SIXTEEN
Violet
Life’s felt slightly surreal since Dante pulled me into the office last night. When I finally collected myself enough to rejoin the party going on downstairs, the first thing I did was look for Bianca. I wasn’t sure how long we were up there, so I said a little silent prayer that she hadn’t noticed her father’s or my absence. When I found her, she was playing an adult version of Red Light / Green Light, complete with a variety of shots. Judging by how she seemed to wobble every time someone yelledred light, I don’t think there’s a chance she noticed me missing.
Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, depending upon how you look at it, Tyler was also taking part in the game, and he seemed to have had even more liquor than Bianca. To be honest, even if Dante hadn’t walked into the garage and pulled me away from him, that was going to be my last date with Tyler. From the moment he picked me up last night he was acting fairly aggressively toward me. It was like the fact that I’d agreed to a second date somehow gave him permission to notch up his pursuit of me tenfold. The entire night he was handsy, arrogant, and pushy.
I quickly made my excuses to both Bianca and Tyler, saying I had a headache and I needed to go home. All I wanted to do was get out of that house and back home where I could think clearly. I didn’t plan on letting Tyler drive me home. It was obvious he was past the point of driving, but when he didn’t even offer to find me a ride all of my misgivings about him were confirmed.
When I’d invited Tyler to the party, I didn’t expect the night to turn out how it did. I figured Dante would ignore me, maybe even roll his eyes a little at me bringing a date to his house so soon after our last encounter. All I wanted was for him to not think of me as some loser that was pining after him. The last thing I expected was for him to be jealous. Jealousy can make us all do stupid things, which is why I’m a little concerned about showing up at his house for dinner tonight. What if it’s just like last time? He wanted me in the moment, but by the light of day, what if he’s changed his mind? It’s already happened once.
Now, here I am standing on Dante’s porch once again, decidedly more nervous than I was the last time. I have a plate of cookies I made in one hand, and I can’t stop nervously fiddling with the skirt of my silver floral dress. This time when he opens the front door, there’s a huge smile on his face. He grabs my hand and pulls me inside, firmly shutting the door behind me before plucking the plate out of my hands and setting it on the side table. Just as I’m about to greet him, his mouth slams down onto mine, and every thought in my head gets wiped away.
His arms circle me and cradle my body gently while his lips play with mine, alternating between soft and hard kisses that seem to have a direct line to the ache between my legs. When he finally pulls back, my head is spinning a little and I feel dazed. Well, that’s different from last time.
“Sorry,” he says. “I just missed you.”
“I missed you too,” I say shyly. I’m completely out of my depth here and hope that he’s going to be happy to lead the way, because I honestly have no idea what I’m doing.
He picks my plate of cookies back up and drags me into the kitchen behind him. I let out a little gasp of surprise when I see the table.
“This is actually what I wanted to do the last time you came over, but I didn’t want freak you out.”
I look over at him, and while he’s still smiling, he also looks a little uncomfortable. For the first time, I realize he might be just as nervous as I am. I turn back to the table where there’s what appears to be an honest-to-God home-cooked meal not from take-out containers. He set the table beautifully with not only a small bouquet of brightly colored daisies but lit candles as well.
“I love it.” And I really do. Is it sad that nobody has ever put in this much effort for me before? He pulls out my chair, and I take a seat before he slides me in and then sits himself down across from me. “So you actually cooked something today?” I ask, keeping my tone light and teasing.
“Well, I may be a mediocre cook, but I’m pretty good at using the grill out there.” He motions behind his back to the set of French doors leading to the patio. “I’ve made some grilled chicken, asparagus, and baked potatoes.”
“It looks amazing,” I tell him. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Let’s just hope it tastes as good as it looks.” He grabs the various platters and serves me while I take a sip of the glass of wine he already had sitting at my place, and it occurs to me how nice it is that he remembered.
We both start eating, and I’m surprised how delicious everything is since he only used an outdoor grill. We don’t even have one at the house, but maybe we should look into it if it can produce chicken this juicy.
We idly chat about inconsequential things, and after we’ve made it through such riveting topics as my class schedule and the weather, we lapse into silence.
“Well, this is awkward,” I blurt out. Eager to fill the empty space with something, anything.
He just laughs. “You’re right, it is. I’m sitting here trying to think about how to bring up the topic of, well, us.”
“Good job, mission accomplished.” I smile and take another bite of my potato that’s smothered in butter.
“True. I’ve thought about this a lot since last night. If I’m being honest, I haven’t stopped thinking about it since last week. I really like spending time with you, Violet.”
I can feel my cheeks pink. “I like spending time with you too.”
“Thank God for that,” he mumbles before continuing. “And it’s rather obvious that we’re both attracted to each other.”
I thought I was blushing before, but as soon as he says that, my mind goes back to watching him stroke his thick, hard cock in the bathroom. I give him a slight nod of acknowledgment, urging him to continue.
“For me, I’d like to see where this goes. Honestly, this week without you has sucked, and I don’t want to go through that again.”
Everything he’s saying is making sense and reflects what I’m feeling, but I have to ask, “What about Bianca?” I see him flinch a little at the question, and I can’t say I blame him. It’s obviously something that’s been on both of our minds.
“Maybe we don’t tell her? Just for now.”
I can’t help but feel relieved. While I’m excited about the prospect of being with Dante, the thought of losing Bianca over it has my stomach churning. “I think that’s a good idea.” I’ve spent the entire day thinking about this conversation, what I wanted to say, how I wanted to play this. Even though Dante and I seem to be on the same page, I’m still incredibly worried that I’m going to do something to mess this up. I’m young and inexperienced with relationships compared to him, and while he says he wants to spend time together, be together, I don’t know what that means. And frankly, I haven’t gathered up the courage to ask. It’ll be best if I lay the ground rules down so that they’re easy, something he can accept, and that way I’ll know how to protect my heart.