you woke up calmly, it was two days later and tonight was your date with tom. he hasn't told you where or even what you two were doing, all he said was to dress 'formally casual', like you had any idea what that even meant.
you were nervous, to say the least. you'd been waiting for this date with tom for a while now, and you'd never imagined it actually happening.
you rolled out of bed sluggishly and made your way to the door and into the hallway. walking near to the kitchen door you heard tom on facetime with what sounded like his mum.
"you've asked her on a date?" she sounded amazed.
"yeah, i did. it's just-" he started, being cut off.
"what, honey?" his mum said through the phone.
"i'm scared i won't feel that way towards her and she will move out, she's my best friend," he admitted. you didn't know if you should just walk away and spare your feelings if this conversation turned south. you decided to stay, regardless.
"well, tom. that's the perfect reason not to be scared. you tell the girl everything, let her know what you're thinking,"
he nodded and hummed a 'yeah' at his phone, his mum continued. "i might as well be honest with you, the family has been taking bets on when you both will get together."
you smiled to yourself, and tom gasped. "what?"
"honey, the weird dramatic, sexual, whatever tension you two have going on, it's noticeable by more than just her." she laughed.
"and no one decided to tell me?" he snorted into the phone.
"to be quite honest, we thought you were both aware. you should work on picking up hints, i have a feeling it'll work out. a mother knows,"
you decided to walk into the kitchen at that and tom quickly said goodbye to his mum and hung up. "maybe i wanted to say hi!" you playfully push him and open the fridge to get a water.
he laughed slightly and propped himself up on the counter. "she had things to do, some," he hesitated, "motherly...things..?"
"okay, weirdo," you retorted, shutting the fridge.
"be ready by 6, by the way!" he shouted at you as you left the kitchen.
"got it!" you shouted back, returning to your room.
~~
6 o'clock felt like it would never come, but as the big hand struck the 6 you heard a faint knock on your bedroom door.
you opened it to a handsomely dressed tom. "i'm here to pick you up for our date," he said jokingly.
"we live in the same apartment, i appreciate the effort," you smiled.
his form of 'formally casual' was black jeans, a white t-shirt and a jean jacket. his hair was perfectly scrunched up to look curly. you loved his hair that way, and told him every chance you got.
you decided to ruff up his hair, and he pushed your arms away. "you arse," he laughed at you, proceeding to do the same thing.
"oh, and put this on." he said, pulling his arms out from behind his back and scrunched up in his hand was a bandana.
"seriously?"
"as a heart attack," he smiled. you sighed, taking the bandana from his hands and lifting it to cover your eyes.
"oh, here lemme help you." he whispered, rushing behind you to tie the back of the bandana.
he swiftly grabbed your hand and started dragging you down the hallway. you've held hands with him before, but never like this. you're fingers were interlocked with his, his hand was much bigger than yours, quite sweaty too.
"nervous, are you?" you laughed as he walked you outside and down to his car.
"just a bit-"
"me too,"
he opened the car door for you and helped you in before running to the drivers side. "alrighty, no peaking, okay?"
"got it, so like take off the blindfold all together?" you joked, reaching your hands up.
"ha-ha very funny," he said sarcastically.
he drove what felt like 5 minutes before stopping again and turning the car off. you were trying to imagine where he could take you just five minutes from your apartment.
he opened your side door and helped you out. you could hear water running, like a river a little ways in the distance. he grabbed your hand again and dragged you up onto grass.
walking felt like forever before he stopped. "okay, just wait now. i'll tell you when to take it off!" he said excitedly.
he let go off your hand and it was a few moments before, "okay, take it off,"
you reached up and yanked the blindfold off and smiled instantly. you were near water, with a picnic on a rock in the middle of the river. and a handsome tom standing on the picnic blanket with his arms out.
"well?" he asked.
"you've read my diary, you fucking sneak!" you snapped, smiling a bit before playfully pushing him.
"for research purposes only! i wanted to know what you've always wanted and we'll, ta-da!"
you'd written about a perfect date many times, this was just one of them. a picnic near a river, a road trip with no destination, drive in movie theater, the lost just goes on and on.
and he chose your favorite one.
you both sat down and he gave you a plate of food. "when did you even set this up, you didn't leave the apartment all day?"
"i called in some favors.... i owe harrison a pack of beers." he laughed.
you couldn't help but smile brightly at him. he went through all of this just to take you on a date.
after you two ate, you sat there talking for a while just looking at the river flow beside you two. you could tell he started to look at you out of the corner of your eye, you looked over.
"can i kiss you?" he blurted out.
you laughed, "you're asking me?"
"don't girls want to be asked beforehand?"
"i mean, yeah but i'm basically in love with you tom, you could kiss me anytime and i wouldn't stop you," you chuckled.
he looked down and smiled before looking back up at you, leaning in and kissing you softly.
you had always thought about kissing him like this, instead of silly dares or drunkenly kissing. actually kissing like it means something.
you cupped his face in your hands and kissed him back. he smiled into the kiss and you pulled away.
"can i be honest with you?" he said softly, close to your face.
"yeah," you whispered.
"i was really nervous i wasn't going to be able to think of you this way,"
"tom-"
"no wait," he paused. "i was nervous because i don't want to lose you. and then i thought about why i didn't want to lose you. and y/n, i'm so sorry i never noticed."
he paused again, looking at you with puppy dog eyes. "i'm so sorry i put you through that much pain and never noticed. you're my best mate and i didn't notice you were hurting."
"it's okay, tom."
"it's not, you deserved better than that. and i'm gonna spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you." he confessed.
"truly, it's okay. i'm sorry i even brought it up at the park. it wasn't the right time or the way i did it wasn't right either.."
"don't apologize, because if you hadn't i'd still be chasing those one night stands when you're the only girl i want."
"you don't need to make me feel better-"
"i'm not!" he grabbed your hands and held them between you too. "i promise i'm not, it was a wake up call. i love you y/n, and i'm an idiot for not realizing sooner."
"i'd say.." you laughed.
he chuckled and leaned in and kissed you again, this time more passionately than any kiss you've been given. "i love you," he said.
"i love you, too."