Thank you for the reviews! So, excited for that meeting?
Chapter 8
John was early and for a moment he regretted not bringing flowers like his daughter had suggested to him. Maybe his Impossible Girl would have liked that. But this was their first meeting and he didn't want to overdo it.
Nervously he began to fiddle with the napkin in front of him, taking apart the carefully folded Origami swan and failing to put it back together. Would the Impossible Girl think him too old? They hadn't exchanged any more personal information, but maybe he should have mentioned his age? What if she saw him and laughed?
No, she wouldn't because John had made an effort tonight. He was wearing a suit, a good one, but not too fancy, he had dusted off his shoes, combed his hair and shaved the stubble off his chin. He was looking good tonight and he was certainly nothing to laugh at.
But still. . . would the age gap bother her? It wasn't as if John had intentionally picked a younger woman. He had liked her long before he had known how old she was. Would it maybe bother him? The Impossible Girl seemed quite mature in her e-mails, but what if she wasn't in real life?
"What are you doing here?"
John looked up and for a moment he couldn't believe what he saw. In front of him stood no other than the most annoying woman on the entire planet: Clara Oswald.
She was obviously dressed for a night out and if it had been any other woman, John would have said she looked perfectly lovely, but not to her. She scowled at him, her arms akimbo.
"Are you following me?" she demanded to know.
At first John frowned, then he scoffed at her. "Certainly not. I have better things to do with my time. I have a date. So, if you were so nice as to move along," he said and made a waving gesture with his hand.
Clara Oswald giggled. "Looks more like your date stood you up."
"And yours is late. Or are you dining alone like the sad woman you are?"
She snorted, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I'm certainly not dining alone. I have a date as well and he should show up any minute."
"Really?" John laughed, "Who's the poor sod? I need to give him my sincerest condolences."
However when John looked up at her, and properly looked at her, he started to get a strange, almost nasty feeling inside his stomach. Clara Oswald was here on a date. Clara Oswald was around 30 years old. Clara Oswald worked at the publishing company.
Her face changed all of a sudden as the realisation struck her as well and the smug expression instantly disappeared.
"The Impossible Girl," he realized.
Clara shook her head. "No, you can't be the Doctor. There's no way."
He gave a light shrug and for a moment Clara seemed so baffled that she took a seat at his table. For a long moment neither of them said anything, until a waiter appeared, asking for their order.
"Oh, no, thanks," Clara said instantly, "I'm not staying."
The waiter turned towards John. "I'll have a Scotch."
"Fine," Clara sighed, "I'll have one, too. But it's on him."
Again both of them fell silent when the waiter left and John had no idea what to do now. Maybe he had misjudged Clara Oswald and she was nice after all? He had liked her in her e-mails. However, Clara seemed much too hostile to even consider going through with the date.
"Okay, this is really awkward," she said after a moment.
"You can say that again," John scoffed and then the waiter returned with her drinks. They both declined ordering food because obviously Clara had no intention to stay and he wasn't sure about that either right now. It could have been any woman working at the publishing company, but it had to be Clara Oswald. The universe really hated him.
"Well, obviously neither one of us is so keen on that date anymore," Clara concluded, "I don't think we should even consider this a date."
"It was meant as a date and you know it," John spat back at her.
"Okay, fine, it was meant as a date," she said angrily, "I didn't know it would be you, otherwise-"
She broke off, lowering her gaze, and for a moment Clara looked terribly embarrassed.
John raised an eyebrow. "Otherwise you would have never told me that my writing was good?"
"It's alright," she replied, still not looking at him, and finally John realized what it was that she was so embarrassed about. Oh, this was going to be fun.
"Funny, cause just last week you thought it was so good that you wanted me to fuck you in the bathtub and whisper into your ear how good you feel," he retorted.
Clara's gaze instantly shot up, glaring at him, before her eyes wandered around the room. "Do you realize that we're in public?" she hissed at him.
"Yes," John said, shrugging, "Why? Am I embarrassing you?"
"You're shouting obscenities across the restaurant, so, yeah, you're embarrassing me."
He laughed. "I wasn't shouting. Do you know what shouting sounds like?"
"Don't you dare!" Clara threatened him.
"I knew you were boring and frigid the moment I stepped into your office."
"I am not frigid!" she said, raising her voice, and instantly glanced around the room once more, "How could I have known it was you?"
He snorted. "Why? Are you surprised I'm not asshole when you're not being a bitch?"
"At least I'm not spending my time masturbating to my own novels and hitting on women half my age!"
"No, you're just masturbating over someone else's novels. Much better," John couldn't help but laugh. They were ridiculous. Both of them. They had liked each other and now they just couldn't seem to stop bickering, but John would be damned if he gave in first.
Suddenly Clara rose to her feet and reached for her purse. "You know what? I didn't come here to trade insults. I've got better things to do," she spat and spun around on her heels while John watched her leave.
It was only when she was already out of the door and he had finished his Scotch that John realized this was more than a blind date gone wrong. Now that she knew who he was, her e-mails would stop. He had lost more than just the chance of finding love again. Tonight he had lost a friend and all of a sudden he regretted ever agreeing to meet her.
