"This doesn't look right." I say to myself as I look in the mirror at my dress. Tonight's the charity auction date with Alexander and I'm super-duper nervous. The last time I had a date was with Myers and he stood me up.
What if Alexander does the same thing to me? I feel like he won't but we can't control the universe.
Suddenly I hear a knock at the door downstairs. Must be Lyra and the girls. Jogging down the stairs I reach the door and open it up. As soon as they walk in all I hear is chatter among them.
"Whatever, you're totally lying." Khadijah says. She takes off her blue jean jacket and wraps it around her waist.
"No, I'm serious I really did see Robert Patterson at the mini mart." Kate tells everyone. They all look at her like she told them she had a doppelgänger.
"Why would Robert Patterson come to St. Helena?" Lyra asked putting her hands on her hips.
"To get away from the media, duh." Kate says in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Umm. Hi guys." I say to them awkwardly. They've been in my house for like 5 minutes and haven't said anything to me.
"HEY!" They all say in unison.
"Is that what you're going to wear?" Mary asked looking me up and down with a dissatisfied look on her face.
I glance down at my outfit, unsure of how to respond to her.
"You don't like it. I thought it looked weird." I reply to her. It's a dark blue knee-length dress with ruffles at the bottom and color sequences all over the dress. Now that I fully observe it it looks like a party dress. I groan out in frustration.
"Yeah, where are you going to disco night?" Kate says sarcastically. "Look, we got you, come on let's go upstairs and look inside your closet." All the girls follow behind me as we reach my room.
Kate and Lyra start to look in my closet for a new dress. They both start to bicker over which article of clothing in my closet is the ugliest. Right now, I'm rethinking of inviting them here. Mary walks over to my painting and observes them. I'm not all that great at painting, but I have some of the basics down. Khadjiah plops down on my bed and gets on her phone. While everyone is occupied with something, I stand the middle of my room staring into the mirror contemplating everything.
I really want to look nice tonight, well not nice, gorgeous and sexy. Alexander's words linger in my mind: "wear something. . .sexy." He makes me so nervous, but I kind of like it. I know I shouldn't but I can't help it.
"I like this one." Kate says to Lyra while smoothing down the dress she had in her hands.
"Me too." Lyra says agreeing with her. I walk over to them to see what dress they had picked.
It's a dark pink dress with long sleeves and stripes all the way down the dress.
"No, I can't wear that." Kate and Lyra look at me like 'are you kidding me it's the perfect dress'. "He's taking me somewhere that's warm I'll burn up in that." They turn back around and start to look for another one.
"Hey Quinn you should sell these paintings." Mary tells me as she runs her fingers down my ocean painting.
"Really. It's not that good I just dabble in it." I tell her shrugging my shoulders.
"Obviously we aren't seeing the same thing." She walks up to me, "In like two weeks St. Helena is going to have the flea market open up bring these painting and I'm sure they'll sell." She pats me on the shoulder and lays on the bed next to Khadijah.
"Have you guys found something yet?" Khadijah asked Lyra and Kate while keeping her eyes glued to her phone.
"Perfection can't be rushed ok just wait." Kate says in a frustrated tone as she walks over to my jewelry box leaving Lyra by the closet.
"Dij what are you looking at your eyes haven't left the screen?" I asked her while looming over as she lays on my bed.
"I'm searching up your man Quinn we have to make sure he isn't like some mad man or something. You wouldn't want to accidentally get a Ted Bundy, would you?Oh my god who's this girl." She said jumping off my bed and pushing her phone in my face. I back the phone up a little so I could see the picture. It's Alexander on the beach holding on to a girl's waist. When I realize who the girl is, I roll my eyes at the picture.
"Don't worry about that it's his friend. They're not together, trust me I asked." I tell her putting her phone down.
"How do you know he wasn't lying?" Mary asked looking at the photo also. Trying to analyze it.
"I just know." I tell them. I can't explain it but when he tells me something, I know he isn't lying or fooling with me. It's like a gut feeling or something.
"Ok we found the perfect dress go try it on." Lyra pushes the dress in my hands and ushers me to my bathroom. Taking off the sequence dress I put on the one they gave me. Before walking out the bathroom I observe the dress in the mirror. It was a short baby blue dress with slightly puffy sleeves, it's perfect. I bought it last year, but I had nowhere to wear it to. Coming out the bathroom, they all turn around with their jaws dropped to the floor.
"Quinney baby you look amazing." Lyra says looking at me with adoration.
"I agree." Kate says.
"Totally," Mary adds on.
"Now wear these white shoes and Kate can do your hair she's in cosmetology come on girls let's Hustle." Dij says.
Finally, I got my dress, shoes and my hair is pinned to the back and some of my curly tendrils hang out on the side and the back of my head. Literally as soon as we are done the doorbell rings, must be Alexander, who's exactly on time.
"Come on, come on." Lyra says rushing me out the room.
"My bag." I tell her trying to turn back around so I can get it. Lyra redirects me back down the stairs.
"I got it!" Mary screams out.
We make it to the door and I stand there fiddling my fingers together, being nervous was an understatement I felt like I was going to throw up. Usually I'm nervous, but never THIS nervous.
"Do I answer the door or?" I asked them as I reach for the door knob. Lyra smacks my hand away and shakes her head at me.
"No lady should open the door it isn't proper stand there and look pretty." Lyra tells me.
Alexander P.O.V.-
Turning my car off, I get out and start to walk up her cobble stoned walkway. Before I knock on the door, I can hear a bunch of girls talking. One of the girls is looking at my profile page seeing me in a photo with Aren. She thinks that it's my girlfriend.
I hear Quinn reassuring her that it's not my girlfriend it's just my friend. A different girl asks her how does she know that I was lying to her. I would never lie to Quinn I trust her too much to do that. Not because she's my mate, but because she's a good person and I feel I know her character too well. Quinn tells her that she can feel if I'm lying or not, but she doesn't know what it means. That's the mating bond we share.
When your mates with one, you are basically the same person. I can feel her and she can feel me, hypothetically speaking. I realize that I've been standing at her doorstep for about 10 minutes now. I can't really focus on their voices because their all talking at one, I knock on the door and wait for them to open it up.
As soon as the door opens, I'm in awe of what I see. She stands there wearing a blue dress with puffy sleeves with white shoes. Her hair is pinned up with some of her tendrils hanging from the side. Her lips purse up in nervousness as she fiddles with the hem of her dress. I couldn't ask for a more perfect mate.
"Hi." I say as my voice cracks. I clear my voice and repeat to her what I just said trying not to sound nervous, but confident.
"Hello." She says quietly as she looks me up and down.
"Ready to go?" I ask her while sticking my hands in my pocket. I can feel the sweat leaving my sweat glands I'm so nervous.
"Not yet. My friend is coming with my bag." While she waits by the staircase for her bag another girl walks up in front of me and pulls me outside.
"Lyra what are y-." Quinn says while being cut off by the front door shutting on her. Now it's just me and Lyra.
"Look buddy, I know you like Quinneth and everything, but you better not hurt her." She tells me while waving her finger in my face. I'm guessing she's the best friend.
"Look I won't hurt her. That wouldn't even cross my mind." I say reassuring her.
"It better not be she's been through enough. She's lost too many people in her life; she may act tough but she's not." She tells me.
"Wait what. Who has she lost?" When I talk to her, she seems fine.
"It's not my place to say just take good care of her for me. She's like a sister to me." She says sincerely. Before I could reply back Quinn comes out the door with her bag over her shoulder.
"I'm ready let's go." She tells me heading over to my car. She waves to her friends as they all get in their cars and head on down the road.
"So where are you taking me?" She asked impatiently.
"It's a surprise so I can't tell you. If I did it wouldn't be a surprise anymore." I say replying to her.
"Fine. I made a list of restaurants in San Francisco that I think you'd take me." I roll my eyes at her as she takes her phone out and starts listing restaurants. "Ok so there's Frank's, Billie's Burgers, a taco restaurant, oh and Brenda's Barbeque."
"All those are wrong. You'll never guess it." I tell her as I stop at a red light. Looking over to her, she sits her phone on her lap and smooths down her dress.
"I don't know if you can tell, but I'm extremely nervous." She says rubbing her hands up and down her dress. While doing this, her dresses rises up her legs, and her chest heaves up and down, her curly tendrils move from side to side on the nape of her neck. She is turning me on in so many ways and has no idea.
"Yeah, I can tell." I tell her. I place my finger on the nape of her neck. Dragging it down until I get to her collar bone. Taking my finger off her neck she looks at me like I'm crazy. I show her the sweat on my fingers.
"It's probably condensation. Just drive." She turns around in embarrassment and looks out the window. I chuckle at her response and head on down the road to the mystery restaurant.
Location: The Mystery Restaurant
"We're here." Alexander says shutting off the car. I lean forward in my seat, but I see nothing but woods in front of us.
"Alexander what is this? I don't see a restaurant just woods. Are you trying to kill me and dump my body where no one will find it because you found the perfect location." I tell him rambling on.
"If I wanted to kill you it wouldn't be here." He grunts as he gets out the car and heads over to my side so he can open the door for me. Opening the door, he holds out his muscular hand for me to grab. I hold on to his as I get out the car.
"So, you are contemplating my death." I say lifting up an eyebrow. His feet shift from side to side and he lets out a chuckle.
"Your death never crosses my mind. Now come on." I follow behind him as we walk into the woods. Looking around, the trees are so tall they reach the skies; I see crows and owls flying by over me. I hear a streaking sound behind me, I jump up in fright and clench on to Alexander's arm.
"You Ok?" He said looking at me with worry.
"I heard something. This is not safe I kind of want to go home." I tell him stopping us from walking. This is extra creepy like 'children of the corn' creepy.
"I wouldn't take you anywhere that would hurt you Quinn. You have to trust me. Can you do that?" He asked looking me deep in my eyes. I see the grey flakes swarming around in his eyes. His eyes tell me that I can trust him, even with my life. I give him a nod and we keep walking.
After almost 10 minutes of walking, we arrive at the restaurant. This is nothing like I've seen before. Below us there's a long concrete slate of stairs that descend to the beach. On the right side of that lies the restaurant. It's a circular building with a clear dome looming over it. The light from the stars reflects off the dome to create and whirl will of colors.
"What is this place?" I ask in awe. My eyes pan over the place trying to absorb the beauty of it all.
"It's called the Sunlight Café in the morning, but at night it's the Midnight Café. Do you like it?" He asked me. Looking up at him I see that he's trying to read my face to find an expression.
"I have no words. It's amazing how did you even find this?"
"A friend. We have to go or we'll miss our reservation." He says holding out his arm for me to grab. I hold on to his bicep as we walk down the concrete stairs. The wind from the beach blows directly in our direction.
Shivers run up and down my body as my dress flairs up from the wind. I instantly hold it down before it reveals too much. Sensing me shivering, Alexander stops us mid walk to take off his jacket.
"You don't have to give me your jacket, you're probably cold." I say to him refusing to take his jacket.
"Trust me I'm warm enough. Remember that I'm warm blooded." He slings his jacket over my shoulder. I snuggle up into his jacket, it's actually quite warm, really warm, too warm. It feels like it just came out the dryer.
Finally, we reach the restaurant. Walking in the door, I see couples holding hands whispering sweet nothings in each other's ear. The aura on this place is filled with love and hope. Walking up the counter, we are greeted by a young girl with pink hair.
"Hello. Do you have a reservation?" She asks looking at me and Alexander.
"Yes, it's under the name Germani." She starts typing on the computer looking for his name. Once she finds it, she hands us both menus.
"Follow me to your table." She walks out the door to which we just came from, weird.
"Why is she going outside?" I asked him while pulling at his arm.
"It's outside. I wanted us to not be surrounded by so many people." He said leaning down whispering in my ear. We jog up to the lady as she arrives to our table. It's directly on the beach, almost 20 ft away from the water. The table wears a white table cloth with lotus flowers surrounding the table. It's paired with two white chairs.
"Someone will be back to take your order." She says turning around heading back into the restaurant. Leaving me with the wind, this beautiful table and Alexander.
"Do you like it?" He asked me.
"Do I like it? I love it. The lotuses are just... It really puts the whole thing together. I couldn't ask for a more perfect date." I give him a dazzling smile. He relays back with a even more intoxicating smile. We both take our seats and began looking at the menu.
"So, what are you going to order?" I ask craning my neck over to see what's he's looking at on the menu.
ns 18.68.41.140da2
