Dreamville

10.

I looked at the clock on my phone. 6:30 ugh I thought. Joey was coming to pick me up at 7 and I still didn't know what I was going to wear. I looked in my closet once more, wishing that the perfect outfit would somehow appear. I wasn't sure how formal I should be and I didn't want to look weird. Joey obviously doesn't understand what girls have to go through to find a perfect outfit. You have to research the place your going to, ask around, but of course, he wanted to keep it a secret, so I had no idea what was appropriate.

I sighed and glanced at my night stand where a piece of paper Theresa gave me laid. Save it for a special night... I recalled the note saying. Suddenly I remembered the dress the note came with. I ran to my closet and opened the gown bag that was hiding in the back. As I unzipped the bag, I smiled at the beautiful blue fabric. I knew this would've been the special night Theresa had made this dress for.

I spinned around in the dress a little until I heard a knock at my apartment door. A little nervous, I walked toward the door to open it. My heartbeat raised a little when I opened the door to reveal a very well dressed Joey.

"Well damn lil miss," was all Joey said, scanning me with his eyes.

"Do you like it?" I asked, knowing the answer already, from the way he was looking at me.

Joey licked his lips. "I just love how it looks on you," he took one step forward and offered me his arm. I hooked my arm in his and soaked in the feeling of being close to him. We got to the elevator, inside the elevator I took a moment to admire the suit and tie Joey wore. I unconsciously placed a hand on his chest to feel the fabric on his suit and slide my hand down his chest. Joey smirked down at me.

"See something you like?" Joey playfully questioned.

I bit my lip to keep myself from smiling. I could faintly feel the imprint of his abs through his suit, making my want to unbutton his dress shirt right then and there.

The elevator arrived at the lobby and Joey placed a guiding hand on my lower back to show me out the door. We got in his car and headed off to the mysterious restaurant.

"So are you going to tell me where we're going now?" I asked 5 mins into the car ride.

Joey shook his head. "So impatient," he teased.

We pulled up to a beautiful, multilevel restaurant called Clair de lune. The outside was covered in floor to ceiling glass, and I could see the dim, romantic lighting that was inside. Joey wrapped his right arm around me and we walked inside the glass doors. A nice looking man greeted us.

"Hi, we have a reservation," Joey told the man, whose name tag read Terry.

"Of course, right this way," Terry replied. He led us into the restaurant. The first floor had ocean blue carpet, that complemented the low blue lights giving it an almost under water feeling. Elegant white tables were spread out under a huge crystal chandelier that decorated the high ceiling. Terry led us to the edge of the room to the glorious glass, transparent staircase. We climbed up the stairs to the second floor that overlooked the first floor, and bordered around the entire restaurant. Terry sat us at a table right up against the large windows that showed a beautiful view of the New York skyline.  We thanked Terry and took our seats

"Joey... this place is beautiful," I said still in awe.

"It's my favorite place in all of New York," he replied.

I looked around more. The people around us were all in fancy dresses and suits. It looked like a restaurant for royalty.

I glanced back at Joey who looked pretty proud of himself for impressing me as much as he did. I shook my head and looked down at the menu in front of me. On top of the menu was a place card that read Ms. Badass on it. I smiled and furrowed my eyebrows at Joey.

"What?" Joey asked, in reply to my goofy facial expression.

"Ms. Badass?" I gestured to the place card.

"Oh yeah," Joey chuckled. "When I made the reservation, I was like 'reservation for two' and the waiter asked for a name so I told him 'Badass' just for fun, and so then the waiter was all 'ok one reservation for Mr. and Ms. Badass' and I was about to correct him, but then I was like, you know what? She is pretty Badass." Joey laughed. "Plus it's really funny to hear the people who work here act all proper and then address us as Mr. and Ms. Badass."

I laughed and shook my head. Joey may have been all mature looking and he may have brought me to fancy restaurant but he was still a kid at heart with boy humor. A perfect balance between being an adult and having a young spirit.

I picked up the menu which was more like a novel then a menu. I was afraid to even look at the prices of the food here. I settled on a pasta salad that I saw was $23.99, which was one of the cheapest options. I didn't want to order anything too expensive, knowing Joey would probably offer to pay.

Joey decided on the steak, and our food came about 20 mins later. Through dinner, we got to know each other better, we talked about high school and college and what it was like were I was from, which is Colorado.

"So I hope this makes up for the club incident," Joey said later.

"Like I told you, it wasn't your fault, in my eyes you saved me from that crazy guy who drugged me," I reassured him. "Plus, I'm pretty sure I should be the one apologizing for the way I behaved that night."

"Naw you were under the influence," Joey replied, taking a fork full of steak. "Plus, it was different to see you like that, it was like you were free and you didn't care what anybody thought of you, you danced like no one was watching," Joey said.

"Figures. I love dancing," I told him.

"I was hoping you'd say that," he replied.

Joey got out of his seat and offered me his hand.

"Come on, there's a place I want to show you."

I took his hand and we ventured down the curved glass stair case. We walked across the first floor dinning hall to the back of the room, were two large doors stood. Joey opened the door to the right and gestured me in first. I walked into a large ballroom with about 15 couples slow dancing to a small string orchestra in the back of the room. The ballroom looked like a fairytale ballroom, and the couples slow danced and softly whispered to each other.

"May I have this dance?" Joey asked, imitating a British accent.

I smiled and placed my hand in his and he pulled me close. We were cheek to cheek, and his chest touched mine, and his arms wrapped around my sides. A friendly dance turned quickly into something more. Joey began to tease me with his lips, coming close to contact with my ear while he whispered to me, but never touching. One of his hands rubbed my lower back gently, soothing me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in while listening to Joey talk randomly about how he found this place. Instead of focusing on his words, I found myself more focused on his tone of voice in my ear. It was melodic and rhythmic, similar to his raps.

Joey then touched his forehead to mine. His lips were just inches from me, and I had never felt such a passionate urge to kiss someone. Nothing was said for 5 minutes as we just soaked each other in, now just millimeters from touching lips. Joey bit his lip and finally gave in to the tension binding in the air. He delicately lifted my chin and placed his lips to mine.