The Promise

by S. L. Jayne

  Rylee burst out laughing. “Winks? And no he hasn’t, He’s been funny and sweet but not full on. I think he really does just want to be friends with me.”

  The loud knock on the door told us it was time to go, I stood up and smirked back at Rylee as I made my way to the door. “Uh huh, I’m sure he’s being sweet because he only wants to be friends!”

  I’ve got to hand it to Matt for his tactics.

  I opened the door to Aimee and Kaitlyn. “Hey. You both look great! Are you sure you’re not planning on joining in?”

  Aimee shook her head. “No, I made an effort with my outfit because Walker said he may stop in and say hi. He’s out with the guys, poker night or something.”

  I smiled. “Okay, cool.”

  “Let’s get going,” I called through to Rylee.

  Looking around the bar as we walked in, I couldn’t help the aww that slipped from my mouth. The walls are covered in red and white drapes with hearts dangling on strings in front of them, there are red balloons on every table with heart confetti scattered on the table cloths.

  I turned to find Rylee looking around with wide eyes. “Seriously, you’re saying “aww”? It looks like cupid has thrown up in here! Only you would think this place looks romantic.”

  I laughed. “You’re a heartless bitch sometimes, you know that?”

  “Best way to be.”

  Aimee and Kaitlyn headed to the bar to sit down and spectate while Rylee and I went to find a table to sit at. I can’t believe we are actually going to do this.

  The bar started filling up with women and I was starting to look forward to it. We got seated at a table next to each other.

  I turned to Rylee and held up my score card. “Oh my god, we have to score them!”

  She laughed. “I can’t wait to hear the rules to this!”

  As she said that the event lady raised her voice to get our attention. We both looked up to see a short grey haired woman in a black pin stripe dress and kitten heels, she looked in her sixties. I looked over to Rylee and raised my brow, I wondered to myself how long she had been doing this.

  “Good evening, ladies. First of all I am Julie and I’d like to wish you the best of luck with your dates tonight. Secondly, for those that are here for the first time I will quickly run through the rules. Use the score card to rate your date discreetly in the time of them moving around, generally you rate a date on appearance, conversation and any sort of immediate connection or attraction that you feel, also it helps to write down the guy’s name you see to keep you on track. Okay, onto the conversation rules. You have three minutes with each date, this is usually enough time to get a first impression and a good judgement on whether you will be compatible or not. There are some off-limit subjects. The most important ones are profession and where you're from, so stick to talking about interests, favorite things and hobbies. Now I have spoken for long enough. I’m going to let the men in, and again good luck, ladies!”

  Julie walked away in the direction of the bar to open the door for the guys. I saw Rylee with her head in her hands.

  I whispered over to her. “Rylee, are you okay?”

  She lifted her head and looked at me. “Yeah, I’m just dreading this. I don’t do talking about myself. I’m going to make sure I’m the worst date here.”

  I chuckled quietly. “I’m sure you’ll do great at that seeing as you’ve never been on a real date before anyway.”

  She laughed sarcastically at me and then flipped me the bird.

  Hearing the sound of deep voices, I looked over to the bar and saw that the men were starting to make their way into the room. Aimee and Kaitlyn were looking over our way laughing, I guess they saw Rylee’s hand gesture. I smiled sweetly at them and tried to focus on what I would say to my ‘dates’.

  I’m four guys into this and I’m ready to run home and lock the door! So far I have met one guy called Neil who’s first question was “how do you feel about cats?” The next one, David was a full on “my mom would love to meet you”. Jake was a quiet one. He was more for Rylee, his line was, “I’m here more for my friends, I don’t like dating. It’s too personal for me.” The fourth one was even weirder with his approach, his opening line was, “so, I have this contract…”

  Did I mention I’m ready to run? Let’s not think about their scores. I have sneaked a few peaks over at Rylee and given her a subtle shake of my head after each one to give her the heads up, as she is on my right and that is the rotation the guys are going in.

  The next guy sits down and I give him a smile and introduce myself. “Hi, I’m Ava.”

  He flashes me a mega-watt smile and he is actually quite cute. He has dark hair, green eyes and a great smile. Yes his smile is worth mentioning twice!

  “Nice to meet you, Ava. I’m Reece.” He reached across the table grabbing my hand and lifted it to his mouth placing a gentle kiss just past my knuckles.

  Soft lips too!

  “So, Ava, what do you like doing for fun? He grinned.

  “I like going out for lunch, to the beach, to the bars, watching movies. The usual stuff. What about you?”

  I kind of feel nervous talking about myself.

  “I like all of that too, I also like watching football and all the other typical guy stuff. And let’s not forget to add that meeting gorgeous girls like you is definitely fun.” He winked at me and flashed his smile again.

  Damn!

  I felt my face get warm, I needed to get a grip. I couldn’t let him ruin my train of thought with every smile!

  I flashed him a big smile back. “Thank you. So, tell me what your favorite movie is.”

  Yes that’s the best question I had right now.

  “You’re welcome, it’s my pleasure-“

  He was cut off by the sound of the bell alerting us that it was time to move on. He stood up leaning over to grab my hand again and placed another kiss on top of it.

  “Maybe we can continue this conversation another time, it was great to meet you.” He winked and walked off before I could say anything.

  After a few more dings on the bell, a whole three minutes talking about Martin’s favorite pasta sauces, and meeting a law breaker I am so glad this night is over. Out of all the guys I have talked to tonight only three were worth the three minutes and the rest wouldn’t even last that long. I stood up to make my way over to Rylee who is already at the bar with Aimee and Kaitlyn.

  “I saw your face when the Goth sat down, girl you looked petrified!”

  Rylee burst out laughing. “He was the scariest!”

  Kaitlyn looked up at me as I got nearer. “Did you have fun? I’m sure I saw you zone out a couple times.”

  I laughed and nodded. “It was eventful that’s for sure. I think I have a newfound respect for crazy cat ladies, I think they must have met every guy here and got put off for life!”

  They all burst out laughing. “One of them even tried chat up lines, “Do you work for UPS? Cause I swore I saw you checking out my package” was his favorite,” I said shaking my head.

  Kaitlyn burst out laughing. “Oh my God, what did you say to him?”

  I shrugged. “I just told him that I wasn’t checking it out I was trying to find it.”

  Rylee turned to me. “How funny was the drunk driver? Oh my god. “Hi, I’m Gary. I can take you out on a real date once I can drive my car without having to breathe into it to get the ignition going.”

  I laugh so hard I can’t form words, he actually used the same line on her as he did on me like it was a winner!

  We ordered a drink and waited for our score cards to be collected, then we will find out if anyone wants to see us again.

  “Aimee, I thought Walker was coming?”

  She shook her head slightly. “He couldn’t make it. He had to go and help his cousin, something to do with work.”

  I could tell she was a little bummed that he couldn’t make it. “Oh okay, you’ll see him tomorrow though,” I smiled.

  Her face lit up a li
ttle. “Yeah you’re right. Are you guys ready to go?” She asked looking at us all.

  At that moment Julie the event co-ordinator walked over to us with a huge smile on her face.

  “Hello, ladies. I just wanted to give you these cards, they have the names and numbers of the guys that are interested in another date with you,” she said as she handed Rylee and I our cards.

  We smiled back and said thank you, she wished us luck as she turned and walked away. Deciding to check the card later I put it in my purse and tell Aimee we’re good to go.

  ***

  I settled onto the couch reading the cards while I waited for Rylee to get her ass in here so I can see which guys gave their number to her. I jumped up and rushed into the hall when I heard her shout.

  She looks anxious as she started speed talking. “Oh my god! Ava, I missed three texts from Matt. There was a fight in the bar tonight and the front window got smashed! I hope he’s okay, I feel bad that I didn’t reply and now he’s worried and thinks I’m pissed at him! Here, look.”

  She handed me her phone, I looked down at the messages from Matt.

  Matt: I’m so pissed right now! There has been a fight in here tonight and I can’t believe my window got smashed and I’ve had to close early! Xx

  Matt: Hey, I’m sorry for ranting to you. I just needed to let it out, I shouldn’t have done it but you were the first person I thought of telling. Xx

  Matt: Rylee? Are you okay? I’m really sorry babe, I didn’t mean to scare you off with my ranting. Xx

  “Text him now, Ry, he’ll be okay once he knows you’re not scared off,” I said as I passed her phone back to her.

  She nodded. “Yeah, I will. I can’t believe he thinks that would scare me off. I’m his friend, he should know he can come to me to talk.”

  I grinned at her. “I think he’s just being cautious with you, Ry.”

  She nodded again as she finished typing out a text to him. “Yeah, maybe. He isn’t going to scare me off, I’m kind of getting used to him being my friend.”

  I rolled my eyes at her making a point of mentioning the friend thing twice.

  “So, what names are on your card? I can’t believe the pasta loving guy even expects me to date him! I didn’t even talk, I just nodded for the whole three minutes,” Rylee asked as she walked over to the couch with our drinks. I had had a sudden craving for hot chocolate and marshmallows and that made Rylee want some too.

  “Thanks. Think yourself lucky, I had the contract guy! Oh, and Reece the one with panty dropping smile! I think I may be texting him, he seemed really sweet.”

  She screwed her nose up. “He was too much of a smooth talker for me.”

  Chapter Nine

  I walked out of the bathroom and made my way to the kitchen to make coffee and pancakes, I would go to the café down the street but today I don’t feel like going out. I sat at the breakfast bar and thought about the last three weeks, they have been busy and a little hectic, not only with work but my parents came to visit too. It was good to see them and have them see our life here, my mom is very proud of the way we have adjusted and the routine we have settled into. She was over the moon when she saw that Rylee had changed somewhat too, she said Rylee seemed more out of herself and was definitely giving more genuine smiles, not the forced ones she used to give.

  After the speed dating night we invited Aimee and Kaitlyn over to join us for a movie night, it was a good night and they have great taste in movies too, yet another thing we all have in common along with shopping and beach trips. I had sent a text to Reece that night too, it took a few glasses of wine and some encouragement from the girls but I finally did it. He replied straight away telling me he was happy I had text him and added, P.S my favorite movie is The Godfather. He had remembered the question that he hadn’t had time to answer. I was right, he was sweet.

  I met up with him at the café near our apartment the following week, I wanted to meet him in the daytime before I had agreed to go anywhere with him at night time where alcohol would be involved. He was just as gorgeous as I had remembered, walking into the café and seeing him sitting in the corner booth I remember holding my breath when he turned and smiled at me. I learned a few things about him, he didn’t tell me much. He is 26 and lives on his own. He is also a personal trainer… that explains his athletic build. I told him a little about myself. Mainly answering the same stuff as he did. I’m twenty two, I’m an only child, I work in publishing and I also told him a few of my favorite movies which led to him teasing me about my love of sparkly vampires. We had laughed and joked around together too. Hitting it off with him straight away made me feel comfortable around him which is why I agreed to another date with him.

  My cell beeped alerting me that I had a text message, I picked it up and saw that I had missed a text from Adam and had a new one from Reece.

  Adam: Hey! How’s everything your end? Work is fun but I need a holiday already. We miss you, and I want to hear more about this Reece guy. I hope he hasn’t smiled his way into your panties already! ;)

  I laughed at his text, trust him to think I’d have given in to a sexy smile. Adam had called to tell me about his new job as a video game developer, he could have stuck with being a tester and not needed any more than a high school diploma but he wanted more. He may be a big ball of fun and pranks but he’s got brains too. He did have a rant about being a grown up though and having to cut back on partying a little, I told him it’s okay to have responsibilities and he could still party on the weekends. I went over what Rylee and I had been doing and told him about the speed dating and Reece, and of course I had to mention Reece’s smile too.

  Me: Hey, Adam. Everything is good here, mom and dad have been to visit and today I’m chilling! Ha ha, you will get used to working but when you do have a holiday, make sure it’s here! Reece is sweet, he makes me smile and NO he hasn’t smiled his way into anywhere! :)

  I’m quite glad the answer wasn’t yes and that Adam isn’t here, he would probably go as far as asking Reece how he managed it because he had failed so many times. I opened my message from Reece and felt the smile spread across my face.

  Reece: Good morning, sexy. ;) xxx

  I quickly typed a reply.

  Me: Good morning ;) What are you doing today? Xxx

  Reece: I’m training this morning and afternoon, I don’t know what I’m doing tonight yet. You? xxx

  Me: Sounds good. I’m not doing much today, I don’t feel like going out so I’ll be chilling at home. xxx

  He had sent me the same message every morning without fail since the day after we met for coffee, it made me smile big every time.

  I looked up when I heard Rylee’s voice drawing me away from my thoughts.

  “Um, Ava? You know it isn’t normal to stare at your phone with a goofy grin on your face, right?” She smirked at me.

  I laughed at her throwing my own words back at me. “Funny. There is a difference though, Ry, I don’t claim to only want to be friends with him. A coffee date is still a date.”

  She burst out laughing. “I don’t only claim to be friends with Matt, we are just friends. He did invite me out for coffee the other day though, but if that’s a date to you then I think I’ll avoid his invite like the plague because who knows what it’ll mean to him!”

  I let out a laugh and stuck my tongue out at her. I think I may need to help Matt out a little bit, if he’s inviting her out he must be wanting some alone time with her to maybe show he’s not a bad guy to hang out with.

  “Don’t be so hard on the guy, you said yourself that you were getting used to being his friend and friends do go for coffee.”

  She gave me a sideways look. “Are you team Matt or team best friend? You keep this up and I’m going to have to start questioning your loyalties soon.”

  “I’m always team best friend, you know that but being on that team also means I have to do what’s best for said best friend- and I say going for coffee with smoking-hot-tattooed-winker is definitel
y for the best!” I grinned.

  She laughed. “You’re persistent I’ll give you that.”

  She’s right I am, I had been trying to get her to loosen up on Matt since the night he had texted her about the bar window. She needed to see that he was turning to her for someone to talk to even if it was something as small as a smashed window. She was still the first one he thought of telling.

  I had flicked through the TV channels from music to movies for the last hour trying to find something worth watching, nothing was gripping my attention. I heard Rylee walking down the hall singing to herself.

  “Finally! I’m bored, I did want to stay in all day today and do nothing but now I feel like doing nothing on the beach instead, you up for it?” I said as she walked into the living room.

  “Hell yeah I’m up for that, I could do with topping up my tan,” she said with a huge smile.

  We grabbed our stuff and headed out the door.

  Since working we hadn’t had much time to do this kind of thing. Laying on the sand with the sun beaming down felt like bliss, I let my mind wander to my first date with Reece after our coffee meeting. He had texted me after work last week asking what I had planned for the evening. I told him that I hadn’t had much planned only a relaxing night in front of the TV because I had had a busy day at work. We texted back and forth for a little while and he asked if he could persuade me to go out with him for a drink, it didn’t take much persuading to get me to say yes so he said he would pick me up in an hour. I was nervous about going on a real date with him, I think it was because I hadn’t been on a date since I dated Callum. My nerves disappeared quickly though when we reached the bar down town. Reece was attentive and sweet all night, the conversation was non-stop, he was really funny and cocky too and that just added to his charm. When we got back to my apartment he told me he wanted another date, this time to take me somewhere different.

  I felt Rylee nudge me. “What was that for?” I asked as I turned to her.

  She laughed. “I’ve been talking to you and you have been in your own world.”

  I snickered. “Sorry I was thinking about Reece. What did you say?”