Black Rose

Eleven

"It's fine." I sat on the sand seats and thankfully he thought to bring us pillows to keep sand out of my clothes. Raine opened a bottle of Dom Perignon and it definitely cost him a grip alone. He passed me my glass before sitting the bottle down. "Thank you."

While I sipped on my champagne, he pulled the lids off our plates and my mouth watered at the foods that covered it. In front of me sat a juicy cowboy steak that was thick enough to fill me up on its own. There was hot baked potato with steam still coming out of it and a scoop of sour cream sitting nicely on top. Chopped asparagus were piled up next to my steak and a fair amount of cheesy macaroni and cheese was waiting for me to taste it. On another smaller plate was a shrimp destin linguine.

"You really went all out of your way with this. I just hope it's as good as it look." I joked, cutting into my steak.

"I'll never feed you anything that's disgusting." He spoke in all seriousness.

"We shall see right now." Putting a piece in my mouth, I moaned and wiggled in my seat as the flavorful piece of cow blessed my taste buds.

"Good?"

"Fantastic." I gave him an ok with my hand. I went on to taste a bit of everything and they were absolutely delicious. "Honestly, this is better than five star restaurants I've been to. You have mad skills Raine."

"Well, is your attitude gone now? He queried, sipping out of his glass. "I literally worked on this all day. I finished preparing everything before I came to pick you up."

I nodded embarrassingly. After seeing the effort he put into tonight, I regret acting like a spoiled brat earlier. "I apologize for my childish episode back at the house. I don't want you to think I'm unappreciative of what you've done for me today because I'm truly thankful. You're the only person that's done something this nice for me."

"Like I said before, you deserve to be treated like a Queen Mel. You've been through so much in your life and you had to go through it alone. Well, I'm here now and I'm gonna show you how amazing life can be if you really live and don't just exist." He reached a crossed the table, cradling my hand in his. "I'm here to stay this time. You can't get rid of me if you wanted to."

Lowering my head, I tried to hide the fact that I was blushing hard. It's mind blowing how this man--a man that I've blocked out of my mind and life is making me fall in love all over again. I've never been a materialistic person. Of course, everyone wants to live in luxuriously and own nice things. So do I, but that type of lifestyle doesn't impress me or have an impact on my feelings for Raine. It's the small things he does, that I'm sure he doesn't pays attention to. Texting or calling me during the day just to hear my voice. Randomly popping up at my house or job with flowers, chocolate and food when he knows I'm in a bad funk. Opening my doors, pulling out chairs, walking on the outside of the curb-- actions like that is what keeps me drawn to Raine. Although he has screwed up in the past, he's a one of kind man and I can't lose him.

"Are you ok?" He asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Clearing my throat, I nodded."Yeah, I'm fine. What were you saying?"

"I was asking if you wanted to take this inside since it's about to rain."

"Oh, um, yeah let's do that because I can't let this food go to waste. What a crime it would be." I joked trying to lighten the mood. We gathered up our belongings and headed back towards the house just as water started to drizzle down on us. I sighed, knowing I'd have to put up a fight with my hair tomorrow. Since it's already wet, I might as well have a little fun. "On second thought, I kind of want to go for a swim."

Raine stopped in his path and looked at me with uncertainty. "In the pool right?"

I shook my head. "Nope." Taking the food in the house, I came back out with a huge smile on my face and ran passed Raine towards the ocean.

"Mel, what the hell are you doing?" He yelled from behind me as I stripped out of my sundress and went further in until it stopped at my boobs.

"Going for a swim." I looked over my shoulder and giggled. He was staring at me like I'm crazy. "Don't be such a wuss, Raine. It's just water."

"Deep water that will wash you away. Get out before you disappear." I declined and began swimming further out until I heard him panicking. I found it hilarious how hard core he tries to be, but won't step foot in water because it's dark. Dipping my head underneath for a few seconds, Raine was nowhere in sight when I resurfaced. Looking around, I frowned wondering where he went that fast.

"Raine! Raine, this isn't funny." No answer. Swimming towards the house, something grabbed my leg, pulling me down. "Ahh! Raine help me!" 

Whatever it was had a death grip on me and I couldn't break free. Sinking under water, I wasn't able to see what it was, causing my panic attack to worsen. Doing what I haven't done in years, I prayed for whatever it was to release me. Seconds went by before my leg was free and I swam to the top. Gasping for air, I got the hell out of the water and heard laughter behind me. Turning around swiftly, Raine was coming out of the water laughing at me. He seriously almost caused me my life and he's cracking up. Not bothering to speak to him, I continued my journey into the house and went to dry off. My attitude had returned only much worse than before.

*****
After I rid my body and hair of sea water, I walked into the bedroom to see Raine in a fresh set of clothes too, engrossed on his phone. He looked up once he saw me walk in, but I ignored him.

"Mel, it was a joke. You can't possibly be mad at me." I kept quiet, putting my dirty clothes in my bag to wash later. "Mel, I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd freak out that bad."

"Whatever." I mumbled, grabbing my phone and charger from the night stand.

"Where are you going?"

"In the guest room. I don't want to see you, let alone be near you right now."

His brows scrunched together and he sat up quickly. "Are you serious? It was a joke. I didn't mean to scare you like that."

"Even you know better than to scare someone who suffers terribly from anxiety. You know how easily I can have a panic attack and you pull a trick like this." I yelled, my eyes watering. "I inhaled so much damn water, I just knew I was gonna die tonight."

"Isn't that what you want anyways? To die and be at peace." He fired back, causing silence between us. "Mel, I didn-"

"Yes, you did mean it." I cut him off. "And you're wrong. Since you've been here for me, I've felt so alive most of the time, but all of that might change now."

"Mel, that came out wrong." He stood up, reaching out to me unsuccessfully.

"I'll see myself to a hotel tomorrow." Slamming the door shut, I went into the downstairs guestroom and locked the door. Laying across the bed, I wiped my eyes, refusing to cry over him. How dare he speak those words to me when he's in the wrong? Just when I was about to break down and give in to him, he pulls this stunt. Maybe it's a sign that I wasn't completely ready to hand out a second chance. If so, I'm glad it happened before I did. Turning on the television, I found a movie that peaked my interest, temporarily putting Raine on the back burner. I scoffed, throwing the remote next to me. "Some vacation this turned out to be."