Chapter 2
Roman wondered if he was nuts, listening to Undertaker and agreeing to meet with a girl he'd never spoken to. His description was brief, but it was enough to get his interest. As he pulled up, he thanked his lucky stars he'd had the foresight to book a hotel room for himself, and bring his car for a quick getaway if she wasn't to his likening. He got out the car, straightened up and gave himself a quick spray of deodorant, hoping his shirt wasn't too creased from driving. Then with a breath and a thought to himself he would do, he locked the car and headed to the restaurant. As he walked in, he could see why Undertaker had arranged this particular place as the meeting spot for them. It wasn't overly populated, and everyone seemed to have separate booths for privacy. He remembered what Undertaker had said about her. His age, similar interests. Loved wrestling. He hoped the latter wasn't going to be a problem for her.
"Can I help you sir?" asked the person greeting.
"Yeah, I'm here on a blind date...I think the table might have been put under either Reigns or Undertaker?" he replied. The greeter looked down on his list and nodded.
"Ah yes, I think your blind date is already here." He replied. "I'll take you the long way round...you'll be able to see her before she see's you so you can bail if you need to."
"Thank you. I get the impression that happens way too often, huh?" Roman replied.
"More than you know," The greeter responded. "And by the way, great match at Wrestlemania."
"Thanks man. I appreciate it." He and the greeter made small talk as they walked around the middle of the restaurant, circling the kitchen. Half way around, the greeter stopped and pointed.
There in one of the booths sat the woman he'd been told about. He took in the long black hair and green eyes. She was of an athletic build, he could see that much. He watched a moment as she fidgeted nervously with her fingers, and assured a friendly waiter that came over she was ok, although Roman noticed her cheeks went red as she did so. He figured she was a little shy, and noticed her t-shirt. It was an artfully ripped and knotted Roman Reigns t-shirt. He shook his head and laughed a little to himself. He had a feeling Undertaker hadn't told her who he was setting her up with. Out came the phone, he watched expecting her to play with it. Nope, she looked at it, then the clock on an opposite wall, and put it back. Another steadying breath, and he walked over.
"Excuse me, Seren?" he asked. She looked up, realised who it was and went bright red.
"Hi..." she managed, with a bit of a squeak. She cleared her throat. "You must be Taker's friend." She said, more normally this time.
"Yes, yes I am." He sat down opposite her. "I take it, he didn't tell you it was me?"
"No, he didn't, and yes, I am going to kill him. Oh lord...I'm so embarrassed, if I'd known..." she stammered.
"It's ok, honestly." He said with a smile, and received one in return which made his stomach flip. He ignored it, guessing it was something he ate. "So...um...have you ordered?"
"No, I was waiting for you to get here." She replied. Roman reached over and picked out the menus from the condiment stand they were stacked in, before handing one to her. She immediately became interested in choosing something to eat. He found it cute in a way, mainly because Undertaker had warned him she might not even show because she was a bit on the shy side. But also because he remembered being this awkward, albeit as a teen, but still he remembered.
They ordered food and drinks, and Roman waited for the waiter to go before he began to ask her about herself.
"So, what do you do for a living?" he asked.
"I'm a fantasy artist." She replied, with a nervous smile.
"Fantasy artist? You mean like, you paint dragons and stuff?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. She laughed, a gentle giggle rather than the loud roar that some of his dates had.
"Not just dragons. Fantasy creatures, characters, landscapes. For books, indie games, all sorts of things." She went on to explain in depth about what she did for a living, and as she spoke, Roman could see the passion in her eyes for her work.
"I guess there's no need to ask you what you do for a living," she said as she finished her explanation.
"I guess not." Roman chuckled. "Taker said you were a huge fan. Fan of wrestling that is..not me...I um" He found himself floundering now, not sure how to dig himself out of the sudden hole he found himself in. He reached for his drink, and misjudged it, knocking the water over the table, and over her in turn. "Oh crap, I am so, so sorry."
"It's ok...it's just water. I'm wearing leathers, so it's ok," Seren grabbed a bundle of napkins as a waiter came over with their food, and mopped up the water as did Roman, while he cringed internally and apologised profusely. This was not going well at all.
Somehow, Roman got through what he considered the most awkward date in history. Aside from spilling his drink, he dropped his fork in his food, which splattered everywhere. Seren laughed and accidently burped, and was mortified, he could tell. Then, just as they were getting less awkward around each other, Seren got a text message and her notification was his entrance theme. This immediately made her go red from embarrassment, and she shut it off in a hurry. So by the time the date was over, he was guessing he was as glad as she was, and not for the right reasons. As he watched her ride off on her motorbike after a really awkward goodbye, he realised that he wasn't glad the date was over because he didn't want to see her again. He was glad it was over because he really liked this girl, at least as much as he could on a first date, and had made a complete ass of himself in front of her.
And when he recounted it all to Dean and Seth on Monday, it sounded a thousand times worse.
"Dude. That is rough." Dean said as they sat in catering before the show that night.
"I feel so bad, and hell I felt embarrassed, y'know? Short of maybe calling her another girl's name, I don't know what could have gone more wrong." He said, shaking his head. His friends commiserated with him as the sound of laughter reached their ears, and in came The Undertaker with a smile on his face as he held his phone to his ear.
"Seren, it couldn't have been that bad...yes I know I wasn't there but even so..." he tried to comfort her, and spotted the three men, walking over and putting the phone on the table, and setting it to speakerphone mode.
"Even so? I could kill you right now! You didn't tell me it was him, and I turned up in a damn roman reigns t-shirt, my message tone was his entrance, AND I burped at him!" she exclaimed. Dean and Seth smothered a laugh as roman put his head on his arms, and his crossed arms on the table, shaking his head as he did so.
"Seren..." Undertaker tried to interrupt.
"I mean, a bit of warning would have been nice, you know how much I like him..."
"Seren..." she wasn't listening, and roman couldn't see Undertaker's smirk as she dug herself a bigger hole.
"And that would totally not have been embarrassing..."
"SEREN!" Undertaker raised his voice.
"What?" she asked, finally hearing him.
"You're on speakerphone. In front of him."
"Oh." There was silence for a moment, then the beep of the phone being hung up. Then as Roman looked up, mortified, and not sure if it was for her or because of the admission she liked him, he saw Dean, Seth and Undertaker burst in to laughter. As they collected themselves, Undertaker's phone beeped again.
"Apparently she's going to murder me in my sleep for this." He said, after reading the text message he'd received.
"I can't say I'd blame her." Roman muttered under his breath, wondering if he was ever going to live this down.
