(My gifs aren't working right now, so just pretend this collage/layout thing looks nice💀)

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"Ma'am, are you ready to order?" The waitress asked you for the 4th time that evening. You glanced to your right, peering through the windows. Still no trace of your date in sight.

Turning back to her, you sighed and replied, "please. Just a little more time. I know I sound like a broken record right now, but I think he'll be here soon."

The waitress slipped her small notebook back into her apron pocket and nodded. She stood there in front of your table for a moment before meeting your hopeful eyes, sending you a sympathetic smile and walking towards the kitchen.

The small, modern café that your date chose was filled with people of all ages, enjoying their pastries and whatnot. After about 30 minutes of waiting (im)patiently and refusing to let others steal the chair in front of you, they began to realise the situation you were in.

They sent you apologetic glances every once in a while and even began to silently gossip about the lonely girl who's been stood up by her date.

You looked down at your phone. 0 new messages, 0 new voicemails. It was already 8:00. Your date Ethan had planned to meet at 7. You had school tomorrow and hadn't even started your homework.

Was it too late to leave now? You had literally already spent an hour waiting. What if he shows up right when I leave? You thought, bringing your fingers up to your mouth and biting at your fairly short nails. It was a bad habit, you knew that, but you were too stressed to care.

"You're too hopeful, sweetheart." A loving voice called out from the counters. You lifted your head up from your phone and your glassy eyes met the ones of a shrill elderly woman, no older than 80. "He's just not coming." She must've been watching you for a while now, but you weren't frightened by that. You surprisingly felt more comforted by her wise eyes and felt less lonely with her presence.

You nodded and ran a hand through your hair. The hair you took sweet time out of your day to perfect and straighten, just for this date. At this point, you could care less if you ruined your hair.

Letting out a bitter laugh, you followed your gut and pressed the block button under Ethan's contact number. As you stood up with whatever pride you had left and grabbed your belongings, a boy you've never seen before rushed to your table.

RICKY'S POV

I sat in a very secluded table in the front of the café close to the entrance where nobody really bothered to sit, focusing on my homework.

I come to the café once a week to study, mostly because of it's great internet connection and it's appealing atmosphere. However, today it lacked the serenity and peace I was kinda hoping for.

It wasn't like the restaurant was packed and busy, it was actually kind of quiet. Yet somehow, everyone seemed so uneasy and peculiar. At first I found it weird and I actually considered leaving, until I figured out why they were so distracted, what, or should I say who they were focused on. You.

My eyes initially turned towards the back of the small café, but they followed the gazes of many of the guests, and landed on you, sitting alone in the middle of the restaurant.

You sat straight up and your expression seemed calm, as if you had everything together, yet the sadness was evident in your longing eyes that gave away your true emotions.

You sat in the midst of so many guests, who were intrigued by your depressing presence. You looked lonely and empty, trapped inside her mind. I completely forgot about my homework and began to focus on the unfamiliar faces around me.

My eyes darted back to the mysterious girl. You kept glancing down at your phone every so often, looking outside and muttering something and visibly cringing at your own words when a waiter came by to her table.

That's why everyone is so invested in her. She's probably being stood up.

I mentally cringed that I ended up joining in with the nosy people around you and started making predictions about your predicament.

Stop it, Ricky. You are so wrong for that. Do your homework or something.

Instead, I admired your facial features from afar as the orange sunset began pouring in through the windows on your right and bounced against your skin, making you glow beautifully.

Damn. She looks perfect. I don't even think she's wearing makeup.

A man approached her table and I figured it could be your date, but was just a man asking if he could take the chair from your table to his. In that moment though, I felt relieved for you, yet sad?

I assumed the wave of sadness that came crashing down on me was for myself, but I brushed it off. There was no need for me to feel so invested in a stranger's life. But if that were true, why do so many people care about celebrities?

My ears picked up on a slightly older couple at a nearby table gossiping about the unnamed girl. "Do you think she's been stood up?" The woman asked her partner. The woman flickered their gaze and their eyes showed pity for the lonely girl, "I hope not, that shit hurts." They admitted sympathetically.

I looked down at my apple watch that read 7:50. That must've meant you had been sitting in here for a long ass time, because I arrived at 7:15 and you were already being gossiped about and stared at.

My thoughts were interrupted by a woman towards the stools called out "You're too hopeful, sweetheart." I watched you lift your head up from your phone to meet her eyes. "He's just not coming." People around gasped at the woman's brutal honesty. She really ripped off that bandaid.

But to everyone's surprise, her words didn't bother or offend you. You nodded reassuringly to the woman (and most likely yourself) and let out a breathy, unforced laugh at yourself. I watched as a look of defeat appeared on your face and my heart immediately broke for you.

I stuffed whatever papers I had still sprawled out on my table into my backpack determinedly and rushed to throw everything in the back seat of my orange beetle. I slammed the car door shut and stared at myself through the reflection of the glass, quickly fixing my distressed hair and relaxing my shoulders before rushing back inside.

I swiftly breezed past the nosy customers who whispered even more and sent me awful glares as I walked towards you. I completely ignored them, finally reaching your table.

"I know I'm super late. Traffic is crazy right now," I explained loudly, making sure everyone around us could hear, "Babe, I'm so sorry." You furrowed your eyebrows and narrowed your eyes, clearly confused so I quietly added, "I'm Ricky. Whoever stood you up is a complete douchebag. Just go with it, yeah?"

You squinted your eyes for a moment but nodded and put on a fake smile, responding just as loudly, "It's okay, babe. At least you showed up."

We both sat down and stared at each other, neither of us bothering to say a word. I subtly glanced over your features again (which look 100x better up close). You crossed your eyes and stuck out your tongue playfully, making me snap out of my thoughts and burst out laughing.

YOUR POV

His laugh was music to my ears. It made me genuinely smile, something I hadn't done since I entered the café.

"Thanks for doing this, I don't even know you." I murmured shyly. "Hey, sure you do. My name's Ricky, remember?" I giggled and nodded. Ricky smiled and I admired his freckles and scrunched nose for a while.

At first, when Ricky approached me I was initially startled, not expecting..... that, but I agreed to go along with Ricky's 'plan' anyway because it was clear that his intentions were sweet and pure and he was trying to save me from even more embarrassment.

(It also helped that he was the cutest boy i'd ever seen)

We continued to talk quietly, formally introducing ourselves and getting to know each other a little bit more. We were in the middle of talking about what schools we went to when the same waitress that approached me multiple times before arrived at our table again with a relieved smile.

"Glad to see your dates here." She sent me a wink and a genuine smile, but Ricky received an evil glare that made him visibly tense and fear for his life. He mustered out a clumsy smile, to which she rolled her eyes at and turned back to me to take my order.

"Damn. She really hates you." I giggled, watching
Ricky stretched his tense muscles when the waitress walked away. "I don't blame her, I would too if I were that guy who kept you waiting for an hour," Ricky defended.

He must've noticed the twinge of sadness appear on my face when he said that, so he immediately changed the subject. He propped his chin in his hand and grinned, "anyways, where were we?"

"This is your car?" I questioned in amazement as we exited the restaurant together and approached the vintage, orange worn out beetle. "Yeah, it isn't much, but-" "no, Ricky, look."

I stopped him as I pulled out my car keys from my bag and pressed the unlock button. An ocean blue Volkswagen Beetle similar to his made a clicking sound and its circular headlights blinked on.

Ricky turned to you with wide eyes, "that's crazy! I saw your car when I was pulling in! I like the hippie stickers you have on your side doors by the way." Ricky smirked, gesturing towards the stupid $3 stickers I bought on amazon a couple months ago as we approached my car.

I laughed and whirled back around to face him, coming to the sad realisation that our 'date' is coming to an end.

"I truly had fun tonight, Y/N." Ricky smiled softly and I nodded, subconsciously tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "Me too. Best non-planned date I've ever had." I grinned, easing the awkwardness and relieving some of my nerves.

Ricky looked up at the dark sky and laughed wholeheartedly and agreed. "But seriously, thank you. You saved my ass back there, I didn't know old people could gossip so much." I admitted, leaning against my car as I stared into Ricky's perfect honey coloured eyes.

"Of course," Ricky smiled, pursing his lips. There was something he was holding back. "We should do this again sometime." Ricky said, fumbling with his hands as he swayed on his feet nervously.

"Are you asking me on an actual date?" I inquired hopefully. Ricky nodded eagerly and looked down at his shoes shyly as he awaited my response. I grinned widely, not bothering to shield my excitement. "I'd love to." He looked back up at me gratefully, his happy expression perfectly illuminated by the night sky.

We exchanged numbers and said our goodbyes before leaving. I pulled out of the parking lot, giggling uncontrollably at the sight of Ricky in the middle of the parking lot pumping his fists in the air and dancing goofily in my rear view mirror as I drove back home.

N O T E !
thank you for reading, btw this is
unedited bear with me it's almost 2AM gn