Hey guys, M4 here. Welcome back to another chapter of Love at A Distance. I'm sorry for taking a while, had some personal stuff come up and currently healing from a surgery. I'm fine but enough of me, please enjoy.

"Ok, Ok Callum, let's figure this out." Callum muttered to himself as he stared at his reflection back in the mirror. He has been in the bathroom for roughly an hour and has yet to decide what he should do about his hair.

Should he just let it be? Should he gel it up somehow? He wasn't much of a hair stylist…. at all. He just let whatever he had on that day go, except for when he had bad hair day from waking up from sleep. Then he'll just take a comb over it or let his mom do it….

Mom…

He blinked away the tears that were building up in his eyes. He couldn't think of her right now, not when he had only an hour before he had to go meet Rayla for dinner. Furring his eyebrows in confusion, he looked back at his reflection.

How did he even land a date with a beautiful woman like that? He was… Callum and she was just…. Stunning. Radiant. Any word that can describe this woman in such excellence, she was that. Which is weird, considering he just met her roughly 2 hours ago.

He finally left the bathroom; deciding that since he had just met her, casual would be the most preferable. Now, what to wear… what to wear. He looked through his small bags of luggage, trying to find casual clothing that looked nice, at the very least. It took him a few minutes to sift through all his clothes until he finally decided on a pair.

"Yup, these will do." He said firmly before grabbing the clothing items and running into the bathroom.

Rayla will love this!

Rayla stared into the mirror of her bathroom, breathing heavily. What in the world was she thinking? Some random guy gave her medicine for her sea sickness and now, she invited him to dinner. Who does that? That's not even normal, or does that qualify as normal?

"Ugh, this is so frustrating." She growled under her breath. It's just dinner, just a dinner. Just food and talking and conversing about whatever they decided….

Lord, she was not ready for this.

"I am so not ready for this." She muttered as she looked over herself once more. She had changed into some casual attire that still looks nice. Dark blue skinny jeans with a dark blue blouse that hugged her loosely. She had braided her hair into a neat bun, but some strands of hair fell a bit above her eyes, which she didn't mind. She also wore a necklace with a crescent moon in the middle that was given to her by one of her fathers, Ethari. She grasped the necklace gently and smiled.

"Ethari, wish me luck. Ya already know I don't do good with dates but something about him just feels…. Nice." She brought the moon up to her lips and gently kissed it. Heading back out, she went to her bed and placed her hands on her hips.

"Now, big decision time. What to wear for shoes?" She looked over the last two options she had that were on her bed. Black high heels that the laces wrapped around her feet or black Michael Kors ankle boots. She wasn't much of a girly-girl per-say but she felt that black combat boots wouldn't fit with the outfit she was wearing.

"Screw it, Ankle boots it is. 'Sides, it's not like he's going to be staring at my feet all night." She laughed and after putting her boots on, she sprayed perfume on herself and left to go on her date.

As they both departed from their rooms to meet in the dining room, they were filled with excitement and nervousness.

Maybe this will be a good thing? Hopefully.

Callum opened the door to the dining hall; the giant room was filled with almost hundreds of people from all walks of life enjoying the ship's luxurious cuisine. He mentally slapped himself, knowing that finding Rayla in this crowd was going to be difficult. Scanning the room as quickly as possible, he couldn't find her.

He did find stairs that led to the second deck of the dining room. Figuring he could probably spot her from a higher place, he walked over and started his way up. But, once he made it to the top, he found her leaning against the golden rails of the balcony that overlooked the rest of the diners. He let his eyes wander her figure, and her attire. The skinny jeans hugging those legs….

He felt like an idiot. Like if there was a scale of idiocy, he was a number 10 on the scale….

Or was it one on the scale? Sheesh, was he really that nervous?

"Ya look nervous Mr savior." Her sweet, Scottish voice broke through his nerve wracking, one-hundred mile a minute thinking. He blinked twice and noticed that she was looking at him, arms still resting on the rail. But she lifted her left hand to lay her head on as she looked at him. Her eyes looked up at down at him, a smile spreading across her face.

She liked the way he dressed up, even if it was casual. Dark Blue denim jeans with a black undershirt and a blue denim jacket. He still wore his trademark red scarf and the top it off, black boots. The cologne he wore definitely added points in her book.

"You clean up nice, definitely a 10/10 outfit." Getting off the rails, she made her way to him. Like a predator slowly stalking its prey. He kept staring at her until finally he found his words.

"You're beautiful." Raylas' face instantly turned tomato red, and she rubbed her arm nervously.

"Y-you don't look too bad yourself." Callum rubbed the back of his neck nervously, blushing equally as hard from the comment.

"So uh, where do we sit?" Her eyebrows perked quickly at the question.

"Oh, I know a guy. He gave us the best seat in the house." She quickly took out her phone and shot a text to whoever mysterious gentleman she mentioned. Callums' face fell flat for a second. How did she know this guy? Did they have some sort of other relationship….

No. She invited him out; she wouldn't have done that if she was with someone.

"Alright, my friend gave us the table number. Let's go." She linked her arm with his and dragged him up another flight of stairs. His face a deep tomato red until they got to the third deck of the dining hall, which was only reserved for the first class/ very rich diners of the ship. A Matre'd was appointed outside the glass doors that lead to the 3rd floor dining hall as they approached.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" The Matre'd asked as they approached. Callum took note of his high and mighty posh accent but kept his comments to himself,

"Yes, I have a table reserved under the name Rayla Silvermoon. Markos put my name on the list." The Matre'd looked down at the clipboard and eyes went wide when he saw her name.

"Ah, Miss Rayla. Thank you for joining us this evening. Your private suite is straight down and to the left." He bowed slightly as he opened the door for them. With her arm still interlocked with his, she led him down the hall of the rich diners and made a left turn. She opened the door and callum eyes went wide. There in front of him was a dining table that had a view of the ENTIRE Dining hall. It was like sitting in a premiere theatre box that overlooked the theatre and the audience. A table covered with a white tablecloth sat in the middle of the room, and two waiters stood to the side by the door. Rayla walked over to the waiter with a mohawk, and fist pumped him.

"Thank ya Markos for hooking me up. I appreciate it." The waiter smiled.

"No problem, Rayla. You hooked my boyfriend and I with tickets to the brave's game. Least I can do is hook you up with the best spot on the cruise." He handed her the menus, and she sat down at the table. Callum joined across from her and she handed a menu to him.

"How did you get this all to happen Rayla?" Callum asked, trying to spark conversation. He wasn't always the best at breaking the ice, but he had to try to learn.

"Markos is the son of the captain of the Lux Aurea. But we knew each other from high school and became friends until he left for America for a gap year. He and I kept in touch through the socials. When I found out he was on the cruise, I was over the moon, and we met up yesterday. But I was so excited I forgot ma sea sickness meds and well, that's how you and I met." She blushed slightly from embarrassment, remembering how she threw up all of her lunch into the ocean.

Callum couldn't help but chuckle. So, excitement from meeting an old friend caused her to lose her lunch into the sea. Which, in turn, caused him to help her with her sea sickness. Right place, right time with the right medication all wrapped up in one. Such a mighty coincidence.

His aunt would probably sign to him, "There are no such things as coincidences callum. Only fate and good partnerships," which he found weird, but never really understood until now.

Maybe fate really was a thing in this life.

"Did ya just laugh at me or something?" He looked back and raised his hands like rayla was pointing a gun at him. She was glaring daggers at him, looking like she was ready to pounce and stab him.

"N-no NO, Uh-um, I-I mean Y-yes but not what you think. Well, probably what you think but definitely not how you're assuming." Rayla raised an eyebrow, clearly confused at the boy's statement.

Real smooth Callum. Real smooth.

"I just found it cute that all it took was you really wanting to meet your friend again for us to meet, that's all. Please don't kill me." He pleaded, beads of sweat falling off his head.

This was not how he expected to die. But, before he could count his wishes, he heard the angelic laughter of his date in front of him.

"I-I'm not gonna kill ya Callum. My, ya- ya shoulda looked at yer face!" She continued to laugh, tears of joy streaming down her face.

Maybe this date won't implode, they both thought. Maybe this'll be enjoyable after all.

FINISHED! Again, I apologize for this chapter taking quite some time to write and publish. Surgery took me off my ass for a minute, but I'm recovering quite well. Don't worry, I am not dying lol, (Knock on wood). But I hope y'all enjoyed the new chapter! M4, OUT! PEACE!