I closed my front door, and walked onto the porch with him beside me, "So, where will you be taking me?"
"Well, I was hoping to take you to—" He abruptly stopped mid-sentence, and shook his head, muttering, "No, wait. It was written that I shouldn't tell you or it won't be a surprise anymore."
I raised an eyebrow, "Sorry, what did you say?"
He shook his head again, "No, nothing. It's a surprise."
I blinked, a bit suspicious of the way he said the word 'surprise,' as if it was something foreign and illogical, "Alright. I'll let you surprise me, then."
We started walking towards his parked car, a blue sedan, with me in front... when suddenly, he bounded past me, reaching the door to the passenger's side first.
Opening the car door for me, he smiled, lightly panting from his sudden sprint, "Here."
I smiled back, "Why, thank you."
He shut the door for me, dimples on his cheeks as he gave me a toothy grin, and rounded the car to his side. After we were both sitting down, with seatbelts on and key inside the ignition, Alec subtly glanced at me, "I think I forgot to mention how lovely you look tonight."
I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing at him. He just called me "lovely" and referred to the time as "tonight." I chided myself to not laugh at him or else he'd revert back to a lump of goo.
"Thank you," I managed, without giving away my ridiculing thoughts about his sudden change of demeanor.
"This is the first time I've seen you with that hairstyle..." He met my eyes for a brief moment, before turning back to the window screen, "It really makes the blue in your eyes pop out."
I allowed myself a short giggle, stroking the tiny strands that fell out of my styled hair, and on the sides of my face. My hair was in a braided bun, the kind that sits atop the head, looking messy yet perfect. It took me almost 20 minutes to make that "untidy" look, which now that I realize was so dumb.
Whatever I do for a boy...
"A-Also, your outfit," Alec continued, his voice was adorably timid, "It looks good. You look good, I mean."
"Where's that flirty, pick-up line master, from chemistry class?" I ask, watching him sweat from beside me. I felt like some sadistic villain for enjoying the display of his squirmy state.
He turned to me, and then back, "He's here. It's just... that he's really nervous today."
"Well, please tell him to stop stressing and start enjoying," I replied.
When Alec didn't answer back, I decided it was in the best interest of both of us to change the topic and save him the agony of being worried, so I searched my mind for a topic.
I settled with, "I know you said it's a 'surprise,' but seriously. Where are we going, Alec?"
"I told you," Alec laughed, "It's a surprise. But hey, you can guess. I think it's fairly easy to guess."
I scrunched my face, thinking of plausible date sites, "Okay. I'm gonna name all the places in one go. So just say no or yes."
He nodded in reply, turning the wheel and steering us further downtown.
"Amusement park!"
"No."
Groan.
"Window shopping!"
"No."
Groan.
"Museum!"
"No."
Groan.
"The zoo!"
"The zoo?"
"Actually no," I shook my head, then turned back just to make sure, "It is a 'no,' right?"
"It's a no."
Groan.
"Trying out free samples of ice cream at Rio!"
"That was detailed. But no."
Groan.
It is safe to say, we spent the entire 12 minutes to the destination this way. I didn't get a single guess right. When he pulled back I noticed a building with a sign that read, "Hot Tamales" with the picture of a man in a colorful sombrero
We got out of the car (Alec opened my door again), and my whole body whizzed with enthusiasm.
A little conversation I had with him during lunch a few days back passed in my head. We were discussing favorite types of foods. He said he liked mild, cheesy foods, mostly Italian while I held the complete opposite taste. I had said...
"Mexican food...?" I turned to face him. The lights from the restaurant cast shadows on his face.
"Yes," He replied, looking back at me and grinning.
Squeal.
Hot Tamales was not an upscale restaurant, but then again, it was the best that 2 high schoolers could do for a date. It was clean, filled with a scent of something cheesy baking, and decorated with a color scheme of everything consisting and in between yellow, orange, and red.
A dark red, almost brown, rug covered the floors while the walls were covered in Mexico-related stickers, of the Sun, flowers, cacti, Mexican musical instruments like maracas, and foods like enchiladas, chilis, and nachos, etc. There were candles and low-hanging lights, pouring a yellow tint to everything, along with Spanish songs playing in the background.
I instantly fell in love with this place.
"I can't believe you remembered..." I blushed, sitting down at a table Alec reserved for us.
"Of course, I did," He replied, as if implying anything else was literally the dumbest thing ever.
I smiled looking around, "Wow, it's exactly as I described my dream restaurant to be. Alec, I can't believe you remembered."
He sheepishly stared at me, shrugging as if it's no big deal, "I'm glad you like it, Harper."
Something flew inside my stomach when I heard him call my name. Unlike when we met, he has been calling me "Harper" more than "Chase." I don't know how I feel about it yet. It always makes me jump.
The waiter placed two menus on our side. For some reason, Alec chose to sit beside me, instead of in front. I didn't mind though. I enjoyed the close proximity.
"You can just wave when you're ready," He said and trudged off to tend to other customers.
I examined the multitude of choices presented for "tonight's" meal, and frowned at Alec, "What will you have, Alec? Everything's too spicy for you."
"Not the dessert!" He grinned, flipping over to the dessert section and staring at the cakes and ice-creams, and then pointing at the flan, "Do you think I should give flan a shot? I mean, I've never tasted one before."
I frowned, a pang of guilt settling in my stomach, "No. No, wait, if you're not gonna eat, then let's go someplace else. Alec, I don't want you to fill your stomach with just sweets for my sake."
"I mean, eating desserts isn't really a bad thing—"
"No," I cut him off, adamant, "If you're not having proper food, we're leaving and eating at some Italian place."
"No!" He said, frowning and sighing, "Okay, fine, I'll eat. Just, please, let's not leave here. I've been wanting to take you here since I found out about it."
I put the menu down, "Yeah, how did you find out about this place?"
Blood rushed through his cheeks as he looked away, momentarily, with a new profound interest on the dishes listed in the "EXTRA SPICY SNACKS" section of the menu.
"Alec?" I prodded.
He waved his hand, and the waiter appeared, "Yes? What will you have, Harper?"
I only frowned but gave my order to the waiter, who wrote it down. In his own world, Alec nodded to the waiter, "Yeah, I'll have what she's having."
"Alec, no wait," I interrupted, stopping the waiter from leaving, "I'm having the extra-extra-extra spicy set. There are 3 'extras' before the spicy. You sure you can handle it?"
Alec paled for a moment but nodded, "Yeah, pfft. Of course, I can."
...If only then I knew, maybe things wouldn't have ended the way they did...