Disclaimer: The main characters don't belong to me, but the rest does.

Dear Diary,

So, we had our first date! It was wonderful, but very, very strange.

Erik said he'd plan everything himself, so I had no clue where we were going.

I did text him to ask how I should dress (to avoid being over- or underdressed) and he replied, 'garden party-casual', which I'm pretty sure isn't a thing. I decided to interpret this to mean 'nice but not too nice', and since the weather was looking good, I put on a sundress, some nice flats, and just brought a cardigan in case it got chilly.

When he came to pick me up, I had to stop myself from gaping, because he was wearing, believe it or not, a white blazer and a boater hat - you know, like in Mary Poppins! I think this was the first time I'd ever seen him not wear black. It looked good, as in, he looked like he'd walked straight out of GQ, but it was also very strange and confusing for me, as I'm sure you can imagine. It was a bit like when you see someone without their glasses for the first time.

Remembering our misunderstanding from earlier this week, I made a point of complimenting his outfit, to make sure he wouldn't randomly decide I hated his clothes and run away mid-sentence.

"You look very dapper!"

"Thank you." Then, after a pause: "You look to die for, as usual."

I was blushing so hard that I actually replied: "Huh, thanks. Please don't die, though." (Then I cringed at myself, hard.) "So, um, what are we doing?"

"We are going on a picnic. I know you technically only agreed to coffee, but there will be coffee too, so I hope you don't mind?"

"No, no, a picnic sounds wonderful!"

"Brilliant. Shall we, then?"

He actually offered me his arm to walk me the few steps to the car, which made me squeal internally.

I was so excited. Not to push the 'Mary Poppins' comparison too far, but I basically felt like we were in that animated sequence with the penguins, and I almost started singing 'Oh, it's a jolly holiday with you, Bert' - only I didn't think he'd get the reference.

There's this gigantic park right on the edge of the city which is mostly woodland, and that's where he drove us. It made sense, since I didn't really think Erik would be comfortable with eating in public.

Once we had arrived and managed to find a spot to park in, he took out this big, old-fashioned picnic basket from the boot, which only added to my excitement.

"Oh, wow, so we're really doing this properly!"

"I mean to observe all the forms."

He seemed to have scouted for a good spot beforehand, because he seemed to know exactly where to go, and he walked us very purposefully through the trees to a nice, small, secluded clearing. Just the place for a picnic!

I helped him spread out the blanket on the grass and take out the food.

It was characteristically extravagant: there were olives and all kinds of appetizers with toothpicks already stuck in them, guacamole, three different kinds of salads, cold meats, regular and sourdough bread, cheese, cake, strawberries, blueberries, champagne, sparkling water, still water, two different kinds of smoothies, and, of course, coffee in a thermos. That wasn't even everything, but I can't remember everything.

Of course, being Erik, he had to go and say in a concerned voice, "I hope this is acceptable?"

I pretended to look at the food critically. "Hmm, let me see… Yes, I think it will do…"

Then, when he didn't seem to get the joke, I exclaimed, "Oh, come on Erik, of course it's acceptable, it's basically all of my favorite foods in one meal! Like, if I died and made it to Heaven, this is what breakfast, lunch and dinner would look like!"

He visibly relaxed. "Good, good."

Since I was starving, we began eating straight away. It took a bit of convincing to get him to take his mask off to do so, but I managed it by telling him that I wouldn't eat if he didn't, because "I can't eat with you sitting there not eating and just watching me. It's weird."

After pouring the champagne, he offered a toast "to our courtship", which made me blush again.

While we were eating, we chatted a fair bit, mostly about music. It was a relief, because I was worried we'd have to do the first-date-as-interview thing. Instead, it was just nice, normal conversation.

After we were done eating, there was, however, a bit of a lull in the conversation, during which I got nervous for the first time. I think both of us were suddenly very aware of being 'on a date', and not really knowing how to act.

After about a minute of us both being really awkward, I couldn't bear it anymore, so I blurted out the first thing I could think of, which for some reason turned out to be, "Ooh, maybe we could cloud-gaze?'

"Yes. Excellent idea. How do we, um, do that?"

"So, I think we… lie down — you know, on our backs — then we look at the clouds and try to decide what animal they look like."

"Does it have to be an animal?"

"No, not really. I don't know why I said that. It can be anything"

"Right. Let's try that." Thankfully, it turned out there were actually clouds for us to gaze at, even if our field of vision was restricted, since we could only look at the patch of sky framed by the trees.

"Any thoughts?"

"That one looks a little like a grand piano. Or rather, a baby grand."

"Yep, I can sort of see it. And what about that one?"

We continued in that vein for a little bit. Then, just as I was trying to decide whether one cloud looked more like a rabbit or a cat, I felt something touch the side of my hand. It took my brain a while to register that it was Erik's own hand. I didn't pull away, but instead remained very still. Then, after what seemed like ages, he broke contact, and I felt massively disappointed - until, a moment later, I felt him wordlessly envelop my hand in his. It was very nice.

So, there we were, lying side by side on the picnic blanket, looking at the sky, and holding hands. It occurred to me that it was a bit like that scene in the first Twilight movie, but I was so happy I didn't care. "Maybe Erik looks like he's dead," I thought to myself, "but at least he's not a sparkly vampire who wants to drink my blood."

The conversation wasn't very good after that, but honestly I don't think either of us minded, we were so busy beaming.

The time flew by, until it was eventually time for us to go back, since I'd promised Dad I'd be back by 6. (I hadn't really mentioned to him I was going on a "date", just an "outing", but I mean, he saw Erik's hat when he came to pick me up, so he probably knows anyway…)

We only stopped holding hands when we got to the car and Erik had to drive.

He even made a joke about it: "Would you like to see me try to drive one-handed? I am fairly certain I can manage it."

"Not really a good idea… so I guess I should probably give you your hand back?"

He scoffed. "But it isn't my hand anymore! You can't give back presents, you know - it's rude."

"Well, then, you can keep it for me, until I want it again."

"That I can do."

It was definitely a bit surreal to be flirting like that, but it came quite naturally.

During the ride back we listened to a CD of Schubert's piano works, which was very fitting.

When we arrived, and it was time to say goodbye, I got a bit nervous again, because I didn't really know how to end the date. Thankfully, he surprised me by being the one to take the initiative to hug me this time, which was very nice.

When we eventually pulled away, I (rather breathlessly) thanked him for the date, and said I'd had a lovely time.

"So…" he started tentatively "we could do this again? Well, not this exactly —something else — but… another date?"

"Definitely!"

"That is… wonderful! Thank you. You are an angel."

Then, before I could protest that there was no reason to be thanking me, he just sort of nodded (like a mini-bow?) and then ran away to his car.

Aaaaah. Too many feelings. I just sort of want to hug him and never let go. Help.