The Bolt from the Blue (Working Title)

Chapter 6- The First Date

Sam waited, bouncing up and down on the tips of his feet, on fire inside with nerves, elation, trepidation and excitement. He scanned the area in front of the library again, just in case John was hidden there, in the few faces before him. Of course, he wasn't, as he hadn't been thirty seconds before, and Sam, expected, never would be, as surely he would teleport in and not walk from the direction of the city centre.

Sam kept his hands in his pocket, clenched in tight fists so he that he wouldn't be flexing his fingers- he had arrived fifteen minutes early. Although he knew it had only been nine minutes since then, he was starting to get nervous. Or, rather, a part of him was getting nervous: there was a small thought that kept appearing unbidden in his head that said 'he didn't care enough to be early, too'. Sam dismissed this thought and concentrated on stopping bouncing up and down. He didn't want to appear stressed when John finally arrived.

Two minutes later, a portal opened a few feet from where Sam stood and out stepped John; he looked around and Sam waved.

"Hi," said John.

"Hey," Sam replied, his voice coming out strangely deep. He wasn't trying to sound jokey, but he also didn't want to sound too high-pitched and excited, and so, subconsciously, he'd modulated his voice and ended up sounding like he had a head cold. He hoped that John wouldn't notice.

John hadn't noticed, and was still just appreciating the sight of Sam. In the few days between their last encounter and this, he had taken on an almost mythical quality in John's imagination, after all it was very rare that John met someone with whom he connected- he had half-expected him not to be there when he arrived. But there he was, and now John had to confront the reality that a real person was standing before him and not just an exaggerated memory.

Luckily, he was still pretty hot.

John briefly considered kissing Sam on the cheek, but then this seemed a bit too forward- but then, they'd already kissed on the lips, in public no less, so maybe he was just being too formal. However, Sam had also not attempted to kiss John, so he decided to just leave it as equal.

"So, what are we doing?" He asked, and then on an impulse reached out and took Sam's hand in his own.

Sam blushed, smiled and said "There's a really interesting film on at a cinema near here. It's short, too, so we could get a drink afterwards?"

"Sounds awesome. What's the address?"

"Hmm?"

"Of the cinema."

"Oh. Um." He was surprised by the question but a moment later he answered with the address.

"Great." John opened a portal in front of Sam and gestured for Sam to go first.

Sam had been taught never to get into cars with strange men or allow them to take him anywhere: John wasn't that strange, or, at least, not in a bad way, but still Sam was nervous. "I've never travelled by portal before."

"Really?" John always forgot how unusual it was for other people. He couldn't imagine living without portals- it sounded exhausting and unproductive. He then realised that Sam was probably apprehensive about entering the portal without being able to see where it lead. "Ah, you want me to prove it's ok."

"What?"

"I mean, I'll show it leads where I said. Just a second."

Before Sam could protest, John jogged into the portal, disappearing out of sight. Sam stared into the hole in the air: it was a perfect circle, about two feet wide, it seemed to be mostly blue but there were streaks of red light arcing in and out as well- at the edges the air shimmered as though it were indignant at this intrusion. John hopped back out of the portal, a pamphlet clutched in his hand. He smiled and handed it to Sam: a timetable of the cinema.