Chapter Text
He’s handsome, and she likes his smile. They flirt for weeks before he finally asks her out. “We should get dinner sometime,” he says casually one day as they both poke at their salads. They take their lunch breaks together sometimes. “I could talk to Ali, from second floor. We could do a double date?”
She thinks it seems like an odd suggestion for a first date. She doesn’t know Ali at all. But Tessa’s still new to the city, trying to find her footing and make friends, so she doesn’t question it. It wouldn’t hurt to get to know Ali and her partner, she figures. Maybe they’d be fast friends? Tessa and Jonathan don’t know each other all that well either. She assumes that Jonathan, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable, has included another couple in the mix to ease some of the pressure and keep things casual. Tessa appreciates that.
When she agrees, he smiles that crooked smile at her.
“Great!” he says. “Meet at The Rosewood, Friday at seven?”
“Sounds good,” Tessa smiles.
She’s excited about the date. Jonathan isn’t the type of guy she’d normally go out with, but they clicked from her very first day at the office, when he came down from the IT department to set up her workstation. She genuinely likes him a lot, and Tessa has grown tired of the endless first dates with guys she has no interest in. Dates that lead nowhere.
This, though. This she can see going somewhere.
Tessa’s the first to arrive on Friday night. The restaurant Jonathan chose is nice but not too upscale. She’d been looking for a reason to wear the new white jumpsuit she’d bought, and she’s glad she decided to wear her white sneakers with it instead of heels. Even now, she feels a little overdressed. She should’ve read more Google reviews about the place before picking an outfit.
She orders a glass of water when the server comes by, not wanting to get too ahead of herself before everyone else arrives. The place is already pretty busy, and from where their table is situated by the front doors, she can see a small crowd beginning to gather, waiting for a table to open up. Tessa’s glad Jonathan thought ahead to make a reservation.
She sits alone for fifteen minutes, with nothing to do but sip at her water and check her phone. Tessa chews at her lip, feeling more and more anxious the longer she waits. She’s beginning to think she might’ve gone to the wrong restaurant when she sees Jonathan’s familiar face appear around the corner. She smiles and sits up in her seat, waving him over.
A pretty blonde woman walks close behind him. Tessa assumes she’s just another guest being led to her seat, but she follows him all the way to their table and pulls out one of the chairs.
“Tessa!” Jonathan greets loudly, spreading his arms wide. Tessa gets up to hug him, awkwardly patting at his back, her eyes meeting the other woman’s over his shoulder. She should’ve ordered a real drink, Tessa thinks. Jonathan’s clearly had a few already himself - she can smell the whiskey on his breath.
Jonathan pulls away to get a look at her. “You clean up nice, girl!” Then, glancing at the empty seat next to the one Tessa just vacated, he asks, “Where’s your date?”
The music continues to play overhead and the gathering crowd is loud on the other side of their table, but the second the words leave his mouth, the record of ambient noise seems to scratch to a halt around Tessa.
“What?” she says softly.
“This is Ali,” Jonathan says, gesturing to the woman beside him. “My date.”
Ali, to her credit, looks as confused as Tessa feels. Glancing around the room, Tessa searches valiantly for the punch line.
Jonathan looks between them. “I thought we were doing a double date. Did you forget to bring yours, Tessa?” he laughs. Focusing on Tessa’s bewildered expression, his smirk then turns mean. “Ohhh, you didn’t think I was bringing you, did you?”
Tessa stares at him. “But you said…” she trails off.
She thinks back on their interactions, the lunch they shared earlier in the week when he suggested the double date. She knows she didn’t misunderstand his intentions.
Then the realization strikes her: Tessa is the punch line.
Hot embarrassment immediately flushes across her cheeks. Jonathan starts to cackle, like this is the funniest moment he’s ever orchestrated, stumbling back and supporting his weight against his chair. Tessa swallows harshly, setting her jaw against the hurt opening up inside her chest. Her eyes burn but she refuses to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
By now Ali seems to have picked up on the twisted scheme she’s been made a part of. “God, Jonathan,” she seethes. “You’re such a prick.” With an apologetic look in Tessa’s direction, she shifts her purse higher on her shoulder and stalks off in the direction of the bathroom.
Tessa, still fighting tears, standing at a loss while Jonathan nearly busts a lung laughing at her, works frantically to try and come up with her own dignified exit strategy. Then a hand settles carefully at the small of her back.
“Hey babe, sorry I’m late.”
* * *
Scott is silently cursing out Chiddy for not bothering to make a reservation for boys’ night like he told him to a week ago when he sees her. She’s sitting alone at the table near where he and the rest of the guys are stuck waiting in the lobby, bickering about who has to hold the buzzer. There are three other menus at her table so she’s clearly not here by herself, but it seems like she’s been waiting alone for a while based on how nervous she looks.
She’s dressed immaculately in white with sneakers to match, her dark hair pulled up. She toys with the ends of it distractedly, her eyes casting about the restaurant, presumably searching for her other guests. She’s beautiful, Scott thinks.
She’s also infinitely more interesting than the pointless argument his friends are having, so he’s still half paying attention to her when two other people eventually arrive at her table. He watches the situation between them unfold, picking up most of the their conversation from where he’s standing nearby. He feels a little guilty about eavesdropping until he realizes what it is he’s witnessing. Until he sees the moment the beautiful girl’s entire face falls.
Scott’s jaw clenches, a sudden wave of anger overtaking him. He hears “you’re such a prick” from the second woman, and Scott can’t help but agree. The guy’s a fucking asshole, manipulating these girls for his own sick amusement. The blonde rightfully stomps away from him, leaving the other woman alone to deal with her shitty date. Scott decides that just won’t do it all.
“Be right back,” he mutters to Chiddy and sets off toward the dining room.
He’s not thinking so much as acting on instinct as he approaches the table. The asshole is still laughing at his own cruel joke as he steps up behind the dark-haired woman. Carefully, not wanting to startle her, he settles a hand on her back.
“Hey babe, sorry I’m late,” Scott says.
Her head snaps in his direction, and she meets his gaze. Her eyes are green, gorgeous green. He winks, nodding his head minutely at her, as if to say, just go with it.
“Who’s your friend?” Scott smiles, and it feels a bit dangerous.
The asshole, whose laughter evaporated as soon as Scott arrived at their table, stares at him contemptuously.
“Who the hell is he?” he directs at the woman.
“Oh, Jonathan,” she inserts pointedly. “This is, uh, this is…” she turns to Scott again, looking for an assist.
“Scott,” he offers, holding his hand out to Jonathan with another false smile.
“My boyfriend,” she adds.
The man scowls deeply but takes Scott’s hand.
Scott squeezes it as hard as he can. He feels Jonathan’s knuckles grind harshly together in his grip. “And I think it’s about time for you to leave, don’t you think, Jonathan?” he suggests darkly.
Jonathan yelps in pain, his eyes wide and surprised when he looks to the woman at Scott’s side. “What the fuck?” he gasps.
She’s smiling now too. She just shrugs in response.
Scott releases Jonathan’s hand and he stumbles back, holding his palm against his chest like he’s been severely wounded. He seems to consider retaliating, eyes flicking between her and Scott. In the end, he apparently decides against it.
“Christ, dude," he mutters. "It was just a joke."
“It could use some work,” Scott retorts.
“Whatever. Fuck you guys,” Jonathan slurs with finality and marches away toward the exit.
Scott releases a long, slow breath. He never even considered what he might do if his little intervention went south. He’s shaken out of his momentary relief, however, when to his right, the girl groans loudly and slips out of Scott’s hold, sinking unceremoniously back down into her seat. She holds her face in both of her hands.
Nervously, Scott lowers himself to sit sideways in the seat beside her. He drapes his arm around the back of her chair, conscious not to touch her again without permission now that the crisis has been averted.
“Are you okay?” he asks, attempting to peer around her hands to get a look at her face.
She scrubs her hands down her cheeks, turning to him with watery, red eyes and flushed cheeks. “This is so embarrassing,” she says.
“Yeah, for him,” Scott replies. “What a fucking asshole.”
That seems to cheer her up, a short laugh breaking through the misery warping her expression. She lowers her head, smoothing her palms across her hair and through her ponytail, composing herself. She meets Scott’s gaze again.
“Thanks for that,” she tells him, her voice earnest. “Seriously. You’re a lifesaver.”
Scott shrugs, waving off her compliment. “Anyone would’ve done the same.”
Her eyes purposefully follow the length of the dining room, full of bystanders, before returning to him. “Clearly not,” she points out.
Scott can only shrug again, sheepish, not knowing what to say.
They gaze at each other for a long moment. Then she says, “I’m Tessa, by the way.”
“Scott,” he answers with a smile.
* * *
Her disastrous double date has taken an unexpected turn for the better, Tessa can’t help but think as she tries to catch her breath. Ali seems just as surprised as she is when she returns from the bathroom to find Tessa and some random guy in a fit of laughter together, Jonathan nowhere to be found.
It’s Ali clearing her throat above them that finally brings Tessa around, her laughter fading away as she works to compose herself.
Ali looks distinctly uncomfortable when their eyes meet. “I’m so sorry about Jonathan,” she says in a rush. “I had no idea that he -”
“Oh my gosh, it’s totally okay,” Tessa interrupts, reaching for her hand. She gives it a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t even worry about it. I didn’t think you had anything to do with it. This is Scott, by the way,” she adds, gesturing to him. “He came over here and pretended to be my boyfriend. Scared Jonathan right off.”
That makes Ali laugh. “Good for you,” she chuckles. “He’s such a pussy.”
Scott grins at her. At the sight of his big, goofy smile, Tessa feels her own lips turning helplessly up.
She only manages to look away from him when Ali clears her throat again. “Well, I think I’m going to head out…” she trails off pointedly, glancing between them. “This night has been kind of a bust.”
“Oh, you don’t have to!” Tessa says. She holds up her glass of cabernet. “Let me buy you a drink, I think we deserve it after -”
“Thank you,” Ali says sincerely. “Really, that’s so nice of you, but I think I’m just going to get home.” She smiles at the two of them. “You guys have fun though. And I’ll see you at the office on Monday, Tessa?”
“Yes, of course,” Tessa smiles back. “See you then.”
She heads toward the exit, only to stop and turn around again. “And we should definitely get drinks together sometime,” Ali suggests. “For real though, no shitty double dates or asshole Jonathan.”
Tessa laughs with her. “Absolutely,” she agrees.
They wave goodbye to each other. When Tessa returns her attention Scott, she finds him gazing at her with a small smile on his face. Her heart flip flops inside her chest, and that’s when she realizes she’s probably keeping Scott from his own dinner.
She’s only had half a glass of wine, but she still has to shake her head in order to clear it. “Sorry about all this,” she says, frowning. “I didn’t mean to hold you up. You probably have your own date to get back to -”
“Nah, just those bunch of losers,” Scott says. He gestures over her shoulder to where his group has apparently been seated.
Tessa glances behind her, where she finds a large table of guys staring back at the two of them, waggling their fingers and making kissy sounds in their direction. It makes her burst into laughter.
“You’re much nicer anyway,” Scott says, wrinkling his nose up at them. Turning around, he settles more fully into his seat and reaches for one of the abandoned menus. “Anyway, do you still want to get a bite to eat?" he asks. "On me. It's the least I can do to help make up for a bad date.”
She considers it for a moment. While it seems foolish to swap her dinner plans (and date) like this at a moment’s notice, Tessa means it when she says, “I’d like that.” She smiles at him.
He smiles back. “Good,” he says, “Because I’m starving.”
They place their orders. Tessa thinks it should be weird, sitting so comfortably next to this complete stranger after what just happened. Scott could very well be taking her for a ride the same way Jonathan was - just because he stepped in does not necessarily make him immediately deserving of her trust. She studies the side of his face, watching him as he studiously folds a cloth napkin into a floppy fan and deposits it into one of the empty glasses, so friendly and open as he talks to her. Tessa doesn’t know a single thing about him, not even his last name, but even so, she just can’t envision Scott treating anyone so poorly.
Tessa doesn’t know anything about him - only that she wants to get to know him better. And as they laugh easily together, his arm loose around the back of her chair, her body easing into the space they share, Tessa decides there’s no better way this night could have gone than with Scott being the person to end up in the seat next to her.