Eric was completely nervous. He’s never been on a blind date before, or actually…a date at all. He wondered who he was meeting, and why he was even asked to be part of the date…
Was it a joke? A prank? It couldn’t possibly be a prank…that’s too much planning for it to be one…or maybe it could be. He wondered who hated him that much to plan such an elaborate joke on him. His mind was clouded with thoughts and lists of who he could’ve angered.
He bit his bottom lip as he thought, but soon ceased his second guessing when he spotted him. Was this the guy Eric was supposed to meet? He seemed nice, but Eric was still on his toes…just Incase the guy tries anything crazy.
He stood in front of him, smiling softly, “Ah…I’m not entirely sure if this is the right place. And I’m most likely embarrassing myself right now but—my name is Eric, was I supposed to meet you here?”
Eric wanted to crawl in a hole and rot. Why must he make every social interaction…
Russell stood up from the bench once the guy was close enough. He took great care not to make any sudden movements. The younger man seemed anxious enough as it was.
“It depends on what you’re here for, ehehe...” he said, rubbing at the back of his neck. Welp, he wasn’t feeling too good about this either anymore. Maybe it would be best to just call it quits, “Sorry, that, that, wasn’t very funny, ehehe...”
He fidgeted, as he offered his hand out to shake. He hoped that Eric would be too focussed on his face to notice his finger. At last at first.
“It’s nice to meetcha, Eric. My name’s Russell. I assume you were set up for a blind date, like my niece did with me...” he said. At least if he mentioned that, it make things clearer.
“I uh... you don’t have to do this....” he said then, “I want to make that clear right now.”
He briefly thought that Eric might assume that meant Russell didn’t like him.
“I know this is probably outta, ehe, outta, outta line for me to say, but, ehe, you, you seem rather uncomfortable, and I don’t want you to feel, feel, feel trapped or anything.”