Looking back on it all, Jordan should have known from the beginning that their first date would have been a disaster. It had taken him over 12 months to finally work up the courage to ask her out. It wasn't from lack of trying either. It seemed like every time he got even remotely close to asking her out, something happened to stop it. The world was conspiring against him and trying to make him look like a fool in front of Lydia.
The first time he tried to ask out, he accidentally spilled his scalding hot coffee all over her. Jordan had to beg Scott to try and relieve some of her pain for the next few days without her knowing because it turned out to be quite a bad burn. A few months later when he tried to ask her out again, a lady nearby had her bag stolen from her hands. Even though Jordan was off-duty and out of uniform, he felt like he had a duty of care to help the lady. A little part of him also thought it might impress Lydia to see him in action right before he asked her out.
Sadly, the old lady thought he was in cahoots with the thief and slapped him when he tried to return her bag. Finally, after about 15 more events like this, he asked her out. He asked her out while laying on his ass after tripping over absolutely nothing. She had entered the police station while he was on front desk duty. He went around the counter to escort her in when he tripped over his own feet. She had rushed over to help him up when he had practically screamed at her.
"WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME LYDIA?"
Having heard the thump of his deputy hitting the ground the Sherriff and two of his co-workers had come out to investigate. All three had to hide their smiles and bite back on their laughs at his exclamation and seeing him on his ass. All three turned around and went back into the bullpen where Jordan heard them crack up.
Thankfully, Lydia just smiled at him and said yes.
Obviously Jordan should have realised that luck just wasn't on his side when it came to Lydia Martin. Jordan could be charming, charismatic and a bit of a stud. He was raised to be a gentleman but he still knew how to flirt. For some reason, whenever he was with Lydia, it all just flew out the window and he reverted back to his twelve-year-old, stuttering self.
Jordan knew Lydia wasn't your stereotypical movie date girl. He decided that he would take her to a nice Italian restaurant and then for a nice drive to the beach and a walk. The weather had been great recently and Jordan wanted to make great use of it.
He knocked on Lydia's door and smiled when she opened the door.
"You look beautiful." Jordan said feeling a bit more at ease. After all, the hardest part was asking her out. He had already done that.
"Thank you. You look great as well." Lydia said with a smile as she followed him out to his car.
"I figured since it's so warm, after dinner we could go for a drive to the beach and then have a bit of a walk around." Jordan asked, hoping she liked the idea.
"Sounds great!" Lydia replied.
They were seated at the restaurant right away and Jordan started to relax. Maybe his bad luck was finally ending. They spent the next 20 minutes talking about random things. Mostly about cases at work and funny things Lydia's lecturers had said. It seemed like everyone believed college freshman needed to be hazed.
"I think some people are ACTUALLY planning to write the essay about the comparison's between fascism and SpongeBob Squarepants. I can't tell who's crazier, the lecturers or the people who think they're being serious." Lydia finished the story.
Jordan laughed at her story before looking up in confusion. "It's been 20 minutes, shouldn't someone have come by to take our order yet?"
Lydia shrugged as she looked around. She caught a waiters attention and beckoned him over. The man practically dropped his full plates onto the table and ran over. Lydia just smiled in amusement at his eagerness.
The waiter pulled out his pen and pad. "What can I get for you beautiful?"
"I'll have the fettuccine boscaiola hottie." Jordan answered quickly with a wink at the waiter who looked shocked. "What about you Lydia?"
Lydia laughed at Jordan's attempt at deflecting the flirting. "I'll have the pork bolognaise thanks."
The waiter tried again to flirt with Lydia, this time he bent down a bit and made eye contact with her. "Any drinks for the gorgeous LADY?" He said with emphasis on lady.
Jordan just sighed. Is it not obvious that they're on a date? Or does the waiter just think Lydia is too far out of Jordan's league.
"Just water thanks." Lydia replied, breaking eye contact with the waiter to smile reassuringly at Jordan.
"Me too please." Jordan added, although the waiter barely even registered it before walking off.
Lydia and Jordan kept up conversation for the next hour whilst waiting for food. The longer they waited the more impatient they became. Jordan sighed again in frustration before trying to beckon their waiter over. He was ignored.
Lydia smirked at him before waving at the waiter who once again ran over. "You just need the feminine touch."
"And a pair of cute dimples?" Jordan teased.
"You think they're cute?" Lydia smiled as the waiter finally got to their table.
"I think every thing about you is cute." The waiter said to her.
"Right… Well do you think you could get us our food? If we're so cute and all?" Jordan asked in annoyance.
"Okay sir, no need to be rude. We just have a lot more people here tonight and our kitchen is understaffed. It will be here soon." He said while glaring at Jordan.
"Would you be able to check and see how much longer?" Lydia asked politely.
"Of course!" He said before heading out the back.
"Well he's an ass." Jordan said with a sigh.
Lydia looked up in shock. "I don't think I've ever heard you swear before."
"I've never had a waiter trying to flirt with my date before." He said with a chuckle.
"The bolognaise is ready now but the boscaiola will take another 30 minutes." The waiter said, placing Lydia's food in front of her.
"Wait, so my food is ready 30 minutes before my dates? So he will have had to wait 2 hours since ordering before actually getting his food?" Lydia said in annoyance.
"I'm sorry. We're trying to be as fast as possible. I can offer you a free gift voucher?" He said, not even addressing Jordan.
"No, it's ok! I think we will just leave. This is absolutely ridiculous. I refuse to pay for terrible service. McDonald's has better service than this, we can just go there." Lydia said angrily. "Erm, if it's ok with you?" She asked, looking at Jordan.
"Sounds good to me." He said standing up.
As Lydia went to stand up, she bumped into the waiter who was hovering over her. He dropped the bolognaise all down her expensive-looking dress.
The waiter began apologising profusely and trying to rub the sauce off her with a napkin. His dabbing started to become full on groping before Jordan interrupted.
"Hands off her! We're leaving." Jordan responded as he grabbed Lydia's hand and led her out of the restaurant.
They got into the car and Jordan sighed. "So that didn't go as expected. Do you want me to take you home. I'm really sorry about your dress."
Lydia smiled. "That's alright. I really want to finish this date and go to the beach with you."
Jordan reached into the back and pulled a gym bag forward. Inside he had a change of clothes handy for when he went out after work. They were clean, thankfully.
"They aren't as nice as your dress but they're clean." He offered.
"Thanks, when we stop off for food, I'll quickly get changed." She said.
Jordan got their food and waited for Lydia before heading to the beach. Lydia looked adorable in his clothes. She had forgone the pants and cinched his plaid shirt in at the waist with the belt off her skirt. They drove off and enjoyed their food. It was about 20 minutes of them bickering playfully over each other's taste in music and how bad Jordan was at singing. He pulled up to the beach just as Lydia was explaining why Ke$ha can hardly be called a musical artist.
"Talking over music is not singing. And whilst rappers might disagree, talking about whiskey, vodka and sex over music isn't even poetry. It's just terrible." Lydia ranted.
"Hey, you won't hear any arguments from me about it." Jordan responded as they got out of the car.
They walked along the beach, looking out at the moonlight shining on the surf. They had been out there for ten minutes before Jordan worked up the courage to hold her hand. She smiled at him as he did. Just when he thought nothing could get any worse it started to rain. It started off as a bit of a sprinkle before it full on began pouring.
Within seconds, they were soaked to the bone.
"I'm so sorry Lydia. I've been trying to ask you out for over a year. I was hoping tonight would be perfect." Jordan yelled over the rain as they ran to the car.
Lydia stopped running and Jordan turned around to face her. "You've been trying to ask me out for that long?"
"Well… Yes. Every time I did, something seemed to go wrong. I got slapped by an old lady, I accidently burned you with coffee, I accidently lit my shirt on fire… It was all terrible."
Lydia smiled at him, ignoring the rain which was pouring even harder. She leaned into him and pressed her lips to his. It was a quick, sweet kiss at first but it slowly escalated as they got more and more into it. Jordan wrapped his arms around Lydia's waist, pulling her flush against him. Lydia ran her hand over the back of his neck, running her hand through his hair.
They pulled apart after a few minutes and Lydia broke the silence. "It was actually a perfect date. A complete disaster, but at least we now have an interesting story to tell."
"Right, because werewolves, kitsune, banshees and phoenixes aren't interesting enough?" Jordan asked with a laugh.
"Something NORMAL and interesting that we can tell NORMAL people." Lydia stressed before kissing him again.
Maybe she was right. This wasn't a boring, typical first date. It was a complete disaster and Jordan wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.