XXIII | Dinner
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Sorry for the long-waited update, my mom took my phone and school has been sorta complicated, but here you go 😩 !
No.
This has got to be a joke right?
"Oh my gosh..." I sighed looking at the big rock on my finger.
I can't believe Alex's dad just let me have a one-hundred thousand dollar ring for free.
Well, technically, for his son's hand in marriage.
And yes, one hundred thousand.
"Alex, what are we going to do about this!?" I waved my hand in his face, signaling to the ring.
We are currently in a big SUV that was ordered by Mr. Carter for us to get in to go to the dinner that was going to be in a restaurant.
"I honestly don't know, princess," Alex sighed. "That ring is very gorgeous though."
"I know right, it is so– not the point!" I snapped myself out of that distraction,"I'm officially your fiancé. We need to fix this!"
"I don't know how. You think I'm supposed to know how to not make my enemy my fiancé?"
"No, but you need to come up with some ideas!" I snapped.
"Chill out, I don't even know why you being my fiancé is a bad thing."
did he really just say that?
"Snap out of it," I smacked the back of his head. "What are we going to do!? I don't know how to explain to your father that I don't want to marry his son! You're his son, so you should tell him!"
"Fuck no. I didn't even want to come to this dinner, nor do I want to say a damn word to him. So, it's up to you."
"Up to me!? I can't fucking marry my enemy!" I threw my hands in the air in frustration.
"Then do something about it." He shrugged.
"You say that like it's easy, dumbass!"
"That's because it is. Just tell him you don't want to marry me."
"It's not that easy!"
"Then you figure it out."
"I will decapit-"
"We're here." The driver spoke. Alex got out of the SUV and walked to my side of the door and opened it, then opened his hand for me to take it.
"Thank you," I mumbled and took his hand. The driver closed the door as we began walking, hand in hand, to the restaurant.
"Hello, Mr. Carter." I greeted and shook his hand then took a seat next to Alex on the large ass, fancy dinner table.
"Hi, again, Ms. Smith," He shook back my hand and took a seat on the opposite side of the table. "Alex."
"Father." Alex didn't shake his hand or anything. Completely ignored him I guess.
"Ahem, this is to celebrate your engagement!" His father smiled.
"Yes, to the, uhh, engagement..." I awkwardly smiled. "But, Mr. Carter, why do you want us to get married? —Especially at this early age?"
"You seem like the perfect fit for Alex. You don't seem snobby or whorish like those girls who obsess over Alex, knowing the amount of money your father has." He chuckled.
"I appreciate the compliment, but why right away?"
"I'm not sure Alex would be exactly "happy" if he saw you with another man. So, it's a benefit for the both of you. He has a temper like his mother."
"Don't bring her up," Alex scowled.
"Alex doesn't need me nor does he care who I'm wi- well, he might have a problem with it but that doesn't mean he wants to marry me. Right, Alex?" I looked at Alex who was playing with his fingers. Everyone was looking at him, waiting for a response.
"I've got to use the bathroom." And with that, he just got up and walked away.
"Excuse me." I got up and quickly followed him into the men's bathroom and locked the door.
"Alex, why can't you answer that question!?"
"I can't." He simply responded with his hands in his pockets.
"And why can't you!?"
"I just can't, Dominique."
"You're probably not even thinking twice about your answer! Just say it! Tell me! Do you want to stay engaged or not!?"
"I do."
"See, I knew you'd say n– wait what?" Let me take a few seconds to process his words.
"I said, I do."
"Alex..." I took a sharp, deep breath.
"That's the only answer I can give you right now." He responded, looking at the floor.
Now everything got super confusing.
"Alex, you really want to stay engaged? I'm being dead serious right now."
"No, I'm making a joke." He replied sarcastically.
"This isn't funny, Alex."
"I'm being serious, Dominique. I said I do." He sighed and looked at the floor. I took a moment before thinking about what I was going to say.
"I do, too then." One of the scariest sentences that might've ever come out of my mouth.
"Look," I put my hand on his chin and lifted his head up a little so that he was looking at me. "If you really want me to say yes, then let's go with it and see what happens."
A few seconds after just looking into each other's eyes, he smashed his lips onto mine.
oh, Alex.
****
"Cheers, everyone!" And here we were, at the dinner table, celebrating my to-be-decided upcoming marriage.
oh, my fucking gosh that sounds so weird.
marriage.
ew.
even worse
with my so-called, enemy.
ughhhhhh
"Dominique, are you with us?" A lady at the table asked.
"Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about something." I chuckled.
"We're glad to have you back with us. Now, Mr. Carter and the rest of the team have to be at a very important meeting now so I'll leave the soon-to-be-married couple to finish up. Mr. Carter will handle the bill." Another lady smiled.
"Thank you." I gave her a small smile before she, the rest of Ryker's people, and Ryker himself, exited the restaurant.
That just left Alex and me because Ryker had the whole restaurant rented out just for us, which I think might've been too much but hey, when you have money, it's nice to spend.
"I'm out." With that, Alex got up from the table and was about to walk to the door.
"You're just going!? To where even!?"
"None of your business." He responded and continued walking to the door.
"You know what," I walked up to him angrily in my seven-inch heels, "Keep this ring. Give it to the bitch that will deal with you, because I, won't."
"Pri-"
I kept walking towards the SUV, ignoring him as he keeps calling my nickname.
"Get off of me!" I snapped, trying to get him to let go of my arm.
"No. Put this ring back on."
"No. Give it to Stacy or the girls that giggle about you every single day in the halls."
"Put the ring on."
"No, I won't. I don't want it."
"Dominique."
"Alex, what a lovely day to see you here."
"Dominique, keep it on. I don't want it off your finger."
"No. I don't want it on my finger, give it to Stacy, or even Teresa who gave you the pregnancy scare." I snorted.
"Dominique." He had a scowl on his face. I don't care. Deal with it.
"I asked you where you were going and you told me none of my business, yet you want me to keep this fucking ring on. And for what? Publicity?"
"Dominique, why is it so important to you if I go somewhere?" He sighed.
"You're right. It isn't important to me." I scoffed and around to open the door to the car.
"Dominique, please." He whispered.
his bipolar ass isn't helping rn
"Fine, but I'm taking it off when I'm not around your father."
"No, you're keeping it on at all times."
"Do you want me to put on the ring or not?" I turned around and crossed my arms so that I was facing him.
"Dominique, you're going to keep it on at all times. You're no longer single, you're mine."
"Oh, so you think because this ring means I'm "yours"? Hilarious." I sarcastically chuckled.
"Dominique." He retorted.
"No, I'm being very honest. We can have a very platonic relationship while I keep this ring on. I'm keeping it on for your father."
"We can't have a platonic relationship if we fuck." He bluntly responded.
"Then we won't." I shrugged.
oh who am i kidding?
"Good for you." He snorted, even he knew I was lying.
dammit.
"Fine, we'll fuck from time to time, but that's it. Everything else I'll be doing for your father, not you. You can get another girl pregnant for all I care." I scoffed and turned my head to the side.
"Princess, you know you're lying to yourself right?" I felt his hand on my chin as he made me face him.
"So?" I rolled my eyes. He shook his head, chuckling, then gave me a small kiss on the cheek.
"Alright, I'm s- sor- so-" He pretended to fake gag.
"Spit it out, prettyboy." I rolled my eyes.
"I apologize for not telling you where I was going," He put the ring on my finger and held both of my hands, "I didn't know I had to tell my "mother" where I was-"
"Shut it!" I slapped him on the back of his head as he burst out laughing.
After a few moments of him still laughing, I couldn't help but laugh too. We stood outside, just laughing for a while. He wiped his tears from laughing so hard then opened the car door for me, allowing me to enter and sit down.
"Where to?" The driver asked after Alex got seated beside me in the car.
"My apartment, please," Alex responded.
"Yes, sir."
A few minutes passed by into the car ride and I was a bit bored just staring at the popular roads each time the car passed.
"What do we do now? It doesn't seem like I'm getting out this engagement thing anytime soon, which scares me." I sighed.
"Just see what happens, I don't know how this is gonna work. I'm new to this, too."
"Alex, I never pictured us getting engaged, let alone talk. How the fuck did we even make it this far?"
"I don't know, to be honest. I ask myself everyday how I dealt with your annoying ass."
"Watch yourself," I warned, pointing my finger in his face.
I'm engaged and I'm still so fucking shocked about everything going on.
Was I really going to get married?
To Alex?
The person who is my worst enemy, yet the person I love at the same t-
Wait-
Love?
****
"What is this?" We enter his apartment, revealing a table that has a small table with two chairs, a candle in the middle, an empty plate and a covered bowl in the middle, with roses on the side in a vase.
"Something simple." He responded while closing the door.
"Are you having someone over, because I can just go if you want." I shrugged.
"First of all, I know you wouldn't leave because I told you to," He started.
"You're right. I won't."
"—And second of all, it's for you." He took my hand and led me to the seat.
"For me?" I raised my eyebrow, smirking as I sat down in the chair he pulled back for me.
"I just told you it's for you, so yeah." He responded nonchalantly, taking a seat across me.
"What's this for? What's the occasion? Is this some sort of dangerous setup?"
"No. It's a normal dinner. I can't have a dinner for my upcoming wife?"
"Don't call me that. It's very weird. And when was Mr. Carter ever nice?"
"Im not nice. Never will be. I just want to eat with you." He shrugged.
"Admit it, you have a crush on me." I smirked.
"What the fuck? What are we, five?"
"You have a crush on me. Alex Carter has a crush on me."
"No, Alex Carter doesn't have a crush on anyone. I don't crush on people. At all."
"Oh really? So you don't have a super huge crush on me?"
"No, I don't."
"Then what's up with the weird nicknames and all of a sudden you want me to be your publicity stunt?"
"You're not my publicity stunt and you gave yourself that nickname. The first nickname I actually called you was an evil booger." He chuckled.
"Yours was Mr. Mean Guy, you'll always be Mr. Mean Guy." I winked.
"And you'll always stay princess."
"Princess is so cheesy. This whole date thing is cheesy, too."
"You're making it a date now?" He raised his eyebrow.
"It slipped out." I shrugged.
"No, this is a date. An enemies date. Actually, an enemies meeting." He stated, taking a sip of wine from his glass.
"Enemies meeting, interesting..." This was very,
new.
"Hubby?"
"No. Im not answering that shit."
"Hubby, my soon to be hubby."
"Stop it."
"Hubby babyyyyyy."
"Stop."
"Hubby."
"Wifey."
"That doesn't actually sound so bad."
"I hate you so much." He groaned.
"I hate you even more, Hubby." I cackled.
"Can we just have this dinner and move on with the night?" He rolled his eyes.
"Fine." I opened the bowl and it was grilled chicken with crispy French fries on the side.
"Ouuu, yummy." I took in a nice whiff of the delicious smelling food.
"Smells amazing, right? Cooked it myself." He winked.
"Oh really? Then maybe it does smell a little off." I joked. He shook his head chuckling then we began digging into our plate.
The food tastes so good. I'm not actually even fully convinced he cooked this.
Well, maybe he did. He is excellent in almost every class besides his behavior record. It's cute that he took a lot of effort to do this for me.
"Thank you." I thanked, finishing my food.
"You're welcome, princess. Now let's go make dessert."
"Dessert?" I got up and followed him into the kitchen.
"Ok, let's start with the dry ingredients. You have to put this in fi–"
"Hey, I know what I'm doing. Im a pro at cooking." I pushed him to the side.
"Says the one who mistook Sriracha for ketchup and then served it to the class."
"You emptied the ketchup bottle and filled it with Sriracha, asshole!"
"Oops." He shrugged innocently. I narrowed my eyes at him.
"But hey, you couldn't see for a week." I winked.
"You took the sriracha and rubbed it in my eye." He responded, irritated.
"Whatever, let's just make this cake."
****
"I told you this cake would be even more delicious with my secret ingredient." I spoke, taking another bite of the amazing red velvet cake Alex and I made. I was now laying down on the couch with my feet on Alex's lap while we watched a movie.
"Technically, I knew the delicious recipe." He argued.
"So what? I added the delicious recipe." I took the remote and paused the tv then sat up.
"Imtheonewhoaddedthesecretrecipe, anyways, moving on."
"What makes you think you can have the final say?"
"Me. The princess."
"Just because I call you princess, that doesn't mean you are one."
"Then what does it mean?" I raised my eyebrow, taking another bite of the cake slice in my plate.
"Forget it."
"You know," I put my plate on the table in front of the couch and sat on Alex's lap with my legs on either side of his body, "You're a very dangerous, interesting, annoying, criminal."
"Mhm." He placed his lips on mine, quickly adding tongue. His lips were so soft and his lips tasted like vanilla from the cake.
Aside from the whole engagement situation, our relationship improved today.
"Shit, my phone keeps ringing." I pulled back from the kiss, annoyed. I take my phone off the table and pick up the call.
"Who the fuck is it?"
"Hey, babe. Im back in town."
No.
It can't be.
No.
No, like no.
No, seriously.
It can't be my ex.
"I know you hear me, babe."
My body rushed cold.
It's him.
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Originally published? : September 20, 2021.
Last Updated: November 26, 2022.
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I love you all,
and like always, have a great day/night,
XOXO,
Mimi.
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