Post by WILL RYAN BELACQUA on Nov 14, 2023 23:30:41 GMT
It had been almost six months since Will had started dating again and so far none of the women he had gone out with had even made it to a second date. There had been those who knew who he was and wanted to go out with him for the recognition and there were others who seemed to spend the whole date telling him how they thought he could do a better job of protecting Hogwarts and its students from the Enlightened. Honestly, it was pretty exhausting and more than a few times he had thought about giving up but then he was always reminded of the fact that he didn’t want to end up alone and he made himself stick with it. His brother Bo was happily married and had been since not long after he graduated from Hogwarts and even his son Ryan had found himself a girlfriend. The fact that Kirsten had remarried after losing her first husband was enough to make him see that it was possible to move on after losing the one you loved but for Will it had been such a long time. It had been over ten years since his wife had died and he hadn’t even thought about dating again until the year before. He had spent more time out of the dating game than he had in it and the truth was that it had changed so much during that time. He had managed to get the hang of it in the end but he was still going from one awful date to another it seemed and with everything that was going on there were some dates that he’d had to reschedule and this was one of them. Will knew that there were some who might think that he’d picked an awful time to get back out there again but the truth was that he didn’t care. The Enlightened had reminded him just how short life could be and he knew that he had to at least try. His kids were teenagers now and they didn’t need him as much as they once had. They had lives of their own and there were nights when they didn’t even return home because they decided to stay in the dorms instead. It was moments like those when the silence seemed to come crashing down on him almost and he knew that he needed to do something about it sooner rather than later.
That didn’t mean just settling for anyone, though. Will knew that when he started something he wanted it to be with someone that he had a genuine connection with. He knew that he wasn’t the only one who was getting back into the dating game after a marriage ended, his circumstances were completely different to Thalia’s but they were both getting back out there again and a while ago they had made a pact that they would be each other’s reason to escape if a date wasn’t going well. Part way through the date they would check in with each other and then if they got a message back saying the other needed a way out then a simple phone call saying there was an emergency normally did the trick. As it was he had agreed to meet his date in another village not too far away from Hogwarts, with how packed Hogsmeade always was with students and staff Will had known that he hadn’t wanted to risk being seen by anyone he knew while he was on a first date so he always ended up going a little further afield. He also knew that he didn’t want one of his kids to see him while he was on a date, he knew that when he found someone special he would have to introduce them but since making the pact with Thalia he had only made it to the end of a couple of dates and each time the women had wanted him to head back to their place with him and Will hadn’t wanted that. He knew it might be a little old fashioned and probably a strange thing for a guy to think but after everything that he had been through he only wanted to take that step with someone he knew and someone who knew him so it had been far too soon. Perhaps that was just what dating in your thirties was like he wasn’t sure but it was definitely different to what he was used to. That day he had agreed to meet his date for a drink with the agreement that they would then go and get something to eat if they hit it off but by the time they were on their second drink each and about an hour into the date he was tired of hearing her crazy theories about who she thought were members of the Enlightened with included about half of his staff including his own brother Bo and Lenore Oakes, the professor who had been killed by the Enlightened. Needless to say Will was relieved when his phone vibrated signalling that he had a text. “Sorry, between my kids and work I’m always on call these days,” he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and having to stop himself from smiling at the text from Thalia asking how the date was going. “It’s a disaster, send help!” he sent back before pocketing his phone once more. “Just one of the kids checking in,” he said before reaching for his glass and taking a sip. “Sorry, you were saying?” he asked, knowing that that would at least give him the chance to switch off completely until Thalia came to the rescue as she always did.
THALIA JADE BARNES