Blast From the Past

Ch. 11: Going Out

“Not too long.” He shrugged. “Since when do you carry a purse?”

“What?” I said and looked down at the purse I had hanging off my shoulder. “Oh, right. I just figured I’d bring one this time.” Instead, I just wanted it so that I could hide the envelope.

The look he gave me made me giggle like a little kid. “What is wrong with you tonight? You’re acting extremely funny, and like we’ve never even met before.”

“Well, it has been a while.” I said and avoided his gaze. “I mean, I don’t really know anything about you anymore, except that you’re a college baseball player and now live here in Ohio.”

He didn’t look like he believed me all that much. “Really Kels? Come on now.”

I shrugged. Whatever. He could think what he wanted to think. Thankfully, I was saved by the buzzer thingy and we could go get our table. The hostess showed us to our seats and told us that our waitress would be over soon. “So…” I said.

“So…” He repeated, smirking at me. “I’m honestly surprised that you invited me out tonight.”

“I’m honestly surprised you came without her.” I said back.

He sighed, “I knew you wouldn’t want her to be here, and I knew she wouldn’t really prefer to be here herself.”

“Yeah, that’s going to be a problem.” I mumbled under my breath.

“What?” Oh, I guess he heard me. Whoops. That wasn’t supposed to happen.

I shook my head. “Nothing at all.”

Our waiter came over and introduced himself, “Can I offer you guys any wine tonight?”

“Sure. What red wines do you have tonight?” I asked. If I had to tell Zach what I did tonight, I was going to have a little bit to drink.

He listed everything off and then I chose out one that sounded familiar. He walked away after getting Zach’s drink order. “How’s Cameron doing?”

“He’s doing fine. I felt bad leaving him at my mom’s tonight. He was bawling his eyes out before I left because he wanted me to stay.”

“You could have brought him with you.” He said.

I shook my head, “I didn’t want him to come tonight. He’ll be fine. He’s at my mom’s. He generally loves it over there. He’ll get over it soon enough. He’s probably already over it as we speak. Mom’s pretty good at distracting him.”

Zach just watched me for a moment before tipping his head to the side. “Is everything okay?”

“Of course it is, why wouldn’t it be?” I said a little too quickly.

This was going to be just as hard as I thought it would be. How was I ever supposed to tell him about this when it was still so new to me? Finally, the waiter came with our drinks and I ran my finger around the rim of the glass before grabbing the stem of the glass and tipping the liquid to my lips. I felt it go down my throat and savored the taste, closing my eyes momentarily. “You like?” The waiter asked, smiling at me.

“It’s great.” I opened my eyes and smiled back at him.

He gave me a wink before opening up his tablet. “Do you folks know what you want to eat, yet?”

“Uhh…” I glanced at the menu and ordered the first thing I saw, which was thankfully fettuccini alfredo.  Zach ended up with chicken marsala. The guy walked away and Zach continued to watch me. Within seconds, I downed the wine and sat the cup back down. “Kelsey, I know there’s a reason you brought me here.”