More Than That

Chapter 27

Only a few minutes into her and Theodore's journey to Hogsmeade, Sage immediately felt... underwhelmed. She didn't feel the same excitement and eagerness from him as she knew was radiating off of her and she didn't sense that nervous and electric spark in the air that was normally present on first dates. It was off-putting, to say the least.

She refused to let the oddness diminish any of her excitement though - she wasn't going to let her worries ruin the date. Guys were like that, never showing emotion and trying to be all tough all the time. Sage had grown up with brothers - she would have been stupid to get too upset over lack of emotion.

He could have also just been nervous, Merlin knew that she was.

Instead of letting it affect her, she brought up another topic as they entered the streets of Hogsmeade in hopes to spark a conversation that would at least give her the slightest hint that he was excited to be there with her. She wasn't all too thrilled by the results, instead a bit let-down while he sauntered through the town carelessly, his hands buried in his pockets and an unimpressed look on his face, cool as ever.

When they finally reached their apparent destination, he didn't even hold the door open for her. She hated that that was as shocking as it was - she was a strong woman who could open her own damn door, thank you very much - but it was. She had always been a sucker for a gentleman and apparently, that was not what she was getting.

Sage scanned the restaurant as they walked over to the hostess, her eyes wide as she recognized where they were. It was the fanciest place in Hogsmeade, in the town and surrounding cities as well probably, and she had never dreamed of dining there. She started to worry about her attire as she looked around at all the poshly dressed witches and wizards seated in the dimly lit restaurant, holding their forks in what she assumed was the correct way and gracefully spreading their napkins over her lap. She looked down at her dress with a frown. What kind of person didn't tell their date how to dress when they were going somewhere so fancy?

The thing was, Sage might have been impressed by a gentleman, but she was never impressed by money. She never had been and never would be.

When she was younger, she had grown up with parents with enough money to take care of her and her siblings and much more but after her dad left, that was not the case. She had to watch her mother work multiple jobs, each one paying minimum wage and always serving rich people. She hated watching her mom suck up to all of the wealthy people who spent all of their money on their chihuahuas and their nails just to take care of her kids. She had watched her get kicked around by people with money so the desire that typically came with wealth was long gone.

It wasn't like she was upset in any way that Theodore had taken her somewhere nice, she just hoped that he didn't think that it would impress her. Though the look that he had given her when they stepped into the place, after she'd opened the door herself and stepped in behind him, proved her worries to be true.

The hostess, an unbelievably beautiful woman with flowing dark hair and pearly white teeth, gave them a wide smile as they approached her - the smile directed at Theodore, specifically.

"Hello, welcome to Buonissimo. My name is Scarlett, how can I help you today?".

Theodore rested his elbow against the standing desk that she stood behind and leaned in with a wide smile, one even bigger than hers. "Hello, Scarlett. I'm Theodore. I have a reservation under Nott?".

She nodded with a smile, if the smirk on her face could even be called a smile, and looked down to a paper beneath her. "Ah, here we are Mr. Nott. Your table is ready, I'll show you to your seat now."

He nodded and followed after her, not even looking behind him to see if Sage was following. She almost felt like she was imposing, she had to remind herself that it was her who was on a date with the Slytherin. She sped up to walk next to him, looking up to see that his eyes were trained on the hostesses backside beneath her black dress, just as she had suspected.