I thought it to be a little odd when Dominic DMed me over instagram later that day, telling me to meet him at a diner out of town. Why couldn't we just go to the local diner? I didn't wanna ponder on it too much seeing as I doubted Dominic had come out yet to his friends. 

I continued to not ponder on that for twenty minutes longer than I should have and a part of me wanted to just forget about this whole thing and leave, but another part really liked Dominic and wanted to keep giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Once the old clock hanging above the kitchen doorway told me that Dominic had reached the forty-minutes-late mark, I was grabbing my things and preparing to tell the kind waitress that my date wasn't going to show, but before I could even stand up, my eyes caught a glimpse of dirty blonde hair waltzing into the diner. Acting cool, I sat my ass back down and pretended as if I never once doubted Dominic's arrival to begin with. 

The excited smile that pulled my lips faded as Dominic looked around the diner, seemingly searching for anyone who would call him out for attending our date. Again, I brushed it off. He is still new to all this.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." Dominic flashed one of his signature charming smiles and all the doubts I had instantly melted away.

"Oh. . .late? I didn't even notice." I lied through a chuckle, rubbing the back of my neck nervously. 

"Is everything alright, though?" 

"Oh, yeah. My—uh—dog got out and I had to get him back inside. We live basically right next to the road and I didn't want him to get hurt." 

"Dog? Oh my gosh, what's his name?" I love dogs!

"Name? It's—uh—Sparky?" Dominic stated—more like questioned—as he bit his bottom lip thoughtfully.

"That's a good name! My neighbor had a dog named Sparky and he was a black lab! He was awesome." 

The voice in the back of my head screamed at me to question Dominic's odd mannerisms, but all of that was white noise as I longingly stared at Dominic, waiting for the waitress to come back to the table for our orders. 

"Cool." Dominic's honey brown eyes weren't looking at me with their full attention. No, instead they were too busy watching the screen of his phone as he scrolled through social media. 

My heart hurts.

The waitress made it to our table at the right time, whisking the awkwardness away by asking for our orders. 

"So, do you enjoy spending time with your little brother?" I asked once the waitress had left.

"Yeah, he's a good kid." A genuine smile—albeit small—finally crossed Dominic's face since he got here, and that made me feel hopeful that our date could get better.

It didn't get better. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that this date—my first date—might have had a chance at winning a 'one of the worst dates in history' award.

Instead of carrying on the conversation, Dominic continued to completely ignore my existence, only replying with short answers to all of my questions. 

The pity that filled the waitress's eyes didn't make me feel any better. If our waitress could see how awful this date was going, then surely others could as well. 

And to top it all off, the food was gross. If anything, the only decent thing about that diner was our waitress. 

"Here's the bill, just bring it to the register whenever you're ready, there's no rush." The waitress—who's name tag read "Lynda"—politely smiled, her brown, shoulder-length curls bounced with her as she walked away, leaving me to be left alone with the root cause of my suffering.

"I'll pay for my half, 'kay?" I frowned, but refrained from commenting. I knew it was common practice nowadays for couples to share the bill, I just figured Dominic would pay considering he was the one to ask me out. 

"Sure." At this point, I was counting the seconds to freedom, completely disheartened by the date. I should have listened to Malcom. 

I hated admitting that to myself, but it was the truth. And, to be honest, I missed hanging out with Mal. Especially when comparing this date to my hangouts with him.

Dominic took our money to the register and not long after, we were standing outside.

"Hey, wanna head back to my place?" 

I blanched, blinking once, and then again, trying to reset my brain in hopes of it actually processing what Dominic Fuller had just asked me. 

"I'm sorry?"

"Do you wanna hang out? You know, back at my place? My family is out." I wanted so badly to assume that Dominic's intentions were innocent, but I knew better. I could tell by the sultry look in his eyes as he looked me up and down what his true intentions at inviting me over were. 

"I don't think so." Gulping, I took a step back, pulling the car keys out of my pocket. I want to get the fuck out of here.

"Seriously? Do you have somewhere to be?" Dominic looked. . .mad?

"No. . .I just, I just don't wanna go with you."

"Why? I thought the date went well, didn't you?" Oh boy.

"I don't. . .I don't need to explain myself, Dominic. I. . .I just don't want to go with you." Before I could hear Dominic's response to my words, I booked it to the car and began driving out of the diner's parking lot, taking a quick glance toward the man I had spent an entire hour with, only to find him red in the face as he looked to be on the phone, complaining about something. 

Probably me.

I couldn't hold back the sigh of relief that escaped my lips as I made it onto the highway, driving back to the safety and comfort of my own home and away from the guy I no longer had any feelings for. A shiver shot down my spine just from remembering the catastrophe that was my first date.

Later that night, Malcom called me to ask how the date went and I told him, 

"Everything went well."