Just Lunch After All (Bayleigh / Keith)

To say Bayleigh was nervous was an understatement. This would be the first date she's had in a long time, since she met Ryan. She had shied away from men and dating ever since everything with him took a turn for the worse. Even when she had fled the States and returned to her home in England, she kept her distance. She was still a married woman, yes, but that wasn't the reason. The abuse she suffered at the hands of the man who promised to love and honor her forever had cast a large shadow over her that had only just begun to disappear.

She had been at work in the morning, her eyes constantly moving to the clock as it counted down her time before she would leave to go meet Keith for lunch,. This would be the first time they will meet since they started messaging one another since the summer. They had tried a few times, but each and every time had been foiled by some outside force. Maybe it was better that way? This would be the last time she would attempt to meet him, though, as this would clearly be a sign should something cause this lunch date to go awry.

She looked up at the clock once more and saw that she was now running late. Shit. She quickly finished up the file she was working on and then gathered her things so she could leave. She left her office and then headed to the apparition station at the Ministry so she could get to Canterbury. She arrived and then made a short walk to the café they were supposed to meet.

She walked inside and saw a man seated alone speaking to a server. Could that be him? He looked much older than she expected, but, at the same time, they had never discussed their ages during their many texting conversations. How had they not? She swallowed then, taking a deep breath and then making her way over to where he was seated. "Keith?" she said cautiously. If she was wrong, she'd merely apologize and find another seat.

If she had been nervous before she arrived to her lunch date, it was nothing compared to how nervous she was now. Seeing Keith for the first time since they started talking months ago made her wonder if she knew anything about him at all. Not to put a damper on the afternoon or anything, but how had they never talked about their ages? How had they never disclosed their generation affiliation before? Not that age mattered, per say, but he looked as if he easily had twenty years on her. Again, that wasn't a bad thing, per say.

He gestured for her to sit after he confirmed that he was in fact Keith, and she offered a smile as she lowered herself down into the seat across from where he sat. He sat back down where he'd been sitting when she arrived and asked if everything was okay. She furrowed her brow, not sure what he meant by his question, but he then elaborated and she shook her head. "Not at all. I'd been engrossed in a case file and lost track of the time," she said, though she failed to mention that she had been glancing at the clock every five minutes prior to working on that file because she was nervous.

He then told her that she looked nice and she offered him a smile. "Thank you," she said, her cheeks warming at the compliment. She didn't think she was wearing anything special, though she appreciated his comment all the same. "You look rather smart yourself," she added. it was only right to compliment him as well, wasn't it? "I'm sorry again that I was late. I hope you hadn’t been waiting long," she said to him.

As Bayleigh took in her lunch date – or would it be better to call him her companion? – she couldn’t help but take in his weathered appearance. He was good looking to be sure, but a bit grayed in certain areas. Not that it mattered to her, as she didn’t really have much experience in the dating game. But, she had her recent divorce to thank for that, not that she wanted to say as much.

He then asked if the casefile she had bene working on was anything she could share and she blushed slightly. She wasn't sure if he really wanted to talk about her work, but she figured he was looking to make small talk. It was ironic at how much the pair spoke through their mobiles, but found almost nothing to say now that they were finally face to face.

"I'm not sure you'd find it overly interesting," she said, downplaying her job and what she did for a living. Perhaps it was because she was so used to feeling like what she did was unimportant and second fiddle to someone else. That was how Ryan made her feel anyway. "It was more just the wrap up to a case. The dotting of the I's and the crossing of the T's and all that," she said with a shrug.

She shook her head when he asked if she had been to the café they were currently in before. "No, but I am sure this won’t be my only visit. The place it pretty interesting," she said with a soft smile as her eyes wandered around the place, taking its celebration of literature. A server came over then and Bayleigh smiled up at them. "i'll have some tea, please," she said when asked what she wanted to drink. Her eyes then lowered to the menu as Keith ordered his drink.