“David, stop shaking your leg or I will stab you,” Heather berated me from the floor where she was making some adjustments to the trousers I was going to be modelling for her in a few weeks time.

“I can’t help it, I’ve never been on a date before.”

“Surely, with your job, you’ve been on hundreds of dates,” Lucy helpfully supplied.

“It’s hardly the same,” I sighed.

“Why not?”

“I was paid to be whatever they wanted, fulfilling a role like an actor in a play. But this , I just have to ‘be myself’, I mean, who even am I?”

“Oh sweetie,” Heather cooed.

“You’re not playing a role now, are you?” Lucy asked.

“Well…no, but…”

“No buts,” Lucy interrupted, “You can be yourself with us, just do the same with Olly.”

Huh, maybe she was right. I never thought about it like that.

“So what’s the plan for your date?” Heather asked.

“I was thinking Dinner and a Movie.”

“BORING!” Lucy declared.

“Lucy!” Heather chastised her girlfriend, “I mean, she’s not wrong though.”

I groaned, “Why is this so hard!”

“David, sweetie, this isn’t just a date. It’s yours and Olly’s first date, it should be memorable,” Heather continued.

“What should we do then…Help me,” I whined.

“Well I think a movie is a terrible idea! Sure it’s great if you just want to spend your time making out, but you can’t actually get to know each other in the cinema,” Lucy stated as she pulled out her phone, “How about this?” she added turning her phone towards me.

“I don’t know? Do you think he’ll like it?”

“It’s different, it’s original and it gives you loads of options in one place. Besides, it’ll give you a great chance to get to know each other.”

“Sounds perfect,” I exclaimed, “Ow!”

“I warned you not to move,” Heather smirked as one of the pins she was using slipped.

“This place is so beautiful,” Olly said, in awe at the surroundings of Kew Gardens in front of us. He turned to me to add, “There’s so much to see.”

“It’s not the only thing that’s beautiful here,” I replied shyly, earning me a blush from his tanned cheeks. This wasn’t my first date ever, but it was my first date with Olly. What I hoped would be the first of many, a chance to get to know him. Inside I am shaking like a leaf with nervous energy, I really want to get this right. My job alone should doom us from the start, but Olly wanted me anyway. So I owe it to him to try and not fuck this all up.

“Earth to David,” Olly was clicking his fingers in front of my face. 

“Huh.”

“You kinda zoned out on me there. Everything ok?” His beautiful, kind, dark eyes are staring up at me.

Shit- “Sorry, I guess I got lost in my thoughts.”

He takes hold of my hands in his, they feel so soft and gentle. He leads me to a nearby bench and guides me to sit down before he speaks, “Talk to me, David. Tell me what’s going on under those beautiful golden locks.”

Taking a breath to give myself a moment to compose myself, I reply, “I’m scared of screwing this up and that you’ll realise that I’m wrong for you after all.” I’m afraid to look him in the eyes, but when I hear him laughing, I look up to his face.

“David, I don’t need you to be perfect, I just need you to be you . I can’t promise you that everything will work out like we want.” My face falls at that, but Olly lifts it back up with one of his delicate fingers placed under my chin, “None of that. Life isn’t some story where everyone gets their happy ever after, but, we can try and we can hope. Besides,” he nudges me in the side, “This is only our first date, you might be a crap lay for all I know,” he says with a cheeky wink.

“Cheeky shit,” I smile back, “You already know I’m amazing at that.”

“ Well… ” he starts, but I give him a playful slap to his arm causing him to smile. “Yeah, okay.”

After sitting in companionable silence for a few minutes I decide it’s time to move on. Standing up from the bench, I hold out my hand to help him up. Of course Olly doesn’t miss the opportunity to rib me about being an old man and how he should be the one helping me up. But he says it all with the cutest smile so I forgive him immediately.

Once he’s up, I don’t let go of his hand as we return to walking through the gardens. Out of the corner of my eye I catch a little bashful smile when he notices, but neither of us says anything. With our free hands we both point out things we spot to show each other, venturing into the giant glass houses to marvel at the exotic varieties.

We walk up to the top of the treetop walkway, and enjoy the vast views overlooking the site. I’m not keen on being so high up, but not once does Olly let go of my hand or tease me when I won’t let go of the railing with my other hand.

Olly and I are laughing and joking as we go, mimicking some of the statues we see carved out, much to the annoyance of a few little old ladies. But Olly doesn’t care, he just flips them off and continues with his impressions making me laugh even harder. After he helped me get past my initial moment of doubt, everything has been so…wonderful.

There’s so much to see and do that we are both tired out from walking before we’ve even made it around half of the 30 plus acres of gardens and woodlands.

Taking a rest from all the exploring, I take Olly to The Botanical Brasserie, a beautiful restaurant within the grounds. Taking one look at the menu, Olly starts to protest when he sees the prices.

Grabbing it away from him I tell him, “None of that, this is my date, I’m paying.”

“But that’s not fair, I can’t ask you to do that and this place is sooo expensive, David.”

“You can pay next time,” he looks sceptical, so putting on my best attempt at my own pout, “Please, Olly, let me do this for you.”

With a huff he declares, “Fine! But if I’m paying next time don’t expect more than a takeaway pizza on my ratty old sofa. I’m just a poor student after all.”

“I don’t know, I think we can have a lot of fun on your ratty old sofa,” I tease with a seductive wink, making his cheeks flush an adorable shade of pink.

I already knew exactly what I was ordering for us, having looked at the menu when I booked the table. When the waitress comes over to take our order I speak up for both of us, “Hi, could we get two afternoon teas please?”

“Certainly,” she replies, writing on a pad, “Classic or vegetarian?”

“Vegetarian for me,” Olly requests. I look at him and smile before returning my eyes to the menu. 

I read the differences between the two options and make a decision that surprises me, “I’ll try that too, please.”

Now it is Olly who was smiling back at me. The waitress disappears but we just focus on looking into each other’s eyes.

“So you’re a vegetarian then?” I asked.

“Yeah, I tried being vegan for a while, but I missed real cheese too much,” he laughs. “How about you?”

“No, I like my meat.” I wink at him, “But I’m always up for trying something new.”

The waitress returns with a three tier tower filled with sandwiches, scones and miniature cakes for us to share. There are two of each delicacy on all the levels and Olly remarks, “It’s just like Noah’s ark, but for food.”

I was not expecting that, so when he just casually spoke, I burst out laughing so hard that the other diners all turned to stare at me. I don’t think I’d ever had so much fun.

As we are working our way down the stack, Olly and I talk about all sorts of things but soon the inevitable question comes up that I’d be dreading.

“So what made you choose afternoon tea?”

I took a breath before I reply, hoping I was able to speak with my voice cracking.

“I used to have this friend, her name was Dorothy.” I pause again. “She once told me her husband would take her for Afternoon Tea for their anniversary each year. But since he passed away, she’d not had anyone to go with, until she met me.”

“She showed me how to properly strain the tea when they provide it as loose leaves. And seeing the joy it brought to her to get to renew those memories of her happier times, it was wonderful to be a part of that.”

I have to pause again, I can feel tears starting to try and break free.

Olly gently places his hand on mine, “Do you still see her?”

I felt a tear drop down my cheek, “No, no she died, just before I moved to London,” I say in barely a whisper.

Olly reaches for my face to brush away another tear that has escaped, “I’m sorry to hear that, she clearly meant a lot to you.”

“She was a really good friend and had a wicked sense of humour. She would have loved you.” I smile, I really think they would have got up to so much mischief together if they’d met.

The rest of the afternoon tea goes by with much less emotion and much more laughing. Once we were done and I’d paid the bill, leaning across the table Olly smirked at me and in a low voice said, “Take me home, David.