I'm Not The Girl You Used To Know

Chapter 8: The Date

"Please, call me Brian, and this is Ethan", he pointed Ethan. Ethan's eyes was still locked to Mike's face. Geez, what was wrong with him.

"Sure, Brian", he smiled nervously.

"OK,can we go now?", I asked Brian, breaking the tension.

"Sure,sure. Why not. Just don't get home too late", Brian said

I grabbed my purse from the kitchen and headed back to the door. I saw that Brian was saying something to Mike but I didn't want to know.

"OK, let's go", I pulled Mike's arm and headed to the lift.

"Have fun", I heard Brian's voice before we turned away.

Mike took me to a restaurant couple blocks from the campus. It was quite fancy. I was relieved I didn't dress too casual.

"Your brothers are nice", Mike said when we were seated.

"My brother's just Brian. Ethan is his best friend", I said.

"Oh. Does he live with you guys too?"

"Yeah, actually it's their apartment. I'm just staying for college", I said. After I graduated I planned to move out to bigger city, like New York maybe? 

"Oh, so you're not from around here?", he asked.

"No, I'm from Denver. Brian and Ethan got a job here, so they bought the apartment together".

"So, how about you?", I asked. I didn't want him to question me about my past.

"Well, I'm from Minnesota. I have a sister. She's 15 now. My dad is a doctor and my mom has her own bakery. I have a nice life. When I got accepted for college, I didn't want to go honestly. But I have to. I mean, we can't always stay in one place forever, right?", he chuckled.

I just gave him a tight smile. Of course he wouldn't want to go because he has everything he wanted back home. A good life, good family. Just like everything I wanted.

"Are you OK?", he said when he saw I didn't say anything.

"Uh, no. I'm just hungry. That's all", I lied.

Speak of the devil, our food came. I realized I was famished. I didn't have lunch. The mushroom ravioli looked mouth watering. We ate and talked, getting to know each other. But of course I always avoided the topic
about my family. Whenever he asked about them, I would give a simple answers.

"So what your majoring in?", he asked.

"Computer science. You?", I answer after I swallowed my food.

"Wow, that's pretty cool", he sounded impressed. "I take psychology"

"You want to be a counsellor?"

"Yeah. Something like that. I have a friend in high school and he had uh.. family problem. His parents fighting everyday and they were abusive too. I remember he tried to cover one of his scars when I accidentally saw it. He was depressed and almost killed himself a few times. One day after school, a teacher found him dead in the toilet. He cut himself and bled to death. Since that, I wanted to help people like him so there won't be another victims. It's too bad I couldn't save him", his face fell.

I was stoned. His friend's story was almost like mine except the abusive thing. My tear was almost fell but I tried my best not to. I was touched by his reason. I guessed he wasn't that bad after all.

"You have a good heart, Mike. I'm sure you'll be a great counsellor", I smiled.

He smiled back. "Thanks. So uh, why do you choose computer science?", he asked changing the topic.

"I like computers, programming, and I kind of interested in engineering. So, I thought computer science suits me well", I said.

"But it's a hard major. Are you sure you can handle it?" , he amused.

"Nothing's impossible", I answered easily.

"Your optimism amazed me", he smirked.

"Oh, really?", I teased. "How can you tell?"

"Lucky guess?", he shrugged. "I like girls with confidence", he winked.

I rolled my eyes. After we finished the meal, Mike offered to pay. I said it wasn't necessary because I could pay my own meal. I gave up when he gave his credit card to the waiter.

"I really enjoy tonight. We should do this again", he said when we were in front of my apartment building.

"Me too", I smiled. I did enjoyed his company. Getting to know him made me changed my mind about him.

He leaned his head to me, wanting to kiss. I leaned too and our lips met. He kissed me slowly and full of passion. He tasted so good. We pulled back to gasp some air.

We stared at each other and chuckled. "So, this means that you'll go to another date with me?", he smirked.

"Hmm.. I don't know. Maybe? ", I teased.

"You're such a tease", he pecked my lips.

I chuckled. "I gotta go now. My brother's waiting", I said and I gave him another kiss. He seemed surprised by my sudden move.

"Good night, beautiful", he said after I pulled back.

"Night", I said and went inside the building.