Oh, It's On

Jace stands on the sidewalk watching me as I study the limo. His eyes are filled with amusement and his lip twitches into a smile.

“This must’ve cost you a fortune,” I say in awe, turning to look at him. I wait for him to unlock the doors but he doesn’t. He doesn’t move either.

“Honestly I didn’t really expect this,” I ramble on, feeling awkward with him just watching me. “All I said was a movie and—”

He cuts me off by bursting into a fit of laughter. He stumbles back against the railing of the porch and grabs a post for support. For ten whole seconds the only sound I hear is his laugh and it’s so contagious I can’t help but start smiling despite the fact that I’m completely clueless.

“What’s so funny?” I ask.

Jace takes three gulps of air and calms down a bit. “The – limo…it’s not for you.”

“W – what?”

“It’s not mine.”

I let the statement sink in. My cheeks redden in embarrassment and I can feel it spreading all the way down to my neck. Jace takes one look at my face and laughs some more.

“I…I knew that,” I finally manage to choke out.

He gives me an unbelieving look and strolls towards me with his hand in his pocket. When he reaches me, he wraps a hand around my arm and pulls me away from the car.

“Sorry to disappoint, but you’re not that special.” He smirks. “Maybe next time.”

I open my mouth to respond but realize that I don’t know what to say. His hand drops from my arm and bumps against my hand. I look up at him as we walk and he has a concentrated expression, facing forward. He notices me staring after a few seconds and turns his head to me, giving me a slight smile. I smile back and look forward again.

With winter approaching and all that, the sky is already a dark blue and all the streetlights are on. The night is fairly quiet and the cold air magnifies the sounds of our steps. We walk in silence until we reach a larger street. Both sides of the road and filled with small shops and restaurants. After passing a few shops, Jace stops in front of a nice-looking restaurant. He turns to me with a sheepish expression on his face.

“Our stop,” he says, gesturing to the door behind him.

“Um,” I say, stunned. Wasn’t expecting that. “Okay.”

He leads me into the restaurant and a waiter immediately comes to his side. “Oh good Jace, you’re here. Your table is ready.” The waiter glances at me once before starting through the array of tables.

As I follow Jace and the waiter, I take my time looking around the restaurant. Good thing I changed before coming here because this is definitely not a jeans-and-plaid-shirt kind of place. Because it was dinner time, the place was pretty full and from the looks of it, pretty expensive, seeing as how everyone was dressed up nicely. The empty tables have little reservation cards on them and it makes me wonder just exactly how Jace got into a place like this.

The waiter finally stops in front of a two-person table and mutters something about menus before walking away. Jace pulls out a chair and waits for me to sit on it.

I send him a look of suspicion.

“I’m not going to pull it out and make you fall,” he says with a sigh.

With another glare, I carefully sit down and pull the chair a bit closer to the table.

“Thanks,” I say quietly, waiting for him to take his seat. “So, this is a nice place.”

“You think so?” he replies, a genuine smile forming on his lips.

“Yeah, surprisingly,” I tease and he laughs. “How did you get a reservation here, anyways?”

“Well, they said they could fit us in if we only had appetizers and shared a dessert.”

I nearly choke on the water I was sipping. “What?”

Jace laughs. “I’m just kidding. You’re so gullible, Stella.”

I shoot him a glare as I dab water away from my lips with a napkin.

“I had to pull a few strings,” he explains. “And the fact that my dad owns the place doesn’t hurt either.”

I nod and take another sip of water. Taking another look around the restaurant, I have to admit I’m pretty impressed with the decoration. It has a very calming atmosphere and the furnishing gives it a very French feeling. And judging by the amount of people in here, I can tell that a lot of other people love it too.