Realistic or Modern the right one won't run.

[girl blue]

Each time the bell above Slice of Italy's door jangled Callen would crane his neck back to see if maybe this time it’d be his date. Instead, he ended up awkwardly making eye contact with a bearded man with hard eyes and tattoos that crawled up his thick neck. Yikes. Nope. Definitely not him. He quickly turned around before he could be accused of looking at the dude funnily and gave a long, hard sigh of impatience. How many times would he have to break his neck before it was actually who he was expecting to see? The first time it had been the delivery boy who rushed out of the shop with a hot stack of pies. The second time was the return of said delivery boy. The third, fourth and, obnoxiously, the fifth time was a gaggle of giggling teenage girls who were here only for the cute cashier working behind the counter. The door opened and the bell went off again but was still not the one he was waiting for. Hah. At this rate, Callen was sure he was going to Pavlov himself into associating bells with disappointment.

Sitting alone with just a glass of melting ice water to keep him company was quickly becoming embarrassing. Cian really wasn’t making the best first date impression. Where even was he? It wasn’t as if he wouldn’t recognize him if he walked in. Callen knew he would be hard to miss from where he sat in the front booth, facing the door, with his bright platinum blonde hair. Their blind date wasn’t even completely blind. They both knew what the other looked like so that wasn't an excuse. Ivy had made sure to send both of them a picture of each other. What she hadn't disclosed were phone numbers, claiming that they should both have the opportunity to exchange digits at the end of their date should they hit it off. And although she was confident that they would, as the clock on the wall continued ticking onwards and his date remained a no show Callen wasn’t so sure.

The later it became, the more foolish he felt.

The excuses that ran circles in his head that ranged from traffic to getting lost quickly diverged into he's playing me like a fool. This was a mistake. He had no idea how Ivy managed to convince him that a friend of hers would be the perfect match for him. Maybe it was her unwavering confidence or maybe it was that his nights had been getting progressively lonelier. Maybe even both. After all, he’d just gotten out of a serious relationship 61 days ago... not that he was counting and he supposed this was her gentle nudge for him to move on. His ex had found himself another boyfriend and it still was a sore spot for Callen. Apparently, it was easy for someone he’d been with for almost a year to lose interest in him and although he refused to show it it rocked his confidence hard. So much so that he feared to waste his time as it was beginning to feel like he was with this date and now he was wondering if he should just call it a night; order himself a large cheese pizza to-go, head home, watch Netflix and then angry text Ivy for wasting his time.

Seiren Kuosaki ​

 

[Seiren Kuosaki]

Cian stared longingly through the window in front of Slice of Italy, the place he was meant to meet his blind date set up by his friend Ivy. Callen, the man he was meant to meet, was in there and Cian was loosing his mind from nerves. He hadn't been able to bring himself to touch the door handle to the restaurant, and now he was late. Very late. Extremely late. That just made his nerves grow. First he was nervous to meet this handsome stranger, and now he was even more nervous because he was late. It was like a never-ending loop of fears he couldn't seem to pull himself from. He watched as other people stepped inside the restaurant, performing a feat he only wished he could accomplish, and grew envious of their bravery. How did other people do this? All he had to do was go in and say hello. That wasn't so hard. Was it?

The redhead paced back and forth in front of the window, trying to gather the courage he needed to step inside. Why was he so shy? Why did he have to be so afraid to just meet someone new? He trusted his friend Ivy to not set him up with some weirdo, but there was still the factor of the unknown that made Cian uneasy. He needed to pull himself together already! Callen probably thought that he was being stood up by now. That was totally not the case, and Cian was internally panicking as he thought about the blonde inside being angry with him. No, he needed to just go inside. He needed to get the hard part over and done with. Ivy said they would get along well, he needed to just trust in that.

Taking a deep breath, Cian's face did little to show the internal struggle he was having inside, his expression remaining neutral and unfazed. With one last inhale for courage, Cian finally stepped into the restaurant, his eyes looking around for his date. Of course, he already knew Callen was sitting in the first booth in front of the doors, he had just been staring at him for the last thirty minutes or so through the window like a weird little stalker. Letting his eyes turn to the blonde, Cian calmly walked over and took a seat across from his blonde date.

Cian could hardly breathe, let alone speak as he was finally sitting across from one of the most beautiful men he had ever seen. He had never known anyone with such a powerful presence like Callen in all his life, and he was instantly drawn to the man like a cliched moth to a flame. Cian wanted to offer an excuse for his lateness; traffic, he got lost, he helped an old lady cross the street, stopped a mugger from taking a wallet. The freckled ginger knew he couldn't pull that off, he was an awful liar, and the last thing he wanted Callen to know was that he had spent the last half hour staring at him through the window. That just screamed 'red flag'.

Looking up to the man across from him, his face stoic as ever, he said the only thing he could think to, "Did you order?"