"Do you really think this looks good Zoe?"
"You look like a whole baddie. The hell are you asking me these stupid questions for? Brett is going to worship the floor you walk on. I am quite proud of my makeup skills." Zoe flips her straightened brown hair behind me shoulder, a proud smirk planted on her face.
I evaluate my outfit in the body length mirror. It should be fine. It's not a date date. And it's just Brett. My black jeggings outline the curves of my hips and thighs and my black cami top is loose along my upper body, but only shows a little bit of cleavage. I have my black leather jacket to wear on me for warmth along with my grey scarf. I have on black ankle high stiletto boots.
I walk over to the window in my hotel room that overlooks outside the building to see if Brett is outside and to my delight, his car just pulled up.
"Gotta go. Stay here if you want. Order room service. Do whatever you like hun." I tell Zoe, who is watching Shadowhunters on the TV. She is mumbling words to herself like the crazy little crackhead she is.
"Zoe!"
"Huuuhhhh?" she responds in a weird deep voice and a dopey look on her face.
"What is your deal?" I ask and look at the television. Some girl with red hair is screaming about needing to find her mother to some handsome blond guy that I would definitely ta-
"Matthew Daddario and Dominic Sherwood is my deal. Two hot, sexy men and I can't pick between them. Ughhh kill me."
"Does this have anything to do with the fact that Matthew Daddario looks like Asher."
"Matthew Daddario is a hot little fucker and is twice the man Asher ever will be. And Dominic Sherwood..." Zoe starts moaning and groaning in the bed and I take this opportunity to leave.
Cringe
I always knew she was crazy. Now I know how much.
I close the door behind me and hop in the elevator and take it downstairs. A knot in my stomach twists and I take a few deep breaths to steady myself. It is just a friend hang out. It's not a date. This is for sure not my first date. I didn't sign up for a date date.
Why am I babbling?
The elevator dings and the two silver doors open and I walk outside. I open the doors to leave the hotel and standing in front of a sleek black sports car is Brett Cruz with a bouquet of roses in his hands and a dazzling smile on his face.
Issac always knew to buy me peonies.
His eyes trail down my body eyeing every curve displayed through my clothes and his ears turn slightly pink. I walk over and stand right in front of him.
"You look..." He runs his hands through his dark brown hair. "Damn."
"Is that a good damn or a bad one?"
"A good one...definitely a good one"
I bite my lip trying to suppress the grin that wants to break out on my face. "So where are you taking me?"
"Have you eaten?"
"No. not yet"
A smile breaks out on his face and a dimple on his left cheek forms and out of impulse, my finger shoots up and touches the dimple.
"Dimple." I tell him admiring the cute characteristic on Brett's already perfect face.
"Nose" his finger taps my nose and I look at him with my 'really?' face in which he flashes me a full toothed smile.
"OK. Well, we have a long night ahead of us. This could be our own Thanksgiving." He says and opens the passenger door to his car and I get in.
Thanksgiving is tomorrow.
My mom texted me to tell me that if I don't come to Thanksgiving dinner at 7, then I could make this hotel my permanent home and burn out my savings.
Mom of the year, am i right or am i right?
Brett gets into the driver's seat and then drives off and in the direction of the city.
"We are going to the city?"
"Yeah. There is a bookstore there I want to take you to. You said you liked books, so I figured you would like this. We could get dinner at the restaurant right across from there and then, I will take you to a movie on the grass right under the stars. We will eat plenty of ice cream and caramelized popcorn." He tells me with a smile on his face. He looks over to me and a crease forms between his eyebrows.
"What's wrong? Is it too boring? I could change it. We could go anywhere you want."
"No no no. I'm just surprised is all. This is great Brett." I reassure him and he relaxes and looks back on the road.
I am surprised. I mean, with Issac, I am used to being surprised. I could be going into the eye of danger, but the thrill and the anticipation is what made up 40% of the date. The anticipation of the unknown I am diving head first into is what drew me in. It's what drew me in for more. It's like that with Issac and I. Being unpredictable is what he is about and for some reason, I decided to abandon my usual pattern of my life and walk towards him, not caring whether it could be the worst or best decision of my life. Luckily, it was the latter. Despite all of that, I always felt safe.
But Brett is nice, kind, funny, thoughtful, and most importantly, available. He is willing to go at my pace, which is as friends. He is predictable and safe. He wouldn't have us do crazy stuff like jumping off buildings or something like that. He is the kind of guy that takes girls to bookstores and movies under the stars. It's different than what I am used to, but I can get used to it and maybe Brett and I's relationship could flourish into something more than friends.
I just have to let go of any romantic feelings for Issac.
Issac let go of those feelings for me, so I can do it too, right?
The tall green trees fade into the distance and scintillating lights pop up everywhere lighting up the streets and and the bright faces of the people walking, dancing, and singing on the street. Tall skyscrapers past by us and eventually we stop right in front of a Barnes&Nobles. Brett parks his car in a reserved parking spot and he gets out the car and comes to my side and opens the door. I take his extended hand and get out the car. He closes the door behind me and locks it with one click of his portable key. We walk into the Barnes and Nobles and I have to wonder one thing.
Why haven't I ever seen a 3-story Barnes and Nobles?
This place is huge. Thousands of books of all genres reside in these shelves and I want to sift through every one of these shelves to discover something new, something compelling, but that would take a a lifetime.
I now realize that Brett has a pack of pens in his hand and when he sees me staring at it, a smirk comes to his face. He leads me to the 3rd floor and according to the signs, this floor has all the romance, young adults, sci-fi, and poetry books.
"Why are we on this floor? I took you for a comic book guy?"
He shakes his head with a smile on his face and we sit down at a table that has 3 stacks of books.
"What's this?"
"Books I picked out that I know you like and have read?"
"How do you know I read them?"
"Instagram."
I skim through the stacks to see books I have read recently and some 2 years ago.
"This book" I point to a romance novel. " I read 2 years ago."
"I had time." he justifies himself and shrugs his shoulders.
"Sound stalker-ish to me" I respond with a small smile playing on my lips as I pick out a few books from the big stack.
He ignores my last statement and says, "We are going to leave messages in here for readers who will read this book. I know there is some devil in you so you will probably spoil the book, but that is up to you." He hands me a purple pen and he takes out a black pen.
He takes out a book with a navy blue almost black cover with a silver tie on it and I instantly most recognize the book.
"Fifty shades of Grey, really?" I ask him and shake my head. "I never read that book."
"But I did." he winks and opens up a page in the book and starts writing.
I take out a poetry book I read 2 months ago and start scribbling positive messages that will brighten someone's day in the book.
"Hey! I am no devil" I refute and slam my purple pen on the table. How am I know realizing he said this?
"I was wondering when you were going to catch on." he says with a smirk on his face.
I scoff. "Total jackass under that good boy persona."
"Hey, does a good boy read the entire fifty shades series? I never said I was a good boy Bay."
"Mhmm. You probably just watched the movies."
"Did you watch the movies Bay?"
"No" I exclaim, my nose flaring a clear indication that I am lying. IN MY DEFENSE, Zoe was going boy crazy when she watched the trailer with Jamie Dornan(Christian Grey) looking all hot and crap and she made me watch it with her. She payed me 50 bucks anyway. In all honesty, it was a win-win situation. 50 bucks and watching a hot guy for almost 2 hours.
"You're a liar." He says and laughs nearing toppling off his chair.
"I am not talking about this. Be hormonal on that side of the table. No need to try to make everyone hormonal with you"
"So this talk is making you hormonal?" He asks with a glint in his eyes.
Ok I walked into that one.
I take a deep breath through my nose. "Brett, i am busy being a positive person for others. I am brightening people's day with my notes."
"OK" he says and drops the fifty shades talk.
15 minutes later, Brett and I leave the bookstore and head across the street to a restaurant called Utopian Delight. When we are sat at the table, we order our drinks and food and then Brett and I engage in small talk until our food comes. I ordered chicken and shrimp linguine while Brett ordered a steak and mashed potatoes.
The bowl of pasta is huge. It takes up a good part of the table.
"Good Lord."
Brett burst out laughing and tears prick his eyes and I look back down at the bowl of pasta.
Here goes putting on 10 pounds.
I take up my fork and twirl the pasta onto the fork and I put the pasta in my mouth. I close my eyes and focus on the burst of flavors in my mouth and try to savor it.
"This...is...incredible."
"Incredible people deserve incredible things."
I point my linguine sauced fork at Brett. "That was just plain cheesy...but it was cute."
Brett's ears turn a little pink and the grin on my face grows and I eat my pasta deciding not to bruise his ego.
....
"Thank you." I tell Brett.
"Anything for you, but can I ask you a favor?"
"Sure"
"Can I use your bathroom?"
"Sure." I respond and he locks his car and follows me into the hotel and to my room. I open the hotel room and the place is thankfully clean and is Zoe-free.
"Its right there." I point to the door and Brett walks to the bathroom. Once he is gone, I take off my jacket and scarf, leaving me in my jeggings, cami top, and my boots and I begin wiping the makeup off my face. Right when I finish, the bathroom door opens and Brett emerges from the hall.
"You good?" I ask and adjust the straps on my cami top. Brett's eye momentarily flicker to the amount of cleavage shown from my cami top, but he quickly looks away.
"Yeah. You had fun?"
"Yeah, though I will not thank you for stuffing me with ice cream."
"Don't girls like ice cream?"
"We do, but we don't like putting on weight."
"Duly noted. I will remember that next time."
"Next time?" I repeat his words and walk over to him. My heels let me be nose height with Brett.
"Yeah, I'm hoping we could do this..again sometime." He says and walks closer to me and he looks down into my hazel eyes and I look up into his blue eyes.
"Really?"
"I know you want to take things slow as friends and I am okay with that. We do this on your terms. I just don't want this to be the last time we do something like this." He says honestly, a trait that I have always admired in Brett. He moves closer, close enough for our breaths to mingle in the small air between us.
"Do you feel the same?" He asks.
"Yeah, I may be down with doing this again. On one condition."
"Anything."
"You buy me chocolate. Lots of it." I demand with a smirk on my face.
"Will you share?"
"No."
He lightly chuckles, exposing his pearly white teeth.
"OK. As long as I get to spend another night with you, I can go a night without chocolate." He says with a grin on his face. His blue eyes flicker down to my lips and so quickly, the atmosphere around us has become thick. We both become silent and the only things heard is our breathing. He leans down slowly and I close my eyes anticipating for his lips to meet mine, but it doesn't and our once silent surrounding becomes invaded by a loud ringtone coming from a phone. Brett huffs in annoyance and digs in his pocket for his phone. He leans up from me and looks down at his phone.
I try to calm my breathing, but the blood rushing to my cheeks cannot be stopped and the blushing will not stop nor my uneven breathing.
"I have to go." He says with a crestfallen look on his face.
"I-It's okay. Go. Thank you for everything tonight." I tell him. He answers his phone and holds it to his chest.
"Goodnight Bay."
"Goodnight Brett." I respond and he walks out the door and closes it behind him gently.
I release a heavy breath, still planted in my same spot.
What was that?