First Signs of Love ⇾ C. Evans ✓

076 ⇾ unexpected arrangements & odd behaviours

「     1 ½  M O N T H S  L A T E R    」

(    LOCATION ▪ NEW YORK    )

"YOU GIRLS DID WHAT?"

"Set you up on a blind date," Emma spoke up with a sheepish smile plastered on her face, her eyes darting from Naomi to Brie and Jen who were standing by her side.

Just as Naomi was about to comment further, Jen decided to chime in. "Well, you and Chris aren't seeing each other, are you?"

"We---" Naomi paused momentarily, her eyes falling to her feet. The girls knew full well that they weren't together and that it's been a month and a half since they decided that some time off and space would do them both some good. "We aren't," Naomi said carefully with her eyes trained on her friends, "but we never said that we should or would see other people."

Brie let out a small and quiet gasp as she shot a worried look at both Emma and Jen, both of whom had equally worried and guilty looks on their faces. As Brie wrung her hands in sheer apprehension, Emma chuckled nervously and hesitantly inched a little closer to Naomi before grabbing her lightly by her shoulders.

"Well, you see, Nay. . . when we set up this blind date for you, we had no idea that you and Chris were not open to seeing other people," Emma said nervously, a small grimace evident on her face.

"---and we thought that maybe," Jen added, looking back and forth between Naomi, Brie and Emma before she blabbered, "a blind date with one of Andrew's friends might take your mind off of things for a while---"

"You set me up on a blind date with one of Andrew's friends?!" Naomi exclaimed, shooting Emma a look of disbelief.

Emma bit down on her bottom lip, grimacing as she did so before her eyes swept over to Brie and Jen, both of whom were remaining ever so quiet. Naomi glared at her friends with wide eyes, mouth hung agape as she waited for them to explain just what the hell was going on and what actually made them decide that all of this was a good idea.

"Well?" Naomi pressed on, a tinge of frustration and annoyance laced in her voice.

Emma nodded slowly in response, a bashful look on her face. Naomi's eyes soon found Brie's and Jen's, both of whom had guilty looks on their faces. Letting out a deep sigh, Naomi stumbled back towards her couch and plopped down on it with her hand over her forehead.

She knew that there was no way that she could possibly bail on this blind date because this was Andrew's friend they were talking about---if she stood this guy up, not only would it leave him with a bad impression of her but Andrew would also get an earful from said friend. She couldn't possibly do that to Andrew, especially knowing how much of a sweetheart he was.

The best that she could do right now was to show up at the venue and pretend to be interested for the night but not too interested, otherwise the guy might get the wrong idea.

"Tell me this date is not taking place in London," Naomi said nonchalantly, her eyes still screwed shut.

"It isn't," the three of them answered in unison.

Bringing her hand away from her forehead, Naomi cast her friends a wary look before pushing herself off of the couch with a sigh. The second she started to make her way towards her bedroom, Brie, Emma and Jen were hot on her heels. "Who is he exactly?"