Everything had been going fine. You’d picked out a simple outfit, classy but casual, your hair had been in a good mood and decided not to frizz completely on you, even the cold weather had held out for a bit so you could leave the house in just a light jacket instead of your massive winter coat. You should have expected it really, no morning goes that well without something going wrong later.

                Which is why you were now sat in the back of a police van, wrists clasped in handcuffs, staring angrily at the people sat back there with you. You had no idea what they had been protesting, you’d just wanted to walk past them and get to the café to meet your mystery texter. But no, as you approached their yelling had only gotten louder, their pushing had gotten rougher, and the next thing you knew the police were just rounding up everyone in the area and throwing them in the back of vans. You’d tried to tell them you weren’t a part of anything, but you’d only been told that everything would be sorted at the station.

                Fantastic.

                The person squished beside you started fidgeting again, trying to wiggle themselves back a bit more on the bench but you gave them a subtle elbow shove. These people had gotten you arrested, you’d be damned if you were going to sit on the floor.

                You swayed as the van jerked to a stop, and then a police officer was opening the back and guiding you all into the station, separating you all into groups and leading you down wide hallways. You trailed at the end of the line, and a look forward showed that the officers were putting you into holding cells. Seriously, could your day get any worse?

                You went to follow the group into the holding cell when the officer spoke, “not you.” He turned his head distractedly towards you, and you could see his focus was clearly on something else, but it was about time you got some answers.

                “Why not me? Because I wasn’t actually a part of this mess? You know I’m just an innocent bystander right?”

                To your surprise, the officer chuckled, “These cells are at capacity, and I don’t feel right putting you in one by yourself. Come with me.”

                “So you’re not letting me go then?”

                “Not yet kiddo.” He led you over to a chair backed against a thin room divider and unlocked your cuffs, “sit tight, you’ll be out of here before you know it.”

                You slumped into the hard plastic chair, knowing that no matter what the officer had said, you’d no doubt be here for hours.

                Across the room, another group from another van was being directed into more holding cells. Among them was a boy who was a little more frantic than our leading lady. See, he had a date. A date with a very pretty, very funny young lady, and now he was going to miss it. But lucky for him, he had a roommate who worked in this very station, so currently he was scanning the place to try and find him, hopefully explain everything, and scamper out before she decided to give up on him. Luck was apparently on his side today, because no sooner did his eyes find his roommate Kris did they see a girl sat on a chair not that far behind him. Knowing that he didn’t have long to make this work, he took a chance and yelled across a very busy police station.

                “Kris!”

                He could practically see the reluctance in Kris’s eyes to come over, but like a good friend, he eventually did.

                “What did you do? Aren’t you supposed to be on that date now, you’ve been talking about it for forever I didn’t think you’d risk messing it up.”

                “Listen, it’s not my fault, these protesters were doing something and the police just brought in anyone who was in the area. But that girl over there, that one by the divider, she’s my date! Can you pull some strings? Get me over there?”

                Kris rubbed his brow, Chen could certainly be a handful sometimes. And Kris had been trying to keep himself out of the protester case… but another look at his friends pleading face and he knew he didn’t really have a choice. “Go on, I’ll make it happen. Don’t move from those chairs though, I’m serious.”

                Cheshire smile back in place, Chen wandered over to where the lovely lady was sat and debated a second, before choosing a chair on the opposite side of the divider, basically sitting back to back with her. He sent a thumbs up to Kris that he’d stay put, seeing him roll his eyes before walking away to talk to the other officers.

                Alright, it might not be a cute cosy café, but you were both there, and now it was time to make the magic happen.

                You pulled out your phone, debating on what you should do. There was no way you could tell any of your friends, they’d just drive straight down here and make things worse than they already were, even with the best intentions. Your thumb hovered over a contact, finally clicking on it, figuring you should probably send him a message.

                You: “Something came up, I can’t make it today

                                I’m so sorry, I know this is really short notice

As usual, you received a reply almost instantly.

                C-Rex: “Short notice, our date was supposed to start 25 minutes ago.”

You felt guilt spreading through you, only combatted by the butterflies that he was considering your coffee meeting as a date.

                You: “I know, I’m so sorry, it was out of my hands.”

Like you were going to tell him you were at the police station, even if you were there by mistake that wasn’t exactly a first impression you wanted to give him. On the other side of the divider, Chen was looking down at his phone, and barely able to contain his laughter, if only you knew that he was there as well.

                C-Rex: “:(“

                                “I can still bring you a coffee if you’re nearby?”

You looked at his message, feeling bad for lying to him, but what a complete sweetheart!

                You: I’m not nearby.

                                We’ll just have to reschedule!

                                Well, if you want to

                C-Rex: “Yeah I’d like to! But I don’t know my schedule, I’ll have to get back to you.”

Well that certainly sounded like he wasn’t planning on seeing you. All because of these stupid protesters! You locked you phone with an angry sigh, and let your head fall back on the divider.

                “Bad day?”

                You almost jumped out of your skin at the voice, there hadn’t been anyone sat on the other side when you sat down… so whoever was sat there now had been really quiet! In your surprise you didn’t respond, but the man on the other side didn’t seem to mind.

                “Yeah, me too. Practically got jumped by the police this morning on the way to… to something important.”

                You coughed, clearing your throat. “Same thing happened to me. An officer told me I’d be out soon but we all know that’s a lie.”

                “Oh yeah, we’ll be here for hours! But we’ve only been arrested, not charged, and in our case this won’t go on any kind of permanent record, so I guess it could be worse.”

                “You’re certainly optimistic.”

                “I try.” He replied, “what about you, were you headed anywhere special?”

                You remembered the message, “I was meeting a guy for a date.”

                “Ooo, anniversary?”

                You laughed, “not even close! It would have been our first time meeting each other in person.”

                “Ah, online dating.”

                “No, it wasn’t that either, I accidentally texted a wrong number and then he just responded, and we just, I don’t know, kept talking.”

                “Sounds like someone special.”

                You laughed again, “I don’t even know his name. Would you believe I have him saved in my phone as C-Rex? Because he once told me he looks like a camel and a dinosaur.”

                “C-Rex? That’s genius!” You heard his loud happy laughter vibrating the thin material of the divider. “Well he seems to be a lucky guy, and he probably won’t mind rescheduling, if I were him, I’d just think this whole scenario was hilarious.”

                You smiled, “well at least someone does. From his last text I think he’s pretty upset about me missing our date.”

                “Well did you tell him where you were?”

                “Of course not, I’m sure telling him I was in the police station would have gone over really well.”

                “Tut tut, a relationship should be filled with honesty.”

                “Oh yeah? Well does your girlfriend know where you are?”

                “Don’t have a girlfriend. I do have a crush on someone though, and no, she has no idea where I am.”

                “Then aren’t you a liar as well?”

                “I didn’t tell her I was anywhere else, I simply lied by omission.”

                “And that’s somehow so much better?”

                “Someone’s sounding a little bitter.” He teased, “how about you and me go out for coffee after this, and forget about that dumb C-Rex guy?”

                You didn’t respond, how could you just go out for coffee with someone else when you really just wanted coffee with him? “Sorry, I’m not feeling coffee.”

                Chen, on the other hand, was having the time of his life. “One second.” He told you, getting up and walking away so you wouldn’t be able to see him, and hurried to the coffee machine he knew was around here somewhere. Stuffing milks and sugars in his pockets, he filled two Styrofoam cups with burnt police-station coffee and trotted back to the divider.

                You were sat staring at your locked phone, should you have said something else to him instead of just ignoring his last message? Your thoughts were interrupted when a person walked around the divider. You looked up, hoping for a policeman but instead, you saw a Cheshire smile and crinkled eyes.

                “Surprise! I thought we could do our coffee date here instead! You sounded so upset to be missing it!”

                That voice, was the one you’d been talking to… “It was you the whole time?”

                He laughed, “What a coincidence right?”

                “You didn’t plan this?”

                “Oh yeah, I just organised this whole protest so I could get us both arrested.”

                Eyeing him doubtfully, you took the coffee in hesitant hands, smiling a little when he poured milk and sugar packets from his pockets and offered them to you.

                “So, what’s your name then?” You asked.

                “What, C-Rex not good enough for you?”

                You glared at him and he chuckled.

                “Chen, my name’s Chen.”

                You went to sip your coffee as he settled into the seat beside you, but stopped when he let out a loud noise of protest. “What now?”

                “We have to cheers!” He held his cup near yours, and you laughed as you fake ‘clinked’ your cup with his. He smiled at you, “to the best first date ever.”

_________________________________________

Short, I know, but I wanted to get it up before I go on vacation so there probably won’t be any more updates until June :(

On another note, I’m planning another story but can’t figure out which member of Exo to use as the romantic interest! If you have any ideas or input you can either comment here, or EVEN BETTER, go over to chapter 007 of Wilfully Blind and comment there, because that’s where the other comments are posted. Thanks! 

And as always, if you have somewhere you want to see this fic go, just comment below and I'll see what I can do for you!