Chapter Text
It was his and Rose’s second date, and needless to say, John was stressed. It was a slightly easier dress code this time, but going ice skating sounded like absolute hell. He was certain to be terrible at it, and embarrass himself in front of Rose, who he was sure would be an extraordinary skater. Not that he had any evidence for this, but it was just an innate feeling that he had. Rose just… had that grace about her that John had just never grasped. His balance and coordination were absolutely terrible, and despite how much he loved cycling, he had only finally learned to when he was 11, years after his peers.
Nearby, in her dorm, Rose was at least equally as nervous. She knew that John’s family had at least a little more money than she and her mother did and that he had probably gone ice skating multiple times. She hadn’t, however. The only places even nearish to them in London were expensive to get into, and just wasn’t something they splashed out for, with Jackie preferring to save that money, so she could get gifts she thought her daughter would enjoy, like the bike she got when she was 7. All her friends had bikes, and she was happy her mum had got it, but she’d never quite picked up the knack of staying on it. Unlike John, who she would see whizzing around campus on the bike he named for god’s sake. She was going to take it (it being the skating) in her stride. She was going to pretend like she’d been skating before, like all of her friends at uni had. She didn’t want to stand out even more.
They were going in the car with Donna. This was a sore point for John. He had failed his most recent driving test (as he had the previous ones) , and was relying on Donna to ferry him around, which she was more than happy to do, for the sole reason that it annoyed her brother. Now he was sitting like a bored kid in the back of his sister's car, kicking his feet against the seats and waiting for them to arrive at Rose’s flat.
“Will you quit it, please?” Donna groaned, turning the roundabout. “You’ll get mud on the seats, and I only cleaned them yesterday.”
“My shoes don’t have mud on them. And your car stinks.”
“You are a grown man. Stop being petty because you failed your driving test!” Donna laughed, as ever the typical, annoying older sister.
“5 times!” John muttered indignantly.
Their argument was soon broken up by Donna honking the car horn and Rose waving at them.
“Hey, John!” Rose grinned, sliding into the seat next to him. “Thanks for driving us, Donna.”
Donna brushed it off with a wave of her hand, and John pushed aside his previous grumpiness with his sister. He couldn’t push his unhappiness (and inability to drive) onto Rose.
“You looking forward to skating then?” Rose asked, turning to face John. She could tell he was annoyed by being driven about by his elder sister.
John smiled ruefully at her. “Not particularly,” he admitted. “But I am looking forward to spending time with you. And hot chocolate.”