"You are... correct. Ok. If we view this as a gathering between two colleagues then it's less awkward for the both of us... by the way this is your fault for mentioning it in the first place."
“Oh fuck off, i didn’t expect a simple dinner to turn into us thinking it’s a date, i know your thinking it too. Yes, better to think of it like that than anything else.”
"Ok so sure it's kind of a date. But if it is a date then it'll just keep being awkward because we're not actually in a relationship so I'm just trying to make it less awkward."