For the first time in all the blind dates he's been on, Chris was actually making an effort to hop into the shower at 4.45pm, shave his beard a little, pick out a nice fancy dress shirt that would hopefully go exceptionally well with a pair of jet black slacks he'd picked out earlier this afternoon and his snazzy charcoal black shoes, and wait for his best mates to pick him up for his blind date.

The reason why Sebastian and Anthony were always the ones to accompany Chris and fetch him to the destined restaurant for his blind date is mainly because;

"Well, what if your date doesn't turn out well?" Sebastian quizzed.

"You're telling me you've set me up on a blind date that you yourself have no faith in?" Chris asked incredulously, feigning offence.

Anthony quickly shook his head at once and reasoned, "No no, that's not what I meant. I meant to say we're just serving as a backup. . . and also, in case you need a ride home or some friends to be with if things go South."

But this time, Robert decided to tag along with Anthony and Sebastian. And so, the three men were already on their way to Chris' apartment in Robert's Range Rover even though it was only 5.15pm.

"We gotta get there early because Evans is stubborn as fuck sometimes so he might just choose to be a downer and not go for his blind date. . . and I mean, well, we can't really blame him for that—I mean, he's had three unsuccessful blind dates so far," Sebastian told Robert as they were nearing Chris' apartment.

Robert nodded, understanding why they had to be there early and why Chris would refuse to go on blind dates, seeing as there was a legitimate reason behind his hesitation. As soon as Robert parked the car out front, the three men hopped out of the car, greeted the doorman, pushed their way through the revolving doors, padded across the lobby and into the elevator. Whilst the elevator music kept them company, Robert decided to make a bet, to which Sebastian and Anthony gladly took him up on.

"I'll bet ten bucks that Evans is ready for his date this time," said Robert proudly.

Sebastian snorted and tried his best not to burst out laughing. "Chris is always stubborn when it comes to the day of his blind date. He may seem eager the day before but never on the day itself."

Anthony nodded in agreement, clapping his hand on Sebastian's shoulder. "Seabass and I will take you up on that bet."

. . . . . .

"For the last time, Jen—I'm going out for dinner with—no, you can't feed your cat chocolate. . . why? Because you can't—oh Jesus, Jen, how are you even a cat owner? Okay, okay. . . look, I gotta go now or I'm gonna be late—oh my, God, will you quit telling me to use protection! Get your head out of the gutter—yeah, you're lucky I love you loads, too. Okay, really gotta go now—bye!"

Naomi huffed in mild annoyance and locked her phone as soon as she and Jen said their goodbyes, shaking her head at it before slipping it into her purse. She padded toward her bedroom to grab her cardigan—that she nearly forgot about—before looking around her apartment to make sure she'd locked all the doors and clamped the windows shut.

She did a double take once she noticed her coffee mug was on the table and quickly made a grab for it and placed it in the sink, making a mental note to clean it once she got home.

Swiping her keys off the counter, Naomi made her way to the door, grabbing her heels on the way out before slipping them on. Once the straps were in place, she closed the door behind her and locked it before proceeding to the lobby to call for the elevator.

Once she was in the Ground floor lobby, the doorman, Mr. Marlowe, bade her a good evening with his usual smile as he opened the door for her. "Heading out, Miss Lindberg?"

Naomi placed a hand on his arm and smiled at the older man. "Mr. Marlowe, please. I've told you to call me Naomi."

"And I've told you to call me Fred," the older man retorted playfully before gesturing at the cab he'd hailed for her. "Have a nice evening, Naomi."

"Likewise, Fred!" And she waved him goodbye as the cab driver began to drive off to her destination.

. . . . . .

"I cannot believe you got ready for your date this time!" Sebastian exclaimed, sounding half-exasperated because both he and Anthony lost the bet to Robert, and half-surprised at the fact that his best mate was actually standing in the hallway, looking sharp when the three men entered his apartment.

Anthony came up to Chris from behind and slung his right arm over his shoulder. "You just cost both me and Seabass here twenty bucks in total. Twenty fucking bucks."

"And what is ten bucks to either of you?" Robert chimed in, joining the trio as they sauntered across the lobby.

Whilst the other men were too caught up in their own banter, Chris was having a hard time with the jitters that came barreling his way earlier this evening. For some unknown reason, his heart was pounding relentlessly by the mere thought of meeting his date for the night. All he got was the initial of her first name and that wasn't helpful, at all.

He was curious and eager all together and he had absolutely no idea why. He was never nervous or even this excited for any of the blind dates that Anthony and Sebastian have set him up on before this. No doubt, they'd all turned out worse than he'd expected and that was already saying something.

But this time—this round—he had no fucking clue why he was so eager and why he was getting the jitters and why he was paying no mind to whatever Sebastian, Robert and Anthony were talking about.

"Earth to Evans," Robert's voice sounded from Chris' side, tearing him away from his thoughts. "You look really wired, man."

"Wired—? No way," Anthony waved his hand in disagreement before narrowing his eyes at Chris. Sebastian caught on pretty quickly and his eyes darted from Anthony to Chris.

As though a sudden realization had just dawned upon him, Sebastian pointed a finger at Chris and cheered, "You are excited for this date, aren't you?"

Robert smirked and nodded before mumbling something about getting the car started to get it all warmed up before they leave. As soon as Chris registered what Sebastian had said, he instinctively chewed on his bottom lip and tried his best to avoid the look his friends were giving him.

Anthony shook his head with a huge smile etched on his lips as he patted Chris on the back. "Finally. I've been waiting for the day where you'd at least be a little excited or nervous for your blind date—Seabass, we did it!"

"Chris finally has the jitters, God bless!"

"Oh, shut up, Seb." Chris shot his friend a playful glare and the three of them shared a hearty laugh before clambering into Robert's Range Rover that was, of course, accompanied with the whole 'It's my turn to sit in the passenger's seat!' feud.

Chris, upon Robert's request once again, was told to sit in front because, "I don't want either of those 5 year olds sitting in front and meddling with things while I drive."

. . . . . .

When all four of them got to the restaurant Sebastian and Anthony had chosen, Chris felt as though the wind had been knocked right out of him. It was a candlelight dinner for two at this God damned restaurant, and the minute he heard Sebastian tell the receptionist, "Table for two, reserved under Mr Evans," he nearly bolted out of the fine-looking restaurant.

Robert noticed Chris' apprehension and immediately seized his arm and pulled him over to the side whilst the receptionist scanned over the reservations list.

"Okay, buddy. What's wrong?" Robert asked, his voice laced with utter concern.

"This was where my ex-girlfriend and I had our second date," Chris softly admitted, avoiding Robert's gaze. "I took her here because I thought it would mean something to her but she, well. . . she actually asked me to bring her here so that she could 'stake out' her ex-boyfriend at the time. And I guess you could say it was a pretty bad experience for me because I really liked her and all but she never felt the same for me and was only using me to spy on her ex-boyfriend."

Robert's eyes softened at the sight of his friend and he knew there was nothing he could do at the moment but offer him a small smile and a hug. "And Mackie and Sebastian have no idea about this, do they?"

"This was long before I met either of you. . . so, no. They don't know about this," Chris mumbled, letting out a huge sigh as though that would help rid away those God awful thoughts. "And could we, um, keep this between us?"

Robert nodded in response and softly said, "Just to let you know, there is nothing to be embarrassed about. We all have those sort of moments."

Chris was about to express his gratitude to Robert when Anthony piped in and dragged Chris to his table. Robert and Sebastian followed swiftly after them, with Robert prodding Sebastian to spill a few details on Chris' mystery date. Sebastian shook his head and chuckled before dragging an imaginary zipper across his lips to tell Robert that his lips were sealed.

"Okay, she's gonna be here any minute now," Anthony piped up as soon as Chris was seated at the reserved table.

Anthony was the only one who was constantly glancing down at his wrist watch while Sebastian was trying to calm Chris down as he too noticed that his best mate was having the worst jitters ever.

It was almost 6.30pm so Chris' date could be here at any moment. As the seconds continued to tick, Robert figured it was their cue to leave because it was rather awkward of them to be standing in the middle of the restaurant, looking like Chris' babysitters or guardians.

"Okay, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Just remember, be cool."

"You're gonna like her. Really, you are!"

With those few parting words, Robert, Anthony and Sebastian took off and headed down a few blocks to the theatre to catch a movie, leaving Chris to fend for himself.

Not five minutes later, as Chris was beginning to think that perhaps this girl had decided to stand him up, a woman he was sure he'd seen before walked up to his table, involuntarily causing heads to turn and he noticed right away that she was flushing at the attention she was getting.

"Chris?"

He nodded in response, not being able to get out a single word because good gracious, was he in absolute awe.

"I'm Mackenzie. . . Haywood," the woman spoke shyly with a nervous smile plastered on her lips. "I hope I'm not too much of a disappointment for a date."

Chris—still being unable to get a word out—did not realize that he was practically gaping at Mackenzie, thoroughly awestruck. He was absolutely captivated and strangely enough, all the jitters he was having seemed to have dispelled. . . completely.

"No, not at all. You're not a disappointment."

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a/n; y'all didn't see that coming did you 🌚 also, any guesses on who naomi's dinner date was?