Jess is standing behind Pen, a small curling iron in hand as she wraps a piece of Pen's hair around the rod. Jess insisted on doing Pen's hair on account of them going to the bar to meet with Tom. Pen, originally, wasn't going to tell Jess that's why they were going. She did not want Jess to figure out it was a setup but Jess was bummed by her date and didn't want to go anywhere. Pen fessed up she just wanted to see Tom again. And Jess, being Jess, jumped at the opportunity and now Pen is stuck getting her hair done, knowing this night is not for her.

"You really don't have to." Pen sighs, checking her phone, seeing a text from Tom.

Still coming tonight?

A soft smile crosses Pen's lips, glancing to Jess in the mirror knowing the night is for her.

Yep Jess thinks I'm just there to see you so play along

"I thought you liked when I do your hair?" Jess asks, voice soundly a little skeptical.

Pen glares at her through the mirror. "Yeah, but when the intention is not this."

"I just want you to be happy."

"And you think doing my hair is gonna make someone fall in love with me?" Pen jokes with a huff and a grin.

"You never know, Penelope!" Jess's voice turns bubbly.

"It's not like that." Pen says softly, shrugging her shoulders and she tries to hide the touch of disappointment that bubbles in her stomach

"Then why are we going?" Jess raises a brow, pausing what she's doing.

Pen shrugs, eyes trained on her hands. She does want to see Tom. That actually isn't really a lie. She likes to talk with him and she likes how she feels around him and that he doesn't take her shit. The two times that she has gotten to see him in person have been more fun and fulfilling than the hundred dates she's been on. But this night isn't supposed to be a her and Tom thing, it's about hooking up their two best friends and neither of them can know that.

"I just like to be around him." Pen's voice is nonchalant.

"I guess you haven't known him long." A disappointed sigh leaves Jess's lips as she goes back to doing Pen's hair.

"A whole week, truly an accomplishment at this point." Sarcasm drips from Pen's words.

"Ha-ha." Jess rolls her eyes. "Well, if I get a good impression of him, I think you should keep talking to him. And not go on the bad dates."

"Hey, there, you said you wouldn't bug me about it."

When Pen told Jess about their big idea to go on bad dates, Jess was worried. Pen clarified that they talked more about it later, fully stating that people who seem really sketchy or possibly dangerous are, of course, off limits. Neither of them are going to put themselves in danger on purpose. The bad dates are more for just stories, rather than experiences.

"I'm not." Jess defends. "I mean, you could just stop going on dates. Hang out with him, maybe it'll go somewhere." Jess wiggles her shoulders.

"Maybe I don't want it to." Pen says quietly.

"Why not?" Jess questions, the joking tone vanishing.

"He's nice." Pen's voice is hushed, no sarcasm or snark in her words and Jess gets it.

Jess smiles softly, mostly to herself. Pen has a lot of bad habits. But one of those is breaking people's hearts. She doesn't really do it on purpose, breaking theirs, breaks hers. But, she can put her own heartbreak done at the hands of herself back together again. Picking up the pieces and gluing them together when they were shattered by someone else, is more complicated. Takes more time. Hurts more. So, she leaves. And she feels guilty every single time and it's never something she actually plans to do. Every time, Pen swears it'll be different and then something, even something small, will happen and her subconscious decides that's a good enough reason to back out so she does. She breaks people's hearts and Tom is nice.

"You've never considered someone else's feelings before, like this I mean." Jess says softly. "Character development."

"Shut up." Pen rolls her eyes. "I also don't like him. I barely fucking know him."

"I know." Jess chuckles. "Okay, you're done." Jess turns the curling off, resting it on the stand on the counter.

"Thank you, Jess."

"You're welcome." Jess beams, admiring her work as Pen turns to face her. "Now for your out--"

"No." Pen shakes her head. "Why don't you go pick something out for yourself to look nice? Maybe you'll meet someone while we're there."

"As if that wasn't the plan already." Jess scoffs, turning on her heels to leave the bathroom to go get ready.

Meanwhile, Tom is working while Harrison sits across from him at the bar. Harrison just got there with the instructions from Tom. He also doesn't know that he's being set up. Tom fed him some story about how he'd been bored and as his best friend, Harrison should stop by for a little bit. Harrison didn't actually have anything else to do so he might as well.

"So, how's that girl with the dates?" Harrison asks as he takes a sip from his beer.

"Her date was worse than mine." Tom says as he cleans a glass.

Normally, Tom would have told Harrison what was going on and how his late dinner was with Pen but he didn't. It's fun so far and for him, he doesn't want to bring it up and then it all blow up in his face again. The bad dates are just kind of expected at this point but this new thing with Pen, it's new and fun. He doesn't want to jinx anything. But, since Harrison asked, he might as well answer the question.

"That's shocking."

"Yeah," Tom chuckles. "She didn't seem too bummed about it."

"Neither do you." Harrison tilts his glass towards Tom before taking another drink.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tom puts the glass back, brow raised towards Harrison.

Harrison shrugs, biting back his cynical comment. "You didn't seem bummed by your bad date when you got home. Seemed pretty alright."

"She's cool." Tom says. "Pen, I mean."

"Yeah, I figured." Harrison chuckles. "When ya seeing her again?"

"Well, she's....gonna come by." Tom shrugs a shoulder, dodging Harrison's eyes.

"Mhm, why?" Tom can see the skepticism written across Harrison's face.

Tom sucks in a breath. "Wanted to hang out a bit more."

"You're not...gonna go for something, right?"

"No, but why?" Tom's voice grows annoyed with Harrison's beating around the bush form of questioning.

Similar to Pen, Tom blows things up. He hurts people because it's so much easier to walk away from everyone else instead of having someone walk out on him. Give up on him. He never does it on purpose. He could never do it on purpose but he gets scared and he runs. Flight or fight kicks in and he's a runner.

"You've been happy this week." Harrison answers honestly. "You want this shit so bad sometimes you drive me nuts. We all get lonely, mate. But you push shit and then, fuckin' leave. I don't wanna see ya miserable again."

"It's not like that. She's cool, bit snarky. She gets it, I guess."

Harrison nods. "Alright, just be careful, ya?"

"Always am."

"Since fuckin' when?" Harrison chortles.

Tom deadpans as the bell above the door rings, gaining his attention. He looks over and see Pen with, presumably her friend Jess. Pen's hair is done this time, the curls bounce slightly with her steps but it makes Tom chuckle because the hair doesn't match anything else. She has plain jeans on with a pink hoodie, Piglet embroidered on the right chest. Her hair looks like a little too done up for the outfit and Tom thinks it's cute. Oh, he thinks it's cute. Oh, no.

"Hey." Pen greets as she slides onto the open barstool, next to open barstool next to Harrison. "Jess, this is Tom, Tom this is Jess." Pen introduces them.

"Nice to meet ya." Tom greets, offering a hand from across the bar. "That's my mate, Harrison, Harrison, that's Pen."

"Nice to meet you guys." Harrison offers a haphazard wave and a nice smile. "You can sit, if you'd like." Harrison offers the seat beside him to Jess who gladly takes it, resting her shoulder purse on the bar as she sits.

Harrison though, he's put the pieces together. This was not about Tom and Pen, this is about him and Jess. He's been set up and he wants to be so mad. He hates being set up, especially blindly. It has never, ever paid off for him and he doesn't even go on dates anymore. He likes being alone now, or so he tells himself. No one really likes to be alone.

But in this instance, Jess is so fucking pretty, Harrison almost feels nervous so the usual anger he'd feel, is taken over by a bubbly stomach.

Jess, on the other hand, is oblivious to this being a set up. See, the thing about Pen is that she doesn't believe in the whole love thing. So, Jess never even thought Pen would set her up with anyone. So, she's just here ready to drink but that doesn't stop her from looking at Harrison whenever she can. Pen knows her type.

"So, how long have you guys been friends?" Harrison asks, taking a nervous drink of his beer.

"Preschool." Jess beams, looking back at Pen.

"It's been a very long, exhausting time." Pen lets out an exasperated sigh but a smirk comes to her face.

"You love me." Jess offers her a toothy grin.

"The only true love I've ever known." Pen scrunches her nose.

"Awww." Jess puts her hands over her heart, Pen rolling her eyes and looking to Tom.

"So, what do you recommend, Mr. Bartender?" Pen asks, resting her head in her hand with a smirk.

"Oh, well, anything that'll get you to be a little less snarky." Tom retorts.

"Ohh, I like him." Jess says, eyes wide, Pen narrowing her eyes at her.

"Bold of you to assume alcohol would make me less snarky."

"It's worth a fucking shot." Tom scoffs but grin holds steady. "I've got you."

"Nothing too crazy, I have to work tomorrow." Pen says with a soft laugh.

"Don't worry, darlin', I won't get you drunk." Tom says with a teasing smile, grabbing a glass and Pen feels her cheeks burning with his words. No one leaves her at a loss for words but he does.

Tom makes her a drink, refusing to tell her what's in it in case she likes it. He says it's so she has to come visit him at work again if she wants it again and Pen finds herself thinking that's actually kind of cute of him. The drink is fruity and doesn't taste like alcohol which definitely means she should sip the drink.

And the longer she sips on the drink, the longer they'll stay.

For Jess, of course.

Over the next half hour, Jess and Harrison are absorbed in a conversation with each other. It didn't really take them long to get start getting along. The way Tom talked about him over text, Pen just had a feeling they'd get along well and now they are. She doesn't know if anything will come from it or anything but she likes the way Jess smiles at him and fiddles with her phone case, a nervous tick she has when she doesn't want to say the wrong thing.

Tom's enjoying watching his friend actually talk to a girl. He's heard Harrison compliment Jess a few times now and it makes Tom smile every single time because he hasn't complimented a girl in ages. And Harrison is smiling a lot when he talks to Jess. He'd hate to give Pen an ego boost, but maybe she was right about getting them together.

Tom leans an elbow on the bar, getting closer to Pen. "Seems they're getting along." Tom whispers, watching his best friend genuinely laugh for the first time with someone new.

"Yeah, told you it'd be a good idea." Pen turns her head to look at him, and his eyes are sweet as honey with the way he looks at her.

"Guess you were right." His voice is a little raspy at such a low level, chills climbing up Pen's spine.

The corner of her mouth tugs into a smile. "Usually am."

"We'll see about that." Tom chuckles, Pen can't hear it, but his heart beating against his ribs a million beats a second and he swears it's just because he hasn't eaten in awhile and not because Pen hasn't broken eye contact with him once.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Pen furrows her brows, almost teasing him.

"HBO added The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy." Tom chuckles softly, tilting his head slightly, a small strand of hair falling onto his forehead.

"You're gonna watch it?" Pen's voice spikes with joy, eyes filled with light and Tom's stomach drops as if he just went upside down on a rollercoaster.

"Maybe, thinking about it. Don't know if I have three hours of my time to kill, ya know." His eyes narrow but he's got this teasing grin that almost makes Pen wanna do something about it.

"It's the job that's never started takes longest to finish." Pen wiggles her brows, so proud of herself and Tom just shakes his head.

"You're quoting it, aren't you?"

"Mhm." Pen's a beam of light with the hum and Tom has no interest in watching nine hours of movies, in fact, he thinks that's completely insane, but he will if it means he gets to see this expression more. "I will not sleep and stay up with you if you watch them. We can start it at the same time."

Tom tilts his head to the right and fear isn't something Tom normally struggles with. For him, it's always, if two people are meant to be together, they will be because everyone has someone out there for them. If it doesn't work out with one person, it will work out with someone else. It might hurt, but it'll work out for the best with someone else and everything will be okay. And he doesn't know if he feels anything romantic towards Pen, not now, but he thinks maybe he could. But, right now, he has a little fear, a little hesitance of asking her to hang out outside of this. This weird little game they're playing, with the dates and at the bar right now. He normally would take the opportunity, ask her to watch together, but he's almost afraid of what could happen if it went well.

"I thought you needed your sleep?" Tom chuckles.

"I will lose sleep for my precious." Pen says jokingly, trying to match the voice of Gollum.

Pen seems so excited about him maybe watching the movies and maybe he reads a little too much into things. Harrison would say it's the desperation of being lonely. But, if it didn't mean something to her, for him to watch her favorite movies, why would she be excited about it? Does Pen think there's some type of potential?

"Okay." Tom groans. "We'll watch it if you stop quoting it."

"Ohh, tough deal." Pen squints her eyes, smiles turning into something between a scowl and smirk. "Deal."

Tom is pulled away from the conversation as a few people come up to the bar and Pen can't help but watch. He's charismatic and captivating. There are women asking for drinks, one's twirling her hair and the other hasn't moved her eyes from his arms the whole time. And maybe Pen feels a little...bothered by it. Not jealous, not envious but bothered and she brushes it off because maybe it's that she feels like a third wheel with Harrison and Jess flirting with each other right next to her and she's alone while Tom actually works. But, somewhere, deep down, she knows it's more. On the other hand, she can't blame them for watching him and flirting because he's fun to flirt with him. And he's cute and funny, and he's really nice, has nice hands and arms. The quirked eyebrow and slightly crooked nose add to his attraction. And it's the way he moves around the bar, so easy and effortlessly. She almost expects him to drop a drink, spill something, but he doesn't. He's so careful and smooth and--

"Hello?" Jess leans over, waving a hand in front of Pen's face.

"Huh?" Pen snaps to look over at Jess. "Sorry, zoned out."

The smile isn't teasing like Pen would expect. Jess always knows when Pen is zoned out verses checking someone out and there's always some sort of teasing grin and wiggle of her brows, followed by a nudge to go for it. But not this time. It's soft and filled of warmth. Jess's entire face is just soft, almost empathetic.

"We're gonna head out. Coming?" Jess asks.

Pen looks over to Tom and she should go home with Jess. She should because only bad decisions happen when she's out late without her. But her eyes are on Tom and maybe if he didn't give her a toothy smile with a scrunched nose, she'd have said yes. But he does.

"I, uh," Pen's brows are pulled together as she looks back at Jess. "I'm gonna stay out a little longer if that's alright?" Pen flashes her eyes behind Jess to Harrison, keeping her voice quiet.

Jess nods. "Yeah, we're good. He was just gonna walk me home. Text me when you're leaving?"

"Always." Pen smiles, hugging Jess before her and Harrison go to leave.

As Jess and Harrison head for the door, Tom walks back over to Pen, smile plasted across his face. Jess pauses as Harrison opens the door for her and she watches her best friend, smiling and laughing with this random, coincidental boy she meant. And she smiles.

"Everything okay?" Harrison asks, matching Jess's stare.

Jess nods. "I got a good feeling about them." Jess looks up to Harrison, and he doesn't even really believe in love but he believes in his friend's happiness.

Harrison watches Tom lean on the bar, talking to Pen. He has this big, goofy smile across his face while Pen's head is tilted back laughing. Tom's using his hands to talk and he seems so lively and Harrison doesn't know Pen but she looks really happy, too. Harrison caught glimpses of Tom talking with Pen while he was talking to Jess and the whole time, he never took his eyes off of her. Not in this weird way but just kind of like he found her interesting, so he was subconsciously watching her, wondering what she was going to say next or do next. And unlike with every other failed fling he's had, he doesn't look at her with stars in his eyes. He isn't blinded by anything this time.

Harrison nods and his voice is low but kind and honest. "Me, too."