The violin chorus rose and fell with the notes from the piano. There were roses evenly spaced in glass vases on the table, and her plate of spaghetti was served on elegant china. Her fork was real silver, the napkins were expensive silk, and she didn't even want to know how much the reservation had cost.
It was all so proper.
Not that she didn't like proper! Proper was nice. Roderich was proper. She liked Roderich. His parents were proper and she…well…she didn't hate them.
They just had some major sticks up their asses. Worse than Roderich, who she sometimes thought had a pretty big one. And the way Mrs. Edelstein was looking down her nose at her mother was really starting to piss her off.
They thought Elizaveta's parents were crazy hippies. Which they were, to be honest. They'd been to Woodstock and they still dressed like a true hippie couple. They travelled around the country living out of their minivan, protested, and rarely ever wore shoes.
Her mother was being chatty, trying to talk to Mr. Corporate Bigwig – erm, Mr. Edelstein – about renewable energy. He just cut his steak and ignored her.
Elizaveta sighed and rested her elbow on the table and pushed her pasta around on her plate. She felt a light tap on her arm and lolled her head around to look at Roderich.
"No elbows on the table, love," he reprimanded gently. Elizaveta stifled a "why not?" and complied. She reached down under the table to grab her purse and pretended to be looking for something to avoid the awkward conversations at the table.
Her fingers found cool metal in the bottom of the bag. She lifted it up into the light and held it in her lap. An Iron Cross on a chain with a key dangling next to it. Gilbert's necklace. The one he'd given her two months ago, when he'd shown up unannounced and left just as suddenly after shoving it into her hand. He hadn't answered her calls since.
"Gil…" she muttered and she traced the metal with her fingertips.
The waiter was refilling her wine glass, so she dropped her purse to the ground and hurriedly put the necklace into her coat pocket. She smiled politely and thanked the waiter as he poured some red wine into her glass.
Just like Gil's eyes, she mused to herself.
God, did she miss him. She didn't realize how big a part of her life he was until he disappeared from it altogether. She missed when they'd ride horses together, when they'd play pointless shooter games on his Xbox or DDR, when they'd go out drinking at some pub and both end up drunkenly laughing so hard they wouldn't be able to stand even if they were sober.
Roderich's hand found hers on the tabletop, and she turned to smile at him on cue. But she saw red eyes instead of violet and silver hair instead of brown.
"I love you, Elizaveta."
"I love you too, Gilbert."
She could almost hear the needle scratching across the record as everyone stopped and stared at her.
Oh shit.
Oh shit.
"I…I…I mean…I…" she sputtered incoherently with wide eyes as the Edelsteins stared at her in shock. Her mother smirked. Her father hid his smile in his wine glass.
She ripped the engagement ring off her finger and slammed it down on the table as she ran for the door.
Mrs. Héderváry turned to her husband.
"I told you so. You owe me twenty bucks."
A/N: Who stayed up till midnight writing PruHun fanfiction when she gets up at 5:45? THIS GIRL DID!
Who is sleep deprived? THIS GIRL IS!
This is a prequel of sorts to my other one-shot Epiphany. I was thinking about the part when I mention she called Roddy Gilbert, and I was like, "Hmmmm, that'd be fun to write." So I did. And here it is. XD