The waiter scribbles everything as fast as he could, snorts, and shakes his head. Kevin narrows his eyes.
“So…you just wanted to double his order, and add the foie gras,”
How in the world could I have just ordered everything that is Kevin’s usual?
We don’t answer him. Kevin and I are lock into a fierce silent war. Our weapons of choice? Our eyes.
“Very well then,” Toby says as he walks away.
“You’re disgusting for ordering foie gras,” Kevin bite out breaking us from our silent war.
I am not sure how to answer him. Yes, I know what the ducks has to endure for us humans. I just didn’t think about that when all I could think about was planning my revenge.
And the foie gras was an expensive dish. The worst part of this all, is that I had no intention of eating any of it. But, I wasn’t going to tell him that.
“Well, you said I could order anything I wanted, so I did,” I retort. “You should have said, don’t order the foie gras.”
“You are not eating it,” Kevin orders.
“Fine, it’s your money, not mine.”
Kevin eyes goes dark, the green of his eyes shine through. He’s angry.
The dimness of the lights in the restaurant was making his angry eyes shine. He almost looks demon like.
I did leave the foie gras alone and ate a bite or two of everything else. Kevin polishes off everything he ordered and all of my plates as well.
He pats his stomach when he’s done eating and lazily grinned.
“Ready to go?” He asks.
“Yes,” I reply.
Kevin motion for Toby to come over to us and Toby does with our check in hand.
“Hey man, hope to see you again soon.” Toby slaps Kevin’s back and heads over to another table.
Kevin pulls out two, hundred dollar bills and places them on top of the check. He gets up and holds out his hand for me. We walk hand in hand.
He holds my hand until we get to the door. Christie stops us, and put her hands on his bicep.
“Call me later?”
“I’ll try.” He answers and yanks me out of the restaurant.
Kevin drives me home and then walks me to my front door. We are both quiet. I am still thinking about the event that has happened at the restaurant. It was an emotional roller coaster. I am sure he is thinking of the same thing.
I unlock the door and turn back to Kevin.
“Thank you for dinner. I will see you tomorrow at school,” I turn away to walk into the house.
“You are not going to even give me a hug goodnight?” Kevin rocks back on his heel, hands in his jean pockets, looking very boyish with a hint of naughty.
I twist back around. Kevin grabs my waist and pulls me into him. I have no choice but to wrap my arms around his neck. He wraps his arms tightly around my waist and squeezes me in tighter.
We stay wrap up in each other’s arms for a while.
“Kevin,” I whisper.
He doesn’t say anything back but inhaled deeply through his nose and pulls me in a little tighter.
“You will eventually have to let me go, at some point.” I say.
“See you tomorrow,” Kevin breaks away from me without another word, he walks back to his truck and is instantly out of sight. And just like that, he’s gone.
I stare after his truck as he drives away.
Lola is in the living room studying when I finally make my way inside. She looks up at me, but doesn’t smile. She looks pissed.
“Where were you?”
“I went with Kevin to dinner,”
“Why didn’t you call or text me back?” Lola questions. “I was so worried about you.”
“I’m sorry, Lola. I didn’t check my phone at all.”
“Wow, he was that good?” Lola giggles.
“Lola Sanchez, do you really think I slept with him?”
“Well what else can explain why you didn’t check your phone? It’s freaking 11 p.m. in the freaking evening,”
“Just so you know we were just talking and there are lots of reasons why someone doesn’t check their phone! Get your mind out of the gutter.”
Lola is laughing.
“Well, if you haven’t gotten laid in over two years, your mind is on sex a lot.” She says.
“Don’t you worry, Lola. We’ll find you someone this weekend.” I wink at her.
“I don’t think I can wait that long.” She laughs.
I shake my head and laugh along with her.
“So what’s going on with you and Kevin?” She asks.
“He’s just my classmate, and maybe he’s becoming my friend?” I shrug.
“Hmmm…” She looks to be thinking about something.
I don’t wait for her to tell me. This is my chance to escape into my room.
“Lola, I’m tired. See you tomorrow, Okay? Good night,” I wave goodnight and head off to my bedroom.
Lola doesn’t say anything back to me or if she did it was too low for me to hear.
The reflection in the mirror is of a girl who looks healthy and happy. Full of life. I hate her. And the best way for me to feed into my self hate is to dress just like my old self.
So, I pull on a taupe, Burberry silk shirtdress, and brand new nude Jimmy Choo sandals. I can already picture the look on Kevin’s face. And, he brings a smile to my own.
Snickering to myself I grab my phone off of my night stand and my backpack and walk out of my room when I hear a knock on the front door. I walk over to look out the peep hole. There stands Kevin with his crocked, devious grin. Letting out a breath of air, I open the door.
“Wow,” Kevin breathes out.
“What are you doing here?” I ask impatiently.
“It’s good to see you too,” Kevin says sarcastically and pushes his way inside. I have no choice, but to move out of his way or get run over.
“I didn’t invite you in, Kevin,” I tell him. My hand is still gripping the doorknob. I make no move to shut the door.
Kevin doesn’t say anything back to me. He walks into the living room, his head moving from side to side as if he is examining his surroundings. Then he disappears into the kitchen. Sighing heavily, I slam the door shut and follow him into the kitchen.
I find him looking inside the fridge.
Gosh, he’s just going to make himself at home.
“What are you doing?”
He mumbles something angrily and shuts the fridge door.
“Your fridge is empty, how do you fucking eat?”
“We don’t eat at home. The other girls leave for school early in the morning. I think they pick up something on the way there.”
“And you?”
“I do the same,” I say.
“We should stop by the grocery store on our way home and get you guys some food.”
“No we are not,” I plant my hand on my hip.
“Yes we fucking are,” He growls.
“Kevin, I have things to do after class,” I sigh.
“I can take you wherever you need to go, and then we will go pick up some food after.”
“It doesn’t involve me having to go anywhere by car.” I reply.
“I’m not letting you walk,” He crossed his arms across his chest.
“I’m not going to be walking.”
“It’s that fucking douche-bag from yesterday isn’t it?” He leans against the counter top.
“Kevin,” I whisper looking down at the floor.
“Let’s get to class,” Kevin walks over to me but he doesn’t look at me as he walks right past me.
I follow him out of the kitchen, and find him standing by the front door waiting for me.
“I can get myself to school.”
Kevin turns and bore his gaze into my eyes. “Do you always have to act defiantly and ungrateful all the time?”
“I didn’t ask you to come pick me up for school,” I spat.
“No, you didn’t, but I was nice enough to think of you
. You can at least…damn it …fuck it…if you want a ride follow me out, if not stay the fuck here.” Kevin yanks the door open and walks out.
I grab my backpack; phone and keys as fast as I can and follow him out. My hands are shaking so hard as I am trying to lock the front door, the keys fall out of my hand. I feel a tear roll down my cheek. I really hate myself right now.
As I bend down to pick up the keys, a big hand grabs them up. I stare up the big hand’s arm to the amazing tattoos that covers the arm, my shaky fingers brush at them softly. The owner of the arm chuckles softly.
I lift my eyes to his hazel orbs and instantly I forget everything that had just happened. I smile sheepishly at him and straighten myself up. He straightens himself up too and locks the door for me.
“Ready?” He asks.
I nod and we make our way to his truck.
The feel of zephyr breeze on my legs is heaven as we walked to class from Kevin’s truck. I can’t stop smiling and Kevin can’t stop looking at me smiling, which makes me smile some more.
“You have to stop looking at me, it makes me nervous,”
“I can’t help it, I love your smile,” He says.
Where the heck did that come from? I love your smile?
My smile is replaced by the confusion that has taken over.
“Why can’t you just take a compliment and not over think things?” He shakes his head.
“Thank you?” I say, but the confusion is still on my face.
Kevin continues shaking his head and walks a little faster.
As we are approaching our classroom door, we see the girl that shook Kevin up the first day of school, in her favorite color black. I have to admit, she does have great taste in clothes, even though it’s always that one color. She doesn’t look happy to see us.
“We need to talk,” she gives Kevin a hard look.
Kevin and I stare back at her for a moment too long. She turns her attention to me.
“What are you looking at you dumb bitch,” She hisses.
“I’m trying to figure it out,” I bite back.
She opens her mouth to say something, but she doesn’t get a chance. Kevin grabs her by the arm and hauls her away from me. He drags her to the end of the hall. When Kevin lets her go, she punches him in the chest over and over. He tells her something and she covers her face with her hands.
Kevin pulls her in and hugs her. Her body is shaking from her crying. I can’t help but wonder what in the hell he did to her. Did he break her heart? He must have.
I can’t take watching them anymore. I grab the door handle to pull open the door and it’s locked.
Strange.
Then I realize that everyone from my class is in the hallway.
Kevin walks back to me his face stoic. He doesn’t talk when he gets to me. Kevin leans back on the wall, crosses his legs at the ankle, and looks down. He stays this way until the door opens and the professor walks out.
“We are having a pop quiz today. I sure hope each and every one of you has studied the bones as much as you can. Now come on in and place your bags on the floor by the door. All you need is your pencil.” The professor walks back in and everyone follows her.
“Are you going to be okay taking this quiz,” Kevin asks, from behind me. He sounds worried.
“Yes,”
There are bones on each and everyone’s desk and next to the bones are stick-it notes with numbers on them.
“Okay everyone, go find a spot next to a bone, your test sheet will be passed out in a bit.”
All the students move in a scattered hurry to get to a bone they know.
“Okay, make sure you name the curve of the bone, if you see an arrow sticker pointed to it.” Heather, the professor, tells us as she is passing out our test sheet.
Kevin follows me to the spot I choose. I see him watching me.
When I get the test sheet, I write down my answer and turn my paper around. I look at Kevin and he raises his brow. He writes down his answer and chuckles. We go around the classroom until we have filled in all of the names of the bones and their curves on our test sheet.
I look around the classroom to look for the girl in black, as I am walking back from turning in my quiz. I don’t see her anywhere.
The professor asks us to remove the bones and lay them on the back counter of the room. Everyone goes back to their normal seat after all the bones are put away.
“How do you think you did,” Kevin asks when we are back sitting in our normal seats.
“I think…good,” I tell him.
Kevin doesn’t know, realize, or maybe he was just blinded this whole time, but I was studying along with him. He is a loud studier, always had the bone in his hand as he says the name of the out loud. I absorbed the names of the bones like it was air going through my pores.
Kevin turns in his seat and looks around the room. He’s looking for her.
“Why didn’t she come to class?” I ask.
“She’s upset and when she’s upset, she runs away.”
“What did you do to her?”
“Nothing,” He arches his brow in question.
“Then why was she so upset?”
“I don’t want to talk about Natalie anymore.”
Her name is Natalie.
“Okay,” I open my lab book and pretend to read what was on the page.
Kevin goes into one of his moods and shuts down again during the class period. But he does wait for me when our class ends.
“Give me your phone,” Kevin demands as we are walking out of the science building.
“Why,” I ask pretending as if I don’t know. “What are you going to do if I don’t give you my phone?”
“Do you really want to test me right now?”
“No not really,” I tell him laughing. I pick up my pace and I move far away from him. Just in case, he tries to do something to me.
Kevin doesn’t let me get away, he grabs hold of my backpack strap and pulls me back to him. I fall backwards hard into his taut chest muscles. Kevin hooks an arm around my waist to hold me steady, his hand presses flatly on my lower stomach. I suck in a breath.
Even with my backpack between us, the way he’s holding me, it’s an intimate gesture. I feel Kevin going still too. And we stand together without moving for what seems like forever until I break free.
“Here,” I tell him after I retrieve my phone from my backpack. I hand it to him.
Kevin takes my phone without looking at me. He turns on the phone and punches his number into my phone. And then, he continues to scan through my phone as if I am not standing here and watching him do so.
“Kevin, it’s not nice to go through someone’s phone. It’s called boundaries and you are crossing it.” I snap, as I grab my phone from him.
Kevin holds both hands up and laughs. “Fine, but make sure you call me when you get home tonight,” He turns around and walks away without telling me bye.
What an ass!
Letting out a frustrating grunt I walk toward the Washington Avenue Bridge to the man, I have been waiting to see again since yesterday.
“You’re here and safe,” Roman says, looking joyful.
“I am,” I say, smiling.
Roman is wearing a dark navy suit, white dress shirt, and a yellow silk tie. The yellow tie catches my attention. I reach over and run my fingers along the silky material. I hear Roman suck in a breath. I drop my hand.
“Sorry,” I shrug. “It’s just yellow looks really good on you. Not everyone can pull off wearing yellow.”
“Thank you. I will remind myself to wear yellow in your presence.” He says, smiling genuinely.
“Okay, but just don’t wear all over yellow. That will be too much,” I giggle finding myself nervous again.
Roman’s eyes darken as I laugh and his gaze lowers to my lips. I do something that shouldn’t have been done during a time when a predator is ready to strike. I lick my lips, slowly watching his eyes become a strong dark force.
“I have something planned for us on top of my building. Do you have any appointments to attend to for this evening?” Roman asks, looking hopeful.
“I don’t,” I answer.
“Let me take your backpack,” Roman slides the straps off my shoulder.
His thumb scrapes across the thin fabric of my dress, I will myself not to jump or melt into a puddle at his feet.
Roman hooks my backpack onto one of his shoulder and grabs my hand. I follow behind him, trying to walk as fast as he is, as he stalks across the street to his building.
“Mr. Conti,” The receptionist stands up to greet him from her desk in the middle of the building.
Roman smiles and nod back at her. I take this moment to glance around the building. There are elevators along the hallway behind the receptionist desk and there are two men dressed in dark suits in the corner, one on either side of the front doors. The floors are shiny enough to see your reflection in them. I see myself being half dragged to the elevators.
The top of his building makes my heart stop and I nearly pass out.
“Are you okay,” Roman has one hand on my stomach and one on the top of my back, trying to hold me up.
“I’m fine,” I breathe. “This is beautiful, Roman.”
There’s a white tent covering a table, draped with an ivory table cloth. The glasses on the table look like pure crystal. The plates have a gold lining around the edges. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out they were made with real gold. The center piece is a mix of white flowers, the vase covered in diamonds. The floor is covered with white rose petals.
Roman drops his hand from my stomach and his other hand slides down to my lower back guiding me to the table. He gently drops my backpack to the corner of the tent and pulls my chair out for me. He takes his seat and doesn’t say anything to me. Instead, he sits, looking joyful and pleased.
I decide to break the ice first.
“You didn’t have to do all of this.” I gesture with my hand.
“I wanted to take you out to dinner, but I was afraid you were not ready for a night out with me.” He says. “This here, dinner on top of my building, seems fitting. When you are ready we will have a night out…together.”
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