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Logan read her message three more times before responding. He wasn’t really sure meeting up was a good idea, but his curiosity was killing him. He stared at her picture, still trying to figure out if she was real. She just looked too much like a model to be on a dating site; he didn’t want to be tricked. The thought of sitting in a coffee shop and waiting for her to arrive was a little unnerving.

He wanted to talk to Remy about it, but that was too much. Piotr was a definite no as well.

“You gon’ tell us what y t’ink of it?” Remy asked, bringing Logan back to the present. They were in his office, discussing... something. There was a paper with tiny writing in front of him. “Or y gon’ stare at your computer all day?”

Logan minimized the screen. “Uh, yeah.” He grabbed the document and read it over, a little amazed at the opportunity. The mayor was looking for contractors. There was this random initiative to make the city safer by funding the schools, housing the homeless, and increasing police in the really dangerous parts of the city. There were jobs there, building and reconstructing the dilapidated buildings. If Logan got the job, he could finally move out of his small apartment and save his construction business. “This legit?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Remy snorted. He flipped the paper sideways and pointed at a line. “These schools don’ get fixed without construction. T’ink of the money. Of the future contracts. You could make a name f’ yourself.”

Logan nodded and rubbed his chin. “I think they’re gonna go with that rich kid. Safer, y’know.”

“They might, but you gotta try!” Remy snatched the paper away from Logan and read through it once more. “Where’s your laptop? Remy’s gonna get y’ name out there.” He reached for the computer and saw Logan lunge for the monitor. Remy drew his hands back, smirking. “Bit early to be lookin’ at porn, don’t you think?” Remy turned the monitor towards him

“I wasn’t lookin’ at porn, you--”

The mouse clicked as Remy resized the screen. There was a pause. “The dating website?” Remy asked, incredulous. A smile broke Remy’s face and he didn’t mind being distracted from the task. He opened the message, ignoring Logan’s threats of firing. They’d been friends for too long and Remy didn’t even care at the moment. Logan. Was talking. To a Mingling Single. Just perfect.

“Damn,” Remy said under his breath. “She wants t’ meet?” He opened her profile and read the small caption through. Her profile was a little uninteresting. Remy wondered if she owned a cat. Probably did. “She’s pretty, Remy’ll give her that.” Logan grumbled something unintelligible. “You talked to her recently?”

“We’re thinking about meeting, of course we’ve talked recently!” Logan huffed a breath and slumped back in his seat. “I didn’t even wanna do it--”

“She said this Saturday would work great for her.” Remy snorted. “She wants to meet for coffee and not go on an actual date? Who is this tryin’ to get coffee early on a Saturday?”



“...And I don’t want to have to sit through an hour of awkward chatter. Drinking coffee only takes two minutes--”

“Ororo, I think it’s time to discuss your caffeine addiction--”

“--and if it’s good, we can stretch it out. Or if it’s really good, we can go get actual breakfast. Or lunch. Or I can just leave and come back here and get some work done,” Ororo concluded logically. She sighed and stared at his picture. He was so handsome and such a great conversationalist. They’d spent an hour talking about hiking and she couldn’t stop smiling like a goofy teen the entire time. “He’s... nice. From what I can tell.”

“Coffee seems a little... Unsexy, though.” Marie drummed her nails on the desk and shrugged. “Least you’re gettin’ out there. That’s what really counts, sug.” With a confident smile, Marie moved from around the desk and sat in one of Ororo’s leather chairs. She opened the binder she’d been carrying and sighed. “I gathered the information you asked. All the numbers, names, things like that. You got a meeting at ten... I think with that reporter? Trish--”

“Tilby, yeah.” Ororo began typing on her computer. “Thanks, Marie.”

“It’s mah job,” she smirked. She nodded at Ororo, knowing what she meant. “It’ll be great.”

“What’ll be great?” asked Scott, knocking on partially open door. He flicked his eyes from Marie to Ororo, knowing something was up, but not sure what.

“Her meeting!” Marie said excitedly, missing Ororo’s cringe. She shot up and smoothed her hands down her skirt. She hurriedly exited the room, mumbling something that sounded like a hello to Scott.

Scott shrugged off Marie’s weird attitude. “So you get my emails?” he asked, getting right to business. Ororo nodded, opening her email at that very moment. “Yeah, I was thinking we could just go with Stark. I mean, it’s not really his area but--”

“No,” Ororo said, cutting him off.

“No?” Scott sat down in the chair Marie vacated and pulled out his smartphone. “I know you think he’s an ass but, c’mon, he gets the job done.”

“My personal opinions don’t influence my professional opinions. Yes, I know he’s...” she searched for the right word, “effective, but it would be better if we went with someone else. He can take care of whatever technology problems the schools are having, but I really think hiring someone new would be smarter. Someone else would have a chance and we’d make more contracts with local businesses.”

“You really mean you want to ask for more tax payer dollars and want to make it look better by giving the money to some average joe,” Scott surmised astutely. He sat back in the chair and scratched at the back of his head. “I mean... it’s a good enough idea, but it’s gotta be done right.” He groaned. “I hate meetings, Ro.”

She smiled, feeling accomplished. “I know.”

“And the mayor--”

“You think I’m really going to have trouble convincing him of anything?” she joked. Ororo was close to the mayor, having met while he was still working in the treasury department and she a lowly desk jockey. He was her mentor, the reason she was so successful in the political world, though Charles would claim he was only successful because of her. She looked at Scott, her confident grin fading. “What?”

“I don’t want this getting messed up just because you wanted to try something different, Ro.” He rose to his feet. “Make sure this works.”
Ororo waited until Scott left her office before she huffed a breath. She loved Scott, but the guy was a dick whenever he felt like it. Not everything had to be perfect! She knew what it meant if she messed up, but there was no reason to make her feel uncertain before the meetings had even begun. She opened her calendar and drummed her fingers against her lips, thinking. A chime sounded and Ororo became instantly distracted.

He said yes.


It was just as he expected.

He glanced at his watch; the second hand ticked by quickly. He looked out the window, hoping to see a passerby who looked like her. He wondered what he was even doing. She could be anyone. She could be lying and really be a man in Texas or some kid who just wanted to have fun at someone else’s expense. People as pretty as her... There was no way she existed.

He checked his phone. Remy sent him a text and Piotr called twice- the kid was strangely invested in Logan meeting her. It was a little weird, but Logan supposed someone had to be excited about them meeting. With each passing second, Logan felt less and less excited. She was already ten minutes late. He wished he had her number so he could call her. He’d tell her to fuck off.

The waitress came up to him and gave him a forced smile. She looked a little pained, as though she was annoyed Logan was there. He wanted to roll his eyes. Yeah, kiddo, he thought, I don’t wanna be here either. He looked down at his watch. She was now eleven minutes late.

Logan didn’t have a wealth of expense in the dating field, but he knew it was always a bad sign when your date came late. It was a kiss of death in a way- it meant they didn’t really want to be there and were holding out. It struck him as funny because Logan was the one who wasn’t really interested in dating her. He figured it was his curiosity. If this one date went well, then maybe the rest of them could go well-- just not with her.

Another minute passed and Logan huffed a breath. Wow. He should’ve known better. Someone was messing with him and he wasn’t about to wait for the punchline.

Just as he got up, the bell above the cafe door chimed.

She looked like a model... with a crazy dye job.

“Ororo--”

“Yes,” she said breathily. She walked up to him and paused. “Uh, hi.” She fixed her purse higher on her shoulder and stuck out her hand. “It’s great to meet you, James.”

“Logan,” he corrected. “I just go by Logan.” He shook her small hand and stepped back. He motioned to the table and moved to pull her seat out, but she stopped him.

“I’m really sorry I’m late. I got a phone call and I had to take it.” She scooted her seat into the table and flagged the waitress over. “You already got your coffee?”

“Yeah.” He looked at the lukewarm liquid and felt annoyed once more. “Was it a business call?”

“Something like,” she trailed off. When the waitress came, she ordered some kind of latte Logan never heard of. It was intricate; they put two pumps and a shot of something into it and she demanded it be extra hot. “Do you want me to get you something? I come here a lot so I know what’s good.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“You sure? It’s early. Have you had breakfast? I can buy you a scone. Or maybe a pretzel? It’s all pretty good,” she said in a rush. She hadn’t looked up at him, just chattered on. He wanted to grit his teeth; he wasn’t a fan of chatty women-- they never said anything important. “Please,” she finally sighed. “I feel really bad.”

Logan took a deep, calming breath. “It’s fine.”

She looked at the waitress, a smile on her face. “A cranberry scone.”

“I said it was fine,” Logan said, already exhausted with her.

“I heard you,” she said, a tight expression on her face. “It’s for me. I haven’t eaten breakfast.” She handed the waitress her debit card then turned back to Logan. There was a pause. “I’m really--”

“It’s fine,” he interrupted. He swallowed down some more of his cool coffee and swallowed thickly. Christ, this was just as bad as he expected. “So what was the call about?” he asked, trying to break the silence.

“Oh, I was talking to an associate--”

“Though you said it wasn’t work-related.”

She pursed her lips. “It’s not exactly work related. We’re just talking about an upcoming event.” She tucked a strand of perfectly white hair behind her ear and Logan couldn’t help but want to run his fingers through it. It was just so... random. Who dyed their hair white? Wasn’t she in her thirties?

“Why’s your hair white?” She stopped talking and looked slightly surprised. “I mean, are you a model or something?”

“No,” she said softly, blushing. “Thank you, though.” She sat up. “It’s just white.”

“There’s no other answer? ‘It’s just white.’” Logan shrugged, disbelieving.

“Well, obviously there’s genetics behind it, but I just happen to have white hair.”

“Is it white everywhere?” He wanted to slap himself but the question was already out. He just knew this date wasn’t going to end well if it didn’t end within the next thirty seconds.

“Excuse you--”

“I’m sorry!” he interrupted. “Didn’t mean it, darlin. I just... Say stupid things sometimes. I’ve never seen someone with white hair before--”

“And you probably never will.” She narrowed her eyes at him, infuriated. “How could you even think a question like that?” She pointed at her face. “My eyebrows aren’t white so why should anything else be?”

“Look,” he snapped, “I’m just tryin’ to be nice--”

“Your understanding of the word is severely lacking.”

“Your coffee and scone, m’am,” said the waitress. She put down the piping hot cup, the flaky scone, and her card, then quickly backed away. The tension was palpable.

“Yours is, too.” Logan got up, unable to stand her presence. “Christ, I made a mistake, and I said I was sorry, but there’s no reason for you to act like such a bitch.”

“I’m acting like a bitch?” she laughed. “Me? I don’t have the right to be offended when you’re asking me questions about my,” she looked around, “about my pubic hair?” she whispered.

Logan snorted. “I wasn’t asking if the carpets matched the curtains. And after this, I won’t be asking you for anything else!” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled dollar bill. “Thanks for making me get up on a Saturday.”


AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hooray for bad dates! Hopefully this captures all the elements of a bad date-- coming late, poor listening skills, inappropriate questions, arguing. Next chapter should really get the ball rolling- no more fillers!





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