Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! I know it's probably faster than I've ever updated before, but I have the day off work, am slightly bored, and feeling a little generous. So here you go, their first date. This was such a fun one to write and I'm so excited for you guys to read it.
Enjoy!
Realistically, Riley knows she should be a lot more nervous than she is. This is Mac of all people, her best friend, one of the few people she trusts completely without hesitation. And she's going on a date with him. She doesn't want this to ruin their friendship so badly to the point where they can no longer work together. But overall, she's excited, even though she has no idea what they're going to be doing on their date.
She does have to admit that there's a part of her that has been wondering for a while what it might be like to go on a date with Mac. And now she's going to find out.
Checking over her reflection one last time in the mirror by her front door, Riley takes a deep breath to calm whatever nerves are lying just under the surface. She does her best to let the excitement of the date overpower the nerves, a small smile tugging at her lips as she thinks about it.
There's a knock at her door a moment later and her stomach starts fluttering at the thought of who's standing on the other side. This is it. It's now or never.
Stepping over to the door, she pulls it open and smiles brightly at the man in front of her. "Hey, Mac."
He smiles back just as brightly. "Hey, Riles. You ready to go?"
"Yeah. One sec." She leans back into the apartment to grab her jacket and then steps outside and pulls the door closed behind her, locking it and stuffing her keys into her pocket. She slides into her jacket and then smiles up at Mac. "Okay, now I'm ready."
"Excellent. Right this way, then." He gestures down the sidewalk and then easily falls into step beside her.
He opens the passenger door for her when they reach his car, and she can't help the smile that tugs at her lips. He really is going to pull out all the stops for this date, isn't he? Not that she's complaining, because she's genuinely excited to see what Mac has planned.
Once they're both in the car and driving away from her neighborhood, Riley takes the silence as an opportunity. Usually, she doesn't mind silence when she's with Mac, neither of them has any problem just being around each other without needing to talk. But right now, she's determined.
She shifts in her seat to face Mac better, a small smile tugging at her lips again. "So, any chance you're going to tell me about the plans you came up with?"
"Well, I could. But I thought it'd be more fun to keep it a surprise."
"Oh you did, did you?"
He nods with a smile. "Mm-hmm. But I'm pretty sure you're going to enjoy it."
"Those are some pretty confident words there, Angus."
He lets out a laugh. "Well, I am pretty confident about all of this."
"Glad to hear it."
The rest of the drive is fairly smooth, mostly spent in comfortable silence. They talk a little, of course, just idle conversation to pass the time until they reach their destination. It's nice, and Riley no longer remembers why she'd been nervous earlier.
"Okay," Mac says, "since I know you're going to see it soon anyway, I figured I'd let you know that we're getting close to the destination for our date."
Riley smiles and turns her attention to the scenery outside the car window. Familiar Los Angeles sights pass by and eventually, what she presumes to be their destination for the date starts coming into view.
Her eyes go wide as they get closer, and she turns to look at Mac. "The Griffith Observatory?"
Mac has a smile on his face as they pull into the parking lot. "I thought it'd be a good first date. Because, if I remember correctly, you used to enjoy the stars when you were a kid."
"Correction, I thought shooting stars were alien spaceships."
He finds a parking space and shuts the car off, turning his head to look at her. "Still, you had a thing for space." He flashes her a quick smile and then steps out of the car, jogging around the front of it to open her door for her.
She smiles as she steps down, not bothering to move away from Mac just yet, their chests nearly touching in the small space between Mac's car and the one next to it. A surge of pride rushes through her when Mac's breath hitches, his eyes staying focused on hers, though she has a strong sense that it's a bit of a struggle for him.
"Always a gentleman," she says wistfully as she finally steps away from him. The echo of the car door rings in her ears as she takes a few steps forward, tilting her head back to look up at the observation dome on top of the building.
She can feel Mac standing next to her before she sees him. He's incredibly close, his natural warmth practically enveloping her, a stark difference to the Los Angeles heat.
"So what's our game plan?" she asks, turning a little to look at him.
He smiles softly down at her, her heart jumping in her chest. "Well, I figured we could get some lunch first, and then there's a show a little after two o'clock about the universe which I think will be pretty cool."
An amused smile pulls at her lips. "Do you think that or do you know it because you've seen it before?"
Mac shifts on his feet, chuckling and ducking his head a little. "Uh, I may have...seen it once or twice. Is that lame?"
She smiles softly, tilting her head. "No. It's you." She takes a deep breath and shifts. "Now, are we gonna go inside? Because I think you promised me lunch."
Mac laughs quietly and nods. "Yes, of course. Right this way." He bows just a tad as he holds his arm out in the direction of the front doors of the observatory.
Riley just shakes her head, a small laugh escaping as she starts walking past Mac. She lets her hand brush over his arm as she passes, grabbing his hand when she reaches it and then gently tugs on it to pull him along. He falls into step beside her and her heart swells a little when neither of them tries to pull away, their fingers interlocking easily as they walk.
They make their way through the building and down to the lower level to get lunch, bobbing and weaving their way through the crowd.
Eventually, they find themselves in the cafe, immediately browsing the different meal options available to them. As soon as they start looking, before she can even open her mouth, Mac insists on paying for everything since he's the one who asked her out in the first place. She hasn't been too worried that she'd have to pay for anything, knowing the type of person Mac is, but it's still nice to hear him say it.
Once they have their food, they find a place to sit and eat, chatting throughout their meal. Conversation with Mac comes so easily, it always has, but especially now that they've been friends for a few years now and have been through so much together. They never run out of things to talk about, always being able to find a new story from childhood that the other hasn't heard or a random joke they saw on the internet they think the other would get a kick out of.
It's never dull when she's with Mac. Even if they're just sitting and talking, like they are now, she's still able to enjoy herself. And she loves that.
"Okay," Mac says after they've finished lunch and are making their way out of the cafe, "we still have a little while until the show starts, so there are a couple of things we can do in the meantime. We can hit the Gottlieb Transit Corridor right next door, or we can go upstairs and check out some of the exhibits so that we'll be on the same level as the planetarium when the show in there starts. Your choice."
"Well, seeing as I know you've been here many times, and I have not, you pick."
He smiles. "Right this way, then." He grabs her hand to gently pull her along the corridor with him.
She can't help the fluttering in her stomach again when their hands remain clasped together as they move up the main level of the building. She follows right beside Mac as he leads her through the hallways, thinking to herself about how glad she is that her first time visiting the observatory is with Mac. Despite her years of living in Los Angeles, she's never taken the chance to visit.
When they finally reach what she assumes to be the exhibit that Mac wants to show her, they stop outside the door and Mac turns to her with a smile.
"I take it from your smile that you're excited to show me what's on the other side of this door."
He nods. "Yeah. This is the Ahmanson Hall of the Sky. It's amazing."
"Well then what are we still standing around for? Let's go in."
Mac's smile gets wider and then he leads her inside the room, though he's lingering a few steps behind her.
Riley moves through the room, her eyes going wide as she takes in everything around her. She lets out a breath as a smile tugs at her lips. "Wow. I can see why you like this exhibit so much. It's incredible."
"I'm glad you think so. Come on." He grabs her hand again and begins leading her through the exhibit.
Riley just smiles as she watches Mac move excitedly through the room like a little kid in a candy store, explaining the different parts of the exhibit to her as they go. She knows she should probably be paying attention to what he's saying, but for her, the fun part is how excited Mac is. He's like a puppy, bouncing from one place to the next, with so much energy that just needs to be released somehow.
They spend a good chunk of time wandering around the exhibit, never rushing through one spot or the next. She loves hearing everything Mac has to say, even going so far as to ask him questions every once in a while to see what else he knows. The way his eyes light up every time she asks him a new question has her asking him more. It's beyond adorable and she's so glad that she gets to be the one encouraging it.
"Riley."
She turns quickly toward him, not having realized she'd been zoning out. "Hmm?"
He smiles gently. "You good?"
"Yeah," she says with a small smile. "What's up?"
"I was just saying that we should probably get going if we want to catch the show."
"Are you sure you don't want to stay here in the exhibit? You seem pretty excited about all of this."
"I am. But I want you to see this show too. It's so cool, Riley. The whole thing starts with an incredible sunset using a Digistar 3 digital laser projection system, and then it transforms into stars and it—what?"
Riley snickers, a smile on her face as she shakes her head. "Nothing. But are you gonna tell me the whole show from start to finish, or do I get to see it for myself?"
Mac smiles, ducking his head for a moment and then looking back up. "Right, sorry."
"Don't apologize. You're pretty cute when you nerd out."
He raises a brow. "Oh, you think so?"
"Mm-hmm."
He breathes deeply. "Well, that is very good to know. Come on." He grabs her hand and guides her out of the exhibit hall toward the planetarium.
Once they reach their destination, they get inside and manage to find two open seats toward the back of the room. She falls into one of them with a heavy breath, leaning back and closing her eyes for just a moment.
Soon enough, the show starts, the lights in the room going down to make way for a beautiful projected sunset, just like Mac said. She sits up in her seat a little so she can see the presentation better, focusing on the man at the front of the room that's talking, a beautiful instrumental track playing behind his words.
After a few moments, the projection shifts, displaying probably the clearest view of the stars she has ever seen, aside from Nevada. And it's beautiful, even if it is just a projection.
"Hey, Riles, I have a confession to make," Mac whispers in her ear.
She barely casts him a glance, most of her attention still focused on the story of the universe that's being told at the front of the room. "It can't wait until after the show's over?"
"Not really. It has to do with the show."
She finally turns her head to look at him. "This better be good if you're interrupting the show that you wanted me to see." She lets out a breath and turns fully in her seat, leaning forward just a little over the armrests separating their seats. "So what's your confession?"
He smiles, leaning forward too. "I've always wanted to kiss a pretty girl under a clear night sky where the stars are completely visible. Right now, I'd say this is the closest I'll ever get to that in Los Angeles."
Riley smiles in amusement. "Angus MacGyver, you are officially a dork."
"Maybe. But I'm a dork that you're on a date with. So clearly I'm doing something right."
"Indeed you are." She hesitates only for a moment, then slowly leans forward a little more. Her heart starts to beat faster inside her chest, not out of fear or nerves, though, purely out of anticipation. She'd be lying if she said hasn't thought about kissing Mac before. But it's a thought that didn't start appearing until much more recently—almost immediately after she saw him again at the tech store—and she thought she was crazy for thinking of her best friend in that way. But she doesn't feel so crazy anymore.
Mac meets her halfway, his eyes darting down to her lips before meeting her eyes again. There's a tiny hint of a smile on his face, and even in the low lighting, he looks incredibly handsome.
Taking the metaphorical leap, Riley closes the distance between them. A spark ignites as soon as their lips touch, sending a fire through her body that's so unlike anything she's ever experienced before. It makes her kiss him deeper, one of her hands cupping his cheek and a smile tugging at her lips when she feels Mac reciprocating the kiss with just as much desire.
One of his hands cradles the back of her neck, pulling her closer as he breathes deeply. He's kissing her as if his life depends on it, and the sensation makes her toes curl and her insides flip all over themselves.
Reluctantly pulling away, Riley laughs quietly when Mac's lips chase after hers. She gently pushes his face back, smiling softly at him. "Later," she whispers. "You may have seen this show before, but I have not, and I intend on seeing how it ends." She fights back another laugh at the pout on Mac's face,
leaning forward to give him a very quick peck before sitting back in her seat and focusing on the speaker of the show.
Her smile grows wider when Mac's hand slides into hers, their fingers lacing together as their hands settle on the armrest between them. She could definitely get used to more dates with Mac.
So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Next chapter we're jumping into episode 4x04 because I honestly forgot about 4x03 when writing this story. But I don't think you guys will mind when you see what I have in store for the next one. :)
Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!