You Must Be Blind. [Liamie!]

[AMY WINSTON]

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Clever Amy was SO CLEVER.

Okay, whatever, maybe it wasn't super clever of her to trick her two best friends into a date with each other, but who cares? They were obviously cray-cray for each other. Perhaps actually seeing each other in a date setting would make them realize it. In any event, she was getting super tired of hearing both Jamie and Liam bitch about the other's love life. The amounts of Jello in their house must be off the freaking charts.

So, the plan was, that Jamie was at Amy's house, getting ready for his blind date, someone she had been assuring Jamie was a total fox, and not an uber-flamer. True on both accounts. She hadn't technically lied to either of them about their prospective 'dates.' Just the circumstances that led up to the date. Jamie would arrive at the restuarant at 7:45, leaving 15 minutes for Amy to go pick up Liam and drop him off so he wouldn't get lost. She could only hope that Jamie wouldn't wuss out and leave in that short amount of time.

She was dressed down, as this was not her night, a simple pale blue slouch sweater, paired with her favorite comfy black yoga pants, and standing outside her bathroom door, leaned up against the wall, her expression one of annoyance, and slight consternation. "Jamie, you're going!" She called, for about the sixth time. She loved her Jamers, but he was just a puddle of nerves about the whole thing. "It'll be fun! Promise!"

She pulled her hair out of her face, tying it up in a cheerleader's ponytail, trying to keep her patience. She wouldn't have to jump through all these hoops if they would just admit their feels for one-another dammit. Slightly irritated, she rolled her body along the wall, pressing her forehead to the bathroom door, her arms hanging limply by her sides. "Look, if you still get shaky when he shows up, you can just text me, and I'll call you and feign some kind of emergency." Okay, that one was a total lie. But only ebcause she knew that this was NO. BIG. DEAL.

Daisy came up to the door, one paw pitifully scratching at the door, a high pitched whine emanating from her throat. Amy dropped down, wrapping her arms around the dog's massive neck, nuzzling her face in her fur. "I know Dais, he's being silly. He's gonna have fun, isn't he?" A sly smile erupted on her face as she rose her voice just the slightest bit. "I think he's just being a chickenshit, don't you?" Daisy grumbled beneath her, in what Amy took to be either agreement, or defense of the man in the bathroom. Of course. Amy has that dog for six years, and Jamie steals it's heart in one night. Stupid alpha-dog bonding shit.

Not that she had a problem with Jamie's furry little problem. As a matter of fact, she thought it was cool as shit. He was special. Unique. A glittering snowflake in the otherwise dreary winter. She was doing her best to be supportive, which wasn't a problem for her. There were other things to worry about. Her best friend was a werewolf? Cool. Her best friend refused to talk the feels with the man he totally loves because he fears rejection? Fuck all of that noise.

Which brought her back to her original point. Hopping back up to a standing position, she backed away from the door, Daisy following suit. "Okay, come out of there now and show me how sexy you look." She crossed her arms in an expectant fashion, prepared to pick the lock if necessary.

[/blockquote]

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TAG Liamie!
WORDS 617
NOTES I CANNOT HAVE ANY MORE THREADS. FADE ME OUT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE PLEASE.
TUNES heaven help us , my chemical romance.
CREDIT template by MUNZTAR * of caution 2.0[/center]

[JAMES KENNEDY]

This whole thing was such a bad idea. Amy was not clever in setting Jamie up on a blind date, especially with a guy. He was usually just fine on dates because even if he wasn't confident, he was great at faking it (actually, that was one of his best skills, he thought), but he wasn't on the date just yet and he'd never been on a date with a dude before. He 'been with' guys before, but that was entirely different, and when you were that high or drunk, etiquette really didn't matter. This was a DATE, meaning they were both sober (in theory, and he wasn't hanging around if his date was already trashed, no matter how much of a 'fox' the guy was), and they were supposed to be impressing each other and getting to know one another. Frankly, Jamie didn't feel very impressive and he certainly didn't think some guy really wanted to get to know him, but he was willing to give it a try when Amy brought it up.

Yeah, he'd been rethinking that ever since. He'd be fine with it for a little while, then he'd question his own sanity for accepting, hers for offering and then be all kinds of uncertain and worried, then have to talk himself back into it and start the process all over again. Lying to Liam about it was even worse, but Amy made him promise a few times over, and he really didn't know how to mention it to Liam even if he told him. 'Hey, Amy set me up on a date with some guy she knows. Yeah, a guy. Oh, yeah, I'm all into the dicks, didn't you know?' Christ, he couldn't talk to Liam about it without talking about other things, and he didn't want to get into all that, and he definitely couldn't trust himself not to get defensive and, as Amy had said a few times already, sassy. Because apparently, he didn't get 'bitchy' or 'mean', he got 'sassy'. Whatever the difference was, he could get sarcastic and self-deprecating, even a little crude, and he didn't want to go there with Liam, either. He'd fuck it up and that wasn't cool.

Maybe Amy was onto something when she said that he shouldn't mention it to Liam. If it went well, he'd tell him, but what were the chances of that? Slim, he figured. Still, he pulled the same stunt he did when he was going to work so that he didn't have to get ready with Liam hanging around the house, and this had even more reason for that than his own strange fear that Liam would laugh at him for dressing up for work (though he didn't know why he thought that was a big deal). He packed his bookbag with the clothes and whatever else he needed, let Liam know he'd be heading out to Amy's, and was off.

He changed his mind about going another three times during the walk, so he was back to thinking it was a terrible idea by the time Amy answered the door, though he refrained from telling her that immediately. Why? Because this was actually the first time he'd been to her apartment, and there was a great big pitbull suddenly jumping up on him and sniffing at him like he was the single most interesting thing in the world. He blinked and breathed in deeply without even thinking, and his eyes flooded amber right there in front of Amy as he held her dog up by its front legs and only barely refrained from sniffing it as thoroughly as she was sniffing him. Yes, she. Female dog, extremely friendly, spayed. None of it mattered to him, but he could instantly smell the difference and to Daisy, he smelled like a person and an unneutered, big male dog all at once, and she was incredibly interested. It was Amy who pulled Daisy back and properly 'introduced' them, perhaps understanding what the amber meant and refusing to let the dog steal the date away tonight, and Jamie was fine with that.

Daisy wasn't.

He'd barely set his bag down before the dog was slipping away from the boss-lady to be all up in his business again, and he didn't disappoint. Animals had always been cool with him (even if they seemed to be less certain about him now that he smelled wolfy), so when Daisy started trying to play, he was all about it. In the end, he and the pitbull wrestled across the majority of Amy's apartment, Daisy utterly thrilled that Jamie didn't stop her from playing rough and that he played kind of rough back. Nobody got hurt, but they didn't hold back on each other. Of course, Jamie tried to maintain a conversation with Amy the entire time, which didn't help his ability to keep the upper hand on the dog, who seemed just fine with holding him down and licking all over his neck and cheek until he stopped talking to Amy in favor of laughter and shoving the dog off and getting back down to business. Daisy was quite demanding of his attention.

Amy, throughout it all, made the appropriate jokes about Daisy being the blind date (surprise!), Daisy perhaps being a better idea (omg Amy y u so funny?!) and puppies (HAHAHAHYSTERICAL.), and continued to talk him into the blind date idea as he talked himself out of it. It was a busy night, and Amy deserved credit for her patience, and for being smart enough to realize that Jamie would absolutely use Daisy as an excuse to 'forget the time' and not start getting ready. Really, it wasn't a huge deal because he was quick to clean up, but Amy caught him at that game and shooed him off to the bathroom to wash the dog slobber away and attempt to make himself presentable.

In the bathroom alone, washing up, he was back to rethinking things. Fortunately, most of the process was automatic, since he was wearing most of the same things that he wore to work (just not the white button-up, and no tie), so he cleaned up and pulled his clothes on, putting himself together like it was nothing more than a night at Bleeding Hearts. He brushed his hair back into a ponytail because he figured the same rules applied to nice dates at romantic little Italian places as they did to Bleeding Hearts, and leaving his hair down looked sloppy. He didn't go so far as to pin it back because that was his boss' rule and he didn't care if pieces fell out of the ponytail, and he finally stopped to take in the details and straighten the dark green button-up a little after it was all done. That was when he started to panic again, and when Amy started to get curious.

There was a reason she said 'still get shaky' about his date showing up, and that was because he admitted that he was shaky right then. He couldn't remember the last time he was that nervous over something so silly, but he tried to get a little cologne on and was far too unsteady for his own comfort. His only saving grace was that he was quick, or he'd have put too much on, and that wasn't cool.

"I am not being a chickenshit!" he snapped back, well aware that Amy was doing it to inspire a response from him, but he heard Daisy's grumble and chose to interpret that as the dog being on his side. "Amy, this is stupid, I look like a third-grader at his first dance who decided to ditch the suit coat. I should have just worn the rest of my work clothes, at least I could have pretended a little longer!"

Okay, so he didn't look bad, but he was nervous and so he wasn't noticing that. All he could think was that he was going to fuck this up and he didn't know what he was doing. Amy had talked him out of the white shirt in favor of the green, and he liked that shirt, but he just felt stupid. "FINE!" he shouted through the door, rolling his eyes, stuffing his street clothes into his bag and opening the door.

"God, you're a pain in the ass!"

[AMY WINSTON]

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Just when Amy was seriously considering breaking into her own fucking bathroom, the doorknob turned, Jamie protesting his good-lookery before Amy could even see him properly. She rolled her eyes at him calling her a pain in the ass, and waited patiently for him to do the proper show off. He dropped his arms with a horribly defeatest attitude, and Amy got a real good look.

Woah.

In the course of their short but strong friendship, Amy had accepted that Liam and Jamie were cuties, but her mind shoved them away in the 'they are so perfect for each other' category, so she never thought anything beyond that. But now, looking at Jamie objectively, as though he were her prospective date, she could hardly stop herself from ogling. If that was what he looked like at Bleeding Hearts, she wondered how many superficial relationships had been broken up because the girls (or guys) had been too distracted by him.

"Wow Jamie." She breathed, her eyebrows raised, and her large blue eyes wide. He looked amazing, almost like a totally different person, while still retaining that quality that was strictly Jamie. "I don't understand what is wrong with your eyes, but you look..." She trailed off, trying to find a word that wouldn't clash with the strict friendship lines that they had managed. She couldn't find one. "Hot!" She blurted out, a small blush rising on her cheeks.

She stepped forward, and grabbed Jamie's hands, pulling them away from him, and dipping her head down to look him in the eyes. "He's gonna love you, I promise." It took a great deal of self control to not point out that Jamie's mystery date probably already did love him, but that was the point of this little experiment.

She looked at the clock behind her, and jumped a little. Shit! She needed to get Jamie to the restaurant, and then go swing over and get Liam, to ensure that his borderline retarded self wouldn't get lost on the way there. And the time was slipping away from her, quickly. "Yikes, Jamie. Way to cut it close!" She laughed nervously, giving hima quick hug. "Don't be so nervous! It'll be fine!" She promised, backing away and giving him a confident thumbs up.

She walked back into the kitchen to grab her purse and keys, eyeing Daisy. "No funny business. Don't you go getting hair all over Jamie's nice clothes." She warned, using a tone that most wouldn't take with their pets, but instead a troublemaking teenager.Daisy whined up at her, and she quirked up an eyebrow. "I mean it."

She disappeared into the kitchen for a moment, slinging her purse over her shoulder. "You all set? Or am I dragging you into the restaurant? Because, all honesty bro, not a great impression." Her tone was light and teasing, with the added threat there implying that he WAS going.

[/blockquote]

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TAG Liamie!
WORDS 504
NOTES I CANNOT HAVE ANY MORE THREADS. FADE ME OUT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE PLEASE.
TUNES heaven help us , my chemical romance.
CREDIT template by MUNZTAR * of caution 2.0[/center]

[JAMES KENNEDY]

All things considered, Jamie wasn't expecting a great response out of Amy on his appearance. She was his friend, and though they'd become very good friends very quickly (something about their personalities just clicked into place perfectly), they hadn't really shown any interest in the way one another looked. Jamie knew she had a boyfriend, so he didn't think about her in an 'attractive female' sense, and he was pretty damn sure that she didn't think about him in that way, either. It was why, when she stared at him like that, he automatically assumed something was wrong, and then she said, 'wow' and went on about not understanding what was wrong with his eyes.

Wait, his eyes? He didn't hesitate when she paused to figure out how to describe what he looked like, instantly trying to twist into the bathroom to see his eyes. "What's wrong with my eyes? They're still mine, right?" he asked quickly, but the glance he got before he blinked at her and stopped was all hazel and all human. Not amber and wolf. Hot. What?

She'd said he looked hot. What? He found himself staring at her again, and maybe for a second there, he actually took in her appearance. She wasn't prettied up for a date, but he'd always thought she was very pretty, just untouchable. He was good about putting on a facade of confidence and easy assurance, but in the end, he didn't really believe that he stood any chance in the world at getting someone awesome and attractive. Landing someone pretty in bed for an evening was one thing, especially when they were both utterly intoxicated, but to keep such a person? Impossible. Amy fell into that 'unattainable' category for him, but his attempts at not causing himself grief by noticing how gorgeous she was failed him right then. He was so screwed for this date.

Actually, that deeper self-doubt about his own worth, ability to be interesting and looks was what was causing him so much stress about this date. He'd never been on a date with a dude before, so that was nerve-wracking, but Amy made this guy sound pretty great, and if that was the case, Jamie wouldn't measure up and he knew it. Nobody wanted damaged goods, and even if he managed to camouflage with the outer wrappings, that didn't change the fact that the insides of the box were shattered and dirty, like a glass that had been dropped in the soil and gravel, then hastily scooped back inside. Being assured that his date was going to love him didn't help, but at least he managed a smile for her before he dipped his head and broke the eye contact.

He wasn't so certain of that, but the point was that he had to try, right? He couldn't embarrass Amy, so as much as he'd gone back and forth about going, he had to show up, but that didn't make it easier. At least he didn't have to dwell much longer. Amy pointed out the time, told him not to be nervous, and it was showtime. As long as he could get out the door without Daisy jumping all over him, he'd be ahead of the game, but Amy had that under control and he tucked his backpack into her room, just inside the door. "You sure you don't mind if I leave this here? I'll be back to grab it after I get done tonight or early-ish tomorrow, I promise," he told her, dropping it despite the question about whether it was okay and heading for the door.

"I can make it into the restaurant without you dragging me," he told her, rolling his eyes to go with it, but he smiled again, all nerves and false bravado. "First impressions are my specialty, right?"

Yeah, bullshit. When he'd met Amy for the first time, his eyes had been red and tearing up, his nose had been running and he'd been a general mess while Liam teased him. He was NOT the best at first impressions at all. Whatever, he could try, right? Even if he wasn't always the best at it, he was still a slick mofo, which was precisely why he actually went along with the 'Jamie arrives early' plan; it ensured he got to the table first, which meant talking to the server first. Why was that important? Well, it meant that Jamie could give the young woman his debit card and let her know that she shouldn't bring them a bill, just run the card, add 25% gratuity to their total and slip the card back to him discreetly. Even without knowing who his date was, he refused to let the other man pay and he would not have that argument at the table. Being a server himself, he'd seen enough of those squabbles to know that he wouldn't be part of it.

Then, it was all about waiting. Yep, because that wasn't nerve-wracking at all.