Something Sweet

Ch. 42

True to his word, Luke outdid himself with date number two. He took me to a restaurant up the mountain just before sunset. We had a table by the window so we got a view of the gorgeous sunset. The purple pink skies were a cotton candy dream over the tree tops and valley down below. The view was only rivaled by the mouth watering food and my charming date.

After our dinner of roast chicken and all the mouth watering sides, Luke asked if I was ready for dessert. He started to stand and held my coat up for me. I was slightly confused and thought maybe we were going to another place for dessert.

The confusion must have been written on my face because he said, "You'll see."

I buttoned my coat and put my hand in his offered hand. We walked towards the back doors of the restaurant - a set of french doors. It was now dark outside and the air was crisp. You could just make out the outline of trees down below and the lights of the houses and buildings down below. As we rounded the corner on the cobblestone there was a row of fire pits.

"Wow, I didn't know they had fire pits out here," I said amazed.

"Yup," Luke looked down at me with a smile. He led me over to one of the fire pits. We sat down and within moments a server came out with a tray of all the things we'd need for s'mores.

We spent the next hour enjoying the warmth of the fire and stuffing our faces with marshmallow-y goodness. As Luke spoke about what he's looking most forward to this summer, I couldn't help but admire the way the light from the fire played on his face, the excitement in his eyes as he spoke, and my growing feelings for this incredible guy sitting next to me.

He caught me staring and stopped talking, "What? Do I have marshmallow stuck to my face or something?" He brought a hand to his face.

"Nope, just listening to you and thinking about how crazy this all is."

"That we're together?"

"Yeah. Like, would you have imagined a year ago that we'd not only be talking again but be a couple?"

I caught myself at that last word. Were we officially a couple? This was only our second date, but it felt like we'd been together for a lifetime with how right it all felt.

"I probably couldn't have guessed it, but I wouldn't change it for the world." He leaned over and kissed my temple as I blew out the flame on my marshmallow.

I turned to face him and looked up. "So are we officially a couple?" I asked as I brushed off some graham cracker crumb on his face.

"Of course. I don't let just anyone clean food off my face." He held onto my hand that was on his face and kissed my palm.

I giggled and held his hand, leaned forward and kissed him as we listened to the fire crackle.

****

After two epic dates with Luke, I needed to step up my game to plan this third date that Luke reluctantly let me take over. I didn't want to do something too simple, but I didn't want to do anything over the top either. I didn't want this competition of who could plan the best dates to get out of hand. I really just loved to spend time with him, but I didn't want to plan a dud of a date either.

I was thinking of just going to a cool new sushi place that opened up with the conveyor belt style service and checking out some live music at a trendy cafe in town when I saw a social media flyer advertising a new retro style roller skating rink. I immediately thought of a skating party Luke and I went to as kids for a mutual friend and how I had busted my ass trying to skate backwards. I started laughing out loud at the memory and knew we had to go.