Three Times The Hummel Verse

The First Date

Carson was nervous. He had never asked someone out so directly before, let along someone he actually wanted to date and not just hook up with. She had seemed interested, calming his nerves quite a bit, but one never knew until it was happening.

He sat in a nice Italian restaurant, waiting for Shannon to show. He had arrived extra early, for fear of her getting there before him. Now it was getting close to the time they had agreed to meet, and she hadn't arrived yet.

Carson just stared at the door. He'd never been stood up before. He wondered what he would do if that happened. 

Luckily, Carson's mind was put to rest as she walked through the doors.

She was breathtaking. Shannon was dressed in a bright red, strapless dress that swished as she walked. She had her long hair up in a loose bun, with fallen strands framing her face. She looked effortlessly beautiful to him. Carson's smile grew as her eyes practically glowed when they landed on him.

He didn't think he looked too bad himself. He was wearing a light green button up that he'd been told brought out his eyes. He accompanied it with black jeans, trying to make it look like he didn't care too much on his appearance. When in reality, he'd spent hours coming up with the perfect outfit.

"Hi." She said shyly as she took the seat across from him.

"Hi." Carson said back. He couldn't take his eyes off her. Just like the day they met, he couldn't look away from those startling chocolate eyes. "You look beautiful."

She visibly blushed. "Thank you. You don't look to bad yourself." They sat, smiling at one another, just enjoying being in each others company.

"I must say, excellent choice on the restaurant. I love Italian food. Pasta in particular." She said, obviously trying to start up a conversation.

Carson smiled in return and handed her one of the two menus. "Agreed. I like to think I could eat pasta every day for the rest of my life if I wanted to."

She smiled widely, and her eyes began to sparkle. "Then that's one of the many things we seem to have in common."

When the waiter arrived, they both ordered baked ziti, with a side of breadsticks to share. Carson was amazed with how well it was going. The two continued to chat about this and that without awkward pauses or breaks in the conversation.

"Wait, so you have two identical brothers running around town? How come I haven't seen them before?" She teased as their food arrived.

Carson smiled, then thanked the waiter. "They both live in the city. They attend NYADA and NYU."

"Wow, NYADA? That's really hard to get into. Your brother must be very talented." Shannon said as she took her first bite of the ziti.

Carson nodded as he ripped a piece of breadstick off, and then dipped it into his pasta sauce. "So what are you majoring in at NorthWestern?"

She smiled sweetly before answering. "I want to be a dog trainer. NorthWestern has a great animal phycology class, along with a good human phycology program. I'm currently on my second year."

Intrigued, Carson wondered what else the girl in front of him was interested in. But before he could ask, she turned the focus on him.

"What about you, what are you majoring in?"

"I'm majoring in Journalism. I want to be one of those big writers for papers such as the New York Times and all those other popular papers. I'm in the middle of my third year."

She smiled encouragingly. "That's some pretty big dreams. I bet you'd wipe the floor with the writers that are there now."

Carson didn't know what to say. Sure, he'd had people say that he was really good at writing, but never before had they suggested that he would be way better than everyone else. Let along someone who had probably never read his work before. He smiled widely. "Thank you. And I bet you'll be the best dog trainer that ever lived."