Chapter 6 - Date.
I had a date soon and all I was currently doing was standing in front of the smallish mirror that we had making sure I looked decent for tonight. I had finished applying my makeup not so long ago and was hoping that it wouldn't sweat off by the end of the night. The look I went for was a mix of both vintage and natural. I used a light brown eye shadow and just applied one layer of mascara. There was no blusher on, just the small layer of bronzer and I finished the look off with a dark red lip, well more of a burgundy colour.
"Are you sure I look okay?"
"Sure, you look fine, stop worrying."
That was the thing I couldn't stop worrying. Ever since he asked me out I've had butterflies in my stomach. I was nervous, yet excited. But definitely more nervous. This would either go one of two ways; extremely bad, so bad that he won't want to see me again. Or really good, where he'll ask me out on another date. And if I'm honest I'm hoping for the latter.
"Tell me the truth, do you like it?"
Tonight was my date with Aaron. And yes, I was going on it. I just said that to wound him up. You know what people say 'Treat them mean and keep them keen.' I was showing Casey the dress I was wearing for it and to be honest I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. I was wearing a black tight fitting, knee length dress which had a weird dark red floral pattern going down the side.
"Yes! You look amazing."
I blew out a massive breath and started to relax a bit. I was extremely nervous about this date. Heck I hadn't been on one in over seven years since Caleb was the only person who ever took me out on one, if you could call eating popcorn while watching the school football team from the bleachers a date.
"What's the time?" I asked Casey. Caleb was meant to be picking me up at half past seven and I wanted to make sure that I had enough time to prepare myself.
"You have five minutes"
Five minutes! Five minutes! Okay get your shit together Ava. Wait! Why am I having a conversation with myself? Okay, just breathe.
"Girl, you're going to be fine. I know you like him and he must like you. Also not all boys are like Caleb, some are different just like Michael."
"I know that, but Michael is completely different to Aaron. Sure, they kind of had the same player past, but Michael has manners and respect. Aaron on the other hand is a cocky arrogant sob,"
"What do you mean?" Casey replied with a confused expression on her face.
"Well, I mean. Michael has grown up. He's mature. Aaron still acts like a teenager. Remember Julio? Your ex boyfriend? He was full of himself. Thinking he was the god's gift; making the nerds do his homework, flirting with the cheerleaders, acting so polite in front of teachers, only to start on them once they left. He's like him. Only in a more professional way,"
Casey turned me around to face her.
"I guess I know what you're talking about. But look at Julio now. He owns his own business, volunteers in a charity shop and ended up coming out as gay three years ago all because he spent eighteen months in prison. "
"True. I still can't believe he managed to survive the whole eighteen months though," My mind started to go crazy with all different kind of thoughts. Mostly about fate. Fate. Like it was fate that Julio went to prison to realise he was gay. Like it was fate for me to move to London or maybe it was my fate to catch Caleb in the act. I didn't know for sure, but I was never one to disbelieve in anything. "Do you believe in fate?"
"I don't know. What do you mean by fate?"
"Like what if me and Aaron got trapped in that elevator for a reason. What if it was my fate to catch Caleb in the act and move here." I replied.
Casey looked like she was thinking about it and after trying to start a sentence three times she blurted out, "I'm not sure. You know I don't believe in all that weird stuff, but I wouldn't argue to say that it was fate for you to have caught Caleb and move out. You needed that and to be honest I think you knew something was going on. You told me many a times over Skype. So I doubt it!"
And she was right. Of course she was. It wasn't exactly fate, I knew it all along and I just didn't want to believe in it. It took me seeing Caleb and that girl to know that deep down it was true.
A knock interrupted my thoughts.
"He's early. He's five minutes early!"
Why is he early? he said seven-thirty that meant he had to pick me up at seven-thirty and not any earlier. Why would he do this to me?
"Actually he's on time. I said you had five minutes left, exactly five minutes ago. Now calm down and answer that door,"
Okay I can do this. I flattened out my dress and walked over to the door. I swayed my fingers through hair and took a long deep breath before opening it. And there he was in all his glory; Aaron. Wearing smart casual clothes; dark jeans, shoes, white shirt and a navy blazer. And damn me to hell if I didn't say he looked freaking gorgeous. Model worthy gorgeous.
"Hey." I answered with a smile.
"Wow....um you look...um wow. You look absolutely amazing," he stuttered.
"I could say the same for yourself" I replied.
"Thanks. You ready to go?" he asked.
"Sure, let me grab my coat."
I walked back into the apartment and picked up my short black cardigan that I had left on the sofa. I said goodbye to Casey with a hug and a kiss on both cheeks and walked back to the door,
"Let's go then," He held out his hand and I entwined mine with his. We walked down through the receptionist and outside to where his car was.
"Nice. A Range Rover sports 10" I replied as I continued to drool over his car.
When I first spotted a Range Rover four years ago I knew that I wanted a car just like that one but in black as Aaron's was white and had lightly dark tinted windows. The Range Rovers were one of the most favourite cars in the world. Of course they're expensive but if you have one you'll look important.
"You know cars?" he asked shocked by me knowing the make of the car.
"Nope. Just Range Rovers. I've always wanted one since I first spotted one a couple of years ago."
He walked to the passenger side and opened the door for me, "Thank you."
"What music do you have?" I asked as the radio was playing some rubbish classical music that had a terrible beat to it.
"Uh look in the compartment down there and pick from the selection." he replied as he pointed to the compartment near my leg.
I opened it and found a selection on CD's. But one album I spotted a mile off and burst out laughing. "You have Lady Gaga's new album: Artpop." I said, more of a statement then a question.
"Yeah. I like Lady Gaga. She's got a great voice and her songs are kick ass."
"Well I'd disagree, but I'm not going to have a go at you for having terrible taste in music," I continued to look and found one from my favourite band: Imagine Dragons.
I placed it into the player and Demons started to play. "Imagine Dragons. Great choice!"
We stayed quiet and it became very much awkward, I decided to break the ice with the normal date question "So where are we going?"
"Le Femme"
"Don't you mean 'La Femme' Le is masculine, La is feminine. And seriously. The female? There's a restaurant named The female?" Who calls a restaurant The female? that just sounds terrible. Wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't some guy who thought it'd help him get a few chicks. Chuck and fuck. And if it did then more fools to the girls who suffered.
"Yeah it's been opened for over fifty years. And the name had recently changed because every generation of family that owned it was female. Plus the last owner was a feminist. Now I want to ask you something, but I don't know if you will say yes."
"Just spit it out"
"Okay, will you be my PA?"
Should I be his PA? Sure I needed the money, but did I need it that desperately? Shit! of course I did.
"You haven't got to if you don't want to bu-"
"No. It's okay. The answer is yes, I will be your Personal Assistant." I said, he instantly smiled and replied with a 'thank you' and re-said it about another five times. Okay, I lied. He said it once. And only once. But I'll take an ego-boost wherever I can get one.
We pulled up outside a building that looked very old but once we entered it was like I was in a different land. It was red and black and very romantic. Roses and candles were placed on every table and they even had a music playing silently in the background. However, it clashed badly with my outfit. Not good!
"Mr Lake so good to see you again. I'll show you and your companion to your table."
We both followed the man to the table and sat down. "A waiter will be with you shortly, and I'm so sorry can I take your coat?"
"No it's fine. Thank you" I nodded my head for him to leave.
A waiter turned up five minutes later "What drinks can I get you?"
"We'll have a bottle of your most expensive champagne" Aaron handed the waiter the drink menu.
Another waiter came round and I ordered the lasagne while Aaron ordered Cog au vin. Throughout the meal we talked about life; where I was born, college and things like that. We also talked about how he come up with the company. Talking to him was very easy. I didn't feel awkward one bit. It just flowed. However, after thirty minutes and had to go for a toilet.
"Excuse me" I said as I left the table. I passed a couple of empty tables and entered the bathroom and re-applied some more mascara and lip gloss. Once I checked myself over I text Casey, flicked my hair back in place and walked out. I spotted my table straight away, but as I got near to it a voice stopped me in my tracks.
"Avaline is that you?"
I turned around and came face to face with Caleb's parents, Gina and Martin.
"Hey guys, what are you doing in London?" I knew they liked to travel, but only to places an hour or two away. Not in a different country, and certainly not the UK.
"It's our anniversary. We decided to come somewhere different and relax a bit," They stood there and I decided to carry on with their chat.
"Oh."
"So where's Caleb?" Asked Martin as he held his coat.
"Umm-"
"Are you okay? You've been ages," I turned to see Aaron next to me. Oh, god this is not going to be good.
"Who is this man?" asked Gina with a sound of disgust in her tone.
"Umm this is, Aaron my......." I replied quite scared of what their reaction was going to be.
"I'm, Aaron her date."
"Friend."
We replied at the same time. Shit!
"Yeah, he's my friend. We're here on a work date. You know, busy, busy, busy."
He held his hand out to shake Martins, but instead he gave Aaron an evil glare.
"Well you look rather cosy if you ask me. I definitely wasn't surprised when Caleb called me up to say he ditched you. The worst thing he ever did was meet you; you ruined his life. He'd be going somewhere if you hadn't stepped in the way. I'm glad. I'm glad that he can finally move on and get out of bankruptcy due to you,"
"Excuse me? I think you'll find I finished Caleb. And we were only bankrupt because of him. He hasn't worked in over five months, and he still expects me to spend the rest of my wages on his obsession with cars." I fought back. How dare he say that I'm the reason we were bankrupt. I did everything for him!
"Well you still went out once a month. I would know he used to call me."
"That's a blatant lie. Who would I go out with? Casey lives here if you remembered and as for him calling you, he only called when he knew you'd start to nag on to him that you haven't seen him!"
"Whatever! You knew Caleb was too good for you. He deserved better and still does."
"Actually I deserve better. I didn't deserve to be cheated on for months, I didn't deserve to have all that pressure put on me once he got fired. I didn't deserve to be treated like crap from both of you. And yes, I did say I didn't deserve to be cheated on because I bet he didn't tell you that!"
"He wouldn't do that. We raised him perfect, you blinded him." She looked like she was going to say more, but stopped when a waiter came up to us with an annoyed expression painted onto his face.
"Excuse us, sir and madam, but could you please take your argument outside. You're disturbing our guests."
"Take me away before I say something I'll regret,"
"Sure, let me pay first"
We both mumbled an apology to the waiter and asked if he could go and get our receipt. With towed behind him and paid and then left. Holding Aaron's hand tightly as we walked out of the restaurant.
"So who was that mad couple? And who was Caleb? An ex I presume."
"Caleb was my ex and that was his parents." I replied.
"Oh....and he cheated on you?"
I slightly moaned and cursed to hell in my mind. "Yeah. I got fired from my job and when I got home there he was with a blond woman on our sofa naked. He tried to claim that it wasn't what it seemed. My initial reaction ended with me slapping and punching him,"
"Well he's a twat then for that and completely stupid for letting you go. I've always had this rule that if I was with someone and either met someone new or fell out of love with them then I'd tell her straight up. No fooling around. And I know it doesn't sound very nice, but it worked."
Our date was soon ended once we pulled up outside my apartment building. I turned to Aaron. "Thanks for the date. It was great apart from the confrontation."
"No problem. You can't exactly help who your ex's are, right? And their families of course."
I laughed. A real laugh, something I haven't done in ages. "So......"
"Yeah, so.....are you free tomorrow around six?"
I was about to answer with 'Sure, yes.' but thought it'd sound desperate with me answering so quickly, so I decided to pause and look like I was thinking before answering, "I should be, but I'm not totally sure. Any reason why?"
"I'll just send you a text and if you are then we're going out; again." He rolled his car windows up and drove off.
What a weird, mysterious, hot guy.
Authors Note: Don't forget to check out 'Catch A Fallen Star' which is my new short story inspired by The Fault in Our Stars.