The Dress - an Iain de Caestecker Fanfiction

Chapter 3: The Date

You have spent two hours agonizing over what you should be wearing to this coffee date with Iain. 

"Just a cup of coffee. Just a cup of coffee. Not even dinner, just a casual afternoon drink, just like any lunch date, with any other friend." You try to calm yourself, but it wasn't just any lunch date, was it? You and Iain had been friends for a while now, maybe not for years, but when you were brought on as a recurring character seven months ago, you two had hit it off. Similar personalities, so many likes and dislikes in common, you enjoyed spending time together, so why were you so nervous? ...Because you want something to come of this.

You finally decide on your nicest jeans with your favorite butter-yellow baby doll top, it flowed just right and hugged you well, but wasn't overly dressy. Perfect. You opted for flats instead of heels, light makeup, and you left your hair down. One more look in the full length mirror and you think you may be ready. 

Yup, one more mental slap in the face and you're good to go. 'Just enjoy the company,' you tell yourself.

Twenty minutes later you find yourself shakily reaching for the door of the coffeehouse. You take a breath and step in, almost immediately spotting him as he waves and smiles. He almost looks relieved, and you notice just seeing him smile makes most of your jitters dissipate. Despite feeling like a character from a Nicholas Spark novel, maybe this would be doable after all.

"You look lovely," he says brightly.

"Thanks, lookin' good yourself." You smile, "now, I've never been here before, what's good?" You ask perusing the menu over the front counter. 

"Just about everything. I'd steer away from the green teas, and anything that says 'skinny' or 'latte'." 

"So, skinny green tea latte..."

"Run. Fast and far." 

You chuckle at each other's cheesy jokes for a few minutes as you make up your minds. 

"I think I'll be boring and go with a mocha." 

"You got it." He walks with you over to the table he's saved and pulls the chair out for you. As you sit, your stomach rumbles quietly, you forgot to order something to eat but couldn't bring yourself to say anything. When he comes back from ordering, he's carrying two plates,

"You haven't mentioned any food allergies and I wanted you to try these, they're my favorites. So we have a Bakewell tart, which has raspberries and almond, and a quiche with ham, eggs, cheese, spinach, and other assorted good-for-you stuff. Are we good so far?" Your stomach answers for you as it growls loudly. 

"I was going to mess with you a bit, but I'm too hungry. No food allergies. It all sounds wonderful."

"Alright then, tuck in." 

As you are both eating, your drinks arrive,

"So." You say, trying to jumpstart a conversation,

"So." He replies, not helping at all,

"Why now?" He tilts his head slightly in question. "What made you ask me out now? Out of the blue?" He looks a little guilty and pulls out his phone, you're starting to think he's dodging the question when he slides his phone toward you. 

The dress.

You pause, "You deleted this from Chloe's phone, why do you have it?"

"I texted it to myself first. It really is a stunning picture of you." You give him a funny look, feeling a little odd about him having a picture of you in such a revealing dress, especially since he seemed to want to keep it secret.

"Why did you want it?" You ask slowly, half dreading the answer,

"Whoa, no! No, no, no, not that. I just figured— I mean I thought maybe— I thought it would be safer with me." Relieved as you are, you look at him, feeling a little confused. "Chloe kept showing it off, I have a feeling Lizzy would do the same if she got her hands on it..." A blush has started creeping up is cheeks and down his neck, "it was innocently motivated." He offers. But now you can see it.

"You were jealous?" You ask, the realization doing nothing to ease your confusion. 

"I suppose so."

"Why? Of whom?"

"I guess it was just seeing Nick and B.J. reactin' like that, I started gettin' protective." You can't help smile as your heart flutters a little bit. "As for why: I've been trying to work up the guts to ask you out for the past eight months."

"Iain..."

"Yeah?"

"We met seven months ago."

"I know, but that wasn't the first time I saw you." Your eyebrows raise and you blink a few times, not knowing what to say. You do know that you are in serious danger of falling for this man. Eight months ago was your first visit to the set after getting the role. You met with the Whedons and the first director you would be working with, as well as having a fitting for your wardrobe. "You were fangirling over Joss and Jed, gettin' so excited about working on a Marvel project. When we heard a little later that you were joining our ranks..." He pauses and sighs, "I had planned on doing this a while ago, I guess I was just afraid of getting shot down." 

"So this was what? Love at first sight?" You half-joke. He starts to smile and reaches over to take your hand,

"Something like that."