She looked around her, scrutinizing the surroundings, letting her eyes wander on the walls, the chandeliers, the dark-red faux velvet chairs next to the bar section of the restaurant – she looked anywhere but at the man sitting across from her, ungracefully shoving his spaghetti into his mouth all the while twaddling.
The reason why Dany hated going on dates just came rushing back to her but it was too late to back down now; she had said yes – God knows why – and showed up to this restaurant where her date told her to come. Although it had been a while since the last time she actually went out with a man who was romantically interested in her, she was pretty sure that if he didn't even make the effort to pick her 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 Dany, who spotted the older woman whispering something to her co-worker while giving Dany a sympathetic glance. That's it, she was going to leave! But of course that was 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 she knew that he wasn't going to drive her back home either.
His name was Robert - "call me Bob," he said, but Dany would sooner die than do that and consequently encourage any kind of intimacy. It was already difficult enough for her to process that she agreed to go on a date with a guy named Robert. It was an old person name. Speaking of- he was probably about ten years older than Dany – how would she know? - his hair was greyish in some places, his forehead had a beginning of wrinkle and he had a receding hairline – if it hadn't been for his job, he would look more than ten years older than her. He seemed like the annoyingly flirty type of man whose smiles weren't to be trusted. He was a gym teacher in the school Dany worked for a couple days a week – as a nurse – and he had been all over her since day one. Although he seemed pretty insistent, Dany had seen him hit on other women so she didn't think that he was really interested in her, more like aroused by the whole 'nurse' thing.
So why did she say yes? That was a question to which she'd like to have the answer too. Well, she was bored, she figured that maybe she had misjudged him and would spend a nice evening. And if not, maybe he would finally give up on trying to get in her pants. To say that she was beginning to regret this decision was the understatement of the year. So far he talked about work, his mum, football and his ex. If he intended on seducing her, he needed to take a course on how to seduce women because that clearly wasn't going to work. It itched her to throw her drink at his face but it was good wine and she didn't think he was worth a glass of fine Chardonnay.
"I'll go out for a minute, want to come?" He asked, making Dany blink a couple times and focus back on him.
He was giving her a questioning look and held a cigarette between his fingers. To dismiss himself like that without even asking her if she minded him smoking made her reconsider throwing her glass his way, but she figured that she couldn't exactly expect more given how this date started.
"I think I'll stay here, have another drink," Dany said, quickly gulping down the last of her wine. He was so boring that she actually had the time to smell and taste the wine until she had figured out all the components.
He shrugged and stood up, not saying another word as he walked away from the table and out the front door. Suddenly Dany's brain started functioning again and she could almost hear the gearing creak from lack of use these past two hours. They 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 she wait for him to come back and pretend she just received an urgent phone call and that she had to leave immediately? Should she suck it up and stay despite it all? Honestly, she would have run away if she wasn't going to see him again at work – but that would make their meetings too tense for her to bear.
Dany decided to stay, but if she was going to endure this whole evening, there was no way she'd do it sober. She headed to the bar, sitting on one of the worn out leather stools and gesturing the barman to come over when he was finished serving the men at the far end of the counter.
"A gin tonic. Without tonic, if you please," the young woman ordered, sighing deeply and rubbing her eyes, not really caring about her make-up.
Her eyes lazily drifted to the clock above her head. Ten twenty-three. She just wanted to go home and forget about this evening – she would drink herself silly if that was what it took. This date definitely made it on her list of decisions she regretted most.
"Excuse me," someone beside her began to talk, causing Dany to snap out of her thoughts, "-are you all right? You look like you're having a rough night."
Glad that someone noticed her evident distress, Dany barely registered that he was attractive and had an accent, and simply went to answer.
"The worst! I'm never going out again!" She scoffed in a humorous manner, glancing towards the door behind which she knew her date was standing.
"I figured out that much," he chuckled. This time Dany took notice of his laughter. It was polite and a little restrained but sincere, and rather pleasant to hear. "It wasn't my intention to watch, but I saw you glaring at your friend with your fingers on your temple a few times. If looks could kill he would be pinned to that wall," he joked.
Dany cringed internally upon hearing the words 'your friend'. This man couldn't know, but Robert was the epitome of what she didn't ever want to have in a friend – of any kind.
"No matter how hard I concentrate it never works," Dany laughed. "In my defence-," she started, placing her hand over her heart, "he slurped while drinking his wine."
"Unacceptable," the stranger said. He tried to pull off an offended, severe face but the small crinkles at the corner of his eyes and the way the corners of his mouth twitched upwards betrayed him.
Dany had absolutely no idea who this man was but she welcomed her first enjoyable conversation of the day with a huge smile and shifted on her seat in order to face him.
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get yourself in this situation? Is it some kind of blind date?" He asked out of curiosity. He brought his glass of bourbon to his lips and chugged down the last of it. This gave Dany a glimpse of his forearms and boy, oh boy, were they nice. She cleared her throat.
"No, not at all. He's actually a co-worker of mine. He's been harassing me for a date for months and I gave in last week but that sure wasn't a brilliant idea," Dany explained quickly, fumbling with her glass of gin and trying not to stare at the man too much.
"Don't laugh at me but I considered coming to your rescue a couple times. I ended up deciding against it," he told her in a bit of a sheepish way, as though he was ashamed to admit it – like it didn't totally make the young woman melt on the inside.
"Why?" She frowned once she had recovered and stopped swooning internally.
A smile grew on his face at her question, and the crinkles were back at the corner of his eyes, as if he was relieved she didn't make fun of him and even seemed a little thwarted 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. Dany had to admit it was a valid reason. Her desperation to ever get out of this date didn't help to make her think straight. "For all I knew you could have been having dinner with your husband."
Dany's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
"God forbid," she declared before taking a sip of her gin. It burned her 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," she added with a smirk and a wink, meeting the man's steady gaze.
Dany took a little time to really look at him. He was tall and fit – he had lean forearms for days – almost in an athletic kind of way, like exercising was what he made a living out of. His chin was covered in light brown four-days stubble and his blue eyes were deep and playful. His smile reached his eyes too. The sudden urge to touch his face came over her when her eyes fell on his defined cheekbones, making her wonder if they were sharp enough to cut. This man was truly stunning, in this refined, gentleman-ish manner. His white dress shirt stretched over the most muscular parts of his arms – a sweet sight for sore eyes. It was layered with a navy vest that matched his dress pants and the suit jacket that hung over the back of his stool. He had loosened his tie and looked slightly dishevelled; his outfit was that of a well put together man but his eyes were tired if you looked closely and his attitude was relaxed and playful - which didn't quite displease Dany. It's true what they say: suit kink is a thing.
"Probably?" He asked, his eyebrows shooting up in bedazzlement.
"Definitely," Dany corrected herself, blushing furiously.
Was she drooling? How long has she been staring? The whiskey she had had while waiting for Robert, added to the wine she drank during the dinner and now the gin in her hand started to kick in, and Dany couldn't tell how long she eyed him like that. She just hoped it didn't make him uncomfortable.
"Please do help me if he starts talking about his ex again," she gave him permission to cut short to her agony.
"If that's what you want, I can do it," he said, almost eagerly. Dany honestly couldn't tell if he was joking or not. "I mean, in all good faith."
"'Course," she agreed with a smile on her face and finished her drink.
Robert would be back in no time now.
"Should I be the jealous spurned lover or the possessive man who just caught his partner flirting with someone else?" He asked more seriously in a down to business voice.
"You're really going to do it?" Dany asked in a laughter, baffled at how this stranger whose name she didn't even catch was willing to help her out of this catastrophe of a date.
"Certainly. I simply cannot let a lady deal with such a boorish on her own any longer than I already did. Besides, his poor attempts at flirting are an insult to all single people out there," he shrugged as if it were an everyday thing for him to rescue damsels in distress like Dany. But she didn't miss the fact that he casually dropped his current status of 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 the French leave!" She grinned and shook hands with the man, sealing the deal.
Dany's smile dropped when Robert came back into the room.
"Gotta go," she said, pouting slightly as she slid the money for the gin on the counter.
"Wait, what's your name?" The man asked.
"Dany," she answered with a timid smiled.
"Well Dany, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Tom," he introduced himself, shaking her hand before letting her make her way back to the table she shared with her date.
"Hey, sorry Dany! I chatted a bit with another lad, hope you didn't miss me too much," he tried – and failed – to joke. She gave him a sarcastic smile and told him how unbearable 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 her 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.
Dany was thinking of different ways to kill him with his dishes. This lasted for another ten minutes before the man at the bar walked to their table.
"Dany!" She heard Tom's voice call from behind her in a shocked tone. She closed her eyes and silently thanked heavens for his intervention. "Honey, what are you doing here?" He asked, making his way to the table and standing there next to Dany and Robert – who kept giving her questioning glances which she royally ignored.
"Tom!" She exclaimed in an enthusiastic yet slightly uncomfortable tone. "I'm... having dinner," she said, refusing to qualify this as a date in front of Robert who still had no idea what was going on.
Tom's expression suddenly changed when he finally laid eyes on the man, acknowledging his presence. Dany had to hold back a snort when she saw Robert's face go white. To be honest even if Tom was sitting too, he would still be intimidatingly tall and impressive, but standing tall and towering over Robert like he was made it a hundred times worse – or better, in this case.
"What is this, darling? Are you- are you on a date?" He asked in an outraged voice, crossing his arms over his chest to make his biceps more impressive – which was pointless in Dany's humble opinion. "With this guy?" He pointed his finger to Robert to increase the rudeness, and looked at her, awaiting an answer.
"I wouldn't call this a date Tom, we're just two co-workers going out for dinner!" Dany slowly got into character and tried to justify herself, raising her voice too. "What's the harm in that?"
"The harm is that you cancelled our night out for this loser!" Tom barked, his voice raising significantly.
"Hey!" The said loser protested but both Tom and Dany 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! May I remind you that you broke off our engagement! I figured I might as well find myself a man who's not afraid of showing himself at my arm!"
She had no idea where this was going and simply shouted his way whatever came to mind. This was honestly the most fun she had had this week.
"I simply wasn't ready yet! And don't you try and make this about me, Dany!" Tom 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?!" Dany faked a sigh and threw her 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," Dany gestured him to sit down, not gracing him with one single look as she kept her eyes dived into Tom's. "He was about to leave," she articulated slowly.
"Out of the question, I'm staying," he said before taking a nearby chair and making room for himself between Robert and her.
"You can't do this, for God's sake! Have you been raised by wolves?" Dany protested.
"I- I should really go-"
"Stop interrupting us, Bob!" Tom turned around and shot him daggers with his eyes. "Where were we?"
"I was telling you how boorish and obnoxious you were," Dany snapped at him, leaning back on her chair and crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, isn't that your type of men?" Tom asked pointing to Robert with his chin. Honestly that comeback earned him a high five she'd be sure to give him once Robert leaves.
Dany faked a look of hurt and even made sure to quiver her lower lip.
"Did you come here only to say harmful things, Tom?" She asked, her voice considerably lowering and making sure to display as much emotion as she 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 either of them.
Tom reached out for Dany's hand but since she had her arms crossed, he simply rested his hand on one of her forearms.
"You know that wasn't my intention," he said in a soothing tone. The tension was so thick between the three of them that Dany could have cut the air 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 Tom, whose warm hand was still on Dany's arm. Why was it so hot in here? "I-I mean, this is a pure c-"
"A coincidence, ugh?" Tom scoffed. "Listen man, if I were 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?" Dany asked, making sure to sound offended and a bit dramatic in her body language.
"N-no, I-," he struggled to get the words out.
"What are you still doing here?" Tom 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.
Dany waited for the door to close behind him before saying, "Took him long enough."
"Well, that was fun!" Tom said, pulling his chair closer to the table and adopting a more relaxed demeanour. They both laughed it off and cheered at their victory.
"I can't wait to see the colours leave his face next time I see him in a hallway," she 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," Dany confirmed his statement. "I propose a toast!" She grabbed her glass of water and handed him Robert's unused one after filling it.
"To what shall we drink?" He asked.
"To the free spaghetti I had tonight and to you, the gentleman who saved me from my horrible date," she suggested. Tom smiled and nodded, gently bumping his glass of water against hers and drinking it.
"How does dessert sound?" He asked, already gesturing the waitress to undress the table and bring the dessert card. "All this acting has me famished!"
"I never say no to dessert, as a principle," she gladly accepted.
He didn't switch chairs and stayed on the one next to Dany instead of taking Robert's empty one who was across from her. She preferred it this way, it was much less formal and job-interview like. Tom turned out being funny and intelligent – added to the fact that she couldn't keep her eyes off of him more than a minute or so. They spent the rest of the evening talking and laughing and whispering to each other in a playful tone. Dany learned that his full name was Tom Hiddleston, he came from London – and now she knew why she found his accent so charming. He was in New York for a prolonged vacation and took a liking to this rather kitsch restaurant. She told him about being a nurse and that she worked part time in a middle school, where she had the displeasure of seeing Bob every so often and was faced with his constant flirting. He frowned at that, and told her that if he ever bothered her, she could call him anytime and he's be her boyfriend of the night all over again.
That's how he gave Dany his number. In all good faith.
"I still can't believe he fell for it!" She shook her head, blushing a bit. Now that it was all over, she felt a bit ashamed of her behaviour. 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," Tom complimented her. "That lip quiver was perfect." He held back his sappy comment on how her lips looked perfect anyway and bit his own lower lip.
"Thanks," Dany 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 the young woman.
"Have you ever been told that you're a very good actor?"
Tom made a funny face and shrugged before mumbling, "'couple times, yes."
The evening came to an end and they both knew it. They had seen the restaurant and the bar slowly empty and now they were left alone with the barman, the waitress and a sleeping drunk sitting on a stool at the bar. Neither of them wanted to leave just yet.
"I still owe you a drink," Dany 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 her eyes and without breaking eye-contact, he moved his hand towards her and suddenly, she felt his hand take hold of hers and squeeze it lightly. "I'm saving this one for our next date," Tom chuckled, grinning at her.