Bonnie was finally heading to the restaurant, making her way down the winding streets to where she was meeting him, the entrance to the restaurant, she could feel her hands sweating slightly, the nervousness building in her, dating was not always fun and she wanted it to be, if only for the chance to see his dog again. Eventually she spotted him stood out in front of where they had arranged to meet and walked a little quicker over to him, waving a little as she approached, "Hey," she greeted him her usual accented manner, "You look lovely," she told him as it was the first thing that popped into her head, before motioning to the restaurant, "After you!" she wasn't quite sure of herself, whether to take his hand or to just let them head in, she didn't want to scare him away too quickly, "Hows Bongo?" she then added, very interested in how the lovely dog was doing.
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[Jon Phillips]

Luckily for Jon, the tassels on his scarf were enough to distract him from his anxious thoughts and he gradually began to feel calmer as he waited for Bonnie. When he heard footsteps looming closer, he looked up to see none but the familiar red head herself, and he in turn stood from the wall, his shoulders squaring and his lips curving upwards into a smile. His anxious thoughts suddenly reappeared at full volume, causing a shiver to run down his spine and nerves to tickle uncomfortably in his gut. He attempted to ignore all of them as he returned Bonnie's greeting and nodded to her outfit. "Hey! You look lovelier." His words were honest, at least in his opinion because Bonnie was gorgeous in every respect. Almost too gorgeous to be going on a date with someone like him. But he of course wasn't going to say that as it would put a downer on the rest of the night according to Samuel. Samuel assured him how he should act as he was getting ready, saying that showing any insecurities would make this date awkward for the two of them. Awkwardness was the last thing Jon wanted so he adhered to his brother's every word.

Jon shook his head and cleared his throat, taking the lead and walking into the restaurant as he answered Bonnie's question about Bongo. "He's going great. As fluffy as ever and as slobbery as ever." There was a chuckle to his words. "How are you enjoying working for my brother?" Jon asked as the pair were quickly met by a hostess and seated at a table for two. Jon once again followed Samuel's advice and pulled out Bonnie's chair for her before she sat down. He was more relieved and thankful than ever to have an older brother that knew the way in which the customs of these dates worked as Jon was as clueless as anything. He wanted to impress Bonnie, at least enough to be able to walk away from that night with a friendship as she was fun to be around, and a seemingly kind and genuine person. Jon promptly sat in his own chair across from Bonnie, picking up the menu and scanning it as he asked "Does anything on this menu sound good to you?"​

 

[Bonnie Fergusson]

Bonnie blushed lightly at the compliment that he paid her, she had expected him to say something guys usually did at the first date, but regardless of that she found herself blushing lightly, and smiling at him, for some reason this felt a little different. She couldn't help but glance him over once more as she followed into the restaurant behind him, she couldn't help how internally nervous she felt about this night, she knew it would be fine, in the previous time they'd talk there had never been an issue, so why now? However this didn't stop her being nervous about it, and she wasn't sure she even wanted anything, getting into a relationship with someone got quickly complicated and her long term didn't really include staying and she didn't want to get too into anything, or not tell Jon about the fact she didn't intend to stay in the country and yet she didn't want to say anything, she didn't want to stop anything before it had the chance to try really, and he seemed like the nicest person she'd met since getting to New Zealand, which to Bonnie was the best thing possible. For so much of her time was focused on her young brother it was nice that it wasn't about him for some reason or another.

Hearing about the man's dog brought a smile to her face, it had been such an incredible dog and Bonnie had honestly fallen in love with it, it had taken all of two seconds of the dog looking at her, she was therefore pleased to hear that Bongo was doing well, this was vital information to her. At his question the woman laughed lightly, not in a bad way but as she took her seat in front of Jon, thanking him for pulling out the chair for her, "It is good fun, a little different from the last store I worked in," Bonnie replied honestly, "The structure and order is amazing, I never liked when stores are too messy," Bonnie smiled at him as she spoke, knowing of course that since this was her boss' brother then she had to be kind when speaking of him, but the good thing was that Bonnie had nothing bad to say about him, "I'm exceedingly thankful for the job," Bonnir was half thanking him for the job she now held, as she finally glanced at the menu, her eyes settling on something, and she showed it to Jon, "This seems lovely but I think it's pretty spicy, and I don't do well with spice," she continued to look at the menu, "You see anything good?"
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[Jon Phillips]

Jon nodded and smiled as Bonnie began to talk about how it was to work with Samuel. He half expected the red head to complain about Sam's pretentious, almost compulsive way of organizing things but she instead threw him a curve ball, complimenting his neatness instead. It surprised Jon but he was glad she managed to get along with Sam as he wouldn't wish the burden of having to deal with Samuel's particular thoughts about everything on anyone's shoulders but his own. "It's actually really great to hear that you're enjoying it." Jon said as he closed his menu, placing it on the table as he looked back towards Bonnie, his tone of voice completely genuine. Even he couldn't handle his brother's habits sometimes in spite of how much he did love the guy like a twin. It was relief for Jon to hear that Bonnie wasn't burdened by Sam's specific tastes when she was spending so much time in a small, enclosed shop with him.

Jon's attention wavered as Bonnie mentioned something on the menu, showing it to him as she commented on the spices in he dish. He wholeheartedly agreed but was unsure of how to answer so he simply nodded, saying "I can't really deal with spice either." in response to her. He then picked up his own menu again and scanned it's contents, not finding anything delicious in particular. He honestly wasn't very hungry because the nerves in his belly were overtaking any other feeling in his body. To answer Bonnie's question he shook his head, admitting that he wasn't hungry in the slightest. "I'm not really hungry, to be honest. I kind of just feel like drinking because I'm so nervous about this date." He said, almost feeling Sam roll his eyes at his actions as they weren't typically acceptable for a date, but Jon was never the kind of person to understand nor adhere to social customs for very long. His attention then moved to the waiter as they conveniently chose to return to the table at that moment. Jon looked between Bonnie and the waiter, ordering himself a couple of drinks and then wondering if Bonnie felt like doing the same, or if he had ruined the date entirely. "You game for starting with a few drinks?" He asked the red head in an attempt to find out her thoughts. ​

 

[Bonnie Fergusson]

Bonnie was of course extremely pleased to be enjoying where she was working, it was a little different from where she had worked before but she understood the need to keep a shop organised and appreciated the work that her boss put into it to make it that way, "It's good work," she assured him with a little smile, she honestly meant it, and it was a good type of work for her to be doing while she was in the country looking out for her brother. It was a good income, nothing too strenuous and it was fair. She couldn't imagine working in a place that wasn't like that, something terrible that she didn't enjoy, of course she could always change, but Bonnie was the type to get settled in a place and stick with it until it was time to leave. The job she had gotten that fateful day when she'd first met Jon had been a godsend really, she was just so happy with it. The red head smiled at him genuinely feeling nothing but simple happiness at this date, having honestly not expected to go on a date at any point during her stay this was quite something and she was nervous about how it might go.

Bonnie just smiled in response, "I go as red as my hair and my nose just runs like a tap," she told him grinning slightly, a little blush of embarrsement on her cheeks, "I do like spicy things, I just don't deal well," She looked to him as he began to say that he wasn't overly hungry, and she nodded, it was fair for someone to just not be hungry and she definitely was happy to drink, "Drinks!" She agreed with a small laugh as he asked if she was game, turning to the waiter and getting a couple of drinks also, a straight whisky, preferably scottish if they had it, and a double dark rum and coke before then turning back to Jon, "What's the worst alcohol you've ever tried?" Bonnie asked him, closing her own menu and after adjusting a few stray strands of her ginger hair, meeting his gaze. The scot was definitely curious about what his answer might be to it, "Can be an alcohol you once drank too much of and now can no longer drink without wanting to vomit," Bonnie clarified easily, leaning in slightly to better pay attention to his answer.
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[Jon Phillips]

The image of Bonnie turning as red as her hair while her nose dripped profusely was one comical enough to cause Jon to chuckle. Both at how animated it seemed and how well he could relate to such a reaction to spice. Though his hair was far from a red colour he understood too well the hot flushes and clearing of sinuses that spicy food gave him, not to mention the burning of his throat and tongue to boot. He chuckled again, holding back the urge to laugh as he nodded and said "I'm the exact same." It was the reason Jon usually avoided spice at all costs even in small doses despite enjoying it in a weird way. Still, he wasn't ready to embarrass himself more than he had already that evening, and he decided against ordering something spicy or any form of food in general by the time the idea of drinking his first date anxieties away popped into his mind.

He was glad at Bonnie's enthusiastic reaction to drinking, relieved and alternately excited to see how the night would play out after each of them had some alcohol in their systems and the ever apparent butterflies in Jon's stomach were able to be kept at bay. Jon smiled wide as Bonnie ordered strong liquor. They clearly had the same thought patterns on how to deal with the pretenses of a first date though Jon could not help but continually worry that Bonnie's enthusiasm to drink was caused by something on his part. That he could have been as insufferable as he believed he was or his words weren't appropriate in spite of his many efforts to impress her. Regardless of his insecurities he sat forward in his chair, continuing to smile wide as he rested his elbows carelessly on the table and answered her question. "There's actually a few kinds of alcohol I can't stand." He began, momentarily figuring out where to start before he continued. "My mum is French, right? So she always has wine in the house. One time when I was a teenager I snuck a bottle of it with my friends and it was disgusting. I can't stand the smell or taste of it now but it was all we had access to at the time." It was a true fact and Jon had not kept it a secret. In fact he and his mother had laughed about his distaste for wine on more than one occasion. "I also can't stand fire whiskey, for similar reasons. My dad always kept some in his den and one time when I was around ten I found it and downed a whole lot thinking it was apple juice. Haven't been able to drink it since." He laughed at his own misfortune as he sat back slightly in his chair, returning the question to Bonnie out of sheer curiosity. "What about you?" He asked, hoping she had interesting stories to tell. Jon was sure that he would find her words interesting, no matter what she responded with as there wasn't anything about Bonnie that didn't interest Jon. At least so far in their interactions and on that first date.
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[Bonnie Fergusson]

Bonnie couldn't help but laugh lightly as Jon claimed he was the same, she could definitely see that he would be, but it was nice that should they both try it they would end up with similar things happening to them, it almost made her want to get something spicy just so they would go through it together, it wouldn't be the best thing to do she was sure but it would be damn fun. The red head just shook those thoughts from her mind, flicking a stray strand of hair from her eyes and letting her gaze settle once more upon the man in front of her, her fingers lightly touched the cutlery in front of her, smiling at him in an almost growing nervous manner, she liked him, even from these few moments within the restaurant there was just something appealing about him to her, he wasn't what she had really expect, so she seemed genuinely relieved when he suggested drinks, knowing that they would help ease these nerves that she was feeling. If anything they would help her feel a little less like if she spent time with him something serious would come about, drinks in her mind kept things in formal.

As he sat forward in his chair, Bonnie did too, just leaning in like he was to better listen to what was being said by the man, his worst encounter with alcohol and she couldn't help but hang on to his every word that he was saying, grinning easily at the story and finding his distaste in wine a little funny because of it, "Only access to wine, that's horrible," she couldn't help but find it funny, and then as he went on she covered her mouth laughing lightly about the fact he had accidentally drank firewhiskey thinking it juice, "I guess for me I was just out of school, celebrating as you do, my parents have a large estate near Hogwarts in Scotland, so we just went back there and we took several bottles of my mum's peach schnapps, and a few bottles of gin," Bonnie told him grinning with a little laugh as she thought back on it, she could still remember the way it had felt, couldn't stand the smell, "It was horrible," Bonnie laughed lightly, "I can't get within 100 metres of peach schnapps and I can't drink gin," at this their drinks arrived. She took the ones for her and brought them close, raising one glass to him, "Cheers" before sipping it lightly. She brushed a hand through her hair as the bitterness went down her throat. The red head looked back at Jon and just grinned happily, "I do hope you can stand normal whiskey, if not, this might not work out," Bonnie told him lightly not obviously meaning in any other way than a joke.
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[Jon Phillips]

Jon listened intently to Bonnie's story, moving his hand to hold his head up as he chuckled and smiled politely through it however he eventually scrunched his nose at the idea of peach schnapps. Mixing fruit flavors with alcohol was a no go in his mind as it always reminded him of the fire whiskey he once thought was apple juice, but regardless of his own discrepancies her story sounded terrible. Her experiences were different to his own but still similar as he could relate to how much she avoided gin and peach schnapps to how he avoided wine and fire whiskey. He could nearly taste and smell wine he more he thought about how much he hated the stuff but his thoughts were thankfully interrupted by the waiter bringing them their drinks. Jon quickly picked up the first drink of vodka and lemonade he ordered, sipping from it to help wash down the bad taste the mere thought of wine left in his mouth.

"Cheers." He then returned, sipping again from his glass and chuckling as Bonnie mentioned regular whiskey. Luckily he could somewhat handle it in comparison to fire whiskey. It was Samuel's drink of choice so he had fortunately built up some sort of tolerance to the smell of it around his house. At least enough tolerance to keep himself from wanting to vomit after being near the stuff for more than a few minutes. Jon sipped again from his drink, chuckling as he said "Regular whiskey is less disgusting." as he removed the glass from his lips. He was drinking a little too quickly than he knew he should have, but he wanted the date to go well as much as he wanted to drown his nerves with the buzz of the alcohol and the false sense of confidence it gave him. He didn't give his actions and the effects it would have later in the night as he sipped again from his glass and returned his eyes to Bonnie, smiling at her again as he asked "What's your favourite book?" to keep the conversation going. He couldn't think of anything else to ask in that moment so he settled for something simple that would help him learn more about her as he assumed it was what he should be doing on this date.​

 

[Bonnie Fergusson]

Bonnie raised the glass with him and smiled fondly at him as they toasted and drank, she sipped happily on the bitter drink and let a small shudder take over her before she met his gaze again. It was given her heritage that she asked about it, though it was mostly a joke she'd never hold it over his head that he didn't like or couldn't drink whiskey, it was of course a preference, it was just her father who might like less of him because of it, which really for Bonnie was an odd thought to pop into her head considering she didn't intend to have anything serious with Jon even if this went well, she liked him but she wasn't going to be staying in New Zealand for longer than was necessary and considering that he was a professor at the school she imagined that he was going to be around for far longer. Bonnie just sipped the liquid while keeping her gaze on him, "Good, I can work with that," she joked with a light tone and expression. Of course it would be fine, but humour could go a long way.

At his question, she paused, clearly taking a moment to think, "Muggle or magical?" she asked before thinking about both regardless, she knew that she had always enjoy magical children's stories, but know what she liked in terms of muggle books, they were just different from the books that she'd read that were magical, "I'd always like the stories of Beedle the Bard for magical, I know they're all pretty childish, but there's just something so compelling about the tale of the three brothers," the woman told him with a small as she thought of the way her mother had used to tell the story, when it came to muggle book, "Honestly when it comes to muggle books, it's hard to think of one I could say was a favourite, mostly it just depends on what I've recently read," she took her glass back into her hand, "I know they're really dated and in a lot of them the main character is really misogynistic but I've always loved the Bond novels," She admitted using a hand to cover her face slightly in slightly feigned embarrassment over that being her favourite, it was more the stories of spy's and danger that appealed to her but she knew that the character of Bond wasn't great, especially in how he treated women. She gave a small laugh, "I like to think I have high tastes but I really don't, but what about you, favourite book?"
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[Jon Phillips]

Jon continued to lean on the table as he listened to Bonnie and began to play with the black straw in his drink with an absense of anything better to do with his hands. He knew they would likely start shaking otherwise and that was the last thing he wanted to happen as despite ordering drinks and eagerly sipping on them with the intention to get drunk, he did still care about the date and more so about impressing Bonnie on that night. He momentarily stopped playing with the straw so he could sip generiously from his glass again, then resuming the absent minded action when Bonnie spoke about her favourite books.

He too, enjoyed both muggle and magical books but he more so enjoyed films as they were a form of storytelling that required less effort to understand. Nodding, Jon continued to smile before drinking from his glass again and finally formulating a response when Bonnie mentioned the bond novels. "I haven't read the novels, but the films aren't too bad if you look past the way women are portrayed." Jon said, smiling at Bonnie who seemed to feign embarrassment in the way she covered her face, but Jon thought it was endearing, both the taste in novels and her body language which only became more apparent the further he sipped from his drink. "It's not a book but I love basically every batman comic." He chuckled at himself before returning the subject to James Bond to distract from his dorkiness. "You know what, though? I've always wanted to see a female bond series." The idea of such a series ruffling the feathers of misogynists in the same way that the female reboot of the ghost busters series decades ago did seemed not only interesting, but hilarious. Jon smiled at such a thought as he once again paused his hands to sip from his drink. "Anyway, how's your drink tasting?" He then asked, thinking his own drink was growing furthermore delicious the more he sipped from it.​

 

[Bonnie Fergusson]

Bonnie nodded her head, "I haven't seen most of the films," the girl replied with a little smile there were very many occasions in which she did watch muggle films, they didn't have anything really like that in the house and it took far more preparations than it would for people with more muggle supplies, but the books were easier to get, they were easier for Bonnie to have and she did thoroughly enjoy each one even though they weren't the best kind of books to show how woman were treated, but as Bonnie liked to reason, she at least understood why it was wrong and would call out people in her life who were while still enjoying the books themselves. But Bonnie was glad that it didn't seem like Jon was going to be too harsh about her enjoyment of them and she relaxed her body language and took the glass and lightly sipped the alcohol inside. She was a little surprised that he liked comic books, and specifically Batman, but she found it endearing regardless. She didn't think there would be many men who on what was a first date would really admit to having comics and specifically batman as their favourite.

"When I was sixteen I went as Poison Ivy for Halloween, because of the," and she motioned to her hair, with a little grin, "I don't really read comics admittedly, but I needed costume ideas and I have the hair. Who is your favourite batman villan then?" Bonnie's knowledge of the comics were limited to the few she'd seen and the few she'd heard about, but Bonnie wanted to show an interest in them, since if Jon liked all of them, then it was surely something she should want to find interesting too. The woman nodded her head as she continued listening to him, a female version of James Bond, "That would be amazing," she admitted, there was no lack of female spy novels but the prestige that surround Bond and those books in that way would be read by countless people, "I feel like I would make a great female Bond," she told him taking a sip of the drink as she said it. Of course Bonnie had little interest in being in a muggle film but it was an interesting thought. She looked down at her drink and gave a little shrug, "Alcohol's alcohol," she replied, "It's getting me drunk so I can't complain. Yours?"
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