MAID MARIAN ( TARON EGERTON ) ✓

SIXTY FIVE

REAL LIFE

MONIKA SAT ALONE AT A TABLE FOR TWO, A MENU PROPPERED UP IN HER HANDS AND THE WINE GLASS NOW EMPTY. She looked lonely but not as lonely as she felt. It made her feel ill and weak. No matter how much she'd try to deny it she missed Taron, and all she wanted was for them to go back to how they were just before the mini argument. Just before when she was certain they'd become a proper couple. But she was too stubborn to message him first.

Her eyes scanned the food options and as she read the meals her eyelashes kept getting stuck together. As she carefully untangled them she wondered again where Sergo was. He was only supposed to be finished getting ready, he'd dropped food down his dark blue shirt even though Monika told him not to eat before they went out. He sent her down to the restaurant, so she could see if there was free tables since he'd forgotten to book one. She expected since he was planning it, he'd be able to do that one job. But she was wrong. She didn't know why she'd trusted him with something like that, he was the most forgetful at times He told her to ask the bubbly blonde at the desk for a table for two under 'Marian' as it was quirky and celebrated them getting the show back. But she thought it was stupid and it reminded her too much of Taron and the first tweet that it made her heart tighten whenever she heard the name or even thought of it. So she was just going to go with 'Monika', but she didn't realised she'd said 'Marian' until the woman said a table for two was already booked under that name.

Even though Monika was confused, she followed the friendly woman to the table she was guided to. When she sat down she ordered a weak, cheap wine and tugged at the bottom of her red dress; feeling slightly awkward as she waited for her friend. But now it had been ten minutes and there was still no sign of him. People must have thought she had been stood up on a date but Sergo would never do that. Still it didn't help that the table was covered in red rose petals that matched the colour of her dress, and beneath laid a white soft table cloth that looked as silky elegant as if felt on Monika's bare knees and in between her warm fingers. She had messaged him multiple times but had received no answers, not even a read notification. When she thought the boy couldn't be more of an idiot, he had forgot that he had actually booked a reservation. To be honest she wasn't entirely surprised but she still rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath as she fiddled with the edges of the table cloth.

When the stocky woman came back to the table for the third time to ask if Monika wanted to order yet, her face was still red and sporting a sympathetic expression. But Monika just shook her head again and this time buried her face in the menu instead of her phone to hide her red, embarrassed face. This was extremely uncomfortable and awkward; she would kill Sergo for embarrassing her so much when he finally arrived. Yet she still didn't order without him, or even leave the restaurant.

Her eyes had started to water - she couldn't control the sad feeling in her stomach, the feeling of abandonment and shame again - and had been burning into the words 'pasta bolognaise with cheese' for so long it had turned into a conjoined blur of squiggly black. But when she heard the pull of the chair in front of her, the font didn't materialise and she had to shake her head to focus her attention again; she still didn't glance away from the contents of the menu.

"Finally you idiot, I looked so stupid. You better have a good reason like you bumped into Chris Evans on the way here cause I'm literally going to choke you with this menu" She huffed to Sergo, but even though she was annoyed it was still jokingly, as she read the options for vegetarians.

"Yes I am an idiot"

The voice that chuckled from the other side of the table wasn't Sergo's, but it was just as familiar to the brunette. The deepness and accent of it imprinted in her brain. She quickly but cautiously peered over the lamented menu, wondering when Sergo had learnt how to do such a good impression of the Welsh actor. But her eyes weren't met with her stupid best friend's but instead the actual Welsh actor. 

The man across the table, fiddling with a rose petal in between his fingers and a shaky smile on his lips, was the one Monika was actually in love with.