Friday morning, I awoke with the jitters, anxious about my date with Alistair that night. He was supposed to be picking me up at seven and taking me to a popular Italian restaurant down the street from the university.
It was bugging me that I was not looking forward to it as much as I had hoped and that I couldn’t stop thinking about Jake. Thankfully, as usual, my roomie would be headed to Boston for the weekend straight from work and wouldn’t be a distraction tonight. It wasn’t healthy to be focusing on him so much, and I was convinced that going out with Alistair was a necessary step in the right direction.
I would have to get through a day of classes, though, before I could concentrate on things like what to wear and how to do my hair for tonight.
Alistair sat in his normal seat next to me in math and he immediately acknowledged our plans when he turned to me and whispered with a twinkle in his eye, “I can’t wait to take you out tonight.”
I just nodded, not wanting Professor Hernandez to overhear anything. It’s a good thing I was paying attention to the lecture, because Hernandez called on me to come up to the dry erase board and work on a problem about Venn Diagrams. “Ms. Kennedy, shade in the parts of this diagram which correspond to the named set.”
When I colored in the correct parts of the circles in red, he nodded in agreement. “Very good, Ms. Kennedy.” Then, he whispered to me with a slight smile. “Most improved student, so far this year, it seems.”
Maybe he wasn’t such a jerk after all. Feeling a sense of achievement, I couldn’t contain my smile. Alistair high-fived me when I returned to my seat.
After class, we walked down the hallway to the exit, and Alistair’s blue eyes gleamed as he said, “I’ll pick you up at seven.” He truly was a handsome guy; maybe tonight, I would feel something stronger for him in a different setting.
“Yup, sounds good. See you later,” I said.
***
That afternoon, Tarah was making an early dinner in the kitchen when I got home from school, and the apartment smelled like garlic and onions.
“Hey, girl,” I said as I placed my backpack down on the couch.
“Hey! I am just making some rice and chicken. This gluten-free diet is a bitch. Want some?”
“No, I can’t. Thanks. Actually, believe it or not, I have a date tonight.”
Tarah dropped her spatula and picked it up, waving it at me. “Excuse me? How did I not know this?”
“It’s no big deal. I’m not sure if I even like him like that. He’s a guy in my math class. His name is Alistair.”
“Interesting name.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. He is really cute, though…and nice…and smart.”
“As opposed to really hot…not so nice…and super smart, like Jake? You know, I thought that something was developing there, but I guess I was wrong?”
“Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know. There is just this vibe between you two lately. I really sensed it when we were at Eleni’s the other night. You guys are opposites, but you seem to fit together somehow.”
I know.
I shrugged my shoulders in frustration. “Well, tell that to him.”
“I knew it! I knew you liked him,” she said pointing the spatula at me.
I held out my hands in protest. “Please don’t go there right now, okay? I am supposed to be focusing on this date.”
She rolled her eyes. “I wanted to slap that bitch Desiree the other night. She clearly wanted to get her paws into him.”
My stomach knotted up when she mentioned Desiree. “Can we not talk about Jake right now?”
“Okay, okay…your date. First off, what are you wearing?”
“My black Donna Karan dress…”
“You mean your only dress? No. Boring. You are borrowing something from my closet. Next: what are you doing with your hair?”
“I was going to wear it up in a twist.”
“No. I’ll blow it out straight and do some loose sexy curls for you. What about makeup?”
“The usual. A little mascara and some lipgloss.”
She closed her eyes and shook her head in disagreement. “Nah. Let’s do a smoky eye on you. You are gonna look so hot for this date, Nina. What’s his name again?”
“Alistair.” I laughed.
“Alistair is not gonna know what hit him.”
“Alright, whatever you say, T. I’m going to take a shower. Maybe we can do this thing after you’re done eating.”
A half-hour later, I emerged from the bathroom to find Tarah already in my room with a handful of dresses laid out on the bed. The small towel I was using was not quite big enough to cover my breasts, so I struggled to keep it closed over my chest to avoid giving her a private show.
“Nina…good God girl…you have the best rack! I don’t know if I have ever really noticed before now. We are definitely showing those off tonight.”
Letting Tarah dress me from head to toe might not have been a great idea after all.
“What do you mean show them off?”
“The girls—all three of you—will be hanging out with Alistair tonight.” She winked. “Which of these four dresses do you want to try on first?”
“That one,” I pointed to the dress that looked the least revealing.
“I figured you’d say that. Let’s try this one,” she said picking up a different dress, a strapless pink lace number. I couldn’t get the top to fit over my boobs and nixed it as an option.
No luck either with the next two I tried on. The last wrap-style dress was fluorescent purple and low-cut but fit me like a glove. The color was a little bright for my taste, but it seemed this was the one out of the group. It was pretty revealing, but there was no denying how good it made my body look.
“You are curvy in all the right spots. I would kill for your body,” she said.
I thought back to my ex-boyfriend and how he always told me I would look better if I lost weight to look more “athletic,” even though I was already fairly thin except for my breasts and butt.
“Okay, this one is the winner. What’s the next step in making me into a drag queen?”
“Let’s get you into a zip-down jacket, then we’ll do your hair and makeup and get dressed last.” Tarah started taking out curling irons and makeup from a large black satchel.
After an hour and a half of blow-drying, curling, buffing and puffing, she handed me a mirror. My transformation into a glamour puss was staggering, actually. My light blue eyes appeared at least three times bigger with the gray shadow and mascara. She also applied a dark pink lipstick that made my lips look pleasantly plump. My hair was perfectly styled into big, soft curls that she sprayed to make sure they held. Her skills were amazing. Alistair wasn’t going to believe his eyes.
It was 6:30 and Tarah helped me slip into the purple dress to avoid messing up my hair and makeup.
“Wait right here. I have the perfect shoes,” she said as she ran to her room.
She returned with the most striking pair of purple stilettos.
“These are gorgeous.” I looked at the inside. “Manolo Blahnik? Are you kidding me?”
“I used to have a shoe issue. Not anymore, but I have amassed quite a collection. What size are you?”
“Well, excuse me, Carrie Bradshaw. Apparently, I am the same size as you,” I said as I slipped my foot into the shoes to discover they were a perfect fit. Several inches taller, I looked at myself in the mirror that hung on my closet door.
Not bad.
Actually, I couldn’t have been more pleased with how I looked. “Wow. I can’t thank you enough, T.”
“Anytime, babe. You were like a clean slate. It was fun.” She smiled.
Tarah packed up her hair and makeup accessories and left momentarily to return them to her room, leaving me standing in front of the mirror. The purple was a little bright for my liking, but it was kind of refreshing to wear something other than my usual black.
My body jerked suddenly when a m
ale form appeared behind me in the mirror. Not just any male form. It was like that moment in a horror movie. Except, in my mind, this was worse.
“Nina, Barney the dinosaur called. He wants his skin back.”
“Jake! What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be on your way to Boston.”
“Nice to see you too.”
“Well, it’s just that you usually leave from work and—”
“I missed the 5:15 Amtrak, so I might either catch the last train at 9:30 or just go in the morning.”
“Oh.” I licked my lips nervously, having forgotten about the lipstick on them.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I turned around and faced him. His eyes immediately traveled slowly down the length of my body, coating me with his gaze. My heart was beating rapidly, and I got the chills. This was exactly what I was trying to avoid. In fact, I probably wouldn’t even have accepted the date if I knew Jake was going to be home to see me off.
He was never home on Fridays. Why today?
“Nina…you look—”
I interrupted him. “Interesting?”
He kept staring at my dress. “That’s one way of putting it,” he said as his eyes returned upward to meet mine.
Tarah walked in at that moment and seemed just as shocked as I was to see him. “Jake!”
“Tarah!” He mocked her tone, without taking his eyes off me. I would say he was undressing me with them, but truthfully, the dress left little to the imagination.
He finally moved from the doorway and sat on my bed, lightly bouncing up and down. “I didn’t know we were going out tonight, Nina.”
Tarah looked at me seeking permission with her eyes. “We…are not going anywhere. She is going on a date.”
He turned to me and smiled, but it didn’t look genuine. It was more taunting. “I see.” He paused and then said, “I suppose he’s taking you to the Vegas Strip in that outfit?”
“I think she looks awesome, actually,” Tarah said.
I was beyond speechless and just shook my head.
Jake continued to stare at me with a look so intense, you’d think his beautiful green eyes could have burned a hole through my dress. “Have fun,” he said like he didn’t mean it. “And don’t forget a jacket. You’re bound to catch pneumonia dressed like that.” Then, he turned around, walked down the hall to his room and slammed the door closed.
I’d rather be going out with you…you ass.
The time was now 6:55.
“It’s almost seven. Your date will be here any minute,” Tarah said.
“Do me a favor and let him in when he comes and then get me? I just wanna sit here for a bit and grab my bearings.”
“No problem, sweetie. I understand.” She left the room, closing my door behind her.
His cologne still lingered in my room, and I breathed it in. His surprise appearance had completely jarred me. I sat back on my bed, careful not to mess my hair too much and tried to inhale in and exhale out to relax. It wasn’t working. I was still reeling from Jake’s stare, from his words and from the fact that my body was craving him, minutes before I was supposed to be going out with another guy. If I were lucky, he would stay in his room until I left.
About ten minutes later, still lying on my bed in the same spot, I heard a knock on the front door in the distance. I sat up suddenly and heard Tarah open it and greet Alistair. “She’s just in her room finishing up. Why don’t you make yourself comfortable and I’ll let her know you’re here.”
Tarah’s footsteps got closer and closer until she entered my room shutting the door behind her.
“Are you okay?” she whispered.
“Honestly? No.”
“Is it Jake?”
I took a deep breath and nodded silently.
“Well, come on, you don’t want to keep your adorable date waiting. He’s a cutie, and you look hot, babe. We’ll chat about asshole later.”
I got up and followed Tarah into the living room. Alistair was standing with his hands in his pockets, wearing khaki pants and a white linen shirt rolled up at the sleeves. His light brown hair was perfectly parted to the side and gelled. His smile was magnetic.
“Hey, Alistair.”
“Hey, Nina. Wow. You look…awesome,” he said as he approached me and kissed my cheek.
Tarah nudged me and said, “Why, thank you, Alistair.”
“Thanks. It’s all her doing,” I said pointing to Tarah.
His head moved side to side slowly as he took in my appearance. “Well, you were beautiful before, but…man, I’m just…speechless.”
Laughing, I said, “That was my reaction too.”
The front door opened and Ryan walked in. Tarah immediately ran over to give him a hug. “Hey, baby.”
“Hey,” he said kissing her forehead before looking over at Alistair and me. “Troll…damn, you look nice.”
Alistair turned to me. “Troll?”
“It’s a long story.”
Ryan walked over to Alistair holding out his hand. “I’m Ryan. Nina and I grew up together.”
They shook hands, and there was an awkward silence among the four of us for a few seconds.
“Where are you guys headed?” Ryan asked.
I looked at Alistair for guidance, and he said, “That new Italian place near the university. It’s called Porcello’s. It’s supposed to be really good.” He turned to me. “If that’s okay? I didn’t even think to ask where you might like to go.”
“She’s always wanted to go to Top of the Rock,” a raspy voice said from behind us.
Shit.
I turned around to see Jake standing there. He stared me down hard and continued, “Right, Nina? You love a good view from the top of a skyscraper. I hear the scenery is amazing, and the food is great.”
“That’s the one on top of the GE building in the city?” Alistair asked.
“We can save that for another time. I was really looking forward to that Italian place,” I said glaring at Jake who had an intimidating look on his face and seemed to be sizing up Alistair.
Jake extended his tattooed arm toward Alistair. “We haven’t met. I’m Jake.” He was smiling, but it was angry and disingenuous.
They shook hands and I noted the stark contrast between Jake’s defined marked arm and Alistair’s, which was bare with light blonde hairs.
“I’m Alistair.”
“Ass Hair?” Jake’s expression was calculating.
Kill me now.
Looking none the bit amused, Alistair said, “No…Ali-stair.”
“Ah…sorry, my bad,” Jake said as he looked over at me.
Fuming was not harsh enough of a word to describe how I was feeling toward him.
I was still glaring at Jake when I said, “Alistair, I think we should get going.”
“After you,” he said, gesturing for me to walk in front of him. Ignoring Jake, he then looked over at Tarah and Ryan. “It was nice meeting you guys.”
“Likewise. You kids have fun!” Tarah said.
Jake’s eyes were piercing mine and the rims of his ears were red. When Alistair and I got to the doorway, I turned around one last time to find Jake’s gaze still fixed on me. He wasn’t saying anything, but in that moment, the look on his face was different. This time, there was no sarcasm, no anger. He just looked…hurt…like he didn’t want me to leave. Then, he silently mouthed, “Bye,” before turning away.
He had been a total bastard, but God help me, I would have dropped everything for him tonight if he had just asked me to.
The restaurant was several blocks away. On the walk, Alistair and I got to know each other, talking about school and our favorite types of music and hobbies. I discovered that we both really liked Radiohead, The Killers and Coldplay. He grew up in Connecticut, not far from the city and seemed to have had a privileged life, which was a direct contrast to my modest upbringing in the sticks of upstate New York.
Midway through our walk, he grabbed my hand. While I didn’t mind, I cou
ldn’t help but notice that my body had little to no reaction upon touching his skin. I thought back to when Jake stood in the stairwell during our subway trip and reached out his arm for me to grab. I remembered how amazing it felt when I held his hand for the first time and when our fingers intertwined. There was no comparison and it was irking me right now.
Stop thinking about Jake.
We had a reservation, so they seated us as soon as we arrived at Porcello’s. The restaurant was beautiful with dim lighting, candlelit tables and pictures on the walls of famous patrons. That song Mambo Italiano played in the background.
Maddie, our waitress, poured two glasses of water and read the specials at warp speed before we each ordered a class of cabernet sauvignon.
“They’re supposed to have the best Penne a la Vodka,” Alistair said.
Vodka. That’s all I took from that.
“Mmm. I was thinking of the Shrimp Scampi. I wonder if I can get that without the Scampi?”
Alistair put down his water and covered his face in laughter. “Nina…you don’t get out to eat much do you?”
“What do you mean?”
“There is no such thing as Scampi. Shrimp Scampi is shrimp with pasta in like a garlic and olive oil sauce. So, Scampi is just the name of the dish. It’s like—”
“Bananas Foster?”
There he was again.
“Yeah. Exactly.” He paused looking at me like I was three. “You’re adorable, Nina.”
I felt like an idiot. “Well, then…I’ll get the Shrimp Scampi. Sounds delicious.”
Alistair flashed his signature thousand-watt smile. “How about we get an appetizer? What sounds good to you?”
“How about the Jerk Chicken skewers?”
“You got it.” Alistair closed his menu then said, “Speaking of jerks, your roommate is a bit of a dick.”
My stomach sank, and I wracked my brain for a response. “Jake? He’s not that bad. He’s a bit of a ball-buster, that’s all,” I said immediately downing my water.
“He seems like a loser.”
Excuse me?
Hearing him call Jake a loser really pissed me off. There were many words I could use to describe my roommate: sarcastic, intimidating, wiseass, even dick fit the bill sometimes. But “loser” certainly wasn’t one of them.