The water rippled under the moonlight. For a moment I thought I saw a flash of a dolphin in the waves, but I was fairly sure it was just my over-excited imagination. There was no way I was lucky enough to have a good date and see dolphins. We had the path to ourselves, although we were clearly visible to everyone in the restaurant.
“Have you ever been to a Blue Jays game?” Gabe asked. It wasn't the question I was expecting.
“Uh, I sat in the cheap seats once,” I replied, feeling a little off balance. “It was amazing getting to see the team live, even if I needed binoculars to see them. What about you?”
“A couple of games,” he answered. “I try and go as often as I can.”
“As often as you can?” I asked, pausing as we approached the water. The ocean was absolutely beautiful. I could see the lights of several boats out on the water and the tropical air was cool as it came off the water. “How many do you get to go to?”
“I may have season tickets,” he admitted slowly. He turned to face me, a small smile lit up by the moon on the waves. “But don't let that change how you view me.”
“Season tickets?” I squeaked. “Can I marry you?”
He laughed. “I told you not to let that change your opinion of me.”
I grinned. “It doesn't. In fact, it just makes me like you more.”
I immediately felt my face flush. This wasn't like me on a first date. He was making me nervous and excited all at the same time. I didn't want this moment to end and at the same time, it was a form of torture to not be in complete control of the date. I wanted more, yet was terrified of what could happen next.
He smiled back and took a deep breath. We were at the end of the path. There was no where else for us to go, even though I wished we could walk and talk longer.
“Can I walk you to your car?” he asked.
My eyes widened and I suddenly felt even more surprised than I had the entire evening. He wasn’t trying to pressure me into having a drink with him, or going back to his place, or anything else that every other guy would have done. I was impressed, to say the least.
“Well, where are you parked?” I asked him.
“I’m right around the corner in the parking garage,” he explained. “Where’s your car?”
“I parked five blocks away because I didn’t want to pay for parking,” I said with a chuckle.
“That’s no problem. Let’s go,” he said, as he held out his elbow for me to hold onto.
“You really don’t have to, Gabe. It’s a long ways and it’s pointless for you to walk me. It’s not like I’m going to get mugged or something in this part of town. You don’t have to take the hike with me.”
“Nonsense,” Gabe said, matter-of-factly. “I’m happy to walk with you. It’s a nice night and it feels good to be outside.”
A coy smirk crossed my face. Is this what a real gentleman is like? Or did I die and wake up in a different era, where men actually treated women like princesses?
I slipped my hand into the crease of his elbow and walked alongside him. My heart thumped in my chest as we made our way to my car. I wasn’t sure how this date would come to a close. Would it be an awkward hug or would he just go straight for a kiss on the lips? It seemed like there wasn’t much in between, at least in my experience.
We turned the final corner and I looked up to see my ancient car parked crooked in the street.
I really should learn to parallel park one of these days, I thought.
“That’s my car, right up there,” I said, lamely motioning towards my sad transportation.
We strolled up to it and I released Gabe’s arm. The street lamp above us shined down, causing his green eyes to glow. I once again found myself melting into them.
“Thank you for having dinner with me,” he said. His voice was low and inviting. It made my insides turn just a little bit mushy.
“Well, thank you for taking me to dinner,” I responded. “That place was amazing. Next time I might get the steak, though. That looked really good.”
“Next time?” Gabe asked, smiling flirtatiously. My knees threatened to melt out from under me when he smiled like that.
I stuttered. “I mean, if I ever were to go there again for some reason. You know what I meant.”
Gabe just chuckled softly. “I had a really great time tonight, Harper. To be honest, I was a little nervous before I met you. I’ve had some not-so-great dates with women. I was pleasantly surprised this time. This was a lot of fun.”
“I had a really great time too,” I said. And I meant it. It was the best date I had ever been on, and I had been on a lot of dates.
We stood close and Gabe’s hands were on my sides. This was the part that always made me feel the most awkward, because typically this was when a guy would go in for a kiss and I’d have to turn away. But not this time. If Gabe went for a kiss, I was ready. I wanted that kiss.
He leaned in and I steadied myself, breathing in his intoxicating cologne. It was woodsy, yet had a clean scent that made me want more. He got close and then gave me a simple kiss on the cheek before pulling away.
“Drive safe, okay?” he said, taking a step back.
I was shocked.
That’s it?
I had really hoped for more than just a kiss on the cheek and my lips were practically puckered in expectation. I thought about kissing him again, this time the way that I wanted. But I didn’t. Gabe was practically too good to be true and the last thing I wanted to do was to mess things up by acting too eager. So I just pulled my keys out of my purse and unlocked my car door.
Like the gentleman he clearly was, Gabe opened the door for me and I got into the seat.
“Thanks for dinner,” I said, still not sure what was going on. This never happened to me.
“You’re very welcome,” he responded. “Can we do this again soon?”
“I’d like that.”
He smiled and closed the door. I had to choice but to start up the car. The date was over, even though I wasn't really ready for it to be. When I pulled away from the curve, I looked into the rear view mirror. Gabe waved and then began walking back toward the restaurant, where his car was parked.
The whole drive home, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I was completely shocked. He hadn’t tried to push me into anything. In fact, I was actually the one who wanted more. It was a surprising, yet refreshing end, to an already amazing date.
I knew that it had to be too good to be true.
8
This is just writer’s block, right? I mean, surely there was something about last night’s date with Gabe that went terribly. There must be something for me to write about...
I sat in my office chair, staring at the blank screen of the word processing program in front of me. I had been gazing at it for half an hour, trying to brainstorm what to write for the upcoming blog post. The problem, though, was that I ran a website that people visited to hear about my bad dates, not the good ones. There wasn’t anything interesting about a good date, or at least anything that my current readers would want to hear. They wanted the ridiculous details. They wanted the men who didn’t pay for dinner and the ones who wore sweat pants to their first date. They didn’t want to read about the charming, good-looking, gentlemanly Gabe.