The Dragon Stone ↣ Riven ↢

12: You Seem Like A Nice Person

'Oh, come on, I'm just helping you. Meeting a guy would be good for you! Now shush, there he comes.', she whispered excitedly as she put on a beaming smile.

Rose looked over her shoulder just in time to see Ethan walk up to them. He definitely wasn't bad looking but Rose scolded herself as she started to compare him to a certain someone else.

'Sorry I'm late!', Ethan apologised before averting his eyes to Rose. 'You must be Rose, I'm Ethan, nice to meet you.'

Rose watched as he held out his hand, but her body had trouble catching up with her mind as she looked at him. She was in no mood to entertain someone and just wanted to get out of there, but just like Stella probably had already counted on, Rose was too polite to actually do that.

An elbow in the ribs from Stella was enough for Rose to remember what she was supposed to do. 'Hi, I'm Rose.', she mumbled as she shook his hand.

'Now that we're all here, let's go grab something to eat.', Brandon said while rubbing his hands together.

Obviously, he was unaware of how uncomfortable Rose really was and she certainly wasn't in the mood to eat. With some encouragement from Stella, she managed to load a salad onto her plate, and as the three of them were talking to one another, Rose decided to walk back to the table. Her plan to avoid communicating with Ethan failed as he quickly followed her.

'Let me guess, you weren't aware this was supposed to be a blind date and now you just want it to be over sooner rather than later.', he said as he walked beside her.

The accuracy of his guess caught Rose by surprise and a feeling of guilt settled in her stomach. She wasn't going to deny it though, as it was the truth.

'Oh god, is it that obvious?', Rose groaned softly as she put her plate onto the table and took a seat.

'Well, yes, the expression on your face is really giving it all away.', Ethan responded as he let out a laugh.

Rose was glad that Ethan was able to laugh about it. If it had been the other way around, she would've been mortified.

'I'm sorry, I really don't mean to be rude. It's just that I wouldn't have agreed if Stella had told me the truth. It's not you, I'm just not in the right headspace to start dating.', Rose confessed.

'Well, that's unfortunate. You seem like a nice person.', Ethan said as he looked at her.

Rose noticed his eyes lingering on her face, but it didn't feel like he was checking her out. It felt more as if he was observing her, trying to gauge her reaction.

'Are you saying that just to make me feel better? Because seconds ago, my face was apparently telling you that I wanted to leave. Doesn't seem so nice to me.', Rose remarked apologetically, causing Ethan to chuckle.

'Maybe not, but the guilty look you wore after tells me otherwise.', Ethan revealed.

Rose appreciated that Ethan was trying to put her mind to rest. He actually came across as a nice and friendly person. But he's not him, her subconsiousness annoyingly added but she quickly pushed that thought away.

'Well, you don't seem too bad yourself.', Rose smiled. 'But are you telling me that you knew about this set up?'

'I would like to call it a blind date, instead of a set up, but yes, I knew I was going to meet you.', Ethan responded as he raised an amused eyebrow.

Rose was actually relieved that at least one of them knew about it. Would've been really awkward if they had both been unaware. It did, however, made Rose wonder why Brandon and stella thought they were a good match.