[Night]

It wasn't that he wasn't looking forward to going on a blind date. He hadn't exactly had the greatest of luck in the past, but Eric liked to try and remain as optimistic as possible. While he had absolutely no clue what this chick was supposed to look like, and knew next to nothing about her, he didn't think that his friends would be so cruel as to set him up on a terrible evening out six dates in a row.

At least, that's what he was trying to convince himself as he flopped down into the first available seat at the coffee shop and glanced around for any sign of his date.

[crow]

A blind date was a bit of an unusual way for Sam to be spending his time, but everyone got a wild hair once in a while, right? In fact, his friends might have said that Sam was more prone to getting them than others... Though that was just because they didn't understand him very well.

He rolled up to the place they'd specified, a little local coffee shop. He wasn't exactly dressed up, but he didn't believe in putting up a front when he met someone, unless it was for a job interview. The trouble was... How was he going to recognize his so-called date?

[Night]

Eric wasn't exactly sure whether he was obscenely early, or if he'd been stood up. Or maybe his date was here, he just had no clue what she looked like. He had been smart enough to get the girl's name from the person who'd set him up, at the very least. He glanced around for a girl that looked like she could be a Sam, spotting a woman hovering alone near the counter. He made a beeline.

"You wouldn't Sam, would you? Here for a blind date?" He already felt absolutely ridiculous, but he wasn't sure what other course of action he was meant to take.

[crow]

"I'm sorry, what?" said the girl, once it sank in that she was being addressed. She didn't look too pleased about it, especially seeing that it was a guy. "You've got the wrong person."

Sam noted the exchange with interest, though he wasn't close enough to get a clear idea of what they were saying. From where he was standing, it just looked like the guy was trying to talk to a girl who clearly wasn't interested. He walked towards them, smiling politely. "Hi," he said. "Is this guy bothering you?"

[Night]

Of course he had. Nothing could ever be simple, could it? Eric ducked his head, backing up a little ways to put some space between himself and the woman. "Ah. Sorry to bother you."

And because nothing could be simple, it only stood to reason that his innocent enough question had drawn the attention of someone else - likely the lady's boyfriend. Wonderful. "No, there's no problem - I thought that perhaps she was someone that I was meant to meet here, but I see now that I was mistaken." He offered a bland smile at the stranger, hoping against all hope that the guy wouldn't start a fight.

[crow]

The girl, rather than relaxing at the sight of someone else coming to intervene, seemed to get even more tense. She must have had some real bad experiences with guys. Sam could sympathize to a point, though he couldn't say that he'd ever been in her shoes himself, personally speaking.

"Right, well, as long as that's sorted out," he said, still smiling. He did his best to interpose himself between the guy and the girl anyway though. Sometimes they didn't get the picture, or tried to come back afterwards to try again.

[Night]

Eric truly did feel bad that the girl seemed to be getting anxious over his interrupting her coffee date. He shot her as disarming a smile as he could muster, waving a little over the shoulder of the man that was now trying to situate himself in between them. Almost definitely her boyfriend. "Sorry again! If you run into a Sam, though, would you mind sending her my way?"

It was becoming much more likely that he'd been ditched out on. Surely his date would have noticed the commotion and come over to help sort things out if she were here, right?

[crow]

Before the girl could respond--- and really, to spare her the trouble of having to--- Sam cut in, smiling as brightly as possible. "Hey, it's your lucky day! I'm Sam. Not a 'her', but I'd be happy to keep you entertained til yours gets here."

He wasn't really interested in this guy, but either the dude would take him up on his offer and leave the girl alone, or else he'd no-homo hard enough that he left the shop entirely because he didn't want to be in a situation where a guy was apparently hitting on him. Either way, it worked out well enough for Sam's purposes.

[Night]

Eric had been in the process of beating a hasty retreat - perhaps to disappear into the bathroom and beat his head against the wall - when the would-be savior's comment brought him up short. He blinked dumbly at the guy for a moment before giving him a once over.

"You're Sam? You're not here for a blind date are you?" He was going to absolutely murder his friends. Was this supposed to be a joke, or did they really think he'd gotten desperate enough to not be single that he'd just change his sexuality? Not that there was anything wrong with being gay... Well. Other than the fact that he very much wasn't.

[crow]

Sam was beginning to wonder if the guy had actually gotten pissed--- he wasn't actually looking for a fight, after all--- when he spoke up, and it was Sam's turn to be surprised. "Actually, yeah, I am," he said.

A moment later though, he recovered. A coffee shop wasn't that strange a place to be meeting for a blind date, and Sam wasn't that uncommon a name, for guys or girls. It was probably just a weird coincidence. "My date's name is Erica though, so I'm afraid I'm not your guy."

[Night]

The idea of bashing his head against the bathroom wall was becoming ever more appealing - as was committing homicide against his supposed friends. He let out a slow breath, steadying himself for what was clearly about to be a painful conversation.

"Are you sure it wasn't just Eric? Because..." There was simply no less awkward way to put this. "I"m Eric. Maybe you just misheard?" While he sincerely hoped that wasn't the case, and this guy actually was waiting on some nice woman named Erica, he couldn't help but feel as though is luck had never been quite that good. He had a sinking feeling that the 'hot girl' he'd been tempted here with was much more like a 'somewhat decent looking dude.' Maybe they should have met in a bar.

[crow]

"No, I'm pretty sure," said Sam, pulling out his phone. The girl behind him took the opportunity to move somewhere else. Sam was so focused on reading the chat log that he had pulled up that he didn't even notice. Erica... Erica... It had to mention her name somewhere, right? Why couldn't he find it?

Just as he was thinking that though, his thumb stopped on the name. "Yeah, here it is. Eri---" Sam began, but then he got a good look at the message, and stopped short.

Eric.

"Oh," he said. He glanced up at the other guy, who had just introduced himself as Eric, and the message, which... "Oh," he said again. "Well. This is awkward."

[Night]

"Awkward is one way to put it." Eric grumbled under his breath. Today was just full of awful little surprises, it seemed. However, he had come all this way, and it wasn't as though going on a date with a dude was the absolute worst thing he could be doing with his afternoon. "But hey! You're here and you didn't stand me up, so points dude. Do you want some coffee? My treat."

He tried to flag the attention of the barista, but she (along with the majority of the patrons) appeared to have gathered to gawk at something near the end of the bar.

[crow]

Sam just laughed it off. He wasn't actually terribly worried about his own misconception. He was fine with guys himself. It was just a matter of adjusting his expectations a little. And since Eric didn't immediately tell him to get lost, he figured their date was still on.

"Sorry about that," he said. "If I'd known you were my date..." He wasn't sure what exactly he would have done differently, but it probably wouldn't have gone quite the same way it had.

He was just about to say yes to coffee when a commotion started up among the other patrons. "Hey, what---" he said, but then he followed the general line of everyone else's gazes to the window...

[Night]

He was willing to ignore the fact that his date really didn't seem to have any clue what he might have done differently. There was evidently something much more important going on, to have garnered so many people's attention. Eric pushed up onto his toes, trying to see what the crowd had gathered to look at over the shoulder of a rather tall patron in front of him. "What do you think is out there?"

He could hear the other customers whispering about some sort of fog, but he couldn't make any sense of it. "Maybe the weather's changed?" The crowd was dispersing somewhat now, just enough for him to wriggle through the gaps between people and get a glimpse out the window.