absolutely smitten ➳ d.h.

[ 2.4 ] the thames | tessa

As Tessa turned around Dan felt his heart skip a beat.

"Er, hi Dan." She smiled slightly, raising her left hand into a small wave.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, curious to see why she was at the harbour.

"Dodie was supposed to be meeting me." Tessa replied almost instantly, looking around for any sign of her best friend.

"Oh, right." Dan uttered, looking relieved.

Tessa was hesitant about asking her next question, but knew it would bug her to her grave if she didn't ask now.

"What about you?"

"Phil and I are going to get some dinner, apparently." Dan shrugged. "I've no idea where he is though."

"Wait." Tessa stopped suddenly, contemplating whether her next move was safe to say or not. "Okay this is going to sound completely insane, but I'm going to say it anyway because what the hell; you don't think that Dodie and Ph-"

"Oh my god!" Dan exclaimed, cutting her off. "They've fucking set us up."

"You think?" Tessa said as she bit her lip, shuffling from foot to foot nervously.

"It's so obvious now I'm thinking about it." Dan sighed, cursing himself for not realising sooner. "I knew Phil was up to something, that bastard."

Tessa laughed at Dan as he rolled his eyes.

She then felt a vibration in her pocket and heard the faint sound of 'All Star' by Smashmouth playing.

Her ringtone for Dodie just had to be that song, didn't it?

She went red as she answered the facetime call, while Dan smirked at her.

"It's for the meme, okay?" She elaborated to Dan before turning her attention towards her phone.

The light spilled out of her phone, revealing both Dodie and Phil on the other end of the phone.

"Okay, what's going on?" Tessa demands, being sure not to raise her voice too loud. The last thing she needed was everyone's eyes on her.

"Surprise!" Dodie and Phil chimed in unison with grins on their faces.

"I swear to god Phil Lester one day I'm actually going to murder you." Dan warned moving into Dodie and Phil's view.

"Hear us out before you commit a homicide, Daniel." Phil replied to Dan's comment, rolling his eyes.

"You've set us up!" Dan exclaimed. "You both lied to us! Phil, I'm supposed to be your best friend."

"You are. And so is Tessa, so I've organised this intervention
for you both." Phil stated simply.

"What do you mean by 'intervention'?" Tessa asked.

"Okay," Dodie began, "So you clearly like each other. A lot. But neither of you have the guts to ask the other on a date."

"Yeah." Phil agreed. "So we're sending you on one now."

"You're going to have dinner on the boat behind you." Dodie explained.

"Oh! And don't worry, we're going to pay for everything, so you can order whatever you want from the menu." Phil interjected.

Tessa glanced at Dan awkwardly at Phil's comment. She wasn't sure how to respond to that sentence. Should she eat what she wanted, or should she eat a salad like everyone other girl she ever seen go on a date has done?

"So, dinner. Where you can really get to know each other." Dodie said, looking at Phil suspiciously.

"Without either of us eavesdropping." He muttered under his breathe, earning glares from both Tessa and Dan.

"Anyway, the atmosphere is supposed to be super chilled, so you should feel fine in there." Dodie recovered.

This Tessa didn't believe. However it was Dodie. Tessa had been best friends with Dodie for years. They knew each other inside out, so she decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and believe her.

Phil nodded in response to Dodie. "Apparently the deck is really nice, so maybe you could go out there once you've finished your meal?" He suggested.

"Ew, the outdoors." Dan grimaced, which made Tessa giggle as Dodie and Phil exchanged knowing glances.

"Okay, so have a good time!" Dodie smiled.

"Yes! Bring me back some cake please Tessa." Phil half-joked, which made everyone laugh.

"Okay." Tessa hesitantly replied to them with a slightly fake smile.

In all honestly, she was terrified. She knew that this was practically the only time she was going to get to impress Dan. Every other time she'd talked to him since they conversed at his flat, she had looked like a mess, smelled like a toilet or felt like death.

This was it.

"Alright, bye then." Dan waved, but before Tessa could hang up, Phil stopped her.

"Oh! And we forgot to mention." He started. "The boat actually sails, so you'll have no chance of running away once you're on."

And with that, Phil winked and hung up the call.

And both Tessa and Dan were left standing awkwardly on the side of the river Thames, on a date that neither of them had planned.

( so i was planning on getting this out on the eleventh in honour of dodie's new ep, but i was travelling to france and have since had no internet to be able to upload it. sorry it's a lil late, but at least it's here ! )

( also, dodie's fucking ep. i'm crYING IT'S SO GOOD. like honestly she has the voice of an angel, jfc )