Jill: Hello?
Melissa: Hi! Are you working tonight?
Jill: No. It’s Lissa’s night to watch the club. Andrea and I were gonna go anyway though. Why?
Melissa: Cause there’s someone I want you to meet.
Jill: Male or female?
Melissa: Male.
Jill: If you’re doing what I think you are...
Melissa: You need to start dating again and you know it. Ever since you broke up with...
Jill: Don’t even mention his name to me!
Melissa: It’s been 2 months. You need to get over him and move on. And I know the perfect person.
Jill: Why should I believe you? You set me up the last time and we both know how that turned out.
Melissa: Please Jill? It can’t hurt to just meet him. He’s a really sweet guy.
Jill: Okay fine. But that’s all I’m agreeing to do. If I don’t like him, you have to promise to drop it.
Melissa: I promise. I know you’ll love him, just wait and see. Who knows, he could be the one for you.
Jill: I’ve heard that before.
Melissa: I’ll see you tonight okay?
Jill: Sure. Bye.
Melissa: Bye.
Jill hangs up the phone. What did she just get herself into? She can’t believe she just agreed to let Melissa set her up again. She’d met her last boyfriend the same way, and he’d cheated on her with someone she had thought was her friend. But Melissa was right. It can’t hurt to just meet him. And she knows Melissa wouldn’t intentionally choose someone who would break her heart. Jill looks at her watch and realizes that she’s due to meet Andrea downstairs in 25 minutes. She opens her closet and begins the long process of finding the perfect thing to wear.
***********
Jill and Andrea leave the dance floor after dancing for an hour without stopping. They head for the bar to get something to drink. Andrea looks around the room and sees Melissa walk in and she’s not alone.
Andrea: Melissa’s here.
Jill: Oh great. I almost forgot all about her plan.
Andrea: Do you want to go back on the dance floor? I don’t think they’ve seen us yet.
Jill: No. There’s no sense delaying the inevitable. Besides, she’d probably send him after me and then I’d have to dance with him.
Andrea: They’re coming this way.
Jill: What does he look like?
She has her back to them and doesn’t want to let Melissa know that she’s curious about this guy.
Andrea: I don’t know yet. They’re too far away.
As they get closer, Andrea gets a better look at him.
Andrea: Well you’re not going to be disappointed.
Jill: Really?
Andrea: He’s hot! Melissa definitely knows how to pick them. You know who wasn’t bad to look at either.
Jill: How close are they?
Andrea: You’ve got about 30 seconds to change your mind. Forget that, you’ve only got 10. They walk fast.
Jill turns around just as Melissa walks up with the guy.
Melissa: Hey Jill. Allow me to introduce you to...
Jill: My dream date right?
Guy: I hope so.
Jill: Well I don’t know if Melissa has told you, but she hasn’t been very good at this in the past.
Guy: I intend to change that.
Melissa whispers something in his ear, and then motions to Andrea that they should leave the two of them alone.
Melissa: I think I see Lissa waving at us. Andrea and I should go and see what she wants. Why don’t you two get to know each other better?
They leave, but not before Andrea walks over to him and threatens him.
Andrea: If you hurt her, you’ll have to answer to me.
Jill watches them leave before turning back to see him smiling at her.
Guy: Would you like to dance?
Jill: Not really.
His smile disappears as it finally registers that Jill is not happy about Melissa’s matchmaking.
Guy: I can see that you don’t want to be here with me right now.
Jill: What was your first clue?
Guy: But you haven’t even given me a chance. You hate me and you don’t know anything about me.
Jill: You came here to see if you could win me over. That’s all I need to know.
Guy: I came here because Melissa said a lot of nice things about you and she thought we might hit it off. I’m not saying that we’re just magically going to fall in love and live happily ever after. If something happens between us, that’s great, but I’d be happy to just be your friend.
Jill starts to soften towards him. She realizes that he is just as much a victim of Melissa’s plan as she is, and that it’s very rude of her to be acting the way she is.
Jill: I’m sorry I...
Guy: You don’t need to apologize to me. Melissa did tell me about her last matchmaking attempt and you have every reason to be cautious. I’d do the same thing in your position.
Jill: Thank you.
For the first time, Jill smiles back at him.
Guy: I hope I’m not being too forward, but would you like to go for a walk?
Jill: I don’t know...
Guy: I won’t pressure you or anything. I just want to get to know you better.
Jill: Well... I guess that would be alright. Just let me go tell my friends I’m leaving. Wait here.
Jill hurries across the room to where Melissa, Andrea and Lissa were sitting watching them.
Melissa: So, how are things going?
Andrea: Do I need to send A.J. after him?
Jill: Thanks for the offer, but he’s not that bad. We’re going for a walk.
Melissa: Have fun. He really is a nice guy.
Jill: We’ll see about that. I’ll be back soon.
Jill crosses the room to where he’s waiting for her, and they leave the club.
**********
They have been walking for about 20 minutes now. They’re not really talking about anything important, just little things like their likes and dislikes. The one thing Jill has discovered though is that she really likes the sound of his voice.
Guy: What are you thinking? You seem far away.
Jill: Oh nothing, just that I could listen to you talk all night. I love your voice. The accent is really sexy.
Guy: Thanks.
Jill: So obviously you’re not from around here. Do you ever miss being away from home?
Guy: Yeah, but I’ve gotten used to it. I’m in a singing group and we’re constantly touring so I don’t get home very often. But I love what I do so it’s worth it. Besides the guys and I are like brothers so it’s almost like I have my family with me.
Jill: You can sing? Will you sing something for me?
Guy: Maybe later. If you’re good.
He grins at her and Jill is amazed to see that when he smiles, not when he’s being polite but when he really means it, it transforms his whole face. But he doesn’t notice her fixation because they have come across a neighbourhood park and he gets excited.
Guy: Look, they have a basketball court! And I see a basketball lying in the grass over there. How about a friendly game of twenty-one? What do you say?
Jill: Sure.
He runs off to get the ball as Jill follows behind.
Jill: You are just so adorable!
Guy: What was that?
Jill: I didn’t say anything.
Guy: Oh okay. I thought I heard something.
He offers her the basketball.
Guy: Do you want to go first?
Jill: No that’s okay. You can start. So what are we playing for?
Guy: What do you mean?
Jill: Winning’s more fun if you get something for it.
Guy: Okay, what did you have in mind?
Jill: If I win, you have to sing for me.
Guy: That sounds fair.
Jill: And if you win?
Guy: You have to agree to go out on a real date with me sometime.
Jill: I guess I could handle that. So we’re agreed?
Guy: You bet.
They shake hands to seal the deal and he holds her hand a little longer than necessary but Jill doesn’t mind. They begin to play and before long Jill is winning. Originally he’d been holding back a little because he didn’t want to beat her too bad, but soon he realized that she wasn’t that bad at it, and now he was losing.
Guy: Nicky’s never gonna let me hear the end of this!
He decides that there’s only one thing he can do. When Jill goes to take her next shot, he grabs her around the waist and spins her around so the ball misses the basket completely.
Jill: Hey!
Guy: Oh I’m sorry. Did I do that?
Jill: You know damn well that you did!
She’s trying to act mad but it’s hard to stop from laughing at the innocent look on his face. They continue playing, but each time Jill takes her turn, he manages to find a way to distract her, which usually results in her missing her shot. Eventually the score is tied at twenty. He sinks his next shot easily.
Jill: This is so not fair. Not only did you cheat, but you’re taller than I am.
Guy: Everyone’s taller than you.
Jill: Andrea isn’t.
Guy: Okay, almost everyone. Go ahead, it’s your turn.
He hands her the ball. As Jill prepares for her shot, he comes up behind her and places his hands on her sides.
Jill: Don’t even think about tickling me!
Guy: Are you ticklish?
Jill: Yes, and if you do it I’m gonna get you back.
Guy: It’s almost worth it, but I’ll be good. I promise I won’t do anything.
He leaves his hands where they are though. Jill has trouble thinking straight with him standing so close to her, but somehow the ball goes in. He grabs it before it bounces away and hands it back to her.
Guy: Go again.
Jill: What are you talking about? The game is over.
Guy: You get a bonus shot because of my interference. Here.
Jill takes the ball from him and bounces it a couple of times as he comes up behind her again. She is just about to throw it when he puts his arms around her and leans in close to whisper in her ear.
Guy: If you sink this shot, you win the game. But if you miss, we both win.
Jill considers this for a moment. Then she throws the ball in the other direction and turns around in his arms.
Jill: Oops, I missed. I guess we both win then.
Guy: I guess so.
They stare at each other for awhile until Jill breaks the silence.
Jill: Aren’t we supposed to shake hands or something?
Guy: If you want.
He looks disappointed as he lets go of her and moves back a step. He holds out a hand to her.
Jill: I have a better idea.
She grabs his hand to pull him closer to her, and then stretches up to kiss him. He wraps his arms around her again and holds her tight as the kiss continues for some time.
Jill: Wow. I guess Melissa was right. You might just be the one for me.
Guy: I’d like to be.
Jill: But there’s so much I don’t know about you.
Guy: We’ll have plenty of time for all that later. You still owe me a date, remember?
Jill: How could I forget? But could you at least tell me your name? I kind of missed that part earlier.
Guy: It’s Kian. And anything else will have to wait because right now we have more important things to do.
He leans down to kiss her again and they forget about everything else but each other.