"A-alana, I'm not so sure about this..." I mumbled, unsure of this whole plan. Alana occasionally sets me up on blind dates and most of them go to shit.

"Trust me, Evan. You'll love him! You guys compliment each other really well." I never trust Alana when she has that tone in her voice and she says 'trust me'.  I sigh and just keep following her. "Okay, he should be right in that diner. Go get 'em tiger!" She gave me a supportive pat on the back as I anxiously entered the small diner. 

Upon entering, I saw a brown haired male who was sitting alone at a small rectangular table. Hearing the bell on the door, he glanced up at me. My jaw dropped when I saw his face. No... it couldn't be. His face shifted into a smirk as he recognized me.

"Well hello there Hansen," he said smugly, "it's been a while." I snorted in annoyance. Jared Kleinman. I knew him back in high school. We had rarely talked, and when we did, it was mere small talk. He somehow managed to be a total asshole, annoying as fuck, yet still manage to stay friends with Alana, who gets annoyed easily. 

"Nope. Fuck this." I briskly turned and placed my hand on the door handle, ready to leave. There was no way that I was going to go on a date with this asshole. 

Somehow, he managed to get up, walk over, and grab my free hand in only a couple seconds. I looked at him, frustrated. "C'mon Hansen, I already bought a drink. You're already here, so why not just see how it goes? You might even have fun." He nudged me, letting go of my hand. I sighed, rolling my eyes. I mean, Alana did say that we complimented each other, so I guess I'll be openminded and give him a chance.

"Fine. Just don't try to touch me and don't pull anything, or I swear to god I'll rip your ear off." He looked genuinely scared at my threat. I chuckled, pulling out my chair and sitting down. He sat down as well, placing his elbows on the table and his chin on his hands. 

"So Hansen, what do you do?" He took a long sip of his pepsi, blinking flirtatiously at me. It almost made me laugh. 

"I work as a marine biologist so I'm here and there y'know." He hummed in agreement, taking another drag of his soda. I gave him a funny look. "Uhhhh... How have you been? What's your job?" 

He took in a deep breath in and leaned back, lifting his hands up. "I-" He paused, clasping his hands together and lurching forward, "am a proud worker at Chick-fil-a and Five Guys. When I'm not failing at life in that way," he used his fingers as quotation marks, "I'm 'wasting my time' trying to be an artist." He shrugged and glanced down. "I guess I'm not doing any worse than back in high school, but I get ridiculed a lot by family members and 'friends' because I'm a total failure. I guess everyone expected me to go into computer science or coding or some cool inventor shit. But HEY, I guess I just live to disappoint. I don't even make much money with my art anyways, so there's no chance that I'll ever be famous or anything. I live in a humble apartment which makes sense, for I am a millennial."

I nodded, taking in all this information. "Well, I'd consider you lucky." He mumbled a 'why' in confusion. "I mean that.. uh-you have,,, ugh. You have a lot of courage to continue pursuing your dream, despite all the criticism that you get." I finished, blushing in embarrassment. "I wish I could be that confident in myself."

He chuckled, "Yeah, but you have a real job and I'm just scraping up what I can get from my jobs and small art sales."

"Being an artist is a real job! You work just as hard as any of us do, and you just don't get as much money and recognition." I blushed brighter as I defended him.

"Wow Hansen, that sure is an interesting stance. Welp, I'm hungry. Let's order some grub." He patted his belly and waved over the waiter. 

After we ordered, we made small talk and I was actually enjoying his company. He made me laugh a few times when we exchanged tales of our childhoods and college days. We ate some slightly above average food and continued our conversation. 

"Here's your check, pay at your convenience." The waiter said, smiling. We looked at the check. We looked each other in the eye. We glared at each other. In a snap, we scrambled for the check, grabbing it at the same time and tugging on it. It flew into the air before bouncing off Jared's face, landing near me. His hands reached for his now injured nose while mine reached for the check. I quickly signed it and slipped in my credit card. 

"Hey! No fair!" I just laughed at his pain while handing the check to the waiter. Eventually he ended up laughing with me. We got up out of our seats and made our way towards the exit. He rushed ahead of me, holding open the door. I scoffed and crossed my arms.

"At least let me be a gentleman if I can't pay the check." I grumbled a 'fine' and walked through the open doorway. we made our way downtown, walking nowhere in particular. "I don't know about you, but I've been enjoying this. D-do you wanna go to the park or something? I don't want this date to end quite yet." I giggled.

"I'm enjoying myself too. Let's take a walk in the downtown park." We started walking towards the park, our hands occasionally brushing each other. I sighed and hold my hand out to him. 

"I thought that I wasn't allowed to touch you?" I rolled my eyes. 

"Just hold my hand, ya big baby." He quickly grasped a hold of my hand and we continued walking side-by-side. We soon reached the park and sat down on a small bench. The sun decided to be clique as fuck and set. the orange, red, pink, and blue mixing beautifully in the sky. The shorter boy carefully leaned his head on my shoulder. He glanced up at me, searching my face for any disgust or uncomfort. I just gave him a warm smile. I gently leaned my head on his head and held his hand tightly. 

"Y'know what Evan," he said my first name for the first time that night, "I really like this."

"Well I really like you." I felt his cheeks get warm and his light chuckle tickled me. 

I guess I'll have to make room in my schedule for a follow up date.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hello my lovely readers! I'm off Hiatus and I'm writing again. Just so you know, I'm on Tumblr as iburnedyourhousedown and I'm so ready to keep making chapters for you people. ThAnk you.

-Cooper the chicken coop