“Did Avi tell you we talked about coming here?” she asked.
“No, she didn’t.”
“Are you telling me the truth?”
“Why would I lie to you, Amate?”
“I guess you wouldn’t have a reason to,” she responded.
When they were seated inside, Elias watched her take in the restaurant. The decor was minimalistic but nice. Like most newrestaurants, it was busy, but he’d called ahead to put them on the waitlist as soon as it opened that day, and they hadn’t had to wait long.
“We should order two things to share,” Eri suggested a few minutes later as they looked over their menus.
“Because you want to share, or because you’re having a hard time choosing between two things, and you want me to get the other one?” he teased.
She pursed her lips but didn’t answer him, and he knew he’d hit the nail on the head with the latter. He didn’t mind. Elias was never picky when it came to food, and he didn’t mind sharing with her if that’s what she wanted.
“You can order for both of us,” he told her, and the smile she graced him with was one he wanted to see more often.
Once their orders were placed and they were waiting for their food, Eri asked him to see the Mojo Jojo tattoo he’d done. Elias pulled up the pictures and handed the phone to her. She swiped through them, and he could tell the exact moment she’d swiped too far and landed on a different picture. She swiped back quickly before handing him the phone back.
“You’ve seen me shirtless before,” he told her, knowing which picture she’d seen.
“Yes, but…you were wearing pants then, and you could have told me how many pictures there were. I don’t need to see pictures you’re sending to people.”
Elias found her jealousy cute. “I wasn’t naked in the picture. Maybe I wanted you to see it, and I didn’t send it to anyone.” He smirked. “You want me to send it to you?”
Eri huffed and narrowed her eyes at him. “I would throw something at you, but that would be bad table manners.”
Elias chuckled as he set the phone down, and they fell into an easy conversation as they waited for their food and throughout lunch.
After lunch, they headed to a fun center with trampolines and video games. She’d had fun on their last date playing games if for no other reason than she was competitive, and he figured he couldn’t go wrong with them doing something similar.
They went to the arcade side first, playing several games. A few he let her win at, and a couple more she completely annihilated him in, but he didn’t care. The little happy dance she did when she won, and the soft laugh she let out were worth it. He even enjoyed the pout on her face anytime he beat her, and she accused him of cheating.
Before they ventured to the side with trampolines and a large foam pit, Eri pulled him to the concession stand to buy her some candy. Elias wasn’t sure what they were. They looked like gushers.
“You want one?” she asked after opening the package. She took out a blue one and tossed it into her mouth before holding a red one out to him.
Elias grabbed her wrist, brought her fingers to his mouth, and ate it, the tip of his tongue brushing her fingers. His eyes locked with hers, and he didn’t miss the dilation of her pupils. She cleared her throat, and when he released her wrist, she pulled her hand away.
He hadn’t had the candy in his mouth for ten seconds, but as soon as he bit into it, it popped like Pop Rocks.
“It’s good, right?” Eri asked.
“It is, but it was probably only that good because you fed it to me.”
Elias watched color bloom on her cheeks as she blushed before turning around and walking towards the trampolines, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. She’d given him the reaction he’d expected, and it never ceased to be cute when she did it. It was adorable that she got so flustered by things he said and tried to pretend like they hadn’t made her blush. He could be honestand admit he sometimes went out of his way to do it. Eventually, he knew she would stop hiding from him, but he would be patient until she did.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Eri looked herself over in the full-length mirror one last time. She wore a pair of chocolate-brown crepe knit high-waisted pants and a burnt orange turtleneck sweater. She’d curled her hair and pinned some of it up. She hadn’t wanted to overdress, but she wasn’t sure where they were going.
Elias had taken her back to her car a little after five and told her to be ready by seven. She’d thought when he dropped her off that would be the end of their date, but she was mistaken. Eri had made it home at five-thirty and immediately started getting ready. She didn’t want him to have to wait on her or to make them late for whatever he had planned. She had enjoyed the first half of the day and figured they were finishing with dinner.
There was a knock on her front door at seven on the dot, and she grabbed her crossbody and exited her bedroom. Those butterflies in her stomach fluttered as if she hadn’t spent four hours with him. When she opened the door, it only increased the flitting.
Why is this man so fine?It wasn’t her first time thinking it, and she was sure it wouldn’t be her last. Every time she saw him, no matter what he was wearing, he was attractive. At first, it had pissed her off because the last thing she’d been trying to do was think about him. Now that she was being honest with herself about how she felt about him, she would just enjoy it, even if she wouldn’t say it aloud.
