You looked around you, scrutinizing your surroundings, letting your eyes wander on the walls, the chandeliers, the dark-red faux velvet chairs next to the bar section of the restaurant – you looked anywhere but at the man sitting across from you, ungracefully shoving his spaghetti into his mouth all the while talking to you.

The reason why you hated dates just came rushing back to you but it was too late to back down now, you said yes – God knows why – and you showed up to this restaurant where your date told you to come. Although it has been a while since the last time you actually went out with a man romantically interested in you, you were pretty sure that if he didn't even make the effort to pick you up, the least he could do was to arrive on time. After three glasses of water, a couple bread sticks and a glass of whiskey, the waitress started to feel sorry for you and you spotted her whispering something to her co-worker while giving you a sympathetic glance. That's it, you were going to leave. But of course that's when he finally decided to show up, apologizing profusely and explaining that he came with the metro and he missed the station and had to walk two blocks before arriving here. Great, so now you knew that he wasn't going to drive you back home either.

His name was Robert - "call me Bob," he said, but there was no way, it was already difficult enough for you to process that you agreed to go on a date with a guy named Robert. Probably about ten years older than you – how would you know? - his hair was gray in some places, his forehead had a beginning of wrinkle and he seemed like the annoyingly flirty type of man whose smiles you couldn't trust. He was a gym teacher in the school you worked for a couple days a week – you were a nurse – and he was all over you since day one. Although he seemed pretty insistent, you had seen him hit on other women so you didn't think that he was really interested in you, more like aroused by the whole 'nurse' thing.

So why did you say yes? Well, you were kinda bored, you figured that maybe you had misjudged him and would spend a nice evening, and if not, maybe he would finally give up on trying to get in your pants. To say that you were beginning to regret your decision was the understatement of the year. So far he talked about work, his mom, football and his ex. If he intended on seducing you, he needed to take a course on how to seduce women because that clearly wasn't going to work. It itched you to throw your drink to his face but it was good wine and you didn't think he was worth a fine Chardonnay.

"I'll go out for a minute, want to come?" He asked, making you blink a couple times and focus back on him. He was giving you a questioning look and held a cigarette between his fingers. To dismiss himself like that without even asking you if you minded smoke made you reconsider throwing your glass his way, but you figured that you couldn't exactly expect more given how this date started.

"I think I'll stay here, have another drink," you said, quickly gulping down the last of your wine. He was so boring you actually had the time to smell and taste the wine until you had figured out all the components.

He shrugged and stood up, not saying another word as he walked away from you and out the front door. Suddenly your brain started functioning again and you could almost hear the gearing creak from the lack of use these past two hours. You had reached dessert, the torture would end soon enough, right? Was it worth throwing some money on the table and escaping through the back door? Should you wait for him to come back and pretend you received an urgent phone call and had to leave immediately? Should you suck it up and stay anyway? Honestly, you would have ran away if you weren't going to see him again at work – but that would make your meetings too tense for you to bear.

You decided to stay, but if you were going to endure this whole evening, there was no way you'd do it sober. You headed to the bar, sitting on one of the leather stools and gesturing the barman to come over when he'd have finished serving the men at the far end of the counter.

"A gin tonic. Without tonic, if you please," you ordered, sighing deeply and rubbing your eyes, not really caring about your makeup. Your eyes drifted to the clock above your head. Ten twenty-three. You just wanted to go home and forget about this evening. This date definitely made it on your list of decisions you regretted.

"Rough night?" Someone beside you asked, causing you to snap out of your thoughts.

Glad someone had noticed your distress, you barely registered that he was attractive and simply went to answer.

"The worst! Never going out again!" You scoffed, glancing towards the door behind which you knew your date was standing.

"I figured," he laughed. This time you took notice of his laughter. It's low and a bit raspy, pleasant to hear. "Saw you glaring at your date with your fingers on your temple a few times. I thought you were going to jump to his throat," he joked.

"It was a close call. In my defense-," you started, placing your hand over your heart, "he slurped while drinking his wine."

"Unacceptable," the stranger said. He tried to pull off a severe face but the small wrinkles at the corner of his eyes and the way the corners of his mouth twitched upwards betrayed him.

You had absolutely no idea who this man was but you welcomed your first interesting conversation of the day with a huge smile and shifted on your seat in order to face him.

"Online dating and regretting it?" He asked out of curiosity. He brought his bottle of beer to his lips and chugged down the last of it. This gave you a glimpse of his forearms and boy, oh boy, were they nice. You cleared your throat.

"No, not at all. He's a co-worker of mine. The 'regretting it' part is correct though. He's been harassing me for a date for months and I gave in last week but that sure wasn't a brilliant idea," you explained quickly, fumbling with your glass of gin and trying not to stare at the man too much.

"I actually considered coming to your rescue a couple times but I decided against it," he told you in the most casual way.

"Why?" You frowned.

A smirk grew on his face at your question, as if he was pleased to see how disappointed you seemed to be that he didn't come.

"Well I didn't know how you'd react to a stranger interrupting your date, regardless how disappointing," he said and you had to admit it was a valid reason. Your hopelessness to ever get out of this date didn't help to make you think straight. "For all I know he could have been your husband."

Your eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"God forbid," you declared before taking a sip of your gin. It burned your throat but it felt good and warm. "And for the record, if you had interrupted us, I would have bought you a thank-you drink. Probably," you added with a smirk and a wink, meeting the man's steady gaze.

You took a little time to really look at him. He was muscular – he had arms for days – almost beefy but not the steroid type. His chin was covered in dark brown four days stubble and his blue eyes were deep and playful. You noticed that his smile reached his eyes too. He wore his hair mid-long and styled it back – you noticed how he kept running his fingers through it to push it back when it fell in front of his eyes. This man was truly stunning, in this peculiar, lumberjack-ish manner. His navy shirt stretched over the most muscular parts of his arms and chest – a sweet sight for sore eyes – and he wore black jeans and black leather boots which adorned him with a rebellious style that didn't quite displease you.

"Probably?" He asked, his eyebrows shooting up in bedazzlement.

"Definitely," you corrected yourself, blushing furiously. Were you drooling? How long have you been staring? The whiskey you had while waiting for Robert, added to the wine you drank during the dinner and now the gin in your hand started to kick in and you couldn't tell how long you eyed him like that. You just hoped it didn't make him uncomfortable.

"Please do help me if he starts talking about his ex again," you gave him permission to cut short to your agony.

"I can do it," he said, almost eagerly. "I mean, for the drink of course."

"'Course," you agreed and finished your drink.

Your date would be back in no time now.

"Should I be the jealous ex boyfriend or the man who just caught his girl flirting with someone else?" He asked most seriously.

"You're really going to do it?" You asked in a laughter, baffled at how this stranger whose name you didn't even catch was willing to help you out of this catastrophe of a date.

"Sure, I can't leave you in this guy's company any longer than I already did. His poor attempts at flirting are an insult to all single people out there," he shrugged as if it was an everyday thing for him to rescue damsels in distress like you. But you didn't miss the fact that he casually dropped his current status as a single man. God bless.

"I give you free hand, you can do anything you want as long as it's really awkward and makes him take french leave!" You grinned and shook hand with the man, sealing the deal.

Your smile dropped when Robert came back into the room.

"Gotta go," you said, pouting slightly as you slid the money for the gin on the counter.

"Wait, what's your name?" The man asked.

"(Y/N)," you smiled.

"Sebastian," he introduced himself, shaking your hand before letting you make your way back to the table you shared with your date.

"Hey, sorry (Y/N)! I chatted a bit with another lad, hope you didn't miss me too much," he tried – and failed – to joke. You gave him a sarcastic smile and told him how insufferable the wait was.

"You know, I'm really glad you finally agreed to go on this date with me. I knew we'd click," he told you confidently. "It was only a matter of time, but I figured it was protocol for a woman to reject a man a few times before giving in," he kept on rambling, digging his own grave.

You were thinking of different ways to kill him with his dishes in your head.

"(Y/N)!" You heard Sebastian's voice call from behind you in a shocked tone. You closed your eyes and silently thanked heaven for his intervention. "What are you doing here?" He asked, making his way to the table and standing there next to you and Robert – who kept giving you questioning glances which you royally ignored.

"Sebastian!" You said in an enthusiastic yet slightly uncomfortable tone. "I'm... having dinner," you said, refusing to qualify this as a date in front of Robert who still had no idea what was going on.

Sebastian's expression suddenly changed when he finally laid eyes on the man, acknowledging his presence. You had to hold back a snort when you saw Robert's face go white. To be honest even if Sebastian was sitting too, he would still be intimidatingly tall and large, but standing tall and towering over Robert like he was made it a hundred times worse – or better, in your case.

"You're on a date?!" He almost shouted, crossing his arms over his chest to make his biceps more impressive – which was pointless in your humble opinion. "With this guy?" He pointed his finger to Robert to increase the rudeness, and looked at you, awaiting an answer.

"I wouldn't call this a date, Seb, we're just two co-workers going out for dinner!" You slowly got into character and tried to justify yourself, raising your voice too. "What's the harm in that?"

"The harm is that you canceled our night out for this loser!" Sebastian barked.

"Hey!" The said loser protested but both Sebastian and you ignored him and glared at each other fiercely.

It was becoming really hard to uphold his gaze without breaking out laughter, but it was for a good cause.

"You're the one who's always so reluctant to commit! I figured I might as well find myself a man who's not afraid of showing himself at my arm!"

You had no idea where this was going and simply shouted his way whatever came to mind. This is honestly the most fun you have had this week.

"Don't you try and make this about me, (Y/N)!" Sebastian replied, looking genuinely angry. "This is on you! If you want to go out with him, fine! But at least tell me if it's over between us!"

"Why do you always have to be so dramatic?!" You faked a sigh and threw your arms in the air.

"Uhhm... maybe- maybe I should leave you two alone to speak for a minute," Robert mumbled uncomfortably, ready to jump off his chair and run away.

"Oh no, stay Robert," you gestured him to sit down, not gracing him with one single look as you kept your eyes bored into Sebastian's. "He was about to leave."

"Out of the question, I'm staying," he said before taking a nearby chair and making room for himself between Robert and you.

"You can't do this, for God's sake! Have you been raised by wolves?" You protested.

"I- I should really go-"

"Stop interrupting us, Bob!" Sebastian turned around and shot him daggers with his eyes. "Where were we?"

"I was telling you how boorish and obnoxious you were," you snapped at him, leaning back on your chair and crossing your arms on your chest.

"Well, isn't that your type of men?" Sebastian asked pointing to Robert with his chin. Honestly that come back earned him a high five you'd be sure to give him once Robert leaves.

You faked a look of hurt and even made sure to quiver your lower lip.

"Did you come here only to say harmful things, Sebastian?" You asked, your voice considerably lowering and making sure to display as much emotion as you could. Emotions made most men uncomfortable, hopefully it would also be the case of Robert.

"You know what? I didn't see how late it was, I should get going," he tried to escape once again, not earning any reaction from the two of you.

Sebastian reached out for your hand but since you had your arms crossed, he simply rested his hand on one of your forearms.

"You know that wasn't my intention," he said in a soothing tone. The tension was so thick between the three of you that you could cut it with a butter knife. "I'm sorry I got upset when I saw you with him in our restaurant," he said. Damn, he was good.

"I'm the one who set up the date here!" Robert felt the need to say, earning a stern glare from Sebastian, whose warm hand was still on your arm. Why was it so hot in here? "I-I mean, this is a pure c-"

"A coincidence, ugh?" Sebastian scoffed. "Listen man, if I was you, I'd be careful. This is my girl you were hitting on," he practically growled at him.

Robert raised his hands in surrender.

"I didn't know, she didn't say-"

"Are you saying it's me who insisted on going out with you?" You asked, making sure to sound offended and a bit dramatic in your body language.

"N-no, I-," he struggled to get the words out.

"What are you still doing here?" Sebastian asked, giving him a look that clearly meant 'get the fuck out of here', and Robert threw the money for the dinner on the table with shaky hands before running off, almost forgetting his jacket in the process.

You waited for the door to close behind him before saying, "Took him long enough."

"Well, that was fun!" Sebastian said, pulling his chair closer to the table and adopting a more relaxed demeanor. You both laughed it off and cheered at your victory.

"I can't wait to see the colors leave his face next time I see him in a hallway," you told him. "The sheer thought makes this whole evening worth it."

"I think I scared him," he laughed.

"Oh you did! He was sweating from fear two minutes into it," you confirmed his statement. "I propose a toast!" You grabbed your glass of water and handed him Robert unused one after filling it.

"To what are we drinking?" He asked.

"To the free spaghetti I had tonight and to you, the gentleman who saved me from my horrible date," you suggested. Sebastian smiled and nodded, bumping his glass of water against yours and drinking it.

"How about dessert?" He asked, already gesturing the waitress to undress your table and bring the dessert card. "All this acting has me famished!"

"I never say no to dessert, as a principle," you gladly agreed.

He didn't switch chairs and stayed on the one next to you instead of taking Robert's empty one who was across from you. You preferred it this way, it was much less formal and job-interview like. Sebastian turned out being funny and intelligent – added to the fact that you couldn't keep your eyes off of him more than a minute or so. You spent the rest of the evening talking and laughing and whispering to each other in a playful tone. You learned that he lived around the corner and came here quite often, that he was currently on a break and that his full name was Sebastian Stan. You told him how you were a nurse and worked part time in a middle school, where you had the displeasure of seeing Bob every so often and were faced with his constant flirting. He frowned at that, and told you that if he ever bothered you, you could call him anytime and he's be your boyfriend of the night all over again.

That's how he gave you his number.

"I still can't believe he fell for it!" You shook your head, blushing a bit. Now that it was all over, you felt a bit ashamed for your behavior. It was acceptable back in high school but coming from two adults, it was rather ridiculous. But what was even more so was the fact that it worked.

"You pulled it off pretty well," Sebastian complimented you. "That lip quiver was perfect." He held back his sappy comment on how your lips looked perfect anyway and bit his own lower lip.

"Thanks," you laughed it off. "But that was nothing compared to you! Where did that come from? I didn't expect it at all!"

"I had an idea when I came up but then I saw you looking at me and saying my name and my mind went completely blank. I had to improvise," he admitted, earning a blush and a smile from you.

"Have you ever been told that you're a very good actor?"

Sebastian made a funny face and shrugged before mumbling, "'couple times, yeah."

The evening came to an end and you knew it. You'd seen the restaurant and the bar slowly empty and now you were left alone with the barman, your waitress and a sleeping drunk sitting on a stool at the bar. You didn't want to leave just yet.

"I still owe you a drink," you said, as a false pretext to stay just a little longer in his company. "What can I get you?"

"Oh," he said, as if he had forgotten about it. He looked up to meet your eyes and without breaking eye-contact, he moved his hand towards you and suddenly, you felt his hand take hold of yours and squeeze it lightly. "I'm saving this one for our next date," Sebastian chuckled, grinning at you.