Tobias had only agreed to this because Zeke had been so worried. Zeke is always worried about something, but Tobias prefers for it not to be about him. He really wasn't into the whole set up date thing, and it's not like he needed help landing someone. He was perfectly capable, but ever since Tobias's girlfriend broke up with him because she'd met someone else, Zeke had been patting his shoulder and giving him understanding looks. He was constantly saying things like "hang in there buddy" or "don't worry you'll find someone else". Frankly, it was all getting annoying to a point were Tobias had simply agreed to get Zeke off his back.
But in reality, Tobias was more concerned about his lack of concern over the break up. I mean they had dated for eight months so logically, he should be pretty torn up about it right? Only he's not. He's really not. He feels fine. Completely lethargic, and that's what worries him. He is pretty sure it's not supposed to be like that. Isn't he supposed to be eating Ben and Jerry's and sobbing into the sofa cushion or something? He's even the type to be prone to a bit of brooding, but he hadn't holed himself up in his room to listen to a sad record once. Not even the day she had broken it off.
Maybe there really is something wrong with him.
He had almost felt relieved that she had found someone else first, because his last couple of relationships had ended after he got bored and then ended up ruining it all. Which always made him feel like a prick so, at least it hadn't been his fault this time.
Except Zeke hadn't seemed to notice Tobias's lack of tears. So even if this whole thing turned out to be spectacularly awful, hopefully it would at least make Zeke stop being so overly nice to Tobias all the time. He'd been walking around treating Tobias like he was something fragile that could be broken if you didn't speak with a soft voice or like he was some sort of wild animal that could only be approached with slow movements and a tense smile.
In all honesty it was starting to freak him out a bit, even more than irritating sense of it.
So even though he was feeling distinctly uncomfortable in his black button up, that was just a little too tight around the shoulders now that he had finally gotten around to spending a little time at the gym, he figured it would be worth it to make Zeke leave him alone about it all.
Tobias arrived at the designated restaurant almost too early, but thought it couldn't harm anything to just get seated anyways. He informed the hostess that there would be one more joining him, and was led to a corner table near the back.
He took his seat and started fiddling with his serviette. He was feeling a bit bored when he should probably be feeling nervous, but he just couldn't see this going anywhere. He supposed that was a bad attitude to have when he hasn't even met the girl yet.
He straightened up in his seat, trying to at least give this a chance since Zeke went through the trouble of setting it all up and even went so far as to pick out Tobias's outfit and make the reservations at the restaurant. It only takes a couple of seconds before he's slouched back into his chair and ended up reaching for the salt shaker and dumping some salt onto the table and using his fingers to make swirling little patterns. That is sure to make a brilliant first impression should she show up a bit early.
Tobias's whole body stiffens and he visibly jumps when he hears someone clearing their throat next to him. He flips his head around a little embarrassed to be caught acting like a startled rabbit, and feeling a bit guilty for pouring salt on the nice tablecloth.
When he finally manages to look into the face of the source, he startles again. This time it's not because he's not paying attention. This time it's because his heart started pounding and tripping over itself as soon as he set eyes on the waiter standing next to his table with a smile that's too big and false for her face. Her lips are naturally pinker than any girl's he's ever seen with deep set dimples, and honey blonde hair in a distinctive fishtail plait. She looks sexy in her tight fitted work uniform which was indeed a pant suit fitted around all the right areas which made it look more feminine than it should. Her eyes are blue and they glint in a mischievous way that has Tobias momentarily stunned.
After what was probably a full minute of just staring openly at the girl's face, Tobias realizes what he's doing and feels his cheeks heat up. Which means he's blushing, and Tobias can't even remember the last time he blushed. He stutters out a sorry, but the girl just brushes it off.
"It's fine! I didn't mean to startle you there," she says with an easier grin. She either didn't notice Tobias staring or she's used to these kinds of looks. Tobias is inclined to think it's the latter. "Can I start you off with something to drink?"
For some reason Tobias is having a hard time remembering how to talk, because the girl is still smiling and people with faces like that shouldn't be allowed to just throw around smiles whenever they feel like it. Tobias fixes his gaze somewhat around the girl's shoulder before he gets too dazed again. He finally notices the name tag. Tris. That's a different name.
Tobias remembers how to speak, and then promptly wishes he hadn't. Because he starts rambling on and on about how he's actually waiting for someone, and he doesn't usually just come to restaurants to eat dinner alone. Then he finds himself telling him all about how he's on a blind date, because his girlfriend broke up with him and now his friend thinks he's depressed.
He's pretty sure if the girl didn't already think he was pathetic before, he's more than confirmed it now. He'd been talking so fast he couldn't really breathe properly so he has to stop to suck in a big breath of air, and he grimaces a bit, because really what is he even doing? Tobias is normally quiet and he's been told that his "mysterious" side is his best asset. He's pretty sure there was nothing mysterious or alluring about that.
Tris glances around a bit surreptitiously, and Tobias belatedly realizes that she probably has other tables to serve and Tobias is forcing him to watch him have a meltdown and he hasn't even ordered anything yet.
She puts a hand on Tobias's shoulder and leans in a little "Listen, you'll be fine alright?" Tobias can't really breathe again, but he finds himself nodding along with what Tris is saying and he can even feel his face cracking into a little smile when he feels Tris's fingers –they're skinny, he notes- curl around and give his shoulder a light squeeze. "She'll get here, and either you'll hit it off and it'll be great, or it will be completely awful and you'll get a good laugh out of later. Either way you'll get to eat some really good food, and you can go home and tell your friend who set you up that with cheekbones like yours you really don't need help getting a date OK?" She gives Tobias's shoulder another squeeze, slightly harder this time, and then walks off, with a little laugh, tripping on a chair that hadn't been tucked in on the way. Thankfully, she doesn't fall and make a fool of herself.
Tobias sits back in his chair trying to recover. He takes a few calming breaths, but he can still feel exactly where Tris's hand was placed on his shoulder, as it's still tingling a bit. Also, he hadn't been able to stop himself from watching Tris the whole way as she made her way toward the kitchen. She seemed to recover from the little stumble fairly well, but then Tris kicks open the door to the kitchen using a foot, and Tobias hears what sounds like an entire stack of plates breaking before the door manages to swing all the way closed.
Tris comes back a minute later and places a small steaming cup of tea down on the table. It sloshes over and ends up being about half a cup of tea instead, but it still strikes Tobias as incredibly thoughtful.
A girl with long brown hair comes up to shake Tobias's hand. It seems a little formal. He suddenly feels like he's at a job interview, and he hadn't thought to bring his CV along. Tobias ends up smiling anyways when he sees Tris send him a wink over her shoulder as she heads off to take another table's order.
Tobias walks around the table to pull the girl's seat out. He feels bad, because he's sure Zeke had mentioned her name, but he can't seem to remember it now, and he's almost positive she'd said it when she shook his hand, but he'd been too distracted by a certain waitress.
They chat easily enough about University and how they both met Zeke. While Tobias still hasn't managed to learn her name, he does learn that she's studying History and is an altogether lovely girl. She's pretty and clearly smart. On a normal day, he would probably be a lot more interested in seeing where this could go, but Tobias is still finding himself distracted. This is most likely because he has a pretty clear view of Tris chatting animatedly to an older couple sitting a few tables away from him.
Tris glances over and Tobias feels a bit embarrassed about being caught staring again, but before he has the chance to get too worked up, Tris has knocked over a tall glass of ice water that quickly spreads across the table and starts dripping off the sides.
After a few more minutes of Tobias trying as hard as he can to keep his attention on his date, he's finally given a bit of a reprieve when Tris comes over to take their order. She gives Tobias a smile, and reaches a hand up to pull all of her hair to one side. She ends up poking herself in the eye a little bit, but Tobias's heart flutters. He can't remember a time when he had been so affected by such a simple action.
To be honest, he can't be quite sure if he'd even ordered anything or not. He feels like he might have just stuttered out random words that didn't make any sort of sense, and then been forced to stare down at the floor as he tried to get his rapid heart rate under control.
He sees his date giving him a look like she's contemplating something. She's probably worrying about the dismal education the future generation has to look forward to, as he'd told her he was going to school to be an English teacher, and he hadn't seemed to be displaying much of a grasp on the subject so far.
Tris comes out of the back door balancing a tray of food a bit precariously, and heading towards their table Tobias's never been more grateful. He's pretty sure his date had just asked him a question for the second or third time, and he still hadn't heard it.
This was mostly due to the fact that he'd been craning his neck around trying to see where Tris had gone. This was starting to get a bit pathetic, and he felt really bad about this poor girl who was forced to sit through this mess.
When Tris finally makes her way over to their table, she's got a huge smile on her face. Tobias is pretty sure that it gets wider every time she sees him. He's starting to wonder if it hurts her cheeks to keep that kind of steady progression up all day.
She makes to bring the tray around in what was probably supposed to be a fancy flourish, but actually just ends up sending a whole plate of food with some kind of messy red sauce straight into the lap of Tobias's date.
Tris's smile falters and she starts apologizing profusely. To the girl's credit, she's really gracious about the whole thing. She rushes off again promising to come back with something to help clean up, and a new plate.
His date (god, he still doesn't even know her name) just laughs a bit as they watch her try to rush to the back only to trip on her own feet which sends her arms pin wheeling, and causes everyone else in the restaurant to turn and watch the impending crash.
Tobias's date shakes her head, and then stands up a big red stain clear on her pencil skirt. She walks to Tobias's chair and leans over to give him a small kiss on the cheek, and says, "Look, thanks for meeting me here today, you seem like a nice guy, but I think you should talk to that girl before she kills herself trying to impress you." She weaves her way expertly in between the tables and walks out the door without looking back.
Tris comes back carrying a mountain of serviettes and a new plate of the pasta dish his date had ordered, and then later ended up wearing. A deep blush is spread across her pale cheeks, and Tobias is suddenly struck with the urge to kiss them.
She sets everything on the table before glancing at the empty seat across from Tobias and then collapsing in it. "Oh god. She left? I can't believe I ruined your date."
"It's okay. I mean it'll make a great story you know? Just like you said yeah?"
"Still…" she trails off and then picks up a breadstick and breaks off a piece, gnawing on it with a bit of a sullen expression on her face.
"You don't have to work still do you?" Tobias says confusedly, watching Tris sip at the now cool tea she'd brought him earlier.
"Actually, no. They begged me to take the rest of the day off. I mean, I am sort of clumsy, but I'm not usually this bad. Plus, I feel really awful about scaring your date away. You don't have to worry about paying for your meal, it's all on my paycheck. I even asked the cook to make you my favorite dessert, and he agreed on the condition that I let someone else go into the kitchen to get it. Something about his favorite serving dish being in danger, and how I'd have to give him my soul as collateral if I broke it."
A smile spread itself across Tobias's face and settled there. Before long, he was laughing, and he was starting to think that maybe Zeke had picked up on something he hadn't, because now that he's thought about it, he really hasn't laughed like that in a long time. The kind of laugh where his eyes scrunch up and his tongue presses up against his teeth. He catches Tris looking a bit dazed, and thinks maybe his date had picked up on something he hadn't as well. When he gets home he's definitely going to ask Zeke for her name so that he can send her a Thank You card or something.
He and Tris set to work polishing off the plates in front of them and Tris hadn't been lying when she said at least the food would be good.
Tris was in the middle of telling him a story about her flat mate, Christina, but had somehow gotten sidetracked half way through. Instead she was talking about when she was twelve and had ended up running through the streets away from a young pit bull. Turns out, it was just an innocent pug.
She had a little bit of the red sauce at the corner of her mouth, and for some reason Tobias found it stupidly endearing. He was having a hard time keeping his arm down by his side, and just when he started to reach up to swipe it away, another waitress came over carrying two slices of chocolate cake.
"Here you are Juliet," she said placing them on the table, and it was impossible to miss the flush that spread up Tris's cheeks.
Tris tried to subtly to kick at her from under the table, but missed and ended up kicking the leg of the table instead, causing everything to shake and rattle noisily. Tobias was just able to steady the wobbling cup of tea before it too spilled out across the table. The waitress, who Tobias learnt was actually her roommate Christina, left laughing, and Tris put her head in her hands, her fingers tugging at her hair a little bit.
"Oh god. This is so embarrassing. I should have probably left you alone anyways. And again I'm really sorry about how your date turned out."
She stood up to leave, but Tobias reached out and grabbed her hand. "Why? I think it's turning out pretty great actually."
"What?" Tris said glancing back at Tobias.
Tobias shifted his hand a bit so their fingers were intertwined, "I said, I think it is turning out pretty great Tris."
Fin.