Lights are still on when you enter your apartment, not really a surprise since Jess has been texting you up until five minutes ago. The pitter-patter of small feet trot to you as you close the door.

"Atlas!" You bend down, a smile splitting your face as you pet the black and white dog. "Who's a good boy?" You scratch behind his floppy ears.

"Where the hell were you?" Jess asks, arms crossed as she walks towards the doorway.

"I told you, I was cooling off after the bad date." You shrug her off, not wanting to go into details about Tom via text.

If you did tell Jess you were with another guy, Jess might get the wrong idea, think maybe it was a second date you neglected to tell her about. Or worse, Jess might think it's some type of signal that wasn't previously discussed and Jess would have shown up in fear for you. She's a great friend for that but she's also seen one too many true crime documentaries and you don't want Jess just showing up worried some cute boy is kidnapping you.

"Yeah, but you're never out this late and you weren't answering your phone. I thought you were kidnapped." Jess's voice is hinted with a slight bit of annoyance and panic.

"You and I both know they'd return me. I'm annoying." You deadpan as you stand up, kicking your shoes off on the shoe rack. "Um, yeah..." You furrow your brows. "A weird thing happened though."

"Mhm," Jess quirks a brow, the displeased expression not budging.

"Met a guy." You chortle, walking past Jess towards the kitchen with Atlas right behind you. "Like after the date, it's why I wasn't answering."

Jess shakes her head, pulling out a chair and gesturing a hand in front of her. "Is he cute?" The worry has evaporating from her tone and is now replaced with curiosity.

"I mean...yeah." You laugh, your cheeks heating up as you think back to Tom just half an hour prior. "He had a bad date, too so that was....weird."

"Oh my gosh!" Jess squeals.

"What?" You narrow your eyes, knowing what the squeal meant.

"Maybe it's fate!" She beams, toothy smile and wide eyes on you as you show no interest in the thought, leaning against the counter with your arms crossed. "A meet-cute!"

"No." You scoff, rolling your eyes. "Fate doesn't exist. We make choices and those choices have results."

"Ugh." Jess rolls her eyes right back. "You're a cynic."

You place your hands on the counter, lifting yourself up to sit. "You're," You point to Jess. "Credulous."

"I'm just saying like maybe...." Jess offers.

"Anyway, no, we're gonna go on really bad dates and see who gets the worst ones." You say with excitement and the wiggle of your brows, cutting Jess off.

You don't normally cut Jess off but Jess is so in love with the idea of love that it drives you completely insane. Jess is the kind of person who believes in fate and destiny, love at first sight. She's had her share of bad break ups but Jess seems to always bounce back super fast because, the way she sees it, it just wasn't meant to be and her one true person is out there somewhere. She was supposed to go through that bad breakup to eventually lead her to the person she's supposed to be with. It makes you want to bang your head against a brick wall until you pass out. You believe in taking fate and destiny by their horns and doing whatever the fuck you want. But, maybe you're a little envious of how Jess views it all. She seems happier.

Jess's face contorts and scrunches as if she were solving the answer to the creation of the universe. "That's weird. You're going to intentionally go on bad dates?"

"Yeah," You nod, slowly, looking up and back to Jess. "Yeah, I hear why that's weird now." You laugh softly, shaking your head with a shrug. "I'm gonna do it anyway, maybe it'll be fun, you love my date stories."

"Remember that guy that brought his snake on the date because he thought you could cure it?" Jess laughs, head in her hands.

"And it was just digesting its food like a normal reptile!" You yell, shaking your head with a laugh. "I did advise him to go to the vets office, though if he's worried as I did not have an X-ray and I'm not a vet."

"That's my favorite story." Jess giggles softly.

She worries about you. She's your best friend and she worries because you have all these bad dates stories and she knows you better than anyone else in the world. Jess can see past the disdain and disgruntled eye rolls you give her when she talks about true love. Somewhere inside of your detached heart, she knows you're lonely. It's why you keep going on bad dates. She wants you to be happy. You can be happy on your own but...she knows you've always wanted someone, too.

"See, bad dates come with good stories." You wink at Jess.

"I guess." Jess sighs. "So, new guy make your bad date not so bad?"

"Yeah," You voice is soft and a sad but gentle smile comes to your face. "It was nice, he was really nice." Your phone dings in her pocket. You pull it out and the sadness of your smile dissipates into something that actually seems happy.

"Make it home ok?"

"Good." Jess smiles, deciding not ask any questions while you type away at the keyboard.

You'll do this thing where if anyone starts asking too many questions, you'll shut down and drop anything and everything of the topic. After a bad date, you're usually in a bad mood for the rest of the night, not that some random guy ruined a night or that you had a lot of hope going into the date but because it's more like that's one less person you don't mesh with. It makes you feel alone, in the department of romance. Those people are typically assholes but it hurts and is more of a disappointment to yourself than anything else. But, Jess is watching you smile as you type away, knowing it has to be the new guy because you wouldn't be smiling if it were anyone else. So, Jess doesn't push, she lets you be.

While Jess goes to her room, you grab a leash for Atlas and take him out for a quick walk before bed, just up and down the sidewalk, all while texting Tom. You weren't sure if he'd actually text you at all but you really didn't expect a text from him tonight. It's kind of nice. And you aren't talking about anything in particular, just talking about what you'll do for the rest of night and the next day. You both have work and plans to go bed soon. It's nothing special but you find yourselves with bubbling stomachs and you both chalk it up just talking to someone new who you happen to find attractive and that's it.

Over the next week, Tom and you continue your texting. You have a little different sleep schedules but you seem to make plenty of time for each other. Conversation seems to flow. It's usually about your dogs or family, sometimes it's about pop culture or a TikTok you saw. You're mostly just enjoying having someone new to talk to that isn't a complete jerk. But you've also been active in your dating profiles, matching with a few people here and there. The goal is to have a date for Monday night, figuring Tom's schedule is a little easier to work with instead of trying to go on dates at 2am and it not sounding like a one-night stand deal.

Now, it's Monday and you're sitting at that booth where you met in that one diner. You're giddy, stomach doing flip flops and a smile etched across your face as you wait for Tom. Part of you is excited to tell him about the bad date you had that didn't even finish but the other part, is actually just excited to see the boy with brown eyes and a goofy eyebrow. He's been on your mind more than anyone else has.

"Hey." Tom greets with a cheeky grin, dressed in a navy button-down shirt and black slacks.

"Hey." You greet as Tom sits across from you. "How was the walk?" And it's like a swarm of butterflies all escape from their cocoons at the same time in your stomach.

"Bit chilly." Tom chuckles, summer finally coming to an end. "Yours?"

You're wearing a maroon sweater, your hair doesn't seem to be done in a special style, nothing special, really but Tom thinks you look beautiful. He can feel the giddiness in his knees as he watches you hug yourself and the tint of a smile tug one corner of your mouth. In this moment, he can't believe he's thinking about how he missed seeing you. One night, after just one night, he missed seeing you as if you were old friends reconnecting for something more. It's an odd feeling so he shakes it off as you answer him.

"Cold." You laugh as the server comes over to see if you know what you're going to order.

You had plenty of time to figure out what you would get and Tom looked at the menu while he walked over, figuring if he didn't have to look at the menu, you'd have more time to talk. You have work in the morning so he figures you won't want to be out too late.

You both place your orders with the server before you jump into your conversation.

"So, how was your date?" Tom asks, taking a drink of his water.

"Oh, the usual, he clipped his toenails on the table." You look at Tom, your voice nonchalant as you wait for the reaction you know is going to be good.

Tom coughs, nearly choking and you laugh, tilting your head back. "I'm sorry, on?"

"That's what you're concerned about? Not him, cutting his toenails in the middle of a restaurant on a date? But that he took it a step further and cut them on the table?" You question through your laughter, waving your hand around.

"No! I'm fuckin' concerned for it all but...at least if it were under the table..." Tom says quietly, gaining a smirk as he tries to hold back his laughter.

"GROSS. NO, YOU DON'T CUT YOUR TOENAILS IN A RESTAURANT. That's so unsanitary." You scrunch your face into a disgusted scowl.

"I agree but on the table just pushed it over another line." Tom chuckles. "What'd ya do?" He asks wishing he could have seen the look on your face when this went down.

"I blinked for a few seconds, said I had to go to the bathroom, found our server and warned them. Then I apologized and explained this was the first time I met him and then I gave her $30 as a tip. Then I left." You laugh. "So I've been here forty-five minutes."

"You could have texted." Tom groans, his date sucked, too and he would have left had he known you were here alone.

"Oh, no, I didn't to let my stomach settle because his toenails were also filthy and his feet smelled. The bottom of his foot was black like he had stepped in tar." A shiver runs down your spine thinking about it in more detail again.

"Did he have shoes?!?"

"MHM. He took off his shoe, took off his sock, then put his foot on the table. Then took out toenail clippers from his shirt pocket." You scoff. "He was...prepared. I was sure I was being Punk'd."

"What in the fuck?" Tom laughs. "Where do you find these people?"

"I think they find me, surely I have to give off a vibe at this point." A huff leaves your throat as the smile finally falls. It's like the realization about another bad date is settling in.

"Nah, it's not you. It's them." Tom assures you with a scoff and he catches the twitch of a smile back on your face.

"I swear, it was gross." You shake your head. "How about yours?"

"Uh, well, she told me she was there to make her boyfriend jealous who was also there with a friend." Tom nods as he smacks his lips.

"Really?" You scoff. You would have traded anything to have been on that date instead of with Toenails.

"Yeah, then the whole time she just talked about him and I guess this is something they both do." Tom lets out an exasperated sigh. "They get jealous and go on a date with someone to make the other jealous."

"Mhm, yes, the completely normal and healthy thing to do." You nod quickly, pursing your lips in fake agreement.

"Right? He also saw and was giving me a look the whole time. It was awkward." Tom looks down and back up to you, defeat in his eyes.

"That's just weird."

"Not as weird as toenail guy. I think you won this round." Tom huffs with a smile.

You do a pitiful bow in your seat. "Finally, I've won something."

Tom laughs. "I don't think that's something you want to win." He shakes his head but the smile on his face is as steady as a rock.

"Oh, I'm very competitive, don't underestimate me." A cornered grin comes to your face.

Tom chuckles. "Riiiggghhhttt." Tom clears his throat.

It falls silent for a few minutes as the server brings out your meals. In the wake of talking about your bad dates, you almost feel a little hopeless. Here's this guy who's attractive, seems to dress well, is funny, and really nice and even he can't catch a break. If someone like him can't catch a break in the world of romance, how will you? You're the person who tends to come off a bit cold and detached, sometimes is a bit too snarky. If he can't find someone, how will you?

Tom, on the other hand, finds himself wondering why he agreed to this in the first place. He knows that if you were to have made this a date, it would have been the first good date either of you have been on in awhile. You've gotten along just fine the two times you've met and texting has been a lot of fun. You're so pretty and funny and he loves how snarky and sarcastic you are. But, he keeps going back to the fact that it's you and if you were to go on a date, maybe it'd blow up in your faces. Maybe you're both just cursed.

"You know, Jess had a date tonight." You let out a sigh, cutting into your food.

"Oh?" Tom raises a brow, glancing from his food to you.

"Mhm, she was talking to him awhile which ya know, in hindsight, might be our problem. We don't talk to people long enough before we decide to meet up with them." A half-scoff half-laugh leaves your throat as you look away from Tom.

"Ah, ya, the bad dates are consistently our fault." Tom huffs with a smile.

"In toenail's defense, what was he supposed to say? 'Hey I'm gonna cut my toenails at the dinner table?' That would be one hell of an opening line."

"You would have went out with him anyway just to see if he was serious." Tom starts laughing. "Or, uh, you would have done it to win."

"An excellent point has been made." You mock. "Anyway, she was talking to him for awhile, pretty excited about it." You poke at your food.

Your reaction to your best friend having a date catches Tom off guard. You don't seem too happy about it and he can't help but wonder why. Surely, you're not the type of person who gets bitter or jealous because your friend has a better date. The way you're poking at your food and chewing the inside of your cheek, he thinks it's deeper than that.

"You not happy for her?" Tom asks, giving you his attention instead of his food.

"No, I am, it's just...she doesn't have bad dates. She comes home and either has a good time and it just doesn't work out for one reason or another or....she had a good time but they don't work, I guess. Envious, I suppose, of her.....unwavering belief in soulmates." You shrug as you take a bite of your food.

"Don't believe in soulmates?" Tom raises a brow.

"Nope, I think it's a load of shit. I think people fall in love, over time. But that is not definite or infinite. It happens and it either works or it doesn't. You gotta put effort into it but there's not like a destiny or something all mapped out leading you to your one true love or whatever. Fate, destiny, whatever you wanna call it, doesn't dictate how you're gonna feel about people. It just happens because of a decision you made. Not the universe." You clear your throat, watching as Tom shifts in his seat a little. You regret the rambling because he's giving you the same look Jess does. "You believe don't you?"

Tom shrugs, a tiny grin tugging at his lip. "What's the harm?"

"No harm, probably better to believe in that stuff in the long run." Your voice is nonchalant as you shrug your right shoulder.

A faint, sad smile grosses Tom's lips just for a split second, and he hopes you don't notice. But you do. "At least she tries, ya know? Haz hasn't, uh, been on a damn date or even really talked to anyone in...I don't remember how long. He doesn't believe in any of it either. Envious of that sometimes."

"Why?" Your brows furrow, never hearing someone feel envious towards a cynic before.

"He doesn't feel he needs to be with someone, bit cynical like you." Tom gives you a side smile, his eyes softening as he looks at you.

"Mhm, the two hopeless romantics pick two cynics as best friends. A tale as old as time." You deflect the look he gives you with sarcasm, hoping to soften the booming of thunder in your chest.

"Oh shut the fuck up." Tom groans, and the light comes back to his face.

"We should hook them up." You change the topic from you two and go to your friends.

Sometimes, conversations get too deep and this one was heading there. You have no problems in telling people how you feel about things. It's never something that's bothered you much but you don't know Tom and a part of you worries that the more you talk in-depth about your view of true love, or lack thereof in this case, it'll scare him off. And he's asking a few too many questions about it.

"What?" Tom coughs. "Didn't you just say she was on a date?"

"Mhm, I don't like him." You continue to eat your food casually.

"You haven't met him? Have you?"

"Nope. It's a vibe." Your eyes widen and Tom can't tell if you're being serious or facetious.

"Judging people on vibes now." Tom nods along, waiting for further explanation.

"Gotta pass the vibe check." You keep a straight face and Tom still cannot tell if you're being serious or not so he decides to just play along.

"And I suppose I do?" Tom raises his brows, narrowing his eyes just slightly with the question, breaking the straight face you were holding.

"Do you?" You quip.

"You do." Tom wiggles his brows and you stutter.

In the week you've been talking, Tom's noticed you have a habit of always having some smart or snarky remark to anything. You're quick. But now he's made you stutter and he'd be lying if he said it didn't make his heart skip a single beat and feel like a kickdrum in his chest.

"Always do. I'm a prize." You hold your head up high with burning cheeks.

"You won worst date, again, not something you should be happy about." Tom quips back.

"If you say so." You shrug. The thundering in your chest is officially becoming a little concerning. Are you having a heart attack? You know you're not because it's only when he looks at you like that. With a cheeky grin and big brown eyes that could stop time if he wanted. The thundering is becoming almost too much to ignore. Almost. "Anyway, I don't like him. She showed me some messages and, I don't know." You scrunch your nose. "He seemed...off. I didn't like it. But, you're cool so you're best friend probably is."

"Is this your way of just trying to see me outside or our bad dates?" Tom asks, fully hoping to make you pause again and you do.

This stupidly cute boy is making you lose your touch in sarcastic wit. So, you play along.

"Maybe." You grin, hoping he'll switch back to the topic because maybe the reason you brought it up is to see him outside of these dates without having to ask.

This time it's Tom who pauses and you take notice. A sense of triumph comes over you with the millisecond of a pause. And all Tom can think about is seeing you outside these dates. If hooking up your friends is a way to do that without going on a date or making it sound like a date, that's perfectly fine with him.

Tom sighs. "Right, okay, working tomorrow. You and Jess could come by 'round 8. I'll make sure he's there."

You smile wide, a little surprised he agreed. "We will be there." Your phone dings with your words, Jess's name popping up on your phone. "This was fun, I have to go." You shake your phone in Tom's direction before going to your bag for your wallet. "Ironically enough, Jess's date didn't go well."

"I got it." Tom offers. "Good luck." There's a sadness in his smile now.

"No, we'll split it." You shake your head, turning the offer down. This isn't a date.

Tom sighs. "Consider it your prize for winning."

You laugh, pausing to look at him. "I thought it wasn't something I should be proud of?"

"It's not." Tom chuckles. "All the more reason to pay for your food." His eyes are soft and warm with his words.

"Alright, you win and I'll pay."

Tom nods. "Yeah, alright."

You gather your things, catching a glimpse of Tom from the corner of your eye and you can't help but notice the look of sadness. It's faint, it's not like he's pouting or sulking. There's just something with the way he's finishing his food that seems sad now.

You walk beside him, Tom looking up to you and he's got this puppy dog look that sends warmth through every one of your veins. "I think you're great, just for the record. Not, just as a company after a bad date." You offer him the softest smile Tom has seen from you yet. Tom smiles, looking down. "I'll see you, tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, I'll text you the address." Tom's cheeks flush with the kickdrum banging in his chest.

You turn to walk away and before you reach the door, you pause. "Also, for the record," You say looking over your shoulder back at Tom. "I really like hanging out with you."