Snowboarder Imagines

Ulrik Badertscher: Blind Date

"Craig should be here any minute," Coco assures me, but the obsessive way Mark is staring at his phone makes me think otherwise. They both look slightly panicked as they sit across from at the table. My blind double with Craig, Mark, and Coco was supposed to start 10 minutes ago.

"This is so typical Craig," I hear Mark mutter under his breath. I feel bad because Mark and Coco went through all this trouble setting me up on this blind date with Craig, but honestly, I don't want to be here. I'm silently hoping Craig never shows up so I can just go home and avoid this awkward mess.

"Ulrik?!" Coco exclaims as she stares at the guy walking towards our table. She looks more horrified than excited.

"Sorry I'm late. Traffic was a nightmare." The guy says casually as he sits down next to me.

"What are you doing here? Where's Craig?" Coco asks.

"Hi, I'm Ulrik." The guy says as he turns towards me and offers his had to shake.

"Nice to meet you. I'm y/n." I reply. He's good looking. He looks to be older than me, but not by too much.

"Ulrik!" Coco nearly shouts, bringing his attention back to her.

"What's everybody eating? I'm starving." Ulrik says, ignoring Coco's panic. I smile at this, but try to hide my grin from Coco. I think I see Mark smirk too.

Coco turns and glares at her boyfriend as if to say 'do something!'.

"So where's Craig?" Mark finally asks Ulrik. At this point Ulrik is already stuffing his face with a breadstick.

"He's sick." He explains with a mouth full of food. "He didn't want to stand this beautiful woman up, so here I am."

"I'm so sorry, y/n. This is not how this night was supposed to go. If I had known Craig was sick we would've just rescheduled." Coco says.

"It's fine." I reply. I know this date just started, but I kinda already like Ulrik.

~~~

Dinner goes well, well, it goes better than well. It was actually fun. Ulrik is hilarious and it's clear to see how much Mark and Coco adore him. I'm having such a good time that I almost forgot that I'm supposed to be on a date with Craig.

"Oh, we better go! We're gonna be late for the movie." Coco tells the table.

"Actually, I think we're gonna skip the movie." Ulrik says while looking at me, his arm wrapped around my shoulder. I feel my cheeks get red.

"What do you mean? We're all supposed to go to the movies together." Coco adds. She looks slightly panicked again, like she did when Ulrik first walked into the restaurant.

"I know. But I think y/n and I are gonna go do something else." Ulrik says. Coco then quickly moves over towards me.

"You don't have to go with him. This was never the plan and I know this whole night has turned into a huge mess-" Coco rambles. I cut her off.

"I wanna go with him. Really. I'm having a great time. Don't worry." I tell her as I grab my bag and follow Ulrik out of the restaurant.

"You like the beach?" Ulrik asks as we walk down the sidewalk. I nod. "I thought you would."

We walk silently for a bit, but it's the nice kind of silence. Normally it would be awkward to walk silently with a person you barely know, but with Ulrik, it just seems natural.

When we reach the beach we take off our shoes to feel the sand beneath our feet. Ulrik doesn't hold my hand, but stands close enough that I can feel the heat radiating off of him.

I find washed up log lying in the sand and I walk on it like a balance beam. Ulrik takes my hand to keep me centered.

"Can I tell you something?" Ulrik asks me. I kinda wobble on the log and squeeze on tighter to his hand for support. I'm slightly embarrassed by my clumsiness, but Ulrik doesn't seem to mind it.

"Sure." I answer as I try to regain myself.

"I'm glad Craig was sick tonight." He tells me. I stop walking and look at him. "I'm glad I got to be the one to take you one a date."

"Me too." I reply honestly. I'm sure Craig is great, but I can't see how things could get much better than they are right now.

Ulrik takes a step closer to me. He puts both my hands in his. I'm still standing on the log, which makes our heights about equal.

"Would it be cool if I took you on a real date sometime?" Ulrik asks as he inches even closer.

"Yeah, I think that'd be okay." I answer with a smirk. Ulrik smiles too and then moves in to kiss me. Somehow this night just got even better.