Only sixteen and already supposed to be married. She tugged on the end of her dress as she stared at the window of the car, watching the trees fly by in an attempt to distract herself from her predicament.

Raven glanced at her parents, who were sitting in silence and duly ignoring each other and her. Sometimes, she wondered if they actually cared about each other. It was times like now that she thought they didn't.

She turned her attention to back outside, and bit her lip as she thought about what was to come. She didn't want to deal with any of this, no, not at all. It wasn't as if any of it was her idea, if she had any say in her life at all she would have moved to a far away city a long time ago with her sister. But no, her rich snobbish parents decided she should be married off to some rich and snobbish family when she was sixteen. Great.

Her attention was pulled away from outside when the car stopped in front of a restaurant, and her parents gestured for her to get out before they did the same. She did as requested, tugging down the hem of her dress as she did so. Despite her misgivings about the situation, she glanced down at herself to see if she was halfway decent for the situation. A black dress that came down to about mid-thigh, tights, knee-high lace up boots, and a simple diamond necklace at the time seemed right to her, but now she was having second thoughts. What if she looked too eager? She wasn't able to dwell on that anymore, however, as she was being led into the restaurant and then to a table, where she sat with her hands clasped tightly under the table as she waited.

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William glanced out the window as the driver said it was a few more minutes until they arrived. But he didn't want to go and he didn't think anyone in his situation would feel happy being paired up with a stranger and he felt sympathy for the girl he was going to meet. She too, was probably forced by her rich parents. As he thought about this, he looked over at his parents, feeling anger. They know he hated this, they know he wouldn't be happy but that wasn't what his parents were concerned about. They were concerned that if William had married a 'normal' girl, she would just use all his family's money.

William felt the car stop and looked out the window to see the fancy restaurant and stepped outside, followed by his parents. "We're late!" he heard his mother say, "We already made a bad impression on the other family!" He ignored his mother with a sigh and walked into the restaurant before hearing his parents talk to a waiter and followed them to a table with the other family already there. He was wearing a black suit and a tie, his hair combed neatly in the way his parents had desired and his face shaved cleanly. He sighed. Everything always had to be so neat and tidy or 'presentable' as his parents called it.

William looked at the girl sitting at the table. She looked younger than him, probably 16 years old. His parents gestured for him to take the seat beside her, in which he in total silence. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do or say but one thing he could say was that she was certainly beautiful. "Uh, Hello, my name's William." he managed to say.

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Raven kept her gaze on the table, even when the waitress brought them drinks and menus. She took a small sip of water, trying to soothe her parched throat, and sighed quietly, wanting to get the night over with so she could go home and pretend this was all a dream, even though the next morning she would wake up and probably rip all of her hair out from frustration.

She heard a car pull up outside, and she lifted her head only to quickly bury her face in a menu. She swore to not make eye contact or talk to anyone the whole time they were here, except when spoken to. She hoped that wouldn't happen, or at least not very often. Despite that promise, however, she still looked up when the door to the restaurant opened, and once again quickly looked back down at her menu.

Raven tensed slightly when he sat down beside her, and she instantly began to hate him, even though she realized that he probably had nothing to do with this. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye when he introduced himself, and her voice was quiet when she did the same, "Raven."

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William nodded at Raven then reached out to also grab a menu. "That's a pretty name." He commented quietly. He figured that Raven wanted nothing to do with him and he understood so he tried to focus on the menu. But once in a while, he would glance up from the menu to look at Raven, not being to shake off the thought of how beautiful she looked.

As his parents began ordering food for the table, William tried to summon the courage to start a conversation many times but it always resulted in him looking away with a sigh. Then, he began to wonder what it would have been like if he wasn't born into a rich family. He would been able to marry anyone he wanted but no, he was stuck in a restaurant next to a girl who probably hated him.

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Raven couldn't help but blush at his comment, and that just caused her to bury her face into her menu even more. She had long ago decided what she wanted, and she could feel William's gaze on her, and it was beginning to make her uncomfortable. But she didn't tell him that; she was afraid to.

She looked up when their families began to order, and she told her parents what she wanted so she didn't have to talk to anybody else. They both gave her a look, but she ignored them and just stared at her sparkling apple cider, trying to ignore the people around her for as long as she could, but she knew her parents--and probably William's--would start in with the questions soon, and she would have to talk.

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William finally closed the menu he had been 'reading' and put it onto the table for a waiter to collect. His parents had ordered anyway, so he'd just eat that. He felt everything in his life was arranged for him by his parents. Once again, he glanced at Raven and decided to just tell her how he felt. "Um, look. I know your parents probably dragged you into this as well.. but I think we could still enjoy this night.." he said to her quietly. This time wasn't because he spoke quietly not because of nervousness but because he preferred if his parents didn't hear him.

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When William closed his menu, Raven moved both of her hands to hold her glass in an attempt to discourage conversation. She did glance at him when he began to speak, but other than that didn't want to initiate any conversation for fear that he may think that she was trying to establish rapport. When he was done talking, she thought about making a comment about the fifty dollar steak that she ordered, but as she was an anxious mess all the time she didn't. She was too afraid to even think of doing something like that.

She would have been perfectly content to just sit there like that for the rest of this disastrous evening, but her mother kicked her in the shin, causing her to yelp quietly, but still loud enough for those around her to hear. Even so, she still just stared at the table and hoped no one would try anything else.

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When Raven didn't reply, William was unsure of what to do next. He could certainly see she didn't want to talk but he wondered if she could really stay silent for the whole night. He leaned back into his chair in thought, only to be stared down by his parents. Yes yes I know, I have to keep my back straight and sit 'properly'. William let out a small groan of annoyance before sitting back up. He was about to ask Raven something when he heard a small yelp and he quickly turn to where the sound came from to face Raven. "Are you hurt?" he asked.

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Raven felt a little bad when William leaned back in his chair, knowing that he was probably thinking about her introverted nature. She did smile, however, when he groaned, and that made her start to think that maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Then she immediately dismissed that thought. Of course it would be terrible; she never got to choose anything. Her parents had tried to choose everything for her: her friends, her hobbies, her skills, what she liked to do... And when her 'friends' didn't work out, they just reclused her away in their house, keeping her away from everybody who might 'taint' her, so she didn't even know how to handle herself around people at all, which was why she was just ignoring William.

She finally looked him in the eye at his inquiry, and she said, "No," but she gave a tiny nod of her head, small enough that nobody else would see.

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William smiled at Raven after finally receiving something from her. "That's good to hear." He couldn't blame her for being uncertain and shy but it made him happy to know that she was starting to open up. He then reached for the jug of water sitting on the table before he refilled Raven's and his glasses as a kind gesture. He had been taught by his father how to act like a gentleman, though he despised the lectures. But this time, Raven had made him curious to learn more about her and maybe this arranged dinner could end well. "So what's your family like?" he asked, looking at her.

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Raven couldn't help but blush at his smile, and she bowed her head again, not wanting anyone to see the expression. She looked up when she saw William refill both of their glasses, and, despite her wish to remain distant, she gave him a small smile in thanks. She decided that he wasn't so bad, and maybe if this had been willful and they had more time to get to know each other she wouldn't mind this at all. But since none of that happened... She looked at him again at his inquiry, and shrugged, not really wanting to say anything since they were right there, "They treat me well."

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