hometown glory - wroetoshaw [✓]

THIRTY

[fourteenth of februrary 2020]

APOLLO WAS NEVER A BIG SUCKER FOR valentines day, she'd assumed that harry wasn't either. neither of them had mentioned going out for anything big and she hadn't even thought about buying him a present. teddy bears, flowers and chocolates were nice but not a necessity to her. she preferred a more casual display of affection towards her partner. 
her day had felt as normal as ever, at work there were a few valentines day festivities between the co-workers; and as she had been so busy, she'd not had the chance to talk to harry very much through out the day. 

it wasn't until she crashed on her sofa, ready for a takeaway and some netflix, he texted her telling her to be ready in an hour and a half. completely out of the blue and unexpected, but she couldn't lie to herself and not get excited. it had been a few days since she'd last seen harry anyway so she was even happier to go out with him for valentines day. 

meanwhile harry was fretting in his bedroom, not wanting to dress too fancy as he despised wearing a suit and trousers; but also knowing the place he'd made reservations was above jogging bottoms and a top. lux walked in, ready to tease the boy who'd made a mess of his walk in wardrobe. "aww look at you getting yourself all pretty for apollo." 
he'd finally decided on a pair of black trousers and a plain white t shirt, he flipped cal off as he walked out of the mess he made. "fuck off mate, been a while since i've done valentines days." 

cal was about to reply but harry beat him to it, "shame we can't say the same for you, been a while since you've been lonely for one init." he laughed slightly at cal's misfortune, who was not happy with the jokes made at his expense over his breakup with sarah.
"well i guess you don't need my help for what to do on valentines day do you then?" he said with a mock-offended smile, beginning to walk out the room.

harry stuttered a string of no's, "go on then lad, give me some knowledge." he raised his eyebrow, wanting to hear what his friend had to say as he couldn't deny the nerves. 
cal looked at his disheveled appearance and took himself into the wardobe. "where'd you book the reservation again?" he asked, about to dress his friend for him as if he was a child. 
"a little riverboat in west london, apparently it does really good valentines day specials. quite posh." lux nodded at him and found the same black trousers harry really didn't want to wear and paired it with a white shirt with an embroidered logo. 

the look on harrys face made it clear he didn't want to wear it, "you can't rock up in the same 'childish' jumper you always wear mate, they might turn you away on the door." 
he rolled his eyes in defeat. "any other tips then?" 
cal pursed his lips, thinking for a minute. "girls usually love flowers, i don't see apollo being a roses kind of girl though. find something nice on your way to meet her." 

harry nodded, at this point wanting cal to leave him alone and he did. "good luck!" was the last thing he heard called out from the hallway. leaving him alone and nervous while he was getting dressed for the date he had ahead.
a few sprays of his fanciest aftershave later, he was ready to head to apollos. still wearing a not-so-fancy jacket that he'd decide to leave in the car once they arrived. though the canal boat is right outside a tube station he didn't feel like it was very fancy to make his date get the tube.