by Audrey Harte
From: Annie Chang
Subject: It’s a date
Date: January 5, 2013 21:33
To: Nate Skyles
Yeah, I know the place. See you there tomorrow at 1. Want to exchange phone numbers?
Annie took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. This was it…she was going for it. Quickly, she hit send before she could change her mind. She only had to wait a minute before Nate responded with his number, which she immediately added to her phone. He said he would see her there tomorrow and that he would love to chat more with her, but he had to meet up with some friends as they were celebrating someone’s birthday. For the rest of the night, she couldn’t seem to wipe the big stupid grin off her face. She went to sleep with a hopeful smile on her lips, hoping she would dream of her new crush.
CHAPTER NINE
Sunday morning came all too slowly as Annie tossed and turned through the night, the anticipation she had built up in her body keeping her from falling into a deep, restful sleep. She was up at the crack of dawn, slipping into some sweatpants and a tank top before she left for the gym. A light workout took her about forty minutes; she spent twenty minutes on the elliptical before heading over to the weights to spend another twenty minutes toning her arms and legs.
As she worked up a sweat, she thought nervously about her coffee date with Nate. What was she going to wear? She wanted to look attractive and alluring, but it wasn’t like they were going out to a nice restaurant or a club; it was just coffee.
Mentally, she went through her wardrobe, dismissing ideas as they took shape in her head, finally settling on her favorite pair of black jeans that hugged her hips and showed off her ass, pairing them with a black camisole and a flowy black and white striped cardigan. To complete the look, she decided to go with a comfortable pair of high-heeled black wedge sandals.
After she finished up her last few reps to tone her calves, she wiped down the equipment and then grabbed her almost empty bottle of water. Emptying the last droplets of water into her mouth, she threw the bottle away in the recycle bin before wiping her mouth on her workout towel. As Annie walked out of the gym, she couldn’t help thinking that no matter how much she protested and whined about exercising, she enjoyed the feelings of good health and accomplishment she always experienced after each workout.
She took her time getting ready for her afternoon date, taking special care with her make-up and hair. Briefly she thought about eating a light salad, but she knew that she wouldn’t be able to choke it down. She was too nervous and excited to have an appetite. Her phone beeped with an incoming text and she dashed over to the kitchen counter to retrieve it.
Nate: Good morning, beautiful. Hard to believe I’m going to be meeting you in a couple of hours. Did you have sweet dreams last night?
Annie: Good morning. :) I’m looking forward to meeting you, too. No sweet dreams here – I had some trouble getting to sleep.
Nate: Sorry to hear that. I hope it wasn’t because of me.
Annie: Well…
Nate: Ha, my bad. Well, we’re going for coffee, so you can load up on caffeine to stay awake. I promise you won’t fall asleep while you’re with me.
Annie: Sounds like a plan and I should hope not…unless it’s from pure exhaustion. ;)
Nate: Woman, behave. We’re just going out for coffee like a pair of civilized adults.
Annie: *pout* Fine, I’ll behave.
Nate: I imagine you are completely adorable when you pout.
Annie: My mother would disagree with you.
Nate: Lol
Annie: I can’t wait to see you in person.
Nate: You took the words right out of my mouth.
Annie: I think you have a sexy mouth. I wonder what it tastes like.
Nate: Woman, do you know the definition of behaving?
Annie: Hehe, okay, I promise I will…for now. ;)
Nate: Lol, this is the most excited I’ve been about having coffee…like ever.
Annie: Ditto. See you soon.
Nate: Not soon enough.
Hugging herself, Annie jumped up and down in a circle and did a little boogie dance. She loved the feeling of meeting someone new for the very first time. There was excitement and anticipation and a bit of terror, wondering if you’d like them or if they’d like you.
You only had one chance to make a good first impression, so she spent the next hour in front of her mirror plucking, inspecting, touching up her make-up and scrutinizing every pore. When she was finally satisfied with the end results, she finished getting dressed. Then she slipped on her high-heeled sandals and spent another ten minutes in front of her floor-length mirror, making sure she looked good from every angle.
Traffic on the 101 south to Hollywood was shitty and instead of being early, she was a few minutes late. Annie texted him as she exited the freeway, letting him know she’d be there shortly. He texted back, saying he had already gotten them a table. Luckily, someone was pulling away from the curb just as she drove up, and she was able to nab a spot right in front. Butterflies were doing crazy loops and spins in her stomach and her pulse was pounding as she did one final check in the rearview mirror, baring her teeth to inspect her pearly whites.
It appeared that even in no strings attached situations, she still felt as nervous as if she was meeting someone with serious intentions. And wasn’t that really what she secretly wished for, even as she pretended to be okay with just having some casual fun?
Pushing the unwanted thought from her mind, she grabbed her purse and got out of the car, hitting the lock button before shutting the door. Annie briefly considered getting back in her car and taking off, but she lifted her head determinedly and made herself let go of the car door handle.
As she walked into The Bourgeois Pig, she scanned the room for Nate and didn’t see him at first. Remembering they also had a back room, she wandered in, squinting a bit in the dim light.
“Hey, beautiful,” a voice beside her spoke.
Her head swung to the left and she gulped. Nate had gotten to his feet as he spoke, moving over to quickly hug her in greeting. She returned the hug, but as he began to pull away, she instinctively felt herself reach out a hand to tug him back to her, boldly planting a kiss on his lips. His blue eyes only widened momentarily before his lips touched hers, and then his eyes closed, his tongue sliding easily and smoothly into her mouth as he kissed her thoroughly. Just as suddenly as she had started kissing him, she abruptly pulled away from him, her hand firmly pushing against his chest to put some space between them.
Nate eyed her speculatively, his chest visibly rising and falling as he struggled to stop himself from grabbing her hand to pull her back to him. She quickly sat down and smiled innocently at him as he continued to stand there for a moment, still looking at her. Nodding her head towards the other seat at their table, she continued to smile and he finally sat down, looking at her somewhat sternly.
“I thought you were going to behave, Annie.”
As he said her name in a slightly menacing tone, she shivered not from fear, but from excitement. “I couldn’t help myself. It’s what kept me awake most of the night, wondering what it’d be like to kiss you.”
Smirking, he cocked an eyebrow at her. “And what’s the verdict? Do I pass muster?”
Pretending to think about it, she tapped her finger against her lips. “Hmm, I can’t be certain. I may have to call a redo to make sure.”
He burst out laughing, reaching across the small table to take her hands in his, threading his fingers with hers. “You’re really something, you know that?”
“Hmm, you think so?” She smiled lazily at him as she lightly bit her bottom lip, peeking at him through lowered lashes.
“You’re killing me here.”
“I certainly hope so.”
“I had every intention of acting like a complete gentleman when I got here, but you are really not making it easy to remain so.”
“Good.”
A waitress appeared
at their table just then, asking if they were ready to order. After glancing briefly at the drink menu, Annie gave her order. “Yeah, can I please get a double cappuccino?” Nate ordered a latte and water and moments later, they were alone again.
“I swear this is not just a line, but you seriously have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen.”
Embarrassed, Annie immediately averted her eyes and stared at the floor as she fought against the blush staining her cheeks. “Ah, thanks,” she finally said, shyly glancing back at him.
He grinned at her and lifted her hand up so he could kiss the top of her knuckles, gently caressing his lips back and forth against her fingers. Blinking at him, she couldn’t stop the shiver that went up her spine. She marveled at how much such a small action could make her feel.
“You have the most delicate hands,” he mused as he cradled one of her hands in both of his, slowly drawing circles on her sensitized skin with his fingers.
Her voice a little shaky, she cleared her throat. “You aren’t really behaving yourself, you know.”
“I never promised to behave. That was all you,” he said with a wicked grin.
She was momentarily rescued from having to respond as their drinks arrived. Nate released her hands to accept the steaming latte and Annie accepted her cappuccino as she politely thanked the waitress.
“So how was your friend’s birthday party?” she asked, pointedly steering the conversation away from her. The compliments were nice, but he was making her blush way too much and she already felt too warm around him.
“It was pretty rockin’. We went to a club and danced until they kicked us out.”
“Really? Where did you guys go?”
“Vanguard.”
“Oh.” A cloud passed over her face momentarily as memories of that first night with Gabe flashed through her mind.
“You ever been there?”
“Ah, yeah. I used to go there a lot, actually. Cool place.”
“Yeah, the music was pretty sick. I would love to take you there some time.”
Annie had just lifted her cup to take a sip of her cappuccino and almost sputtered into the foam at Nate’s comment. Recovering quickly, she nodded at him. “Uh, sure. That’d be fun.” And why not? It was time to make new memories and try to forget about the past.
“How about next weekend?”
She couldn’t help but smile at his eager look; his enthusiasm was infectious. “Sure, that’d be great.”
“Awesome, I can’t wait to dance with you.”
“What if I suck?”
He laughed and shook his head at her. “Not possible. Besides, even if you do, you have me to teach you.”
It was her turn to laugh. “I don’t need to be taught anything. I’ve got moves.” She pretended to dust her shoulders off and winked at him.
“Oh okay, I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. Maybe we’ll have a dance off,” he teased, winking at her.
“Oh, you are on,” she said, smirking at him.
They continued to chat for several minutes, discussing which clubs they’d frequented over the years and discovering that they liked a lot of the same DJs, like Tiesto, Paul van Dyk, Armin van Buuren, Calvin Harris and Deadmau5.
“You almost done with your coffee?”
“Mmm yeah. Why?”
“Feel like an adventure?”
Raising an eyebrow, Annie regarded him thoughtfully. Mentally, she pinched herself. Just go with the flow. “Sure, why not?”
“Cool. Um, why don’t you follow me? Or do you know how to get to the Third Street Promenade?”
“In Santa Monica?”
“Yeah.”
“I do. You want to go all the way over there?”
“It’s not that far.”
“Far enough,” she laughed.
“Come on. Live a little.” Nate nudged her, giving her puppy dog eyes and making her laugh again.
“Okay, fine. I’ll meet you there, but I have to say you’re a little too good at that puppy dog look.”
“It’s my secret weapon,” he confided in her as he waved down the waitress and asked for their check. Waving aside her attempt to pay for her coffee, he paid for both their drinks with cash and stood to help her up from the table. As they walked out of the coffee shop, he held his hand at the small of her back, guiding her through the growing Sunday afternoon crowd.
Annie had a silly smile on her face as she walked to her car, happy to feel the warm fuzzies return, courtesy of Nate’s gentlemanly treatment of her. As she reached into her purse for her keys, he put his hand out and nodded towards the keys.
“May I?” he asked politely.
With a bemused smile, she nodded and handed him the keys. She watched in fascination as he unlocked her door and held it open for her to get in, quickly rolled down her window, then passed her keys back to her before carefully shutting the door. “I didn’t know men like you existed anymore,” she said with a laugh.
“I’m told I’m a rare breed, but yes, we do exist.” He then tipped his imaginary hat at her and made a little half bow. “My mama raised herself a good boy with manners,” he joked, using a heavy southern accent.
“Well, be sure to give your mama my thanks.”
“I’ll do that. So I’ll see you in about half an hour?”
“You’re optimistic,” she laughed.
“That I am,” he said, grinning back at her.
“Okay, I’ll see you there in about half an hour.”
“Great, drive safe,” he cautioned as he stepped away from her car, stopping to look both ways before crossing the street to his car, a blue Honda Accord. She watched him climb in and waited until he flipped his car around and drove up behind her before she pulled away from the curb and headed down the street to the freeway.
The traffic gods must have been smiling as they found very little traffic on their way to Santa Monica. She kept sight of him in her rear view mirror the entire way until they both pulled into one of the public parking lots close to the Third Street Promenade. After they both parked, he took her hand in his, squeezing it as he smiled at her.
“I’m really glad you agreed to come.”
“I am, too.”
“I didn’t want our first meeting to end, yet.”
“And it’s not going to…but, let’s get out of this parking lot. It’s a little stinky in here,” she complained, wrinkling her nose.
He laughed at her and leaned over to kiss the tip of her nose. “You’re so cute,” he said with a grin. “Okay, princess. Let’s get you out of here.” He led the way to the stairs and they took the two flights down before heading out into the fresh Santa Monica air. Annie breathed a sigh of relief as they moved away from the stench of the public parking lot. She’d always had a pretty sensitive nose, so places with unpleasant smells tended to bother her even more so than some people.
Nate led the way to the Third Street Promenade and stopped in front of a gelato shop. “Do you like gelato?” he asked.
“I’ve never had it before.”
Gaping at her, he laughed. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Oh man, you don’t know what you’ve been missing. You like ice cream, though, right?”
“Um, I’m female.”
He laughed again and opened the door to the gelato shop for her. “After you.”
Annie couldn’t believe how chivalrous Nate had turned out to be; it was hardly something she expected out of a guy she met through the Casual Encounters section of Craigslist. Inclining her head towards him, she murmured her thanks and moved past him to stand in front of the glass cases filled with several different flavors of smooth gelato.
“Oh wow. I have no idea what flavor I want. What do you recommend?”
“Well, my favorites are the Espresso Chip and the White Chocolate Hazelnut.”
“Oh my God – those both sound amazing!”
“They are…you could do a scoop of each or I’m actually going to do that
, so if you want to try two other flavors, I’ll let you have a taste of mine as well.”
“Mmm, really?” she asked with a mischievous grin, her eyes twinkling as she looked at him.
Smiling lazily, he winked at her. “Yes, really.”
“So do you want to taste me…I mean, taste mine as well?”
His eyes narrowed at her as he leaned close to her and whispered in her ear. “Behave. There are children about.”
Looking slightly chagrined, Annie swung her head around to see who else was there. A tall middle-aged man with kind eyes was holding a toddler on his hip while pointing at different flavors in the case, asking the boy which one he wanted. A few giggling teenage girls were standing at the cash register, paying for their gelato, and a young, tired-looking mother with a baby and two other young children had just walked in behind them.
Her face reddening, she muttered an apology and started studying the floor as she willed herself to stop blushing. The shopkeeper turned to help them, asking what he could get for them. Nate gave his order and then turned to raise an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to make her selections.
“I think I’ll try the Strawberry Cheesecake and the Tahitian Vanilla.”
“Vanilla? How boring,” he said with a laugh.
“I love vanilla,” she said defensively as he bumped his shoulder against her. “And it’s not just Vanilla, it’s Tahitian Vanilla.”
“Nothing wrong with a little vanilla…and exotic — even better.” Grinning, Nate winked at her before he stepped up to the cash register to pay for both of their gelatos.
Annie protested, reaching into her wallet for some cash. “Hey, you got coffee. Let me get this.”
He just waved it aside and paid the cashier, then turned to escort her outside, gelato in hand. “My grandmother would roll over in her grave if she knew I let a girl pay for anything on our first date.”
“Is this a date?” she asked shyly.
“Of course.”
“I guess I didn’t expect you to actually take me out on a real date with you finding my ad the way you did and all.”