Lonely Together

05

MARIAH

About four days had passed since Valentino and I's date, and frankly, I was still on cloud-nine from the night.

The guy seemed to completely have a hold over me—in a good way. A few days later I had went on a date with another guy I had been talking to and it wasn't nearly as good as the one with Valentino. He had raised my standards in just one night because he hadn't forced anything, he let everything flow naturally. After the date, I blocked the guy.

As I sat on my couch working on a new article for my job, my phone lit up with a notification. I peeked at it to see Valentino's name illuminated on the screen and my heart rate increased immediately.

I'm back early. Are you free tonight?

Was that even a question? Of course I was free tonight, I literally had nothing else going on in my life. That was really sad.

I am! What do you have in mind?

Some friends of mine are throwing a party. Wanna go?

Sure!

I'll pick you up at 8. The party's casual. See you then.

I checked the time to see that it was 5:30. According to Myles, it was important to get ready at least two hours early, so that's exactly what I did.

After a shower, I straightened my hair that I had blow dried to perfection the night before. After trying a few different styles, I settled on just leaving it straight. Next, I slipped on a brown mini skirt that hugged my curves and a light brown, long-sleeved shirt that had deep brown swirls on it. It was really cute.

I hadn't realized how much time I took to straighten my hair and pick out an outfit until there was a knock at the front door. The time read 8:02 on my clock so there was no doubt that this was Valentino.

"Shit," I hissed as I quickly checked my appearance in the mirror before I went to go answer the door. I hadn't even done my makeup yet so he would have to wait.

"I am so sorry, but I'm not done getting ready yet!" I exclaimed as soon as I opened the door, watching him raise his eyebrows.

"You look ready to me," he smirked, making my cheeks flush a bit as he let his eyes wander my body.

"Um...do you wanna come in while I finish? I won't take long," I said nervously, hoping my house was as clean as possible and that Myles hadn't left too much of his questionable things around.

"Sure."

He stepped through the threshold and took in the apartment, his eyes roaming around. He looked at some of the pictures on the wall, landing on one of Myles and I in second grade.

"Do you want a glass of water or anything? I'll turn the TV on for you. Or do you want to listen to music?"

"Mariah, calm down," he chuckled, placing a hand on my shoulder which made me freeze instantly. "Go get ready."

"Okay."

I did as he said and went to my room to finish. I did my makeup as quickly as possible, still making sure it looked good though. When I was finished, I was more than happy with the outcome. I slipped on some rings, earrings, and bracelets but could not for the life of me fasten my necklace.

"Valentino," I said softly as I stepped out of the room, watching as he scrolled through his phone before lifting his gaze to look at me. "Can you help me get this on?"

He responded by standing from the couch and walking over to me, taking the necklace from my hands. He pushed a bit of my hair out of the way before fastening it around my neck. He was so close I could feel his breath on my neck and I was sure he could hear my loud heartbeat.