Blessed With a Mess

I took a deep breath and gazed at myself in the mirror. It was Monday night and I was preparing for my date with James. "He did say to dress nice," I sighed, adjusting the straps on the dress I was wearing.

"And yeh do," Ben mumbled.

I turned and smiled at the lanky man standing in the doorway, "thanks Ben."

He nodded, running his hands through his hair. "No problem. Only sayin' the truth."

My phone buzzed on the dresser and I looked down to see a text from James, "I'm here." I slipped my phone into my bag before grabbing a jacket and turning to leave.

"He didn't even walk up to the door to get yeh? What a wanker," Ben mumbled.

I rolled my eyes and patted his shoulder as I passed him. "Don't really blame him. He probably didn't want to see you. This is kind of an awkward situation."

"The only awkward fing is how he's doing all this jus' fo' yeh to say no on Saturday," Ben yelled down the stairs.

I shut the front door and took a deep breath before joining James in the car. "'Ello chap!" I greeted him in a fake British accent.

He chuckled and nodded, "'ello lass. Yeh look quite nice if I do say so mehself."

"Thanks, now shut up and where are we going?"

"A fanceh place," he grinned.

"Well I knew that much from your text that said 'dress fancy.'"

"Yeh a smart one," he joked.

I nodded and looked out the window, allowing silence to envelop the two of us. Silence was something that I found happening frequently with James. It wasn't awkward, but it was just... silent.

Spacing out, I thought back to Ben. What was he doing? How was he doing? I wonder if he'd be mad at me. If I picked James, would Ben and I still be friends? Would I be hurt the band? How wou-

"Olivia?" James chuckled.

"Hmm?" I asked, snapping out of my thoughts.

"We've arrived a few moments ago. Yeh were on some othah planet."

"Oh," I smiled, getting out of the car. "Yea, I was visiting planet mars. I like it there."

"Weirdo," James grinned, pulling me into the diner. Our reservation brought us to a secluded, dark lit corner in the back of the room where there was already wine waiting.

"This reminds me of the cask of amontillado, you know? Bringing me to a dark lit place and liquoring me up. That's real slick, Mr. Cassells."

James shrugged, sipping the wine. "I was nevah too much into wine but I like it from time to time."



The night went fairly well from there and soon I found myself back on my doorstep of the house. James smiled, delicately holding my hands in his. "I had a good time tonight."

"Me too, Jamesy."

He rolled his eyes at the nick name, but smirked nontheless. "Good. Now don't take this offensively, but I hope yeh have a right shi' time on yeh date wiff Ben tomorrah."

"No hard feelings," I laughed.

James' eyes twinkled from the moon lighting. His rough hands played with mine. Slowly, James closed his eyes and leaned in.

"Uhm, thanks again for tonight!" I panicked, kissing him on the cheek and going inside. "Oh my god," I mumbled, leaning against the door and sliding to the ground.

"That bad, huh?" Ben chuckled.

"No, it was actually a lovely time."

"That's good. I'm glad yeh had fun," he genuinely smiled. My mind repeated James' words through my head: "I hope yeh have a right shi' time on yeh date wiff Ben tomorrow...

"Yea, James is sweet. I'm so stuffed though. I feel like I could have a food baby any second."

"A food baby, huh?" Ben laughed. "Cute What yeh goin' to name it?"

"Josh, after Josh Fransexy, of course."

"Franceschi, love. Franceschi is his name."

"Not in my book," I grinned getting off the floor. "What are we doing tomorrow?"

"Beach, so yeh bettah head to bed soon 'cause we're leavin' a bit early. Sorreh about the awkward timin'. I didn't fink yeh'd be out so late."

"So thoughtful," I smiled, walking past and patting him on the shoulders. "I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Off to bed!" He joked.

I rolled my eyes and headed upstairs for a quick shower before bed. "The beach shouldn't be too hard to manage."