Thank you all again for the reviews.
Now let's see how the date went and bring in a complication shall we..
Rachel was allowed to leave work half an hour earlydue to it being so quiet and Clive her manager was very reasonable and knew how hard she worked.
"Thanks Clive. I will nip out for a bitand come back as I'm meeting someone at four"
She left work and power walked to the nearest clothes shop she could find, when accepting Eddie date offer she totally forgot that she had no clothes other than her work ones, which she really didn't want to wear. She found a nice floral blouse that luckily had her size and decided to go with that, agreeing to herself that her work pants were in a clean state and that they'll have to do.
Eddie reached home and ran up the stairs to get changed, he picked out another pair of his dark blue jeans and a pinstriped light blue shirt to go with his brown jacket. Not that Eddie had much fashion sense but he wore this once when he went out with Rachel in the past. Ah memories and with that the lightbulb went off on his brain.
He picked up the phone and glanced over his contacts coming to the number he was searching for and pressed call
"Good Afternoon, welcome to Tenpin Rochdale. You're speaking to Sarah, how can I help?"
"Hi Sarah, yes do you have any lanes free today at 4:30?"
He could hear Sarah tapping away at the keyboard and smiling hoping there was. He remembered back to when they went bowling beforeand thanking Phillip for not joining that day as it went down a treat.
"Hello sir, yes we have a lane free. Would you like me to book that in for you?"
"Oh yes! Please."
"Great. I just need a name and how many people?"
"Yeah it's, Eddie Lawson. And there'll be two of us"
"Great Mr Lawson. So I have 2 people booked in for 4:30. See you then"
"Thank you Sarah. Goodbye"
Yes! Ok so no pub but maybe we could go there after, I really hope this works out.
Rachel was in the staff toilets at workfreshening herself up and changing into her blouse. She wore her wide leg black trousers and her new blouse which had volume sleeves in green ditsy floral.
She glanced down at her watch noticing she only had five minutesuntil Eddie arrived,was enough time for her to quickly touch up her make up. Satisfied with how shelooked, she put everything backinto her bag and left to go and meet Eddie. Surprised he was already sat at the bar.
He turned in his seat and their eyes met
Smiling he stood from hisseat and his eyes widened
Rachel felt a little embarrassed "what? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You...you look beautiful"
Ok she definitely felt embarrassed now, moving her hair with her left hand behind her ear
"Er thank you, you don't look so bad yourself"
Moving both his hands down his shirt and raising his head high
"Well you know me, I do like to scrub up a little bit. I mean it's not everyday you get to go on a date with a beautiful woman now isit.
Rachel blushed and let out a giggle
"Care for a drink?"
"I thought we were going to that pub you recommended?"
"Oh we are but that's not till later." Raising his eyebrows
"Eddie! What do you have planned?" Really rather nervous as she didn't really like surprises
"Well... initially I did intend for us to go to the pub but then I thought, why not have a bit of fun first.
Looking over to see Rachel look a little unimpressed
"Not that we won't have fun in the pub, but I thought we could have a quick drink here first and then go bowling?"
"Bowling!"
"Yes, I've booked us a lane at 4:30. So we have half an hour, luckily it isn't far so we've got half an hour. Now what drink do you want?"
"Eddie, I'm not exactly dressed for bowling am I?" Looking down what she was wearing
"And I can't even play, I'm quite rubbish actually"
"You're actually really good"
Eddie closed his eyes and realised what he said hoping she didn't pick up on it
"What?"
"Oh what I meant was that, you look like you could be really good. You have that look about you" smirking over at her and then winking
Rachel just blurted out laughing "very funny Eddie, well we shall see won't we. I'll have a small glass of red please"
Half way through the came it turned out she was good at bowling but Eddie was seriously rubbish, watching him as he threw the ball and it went straight off the sides. She couldn't help but laugh
"I think this was a bad idea" walking back over to Rachel
"No, no definitely not. This was a brilliant idea, I mean this is the most fun I've had in ages, I never knew anyone could be so rubbish at bowling"
"Hang on a minute, you're the one that said YOU were rubbish"
Clicking her tongue and turning her head to the side "yeah I think I told a little white lie there, I just didn't want to embarrass you"
"Alright McEnroe! Show me how's it done"
"Alright, watch this" she picked up the ball and gracefully threw it down the lane and landed herself a perfect strike. Turning back on her heels "see"
"Well you cheated"
"How"
"Your foot was over the line"
"My foot was behind the line thank you very much"
He raised his eyebrows and she gently tapped his chest with both hands
Laughing "You calling me a liar?"
"Well I'm far to gentleman to say that"
There eyes meeting and gazing at one another's lips. Rachel felt a little dizzy and maybe this is too soon. She didn't know what she was feeling and wanted to wait until she spoke to the Doctor.
Turning her head to lose eye contact with Eddie and stepping back a little bit "shall we head off to the pub now?" She walked past him to pick up her coat and bag
Clearing his throat "erm yeah, sure."
"Winner buys first rounds yeah?"
"Cheeky! But yeah sure considering you bought the first round and paid for the bowling. It's the least I could do" she smiled and went up to get the drinks in
Coming back with a pint for Eddie and a large glass of wine for herself. Taking a sip
"Thank you Eddie"
"What for?"
"Well for this afternoon/evening. I've really enjoyed myself. I don't get out much, other than for work and then I'm just at home. It's nice to get out"
Before Eddie could return the reply he was interrupted
"Amanda Fenshaw, is that really you?"
Turning her head, she put down her glass and stood up smiling
"Adam Fleet, fat Adam
Covering her mouth realising what she just said
"Sorry. Gosh look at you! You look so different"
"Yes, I've lost a bit of weight"
"A bit" raising her eyebrow
"Ok well a lot, but you
Stepping back holding on to both her hands so he could properly look at her and then spin her around
"You haven't changed one bit"
Eddie felt quite frustrated. Who was this guy and how does he know Rachel. Well they haven't spoken for years if he's still calling her Amanda. It upset Eddie that she remembered Adam but she still has no idea who Eddie really was to her
"Well apart from my name but that's a long story"
"I heard, well I read about it. Sorry called you Amanda, old habits you know. Gosh it is so good to see you, we should get a drink sometime"
He then glanced down at the man who was accompanying Rachel
"Ah yes, let me introduce you, Eddie this is Adam. We actually went to school together, he's an old childhood friend
"And.."
Before Rachel could say anything else, Eddie stood up and held out his hand
"Nice to meet you mate, my names Eddie, Eddie Lawson"
Rachel eyes widened, Lawson...Lawson, Eddie Lawson. And with that she remembered her sister asking her about an Eddie Lawson in the hospital.
The men shook hands and then Adam turned back to Rachel, exchanging numbers and then pressing a kiss to her cheek, he left her to her date.
Sitting back down and picking up her wine glass she took a big gulp
"He seemed nice"
Rachel smiled and looked back over to where Adam was sat with his friends "yeah he is, we were practically best friends in school."
"Did you ever date?"
"Excuse me?"
"It's a simple question, just being nosey"
"No we didn't date, we were just good friends."
Questioning herself why she never dated Adam, he was such nice guy and always treated her with respect and kindness. And he's looking so handsome now, looking back over to him
"Am I interrupting you?"
"What?" Shaking her head and looking back to Eddie
"No, no. Sorry my mind was away with fairies then. Would you excuse me Eddie, I think I'm going to head home. I'm not feeling great"
Before Eddie could answer, she stood up grabbed her coat from the back of the chair and her bag. Placed a hand on Eddie shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze, thanked him and headed out the door
"Bye then" picking up his pint, slightly pissed off at this Adam guy for ruining his date.