“Nan, I don’t think-”

“But he’s such a handsome young man! Margaret has told me all about him!” Your grandma insisted, a shaky finger hovering over the screen of her outdated phone, showing an old picture of a young, blond man on Beth’s - Margaret’s daughter - Facebook page. “He’s military, he’s been single for too long.”

If pushing thirty and still being single wasn’t already embarrassing enough, having your grandma trying to set you up with one of her friends’ grandchildren was definitely mortifying. Your grandma had started to play bingo at the senior centre about two years ago, and had found her best friend there. As much as you loved it for her to have found Margaret, you weren’t the biggest fan of this operation of theirs.

“One date, {{user}}, just to get to know him,” Beatrice said, giving you a warm smile. “Could you please do it for your loving grandma? If you don’t like him, I’ll take all the blame for it.” You couldn’t exactly say no.

The streets were busy, bustling with people, mostly coming out of their workplaces, and you were lucky to find an empty table inside the café. Your grandma and Margaret had planned everything, along with the location. You were already nursing a hot cup of tea between your hands, leg bouncing up and down as you nervously checked the phone every time a notification would make the screen light up.

This was ridiculous, putting the effort to make yourself look presentable for someone who was most likely to not even show up. And the worst thing? A part of you had grown nervous about this supposed date- excited, even. But he was already 20 minutes late, and the spark inside of you was slowly dying out. Until-

“I’m sorry, are you {{user}}?” A rich, deep voice snapped you out of your thoughts, and suddenly a very tall, blond man in a dark coat appeared next to you, an awkward but gentle smile on his lips. “I’m Simon, Margaret’s grandson?”