Elective Affinities [Complete]

Double Date

Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago.

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Monday evening

"Please, tell me again, why exactly are we doing this?" Jay Walker asked his friend, while the two young men were walking towards the restaurant.

"Because you are one of my closest friends, who just happens to be not in a relationship at this moment." Zane stated.

"Yeah, thanks a lot for reminding me." The auburn-haired young man sarcastically replied. "I mean, it's not that my mum wouldn't go on about it every single time I talk to her on the phone."

But as much as he disliked to hear it, Jay could not deny the fact that his friend and his mother were right. He was currently single – again. His relationships never lasted long. But, unlike his friends (and his parents) suspected, he was not purposely avoiding having a serious relationship, and he wouldn't mind settling down one day. Jay simply hadn't found the right girl yet.

He just wasn't as lucky as Cole, his best friend and former college roommate, who had been with his girlfriend since their first year at Ninjago University. Jay himself was one of the few people who knew about Cole's plan to propose to Seliel on Valentine's Day.

"Besides, Pixal is a very nice, extremely intelligent and exceptionally beautiful young woman. I am convinced that you will like her." Zane's statement interrupted his thoughts.

Jay smirked. "If she is so great, why don't you take her on a date?"

To Jay's surprise, his flatmate blushed slighly in response to this question. "I-I do not think she would be interested. We merely see each other as friends." He explained. "Unfortunately." Zane  added, barely audible.

Since Jay had know him, Zane's main focus had always been on realising to his dream to open his own restaurant, as soon as he would have gained enough experience and saved enough money. At the age of only 24, he was already the sous-chef at a small but very popular restaurant. But the late working hours associated with his profession made it very hard for him to find a girlfriend and, until recently, Zane hadn't even shown any interest in dating at all.

But that had changed a few weeks ago, when the restaurant manager had hired a new waitress. Pixal was a student at Ninjago Tech, who worked three to four evenings a week. She and Zane had become good friends. They had now agreed to set up each other with blind dates and go on a double date together for Valentine's Day. (Although today was only the 11th February, but neither Zane nor Pixal would be able to take time off work on the evening of the actual Valentine's Day.) So, Zane had asked his friend and flatmate Jay to be Pixal's date for tonight, whereas she had invited a friend of hers to be Zane's date.

Zane stopped in front of a rather fancy-looking Italian restaurant. "Well, here we are."

"Alright, let's chop-socky this lemonade stand." Jay replied, trying to hide his nervousness with a joke.

Zane gave him a rather confused look. "I do not understand what you are trying to say, but I assume that you are very eager to meet the two lovely ladies."

Jay and Zane entered the restaurant and were greeted by a friendly woman at the reception. "Good evening Sirs. Welcome to Garmadon's. Do you have a reservation?"

"Good evening. We have a booked a table for four, please. The name is Zane Julien." Zane told her.

"Julien... Ah, here we are. Lloyd will be your waiter for tonight." She checked her notes. "We have your table ready, but maybe you would like to wait at the bar, until the other two guests arrive?"