“What happened to him?” I asked, concerned.
“He met your cat.” Adam pointed at a furry ball which was hissing and spitting in one corner of the porch.
“Nigel,” I called the cat, and then took a few quick strides towards him. He let me pick him up and carry him to the house. “I’ll feed him quickly—I’ll be back in a second.” I carried the cat into the kitchen and gave him some food. He purred innocently as he ate.
“What have you done?” I asked him, half expecting an answer, then hurried back to Adam and Antonio.
The dog was shying away from the movement of the door, like he was afraid I was bringing Nigel back.
“It’s okay, the cat’s inside.” I examined the dog more closely. He had a small cut across his nose. “Was that—”
“Yeah, the cat.” Adam answered my unfinished question.
I couldn’t believe it. Nigel was a peaceful animal—usually. I had never seen him aggressive with a dog once.
“What happened?”
“I think Nigel didn’t like how Antonio and I were sitting in his way. Antonio barked at him once and Nigel hit him with his paw—Ninja-cat.” He laughed and mimed a Ninja warrior’s movements.
I had to unwillingly grin.
“Is he hurt very bad?”
“No, he’ll be fine. It’s just that small cut. It’s not even bleeding anymore.” Antonio was hiding behind Adam’s legs now, peering out from behind his knees.
“Come here, Antonio,” I called him and he trotted to my side like a good dog. I examined the cut and Antonio licked my hand. I was glad the incident with Nigel hadn’t destroyed his liking for me.
Adam watched us for a minute and then walked over to me, offering me his hand.
“My Lady.” He made a small bow, and I had to suppress a childish grin.
We started walking towards the city.
“Where are we going?” I asked curiously.
“Surprise.” He smiled his irresistibly appealing smile. I watched him from the side, wondering why he had decided to invite me of all the girls out there.
A voice in my head reminded me that one dinner didn’t mean anything. It could be out of a guilty conscience because he hadn’t turned up at the library earlier. Or maybe he was just hungry, or…
I ignored the voice. I was just unbelievably happy that it was me and no one else whom he was taking out for dinner.
We had been walking for several minutes when Adam turned and led the way towards a small steak house. I smiled, I loved steak. How could he know? Or was it just a good guess?
Adam held the door for me. As I walked past him, I could smell his perfume. I inhaled deeply. The scent nearly made me stop and fall into his chest. It took some concentration forcing my feet to step over the threshold. It helped a lot when I held my breath.
Antonio trotted to my side and followed us inside the restaurant.
As we entered the main room, the nice smell of steak and spices helped me clear my head again. The place was dimly lit, candles were positioned on the tables and windowsills. The small tables were made of dark wood with artful carvings at the edges. Comfortable chairs stood around them. Couples were sitting at tables around the room.
“Good evening,” a man greeted us. He was tall and thin, and his slightly wrinkled skin and balding head suggested that he was in his forties.
“A table for two please.”
The waiter nodded and led us to a table at the far corner of the restaurant. “Are you okay with this one?” he asked politely.
“It’s perfect, thank you.” Adam slid out of his jacket and hung it over the back of his chair. He waited for me to sit down before he led Antonio to the space in the corner where the dog curled up instantly. Then he sat down opposite me.
The waiter watched his movements patiently, waiting to get our orders.
“I’ll have a soda, and for the lady…” Adam started.
“Apple juice,” I finished Adam’s sentence.
I opened the menu and started looking at the large choice of meals. From the corner of my eye I saw Adam watch me over the rim of his menu. Focusing even more intensely on my own menu, I tried to ignore his piercing gaze which felt like he was seeing right through me.
The movement of the waiter placing my drink on the table made me jump. I had been so focused on pretending not to notice Adam watching me.
“What can I bring you to eat?”
“I’ll take a tenderloin steak, medium and a salad,” I was surprised I had decided for a meal while putting all that effort into ignoring Adam. The waiter turned to Adam.
“The same for me, please, and some water for the dog please,” Adam nodded at Antonio who was lying on his side in the corner.
The thin man vanished with the menus in his arms.
When I turned back to look at Adam, his eyes rested on my face again. They looked slightly gray in the dim light.
“Tell me something about you, Claire Gabriel,” Adam opened the conversation.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything,” his breath hurried to inhale the word back, but it was too slow, “—I’d like to know what you like.”
“What I like …well, I like a lot of things.”
“Could you be a bit more precise, please?” he gave me a breathtaking smile.
“Yes, I could.” I winked at him, not wanting to give away too much of my affection. For now it was the easiest way to stay on a joking basis.
“Will you please be a bit more precise?” His eyes were so intense they inflamed my senses.
I spilled out the first thing that came to my mind. “I like music.” Plain and simple.
“What kind of music do you like?” He leaned towards me with interest.
Oh, come on, that’s not interesting at all. “I like jazz and classical music, and house music …and, and, and.” I felt a bit like I was the object of an examination. I hated one way questioning. I wanted to get to know him better, and therefore I had to ask in return. “And what do you like?”
“No specific type of music.”
“Which means?” If we kept on with questions and answers like these, he would get the impression I was an unintelligent, naive girl.
“I like music as long as it doesn’t destroy a nice atmosphere.” Both of us listened to the low sound of the Argentine guitar. It was a nice tune, something that instantly relaxed the tension in my guts. Perfect for the situation. Adam lowered his gaze to his hands which were clutching the glass in front of him. I smoothened a smile from my lips—the music did everything to form a nice atmosphere, there was no way it could destroy it.
“How’s school?” Adam tore me from my thoughts. School. The history test. Pictures of Greg flashed through my head. Somehow my mind had connected Greg with history.
“Don’t ask.” I tried to ignore the subject. It felt like enough having to think about the test during the hours at school.
“What’s wrong?” His voice sounded even more honestly interested in my educational situation than his eyes were looking.
“Let’s just say, I have to get some knowledge into my head. Time is running out, and it doesn’t help that I’m lousy at memorizing things.” I grimaced at the thought of the few days until the test.
“What subject do you like best?”
No problem, I could answer that one easily. “Algebra.”
Adams dark eyebrows rose in surprise. “And which subject is the one bothering you at the moment? What kind of knowledge do you have to fill your head with?”
“History.” I shuddered. “The Civil War, to be precise. And there’s not much time left. The exam’s next Monday.”
“Do you need help?”
“No, thank you, I’ve got a friend who’s helping me. He’s perfect at history and …patient enough.” Argh! Embarrassing. He would not only think I was unintelligent and naive, but also unable to get things done by myself.
Adam laughed quietly.
“Hey, that’s not fu
nny.” I had to laugh with him. My fighting the laugh back made him smile even more widely, and his lips separated and showed a row of pearly white teeth. My breath got caught somewhere between my lungs and my lips. Adam seemed to glow as he smiled. It made him look perfect.
“Steak and salad for the lady,” the waiter set the plate down on the table roughly. I jumped and remembered to breathe. “…and for the gentleman. Buon Appetit!”
The steak smelled wonderful. I grabbed my knife and fork and started cutting the steak into pieces on the salad. I was so hungry it took a few seconds to notice Adam watching me with amusement. Embarrassed, I forced my hands to slow down and finally come to a halt. Adam was still chuckling silently.
“What?” I looked up, forming my face into something that felt like a challenging look.
“Sorry.” Adam apologised and successfully tried not to chuckle or grin. But his expression made me uncomfortable. It looked like he was satisfied with something, like he had expected my reaction. His expression changed again as he noticed the way I was looking at him—unsettled. He shook his head. “Really, go ahead. I’m as hungry as a wolf too.” And with those words he started eating his food.
My hands led the fork back to the plate, pronged a piece of meat with it and then led it to my mouth mechanically. The expression I had had a glimpse of had mystified me. What had been going on in his head? He didn’t know anything about me, so he couldn’t expect or know my reaction.
The steak burned my tongue. I reached out for the glass of juice and took a mouthful. The soothing coolness of the liquid helped me focus on my situation again. I was on the first kind of date with the mysterious guy from the graveyard. I barely knew anything about him, except that he was studying with my sister—medicine. He wanted to become a doctor. He had a chocolate colored dog—which I found very amusing—and he seemed to have some reason to want to be with me, or he wouldn’t have asked me out. I looked up from my plate and measured his expression.
Adam chewed his steak slowly, watching me again with careful eyes. My stomach twisted, but it was not the wonderfully happy feeling I had had a few hours earlier when he had turned up at the library. It was like my sentience was imploding, leaving more space for doubts.
Suddenly I was very aware of the fact that I was sitting here with a beautiful, mysterious guy, making a fool of myself over and over again. I was aware of how out of place I was next to him. I was nothing special. Adam looked up at me again, his eyes fierce and sad at the same time. I gave him a questioning look, but he turned away hiding his expression from me. When he turned back to me, his face displayed nothing but friendliness.
“Do you like the steak?” he asked with a polite smile on his lips. I didn’t like it. It felt like a facade.
“Yes, it’s perfect,” I lied. I didn’t taste it at all as I had burned my tongue. Adam’s smile grew more real at my words.
I ate up the salad and intended to shove the last few pieces of meat into my mouth when something nudged my leg.
“Antonio!” The dog had slowly made his way to my legs and was now looking up at me with big brown eyes. “Do you want some steak?” He licked his muzzle enthusiastically. I wouldn’t miss the rest of the meat on my plate, so I picked up a piece with my fingers and held it out to Antonio who took it carefully and gulped it down. “Want some more, little friend?” I fed him another small piece of steak, and another, until the plate was empty and Antonio rested his head on my knee and looked up waiting for more.
“Sorry. You ate it all—nothing left.”
I looked up at Adam. His gaze was lingering on me, disapproving, but not surprised.
“I should have asked, sorry.”
“Never mind.” He smiled knowingly.
I looked down at my watch and jumped to my feet. “Oh no!”
“What?” Adam looked at me slightly confused.
“I have to go home. I completely forgot about Sophie. She’s waiting for me. I promised to be home early today.” The words sounded like a stupid excuse, but they were true. I had promised Sophie to help her clean up the house so we wouldn’t have to do it on the weekend. She would be furious.
Adam called the waiter. He paid the bill and helped me into my jacket.
“Come on, Antonio, the lady wants to leave.” The dog trotted towards the door between Adam and me.
“I’ll walk straight home if you don’t mind, it’s not far and walking you home would be a big detour,” Adam said as we walked outside. His face showed a hint of disappointment, and after his words I felt some of it mirrored in my own.
“Thank you for the evening, Adam. It was great, really. Sorry, I have to leave. It’s just—”
“No. Thank you, Claire. I really enjoyed having dinner with you. I hope to see you soon.” He gave me a wide smile and it seemed he understood it was for the best that I couldn’t stay at the moment. Like he knew it was likely that if I stayed I would destroy everything before it had even started.
“See you.” I waved at him and headed off in the other direction.
When I quietly closed the front door behind me, I heard Sophie’s voice from the living room.
“I thought we agreed on cleaning the house tonight. It’s ten to ten, where have you been?”
I took my shoes off and hurried to the living room. “Sorry, I forgot.”
Sophie gave me a disapproving look.
“I met a friend and had dinner with him.” With Sophie it was always best to stick to the truth. If she found out later and I didn’t tell her myself she would give me a hard time.
“Dinner?”
Yes, dinner, what was so hard to understand about the word dinner? “Yes, we were at the steakhouse.” Then I turned to head for the kitchen, fetched the cleaning stuff and started cleaning the cabinets.
It was almost midnight when I stepped out of the shower. I slipped my nightie over my head and headed for my room. Tired as hell, I thought about the next day. School and loads of history stuff to go through with Greg. I rolled onto my left side and closed my eyes.
History
Algebra had never been hard work for me like it was for Lydia and Amber. I sat in the classroom, doodling on the edge of the paper while the rest of the class was still sweating over their algebra tests.
“Claire.” Amber whispered from behind me. “What’s the correct answer to question eight?”
I turned my head to the side and lifted my left hand behind my back to show her three fingers.
“C?”
I turned my head farther in her direction, nodded once, and heard our teacher clearing his throat. “I think everybody should concentrate on their own test,” he said, giving me a disapproving look.
I held out the test for him. “I’m finished.” I quickly added a smile.
He looked at the test for a minute, then at me in astonishment. “Everything correct. You’re getting faster and faster each time, Miss Gabriel.” He carried the paper over to his desk and shook his head in astonishment. I was average at most things and really bad at some things, like history, but I was outstanding at algebra.
The bell rang and the others handed in their papers.
“Thanks for the help.” Amber fell into step beside me on the way to the gym.
“You are welcome.”
“How was cleaning with Sophie yesterday?”
“Don’t remind me of that, please.” I rolled my eyes.
“That bad?” She faked a sympathetic look.
“I forgot and let her wait the whole evening and then she was angry.” I remembered Sophie’s tone when I had come home so late yesterday.
“You forgot?” Amber laughed a bell-like laugh. “How come?”
“Adam turned up at the library.” I whispered the words and at the same moment wondered why.
“The graveyard guy?”
I nodded, blushing.
“What happened?” She couldn’t hide her curiosity.
“He invited me to dinner.” I knew Amber would know no other to
pic for the rest of the day now. For some reason I didn’t care.
Amber wanted every detail, and I gave her every detail except the strange expression shifts Adam had had. I didn’t tell her I had the feeling Adam could see right through me.
Sports were a nice change from the thinking. Coach Lany let us climb ropes and run several rounds in the gym between the attempts at climbing. I was sweating like a pig after half an hour but I was happy to have a distraction to keep me from thinking about Adam. He would return to my head soon enough. There were more pressing issues at the moment, like the upcoming history exam.
“Don’t let me forget to tell Greg I need him for more studying this afternoon,” I told Lydia as she fell into step beside me, running round after round.
“Studying?” she asked suspiciously raising one eyebrow.
“For the history exam.” If my face hadn’t been red from the strain, I would have blushed now. Again I wondered why. Studying with Greg was nothing but studying, so why would I flush.
“Greg has changed a lot over the summer,” Lydia noted. Greg had been in Europe with his parents for the summer. His mum’s parents were from a small country in Europe, I didn’t remember which one, but something with lots of high mountains. Since he had returned he had been slightly different—more mature. And his body had changed to look like a grown man’s. I had noticed it more than once.
“Yeah, but he’s still my friend Greg.” I winked at her and she laughed. Both of us knew that it wasn’t as true as I wanted it to be. Greg was my friend, but he showed some signs of wanting to change his position to something different. I was not completely sure about how he would react when he heard about my dinner with Adam. I silently shoved aside the difficulties of our friendship and returned to the present and to Lydia.
“Have you seen Richard lately?”
Lydia beamed at the mention of Richard’s name. “We’ve been to the movies twice.” She giggled.
“Really? Why didn’t you tell me?” I was positively shocked by this news.
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