"Pull up here," I instructed Jason when we neared Claire's spacious, two-storey home.
Behind the house, the mountain stood tall and mighty, its outline almost invisible in the moonlight.
"Wow," he breathed, peering at the house through the windshield of his car.
Smiling, I led Jason towards the impressive teakwood front door. I pressed my index finger against the doorbell, tapping my foot nervously against the doormat that said "Welcome" in loopy print. Although Jason was just a friend, I was nervous about introducing him to Claire. Her approval of him mattered a great deal to me.
"Hi, darling," Claire greeted me, holding the door wide open. Turning to Jason, she smiled, "You must be Jason."
"Yes, ma'am," he answered politely, extending his right hand towards her. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Please, call me Claire," she said, shaking his hand heartily.
"You have a beautiful home," he commented, appraising the living room's high ceiling and tasteful furnishings.
"Thank you," she said graciously. "Lee, why don't you show Jason around the house while I set the table?"
"Sure," I said, gesturing for him to follow me.
We stood side by side in front of the living room windows, staring out at the neighbourhood, the ocean glowing silver in the distance.
"Nice view," Jason observed with a smile.
"The one upstairs is even better," I promised, pulling him up the wide staircase. "I'll show you."
I led him to the sitting room on the second floor. Turning on the muted yellow lights, I gestured to the French windows that occupied an entire wall.
"Whoa," Jason whispered, stepping closer to the glass.
The ocean extended as far as the eye could see, the road that ran along its shore dotted with buildings and vehicles. In contrast to the street's bustling activity, the water was tranquil, its soft waves shimmered under the moon's glow.
"When I was little, my mom and dad would drive me down that road every Saturday," he reminisced, pointing in the distance. "We'd go to the beach at around three in the morning when it's totally empty. We would build sandcastles and go home after dawn. There's just something about the ocean so late at night. You have to see it to believe it."
He peered down at me and asked, "Will you come with me? We could go this Saturday. Drive down the road, build a sandcastle, the whole thing."
"Really?" I asked, touched and slightly taken aback by his willingness to share such a personal, intimate memory with me.
"Yeah," he smiled. "Unless you mind having to stay up so late."
"No, I'd love to!" I hastened to reply.
"I'll pick you up Saturday?" he asked, pushing his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
"Yes," I confirmed, silently hoping that I wouldn't have to wait until the weekend to see him again.
We lapsed into silence as we watched the waves. The house was quiet, save for the sound of Claire setting up the dinner table downstairs.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I mused, referring the tranquility of nature and the animation of society melding together, side by side.
"Yeah," Jason turned away from the window, levelling his gaze with mine. "Beautiful."
The light from overhead glinted off his eyes, making them hard to read. The corners of his lips lifted up in a teasing smile, challenging me to ask him if it was the ocean that he had called beautiful.
Oh, stop it. Of course, he was talking about the ocean.
"You can see the mountain from my bedroom," I said quickly, turning away from his bewitching eyes. "Come on."
Turning the lights out in the sitting room, I ushered him towards my bedroom, walking in first to make sure that I hadn't left anything embarrassing lying about. Thankfully, the room was tidy, smelling faintly of shampoo and clean bedlinen.
"Here," I said, shoving the French windows open and stepping out onto the balcony.
We stood side-by-side, our arms brushing against each other as we gripped the railing. From our standpoint, the mountain's outline was clearly visible as it rose towards the night sky.
"Lee, Jason!" Claire's voice floated from downstairs, snapping us out of the moment.
"Coming!" I yelled, leading the way to the dining room.
"Let's eat," Claire said, gesturing for us to occupy the two cushioned chairs that flanked hers.
"Thank you for inviting me tonight," Jason said, after swallowing his first bite of the delectable spaghetti dish. "This is delicious."
"Of course," Claire said warmly. "It's our pleasure to have you here."
As we ate, Claire asked Jason several questions about him and his family. He told her about his job at Java Lava and how he was working there to save money for college. His eyes lit up with passion as he talked about wanting to study environmental science. He then mentioned that his parents were professors at a prestigious university in the city.
"My dad teaches architecture, and my mom teaches environmental science," he said, beaming with pride and respect for his parents.
Claire introduced herself as a lawyer, explaining her position at the prestigious law firm modestly.
"My dad consulted with your firm a few months ago," Jason said. "He spoke very highly of it."
"Oh," Claire smiled. "I'm happy to hear that."
Once we had consumed our generous portions of spaghetti, Claire brought out the custard from the previous night. Topped with fresh fruits, the chilled dessert dissolved in my mouth, refreshing and sweet.
"Please allow me," Jason said after we finished our portions of the dessert, grabbing the bowls and plates off the table with ease.
"Jason, you don't have to do that," Claire chided, following him into the kitchen as he cleaned the dishes in the sink. "We'll take care of it."
I walked over to the sink to turn off the tap, handing Jason a towel to dry his hands.
"Thanks again for having me here," he said to Claire, smiling as he accepted the towel from me. "Dinner was delicious."
"It was our pleasure," Claire assured him. "I hope you'll come over again sometime."
I turned to Jason hopefully after putting the hand towel away.
"I'd love to," he confirmed. "I should get going, though."
"All right," Claire said, patting me on the shoulder. "Lee will walk you out."
Jason called goodnight to Claire as I led him the front door.
"Goodnight," she replied. "Drive safe!"
"I had the best time today," I said as we headed towards his car, its hood glinting under the porch light. "Thanks."
"No, Leena, thank you for coming," he replied, a pleased smile on his face. "Maybe you can drop by the café before Saturday."
"Yeah," I grinned, the eagerness in Jason's voice causing my skin to tingle. "I'll see you."
"Okay," he smiled. "Well, bye."
We faced each other awkwardly, wondering how to say goodbye. Finally, Jason held out his right hand for me to shake. Laughing, I pushed my palm into his much larger hand. Instead of shaking it, he just held my hand in his. My heart jackhammered at my ribs, unwilling to break the lingering touch.
Much to my disappointment, Jason withdrew his hand, the patches of red on his cheeks hardly visible under the starry night sky.
"Okay," he said again, raking a hand through his tousled hair. "Goodnight, Leena Faye."
"Goodnight, Jason Hunter."
***
"He's very nice," Claire commented as I helped her load the dishes into the dishwasher. "And his eyes! I've never seen anything like it!"
It took less than a second for his differently coloured eyes to materialise behind my closed eyelids.
He's so beautiful.
"That he is," Claire said, chuckling softly.
"We're just friends," I muttered, my face burning with embarrassment when I realised that I had accidentally spoken aloud.
"Of course," she said, sounding totally unconvinced.
"Claire," I grumbled, reaching out to swat her arm lightly.
"All right, all right," she laughed, shifting out of my way.
After the dishes were done, I said goodnight to Claire and went up to my room, the day's exhaustion finally catching up with me. I brushed my teeth, changed into comfy pyjamas, and grabbed my phone before collapsing onto the soft bed. My hair fanned out over the pillow as I stared at the picture of Jason that I had taken at the candy store. His happy, carefree energy seemed to radiate off of the phone screen, right into my heart.
What must it feel like to be so confident, so free?
Suddenly, my phone bleeped with a notification. Startled, I lost my grip on the sleek device, causing it to tumble right onto my face.
"Ow," I complained, catching the phone as it hit my nose and slid down my cheek.
I glanced at the screen to find an alert for a new email from Chris.
The subject of the message jumped out at me: I'm so sorry. Forgive me?
Oh, god.