Cliched

"Ginny! Over here!" called Dennis from a table in the corner. Ginny spotted him and waved.

"Hey, Dennis, hope I didn't keep you waiting," said Ginny quickly as Dennis politely removed her jacket and set it on her chair.

"Oh, not at all," he replied and smiled at her. Ginny sat down across form Dennis. "You look amazing, Gin." Ginny beamed. It's been a while since a man has complimented her.

"Thanks, you too." And he did. Life as a journalist was good to him. He blushed and smiled again. Ginny noticed he had dimples. Oh, that is just adorable. "So, are you ready to order drinks?" Dennis asked. "I'll go up and get some, what would you like?"

"Oh, um, a Sour Apple Martini, please, oh, and here..." Ginny reached into her purse to grab her wallet. Dennis saw this and gently put a hand to her arm.

"No, that's okay, I got you," he said nervously. "Wouldn't feel proper if you paid, call me old fashioned, but I think the guy ought to pay for the lady."

"Oh, okay," Ginny replied with a smile. Even Harry never offered to pay for me...we always went Dutch. Ginny watched Dennis' back as he headed toward the bar and grinned appreciatively. I'm starting to enjoy being single. Ginny was bored, so she started to do her favorite hobby: people-watching.

"Hey...Ginny." Fingers snapped in front of her eyes, Dennis was back with two Muggle drinks in his hands, a green one with an apple slice and pink one with a cherry in it. Ginny stared at the latter.

"You ordered a Cosmopolitan?" Ginny finally blurted out. Again, Ginny immediately began comparing Dennis to her ex in her mind. Harry would never be secure enough to order that. A Cosmopolitan was a forbidden ground to men like Harry, men who took ridiculous safety precautions in order to maintain their masculinity. Other forbidden grounds included garden salads, big, swirly lollipops and above all, strawberry-banana smoothies with maraschino cherries speared by a colorful umbrella.

"Hey!" Dennis remarked, feigning hurt. "They're pink, they've got cherries and I love them." He took an elegant sip from his drink. "Mm!" he said dramatically before sitting down and giving Ginny her drink.

Ginny laughed. She was starting to like this man.

"So what were you staring at before?" asked Dennis. Ginny looked at him before answer.

"People," she said simply. Dennis raised his eyebrow, as if asking her to continue. Ginny sighed. "When I'm in public, I have a tendency to look at people and try to guess what's going on with them," she explained. Dennis nodded.

"Okay, go," Dennis said.

"Go?"

"Pick a couple, and we'll guess what's going on with them."

"Um...okay," Ginny replied. Harry never really cared, every time he caught Ginny people-watching he always told her to stop staring and stop that 'damn habit.' This was a nice change. Ginny scanned the room with her eyes until she found a rather tipsy woman talking to a conservative looking gentleman awkwardly looking at his surroundings. "Them," she decided, nodding discreetly at the couple. Dennis glanced over until he found them and let out a small laugh.

"Okay, er, well, it's obviously our leading lady is a little hammered..." Ginny laughed as Dennis kept gazing at the couple, furrowing his eyebrows in thought. "And, uh, the guy really does not want to be there, but he doesn't want to be rude yet he doesn't want to be seen with that woman," he finished proudly.

"Not bad, I would say our couple is on a blind date," Ginny said simply.

"Due to friends butting in and trying to match-make them?" Ginny shook her head.

"Due to Internet dating." Dennis smiled.

"Damned Internet dating, you think they're Muggles?" he asked.

"Oh, definitely, if the gentleman is embarrassed to be seen with a drunk, which I think he is, he would have cast a Sobering Charm on her."

"What if the lady is a Muggle while our gentleman is...not?" Dennis suggested, grinning at Ginny's inference.

"He could have done it silently."

"Ah, yes, silently." It was silent for a while, their drinks were both drunk, and Dennis looked at her. "Do you want to be home at a certain time?"

Ginny looked at him oddly. "No, Dennis I don't have a curfew," she said sarcastically. Dennis laughed nervously.

"Well, I wasn't sure, but you have nowhere to be?" he asked again.

"Well, no, Pans is watching the kids and all," Ginny thought out loud.

"Kids?" asked Dennis. Ginny tensed. She hadn't told him about Gabby and Julian, she was sure this new information would send Dennis running. Man, I really liked him, too. "You never told me you had kids."

"Well, yeah I..." Ginny mumbled.

"Well? Tell me about them!" Dennis said eagerly, leaning across the table on his elbows.

Ginny gaped at him for a while before she said anything. "Well, I have two, a boy and a girl."

"What are their names?" Ginny smiled at him.

"Gabrielle, she's fourteen, she's going on fifteen this year, and Julian, he's gone on twelve in March."

"Do they live with you or Harry?" he asked. "Oh God, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you that..."

"No, it's okay, they live with me." Ginny was touched by his sheepishness. She was surprised how comfortable she was talking to Dennis about this. Dennis looked down; it was obvious to Ginny that he was trying to find something to say that wouldn't offend her. Ginny laughed inwardly. "Feel free to ask me anything, I'll tell you if it's inappropriate or not." Oddly enough, she didn't mind his questions. She actually felt compelled to tell him everything.

Dennis grinned. His dimples were showing again. "Do...you want to go to my place...oh Jesus that sounded so sleazy..." Dennis was getting nervous again. Ginny giggled.

"Its okay, yeah sure I'd love to see your...place," Ginny replied.

~*~

"Here it is, home sweet home," said Dennis, opening the door for Ginny as she walked into his flat. It was...small. There wasn't a lot of furniture in the living room. She breathed in the new house smell. "I don't have time to decorate, I travel a lot." He gestured for her to sit down on the white suede couch. She did, and he sat down after her. He was looking down, playing with his hands, looking boyishly nervous again. He was too adorable.

"You don't have to be nervous, you know," Ginny whispered. Dennis looked up wide-eyed at her and grinned shyly. She melted at the sight of his dimples. She grinned back and kissed him softly on his lips. No tongue, Ginny pulled back to see his reaction. There were two pink spots on his cheeks, but he was still grinning. Dennis closed the gap between them again and kissed her, and he wasn't so shy now. She kissed back, raising her hand to the back of his head and playing with his hair. His arm moved to the small of her back, drawing lazy circles with his middle finger. She enjoyed that he wasn't so nervous anymore.

Ginny broke the kiss, she didn't want to be shown breathing so deeply and she tried to play it cool. "Mm...cherry." Well that was corny. Dennis chuckled.

"Mm...apple," he mimicked. Ginny looked at the clock. It was one-thirty. She widened her eyes. Dennis saw this and frowned slightly.

"I, um," Ginny started.

"You want to leave?" Dennis asked softly still frowning. Ginny was fully ready to have an apologetic look on her face while answering, 'Yes I should, it's late.' But something very different came out of her mouth instead.

"No, not really," she admitted and laughed softly. She leaned into Dennis, resting her head into the curve of his neck.

"Then don't?" Dennis asked quietly, amazed at his own boldness. The sensible part of Ginny yelled at her in her head to go home and check on her kids and get into her own bed, Ginny realized this was the part that told her to brush off Draco. Then the bad Ginny angel perched on her shoulder.

"Why the hell not?" it asked her. Ginny grinned, looked up at Dennis again and kissed him. Dennis took that as a yes.