Can't Buy Me Love

Part 1

Joe sat straight in the chair, his fingers tapping carelessly on the table as he waited for his date to arrive. He wasn't sure why he agreed to this. Last time one of his friends tried to set him up, he ended up skipping out on the thing entirely. This time was different, however. This time, Rami gave him no other choice. Apparently his third-wheeling had become basically unbearable and the shorter man more or less forced him into this situation.

Joe didn't mind being single. Didn't mind being alone. It was everybody else around him that was bothered by it all.

Joe was content with sitting alone in his office from morning until night, putting his soul purpose on his work. That was his real soulmate. His films, his scripts.

Rami just couldn't see that because now he had a beautiful woman in his life making him do crazy things like going for picnics in the park and rock climbing on the weekends.

It made Joe want to roll his eyes, but in the end he was happy for Rami. Lucy was an amazing girl and he was glad that his best friend had fallen in love. Now all he needed was for him to just keep that love between the two of them and stop trying to force it onto other people like Joe.

Joe promised to wait fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes, and if the guy didn't show, he could go home. So he counted.

Counted the seconds, and then the minutes, waiting and hoping to wind up alone. He had seven fingers laid out when the hostess walked over, gesturing to the table that he was sitting at. A man thanked her quietly before turning his attention onto Joe.

The guy was not what he expected.

Handsome wasn't the word for it. He was beautiful. Joe had never seen a guy like him before. Someone so pretty yet masculine at the same time. Blond hair, green eyes. Sharp jawline with a cute chin. Who the fuck thought chins could be cute?

"Joe? Hi. I'm Ben." He extended his hand after sitting down. Joe paused for the moment, taking it all in before snapping back to reality.

"Yes, hi. I'm Joe, but you already said that. Please, sit." Joe closed his eyes, breathing slowly. "You're already sitting. God, I'm so bad at this."

Ben, to his surprise, just kept on smiling. "You're fine. This is a nice place," He gestured around the restaurant.

"Wasn't my idea." Joe told him automatically.

"No? I take it your friend chose the whole 'when and where' then?"

"Rami thinks spending time alone is pretty much a sin, so he sort of wrapped me into this." Joe confessed to him. He wasn't going to sugar coat it. Wasn't going to pretend like it was his idea and that he's ready to jump for joy over the fact that Ben had showed up after all.

Joe watched the blondes movements, catching his mannerisms as he sipped from his own drink. He seemed to calm and relaxed despite sitting straight in his seat. Maybe he just had good posture or maybe that was his own way of handling his nerves.

"You can go if you want," Joe told him after a moment. "I'm sure Rami probably pimped me out or whatever to persuade you to show, but you don't have to stay here. Nobody is watching," Joe told him with a lazily shrug. "I mean, not that I saw what you looked like thats really all I need in order to get away with saying it went well. I can tell Rami and Lucy that the date went well, that we really hit it off but a second date probably isn't in the mix."

Ben cocked his head, looking more confused than anything. "Why would I want to do that?" He asked him quietly.

"Did Rami tell you anything about me?" He asked. There had to be something to get this guy to agree. Maybe it was the career he was in. The guy was almost too good lucking. Did Rami promise to put him in their next film or something like that?