Very happy that you all liked and enjoyed the flashback of their first meeting :) Thank you all so much for the sweet reviews - and I believe that this chapter might answer some of your questions. Let's have a look.

Chapter 4

"So, how was the date?"

Clara glowered at her friend Amy while she took the cup of tea that was offered to her and blew the air out between his teeth. The truth was, she had almost forgotten about yesterday's disaster until her friend had brought it up.

"Oh God, that bad?" Amy asked as she sank down on the sofa next to Clara and then chuckled to herself. "What do you do to these men that all your dates turn into disasters?"

"Trust me, I would love to know," Clara growled and took a sip of her drink. When she turned to look at her friend, Amy had stopped laughing and she told her everything that had gone wrong during last night's date, including the fact that he had called the Doctor her sugar daddy.

Amy frowned at her in response. "Wow, okay, that's something else," she remarked. "How many dates have you had in the previous months?"

Clara groaned loudly. "Six," she grumbled in reply. "Are you asking to remind me that I suck at dating and have a talent for picking the weird guys?"

Her friend granted her a compassionate smile. "You really have though," she argued. "I mean, this guy thought you had a sugar daddy, the last one hardly spoke a word to you, the one before that groped you and before that, uhm, what was before that?"

"He talked in Klingon," Clara said dryly. "He was under the impression that I was a Trekkie and got weird when I said I wasn't."

To her dismay, Amy started to laugh again. If it had happened to any other person, Clara probably would have found it very amusing as well, but as it was, she was growing really tired of failed dates. Why couldn't she find a decent man? Why was she so unlucky in love that she managed to pick exactly the wrong guys? Clara was a beautiful and smart woman and she was well aware of that. Of course, she had her quirks as well, but who didn't? Why was she the only one who couldn't find a match? That was all Clara really wanted, all that was missing from her life. A man, a partner, a companion to share it with. He had to be out there somewhere.

"And you're really using the same app I used to meet Rory?" her friend wanted to know.

"MatchMaker, yeah," Clara replied grumpily. "But it seems you've snagged the only decent guy on there."

Suddenly, Amy held her hand out to her. "Give me your phone," she demanded.

"What? Why?"

"Cause I'm gonna find you a decent one, now give it," Amy said impatiently, waving her hand until Clara finally retrieved her phone from her pocket and handed it to her friend.

She waited as Amy opened the app and started to flip through newly registered users. Out of the corner of her eye, Clara spotted one or two cute ones, but Amy ignored them and since she had had a lot of bad luck in that area lately, Clara decided to leave it to her best friend to choose someone. If she didn't like her choice, she wouldn't have to meet him.

"Mhhh, this one sounds cute, but he has a kid," Amy remarked.

Clara wrinkled her nose. "I don't mind kids, but can we start with something easier?"

"Alright, let's see what else we've got."

It took a couple more minutes during which Clara continued to sip her tea and wait for her friend to find her a match. Then finally, Amy's eyes lit up.

"Okay, I think I found one," she announced and when she turned towards Clara, she was grinning broadly.

"Well, show me!"

"What do you think about Italian food?" Amy wanted to know.

"Love it. Why?" Clara raised her eyebrows in suspicion.

Amy continued to grin at her. "Because this guy is a chef in an Italian restaurant. He's got Italian roots and loves to spend his holidays in his mother's hometown on the Italian coast."

"Mh," Clara hummed. "Not bad. Go on."

"He is 36 and his hobbies include reading and photography and on Fridays, he goes bowling with his friends," Amy said.

"Not dirty photography, is it?" she asked, frowning.

Her friend rolled her eyes. "Honestly, if your hobby was to take nude photos, would you put that on a dating app?"

"Probably not. Go on," she said.

Finally, Amy turned the phone around and showed Clara the man's profile picture and she could immediately see the Italian roots her friend had talked about. The guy in the photo had short, dark hair and dark eyes, and his skin was nicely tanned by the Italian summer sun. His handsome features were framed by a neatly trimmed beard and Clara couldn't help but smile. Her friend had chosen well.

"Your children would look gorgeous," Amy said.

Yet Clara wasn't entirely convinced. The guy seemed perfect, but she had thought that about most of the men she had gone out with recently – before they had turned out to be either jerks or awkward. Something wasn't quite right.

"Why is a handsome, Italian chef like him using a dating app?" Clara wanted to know. "There's gotta be something wrong if he can't meet a woman elsewhere."

Her friend shot her a dark glance. "Why is a woman like you using a dating app?"

Clara sighed. "Good point," she admitted. "Alright. I guess it can't hurt to send him a message."

Now, Amy's face turned into a grin. "Already did. If this works out, I'll definitely be the bridesmaid."

"Definitely," Clara confirmed. "Let's see what he's like, but I'm afraid after the recent failures, my hopes are kinda low."

"How did you get out of your date by the way?" Amy wanted to know and lifted her own mug to drink.

Clara sighed. "The Doctor saved me," she explained. "I'm so glad he came. He bought me chips and took me to the cinema, so the evening didn't end as bad as it started. We watched a really cool movie."

"That was sweet of him," her friend remarked.

"Yeah," Clara replied and a smile spread across her face. The Doctor really was the sweetest man she had ever met even though his compliments still had some room for improvement. "I wish more men were like him, you know? Kind and funny and absolutely trustworthy and reliable."

"If he's so perfect, why aren't you dating him?"

Clara turned her head and looked at her friend for a long moment, trying to determine whether Amy had just made a joke. However, the longer she stared at her face, the more obvious it became that she had been serious. From one moment to the next, Clara burst into laughter.

"What's so funny?" Amy demanded to know, now chuckling along with her. "I mean it. Why aren't you dating him? He's not bad looking."

Once her laughter had subsided, Clara smiled at her friend. "He's not. He's really good looking, but he's the Doctor."

"So?"

"So," she said, smiling, "he's not into me that way."

"How would you know? Have you ever talked about it?" Amy asked curiously.

"We don't have to," Clara explained. "We've known each other for four years, we're best friends, we're travel companions, we love hanging out. Believe me, if there was something there, I would have noticed."

Clara laughed once again at the mere idea of it. The Doctor. It was ridiculous.

"Besides, it took him a year to hug me. I don't want to wait five years for a kiss," she argued.

To her surprise, her friend shrugged. "Well, you've already waited four, so-"

"Stop it," Clara said with a smile. "The Doctor is cute and I love him, but I don't think a romance would work for either of us."

"Alright," Amy eventually agreed. "Well, there's always Jason the Italian chef."

"Exactly," she said and checked the app on her phone. He hadn't seen the message yet, but Clara felt confident that it would only be a matter of time until he replied. And she would be waiting for that moment.