Not like that sharp snap of electricity I had felt the first time Balfour had grabbed hold of my arm to magically transport me to Santa’s Village. Or the thrill I always got when I saw his name on the cell phone I used to communicate with Santa’s Village.
Shaking my head a little, I deliberately made myself stop thinking about the grumpiest elf to ever elf and concentrate on what my date–Bland Chad–was droning on about. Something to do with his work and being passed over for a promotion. Maybe? Honestly, I really had no clue what the poor man had been saying.
They needed to hurry up with our entrees. I was starving, and I’d like to at least enjoy my steak before Bal called with the fake emergency. Not that I didn’t sometimes deliberately show up late when I knew he was coming to get me. I liked messing with Bal’s schedules, because boy, that elf sure did love his schedules. And I liked messing with Bal in general.
It had started off as a genuine dislike. On principal, I didn’t like anyone who didn’t like my baby brother. But Bal had slowly warmed to Keegan, and I had slowly warmed to Bal.
But I still loved messing with him. For a seven-foot elf, he was wound tight! The guy seriously needed to relax. Messing with him was fun, and I lived for the few times I actually managed to coax a smile out of him. Those rare things were normally reserved for my niece, Kacey, and now my baby nephew, Kieran.
Finally, our server placed our steaks in front of us, and I busied my mouth, stuffing it full of delicious seared meat. Chad, amazingly, still managed to keep talking while he ate. There was another pause, and I glanced up from my plate to find him staring at me with the same expectant expression as earlier.
Chewing, I swallowed hard and with way too much enthusiasm than was probably warranted, I exclaimed, “Oh wow!”
It had worked the first time, so I was sticking with it.
He nodded his thinning head of dark hair, “I couldn’t believe it either!”
And he was off again. Which gave me a chance to finish my excellent meal in relative peace. Seemed if I nodded every so often and offered up an ‘Oh wow!’, Chad was perfectly satisfied.
When the server asked if we wanted dessert, I jumped in with a quick, “None for me. I really need to get home. I have a few things to take care of yet, before I leave for my family Thanksgiving. I’ll be leaving tonight, so I had better finish my packing.”
What time was it? Shouldn’t Bal have called me by now? I swear, if he didn’t come through for me, I was going to…well, I didn’t know really what I was going to do, but that elf would owe me big time.
Because if anyone needed saving from a bad date, it was me.
Faking an exaggerated yawn behind my hand, I was startled when Chad grasped one of my hands in his, rubbing his thumb slowly over my skin. “What time are we leaving tonight?”
Blinking hard, I tried to extricate my fingers from his. “I’m sorry?” Clearly, I had checked out of the conversation and had missed something vital.
“For your family Thanksgiving? What time do we need to leave?” he smiled, and my eyes were glued to the green piece of broccoli stuck between his two front teeth. I never knew what to do in those situations. Did you tell a person? Did you try to look away from the piece of food you couldn’t stop staring at? What was the proper protocol? “I can’t wait to meet your family.”
“Say what now?” Yanking my hand back, I nearly knocked over my glass of wine that was still half full. Grabbing it, I chugged it down in one swallow, because what in the actual fuckity fuck was happening?
And why the fuck hadn’t Bal called me yet?
Had I zoned out that much...how the fuck had we zoomed right to meeting the parents? On a holiday no less. This was still our first date–only date, if I had a say in it–wasn’t it? We hadn’tdone some weird time jump thing, had we? Had the rules of dating changed that much since my last date?
“I’m having a great time, and you’re just the type of omega I’m looking for,” he continued, oblivious to my confusion. “Seems the next step should be meeting your family. And well, I don’t have any Thanksgiving plans.” He shrugged, but he did take his hand back to his side of the table where it belonged.
Pursing my lips into an O, I let out a small whoosh of air, trying to gather my thoughts. And silently curse an elf I knew who hadn’t come through with my fake emergency phone call. Probably wrapped up in his precious spreadsheets and whatever else he did in that office of his.
“Um, so…I’m sure you’re a great guy,” at his frown, I quickly changed it to, “You seem like a great guy, but to be honest, I’m really just not feeling the vibe.”
Now I sounded like a hippie surfer dude. Or like Josh, who worked over at my favorite bakery, The Sweet Spot. He was always going on about vibes and nonsense like that. But he made a mean latte, so he could surfer dude talk all he wanted while making me caffeine.
Chad’s brows knitted together to form a perfect vee in the middle of his forehead. “Vibes? Sadie didn’t tell me you were one of those omegas.”
Okay, now I was really confused. I had no idea what ‘one of those omegas’ was, but if it got me the hell out of the rest of this date, I would be a fire tossing flamingo dancer.
“One of those omegas?” I asked, because yeah, I just couldn’t let it the fuck go.Just had to open your mouth, didn’t you Kendrick?
“Who bases logic off of vibes and crystals and what not.”
Biting back the bubble of laughter that desperately wanted to escape my lips, I nodded slowly. “I am. I do. Vibes. Crystals.What not. Tarot cards. Astrology signs. All of that. All the time. Every single day.”
I mean, I did get my cards read every few months. Sadie dabbled and I found it interesting. So, whenever we had our wine/movie nights, she usually brought her cards and read mine. Nothing ever came of it, and it was just for fun, so I didn’t see the harm of it.
“Well, I guess that’s okay,” Chad decided, and my face fell. “We can work on getting you to be normal.”
