* * * * *
Three soft knocks on the door that afternoon sent Legacy’s heart racing. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly through her smiling lips. She got off the couch with her purse in hand and glided to the door. She took another deep breath while she put her hand on the doorknob.
This was it. Her date with Adin.
When she opened the door, there stood the best-looking man in the world. And he was a man, technically. Even though he was eighteen, he could easily pass for a guy in his early twenties.
His hair was tousled and gelled into place. He wore a white fitted, button-down shirt with a cotton t-shirt underneath peeking out from the two unfastened buttons at the top. The bright white of his shirt made his blue eyes glow more than she had ever seen. How was that possible? His jeans were faded but still dark and loose with a brown belt that matched his brown shoes. Even in her four-inch heels, she was still the shorter of the two.
As she appraised him, he certainly was getting his own assessment of her. He wasn’t hiding that. His smile grew wider as he looked at her, starting in the opposite direction than she’d gone. From her shoes to her hair, it was obvious he didn’t find one thing not to his liking.
“You,” he hesitated, “are absolutely breathtaking.”
“Thanks.” If she started blushing now, she wouldn’t be able to stop. “You look very handsome yourself.”
“Thank you,” he said, still smiling at her, and then he pulled his right hand out from his back and into view.
In his hand were a dozen long-stem, red roses wrapped delicately in floral paper.
She gasped, and the grin on his face turned into a gleam. He stepped closer and handed her the flowers. “These are for you,” he said, glowing.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “They’re beautiful.” She didn’t know what else to say or if she would be able to get anything else out without her voice cracking.
“They match perfectly,” he said.
And he was right. With the red roses against her red blouse, she looked picture perfect.
She quickly put the flowers in some water and returned to him. He reached his hand out to take hers. “Shall we?”
She nodded and pulled the locked door shut behind her.
Adin held her hand and walked beside her as they made their way to his car—never once taking his eyes off her. She looked down, feeling shier than normal, but kept a soft smile on her face. Once they reached the passenger door of his car, she looked up at him.
“Your eyes are more blue than green today,” he murmured. “They look like the ocean. Just as powerful and deep. Beautiful…”
She smiled appreciatively, not knowing if she could speak. He then let go of her hand to open the door for her. Being the gentleman that he was, he placed his other hand on the small of her back to guide her into the seat, and then softly shut the door before getting in on his side.
He pulled out of her driveway, watching the road. She wondered if he would speak first or if she should. She knew exactly what she wanted to ask, but wasn’t sure if she should start off with a question like the one she was thinking of. After a few seconds of silence, she decided to give it whirl.
“So, what brought this on?” she asked, looking down at her hands and hoping they wouldn’t start sweating.
His eyebrows came together as if he were thinking of a way to respond. “I…er… I’ve liked you for a long time,” he said slowly, nodding to himself as if that answer would suffice.
She smiled at him when he made eye contact with her. She really had no way to respond to that. Of course she wanted to ask him a million questions about what he’d just said, but she didn’t want to interrogate him.
“Why did you agree to go out with me?” he asked softly.
Oh no. How did she answer? Better keep it simple. “I’ve liked you for a long time.” There. He should be able to understand his own words, and she didn’t have to think of a different way of phrasing her answer without giving too much away.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
“Why?”
“Because if you just agreed to go out with me because I put you on the spot last night, then I’d have my work cut out for me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” he said, reaching over and placing his hand into hers, intertwining their fingers, “I’d have to find a way…umm…I’d have to work at making you like me. Now I don’t have to do that.”
“How long have you wanted to ask me out?” She had to know.
“Awhile. But I didn’t know how to go about it.”
“I haven’t seen you date much,” she offered.
“No, I’m not one to date. Not unless I’m spending time with someone I really want to be with.”
He really wanted to be with her. Even though he was giving some insight into his feelings, she still had a hard time believing him. Not that she didn’t want to and not that she didn’t smile from ear-to-ear while he was speaking, but it was just so unbelievable. As she thought about that, her smile began to fade.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She looked at him. “It’s just kinda surreal.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve liked you for a really long time. I’ve tried not to show it, so now that we are actually on a date and you’ve told me you like me too, it just doesn’t seem real.”
He began stroking her hand with his thumb. “That’s just because this is new for us.”
“I know,” she breathed, looking down because her heart started racing when he’d said us.
She was so involved in their conversation that she didn’t notice, at first, they had arrived at the restaurant.
“Wait here. I want to get the door for you.”
“Okay.” She giggled.
He walked around and opened her door. He took her hand and helped her out of the car, and then put his hand on the small of her back to guide her away from the car so he could shut the door. He kept his hand on her back, leading her into the restaurant and to their seat.
They sat in a booth by the sushi bar, and both of them ordered sushi and fried rice. Once they got settled in, she felt more at ease and ready to talk about some trivial things. Anything could be considered trivial if it wasn’t related to feelings.
“So tell me about your family,” she started as she opened up her chopsticks. “I know your grandmother lives next door, but that’s about all I really know. Well, that, and the fact she loves bunko.” Legacy laughed.
“It’s not so much the bunko as it is the wine,” he said, laughing with her. “Well, let’s see…my parents work in information technology. My dad’s a programmer. My mom builds websites. They’re divorced. I don’t really live with either of them. It seems more like I go back and forth visiting while they’re in town. They both travel, but try to coordinate with each other so neither of them is out of town while the other is. I guess that’s why I spend so much time at my grandma’s house—she’s my mom’s mom, and she’s always there. Except for bunko night, of course.”
“Of course,” Legacy said with a smile.
“Tell me about your family,” Adin said as they both finished their rice and were now waiting on the sushi.
“Well, I live with Lissa. She’s my guardian. Then there’s Olive. Lissa adopted her when I was two.” She wasn’t sure how much she should tell him, but she wanted to be honest.
“What happened to your parents?” he asked softly. “I mean, I heard they’d died, but you never really talked about it while we were growing up, and I didn’t ever feel comfortable asking.”
“The story is they died in a car accident when I was a baby. Apparently, my parents were friends with Lissa, so Lissa stayed home and babysat while they’d gone out with some friends to celebrate a job promotion.”
“I’m sorry.” And she could see that he meant it.
“It’s no big deal. It was a long time ago. I’ve had a great life with Lissa.”
?
??That’s good. Something you said, though, doesn’t make sense.”
“What’s that?” She was truly curious what he could’ve picked up out of that short answer.
He shook his head. “I don’t want to pry, and I don’t want to take the chance of saying something that might hurt your feelings.”
“It’s okay, really. I don’t even remember my parents.” She tried to sound casual, but she was eager to hear his thoughts.
“Well, if Lissa was friends with your parents and it was a night for celebration, then why hadn’t Lissa gone with them? I’m sure they could’ve found another babysitter.”
Oh my. He was right! She’d heard the story a thousand times and had never really thought about it that way. She guessed her parents didn’t want to leave her with a stranger, but surely they had other less important friends they could trust with her for one night. Hmmm… She’d definitely have to revisit this later. “That’s an interesting take on it. I’ve never really thought about that,” she said, trying to keep her voice light.
Luckily, the sushi arrived, so she grabbed a piece of her California roll and put it in her mouth. Then remembering who she was eating in front of, she realized she probably should have picked a place that didn’t require her to put huge pieces of food in her mouth. It wasn’t as if she could cut her sushi in half. Ugh! She covered her mouth while she quickly chewed.
“You look very cute with your mouth full.” He laughed.
She swallowed what she could and dropped her hand while she finished chewing the rest. “Yeah, they never seem to cut the pieces small enough for me,” she was finally able to say.
“I can have the waitress send it back. I’m sure they won’t mind cutting it into smaller pieces,” he teased, but he was seriously offering to do so.
“That won’t be necessary.” She smirked, and he laughed again.
They continued eating and talking. They talked about her birthday party, his upcoming trip to the beach, and memories they had of each other growing up.
“You know, you were the first girl I ever kissed,” Adin whispered as he flashed his eyes up to her, looking at her through his light lashes.
“What are you talking about?” she asked with a wide smile on her face. She really didn’t have a clue. If she had ever kissed Adin, she was sure she would’ve remembered.
“It was on my third birthday. My parents threw me a party at the zoo, and you were there. I kissed you on the cheek in front of the tiger exhibit.” Adin chuckled.
“No wonder I don’t remember that.” She laughed. “I’m surprised you do.”
“Well, I don’t, actually. My grandma took a picture of me kissing you. She wrote on the back that it was my first kiss. She still has the picture.”
They both laughed and continued reminiscing. The conversation flowed casually, naturally. Not only did it feel normal, but it felt right.
They finished their sushi fairly quickly, but the night was still young.
He paid their ticket, and they left the restaurant. Every door they encountered, he opened for her and guided her through with his hand on her back.
She felt like she was floating. She liked him, and he liked her, and this date was perfect. He was attentive, funny, and charming. He said and did everything right. She wondered how he could even consider the alternative that she only accepted his invitation because he put her on the spot, but then curiously wondered what more he would have done to make her fall for him. He was already doing everything just right.
They drove around town, but he didn’t say much. He just held her hand and smiled. It seemed as if they were heading somewhere, but she wasn’t sure. He hadn’t asked her if she wanted to do anything else or that he’d had something else planned.
“Where are we going?” she finally asked, and the smile that was already on his face got a little bigger.
“I have a surprise for you. I hope you like it.”
After the night they’d had so far, that was a pretty safe bet. But there was nothing he could do at this point to top the evening.
She was sure of it.
Oh, how she’d been wrong.