Zach's Pov
"Dude, Zach. What are you still doing out here? We have to be out the door by seven, and it's already six-thirty. Hurry up and get dressed!" Jonah barges through the doors dressed in a nice formal black suit.
I slowly remove the pencil out of my hands. "Will you relax? I'll be ready in less than ten minutes."
He scoffs, never losing contact from his watch. Jonah has been acting like this since the tour ended yesterday. He's nervous about meeting with his girlfriend for the first time in months. "Make it five." Like the freak Jonah is, he scurries back in the house adjusting his tie for the hundredth time.
I roll my eyes. I head to the bathroom to take a quick shower before putting on the suit that Jonah picked out for me.
By the time we made it to the restaurant we still had more than five minutes to spare. "See I told you we wouldn't be late. You could've at least let me use the bathroom before we left," I say.
"Shut up."
"You still didn't tell me who you set me up," I say.
"I don't know either. Tate is organizing the whole thing."
I nod, waiting for Tate and her friend, or whoever, to arrive. "Hey, sorry we're late. The traffic is heavy here compared to Seattle," Tate explains, giving a quick peck to Jonah's cheek. "You look amazing."
"Ahem," I fake a cough to get some attention.
She giggles softly, taking the seat beside Jonah. "You too Zach."
"Thank you." I grin, "So where's your friend?"
"She went to use the bathroom. She'll be out in about in a minute or two." Even though I know it's a blind date and that it means nothing, I'm still anxious and nervous. What if she has a weird habit I can't deal with? What if she's the type that's sensitive to every word I mention? What if the person isn't even a she? My thoughts vanish when she arrives. "Zach, this is my good friend Alice. Alice, this is Zach."
I can feel parts of forehead starting to sweat. My heart is racing faster than I could ever imagine. A half of me knew I should never go out with my ex-girlfriend's best friend, but the other half reminded me of Kristen. We haven't met face to face in forever and this is the closest it will ever get. "Nice to meet you."
"You can cut the act, Zach. It's okay, I'll just go. Enjoy the rest of your dinner guys." she tells me, heading straight for the door.
"Wait, Alice!" I call, before reaching her in the lobby. "I know that this is weird. You're a close friend of Kristen's and you would never betray her. I wouldn't either. But Jonah has been looking forward to this day for months and I don't want to let him down. Can't we treat tonight as if we're hanging out as a couple of friends? Please stay, for Tate?" I plead.
I hear her sigh. "Lead the way."
I smile, "Thanks."
"No problem. Let's just never mention that again."
"Agreed."
"By the way, you should never do that in public. EVER." She clarifies on the last word, "You look like an idiot."
"Ow, that hurts." I bring my hands up to my chest as she playfully slaps my shoulder. The dinner went by way better than I expected. Turns out Alice and I have a lot of things in common. Maybe not a lot, but enough to keep a conversation running. Everything went smoothly until Alice's phone starts ringing.
"Oh, shit. Kristen is calling me. Remain silent!" she instructs me before picking up the phone. "Hey, Krissy, what's up?"
"Nothing much, just watching movies at home. I'm just calling to check if you know where my eyelash curler is?" Kristen says through the phone that I somehow managed to pick up.
"I have it. Sorry, I didn't tell you earlier, but I had a date to rush to. I'll give it back tonight."
"Oohh! With who?" Kristen suddenly asks. My eyes widen, waking up my body. The next thing I knew, my right foot makes direct contact with the table leg.
"Fuck," I yell, earning another a slap on the arm from Alice. "Sorry," I mouth out.
"Who's that?" Kristen questions from the other side of the call.
I scratch my head, waiting for Alice to respond. "That was our waiter. He accidentally spilled our plates. Gotta go, see you at home. Bye," Alice lies, pressing the end button. "Man, that was close."
"What's the big deal if Kristen finds out anyways? It's not like we're on an actual date." I say.
"Yeah, I know that you know that, but Kristen might not. I don't want her to take it the wrong way and overreact to something as little as this. And for her to hate me for eternity."
"So basically your friendship is made up of lies and lack of trust."
She exhales, playing around with her fingers. I can tell that she was frustrated with me. "Hey, I'm sorry about what I said before. I was just joking around." Alice still looks pissed. "If it'll make you feel better, I'll keep this between us."
She lifts her head, thanking me before turning back to Jonah and Tate. I'm surprised they didn't hear a thing, especially with how loud we are. I really shouldn't really question anything and just be grateful that they didn't eavesdrop.