MPOV

The beige or the blue dress? I don't even know where he's taking me. I try on the beige one first, but wince at the sight of my scar highlighted through the fabric. Let's just take the blue one, brings out your eyes. The silk slides down my skin and I look at myself in the mirror. Gently I pull the pin out from my bun and let my brunette locks cascade down my back. Taking a makeup wipe to my eyes, I pull away the lavender eye-shadow surrounding it. The mascara clumping my eyelashes disappears too, making my eyes look small and bare. Just go barefaced, you don't need makeup. Oh, who am I kidding? Putting a thin line of blue eyeliner under my eye and reapplying my raspberry coloured lipstick, I think I might actually be ready to do this. Yes, I am.

DPOV

"It's just a normal evening, just a normal average evening", I say to the man staring back at me in the mirror. I'm wearing a grey button-down shirt and washed-out jeans, with combed back hair and brown suede shoes. Taking one final deep breath, I head outside into the crisp Autumn air and hop into my midnight blue Honda Civic. The floor mats had been cleaned recently and an Air-Wick air freshener hangs down from the mirror, pirouetting against the yellow-ish glow of the setting sun. It didn't take long for me to get to the cafe and I sit outside on one of the metal tables, awaiting Missy. She soon arrived and I met her with a beaming smile at how gorgeous she looked. "So, where we off to?" she asks with a melodic tune, her Scottish accent bleeding into her every word.

"A lovely place down by the edge of the river", I answer and lead her to my car. 

MPOV

'A lovely place down by the edge of the river'. Maybe we'll have a boatride down the River Thames, or a knees up at the local pub. 

"Hey, can you put this on?" he says, passing me a blindfold.

"You're not going to chuck me in the river, are you?"

"No, no, I just want it to be a surprise". Obediently, I put it on and let him lead me. I hear chattering people and violins lining the noise. He gently pulls the blindfold from my face and it drops to reveal a magnificent ballroom. Many people pepper the glinting gold floor, dressed in gowns and shirt-trouser ensembles. Tall columns hold up the hall, with silver vines entwined around them. I look up to see a beautifully painted ceiling, depicting several angels dancing among the clouds. 

"Beautiful, isn't it?" whispers Theta, knocking me from my daydream.

"Theta, it's... amazing. I don't know how I could ever repay you for this".

"You don't owe me anything Missy. I just met a woman and I wanted to show her something as exquisite as she is... So, shall we dance?" He holds out his arm and I grip it tightly as we walk down the red velvet stairs. Just as the melodious song of the violin started again, I softly put my hand on his shoulder and the rest of the evening fell into a blur of feet tapping on the ballroom floor. Then eight o'clock struck and the evening was over.

DPOV

Oh, the evening wasn't over yet. I still had one more trick up my sleeve. Everything had been planned perfectly. I let her believe that she was going home right up until we walked out the door. Then...

MPOV

"Thank you so much for tonight Theta. It's been absolutely amazing".

"Afraid it's not over yet", he says cryptically and points over to a grassy area just by the river. A tartan blanket is laid out with a wicker picnic basket weighing it down.  "Thought you might be hungry after all that dancing". Running over to it, I collapse onto the ground and he does so too. Slowly he opens the lid off the basket and childhood smells come pouring out of it. 

"I haven't been in London very long, so I'm sort of still in Scottish mode", he laughs and pulls out plates full of tatties, haddock, haggis and black pudding. Ahh, my childhood's all coming back to me now. Dinners at my grandmammy's house... My grandfather use to catch the haddock off the coast and would fill the bathtub full of fish, so when my grandmammy came home she would scream the place down. 

I tucked in almost immediately and the reminiscent taste floods my senses. 

"Whiskey?" he asks, pulling out a crimson bottle. "I don't want to get you drunk or anything, but, well, no Scottish feast should be without whiskey". 

"No, no, I'd love some. Who cares about work, right?" 

"Wait, what time is it?" he enquires, alarmed. 

"About half eight".

"Great", he says and pulls me from the blanket. 

"What? What is it? Please don't push me in", I murmur.

"This is the inspiration I was talking about", he says, resting his head on my shoulder. I look to see the scarlet red sun, dying in the water, lowering itself from the sky and reflecting a orange haze upon the water. A yellow glow fills where it left and tiny white stars scatter themselves across the increasingly blue night. "Now, Missy, in all seriousness, I need to tell you something. When my engagement was called off, I thought I would never be able to love someone again. But then I met someone on the bottom floor of a regular London office and that changed. I love you Marsaili Saxon, with all my heart".

Taking a huge gulp, with a lump in throat, my lips crash into his. "I love you Theta Smith, with all my heart".