Til' Death

Chapter 5

Luca's pick on top

"Honey, you're absolutely blazin'!" Sophia exclaimed, jumping up and down, clapping her hands.

"We just went past hot, huh?" I looked in the mirror and gasped. My hair was in curls that fell down my waist. The black, skintight dress outlined my curves in the right way and fell mid thigh, and flared around my legs. I was dressed to the nines.

"You have a booty!" Sophia squealed, poking my backside. I swatted her hand. "You went from Ellen Degeneres to Kim Kardashian." She poked it again, seeing if it was truly real.

The doorbell rang and I ran in heels toward the door, nearly twisting my ankle in the process. "Ow!" I rubbed my sore ankle, but quickly forgot about it when I took in Talon.

He wore a black dinner jacket and tie, with a navy blue dress shirt. A beautiful bouquet of red roses were given to me and I closed my eyes in delight while I literally smelled the roses. "Glad you like them." He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close. "You look absolutely breath taking, Eve." His eyes were darkened with desire as they raked over my body. "Sophia." He reluctantly raised his eyes and greeted her.

"Talon." She put her glasses over her head and smoothed out her silk pajamas. She stepped pass me and embraced him, patting his back. You could see that Soph admired him, as a younger sibling does to their older brother.

Brother, the word fluttered through my mind. I hadn't even thought about Gabe at all, hadn't even shed a tear to mourn.
The guy who once beat up bullies...and my first boyfriend. The guy who stayed with me when I was sick, attended my tea parties, and came to every sports game I had. He was dead, but it felt like he died a long time ago.

"Right Evelyn." Talon interrupted my thoughts.

I looked up confused. "I said we should get going." He reiterated.

" Oh, yeah." I replied and headed out the door, Talon hot on my heels.

His car wasn't like the ones my past exes had, you know the regular Jaguar. Talon's was a dark blue BMW; It wasn't flashy and expensive that screamed "Hey, I'm filthy rich!"

It was subtle and said "I have money, but I'm not gonna brag."

He opened up the door for me and closed it behind me and we drove to Geoni's.

Geoni's was by far the best Italian restaurant in all of San Francisco. Their calamari was to die for and I grew up with the owner's son, Luca Matteo.

We arrived and met my favorite host. "Evelyn Campbell." Nicolo Bagnetta, embraced me. "We haven't seen you in months." He looked to Talon. "Who's your date?"

"Talon." I introduced, as they shook hands. "Where's your cousin?" I asked, scanning the vast room for Luca.

"He's in the kitchen, been very busy, since being promoted to Head Chef."
Nicolo responded.

"That's great." Even though he could take his place as sole owner of the restaurant, he decided to put his culinary skills to use. That's what I'd always admired about him.

We were seated and shortly our waiter came.

"What will you be drinking this evening?" The nervous black haired boy asked. He looked as if he was still in highschool. Puberty had hit him recently, as you could see the pimples sprouting from his forehead. He was visibly shaking and sweating, and he kept tugging his white shirt. The poor thing looked miserable, so I took the pad and pencil from him.

" Talon?" I asked, gesturing with the pad and pencil. He smiled in amusement. "How about a bottle of Zinfandel?"

I grunted in agreement and scribbled it down.

"Appetizers?"
"Brushetta."
"Good choice." I scribbled it down and handed it back to the boy.

"Thank you, miss." He bowed and took the pad and pencil away, dismissing himself.

"You're amazing." Talon said, meeting my eyes. "You're so good, most people would ridicule him, but you helped him."

I shrugged. "It was nothing, he was struggling and I couldn't let him just stand there and sputter."

The body came back and poured our glasses with the red wine and set down our appetizer.

My mouth watered when the aroma of the brushetta wafted through my nostrils. I picked one up, took a bite, and moaned. Tomato and basil mingled with the garlicky bread and my tongue bursted with flavor. I quickly finished it. Talon ate one and groaned in pleasure. We polished off the appetizer together.

"You are very refreshing." Talon stated, while I wiped my mouth with a napkin.

My brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Most times when a man takes a woman out to eat, she eats little and takes small bites." He elaborated. "You actually eat, instead of nibble."

"Entrés?" A thick Italian voice asked. I looked up and saw Luca Matteo in all his beauty. His curly black hair fell over blue eyes and had milky white skin. He had a basketball player build and wore a chef's hat.

"Luca!" I jumped up and embraced him. Luca had been Gabe's best friend for years, but he would always he part of my family.

"Evey!" He chuckled. He pulled away and twirled me. "How've you been, bella?"

"Great and you?"
"Well, how's the family?"
" Leah's still in college, Mom's still on vacation in Hawaii."
" Gabe?" He asked hopeful, and my heart dropped.
"He died from an overdose." I lied through my teeth.

"That is unfortunate, he was always my brother, as you and Leah are my sisters."
His eyes moved to Talon. "Who's this?"

Talon stood and extended a hand. " Ciao sono Talon , la data di Eva.[Hello I'm Talon, I'm Eve's date]."

"Sai l'italiano?[You speak Italian?]" Luca's ears perked up.

" Ho vissuto in Italia per un decennio.[I lived in Italy for a decade.]

" Mi piace , Eve.[I like him.]" Luca said smiling at me.

"Mi piace lo più , Luca.[I like him more, Luca.]" I smiled at Talon and we stared into each other's eyes.

We seated and gave our orders to Luca. We chatted about anything and everything, but stopped when our food arrived. Talon ordered veal marsala, while I ordered chicken parmigiana.

No sooner as Luca left, did we dig in. It just melted in your mouth and danced on your tongue. I took a sip of wine and although it was heavy, it complemented the dish perfectly.

We skipped dessert, and our Luca handed over the bill. Talon and I fought over the bill. Being the gentlemen he was, he insisted, while the independent woman I am protested that I should.

"It's on the house." Luca cut in when I was about to stab Talon in the arm with a fork out of frustration.

"Really?" We asked at the same time.
"Yes, get out of here." He chuckled.
"At least take this." I stood and lied $50 on the table. My generosity was short lived before Talon put a was of cash on the table.

He grabbed my hand, even as I glared and we walked out the door. We pulled up to the house and Talon rushed to my side and opened the door for me. We walked hand in hand to the front door.

"I had a great time, Talon."
"Me too, Evelyn."

I had cracked the door open, before he pulled me close and kissed me. I melted against him and parted my lips, and his tongue slid in, massaging mine. My leg came up and clasped around his waist.
We both came up for air and I kissed him one last time.

"Remember training tomorrow." He reminded me grinning.

I closed the door and slid to the floor, running my fingers through my hair.
There was something special about that boy, I swear.