Long chapter coming your way my babies!! Enjoy xoxo
I wake up surprisingly late on Saturday morning, I roll over on my bed checking the time on my cell phone and realize just how late it is. It'll be noon in about twenty minutes. This is the latest I've slept-in in a long while. I'm actually a little surprised that my dad didn't walk into my bedroom waking me up like he usually does.
I'm a little sad when I see that my phone doesn't have any new notifications, I don't have a good morning text or any messages from Isaac this morning. He ended up staying out pretty late with his friends last night, or should I say this morning. I woke up around five in the morning to use the restroom and had a couple of text messages from Isaac, talking about how he'd just gotten home not too long ago. I think he might've had one too many drinks because he was being extremely flirty last night, up until I fell asleep on him.
I rolled off of my bed and marched straight out into the hallway and into the bathroom. I tinkled and took a quick shower to help me wake up. I hated sleeping in so much, it only made me feel more tired and lazier than usual. After my quick little shower I felt a little more alive and ready for my day. I headed down stairs to grab something small to eat to hold me off until Isaac and I went out.
My dad was sprawled out on the big couch with the remote in his hand, laughing at whatever he was watching on tv.
"Hey, dad." I greeted him as I made my way into the kitchen, opening the fridge door.
"Morning kiddo, i left you a plate of food in the microwave."
I shut the fridge and turn back to look at my dad, "you made breakfast? Why didn't you wake me, daddy? I would've ate with you."
He shakes his head, "I popped my head into your room and you were dead asleep so I left you."
I smile and turn to open the microwave door that's hanging over the stove. Inside waiting on a plate for me is two pieces of French toast, a hash brown patty, and three strips of crispy bacon. My dad hands down made the best bacon on this planet, it was the perfect amount of crispy, but it also had a good chew to it. I heated the food up and grabbed a cup of some OJ and sat next to my dad on his recliner. I stared down at my delicious food before digging into it. So much for having a small breakfast, I mentally thought to myself. I hadn't anticipated how hungry I woke up, next thing I knew my plate was clean empty. I placed my now empty plate and glass on the coffee table in front of me and watched some tv with my dad for awhile.
He was currently watching impractical jokers, laughing his butt off. This was one of his and Caleb's favorite shows, my brother's actually the one that got my dad hooked on this show. It was the only time they could be in the same room together without biting their heads off one another.
"God, I forgot how good it felt to be home on the weekend," my dad speaks up as his show goes to commercial. "What time is your friend picking you up?" He asks.
I stare him down for a second, "you're gonna have to stop referring to him as my friend, dad."
"Fine. What time is Isaac picking you up?"
I shake my head at him and pick my phone up from the coffee table checking the time. It's 12:38. "He said he'll be here around two o'clock."
"Shouldn't you be getting ready then?" My dad says after checking the time himself.
"Yeah, I guess." I say a little uncertain.
My dad pauses the tv and sits up from his laying position. "Hailey listen to me." I glance over at him. "You're gonna have a good time. Don't over think it, sweetheart. Whatever you do, do not let it get in the way today. You deserve to have a little fun, kid. If you really have to take half of one of your pills, just breathe if you start getting anxious. Take a second to gather yourself. I'm not really good with this stuff, but he's gonna enjoy himself regardless, baby. He's gonna like you for you, because if not.. then I'm gonna have to kill him." He smiles.
I let out a breathy laugh and wipe the two single tears that are threatening to spill from my eyes. "I love you, dad. You're the best."
My dad smiles and lays back down, "I know."
~~~~~
It's now 2:42pm and Im ready to go, but there's still have no word from Isaac yet. Where could he be? Was he still coming? Was he gonna stand me up? Carmen made me promise her that I wouldn't text him, he knew what was happening today, I shouldn't have to remind him she says. I stand in front of my long mirror that hangs on the front of my closet door, inspecting my outfit for what seen to be like the 13th time. Carmen picked it out for me. Her and I were on FaceTime talking the whole time as I got ready. I was extremely happy to hear that she was at her dads house this weekend, we made plans to go eat lunch tomorrow and talk about my date, and among other things that we needed to catch up on.
I wanted to change my outfit the longer I stared at it, I was in a dress, and it was fall. If it were my choice I would've chose to wear some leggings with a cute top, but nope, this was all Carmen and Angela's doing. I say Angela because she texted me about an hour ago saying, "Wear a dress. He's a sucker for dresses." I was currently on the phone with Carmen at the time the message came in, and read the text out loud. Let's just say that Carmen nearly went crazy for the idea. So here I was now, in a dress.
In one of my favorite dresses actually. It was a short, flowy, simple, black dress, but i of course had to add my own touch to it as well. I threw on a old maroon flannel shirt over it. It was fall after all, I'm gonna need a way to stay warm. I wanted to wear some black tights underneath the dress, but Carmen had other ideas in mind. She insisted that I wear some long maroon socks to match my shirt, along with some cute ankle boots. I continued to stare at myself a little while longer when I heard my father yell my name from downstairs. "Hailey!"
"Yeah?" I yelled back, attempting to put my small earrings in.
"HAILEY!!"
"I'm coming!" Geez.
I stick my other earring in real quick, grab my phone off the charger and make my way down stairs. I'm being greeted by a smiling Isaac when I finally make it downstairs. He's standing near the door way next to my father. My heart immediately flutters at the sight of him, he's so gorgeous. A slow smile starts to creep on my face as I take in all his dark beauty, he's wearing a pair of dark glasses on his face but you can immediately see the excitement behind them. I start to feel a little embarrassed when he catches me staring at him and smirks in my direction. "You ready?" He asks me.
I nod and walk over to hug my father, placing a kiss on his cheek. "You look beautiful, Hail." My dad whispers into my ear. "I put some money in your wallet, just in case.." he smiles.
I smile back at him and wrap my arms around him one more time, "you're the best, dad."
"I'll have her home by no longer than ten tonight, Mr. Summers." Isaac says to my father. My dad simply nods and lets go of me. I walk over to grab my bag and then to Isaac, he immediately reaches for my hand, "I'll take care of her, don't worry."
My dad crosses his arms along his chest, "oh I'm certain that you will." He says. "I put a new can of pepper spray in your purse, Hail." My dad speaks to me, but continues to smile at Isaac.
"Dad.." i grumble.
Both gentlemen beside me chuckle softly, "you kids have fun."
I shut the door behind us and we start to walk over to Isaac's BMW, parked in its usual spot on the street. I steal another quick glance at Isaac and smile, this is the first time I've seen him in any sort of color that isn't black or gray. He's of course wearing some dark, black, jeans with a white V neck, followed along with a brown, blue and orange plaid shirt. I stare down at my outfit and start to feel a little over dressed.
"What?" Isaac smiles, as he reaches for my door, opening it for me, as always.
I shake my head as I slide into my seat, "it's nothing."
"Tell me," he presses.
"It's just that you look so casual and comfty, and I, I- I look-"
Isaac lips are crashing on mine a second later, cutting me off. "perfect," he mutters against my lips, smiling. "You look perfect."
I melt into my seat as Isaac shuts my door making his way around to the driver seat. "Are we really going into the city?" I ask him as he fiddles around with his seatbelt.
"Yes ma'am," he smiles, turning his engine on. "I know this great Italian restaurant."
"Of course it's Italian," I grin.
Isaac begins to chuckle as we pull out onto the road, "we can go somewhere else if you want."
I shake my head grinning from ear to ear, "no, it's okay." I turn my head to look at him, "I like Italian.." and he breaks out into a deep, sensual, chuckle.
Fortyfive minutes later we're in New York City, walking down the street hand in hand, making our way to the little restaurant Isaac has chosen. I've only been to the city a couple of times, and every time I come out here it gets more beautiful and bigger every time. We turn a corner and walk up to a small restaurant called, Little Italy. I smile at the cute name and noticed that there are curtains covering the windows, preventing you from looking inside.
Isaac smiles and reaches for the door, he holds it open for me inclining his head to go inside. I let go of his hand and step inside the freshly cool restaurant, I sneak a quick kiss onto his cheek while walking passed him and he chuckles softly following closely behind me. I realize that the restaurant is completely empty, but why? I would've at least expected a couple people in here, but it's so dead and quiet.
I turn to Isaac and he smiles grabbing ahold of my hand. "Why's it so empty? Where's everyone?"
A sly grin curls onto the corner of his lips as we walk up to the hostess. "I did say no crowds, remember?"
I gape at him, "I thought you meant as in your friends wouldn't be around, Isaac, not this. This is insane! How did you even pull this off?"
"My dads good friends with the restaurant owner.. I just thought that maybe this way you'd feel a little more comfortable," he says.
I can't help but smile at that. Isaac has probably got to be one of the most thoughtful person's I have ever met in my life. I tug on his arm, pulling him down closer and kiss him on the lips. "Thank you," i whisper, and he kisses me in return.
A friendly voice beside us pulls us apart from each other. "Signor Antonio! Ciao!" The hostess eagerly greets us, his voice is laced with a thick Italian accent. "Come, come! This way!" He grabs what I'm assuming are two menus and leads us towards a small round table in the middle of the room. "We've been expecting you. This is good?" He asks.
"Sí," Isaac says.
He walks behind me, pulling my chair out. I take a seat in it and scoot a bit closer as Isaac brings his chair closer to me, rather than sitting directly across each other. The guy places our menus down in front of us and starts to speak to Isaac in Italian. I'm assuming that this is the owner of the restaurant and he's asking Isaac about Don Carmelo, his dad. At least I think he is, the only word that I understand from their exchange is "papà" so I basically put two and two together.
"He's fine, Rigo, thank you." Isaac replies in English.
Rigo then smiles and glances in my direction, "something to drink, bellissima?"
"Um, a sprite is fine, thank you."
He nods and turns to Isaac, "for you, Signor Antonio? Coke?"
"Sí," Isaac answers and Rigo scurries away into the kitchen.
"Why does he keep calling you Antonio?" I ask Isaac as I open up my menu.
Isaac smiles and does the same, "it's my middle name, Katherine."
"How do yo-"
"Your dad," he grins. "He called you it that one morning."
Oh, right.
I smile about to bring something up when I noticed Isaac hands hanging onto the menu. They're a weird purple color, if I had to say so myself I would say that they were bruised. I quickly place my own menu down and reached for his hand getting a closer look at the splotches. They are bruised. "Oh my god what happen to your knuckles, Isaac?!"
He quickly pulls his hand out from mine, placing them back onto his lap. "Nothing, they're fine," he murmurs deeply. It's obvious that he's not going to tell me what happened and I'm not going to keep prying.
I furrow my eyebrows at him, "Is- is that why you were late?"
He immediately starts to shake his head, "god no! My phone was dead," he explains. "I over slept."
"Well you were out pretty late last night, or should I say this morning." I tease him.
"I know, I'm sorry.." He frowns and it makes me sad. He genuinely sounds disappointed in himself.
I smile shaking my head, trying to reassure him. "you showed up, that's what matters."
Isaac pulls his hand back out from underneath the table and squeezes my hand gently, "you're amazing, you know that?"
~~~~
Needless to say Isaac and I were having an amazing time at dinner, at least I was, and I was hoping he was too. We stayed at the restaurant for about two more hours eating, talking, laughing. The food was absolutely amazing. I nearly wanted to cry when I took my first bite, explosions of flavors drowned my taste buds and I savored every single little bite. Isaac in other hands thought that this was the funniest and cutest thing he'd ever seen in his life. It was probably the best food I'd ever had in my life, and the most expensive too.
Isaac nearly spent two hundred dollars for dinner, plus dessert, and not to mention he left over a fifty dollar tip. Must be nice not having to worry about money, but at the same time him having so much money made me uncomfortable. Well not so much him having it, more like how he got it. How was he getting all this money.. Did his parents just give it to him or did he earn it by doing whatever he did for his dad when he wasn't in school? I immediately shook it off. I didn't need these kind of thoughts ruining my perfect day today.
Isaac takes ahold of my hand as we step out of the small Italian restaurant, and onto the busy sidewalks. I figured that we would make a left and walk back to his car, but instead Isaac starts walking towards to the right, pulling me along with him. We walk slowly passing the million little shops in New York City, occasionally stoping in front of windows when something catches my attention. Isaac asks me repeatedly if I would like to go inside of the small business shops, but I shake my head and continue walking.
We continue walking up the street enjoying the sight seeing, when I notice a small boutique across the street called, Kay's Bookmark. My heart immediately flutters with excitement, it's a book store!
I quickly turn to Isaac, "that one." I point across the street and Isaac looks up. "Can we please, please, go inside?" I annoyingly whine.
He chuckles at me, "yeah, come on." He releases my hand and wraps his arm around my shoulder as we cross the street. I'm giddy with excitement as we get closer and closer to the book shop. It's been ages since I've been to an actual book store, there's not much around where we live so I'm constantly buying my books online.
We step onto the pavement and Isaac opens the door, holding it open for me. He smiles, "after you, princess."
I giggle and walk beside him, stepping into the small book store. My eyes immediately roam the small boutique, not knowing where to begin. There's so many books everywhere.
"Oh," says a soft feminine voice. I glance to my right to see a young girl who's probably around my age, if not older, standing behind a counter, she seems to be counting out her drawer. "I'm sorry, but we're closed already."
My face falls and my heart shatters into a billion tiny pieces. We're too late. I turn to walk out of the store, but collide into Isaac's body. I hadn't realized just how close he was standing. "But your door was open," he says huskily.
"I know, I'm sorry. We close at 7 but I got so busy that I forgot to lock the door." She explains.
I look up at the clock that's above her and it saddens me even more. It's 7:08, we're eight minutes too late. I grab Isaac's hand and walk around him, "thank you anyways." I tell the girl politely as I open the door. "Come on, Isaac."
He frowns deeply but gives my hand a small squeeze and walks out of the small boutique with me. We've probably only taken about three steps when Isaac lets go of my hand, "fuck that." He retorts, taking a couple steps back. "You wait here, okay?"
"Where are you going?" I ask him, but he's already back in the store. The cashier looks up and is surprise to see that Isaac is back in the store. He walks up to the counter and points back at me as he telling her something. She smiles sadly and shakes her head softly. I read the words, "I'm sorry," from her lips.
I notice that Isaac's shoulders sag for a second, when he sticks his hand into his front pocket, pulling out the wad of money he has. He hands a couple of his bills to the girl and she stares down at the money in her hand, then looks up at me. Is he really trying to bribe her to stay open?? She places the money onto the counter and slide it back to Isaac while shaking her head softly again. She tells him something and smiles over at me. Isaac turns around smiling as well and inclines his head for me to step inside.
I slowly open the door and step inside, "take as long as you want." The girl smiles and gets back to her work.
Isaac walks back over to me and wraps his left arm around my shoulder, bringing me closer to him. "So where do we start?" He smiles.
"What did you do, Isaac? What did you tell her?"
"That's a secret between her and I," he grins.
"You bribed her to stay open, didn't you?"
He shakes his head, looking as guilty as ever. "I tried, but she didn't want it."
I give a him look that says 'yeah right', "so she just willing stayed open?" He smiles again while nodding his head.
I wonder around the store with Isaac following closely to me, picking up book after book, reading cover after cover. Isaac eventually adventures off to a different part of the shop. Every time I pick my head up to look over at him him he has his head down reading a book. My heart flutters at the sight of him. He's so out of my league, i don't know what I'm doing here. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would've been on a date with the mobsters son, standing in a book store, reading books.
We spend about twenty minutes in the shop when i decide that I have all the books I want and walk back over to the girl behind the counter.
"All set?" She smiles.
"Yeah," I smile in return, placing all four books down on the counter, sliding them closer to her. She begins scanning each book one by one, "thank you for staying open by the way," I tell her. "I really appreciate it. It's been so long since I've been in an actual book store." I chuckle softly.
"Yeah, don't mention it," she beams with happiness as she continues to scan my books. Her smile was so genuine that you couldn't help but smile back. "You're not from the city, are you?"
I shake my head, "no, we live about an hour away almost."
"Must be real quiet out there," she adds.
"Yeah, it's nice at times."
"That's quite a guy you got there," she smiles. We both turn to the corner Isaac is standing in, deeply invested in his book. "How long have you guys been together?"
I feel my cheeks instantly start to heat up, "this is actually our first date." I say shyly.
"Oh," she says a little surprised. "How's it going so far?"
I glance back over at Isaac and he lifts his gaze from his book meeting mine. We smile at each other and the butterflies go crazy in my stomach when he winks at me, "really good actually." I finally answer.
I turn back to the young lady and she simply smiles. "Your totals 66.73," she adds.
I dig into my bag and reach for wallet when I notice her name tag, finally learning her name. Kaylah. I quickly snap my attention up to her, "Kaylah? As in Kay for short? Thee Kay? Kay's bookmark, Kay?"
This makes her laugh, "yeah," she nods.
"This is your store?" She nods again. "Dude, that's so cool!" I tell her.
"Thank you," she smiles adjusting the glasses that frame her face perfectly.
"Here add these as well,"' Isaac walks up behind me setting two more books down onto the counter. She nods and scans Isaac's books. I pick up each book and notice that ones a thriller and the others a chick lit. I pick the girly book up and arch an eyebrow at him, "what?" He chuckles. "My mom likes to read."
"Mhm," I continue to joke around. "You sure it's for your mom? I can keep a secret you know."
Isaac continues to chuckle, "you're a dork, you know that?" He looks up at kaylah, "how much is it?"
"104.58." She tells him.
Isaac pulls out two more one hundred bills and hands them to her, "keep the change."
"Are you sure? That's like over 90 dollars," she states.
Isaac nods his head grabbing the brown bag with the books inside, "a thank you." He smiles. "For staying open.. have a nice evening," he tells her.
"You too," she says in return. "Thank you!"
I smile at Isaac generosity as we walk out of the small book shop, and we head back towards his car. I turn behind me to find Kaylah locking her store and wave goodbye at her. As soon as we're done crossing the street I let go of Isaac's hand and pull the 60$ from my wallet, handing them to Isaac. "Here, for my share of the books," I tell him.
"Put that's shit away I don't want your money," he says, nudging my hand away from him. "They're a gift," he smirks.
I tilt my head a bit, "Isaac, please. You already paid for dinner, Ima feel bad if you waste anymore money on me."
He furrows his eyebrows for a second. With his free hand he wraps it around my waist, pulling me in closer to him. "It's not wasting money, you understand me?" I gaze deep into his eyes and nod my head. "Kiss me," he commands softly, and I do. Isaac pulls back a bit, but keeps his face extremely close to mine. "If you don't want them we can take them back," he adds.
I shake my head softly, "I didn't say that."
"So you do want?" He smiles and I nod. "That's what I thought.. Come on, we have a long drive ahead of us." He wraps his right arm around my shoulder and continue our way.
The sun has set and its dark by the time we make it back to the parking lot, Isaac pops his trunk open and sticks the book bag inside. A charcoal Cadillac with tinted window drives passed us, but a second later it starts to reverse. The smile on Isaac's face immediately vanishes and he slams his trunk shut. "Get in the car, Hailey, lock the doors."
"W-why? Who is that?" I feel my anxiety immediately start to spike.
"I don't know," he grabs my arm pulling me towards the passenger side. He manages to open the door when someone behind us is calling his name.
"Matteo.."
Isaac turns around and next thing I know there's a fücking gun in his hand. A gun! Where the hell did he get a gun from?! Has he had that thing on him this whole time?
Isaac takes a step forward, dipping his head to look inside of the dark car. "Fonzy?"
The door to the Cadillac opens and a guy around the same height as Isaac steps out of the car, eagerly smiling. "What's up, kid!?" He holds up both hands up in the air.
Isaac laughs and tucks his gun away in his jeans, it's probably where he's had it this whole time. "Are you trying to get your face shot off?" He chuckles walking up to the guy.
They embrace each other in a overly long bro hug, the fonzy guy playfully shoves Isaac off of him. "God, look at you! You're all grown up man! How long has it been?"
Isaac continues to chuckle while nodding his head, "yup, daddy says I'm all grown now, I'm a man." Both guys break out into a deep laughter. "When the hell did you get back, Fonz?"
"I've been back for almost a year now," says fonzy, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I've stopped by your place a couple times to talk to your dad."
"No shit?" Isaac crosses his arms along his chest. "Is he gonna let you back in?"
Fonzy shakes his head, "I don't know, man. He's still pretty upset that I left.. What the hell are you doing in the city anyways?"
Isaac turns back waving me over to him, I shut the car door slowly making my way over to the two gentlemen. "Brought my girl out for some food and a bit of shopping," he says. He immediately clasps onto my hand the second I'm standing next to him. "This is an old good friend of mine, baby. Alfonzo."
"Hailey," I say with a smile, sticking my other hand out for him to shake.
He takes my small hand into his large one, gently gripping it, "please." He scoffs. "You can call me Fonz, or Fonzy.. it's about time that someone ties this boy down."
I laugh softly brushing a hair strand behind my ear, "so I've heard."
"How'd you two meet?" Fonzy crosses his arms in front of him juts like Isaac had done so a minute ago.
Isaac wraps his arm around me once more pulling me in closer to him, "we go to school together. What the hell are you doing in the city?"
Fonzy steps out of the way pointing into his car, "Camilla wanted a new outfit for tonight."
"Oh shit, you guys are still together?" Isaac asks.
"Ehh," Fonzy shrugs his shoulders. He brings his voice down to a rough whisper, "the sex is good so I put up with her craziness."
I frown a bit while both guys chuckle, "you're still the same old Fonzy, dude.. but hey I'll catch you later though, I have to get my girl home."
"Oh shit my bad, I didn't mean to keep you. Are you gonna go to Ronnie's party tonight?"
Isaac shakes his head, "nah. Ima just chill with Hailey for the rest of the night."
"Shit bring her along too!"
Isaac stares down at me, actually thinking about it. "Nah," he smiles still gazing down at me. He places a quick kiss on my forehead, "I don't want to expose her to that side yet," he continues to smile at me.
"Shame, heard its suppose to be pretty big tonight, but hit me up sometime, I still got the same number."
"Yeah, for sure. I'll hit you up soon, see if we can connect or something. Be carful tonight.."