Despite knowing the pair were going as just 'friends' and having being told to not dress up. There was still a part of Iris that couldn't stop herself from looking at the nice dresses in her wardrobe. There had been some in there she had own for quite a while and wanted to wear out. But she wanted to wear many of those on a date. Which this was very clear not. And therefore, she had to revert to the normal pair of jeans and a nice shirt combo she used for most occasions. It was nothing special, and ensured she wasn't over dressed for the dinner. 

But the worst part was knowing that whilst she got dressed for a 'friendly' dinner, that part of her was disappointed in what she was going to attend. Iris wished that she could just get over herself and accept that they were heading in the right direction. That there was no need to rush into a relationship that both of them probably weren't ready for. That it was a good thing he wanted to do things together and not just stumble into each others lives. That he was making an effort to at least get to know her. But here she was, disappointed as ever and wondering just what god she had angered to put her into this situation. Where the chemistry wasn't instant when she met her supposed future husband, and then had to build this slow relationship. Where their friendship wasn't instant either, where even getting to that was a lot more work than she ever anticipated. 

Emotions were a difficult thing and Iris was struggling to not only manoeuvre through her own in just the terms of understanding what she felt. But all in all, she was doing a pretty rubbish job of controlling them. She was sure after a year she should be able to start to do things in her life that were just for her, such as maybe getting a romantic partner. Yet here she was feeling overwhelming guilt about getting ready to head on her not-date. She couldn't pin point exactly why she felt this. Maybe it was the idea of getting ready for her first date without her sister by her side to help her get ready. Perhaps it was the thought that she was going to a new restaurant something her sister would have loved to do. But Iris knew she needed to start living for herself and not for the memory of her sister. Yet it was proving rather hard to do. 

However as she stood there, staring at herself in the mirror and thinking yeah she looked pretty decent. Iris knew that her sister was looking down on her right now just as excited for this as Iris was. Sure it was only a meal between two friends but it was like she could hear Lavender telling her that she was making progress. Small progress but nevertheless. And perhaps this was what was encouraging her to put more of an effort into getting ready to go for the date. But she needed to stop calling it a date when it was not. Otherwise her feelings were going to get much more hurt than she thought they would. 

Either way she anxiously watched the clock waiting for 8pm to roll around. Considering she had started to get ready way before she needed to be, Iris should not have been surprised to find herself waiting for the minutes to pass. Yet she continued to sit in her room watching as the minutes slowly slipped away. She always found that the time slipped by slower when you were waiting on something important to happen. 

Yet when a knock rang out on her bedroom door Iris realised just maybe he was as excited to see her than she was him. For George was 15 minutes early arriving at 7:45 and the knocks ringing out did not seem like someone who was patiently waiting. Not that she was sure patience was a word which was in his vocabulary.

"Rizzo open the door." His voice bounced its way through the mahogany door, which looked like it had seen better days, and Iris had to control the sigh she wanted to let out at the nickname she was sure he had no intent to drop. 

"Calm yourself George, I'm ready." Iris voice accompanied her actions as she opened the door, to come face to face with the lanky man stood at the door. And she had to try to stop herself from spending too long studying the way he looked. She knew he was dressed well just from how expensive his aftershave smelt. And she pondered if he too had taken a small effort in dressing up. Perhaps, she tried to not overly convince herself of something that might not be true, he too felt like this was something more than a dinner between 'just friends'.

"Come on woman we'll be late if we hang about for too long." George's words might have seen a little bit aggressive if they were taken from the context but Iris knew that he was only joking about with her as evident by the tone of which he used when speaking. He sounded carefree and there was no hint of malice and unfortunately for her she could not hear any nerves in the way he spoke. It would appear only she felt nervous about the dinner they were going to. 

"Alright, alright let me just lock my door and we can be on our way." Iris fumbled slightly with her key knowing that she was being watched intensely. 

The walk to the restaurant was not awkward or surrounded by silence. Iris was not sure silence could be obtained when you were in George Weasley's presence. He was constantly chatting away about most of the time next to nothing, but she wouldn't change it. The nerves Iris was feeling were only bubbling upwards in quantity. It was starting to become obvious that this was only between friends, the way George was acting was as clear as day that this was the case. Yet for her every second she spent the more those feelings were developing. Iris would never admit out loud but she knew she had developed, at least, a school boy crush on the man who was walking beside her. 

The new restaurant they had booked to eat at, was an rather modern looking Italian restaurant. And it looked expensive. It felt very much upper class, as the pair were being guided towards their table, and Iris felt very much out of place. George did not seem that phased by the lavish, expensive looking room, or the way that even the waitresses perfume smelt more expensive than anything Iris could ever afford. It was like he had taken on a second persona, one of which was much more used to this expensive lifestyle and easily fit into the area surrounding them. And she supposed, the business he had created upon leaving school was doing well, and perhaps he had actually gotten a lot more used to having more money than he knew what to do with over the last three years. 

As for a small moment in time, one that did not stretch out to a minute even, Iris didn't quite recognise the man she was getting to know. The way he flirted with the waitress, and the way he spoke for just a moment or two was nothing like the George who had started to come regularly into the pub just to sit about and waste time. This one seemed like a serious business man who made much more money and lived in a rather large and lavish house in the middle of London. Not someone who ran a, very successful, joke shop and lived in the flat above it. 

Though the second the waitress was gone, Iris could see the shift as George turned back to his 'normal' self. And sure it was nice when he turned to her and spoke like they had been on the walk there. But it was strange that he had this second persona he could pull out and put away that quickly. Though she chose not to focus on it much further wanting to actually enjoy her evening out. 

Taking this route seemed to be working for her, considering that things were going in her own opinion swimingly well. The food was good, despite being overpriced, the wine was also very good. And the conversations were also going pretty well. They were talking about mainly the meal when Iris made the mistake of bringing her sister up.

"You know I think Lavender would have like it here." Iris mentioned her sister because she believed it to be true. Just how lavish this place was would instantly mean her sister would have enjoyed it. Lavender would come for the meal and then spend a good amount of her time watching the other guests there and guessing what brought them to the restaurant that night. People watching was something both sisters had enjoyed at least at one point in their lives. Iris just currently had nobody she could people watch with, and it was much better with someone than alone. 

"Yeah..." George's voice took a more quiet turn as he seemed to trail off and not share the rest of his thoughts upon the matter. Iris watched, crestfallen, as his expression dropped and the atmosphere they had created died out and a more dark turn was made. But she didn't let this stop her continuing on with her thought pattern, perhaps she was being selfish but it felt good to think about her sister in a more positive way. If anyone deserved that it was her. 

"I can see her, sat at a table ridiculously overdressed and drinking a glass of white wine. She'd be watching over us all trying to work out how everyone knew the people sat at their table, guessing who were dating and who were stuck in awkward one sided love affairs. Maybe she'd work out what everyone did for a job, which part of London they were from. But she would really love it here." Iris had a smile on her face as she spoke, feeling the happiness that was imagining her sister living her life. 

"Hmm" George only hummed in response, his attention no longer in the conversation or on Iris at all. And Iris pondered if she had made a mistake. Before that confidence she held came smashing back into her, she had a right to mention her sister. She had not mentioned his brother for knowing it might still be too soon, yet she felt as though she had overstepped a boundary as if she had mentioned the older male twin. 

So she sat there staring at the ginger haired man sat across from her, appetite completely gone as the edging fear of having done something wrong grew within her. Iris could feel George's leg shake with what she assumed was anxiety at first. Before realising it was more likely anger as the moments passed and his face started to heat. 

"You know what Brown? Fred would have hated it here. He would have hated me spending time with you. Fred would tell me that you're just some selfish know-it-all with no sense of compassion or kindness." As George spat his firey words towards Iris, she just knew she had to uphold her composure. And as his words ebbed away at her, she just knew that he did not deserve to see her cry. He did not deserve to see the way his words affected her. 

And all she did was pull her jacket back on and reach into her bag for her purse. Pulling out three 10 pound muggle notes, she slammed them on the table in the small space between the two plates their meals had once sat upon. She rose to her feet attempting to make as little noise as possible, knowing that by now from his angry words that many people were now watching them. 

"Thanks for inviting me out. Dickhead." And with her final statement Iris turned to leave the way she came in. Not allowing him to have the upper hand.