The Space Between Us

5 -Face Time Date

Wednesday 8th April

Today was finally the day. Their first virtual date.

They had agreed to facetime and originally planned to on Monday but had to postpone due to some responsibilities. Afia was excited but nervous, she had scheduled a busy morning and early afternoon before their date just to keep herself busy and get into a sociable mood, so she wasn't awkward later.

She liked him but she also knew her nature, she never really went on a second date with guys because she was always on guard to find something off putting about them even while enjoying herself as a way to abandon the mission and not take it any further. Bless them, they were all decent. They just didn't turn out to be what she was looking for. But the real problem was that she didn't know what she was looking for herself. It was just a feeling, whether she liked them or not.

It was self-sabotaging but she had done it long enough. She wanted to be brave and actually enjoy the date, see if it would go somewhere since Noah had been talking to her for awhile now.

She had kept busy by chilling with her mum, helping around the house, watching her current drama and then called her best friend Lyla around 3pm for a catch up and mimi pep talk. They facetimed and spoke for an hour while Afia did her make up.

"Are you nervous?" Lyla asked as Afia picked out a few tops to pick from for later. "The white and blue flowy top is cute."

"Um a little, like I wanted to face time since it's been awhile that we started talking and I want to finally see how he looks and acts in person. I've seen pictures and heard his voice but i need to see it all in one" Afia replied, disappearing from the screen to change her top.

"How does it look?" she asked for confirmation.

"I like it but button it up a little so it's not too revealing, unless that's what you're going for" Lyla said with a question in her voice. Afia looked at herself in the mirror and groaned, "urgh no i'm just going to wear something simple."

She pulled out a black fitted top with a v cut out towards the shoulders to show off her collar bones. She was happy with the look.

"Should i wear earrings?" she asked, going through her jewellery box to pick some decorated hoop earrings out. They had lilac stones but it was a bit too much.

"No leave it, your makeup and outfit is nice. He'll be impressed, plus you have studs in anyway."

She heard a ping go off and checked her phone to see if it was her or Lyla.

"Oh my god, he's just messaged me" Afia exclaimed, her voice a little higher out of nerves and excitement. "He's ready to face time now, wish me luck!"

Lyla cheered her on and told her to fill in the details later and then left Afia to take a deep breath before calling him. She sat near the window to get the best lighting, making sure the angle was good before he finally picked up.

The screen finally appeared, making her reflection disappear as Noah's face popped up.She took a second to process him before saying anything, taking in his appearance and features.

He was in bed, holding the phone high above him, his light brown hair slightly messy like he ran his fingers through it, some blonde streaks were evident. His blue eyes stood out against his smooth pale skin and his lips were full as he smiled and said hi.

"Hey" she put on a smile, her eyes darting to the smaller screen on her phone to make sure she looked fine, "how are you?" she wanted to hit her head, 'why was she making small talk?'

Noah laughed, sensing the awkwardness. "I'm good, you look nice by the way. I know this is a little weird but feel comfortable, I might make some weird jokes to break the ice."

Afia was mesmerised with his laugh and his accent. She usually liked European accents as she was used to the British accent having lived in England her entire life, she didn't find it seductive. However, Noah made it more alluring.

Before she could show how much he affected her brain she started conversing. From there they spoke for over two hours about different stuff, their friends, embarrassing stories, and their dislikes until she saw Noah get out of bed to open his door and tell his mum he was coming down for dinner so she could stop shouting. He looked back to Afia sheepishly, "I need to go eat dinner now, is that okay?"

Just as he said that, Afia felt her stomach rumble and looked back at her clock. "Shit, we've been talking for two hours. It's nearly 6.30, go eat something. We can talk on whatsapp later. This was fun."

"Yeah totally, i liked it too. I'll talk to you later baby" he said with a smile and the video call cut off. Afia fell back on her bed, him calling her baby sounded so good to her ears but it was time to review.

The time had flown by quickly so clearly she enjoyed herself, they had spoken a lot, more so because she was super talkative but there weren't many awkward silences which was a positive. She liked his appearance and personality so far, she didn't know what to nit pick. He was comfy in bed the entire time though which wasn't very date like but this situation was different so she had to let him off.

All in all, it went pretty well so she was pleased. There weren't any cliche butterflies fluttering in her stomach but she liked him so far. That was confirmed.

She decided to pop downstairs to the kitchen to get some fruits before calling Lyla to give her all the details and finally fangirl together.