it's hot as hell, honey, in this room
sure hope the weather will break soon
the air is heavy, heavy as a truck
we need the rain to wash away our bad luck.
Everything about this was a bad idea.
Wearing a heavyset frown, Will looked over his shoulder. The heels of his highly shined brogues click-clacked, the sound echoing off the walls as he beat a steady rhythm, his long legs striding out in front of him. He wasn't familiar with Shoreditch and with good reason. He'd been born and raised in the other end of London. The good end of London, with parks and trees and lakes. This part of London, the dodgy part, was full of dark clubs and strange people and he felt distinctly uncomfortable about the entire thing and he hated it.
He wasn't late and he always prided himself on that. Punctuality was the politeness of princes, after all. Unfortunately, he'd had to come straight from the office in Bedford Square and as a result, he was dressed
smartly but probably not as how his companion had requested.
Tonight, he was going to be given a dating crash course. What had kick-started this revolution? Well, a mixture of unbearable loneliness and a growing sense of panic. He'd been invited to one of his friends' wedding which was coming up in a month of two and he just didn't want to turn up without a date. Why? He didn't want to fend off awkward questions about his lovelife or have the old ladies present make sympathetic noises when they saw him. In his circle of friends, he was known as the chronically single one but it wasn't through any fault of his own.
Upon reaching the place, Will frowned and checked the slip of parchment he'd been given. Yup. This was the place and it seemed to be…underground? Sighing, he jogged down the stairs and pushed open the heavy oaken door.
It took a couple of seconds for his big blue eyes to adjust. The bar was dark. Filled with dark wood and black leather sofas and chairs and lit totally by candlelight. There were people there. Young, hip types of people in their early teens which made him feel like he was ancient. Swallowing nervously, he stepped in. The place just
reeked of cool. It was probably engineered that way with the clientele and the leather and the fact that it looked like it had been made out of a hollowed out cave.
At the bar, Will ordered a pint of lager from a terrifyingly pretty barmaid and he hesitated on what to order for Blo. He liked to think he was a gentleman and as such, he'd buy the lady a drink. Much like flowers, drink orders were also a minefield. Ordering a pint of lager might insinuate that he thought she was maybe a bit butch. Ordering a cocktail might be presumed that he thought her a floozy. He just had no idea what she liked to drink and as such, plumped for buying her a glass of wine. And a tequila shot.
Clumsily carrying the drinks back over to table, the tall man crouched as he folded his tall frame into a booth tucked away in the corner and sipped at his drink. He liked Blo and he liked her a lot. She was not only beautiful but she was hilarious. To say that he harboured a crush was not a lie. She exploded into his life like a small but very determined missile. Like lion preying on an ailing gazelle, she'd pounced when he'd voiced his concerns of being rather girlfriend-less and valiantly offered her serviced.
Every time someone passed, Will's head snapped to the entrance like a meerkat as he searched for his friend. The longer he spent in this frightfully hip establishment, the more intimidated he became and he absently wondered if she'd be offended if he ordered some mozzarella sticks. Fidgeting with his watch, he saw that he still had some time before she was meant to meet him. After all, no one cool turned up before 10 PM, right? That would explain why he was here at quarter to. Lame.
