blind first dates (c.h)

"go easy on me, okay?"

"I regret my actions, but I don't regret teaching that asshole a lesson." Calum's shoulders shrugged and I slowly shook my head at him, in amusement. "Have you told your mom all
about me yet?" Calum walked over to me and leaned against the counter on my side of the kitchen as he looked at me.

"No," I told him, shaking my head as I smiled to myself. "Who knows if I ever will." My shoulders shrugged and he sent me a sad look. "I haven't called her since then; I'll tell her all about you soon."

"That's what I like to hear," Calum joked and I flashed him a smile before giving my full attention to the food I was making. I was only making pasta; Cassidy and Graham were bringing over the rest of the food they thought sounded good. The two of them thought they were master chefs. "Are you working Friday night?"

"It just depends if I want to go in," I told Calum as I glanced over at him. "Why?"

"I thought we could go on a real date, just us, you know... since our first one was sort of forced and the restaurant part sucked." My heart pounded at his words; of course I wanted to go on another real date with Calum, and of course I knew he was interested, but I still found myself becoming nervous and flattered. "I'd like to take you out to dinner again, but this time with your knowledge and your input on where to go."

"I would love that," I told Calum as I smiled. "I know we've seen each other plenty since, but this will kind of be the first second date I'll have gone in years."

"I'm glad I'm changing things up," Calum said as he stepped closer and placed his hand on my waist, making it nearly impossible not to give him my full attention. "Let's promise to at least make it to a third, yeah?"

"I guess I can do that," I joked with him, which made him smile. He leaned down and placed his lips on mine; the sensation immediately brought me joy and I kissed back passionately, knowing I had missed kissing Calum, even if I had done so just two days before.

A knock coming from the door of my apartment caused us to break away, and my eyebrows furrowed at the noise. It was entirely possibly that Cassidy and Graham had decided to come early, but I doubted that was the case since they had been busy cooking the last time I checked in with them.

I told Calum to look after the pasta as I excused myself and walked to my front door. I opened the door and my eyes widened as I looked at the person standing in front of me.

"Wes?" I asked, wondering why my brother was in front of me.

"Surprise, Sonny!" Wesley pulled me into a hug and I tried to shake off my shock, but it wasn't going anywhere.

"Wesley, what are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you... and I know you always complain that I never come to see you! Also, I might have just had a job interview in town." I took Wesley's appearance in and realized he was dressed up, and he looked nice.

"Wes... I wish you would have called. I made plans, I—" Wesley pushed past me and I sighed quietly as I closed the door.

"I'm interrupting something?" Wesley asked, looking at me.

"Yes, sort of... Calum's here—"

"Calum? Who—oh, Calum." Wesley quickly pieced it together, and brought his hand up to the back of his neck. "Oops?"

"And Cassidy and Graham will be here soon. What's going on, Wes?"

"I really did just want to come see you! I mean... I was sort of hoping you could host me for the night. I know I should have called in advance, I just thought you wouldn't have anything going on, and I wanted to surprise you. You seemed so excited about the possibility of me moving in whenever you were home, I thought you might welcome me with opening arms."