that I’ll be asking you to be my first real girlfriend and hopefully my last,” he says, taking my hand. I get up from my chair and he pulls me toward him.
“Before the date begins?! You work fast,” I tell him as my breath quickens.
He places a kiss on my lips. “Only when I’ve already had a taste and know what I’m in for.”
“I’ll let you take me on that very public date, but we’ll see how I feel about you at the end of the night before I agree to an official relationship status,” I tell him.
“Technically, my family already knows you’re my girlfriend,” he says then laughs. I love the sound of it. The sound of joy returning.
“Who said I was your girlfriend?” I ask.
He looks at me deviously. “Remember that time I called you my girlfriend in front of my brother then kissed you in front of you sister?” he asks.
I nod.
“You didn’t seem to dislike the idea, then,” he says, then kisses me again.
He never really asked but he never needed to. “I guess I’m going on a date with my boyfriend, then,” I tell him. He hugs me tightly, so much so my feet leave the floor.
Then he kisses me again and again.
“This isn’t a restaurant,” I tell him as we pull up to Eclipse, a bar near school I’ve never ventured to but have heard a lot about.
He parks in the lot and ignores my statement.
“Nick,” I start.
He turns off the car then looks at me. “You trust me, right?” he asks.
“Sometimes,” I tell him jokingly.
He exits the car. I take off my seatbelt and, before I have a chance to open the door, he’s opening it for me.
“My lady,” he says, then bows.
I get out of the car and shake my head. “You’re something else.”
“We’re resetting,” he says, taking my hand in his.
I look up at him. “Does that mean you’ll be opening doors for me all the time now?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Don’t push it, we haven’t even gotten past the first date,” he says then we both laugh.
Thinking back, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much with another person before. It’s like I’ve had a very serious life and then Nick came into it and brought some of the happiness it was missing.
If I said that to him he’d tell me I’m calling him a clown and that he’s brought more than jokes into my life. Then he’d wink at me so I knew exactly what he was referring to. I laugh out loud at the thought.
“What?” he asks.
“Just thinking,” I tell him.
“What about?” he asks, just as we round the corner and reach the front door of Eclipse.
We stop in front of it. “At this very second I’m wondering why I got all dressed up to come to this bar,” I tell him. “Or why you told me we were going to a restaurant,” I add.
“Okay fine, so I lied about starting over,” he says to me.
I shake my head. “Lying on the first date is not a good start,” I joke.
“I can’t start over with you,” he says, holding both of my hands and bringing them up to his chest.
“Why not?” I ask.
He places his arm on the small of my back and pulls me toward him. “Because everything we’ve been through has brought us here. Everything we’ve lived through together was necessary,” he says, his outlook surprising me. “I don’t want to start over with you, I want to keep moving forward with you,” he adds. I stand there speechless, feeling like I could stay like this with him forever.
I close my eyes and take his words in. “I want to move forward with you too,” I tell him.
“See, I told you before the day started I could get you to agree to be my girlfriend and to future dates,” he says, then laughs.
I shake my head at this man. “So, I guess we’re going in for shots,” I tell him, pointing at the door we’ve been standing in front of. I’m surprised someone hasn’t come outside and hit us with it.
“About that,” he starts. He takes a step back and I see the telltale sign of his nervousness as his hand moves to the back of his head. “You didn’t tell me today was your birthday,” he says, his hand coming to the door’s handle.
He opens the doors to Eclipse and the voices inside yell “Surprise!”
I look inside to find familiar and unfamiliar faces