When I Was His

21

Within 20 minutes of driving in the opposite direction its clear that ark was in fact joking about us going back to my parents for lunch. I have to admit that I'm relived, my parents would be less than thrilled that I had spent the night with a Rock star double my age. I could just imagine arks face when he saw all the drama kicking off between my sisters, i think it would be enough to even shock him. My sisters are still fighting over Sean and its not pretty last week Hillary threw a full lasagne at June.

"you lied" I say pointing at him.

He takes a sideways glance at me, "yeah I did, I don't think I'm ready to meet you family especially If there at all like your sister"

"Dianne is a sweetheart" I try to say it with a straight face but I fail.

"yeah if Dianne is the normal one in your family then I stick by my earlier idea. Your family must be crazy"

"only a little, my parents are pretty laid back. My sisters are something else"

Ark parks up outside a large steak house, he hands me some sunglasses "put these on, there's some paps across the road"

I take a quick look over my shoulder and see 5 men supporting large cameras. I pull the dark glasses over my eyes, ark drops some money into the parking meter before he opens the door for me. He's such a gentleman, he holds my hand as I step from the car. I can hear a little commotion behind us as the paparazzi snaps photos. They call out to ark but he just waves and walks into the restaurant.

It's clear that ark is a regular here, the waitress greets him by name and shows us to a table in the back. As we sits she hands us both a menu.

"ill be back in two minutes to take your drink order"

"thank you" ark and I say in unison.

I look over the menu and I'm not surprised to see that it mostly consists of meat and carbs. There are 2 salad options so I settle on Caesar salad.

"I'm gonna have the rib eye steak and potatoes what about you"

"Caesar salad"

Ark looks at me like I've just offended him.

"no way are you eating salad at LAs best steak house"

I'm going to regret this but I decide to order brisket instead but with a side salad.

"are you ready to order" the waitress asks as she returns.

"a black coffee and the 32 oz rib eye with potato and beans" he says handing over his menu.

"and for you" she asks me with a smile.

"a sweet tea please, and brisket and a side salad"

"great ill bring your drinks now"

"the brisket is good you won't regret it, do you have to work today" he asks as he taps on the table.

"yeah my shift starts at 5"

"so I've got you for another 3 hours" he says looking at the large watch that sits on his wrist.

I look down at my cell and see that he's right, I hope the time doesn't pass too quickly. I've enjoyed our time together but I know eventually I will have to go back to the real world.

"when do you go back on the road"

Ark bites his tongue ring and plays with it between his teeth. "next Friday, we have some shows in Vegas."

"wow Vegas, that sounds fun"

He shakes his head, "Ryder in sin City with unlimited cash and all those bars, it spells trouble"

"if its trouble then why are you smiling"

"babe you should know by now that I love trouble" he says with a wink.

"how long will you be there"

"a few months, have you ever been to Vegas"

I shake my head, "no not yet, maybe when I'm older"

"I could fly you out for a weekend, it could be fun" he winks at me and his cheeky smile fills his face.

I'm not naive enough to think that he means it, I know it's very unlikely that I will see him again. He may pick me up when he's in town for a little fun but I know it won't go any further than that.

"you look deep in thought"

I look up and see that he's frowning at me. His full attention is on me, he hardly acknowledges the waitress when she brings our drinks.

"what's wrong"

"nothing, I'm just thinking about how much I've enjoyed knowing you"

His frown only deepens as I smile at him, "your talking like we won't see each other again"

"well maybe we won't" I say with a shrug.

He takes my hand and encloses it in his own "babe when I said I wanted to see you again I meant it. I'm 36 now, I'm not the 21 year old player I once was. I want to date and have some what of a normal life. When I said I wanted to take you on a date I meant I wanted to date you."

"you want to see me again"
.
"yeah babe, I do. Just remember I work a lot so there may be weeks I don't see you"

"that's fine, I work too" I assure him.

"so how about you give me your number I don't want to have create competitions each time I want to see you" he says with a smile as he hands me his cell.

"That reminds me, how did you know my address and where I worked" I had been thinking about it the whole way to the steak house. How could he have possibly known so much about me when all that was on my profile was my first name and a few photos.

"I saw the name of the restaurant in the back ground of one of your photos so I had Maggie search the whole of La for every Rick's bar and grill and there was only 2"

"you put a lot of effort into meeting me. I hope im worth it'

He leans over and pulls my face into meet his," your the most worth while thing I've done in years"