David was nervous about his date with Clara. He must have switched shirts a dozen times before settling on a dark green buttoned down shirt and black trousers. He was checking the mirror when there was a tap outside his door frame. "Hey, David, are you decent?" He heard Amy say.
David sighed fixing his collar. "Yeah, I am." She walked in smiling. "Caitlin just told me you're going on a date with Clara, tonight."
He briefly looked up at the ceiling; he knew what was going to happen. "Yeah so you might as well get it over with."
Amy shrugged. "Get what over with?" David looked at her and scoffed. "Oh please, you were the one that kept saying that I liked Clara so go on and gloat." He waved his hand around.
She playfully scoffed. "Gee, these hallmark moments between us are so overwhelming." David folded his arms. "Well, weren't you?"
She smiled. "Mm, maybe later." He grunted then lowered his eyes slightly bothered. "Something wrong?" She asked concerned.
David sighed. "It's just... this is so new to me. Rose was the only girl I ever dated." He replied softly. Amy smiled and squeezed his hands. "Rose would want you to move on. She would hate it if you were alone and miserable."
He nodded. "I know, I know. I'm just afraid of messing this up." Amy tilted her head at him thoughtfully. "You do love Clara, right?"
He grinned. "Yeah, there's something so genuine about her. Clara has this amazing spark and fire about her and she makes me feel special. She listens to me like I'm worth the time."
Amy lightly scoffed. "Then what are you worried about?" He looked at her and smirked. "Clever clogs." She smiled. "You better get going," David nodded. "Yeah, I'll see ya' later." "Oh and I will gloat when you get back." She playfully added. He smirked shaking his head. "Yeah, I know."
Clara checked her image in the full length mirror one last time. She hoped her outfit was alright. Clara had decided to pull her hair up in a messy bun and settled on a purple sleeveless dress. Suddenly the door knocked. Clara took a deep breath and answered it.
"Hi!" David smiled folding his umbrella. Drops of rain clung to his hair and her knees almost turned to jelly.
"Hi, um, won't you come in?" Clara smiled trying not to stare.
David nodded walking inside. "It's pouring out there." He commented shaking his head. He glanced up at her and could feel the butterflies in his stomach seeing how beautiful she looked.
"You look lovely." He said shyly handing her a long stem rose. "Thanks." Clara blushed. He just smiled nervously shoving his hands in his pockets.
"So what did you want to do tonight?" He asked glancing around. She sighed. "Well, it's raining pretty hard so I guess we'll have to have our date here. I hope that's okay." David shrugged. "Sounds good to me."
"Great just give me a second to put this in a vase and I'll start dinner." She said. He shook his head. "Oh, that's okay, I'll cook dinner." Clara gave him a skeptical look. "You cook?"
David scoffed. "Yes, I cook." "Really?" She replied playfully. "My dear you'd be amazed by my many talents." He smirked while tugging his collar.
"Is kitchen pyrotechnics one of them?" She teased. "Oi'!" He jokingly remarked. She studied him and shrugged. "Okay, I'm willing to see what you can do."
David smiled and went to the kitchen. "Let's see what you got in the fridge." He knelt and began searching through it. He pulled out a lot of unmarked containers and glanced at her strangely. "You've got a lot of mystery meals in here."
Clara shrugged. "Hayley's been experimenting in the kitchen." He nodded. "Good for her." She smirked. "Glad to hear it, I hope you like the mock haggis she made for you for lunch on Monday." He chuckled. "Well, I'm honored that she thought of me." She smiled at him.
After a few minutes he pulled out some salmon filets and lemons and rice from her pantry. "Okay, let's get started." He said heating up the stove. Clara leaned over resting her arms on the counter watching him.
"Where'd you learn to cook?" She asked as he placed the fish on the skillet. He shrugged. "My grandmother but mainly cooking shows." Clara nodded." "Did you ever have a cooking disaster?" She asked.
David chuckled. "Oh, yes, when I was ten I tried to cook corn on the cob in microwave and it exploded." She frowned. "How did you do that?" He shrugged casually. "Oh, I put the corn in an oven bag." She giggled at that.
"Yeah, glad you think its funny cause' my dad sure didn't." He smirked. "I bet you were adorable." Clara smiled.
There was a hint of blush on David's cheeks but Clara didn't want to say anything to embarrass him and continued to watch until he was done. "Okay, you ready to taste?" He asked handing her a fork.
She nodded then took a bite of salmon. "Well?" He asked. She smiled with approval. "You could make Hayley a fish eater with this."
"Told ya'!" David remarked. Clara gave a dramatic sigh. "Ah, yes, the master chef has made a believer out of me." He grinned as he served up the food. She helped by setting the dishes on the table.
Clara sat on side while David sat at the end beside her. This really is good." She said eating some fish. I'm glad you like it." He said pouring them both a glass of wine. "So how did you become a teacher?" David asked.
She sipped some wine. "Well, I was actually a nanny before I became a teacher."
"Nanny? Sounds like a tough job." He replied. Clara shrugged. "Yeah but I love kids so it was alright," She sighed. "Then I found myself spending a lot of time tutoring the kids I was taking care of and really enjoying it so I decided I wanted to become a teacher."
He shrugged. "Good reason." "What about you?" She asked eating some rice. David smiled. "It was an accident." "How?" She asked. "There was a summer job tryouts program in high school and I had written down I wanted to try being a school counselor," He paused smirking. "And?" Clara urged.
"And they couldn't read my handwriting and thought I wrote school teacher and I ended up helping out at a kindergarten class for the summer but I loved it." He grinned.
"I bet you were amazing at it." She smiled making him blush.
Clara glanced at him. "So how did you go from Professor to secondary school teacher?" He smirked. "I was curious when you were going to ask that," He sighed wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Well, I was always a secondary school teacher."
She looked at him confused. "But you're also a professor, right?"
He nodded sipping his wine. "Yeah but I studied both. I couldn't make up my mind which I wanted to do. Still I like teaching secondary school the most."
"Then how did you end up at Oxford?" Clara asked taking a bite of fish.
David scoffed rolling his eyes. "Peter had ties to Oxford and somehow he took my transcripts and made up a resume' next thing I knew I was working there," He sighed. "Rose and my family saw how unhappy I was and encouraged me to quit but I was too scared, I didn't want him to cause' trouble."
Clara tilted her head. "How did you get out?" He sighed. "Before Rose passed away I promised I'd finally quit and go back to teaching secondary school but I would take over her classes so her lessons could go on. Ian help set it up."
She glanced at him shaking her head. "What?" He said.
Clara sighed. "It's so unfair. I'm sorry you went through that. Peter had no right to do that to you."
He shrugged. "It's okay." She smiled slightly. "But I'm glad you're here, now." David smiled and briefly touched her fingers.
Then acting on impulse Clara moved her chair closer and hugged him tight. He smiled slightly surprised. "Not that I'm complaining but what's that for?" "I lied." She confessed softly in his ear before pulling back.
David glanced at her curious. "About what?" She scoffed taking his hand. "I know it's silly to say this, now but missed you while you were away at Glasgow." "Yeah, I know." He said.
She bit her lower lip shaking her head. "No, you don't. I missed you so much I was tempted to allow my class be noisy cause' it would remind me of you," Clara smirked sheepishly. "I was thrilled you were with your family but I just wanted you to come back." David softly chuckled. Clara looked at him confused. "What?"
David sighed. "I lied, too." "What do you mean?" She asked. "I only came home early cause' I missed you." He smiled. "Really?" She replied smiling thoughtfully.
He nodded. "Yeah that and the ant farm stories were getting really old," David teased making Clara laugh. "Anyway it was either come back home or if I couldn't do that convince you to come to Glasgow." He admitted. She smiled. "Yeah?" David nodded. "Yeah."
Clara smirked. "You're something else, you know that?" He kissed the top of her head. "Charmer." David smiled at her tenderly tucking a loose strand of her soft brown hair behind her ear.
"One of the things I love about you." David smirked gently tapping her nose making her giggle. All their first date worries seem to disappear and their lips met in a short but soft and inviting kiss.