Check out more of this story on my author’s page!

Oliver was beginning to think he had made a grave error, and then Emma walked into the bar he had picked for their second date. Her face lit up at the sight of him, and he knew for certain he had made a mistake. 

She did a little wave and fought her way through the crowd to where he sat at the bar. 

“Hi! Zach, right?” Her voice was high and breathy; somehow she was even more beautiful than the first time he saw her.

“Uh, hi. Yeah. Nice to meet you.” He stuck out a large, tan hand. A hand that was completely unfamiliar to him because it wasn’t his. Just like the face Emma was currently beaming at wasn’t his either. 

Emma grabbed his hand and gave it a small squeeze as she hopped up onto the barstool next to his. She flagged down the bartender to order a margarita, and Oliver took the time to pull himself together. 

He rarely shifted into different human forms. It felt too much like lying. But last night he made the mistake of reopening that dating app and it had all been downhill from there. The next thing he knew he was some tall, overly muscled lifeguard named Zach. As soon as he posted his new profile, Emma messaged him. That she did felt somewhat vindicating. He was right. Oliver wasn’t her type. But apparently, lifeguard Zach was.

So here he was on a second date with a woman who thought it was only their first. He told himself it wasn’t creepy. He just wanted to see her again, and it wasn’t like he was camped out in her bushes stalking her or anything. It was only a date.

“I’ve never been here before,” Emma said, turning back to face him. Their knees bumped together, and she gave him a smile that made his stomach flip over.

“It’s new.” He practically had to shout over the noise. Oliver hated loud, overcrowded places like this, but it seemed like the type of place Zach would bring a date. Emma leaned in closer to hear him, her hand resting casually on his thigh. He was beginning to see why someone like Zach would like it here. There had been no thigh touching on their other date.

“It’s a good place to get a drink after work.”

“Do you like being a lifeguard?” she asked, sipping her drink.

Oliver flipped his new blond hair away from his face. “Definitely. I can’t imagine doing anything else. Nothing like the feeling of saving a life.”

That comment received a cringe from Emma, but she quickly returned the smile to her face. Maybe he was overdoing the whole lifeguard bit. He nearly asked her how her job hunt was going but then remembered he wasn’t supposed to know she had been fired recently. So instead Oliver continued to talk about himself, or himself as Zach, anyway.

After his fifth made-up story about a drowning victim, Emma’s eyes glazed over. Damn it. He was screwing this up again.

“What do you like to do for fun?” he asked. 

Emma brightened and started telling him about making quilts in her spare time, but Oliver’s attention kept drifting. There was a woman sitting several seats down the bar from Emma, staring at him. At first he thought she had simply mistaken him for someone else, but she continued looking and then gave him a flirtatious smile. He was certainly not used to having strange women make eyes at him at the bar.

“Are you even listening to me?”

Emma’s voice broke through his thoughts, and he realized he hadn’t heard anything she said beyond quilting. To make matters worse, he was still staring at the woman behind her. 

“Sorry.” He snapped his gaze back to hers. “I got a little distracted. Quilting sounds cool. How’d you get into that?”

“It’s a funny story actually,” she went on. 

But now there was a table of young women to his left who couldn’t possibly be out of college yet. And they were all staring at him and then giggling into their drinks. Maybe he should spend more time as a hot lifeguard.

He glanced back at Emma to find her glowering at him over the rim of her glass.  

“Are you here to be with me, or would you rather go join that table over there?” She gestured over her shoulder. 

“I… uh… I’m so sorry. I just…”

“I need to use the ladies’ room. I’ll give you a few minutes to decide.” She grabbed her purse off the chair and hurried away from him. 

Oliver groaned and ran a hand through his luxurious blond locks. Damn this Zach and his stunning good looks. Oliver was not used to handling this much female attention, and now the only female he wanted to be with had stormed off to the bathroom. 

He pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Natalie.

I did something stupid.

Her response was quick, as he knew it would be. Natalie was never far from her phone.

How stupid? Do I need to get bail money?

Oliver snapped a quick selfie and sent it to her.

Please tell me that’s a pic of the new guy you’re dating.

Nope. That’s Zach. Or me, at the moment…

Oliver! What the hell?

It gets worse. I (Zach) am on a date with Emma.

He waited while Natalie typed, his gaze flicking hopefully up toward the bathroom every few seconds. Maybe Emma had crawled out the window. He wouldn’t really blame her if she did.

Why on Earth would you do that?! 

I told you it was stupid.

Oliver James Wright! You need to get out of there right now! You are lying to that poor girl!

Oliver didn’t have a chance to defend himself, or to point out that his middle name wasn’t James, before someone slipped onto the stool beside him. 

“You’re back.” He breathed a sigh of relief and dropped his phone onto the counter. But it wasn’t Emma next to him. It was the woman from down the bar. 

“I just wanted to come over and say hello.” She leaned in so close to say it, she was practically in his lap. Her coconut scent nearly choked him. He attempted to back up and nearly fell off his seat.

“Uh, hello.” He choked out. “I’m actually on a date right now.”

The woman pulled back and blinked innocently. “It doesn’t look like it to me.” She pretended to look around her and shrugged when she found no date hiding below the stool.

Oliver looked frantically toward the bathroom, worried Emma would come out and find him talking to this woman.

“I saw you looking at me.” She whispered the words into his ear, her long blonde hair brushed across his forearm. “If this date doesn’t work out, come find me.” She lingered a moment too long next to his cheek. Oliver squirmed in his seat, unsure of any polite way to get out of this situation. 

Finally, the woman hopped down from the stool and sauntered away. Oliver breathed a sigh of relief and glanced up just in time to see Emma staring at him in disgust. His eyes widened. Shit, shit, shit. Emma shook her head, her curls furiously bouncing around her shoulders. She turned on her heel and rushed out of the bar. 

Oliver stood up to chase her, but he couldn’t seem to get his feet to move. What was the point? This Zach character was kind of a dick. All Oliver wanted to do was go home and forget about him.

Featured image by Chris MtP via Unsplash