We walk quietly down Angela's street along the sidewalk, beside all the parked cars, my hand still in his warm one. They're not as shaky anymore. I keep my gaze away from him, looking at all the big nice expensive houses. I wonder if Isaac lives in this area or near by? I could only imagine how much bigger his house probably is, being the mob bosses son an all.
Isaac's smoking a cigarette as we continue to walk further away from the party, until the music's at a light hum. He takes one last drag of his cancer stick and puts it out, finally breaking our deadly silence.
"How you feeling?" He asked, his thumb softly stroking the top of my hand.
"Fine," I say softly, looking down at the pavement.
"Fine as in you're lying just to get me to stop asking? Or fine as in you're actually fine?"
I chortle and look up at him, "number two." Isaac squints his eyes as if he doesn't believe me, and I gently squeeze his hand, "I'm fine, really."
"You look fücking beautiful tonight."
I feel my cheeks instantly get hot and I quickly look away, "thank you," I say shyly.
"How'd you know red was my favorite color?" I turn back to look at him and he has the hem of my flannel in his fingers, a smug smile on his face. His smile really was the cutest thing I'd ever seen in my life. It filled my stomach up with little butterflies every time he smiled, it was like I was slowly melting on the inside.
"I didn't," I say shyly, pulling my shirt away from him. I let go of his hand, placing mine on my right arm, slightly rubbing it up and down. It was pretty chilly tonight and I was only in this flannel. "Your little girlfriend isn't gonna be upset cause you're out here with me, instead of dancing with her?"
Isaac lets out a soft chuckle, "is that jealously that I detect?"
"What? No!"
"She's not my girlfriend," he continues to chuckle. "She's just a friend."
"Yeah.. you guys seemed pretty close." I said a bit dryly.
"Hailey," he reaches for my waist and I take a step away from him. Isaac being so near me made me uncomfortable, and the thought alone of him touching me made me nervous.
He sighs deeply while shoving his hands into his pockets. "Ariana is only a friend, I promise. I am not interested in her, or in anyone else. You're the only one that has my attention, Summers.." Wait, what? "I wanna break you out of this nervous little shell, I want you to feel comfortable with me. I'm not use to being told no, and it frustrates me. I want to take you out on a real date, let me show you that you don't have to be afraid of me. Let me get to know you."
My head starts reeling as my mind tried to process everything that Isaac had just told me.
Carmelo Matteo's son wants to get to know me?
Isaac Matteo was interested in me?
But why..
The thought alone was frightening, but at the same time it's also exhilarating.
The one guy that every girl wanted to be with was interested in me, the awkwardly, anxious, quiet girl. I don't know what causes me to say the next word that spills out of my mouth, but for once in my life I will not let my anxiety get the best of me.
"Okay," I breathe out.
Isaac's face lights up like a little boy waking up on Christmas morning to a Christmas tree filled with presents. "Yeah?" I fold my arms in front of me attempting to warm myself up, and nod while smiling. Isaac notices my little movement and removes his jacket off of him, placing it around me. "Why don't we go somewhere a bit warmer.. You hungry?"
I smile clinging onto his jacket, "I could eat."
He chuckles again, "good. May I?" He reaches for my hand and I place it back in his. His body temperature was still warm when mine was freezing.
"I have to get my bag from Madison's car."
"Okay, come on." He says.
We start heading back up the road to Angela's house, hand in hand. Things are quiet again as we head back, but I have this funny feeling in my stomach and chest, they're butterflies.
I catch myself smiling like an idiot looking down at the ground.
Get ahold of yourself woman!
We walk through the back doors like when the girls and I first came in, and I'm not surprise to see that the security guys don't stop Isaac like they've been doing to every other guy that walks through.
A couple of people greet Isaac and try to stop us along the way, but he merely gives them a head nod or pats them on the back and we continue our way. We make it back to the beverage area where I left the girls, but I'm surprise to see that the only one standing around is Madison, but she's not alone..
Patrick is standing behind her as she refills her drink, his hands are wrapped around her waist while his face buried deep into her neck. Oh God, I don't want to interrupt. I start to slow my pace, giving them a few more minutes to themselves.
I'm assuming that Isaac has realized what I'm trying to do when he smiles down at me and gently tugs on my hand, pulling me towards the couple.
"Ric."
Isaac stands directly behind them and Patrick turns around.
Isaac inclines his head to the side, and lets go of my hand, "com'ere for a second."
Patrick nods removing his touch from Madison and Isaac turns back and winks at me before they walk away.
Madison immediately throws her arms around me, "are you okay? I was getting worried!"
"Yeah, I'm sorry, I just got a bit overwhelmed with the crowd. Where's Mia and Abby?"
Madison brings her cups up to her lips, taking a drink from it and points over behind me. Mia's down on the dance floor dancing with some guy that I don't recognize, and Abby's at the beer pong table playing with Isaac's friend Dion.
Madison turns me back around, pulling me in for hug once again. I came smell the hard rum ratting off of her, I think she might be drunk already. She lets go of me but her hands cup my face and she starts to kiss me on both cheeks saying thank you in between each kiss.
I start to laugh trying to get her off of me, "what are you thanking me for?"
"Patrick. He is so cute!" She shrieks. "If it weren't for you I highly doubt that he would've talked to me, so thank you!!"
I laugh softly, "oh, you're welcome, I guess.. Um, can I get my bag from your car?"
"You're leaving?" I nod and she stares at me, eyeing Isaac's jacket on me. "With him?" She looks over at Isaac, who's off to the side still talking to Patrick. I see Patrick begin to laugh and nod, when both boys start walking back towards us.
I turn back to Madison and answer her question, "yeah," I smile. Madison looks to Isaac then back to myself and smiles. She digs into her clutch and pulls out her car key, handing it to me. "Thank you, I'll bring it right back."
"It's okay, Hail. Keep it," she says. "Mia has my spare in her bag, you can give it to me on Monday at school."
"Are you sure?" She nods, and Isaac and Patrick have made their way back over.
"Ready?" Isaac looks over at me, and I nod. He takes my hand in his again, giving Patrick one quick stare down. "Behave, Ric."
"I always do," Patrick grins.
Isaac starts to walk away, when Madison grabs onto my free arm, pulling me back. I turn to look at her and she wraps her arms around me one more time, whispering into me ear. "Be careful please."
I nod and whisper back into her ear, "I'll text you so you know that I'm still alive," I joke around. She laughs letting go of me and Isaac pulls on my hand and we begin to walk away again. We go out through Angela's front door again, and walk across the street to Madison Toyota and grab my bag from her trunk. I lock her car back up sticking her key in my bag, and we walk down the side walk when we stop in front of a black BMW.
"Hey! Isn't this the same car that dropped you off at Saturday school?"
Isaac unlocks the doors and opens the passenger door for me, holding it open. "No," he says and I take a seat inside of it. "Mines way nicer than that one," he smirks and winks while closing the door.
I smile to myself as i buckle up and Isaac makes his way into the driver seat. "Wait!" I place my hand on his arm as he reaches for the key ignition. "Were you drinking tonight?"
He raises an eyebrow at me giving me a particular look, almost like if he were saying 'are you serious right now?' I don't say anything, I continue to stare at him and he starts to chuckle deeply. "I had one shot before people started showing up with Angela," he smiles. "Is that okay? Can I start the car? Or should we start walking?"
I smile looking away from him when I hear the smooth gentle pur to the engine turn on, music automatically starts playing in the car as Isaac begins to drive out into the road. I know the song, It's Fragile by Tech n9ne. My brother had a crazy obsession with Kendrick Lamar, he over played this song multiple times when it came out that I basically knew all the words.
Isaac reaches for his stereo lowering the music down a bit, "what kind of music do you like to listen to?"
"This is fine," I answer him.
He digs his right hand into his jeans pulling out his iPhone, and hands it to me. "You can go ahead and change it," he smiles.
I take his phone from him but I don't change the song, "Isaac, it's fine, really." He stares at me smiling, and shakes his head focusing back on the road. "What?" I ask innocently.
"Nothing," he snorts.
"Tell me!"
His smile only grows wider when he turns to look at me, I don't think I've ever seen him smile this much. "I like hearing you say my name," he says in a smooth deep rumble.
Oh. I feel myself instantly starting to blush and I quickly turn to look out the window so he doesn't notice. "Hey," he grabs a hold of my left hand, the one that's clinging onto his phone. I glance back at him and he's still smiling, "that's why I didn't want to say anything. I didn't want you to get all shy on me."
I giggle nervously, "I'm sorry, this is.. it's just all new to me."
"I know," he murmurs. "We're just going out to eat, Hailey. That's it. This isn't a date... yet." He smirks and I blush, again.
The music suddenly stops playing out of no where and Isaac's phone is now vibrating in my hand. Isaac's hand is still on mine so I know that he feels his phone is ringing. He turns my hand around so that he can see who's calling, the screen on his phone and stereo both show Dion's name. Isaac takes his phone out of my hand and answer's it, but he doesn't put the phone up to his face he leaves it laying on his lap, "what's up, Dee?"
Isaac's friends voice soon fills up the inside of his car, you can hear faint music playing in the background, he must still be at Angela's. "Where you at?"
"I'm taking Hailey home, why?"
"Roxwell is here," Dion says in a tone more serious than when he first called.
Roxwell? As in Cris Roxwell? What the hell could he possibly be doing at Angela's party, and why is Dion calling Isaac about it? An unsettling feeling starts to form in my stomach.
Isaac turns to look at me as Dion begins to talk in a different language, which I'm assuming could only be Italian. Isaac starts to shake his head as if his friend could see what he's doing and says in a low voice, "no, later."
"KP, I can handle this."
"Dion.." Isaac grumbles and Dion starts to speak in Italian again, when Isaac completely snaps losing his temper and starts to shout back in Italian as well.
What the hell are they saying?
"Fine!" Dion shouts. Isaac doesn't say anything, he keeps his eyes on the road tightly gripping the steering wheel that his knuckles are starting to turn white. It's quiet for about a couple seconds when I hear Dion's voice again, it's not as rough as before. "Hey, Red.."
Red? Is he talking to me? Does he know I'm listening? I turn to look at Isaac confused, he turns and smiles, nodding his head. "Uh, hi?" I murmur. Dion doesn't say anything in return, he merely chuckles when the line goes dead and the music is back softly playing again.
"You lied to him," I say softly. Isaac glances at me completely clueless. "Dion," I continue. "You told him you were taking me home."
"I'm technically not lying," he implies. "Unless you don't want to go home.." he smirks and I instantly start blushing. "Dee will know what I want him to know, and right now he doesn't need to know anything.. So what are you in the mood for?" I smile and shrug my shoulders. "Pizza? Burgers? A diner?" He suggests.
"I've had pizza two days in a roll already."
"Okay, taking pizza off the list. What about sandwiches? You like sandwiches? Or Chinese? What about seafood? You like seafood?" I laugh softly at how undeceive Isaac is, we pull up to a red light and I ask him what time it is. He glances down at his phone, "a little before eleven, why? Do you have a certain time that you need to be home, we can grab something to go and head straight to your house if that's the case."
"No, that's not it. There's a McDonald's coming up at the next light, they don't close the inside until like twelve I think."
"Really? That's what you're gonna go with? McDonald's?" He chuckles.
"What.. they have good fries!"
Isaac laughs and the butterflies in my stomach go crazy, "Mickey Ds it is then."
The light turns green and we keep on driving down the street until we hit the next light, we just so happen to catch it while it's green still and Isaac pulls into the McDonald's parking lot, parks his BMW and we make our way out of it. I walk around the front of Isaac's car making my way over to him and he immediately grabs ahold of my hand. For this not being a date he sure seems to be holding my hand a lot.
Isaac opens the door and we step into the brightly lit fast food restaurant, according to the hours on the door turns out that the dining room area is also 24hrs so there's no rush. We walk up to the front and stand in line, there's a couple and an older gentleman in front of us, it's actually pretty busy for being so late. I look over at Isaac and see that he's eyeing the food menu and can't help but smile, he's so beautiful.
"What do you usually get?" I ask him.
Isaac's eyes remain on the food screens in front of us when he answers, "we're not the type of family to eat out a lot, and when we do go out they're usually Italian restaurants." He glances at me for a few seconds and returns his gaze on the screens, "but Dion's gotten me a couple of McChickens from time to time."
"Yeah they're pretty good," I tell him. I feel my bag vibrate and I pull my phone out from the outside pocket with my free hand, and see that I have two text messages from Madison.
"Why haven't you texted me yet!"
"Please tell me that you're alive still"
Oops, I forgot to text her! I smile and reply to her messages. "Sorry! Yes I'm alive lol"
"Are you home already?" She replies back immediately.
"Not yet.. We came to eat." I tell her.
"Your friend checking up on you?" Isaac says beside me.
I smile up at him, "how'd you know?"
"I seen the way she looked at me when I grabbed your hand."
"She gave you a look?"
He nods, "it was like an over protective if you do anything to her I'll kill you look," he says and I start to giggle.
I read the last message that Madison sent me and quickly reply to her, "please don't drink and drive!"
"I can help you guys over here if you're ready," the McDonald's employee on the left cashier says. Isaac walks up to the counter pulling me along with him, and I shove my phone back into my bag. "Hi," the older woman with fake blonde hair greets us. "What can I get for you kids?"
"Go first," Isaac nudges my arm with his.
"Hi," i smile at the woman. "Can I get your two for five."
"Sure thing sweetheart, what are your choices?"
"Can I get a ten piece nugget, and a Mcdouble with Mac sauce, no onions."
"Sure thing, and for you honey?" She looks over at Isaac who's still staring at the menu.
"Uh, I'll get a Big Mac with no pickles."
"Would you like that in a combo?" He nods. "Medium or large?"
"Large's fine, you don't want anything else? Fries? A drink? Sweets?" He looks over at me.
"Just a drink," I tell him.
"Lemme get another large drink and fry," he tells the employee.
"Isaac!" I shake my head, "that's way too much food for me."
"Then don't finish it," he smiles.
Isaac lets go of my hand and digs into his pocket pulling out a wad of money. My eyes nearly bulge out of my head when I notice that they're all basically hundreds until he hits a couple twenties. He hands two twenties to the woman and she returns Isaac his change with a receipt in his hand, then hands us our two drinks. I grab my cup from Isaac and start walking a head of him, not giving him a chance to reach for my hand this time. I walk up to the two red coke machines and put ice in my cup, choosing to drink Dr. Pepper tonight. I normally got Powerade, fruit punch to be exact.
Instead of using the free machine to my right, Isaac stands incredibly close behind me waiting for his turn. I smile because when he finally chooses his drink, he ends up getting Dr. Pepper as well. My brother, dad, and Carmen all hated Dr. Pepper, they said that it had a weird medicine taste to it, but they're just crazy.
I ask Isaac where he would like to sit and he tells me that he doesn't mind where, so I chose one of those half table half both things, sitting on the booth side. I expect Isaac to sit in front of me so we can talk comfortably, but he slides in right next to me, sitting a little too close.
"Um, Isaac?" He turns to look at me, taking a drink from his cup, he didn't put a lid nor a straw on it. "You're a little too close," I mumble.
"Oh shit," he apologizes scooting a bit away from me. "Better?" I smile and nod. "Tell me something, Summers.." I stare up at him letting him continue. "If you don't do well in crowds, what were you doing at Angela's tonight?"
"Um," I gulp, playing with the straw in my cup. Holy crap, I was not expecting this. Do I tell him that the only reason I went was because I wanted to see him? "Honestly?" I snort.
"No, please, do lie to me." He grins.
I smile bashfully and look Isaac in the eyes, "I wanted to see you.."
Isaac beams and for once I actually think that he's the speechless one. He licks his lips slightly shaking his head and I can't help but stare at them, they look so soft. Our order number gets called and Isaac gets up to retrieve our food. I glance over at him watching his every step, he grabs the tray of food and makes his way back to the table. Isaac slides back in next to me and sits a little too close again, but I don't mind anymore.
We eat in silence for a couple of minutes when Isaac decides to break the ice. He grabs one of the nuggets that I've order, dips it into the sauce and plops it into his mouth, talking while he chews. "So... you never answered my question."
"What question?" I ask him as I bite into a fry.
"What were somethings that you love to do?"
I smile, he remembers asking me that? I grab a second fry and dip it into my little pile of ketchup, "yeah, well.. you never answered mine either." I tell him.
He looks a little taken back by my remark. He steals my fry right out of my hand and tosses it into his mouth, "you've asked me a question?"
I nod, "in the library.." Isaac furrows his eyebrows, tilting his head to the side. "Why your friends call you KP?.. If I recall correctly you said you would tell me over dinner, and oh look, what's this?" I wave at the tray of food. "Dinner?"
Isaac breaks out into a deep laugh, "how about this.. I let you ask me anything, I answer, and in return I ask you something and you answer.. Sound good?"
I nod, "you go first."
He snorts, "its short for kingpin."
"Kingpin? What does that mean?"
He shoves a few more fries into his mouth, "it has a lot of different meanings really. It's basically like top dog, number one, boss.. My dads the one that started calling me KP because I'm his most important figure. Dion just so happen to catch along one day, and now everyone calls me it."
"Wow.. top dog huh? That's got to be a lot of pressure on you, living up to the name and all."
Isaac shrugs his shoulders, his lips tugging to the side. He eats the last piece of his burger talking in between his chews. "Not really.. i was born into this life, my father's.. organization," he says carefully. "It comes naturally," he shrugs again as if it were nothing, as if we were having a normal conversation about solving math problems and whatnot.
A wave of uneasiness washes over me as Isaac glances down at me, and it just starts to hit me. Nothing about this conversation is normal, at least not for me. Isaac was not your typical normal high school student, so why was I acting like it? Why was I interested in him.. If my dad found out that I was here alone, with Isaac, I would be grounded for the rest of my life. I don't care how sweet, gentle and charming Isaac was being right now, The Matteo family was well known for its violent history. Everybody knew what his dad was capable of, but was Isaac like him? Was he capable of killing someone? Or had he already..
I unintentionally scoot away from Isaac and he immediately notices the small gap in between us. He sighs deeply and hangs his head low, "I did it again didn't I?"
"Did what?" I ask softly.
He slightly turns his head to the left, his gaze now fixed on me. "I made you uncomfortable.."
"I- I shouldn't have asked."
"Hailey.. I'm more than just those stories that you've probably heard about me. I'd prove it to you if you'd just let me. I don't want you to be afraid of me, I'm really no different than most of the guys at school. Shit, you think you're the only nervous one, princess? I don't know what to say to you half of the time, I'm a fucking wreck just sitting here with you, but I'm trying.. because that's all I want to do. I want to talk to you, but I don't know what to say. I wanna get to know, and I feel like I'm just pushing you more away."
"Reading.." I whisper looking down at the tray of left over fries. I can feel Isaac's gaze on the side of my face as my heart begins to pound in my chest, for all the wrong reasons. There's a tingling sensation running up and down my body, and i can assure that it's not the butterflies. Its such a scary overwhelming feeling knowing that someone is interested in you, that someone wants to invest their time in you. My anxiety's at its highest it's ever been, and all I can think about is Isaac grabbing ahold of my hand like he did at Angela's. Something about his hold on me was reassuring, peaceful.
Breathe, Hailey, breathe it out.
I turn to my right and find him staring at me, "I love reading," I smile softly.
"That doesn't surprise me," he replies with a smile.
"I-I'm sorry, Isaac. I- I suck at being a human, I'm constantly over thinking things. Like i can't- I can't understand why you would be interested in me." My voice trembles, along with my hands.
Isaac doesn't say anything, he looks down at my hands on my lap and scoots a little closer. "Can I?" He shifts his eyes down to my hands, then back to me. I nod and he grabs ahold of my trembling hand. He brings it up to his lips and places the most softest, gentle, kiss on the back of it, "I don't know what happen to you to make you this fragile, Summers, but it's really taking an impact on me. I don't think you understand how drawn I feel to you. I have this sudden urge to protect your delicacy."
Isaac lets go of my hand, and his hands are now suddenly cupping my face. My heart immediately starts to race. "I want to be the reason why you come out of your comfort zone," he says in a low voice. "I wanna be the reason to help you grow." My attention is hooked on his dark chocolatey eyes, and the pathetic little girl in me wants to look away, but I can't. I'm drawn to his gaze, his voice, his touch, he makes it- he makes it all better without even trying.
I'm quickly taken off guard when I feel Isaac's lips crash against my own, and he's kissing me just as gently as he did to the back of my hand. All the tingling and numbing, chilling feeling immediately leaves my body, and it's now replaced with a warm one. I close my eyes getting lost in his soft lips, when I feel Isaac pull back but his hands are still on my face. I open my eyes to find him sitting there with the cutest smile on his face, "better?"
I nod completely speechless.