His Harvard Girl

Chapter Thirteen

"Just the steak, please," Elle said sweetly.

"How would you like that cooked, ma'am?"

The waiter's question puzzled her. She looked at me with her eyebrows raised, and I couldn't help but break a smile. She hadn't done a lot of fine dining before.

"You had it medium last time," I said, lying, encouraging her to make a safe choice.

"Oh, yes, medium. Please."

"Very good. For you, Sir?"

The waiter's brown eyes sliced into mine. I gave him my order - the pork belly - and thanked him as he made his way through the other tables.

Elle smiled at me. "This place is amazing," she said.

I returned her smile as I took in the beauty of the restaurant for the first time. The ceiling was riddled with reflective glass, sending the dim lights sparkling through the room. The walls were blanketed by thick, heavy curtains that gave the space a sense of security and intimacy. The tables were dressed in white tablecloth, the crockery and cutlery cleverly spaced apart, leaving room for our wine glasses.

Elle wasn't known for handling alcohol well, but she was responsibly nursing a glass of white wine. My glass was half-filled with red.

"It's pretty," I replied. "We were lucky to get in tonight. They had a cancellation right before I called."

"You didn't have to do this, Noah," she said pointedly. "Are you sure you can afford this? Not to say you're paying the whole bill, I just mean-"

I reached across the table and placed my finger on her lips. "For once in your life, stop worrying! I want to pay for this for you."

She relaxed a little. Her shoulders dropped as she released a long breath. Good, she was enjoying herself.

"So, two weeks until you leave for football camp. Is that why you're spoiling me? Or because I had a bad day?"

I took a sip of my wine and smiled at her. The real reason was a mix of three things. The first was to make the most of our time before football camp. The second was she'd had a bad day. The third, the ulterior motive, was the insecure part of me wanting to convince Elle - and Lee - that I was fully capable of taking care of her.

"I love you," I said. "Let me just treat you nicely without you having to question it."

She smiled sheepishly and blinked her eyes slowly. "You're right."

She glanced around the room and fixated her gaze on a couple a few tables away from us.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I'm just people-watching. I love looking at other people and wondering why they're here. Do you think it's their first date?"

Elle nodded toward the couple, a blonde haired woman in a blue dress and a tall, bald man in a grey suit.

"Looks like a business meeting to me," I said, shrugging. "Look at how they're talking to each other."

Elle squinted her eyes and deliberated for a moment. I wondered if she noticed their lack of eye contact or the way they didn't angle their feet or hands to each other.

"Looks like one awkward business dinner," she said. "What about them?"

She gestured to another couple. The woman was laughing hysterically. The man looked please with himself.

"So into each other," I said.

She giggled. "What about us? What do you think they'd say about us?"

I took another sip of my wine and finished it with a smirk. "They'd probably say we're too young to be here."

Elle looked around and nodded in agreement. It was true, most other pairs looked at least mid-twenties. We were still teenagers.

"We can be mature," Elle protested.

"And serious," I replied.

Elle cracked up laughing. "No, we can't."

I shook my head. "We can! I'll prove it. Let's talk about our future."

As I said it, the smile wiped from Elle's face. We'd never really had this conversation before. Our future was assumed, but never set in stone.

"What do you mean?"

"We'll ask questions. Five years from now. What's Shelly up to?"

A smile crept back onto her face. As long as I made this fun, we could get through this. "I can picture myself wearing flashy business suits and working in a big, glass building. Something fancy. Some kind of business woman. I don't know for sure, yet. Specifics are hard."

"Okay, what do you go home to after your big, fancy day in a big, fancy building?"

"I come home at night to my fancy boyfriend who has cooked me a fancy dinner."

"Boyfriend?" I asked, my eyes raised. If we managed to make it through the next five years, I hoped I wouldn't just be her boyfriend.

"Well, we've never talked about marriage..."

I looked in her eyes. If only she knew how much I adored her. Provided she wanted me, I was prepared to marry this girl. Elle Flynn. That sounded good to me.

"Let's see if you can put up with me that long," I joked, lightening the mood. I didn't want to make things awkward. "Kids?"

This time she grinned widely. "Three."

"Really? Why not two?"

"Two isn't enough. Four is too many," she reasoned.

"But it's an odd number. Someone will be left out."

She laughed as she wrapped her fingers around her glass. I watched the wine tip down the glass and into her mouth. She was still smiling when she put it back on the table.

"Well, guess you'll just have to parent them," she said.

I lifted my hands defensively. "I'll be a useless father," I said. "Honestly, I'd probably forget about a child."

She was laughing again. Things were going well.

"Any names picked out?" She asked.

I shook my head. "No way! You don't pick that until the baby has been made. Right?"

"Wrong! I've had my names picked out for years!"

I stared at her in disbelief. "You're kidding me."

The look in her eyes told me she wasn't.

"Okay. What are we calling our kids?"

"I have a list of ten or so. I'll show you sometime."

We talked a little more about our future. We discussed where we might want to live, whether we wanted to travel, and what kind of house we wanted. When the conversations started to near its end, the waiter arrived with our meals. He tenderly placed them on the table and smiled.

"Let me know if you need anything else. Enjoy your meals, Mr and Mrs Flynn."

Elle broke into an immediate fit of laughter, and I had to wait almost five minutes for her to calm down before we could actually eat.