blind first dates (c.h)

"two birds of a feather"

"Oh, no," I whispered, jokingly starting to judge her. She rolled her eyes and continued after letting out a soft laugh.

"I choose what I want to eat, and then I look up a recipe... so, basically, I put on a chef hat and pretend I know what the fuck I'm doing in the kitchen. After almost setting fire to my apartment, I take my dinner into my living room and lay down to watch a movie while I eat. It's almost always a really cheesy romantic comedy, but sometimes I have classic movie nights. Not last Friday, but the Friday before, I watched Rebecca, which is one of my favorite movies of all time." As I listened to Emerson talk, I couldn't help but smile at every single word. I was still a little buzzed from the alcohol, but I knew the alcohol wasn't making me look like anymore of an idiot than I would have looked without it.

There was something about Emerson, something about the way she smiled over the most insignificant things... the way she smiled even when there was nothing apparent to be smiling about. I had known her for such a short amount of time, and I was only beginning to get to know her, but something about her being was enough for me to fall into a spiral of infatuation.

"I'm usually accompanied by a new beer that I stole from the bar, or a glass of wine. But only ever one bottle or one glass," she said, sticking her hand up in the air and firmly pointing as if she was making a point to some invisible presence. "On occasion I get stuck at the bar, which is very rare, but I've been known to get a little rowdy."

"Oh?" I asked, becoming amused at her vocabulary. "What's rowdy Emerson like? Is she the one that likes to push people down stairs?"

"No, no, that's wild Emmie," she said, referring to herself as Emmie, which almost surprised me. I liked calling her Emerson so much I had forgotten she didn't go by it. "Rowdy Emerson is more of a good time. She just likes to dance... sometimes she gets a little interesting and she picks good looking guys to get a little closer with, but only when she's not working."

"What brings out rowdy Emerson?" I asked, slowly turning onto my side, keeping my eyes on her.

"A combination of fruity drinks, loud music, and, to get the best result, a hot guy named Calum is preferred." I let out a loud laugh as she turned onto her side and began to tease me, and she smiled at me. "You might be the only guy I'll ever meet who can fully unleash Emerson."

I slowly brought my hand up to her face as I caressed her cheek, and found myself swiping my thumb against her skin gently. She gave me her full attention as she felt my touch and I was just as lost in her stare.

"What about you?" she asked, her voice low and soft, almost as if she were scared to disturb the silence of the room. "What's your typical Friday night, I mean."

"Well," I said, looking down at her lips for just a split second before meeting her eyes again. "They might be lamer than yours."

"That's impossible," she assured me and I laughed quietly before biting my lip and thinking of how I usually spent my time.

"Well, I guess... I guess that I usually stay home, too. I mean, sometimes I go out with the guys. We grab a bite to eat or go to a bar, sometimes. I usually stay in though... and when I do, Friday nights are one of the only nights I don't make my own dinner. I almost always get some sort of takeout. Friday's are usually my organizing nights, or at least they have been as of late... on Friday's I usually go through a random box of stuff in my apartment and get rid of the stuff I don't need, and keep stuff that I want." I shrugged at the end of my description of a Friday night and watched as Emerson seemed to nervously bite on her lower lip.

"Where are you moving to?" she asked, waiting a few beats after I had stopped talking to speak up.

"About twenty minutes west of my place now... so I'll actually be closer to your apartment," I said, but hoped she didn't think that I had been thinking about that. I had only now registered that I knew how to get to her apartment because I had passed it plenty of times. A smile found its way onto Emerson's face and I thought I might melt, right there beside of her.