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winterknightsTitle: How to win the girl by singing off-key
Author/Artist: ANON
Pairing(s): Elena/Mithian
Prompt: Prompt #19 (2016)
Word Count/Art Medium: 3600
Rating: PG13, teen
Contains: no trigger warnings, bad singing
Disclaimer: Merlin characters are the property of Shine and BBC. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended
Notes: Thank you winterknights for this fest and for giving me a million extensions so I could actually finish this little thing. Big thanks to Irene for having a look at the story and for actually betaing that clusterfuck of a grammar nightmare; without you this story would be unreadable. All remaining mistakes are mine and mine alone.
Summary Elena hates winter but meeting Mithian’s caroling group might just change that.
It wasn’t that Elena disliked Christmas per se, it was just winter that she disliked. She was pretty sure she would enjoy Christmas if she lived in Australia or some other place warm during this season but no, she had to live in bloody cold London where the weather was freezing and the white puffy snow currently falling down slowly would turn grey the second it hit the streets.
She couldn’t for the life of her think of any reason why winter was supposed to be a nice season. The cold wind blowing, even without the wetness of snow, constantly rumbled her hair, making the big puffs of buttercup locks look like she had never before seen a comb which was saying something seeing as her hair was unruly and wild even at the best of days. And her reddish nose, thanks to another cold winter, made her look like Rudolph, not like a person enjoying the cold weather.
Elena very much preferred summer when she could ride her horse in the woods behind her father’s estate and play football in the park with her friends. None of these things were possible now and wouldn’t be for another few months. Even Arthur’s invite to go have a snowball fight instead fell flat for her; she was not planning on spending more time outside than strictly necessary. Her way to and from work was enough fresh air for her, no need to add more to her daily routine.
After arriving home from work later than planned, another thing she disliked: how people lost their ability to drive cars once the streets were the tiniest bit wet, the only thing she wanted to do was eat some takeout and snuggle up in her warm jumpsuit, stepping out of her professional clothing her office job required.
Arthur was an amazing boss and an amazing friend as well but still some rules had to exist. So despite wanting to, she could not wear her warm, comfortable clothes at work; she had to be presentable, which in the eyes of the great Uther Pendragon meant unflashy blouses and pencil skirts or trousers. Elena disliked most of her office attire the same way Uther would probably disdain most of Elena’s lifestyle choices. He would probably get a heart attack if he ever had to set foot into Elena’s flat.
For one thing Elena’s place wasn’t exactly located in the wealthiest part of the city. She had enough family money to get a better place but she liked her tiny flat with her friendly neighbours and even her friends, Arthur included, seemed to like hanging out here. Or maybe they just liked it because she lived across from a pub.
Her walls were covered with posters from movies and theatre productions as well as a million pictures of her friends and their adventures. There was a postcard from Gwen and Lance’s honeymoon, a whole collage of wedding pictures that were taken last summer when Arthur finally manned up and married his longtime boyfriend Merlin, a painting her friend Mordred had done for her when she first moved in, couple of pictures from various castles when she had spontaneously joined Morgana’s trip to France and so many other great memories. Her place was cluttered but homey and she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
Her living room and kitchen were morphed into one big room with her TV and a bright red couch as the centerpiece. She had thrown her jumpsuit over one end when she had done her laundry a few days before. Once changed and sat in front of the TV, she started zapping through her TV channels while calling the Chinese takeout restaurant. After placing her order and finally finding a channel not showing some cheesy Christmas movie, Elena settled on a documentary about penguins. They were cute enough animals for Elena not to be turned off by the sight of snow too much. She was just starting to get caught up in the documentary; they were showing a couple of gay penguins she needed to tell Merlin about, when she heard her doorbell ring. Delivery was fast tonight, she thought and grabbed her purse to open the door and pay for her food. It was not the delivery guy.
***
The first thing Elena noticed when she opened the door were big brown eyes, sparkling with the light of Elena’s lobby. A big smile adorned a pretty face, surrounded by dark brown and slightly wet curls. Despite the cold blowing into her flat, Elena couldn’t help but stare at the woman standing in front of her; she was incredibly beautiful despite the ill-fitting winter coat and the melting snow stuck to her slim frame.
“Hi,” the woman’s voice interrupted Elena’s thoughts about the stranger’s looks, “I am Mithian and we are the St. Mary’s caroling group. We are collecting money for the children’s ward of St. Mary’s.”
Elena knew St. Mary’s; her friend Lance worked there as a doctor. Normally Elena would have handed a few pounds over before the caroling group could even start singing but something about Mithian made her react differently. She nodded quickly, suddenly lost on words. Elena wasn’t used to being confronted with such beautiful women outside of work.
The group of people surrounding Mithian started humming; Elena wouldn’t have been able to describe a single one of them if her life depended on it, her eyes were only focused on Mithian’s lips, slightly chapped from the cold, cruel weather but still looking soft and kissable. She was waiting for her to join in.
Mithian did join in after a few seconds, the sounds leaving her lips not as lovely as her speaking voice though. She was singing off-key but passionately, making Elena cringe inwards and wondering about her own state of mind as she listened to a few songs and found Mithian even more charming for not being able to hit a single note. It was over too soon or maybe not soon enough by the look on the old man’s face who lived next door as he walked by, shaking his head at the noise coming from Elena’s front door.
“That was lovely,” Elena finally found her voice just as she realized she had opened the door in her pink unicorn jumpsuit, expecting to see the delivery guy, blushing at the thought of being seen in this comfortable but unsexy outfit by a woman as beautiful as Mithian. Mithian’s cheeks were slightly red as well but likely for different reasons.
“Thanks,” Mithian replied; sounding happy at the thought of someone actually liking her singing for once. It was obvious she wanted to add more but the guy standing next to her pushed the donation box towards Elena; effectively bringing Elena back to the reality happening in front of her.
“Oh yes, yes,” she mumbled as she grabbed her bag, which she had dropped at some point during the caroling. She opened her purse and blindly took out some bills, throwing them in the box without looking.
“Thanks girl,” the guy said pleased as he saw how much money Elena had donated. Elena didn’t care enough about money to be too worried about the amount she just gave away. “We should get going Mithian.” Another female voice joined in the conversation.
“Yes we should,” Mithian chipped in a beat too late. Was she as transfixed with Elena as Elena was with her? “Thank you,” she said. “You’re donation will really do some good.” There was that blinding smile again. Elena would have given her all the money she made at Arthur’s office if it meant seeing her smile like that.
The group started moving away from the door and so Elena closed it after watching the group walk over to the next flat; feeling butterflies dancing around in her stomach. It’s ridiculous, she told herself; to be so smitten by someone she barely knew but she couldn’t help it.
“Elena, you’ve been single too long,” she murmured to herself as she retreated back to her living room. Her food delivery arrived a few minutes later but as she opened the door, she noticed with some dismay that the caroling group must have moved to another building because she could no longer see them.
***
The next day, Elena didn’t mind the snow as much as usual; she kept remembering the way the snowflakes had melted on Mithian’s hair and coat. She wished she had a chance to see her again; she was pretty close to asking Lance if there was someone called Mithian working at St. Mary’s but decided against it; she didn’t even know if Mithian actually worked there or was just a kind soul wanting to help the children.
And even then, chances were slim Lance would know her, there are hundreds of people working at the hospital, chances were high he and Mithian might have never met before despite working at the same place. Still, she couldn’t help the butterflies every time her mind turned towards the dark haired woman; she had been so distracted at work that even Arthur had realized there was something going on; which was really saying something seeing as it had taken him ages to realize that the man of his dreams had been right in front of him.
Elena just rounded the corner to her flat; wondering if maybe Mithian was caroling somewhere close by right now, as she saw someone waiting at her front door.
“And here I was hoping to see you dressed as a cute unicorn again;”
Mithian was smiling just as big as she had the day before, making Elena’s heart beat faster as she stopped in front of her entrance, next to the other woman.
“What are you doing here?” Elena blurted out before she could stop herself. She wanted to kick herself as she saw Mithian’s open smile slowly be replaced by an unsure look.
“I mean,” Elena tried again,”I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”
She definitely needed someone to kick start her flirting skills.
“I thought there was something there yesterday but I was clearly mistaken; sorry.” Mithian looked like she was hoping the ground would open up and swallow her. Hope was blossoming in Elena’s heart as she recognized that look.
“No, I mean yes; I mean… there was something there. At least on my side. I just wasn’t sure if that feeling was mutual.”
“You really think I would not fall for the cutest unicorn I’ve ever seen?”
Elena’s face turned redder than ever before but it was worth the pleased look on Mithian’s face and the smile returning to it.
“So, you wanna get dinner some time?” Mithian asked after it became clear Elena didn’t know how to react to her compliment.
“Now?” Elena’s face slowly returned to its normal colour again. She wasn’t exactly dressed for a date.
“I can’t now; I spent the last hour waiting in front of your door like some crazy stalker. I’ll be too late for my shift with the caroling group. But how about tomorrow? I could pick you up at six, now that I know where you live.”
Mithian winked at her at the last part.
“I would love that,” Elena mentally cancelled her plans for the next day. Her friends would understand, after all they kept nagging her about dating more ever since her last relationship had ended.
“Cool,” Mithian smiled at Elena again. After a minute she added, “I really should get going. My friends will be waiting.”
“And you need to raise money for all those children at St. Mary’s, they need you more than I do,” Elena winked.
Mithian laughed at that and Elena fell a little bit in love with the sound of her laughter. Then she hugged Elena before darting away.
***
Elena was nervous. It was 5:45 pm according to her clock and she had just changed her outfit for the third time in the last 20 minutes. Normally she didn’t care so much about her looks but tonight she needed to look perfect. She had even tried to tame her unruly blond hair by trying out some hair style she saw on a youtube tutorial. It didn’t look exactly as it should look but it turned out decent enough. She had applied the little make-up she owned and dressed before re-dressing again and again. Right now she was pretty sure the third outfit was the right choice. Dark jeans and fluffy but still formfitting jumper, it both looked good on her and still made her feel like herself. Even Morgana approved; Elena had constantly texted her seeing as she was the most fashionable person Elena knew.
She checked the clock hanging over her microwave; 5:51 pm. Mithian was due any minute now and Elena started to panic slightly. She wasn’t really good at the whole dating business; her long list of failed dates was proof of that. Elena really hoped it would be different tonight though; she couldn’t remember the last time someone made her heart beat faster like that, so she really didn’t want to blow it.
5:57; before she could start to go into full out panic mode her doorbell rang. She hurried over to answer it, her hands slightly sweaty and her breathing going too fast.
There she was; Mithian looked even more gorgeous tonight than the last times they had seen each other Elena realized as she opened the door and grabbed her coat. Mithian was wearing a light brown jacket over something that looked like a white sweater that fit her better than the dark grey one she had worn the previous times. Her hair was open and had a few drops of melted snow stuck to it.
“Hi,” Elena greeted her.
“Hi yourself,” Mithian replied. “Ready to go?”
“Yes,” Elena said as she closed the door behind her.
***
Mithian had picked a tiny Italian restaurant that was about ten minutes away from Elena’s place; still, Elena had never been there before. The tables were lovely decorated with Italian herbs and scented candles, giving of a romantic but also homey atmosphere. The menu was written both in English and Italian, proclaiming all kinds of traditional Italian dishes, not just pizza and pasta as most places did.
“So, what do you do when you are not caroling?” Elena asked after they decided to order a bottle of wine and some appetizers.
“I am actually a pediatric nurse; so I do work at St. Mary’s.”
“So, caroling is part of your job description?”
That made Mithian laugh. “No, me and some colleagues decided to go caroling so we could help some of the family’s we have at our ward. It’s so sad to see all those children who can’t leave the hospital even at Christmas and all those parents unable to give their children the kind of Christmas they want to give them.”
“So you decided to sing for them?”
“Actually another nurse was supposed to be the lead but she fell ill with laryngitis so someone needed to step in. I know I have a terrible voice, I just kinda hoped people would still want to donate for a good cause.”
“You are not that terrible.” They both knew that was a lie.
“Please; I can hear myself every morning in the shower, I know I suck.”
“Well, you did impress me enough to go out with you.”
“That I did.” Mithian laughed and Elena couldn’t help joining in. Their wine arrived and they got two classes poured by the waiter before he left them alone again.
“Cheers,” Mithian clinked her glass against Elena’s before taking a sip. “Enough about me; what do you do for a living?”
“I am a secretary at Pendragon Inc. I handle all kinds of paperwork and try to make sure Arthur doesn’t lose his sanity.”
“Sounds interesting.” Mithian replied as the appetizers arrived shortly after the wine.
“It can be. Mostly I am just glad to have Arthur as my boss. He actually hired me because we used to know each other from University, so we were friends first before he became my boss. Oh my god, these things are delicious.”
Elena had just tried one of the bruschetta and they were probably the best she ever tasted. The tomatoes tasted of warm, sunny days and the bread tipped in olive oil was pretty much melting on her tongue.
“You should really try one of the pasta dishes next; they make all their pasta themselves here.” Mithian said as she too took a bite of their food. “So what’s it like knowing your boss privately as well? Isn’t weird?”
“It was at first but nowadays I am really glad to work with someone I really get along with. And he better count himself lucky to have me as his secretary, I am the only one who knows how he really likes his coffee.”
Over the course of the next four hours Mithian and Elena ordered more food, more wine and got to know each other better. Elena had grown up a single child meanwhile Mithian had two brothers. Mithian loved swimming and Elena football. They both loved animated movies and hated all things horror. According to Mithian working with children and watching movies about creepy kids just didn’t go together.
Mithian’s favourite colour was baby blue; she was allergic to shellfish and loved dancing. Her mother died when she was twelve and her older brothers always looked out for her. She has a cat called Artemis because she had been obsessed with Greek Mythology in University and she once dyed her hair pink as a bet. She was perfect.
With each new fact uncovered, Elena became more fascinated. Mithian was not only one of the most beautiful women she had ever met but also intelligent, down to earth and so funny, Elena had tears in her eyes from laughing so often during the evening. She couldn’t remember a date going so well ever and really wished it would never end.
But it did end, when the restaurant closed at 11, neither of them had thought they would actually stay that long, yet now they were politely but persistently told to leave (and “Please come again”) . The cold wind that greeted them once they left was a rude awakening to the blissful time they just had and they started to walk slowly back towards Elena’s home. The streets were illuminated by the streetlights as well as the white snow covering the pavement and Mithian once again proclaimed her love for the season, like she had a few times throughout their conversation over dinner. Despite not sharing her love and wishing for the warmth of her place Elena felt dreadful at the thought of their date being over soon.
They arrived a few minutes later, the cold sinking in for real as their shoulders stopped being pressed together so closely; instead of they were now facing each other in front of Elena’s downstairs door.
“I had a really nice time,” Elena tried lamely, suddenly unsure what to say now. She wanted to just keep staring into Mithian deep brown eyes and never come back to reality.
“Me too,” Mithian smiled. “We really should do that again soon.”
“How about next Friday?” Elena asked hopeful. She didn’t care if she sounded too desperate, she just wanted to spend more time with Mithian.
“Next Friday’s perfect. Should I pick you up again?”
“That would be great.”
“So Friday it is. Let’s say 6 again.”
“Ok” Elena couldn’t help but smile. Her happiness felt like a living thing inside of her that just needed to burst out.
“I should get going, early shift tomorrow.” Mithian didn’t look like she wanted to though.
“Yeah, I need to get up early as well.” Elena didn’t want her to leave but she knew there was no other choice. She didn’t think inviting Mithian up would be the best idea yet, as much as she wanted to. And Mithian didn’t think so either.
“So, see you on Friday.” Elena went for a hug but Mithian had other plans. She gently placed her hand on Elena’s shoulder and leaned in. Up close Mithian smelled of roses, which was the only thought popping into Elena’s head before she could feel Mithian’s kiss. It was just a brief press of lips against lips; over too soon, but it was the best kiss Elena could remember ever receiving.
“See you on Friday,” Mithian whispered with her lips only inches away from Elena’s lips before she turned around with one last smile directed at Elena. Elena watched her walk away, over to the next tube station and vanish down the stairs to the platform.
Her lips still tingling from the press of Mithian’s kiss, Elena took one deep breath before getting her keys out of her bag and opened the door to her hallway. A short ride up and she reached her flat, where she collapsed on her couch right after entering her living room. Pulling her hair down, she took her phone out to text Merlin; she really needed him to come by tomorrow for lunch so she could tell him about her date. After sending the text Elena slowly walked to her bathroom to get ready for bed.
Later, as she lay snuggled up in her bedroom, thinking about Mithian, she realized that maybe winter wasn’t so bad after all.
Author/Artist: ANON
Pairing(s): Elena/Mithian
Prompt: Prompt #19 (2016)
Word Count/Art Medium: 3600
Rating: PG13, teen
Contains: no trigger warnings, bad singing
Disclaimer: Merlin characters are the property of Shine and BBC. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended
Notes: Thank you winterknights for this fest and for giving me a million extensions so I could actually finish this little thing. Big thanks to Irene for having a look at the story and for actually betaing that clusterfuck of a grammar nightmare; without you this story would be unreadable. All remaining mistakes are mine and mine alone.
Summary Elena hates winter but meeting Mithian’s caroling group might just change that.
It wasn’t that Elena disliked Christmas per se, it was just winter that she disliked. She was pretty sure she would enjoy Christmas if she lived in Australia or some other place warm during this season but no, she had to live in bloody cold London where the weather was freezing and the white puffy snow currently falling down slowly would turn grey the second it hit the streets.
She couldn’t for the life of her think of any reason why winter was supposed to be a nice season. The cold wind blowing, even without the wetness of snow, constantly rumbled her hair, making the big puffs of buttercup locks look like she had never before seen a comb which was saying something seeing as her hair was unruly and wild even at the best of days. And her reddish nose, thanks to another cold winter, made her look like Rudolph, not like a person enjoying the cold weather.
Elena very much preferred summer when she could ride her horse in the woods behind her father’s estate and play football in the park with her friends. None of these things were possible now and wouldn’t be for another few months. Even Arthur’s invite to go have a snowball fight instead fell flat for her; she was not planning on spending more time outside than strictly necessary. Her way to and from work was enough fresh air for her, no need to add more to her daily routine.
After arriving home from work later than planned, another thing she disliked: how people lost their ability to drive cars once the streets were the tiniest bit wet, the only thing she wanted to do was eat some takeout and snuggle up in her warm jumpsuit, stepping out of her professional clothing her office job required.
Arthur was an amazing boss and an amazing friend as well but still some rules had to exist. So despite wanting to, she could not wear her warm, comfortable clothes at work; she had to be presentable, which in the eyes of the great Uther Pendragon meant unflashy blouses and pencil skirts or trousers. Elena disliked most of her office attire the same way Uther would probably disdain most of Elena’s lifestyle choices. He would probably get a heart attack if he ever had to set foot into Elena’s flat.
For one thing Elena’s place wasn’t exactly located in the wealthiest part of the city. She had enough family money to get a better place but she liked her tiny flat with her friendly neighbours and even her friends, Arthur included, seemed to like hanging out here. Or maybe they just liked it because she lived across from a pub.
Her walls were covered with posters from movies and theatre productions as well as a million pictures of her friends and their adventures. There was a postcard from Gwen and Lance’s honeymoon, a whole collage of wedding pictures that were taken last summer when Arthur finally manned up and married his longtime boyfriend Merlin, a painting her friend Mordred had done for her when she first moved in, couple of pictures from various castles when she had spontaneously joined Morgana’s trip to France and so many other great memories. Her place was cluttered but homey and she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
Her living room and kitchen were morphed into one big room with her TV and a bright red couch as the centerpiece. She had thrown her jumpsuit over one end when she had done her laundry a few days before. Once changed and sat in front of the TV, she started zapping through her TV channels while calling the Chinese takeout restaurant. After placing her order and finally finding a channel not showing some cheesy Christmas movie, Elena settled on a documentary about penguins. They were cute enough animals for Elena not to be turned off by the sight of snow too much. She was just starting to get caught up in the documentary; they were showing a couple of gay penguins she needed to tell Merlin about, when she heard her doorbell ring. Delivery was fast tonight, she thought and grabbed her purse to open the door and pay for her food. It was not the delivery guy.
***
The first thing Elena noticed when she opened the door were big brown eyes, sparkling with the light of Elena’s lobby. A big smile adorned a pretty face, surrounded by dark brown and slightly wet curls. Despite the cold blowing into her flat, Elena couldn’t help but stare at the woman standing in front of her; she was incredibly beautiful despite the ill-fitting winter coat and the melting snow stuck to her slim frame.
“Hi,” the woman’s voice interrupted Elena’s thoughts about the stranger’s looks, “I am Mithian and we are the St. Mary’s caroling group. We are collecting money for the children’s ward of St. Mary’s.”
Elena knew St. Mary’s; her friend Lance worked there as a doctor. Normally Elena would have handed a few pounds over before the caroling group could even start singing but something about Mithian made her react differently. She nodded quickly, suddenly lost on words. Elena wasn’t used to being confronted with such beautiful women outside of work.
The group of people surrounding Mithian started humming; Elena wouldn’t have been able to describe a single one of them if her life depended on it, her eyes were only focused on Mithian’s lips, slightly chapped from the cold, cruel weather but still looking soft and kissable. She was waiting for her to join in.
Mithian did join in after a few seconds, the sounds leaving her lips not as lovely as her speaking voice though. She was singing off-key but passionately, making Elena cringe inwards and wondering about her own state of mind as she listened to a few songs and found Mithian even more charming for not being able to hit a single note. It was over too soon or maybe not soon enough by the look on the old man’s face who lived next door as he walked by, shaking his head at the noise coming from Elena’s front door.
“That was lovely,” Elena finally found her voice just as she realized she had opened the door in her pink unicorn jumpsuit, expecting to see the delivery guy, blushing at the thought of being seen in this comfortable but unsexy outfit by a woman as beautiful as Mithian. Mithian’s cheeks were slightly red as well but likely for different reasons.
“Thanks,” Mithian replied; sounding happy at the thought of someone actually liking her singing for once. It was obvious she wanted to add more but the guy standing next to her pushed the donation box towards Elena; effectively bringing Elena back to the reality happening in front of her.
“Oh yes, yes,” she mumbled as she grabbed her bag, which she had dropped at some point during the caroling. She opened her purse and blindly took out some bills, throwing them in the box without looking.
“Thanks girl,” the guy said pleased as he saw how much money Elena had donated. Elena didn’t care enough about money to be too worried about the amount she just gave away. “We should get going Mithian.” Another female voice joined in the conversation.
“Yes we should,” Mithian chipped in a beat too late. Was she as transfixed with Elena as Elena was with her? “Thank you,” she said. “You’re donation will really do some good.” There was that blinding smile again. Elena would have given her all the money she made at Arthur’s office if it meant seeing her smile like that.
The group started moving away from the door and so Elena closed it after watching the group walk over to the next flat; feeling butterflies dancing around in her stomach. It’s ridiculous, she told herself; to be so smitten by someone she barely knew but she couldn’t help it.
“Elena, you’ve been single too long,” she murmured to herself as she retreated back to her living room. Her food delivery arrived a few minutes later but as she opened the door, she noticed with some dismay that the caroling group must have moved to another building because she could no longer see them.
***
The next day, Elena didn’t mind the snow as much as usual; she kept remembering the way the snowflakes had melted on Mithian’s hair and coat. She wished she had a chance to see her again; she was pretty close to asking Lance if there was someone called Mithian working at St. Mary’s but decided against it; she didn’t even know if Mithian actually worked there or was just a kind soul wanting to help the children.
And even then, chances were slim Lance would know her, there are hundreds of people working at the hospital, chances were high he and Mithian might have never met before despite working at the same place. Still, she couldn’t help the butterflies every time her mind turned towards the dark haired woman; she had been so distracted at work that even Arthur had realized there was something going on; which was really saying something seeing as it had taken him ages to realize that the man of his dreams had been right in front of him.
Elena just rounded the corner to her flat; wondering if maybe Mithian was caroling somewhere close by right now, as she saw someone waiting at her front door.
“And here I was hoping to see you dressed as a cute unicorn again;”
Mithian was smiling just as big as she had the day before, making Elena’s heart beat faster as she stopped in front of her entrance, next to the other woman.
“What are you doing here?” Elena blurted out before she could stop herself. She wanted to kick herself as she saw Mithian’s open smile slowly be replaced by an unsure look.
“I mean,” Elena tried again,”I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”
She definitely needed someone to kick start her flirting skills.
“I thought there was something there yesterday but I was clearly mistaken; sorry.” Mithian looked like she was hoping the ground would open up and swallow her. Hope was blossoming in Elena’s heart as she recognized that look.
“No, I mean yes; I mean… there was something there. At least on my side. I just wasn’t sure if that feeling was mutual.”
“You really think I would not fall for the cutest unicorn I’ve ever seen?”
Elena’s face turned redder than ever before but it was worth the pleased look on Mithian’s face and the smile returning to it.
“So, you wanna get dinner some time?” Mithian asked after it became clear Elena didn’t know how to react to her compliment.
“Now?” Elena’s face slowly returned to its normal colour again. She wasn’t exactly dressed for a date.
“I can’t now; I spent the last hour waiting in front of your door like some crazy stalker. I’ll be too late for my shift with the caroling group. But how about tomorrow? I could pick you up at six, now that I know where you live.”
Mithian winked at her at the last part.
“I would love that,” Elena mentally cancelled her plans for the next day. Her friends would understand, after all they kept nagging her about dating more ever since her last relationship had ended.
“Cool,” Mithian smiled at Elena again. After a minute she added, “I really should get going. My friends will be waiting.”
“And you need to raise money for all those children at St. Mary’s, they need you more than I do,” Elena winked.
Mithian laughed at that and Elena fell a little bit in love with the sound of her laughter. Then she hugged Elena before darting away.
***
Elena was nervous. It was 5:45 pm according to her clock and she had just changed her outfit for the third time in the last 20 minutes. Normally she didn’t care so much about her looks but tonight she needed to look perfect. She had even tried to tame her unruly blond hair by trying out some hair style she saw on a youtube tutorial. It didn’t look exactly as it should look but it turned out decent enough. She had applied the little make-up she owned and dressed before re-dressing again and again. Right now she was pretty sure the third outfit was the right choice. Dark jeans and fluffy but still formfitting jumper, it both looked good on her and still made her feel like herself. Even Morgana approved; Elena had constantly texted her seeing as she was the most fashionable person Elena knew.
She checked the clock hanging over her microwave; 5:51 pm. Mithian was due any minute now and Elena started to panic slightly. She wasn’t really good at the whole dating business; her long list of failed dates was proof of that. Elena really hoped it would be different tonight though; she couldn’t remember the last time someone made her heart beat faster like that, so she really didn’t want to blow it.
5:57; before she could start to go into full out panic mode her doorbell rang. She hurried over to answer it, her hands slightly sweaty and her breathing going too fast.
There she was; Mithian looked even more gorgeous tonight than the last times they had seen each other Elena realized as she opened the door and grabbed her coat. Mithian was wearing a light brown jacket over something that looked like a white sweater that fit her better than the dark grey one she had worn the previous times. Her hair was open and had a few drops of melted snow stuck to it.
“Hi,” Elena greeted her.
“Hi yourself,” Mithian replied. “Ready to go?”
“Yes,” Elena said as she closed the door behind her.
***
Mithian had picked a tiny Italian restaurant that was about ten minutes away from Elena’s place; still, Elena had never been there before. The tables were lovely decorated with Italian herbs and scented candles, giving of a romantic but also homey atmosphere. The menu was written both in English and Italian, proclaiming all kinds of traditional Italian dishes, not just pizza and pasta as most places did.
“So, what do you do when you are not caroling?” Elena asked after they decided to order a bottle of wine and some appetizers.
“I am actually a pediatric nurse; so I do work at St. Mary’s.”
“So, caroling is part of your job description?”
That made Mithian laugh. “No, me and some colleagues decided to go caroling so we could help some of the family’s we have at our ward. It’s so sad to see all those children who can’t leave the hospital even at Christmas and all those parents unable to give their children the kind of Christmas they want to give them.”
“So you decided to sing for them?”
“Actually another nurse was supposed to be the lead but she fell ill with laryngitis so someone needed to step in. I know I have a terrible voice, I just kinda hoped people would still want to donate for a good cause.”
“You are not that terrible.” They both knew that was a lie.
“Please; I can hear myself every morning in the shower, I know I suck.”
“Well, you did impress me enough to go out with you.”
“That I did.” Mithian laughed and Elena couldn’t help joining in. Their wine arrived and they got two classes poured by the waiter before he left them alone again.
“Cheers,” Mithian clinked her glass against Elena’s before taking a sip. “Enough about me; what do you do for a living?”
“I am a secretary at Pendragon Inc. I handle all kinds of paperwork and try to make sure Arthur doesn’t lose his sanity.”
“Sounds interesting.” Mithian replied as the appetizers arrived shortly after the wine.
“It can be. Mostly I am just glad to have Arthur as my boss. He actually hired me because we used to know each other from University, so we were friends first before he became my boss. Oh my god, these things are delicious.”
Elena had just tried one of the bruschetta and they were probably the best she ever tasted. The tomatoes tasted of warm, sunny days and the bread tipped in olive oil was pretty much melting on her tongue.
“You should really try one of the pasta dishes next; they make all their pasta themselves here.” Mithian said as she too took a bite of their food. “So what’s it like knowing your boss privately as well? Isn’t weird?”
“It was at first but nowadays I am really glad to work with someone I really get along with. And he better count himself lucky to have me as his secretary, I am the only one who knows how he really likes his coffee.”
Over the course of the next four hours Mithian and Elena ordered more food, more wine and got to know each other better. Elena had grown up a single child meanwhile Mithian had two brothers. Mithian loved swimming and Elena football. They both loved animated movies and hated all things horror. According to Mithian working with children and watching movies about creepy kids just didn’t go together.
Mithian’s favourite colour was baby blue; she was allergic to shellfish and loved dancing. Her mother died when she was twelve and her older brothers always looked out for her. She has a cat called Artemis because she had been obsessed with Greek Mythology in University and she once dyed her hair pink as a bet. She was perfect.
With each new fact uncovered, Elena became more fascinated. Mithian was not only one of the most beautiful women she had ever met but also intelligent, down to earth and so funny, Elena had tears in her eyes from laughing so often during the evening. She couldn’t remember a date going so well ever and really wished it would never end.
But it did end, when the restaurant closed at 11, neither of them had thought they would actually stay that long, yet now they were politely but persistently told to leave (and “Please come again”) . The cold wind that greeted them once they left was a rude awakening to the blissful time they just had and they started to walk slowly back towards Elena’s home. The streets were illuminated by the streetlights as well as the white snow covering the pavement and Mithian once again proclaimed her love for the season, like she had a few times throughout their conversation over dinner. Despite not sharing her love and wishing for the warmth of her place Elena felt dreadful at the thought of their date being over soon.
They arrived a few minutes later, the cold sinking in for real as their shoulders stopped being pressed together so closely; instead of they were now facing each other in front of Elena’s downstairs door.
“I had a really nice time,” Elena tried lamely, suddenly unsure what to say now. She wanted to just keep staring into Mithian deep brown eyes and never come back to reality.
“Me too,” Mithian smiled. “We really should do that again soon.”
“How about next Friday?” Elena asked hopeful. She didn’t care if she sounded too desperate, she just wanted to spend more time with Mithian.
“Next Friday’s perfect. Should I pick you up again?”
“That would be great.”
“So Friday it is. Let’s say 6 again.”
“Ok” Elena couldn’t help but smile. Her happiness felt like a living thing inside of her that just needed to burst out.
“I should get going, early shift tomorrow.” Mithian didn’t look like she wanted to though.
“Yeah, I need to get up early as well.” Elena didn’t want her to leave but she knew there was no other choice. She didn’t think inviting Mithian up would be the best idea yet, as much as she wanted to. And Mithian didn’t think so either.
“So, see you on Friday.” Elena went for a hug but Mithian had other plans. She gently placed her hand on Elena’s shoulder and leaned in. Up close Mithian smelled of roses, which was the only thought popping into Elena’s head before she could feel Mithian’s kiss. It was just a brief press of lips against lips; over too soon, but it was the best kiss Elena could remember ever receiving.
“See you on Friday,” Mithian whispered with her lips only inches away from Elena’s lips before she turned around with one last smile directed at Elena. Elena watched her walk away, over to the next tube station and vanish down the stairs to the platform.
Her lips still tingling from the press of Mithian’s kiss, Elena took one deep breath before getting her keys out of her bag and opened the door to her hallway. A short ride up and she reached her flat, where she collapsed on her couch right after entering her living room. Pulling her hair down, she took her phone out to text Merlin; she really needed him to come by tomorrow for lunch so she could tell him about her date. After sending the text Elena slowly walked to her bathroom to get ready for bed.
Later, as she lay snuggled up in her bedroom, thinking about Mithian, she realized that maybe winter wasn’t so bad after all.
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