THE DATE.

Chapter 17 from Tommy's P.O.V

I followed Mason's lead towards his silver Mercedes. As I climbed into Mason's car, I was greeted with an ear bleeding screech.

"Tommy!"

Before I could utter any coherent reply, I was pulled into a hug that knocked all the air out of my lungs. Petit hands wrapped around my waist and a sharp elbow dug into my stomach. All I could do was squat awkwardly, chuckle uneasily and simply pat the head of the small form below me.

Finally, the person pulled back and I looked down to see a huge pair of brown eyes staring back at me.

"Hi June," I said hesitantly.

I had little experience with girls, besides Tammy and a short- term girlfriend or two back in Washington- however, it had been 2 years since I had been out on any form of a date, besides going out with Tammy of course. I tended to steer away from anyone of the opposite sex, you know, apart from Tammy.

"It's going to be so fun tonight, I can just feel it!" she beamed.

"Yup." I replied simply.

She then leaned forwards between the two front seats,

"Hey Mason, can we get a move on there, the sooner we get to the restaurant the better." she demanded, throwing me a wink over her shoulder.

"Yes ma'am." he responded in a southern accent.

April giggled from where she was sat in the passenger seat and threw a hand over her mouth to disguise her laughter.

I could only roll my eyes, as if that was funny!

The engine suddenly roared to life, June jumped and let out a little screech, clinging onto my arm.

"Oops, sorry. I'm just a little bit jumpy tonight." she said sheepishly as she released her grip, biting her lip.

"That's alright."

I then shuffled round to look outside of the window, hearing the radio softly play in the background.

"Do you like this song?" Mason asked April.

"Love it." she answered, leading them into a whole other conversation.

"Do you like Christina Aguilera?" June asked from next to me.

"I guess so, but I prefer listening to cold play." I answered shortly.

"So Tommy, how are you finding Toronto?" I heard her ask me.

I sighed and shuffled back round to answer,

"I-"

"I know, it's great isn't it- especially this part of the city- you know, apart from the occasional crazy person. Hey, did you know that on average we walk past 2 psychopaths a day! Well, at least I think it's two- I saw it the other day on a post on Facebook.

I would show you now, but I lost my phone AGAIN and I was on my MacBook. I've lost it-my phone but the way- about 7 times during summer break and after my first phone, I just got a series of bricks.

Did you know those are the worst! Only one stupid game, no app store, the internet is super slow, it's fatter than a potato and they're ugly! The only upside is the battery life, I can go a whole week without charging my phone. It's a good thing it has good battery life though, I lost my charger in my room. Oh goodness, that place is such a pigsty-"

All I could wonder was how her speech started with how great Toronto was, to how many psychopaths there were, to brick phones and finally how messy her room was.

'This was definitely going to be a night to remember' I thought as I shuffled around again and drowned out her words through my trance of the city lights.

----

"Tommy, Tommy, wake up!" a soft voice said.

I hand began to shake my shoulder and I shot awake.

"Tammy, what's wrong!" I exclaimed.

"Er no silly, it's me, June," I looked to my right to indeed see April shooting me a small smile.

"Oh sorry,"

I thought this was all a bad dream.

"I think you fell asleep whilst I was talking about my shade of foundation." she giggled, rolling her eyes.

I wasn't even going to ask...

Peering out of the window, I saw Mason tapping his wristwatch impatiently. I blew out a small breath and moved to undo my seatbelt, but stopped as I realised I hadn't even clipped it in.

Oops?

I opened the door and stretch into an upright stance.

"Ready?" Mason asked his date.

"As I'll ever be," April smiled, holding his hand and leading him to the restaurant, her heels clacking with each step.

'Score' he mouthed to me as he walked away.

June suddenly appeared next to me smiling, and motioned with her head that we should follow.

"Come on then," I smiled, deciding to be more nice and holding out my hand.

Her smile widened and she gripped my hand as we began our trek to the restaurant.

---

"Hello ladies and gentlemen, my name is Jolie, and I will be your waitress for the night, have you yet decided on your meals?" A french accent was present in the voice of the middle aged, short woman with curly hair that spoke to the group.

"Yes, we have thank you." Mason answered for all of us.

"Great! I'll take your orders for you then." she said, forcing a smile, making her lines of age more exaggerated.

"Spaghetti Bolognaise for me please."

"Spaghetti Bolognaise for me please."

The twins spoke at the same time.

"Twinsies!" they both exclaimed, linking pinkies and giggling.

"And for you gentlemen." the woman spoke, now sounding impatient.

"The traditional roast dinner please," I supplied.

"The lasagne please." Mason said.

"Your food will be ready within the next ten minutes." she muttered before venturing back into the kitchen.

"Talk about grumpy," June commented.

"Yeah, and it couldn't hurt to brush your hair once in a while could it?" April inputted.

"What I do with my hair is none of your business." A voice growled.

"Oh..."

"Yes 'oh', I forgot to take your drink orders. Foolish child." the French lady snapped.

"I ur- I- but," April stuttered.

"She'll have the lemonade, but with no ice, she has a little cold." Mason answered for her.

Smooth, real smooth.

"How did you know I love lemonade?" April smiled, I now noticed that her nose was tinged with a light red.

"Well I-"

"He sees you drink it at lunch, where he always watches you like a wannabe Edward Cullen." I said cheekily.

Mason glared at me.

"That's so cute!"

Okay, so I tell you a guy watches you every day like a vampire and you say that it's cute? Girls will be girls...

The waitress rolled her eyes before repeating her question.

"I'll have the cookie's and cream milkshake." I replied.

"Same here!"

"Me too."

"Oh I feel left out now, actually I'll have one of those too. Sorry Mason." April said.

"That's alright babe." he smiled sincerely.

"This is why I hate this job." the lady murmured, again walking back to the kitchen.

"This is why I hate this job." April mimicked.

"Well this teaches you not to be spiteful to others, doesn't it?" I said.

"It's her fault for eavesdropping."

"You shouldn't have been so rude in the first place."

"It's not my problem that she doesn't brush her hair, she knows it so why couldn't I say so?" she continued to argue.

"Because sometimes the obvious can hurt people feelings,"

"Yeah well- whatever, I didn't come here to fight with you." she finally backed down, awarding me with a smile that told me she knew I was right.

"I need to go to the bathroom." June suddenly said, standing up from her chair.

"Okay-"

June sent her sister a look, and almost immediately, April got up to join her.

"Me too." April said with fake enthusiasm.

Their dresses flowed behind them as they went to the toilet entrance.

"I wonder what that was all about." Mason spoke.

"It's none of my business."

"I bet it's because you're not being nice enough to June." he said hesitantly.

"Me? I held her hand to the restaurant!" I defended.

"And fell asleep whilst she was talking." he said with raised eyebrows.

"Can you blame me?" I scoffed.

"Fair point, but she might convince April to leave." he reasoned.

"Fine, I'll TRY." I gave in.

"Thanks man, I owe you one."

"No, you owe me a thousand."

"I'll pay for everything?" he tried.

"Damn right you will."

"Okay, okay. Just make it through this one night."

Again, the only phrase that seemed fitting was;

"Damn right I will."

---

"Hmmm, oh my gosh this is so good!" June moaned next to me.

"Yeah, you've said that like 20 times now." I said uneasily, taking a long sip of my milkshake.

And it was making me severely uncomfortable

"I can't help it, it's just too perfect!" she groaned, her mouth surrounded in the red sauce.

Even Tammy wasn't this bad. It was like June was exaggerating how good it was to impress me... if that made any sense?

She paused her riot and leaned forwards towards her twin,

"I thought you said guys like it when you eat like a pig!" she whispered to her sister, pulling her hand up as if to keep me from hearing.

April just shrugged.

"Ha ha ha." June chuckled forcefully, noticing we had all heard what she said.

I continued to eat my meal in silence, trying to drown out her sounds, then glanced over at Mason, but he seemed to be ignoring my gaze.

Yeah, you know to look away.

I looked at my watch, we had been here for an hour now. Everyone had almost finished their food, the meal was extremely good- moan worthy even. It was so good that even though I was full, I still willing to try some of the dessert.

---

It must have been 10 minutes later when everyone had finished their meals, I swiped up the rest of my gravy with a piece of chicken and finally rested my cutlery on either side of my plate.

"I am-"

Stuffed.

"Hello, I am Lindsay, sorry for the change of waitresses. There has been some... complications- are you guys ready for dessert?" a voice asked.

Okay, maybe I'm not so stuffed anymore.

I whipped my head round to the right to see a more friendly, young looking waitress. She tucked strands of her blonde hair behind her ears as she waited for a reply.

The fact that she looked so familiar slightly caught me off guard for a moment, but I managed to swiftly regain my composure.

"Oh, sorry. What do you recommend?" I asked nicely.

I must have also caught her off guard, because for a moment she looked flustered.

"Right erm- I-"

"It's alright if you don't know, I won't tell if you won't." I joked, winking at her.

"No, that's fine. I just needed a little longer to think." she reassured, looking at me.

A moment had passed but her eyes were still trained upon me.

June cleared her throat.

"Oh right yeah- urm."

It must have been my charming good looks that were distracting her from answering.

"Get on with it then," June snapped.

We all turned to look at her with raised eyebrows.

"What? Did you not see the way she was just staring at you? What are you, 50?" she hissed, directing the end of her speech at the poor waitress.

"I'm 27 actually, and why I was looking at him is none of your business." Lindsay retorted.

"Well he's my date and I don't want anybody looking at him that way."

"What do you mean by that way?" the waitress asked with attitude.

"I mean, desperate is not a good colour on you."

Well, jealously is not a good colour on you Little Miss Attitude.

"Well jealousy is not a good colour on you Little Miss Attitude." she snapped back, reading my exact thoughts.

I could only blink at her in surprise as she moved on to answer my initial question.

"I recommend the cream cheese puffs with lemon glazing and whipped cream."

If only Tammy were here.

"I'll have that then."

I'll just have to eat it for her.

Then rub it in her face later.

"Me too, but with no glaze." June said, still eyeing the waitress suspiciously.

"I'll have the slice of pumpkin pie please," April asked nicely.

"Can I have the triple chocolate cake please?" Mason asked, his eyes glued to the picture on the menu.

"Your orders will be with you soon." she finished, sending me a smile over her shoulder as she walked away.

And then it clicked, and the memories came flooding back to me.

---

"Here you are." Lindsay had returned with our meals, now that I knew who she was, I was seeing her as a whole other person.

She smiled at me as she caught me staring at her and I coughed and looked away.

She set each plate on the table, directly in front us.

We all took it in turns to say thank you, well... besides June that is.

"Oh, I asked for no glaze thank you." she said, smiling forcefully, lifting the plate back up and offering it to the waitress.

"Oh that's not glaze," Lindsay said, smirking evilly and licking her lips, turning around and walking away.

It took June a little while to realise what had happened.

"Wait! Gross!" she called out, but Lindsay was already gone.

June lifted her plate up higher in the air, even moving to get up from her seat. She took a step forwards but lost her footing and her grip on the plate consequently putting a blob a whipped cream on my suit jacket.

A silence fell upon the whole restaurant, I looked up from my messy jacket to chuckle uneasily at the spectators watching me.

"Oh my gosh Tommy, I am so sorry!" June apologized once the chatter of the restaurant had resumed.

"Don't worry about it-"

"No, I am just so clumsy and messy. I was jealous of her watching you and it was like you both knew eachother so I overeacted. But to be fair, she was rude to me too and spat in my food, oh well at least I thought she did-"

I simply slid my plate over to her, not caring that she didn't want any glaze- I knew she just asked that to be difficult- and it would shut her up.

"For me?" she beamed.

Well, I wasn't just going to sit here eating whilst the remains of your food were on my clothes.

"Yeah." I sighed.

"Oh goodie, thanks Tommy!" she smiled, practically jumping in her seat as she dug in.

I sat down awkwardly as everyone ate their food.

"Excuse me." I said, finally getting up from the table.

I don't even think they heard me through their food fantasy's.

I walked towards the men's bathroom, feeling the need to splash some cool water on my face.

"Sucky date?" a voice said as I let the tap run for a bit.

I didn't even have any energy to jump.

"My date just dropped her food on me so I gave her mine, it doesn't get any worse than that." I scoffed.

"My date just told me she's a lesbian."

I paused.

"You win."

"I thought I would."

I looked behind me to see a guy about my age leaning on the wall by the hand dryers.

"Where is this girl?" I asked.

"Just left with her girlfriend, and my ride. I'm waiting for my friend to come pick me up." he told me.

"Ouch bro, talk about a triple whammy."

"Tell me about it." he said dramatically.

I splashed the water on my face, feeling it slightly relax my nerves. I then walked up next to him to grab a hand towel to dry my face and wipe the mess of of my suit.

"Hey, you're in high school right?" I asked.

"Yup, senior year, captain of the basketball team, you?"

"Same, besides the captain part. I'm new here."

"I figured that," he said, taking a step towards me.

"Yeah urm..."

"Did you ever stop to wonder why this bathroom was empty? How I suddenly popped out of the shadows? If I really did have a sucky date? Because I didn't, everyone knows not to come into this bathroom because of me."

By now, he had me cornered.

"I'm a vampire."

"Dude, you need to go and visit a psychiatric ward." I said, genuinely worried.

"Nope, I am completely sane, just blood thirsty." he hissed, licking his lips.

"Er...."

"Relax bro, I was just kidding. I really am waiting for my friend." he laughed.

Talk about a sense of humour.

As if on cue, his phone buzzed in his hand, presumably alerting him of a text message.

"And he's here."

"Bye man, good luck on your date." he said, pushing the door open of the bathroom.

"Good luck getting another chick." I winked.

"Oh I'll have no trouble with that." he winked back, saluting me as he finally walked away.

Following his lead, I too left the bathroom, greeted with the sight of the trio looking bored out of their minds, well besides April and Mason who were giggling to each other.

"Where have you been bro? We've been waiting for you!" Mason exclaimed as I approached the table.

"I've been gone for like 5 minutes." I scoffed.

"And I finished eating like 4 minutes ago, the girls maybe 2 or so."

"Oh well at least I'm here now, we can leave." I replied, trying to sound as unenthusiastic as I could without upsetting June's feelings.

"Yeah." my date sighed.

Mason called for the bill and paid and after the turn out of this date, I couldn't care to feel even an ounce of guilt.

I could honestly say that I felt nothing for June.

Nada.

Zilch.

Zero.

I heard giggles from beside me and widened my eyes in horror as a table of guys openly checked me out.

I pratically ran out of the restaurant to catch up with Mason.
---

The sky was dark now as we located Mason's car. I simply walked besides them awkwardly as they continuously cracked up in laughter.

"-and then, she slapped my face!" Mason finished.

Cue the giggles

And the twins burst out in laughter.

I rest my case.

---

"And yeah, that was it. You know the rest." I finished telling Tammy, of course excluding the bits I didn't need or want her to know.

"Oh come on, it didn't sound that bad- besides the vampire guy and the whipped cream." she reassured.

"Tammy, listen again to that sentence and I'll bet you'll want to rephrase it."

She paused in thought.

"You're right."

"Aren't I always." I teased.

She only rolled her eyes as she began to drive us back home.

---

S.O.R.R.Y

I have just started school again which means..... MUCH LESS FREQUENT UPDATES!

Sorry guys, but education always comes first. I have also noticed that I have begun to lose motivation for the writing of this book, so if I take long to update, it's also because I simply don't know what to write and nor do I want to.

I will try though! Just for my faithful readers.

In my opinion, this chapter was super boring and dragged on too long. 9+ pages on word with font size 12! You cannot argue with the facts, the only scenario was in the same freaking restaurant!

P.S. let's see If this book can get 100 reads on each chapter by midway October