Acceptance | Gay MxM |

42. The Date

"So secretive," I mumbled.

He smirked again, gently patting my knee.

It took me a while to get even an idea of where we were heading. The sea. We were heading toward the sea. There were plenty of restaurants by the beach to choose from, so I still had no clue what to expect. I did know they all were nice restaurants, but that's about it.

When the car stopped, I still had no clue what to expect. Cole paid the man, we got out of the car, and I stopped to take a look at the beach boulevard in front of us. There were quite a lot of people too, but that didn't bother me too much. Cole was there, so I was fine.

"So...?" I turned to look at him.

"This way," he smiled, gesturing for me to follow him.

It turned out we still had a bit of walking ahead of us, but it was a really nice evening, and the weather was perfect. A little windy, but warm. The dark sky and the black sea gave a nice atmosphere on our first date.

"Coming here was a good choice," I told Cole. "It's nice."

"I was hoping you'd like it," he said gently.

"I really do," I said, taking in the salty air as I stopped to take a better look at the water.

The hundreds of lights coming from the restaurants and streetlamps glimmered on the surface as the tiny waves kept touching the shore. There were people sitting around several bonfires on the sand, chatting and having fun. Everything was so peaceful.

"I really like it," I turned to tell Cole before I continued walking.

He followed me, staying so close to me our hands touched every now and then. I wished I had the guts to take his hand in mine. I wasn't ready for that just yet. Not out in public. But it was enough that I could feel him right next to me. No one gave us weird looks, but I did see several women turning to look after us. Cole was indeed hot, and I guess I wasn't too bad to look at, either, but the attention was making me uncomfortable enough to want to avoid showing we were gay.

I had time. Now I just wanted to enjoy the night out. My first real date.

We were way past the midpoint of the boulevard when Cole slowed down and stopped in front of a really nice restaurant. He gave me a questioning smile, asking if he'd make the right choice without using his words. I nodded. It was a really nice restaurant, indeed.

The building was big, full of dark windows and covered in soft lights. I saw a lot of people in their fine clothes sitting inside, and the scent of food coming from the place was divine. There was a man in a suit greeting us by the door, and a pretty lady standing behind a small desk inside.

"We have a reservation. Cole Smith," he told the woman.

After she found our table, she told us to follow her. She smiled and chatted the entire time through the big restaurant, finally stopping next to a round table by the windows facing the sea. We sat down, and she gave us the menus. Cole ordered a few bottles of very nice and expensive beer before she left, leaving us to decide what we wanted to eat.

"This is... Quite expensive," I muttered as I eyed the text.

"Don't worry about it. You may not know this, but I own a very successful nightclub in the city," Cole said, playing around again. "I'm a wealthy man."

"Oh, I didn't know that," I said, playing along.

I did have to make sure there was no one close enough to hear our words. There was plenty of space between the tables, and big flowers and decorative walls to give us a little bit of privacy. I had the feeling that was one of the reasons why Cole chose this restaurant in particular. Having this little corner all to ourselves gave me comfort. I didn't want to spend the entire evening watching what I did or said, so this was really nice.