#englnd nt

[avenirdelight]

Swipe Right

Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Written for @footballffbarbiex’s summer writing challenge. Prompt: Her getting stood up on a tinder date but he buys her a drink and asks if he can keep her company.

If only she hadn't fallen for the temptation of getting a boyfriend off of the internet like her friend had done, she wouldn't be here right now. If only she hadn't downloaded that doomed app, started talking to this one person she'd matched with, and said yes when he'd asked her to meet up two weeks later, she wouldn't be here.

But here she was, in a busy café in central London, all alone, because her Tinder date had not shown up.

It had been one hour since their appointed time; her coffee had long gone cold. As the time passed, she felt like it was getting colder. No, it wasn't really cold there, the heater worked perfectly fine. She just envied people around her, sharing joyous laughs, keeping the conversations going as they held each other's hands, leaning their heads together because the stories they were telling warmed their hearts.

She would've told her Tinder date a funny story from high school that she had been wanting to tell him, she knew he would've loved it. They would've been laughing together too right now, if he had shown up.

When she had passed the one hour mark, her own time limit to wait for people, she decided to send him a text again. It was not delivered this time and she started to feel her heart sinking. Five minutes later, she tried to give him a call. His number was not active.

She cursed under her breath, feeling like a complete idiot. She could've been in her room, watching his favorite band's online concert, rather than being here feeling embarrassed. People had probably noticed her sitting alone for a whole hour, looking so miserable on this Saturday night because her date didn't show up.

She was contemplating whether to just go home or stay here and order some food. She couldn't ignore her grumbling stomach anymore, but the thought of going home and crying out this unnecessary heartbreak on her bed was far more appealing.

But a voice, a polite 'excuse me', interrupted her train of thoughts. She immediately looked up to see where the voice came from.

"Hi, sorry. I hope I'm not creeping you out, but you look like you could use a company."

Beautiful curly hair, bright eyes, pretty lips, thick eyebrows, gorgeous eyelashes. And there was a very sweet smile spread across his face, making him look harmless in every way possible.

Okay. If this guy was on Tinder, she would definitely swipe right.

She unintentionally let a few seconds pass as she tried to register his words on her mind, not realising that she was staring at him rather judgingly for a little bit too long.

"Unless you're still waiting for someone," he blurted it out so fast. "I'm sorry. You clearly don't want to be bothered. I'll just—"

"No, no. It's okay. I'm not waiting for anyone. The seat is not taken," she said, glancing at the empty chair in front of her, signalling that he was welcomed to occupy it.

The smile on his face got a little bit wider, before he excitedly took the seat in front of her, his hair bouncing as he moved.

"I don't usually do this, approaching a stranger," he scratched his temple as his nervousness started to finally show.

"I don't usually do this too, letting a stranger approach me," her lips twitched into a small smile.

"Yeah, but, uhm— You look very nice in this purple blouse. I don't even like purple, it's my least favourite colour, but they look good on you. And your hair pin is beautiful."

Maybe what he meant was 'you're so pretty', but well, she'd take it.

"Anyway, what I mean to say is, I don't think I'd miss the chance to talk to someone who can make me like the colour purple."

She felt her cheeks getting warmer, and she knew he would notice it because her cheeks would quickly get as red as an apple every time she got shy. It was proven by the way he slightly pursed his lips, eyes squinting a little bit as he tried not to chuckle.

"I'm Dominic, by the way," he extended his hand and she took it. Her heart skipped a beat when she felt their hands touch as she said her name. "Can I buy you a drink? Or anything you want, really."

"I've got to be honest, I haven't had my dinner and my stomach is killing me right now."

"So rude of that person who let you wait for so long— I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," he corrected himself quickly, seeing the swift change of look on her face as the shyness was replaced by embarrassment.

"It's okay, it's the truth," she shrugged, trying to compose herself. "Just embarrassed. I noticed some people staring at me, they must be feeling sorry for me sitting here alone."

"Not anymore now." His infectious smile made an appearance again, bringing back her smile to her face.

Dominic was nice, giving her his recommendations from the menu, claiming that he had been coming here for years and it was one of his favourite places in town. The conversations between them went rather smoothly; he started by randomly asking her about her favourite holiday destinations and fifteen minutes later the discussion changed to their latest watched movies.

Maybe it was silly of her, getting stood up by a stranger from the internet that she had trusted too quickly, but trusted another complete stranger to burst her social bubble right away. But the vibe that this guy was giving off was different. She had had her experiences. From his first hello, she knew that he definitely was not one of those flirty and cocky boys that was just going to dump her after they had their fun. 

As the night fell deeper, they got more comfortable with each other. They were deep in conversations until the closing time was near. The little voices in their heads were wishing that they could spend more time with each other, and they both knew that the choices were in their hands.

So when Dom asked her "Let's go somewhere else, what do you say? I know a nice place not far away from here", she didn't think twice to say yes.

—

finally writing for dom! and i’m so happy to participate on this writing challenge! i started writing this a month ago and left it and came back to it a couple of times until last week... i hope you guys like this one🤍

here’s other pieces that i wrote for this challenge: chilly’s protocols & mason’s gaffer’s in law

please leave comments or give me feedbacks through my asks or dms, i’d love to know what you think, i’d really appreciate it! thank you!

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