Chapter Twelve
The day of their date, Camila woke up early because she was too excited. She hadn't had any dreams about Samuel lately, which was a good thing, because she didn’t know how she would have faced him after those dreams.
Surprisingly, her mom was up early as well and ready to make breakfast.
“I know you,” she explained at her daughter’s confused look. “You tend to work yourself up a lot. You guys won’t be meeting up until dinner, right? Around six or seven? In the evening? Honey, its six a.m. right now.”
Camila blushed. “I can't help that I’m excited, Mom!” she complained. “And besides, it’s not like I’ll be idle the whole day. I do still have work.”
It was still early, but she went to help her mom get breakfast ready. She didn’t eat much with her nervous stomach, and she went back to her room. She managed to crawl out for lunch, but only took a few bites.
She wanted this date to go well so badly. She didn’t know what impression Samuel must have of her after what she did, and she felt like she needed to repair it. So even though it was still really early, in the middle of the afternoon, she stopped working to start looking through her clothes. She felt even more pressure than when she’d been going out with Adrien.
By the time it was ready to leave, she had worked herself up into a tizzy, all excited and nervous, her stomach so full of butterflies that she wondered if she’d be able to eat anything. When she got a text from Samuel just before she left that he was already waiting for her, it only made her even more nervous that she promptly tripped on her feet and nearly broke her heels, not to mention her leg.
Her mom saw, but just shook her head in exasperation and said nothing.
“Go,” her mom said, sounding exhausted. “But don’t come back too late tonight, and if he tries anything with you, kick him in the crotch and run.”
Camila rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, Mom. See you later!”
She rushed out of the apartment, being more careful this time. She made her way outside without meeting any of her neighbors, only to stop once she got to the curb.
“Hello,” Samuel said, standing a few feet in front of her.
Camila gaped at him in surprise. Not that he was there, but with the way he was dressed. He was in a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, and a leather jacket over it. He had his hands in his pockets. She couldn’t even call it casual, because though the clothes he was wearing were probably expensive, he still looked very much like he fit in the neighborhood. She even felt slightly overdressed now in her dress and heels.
“Hi,” she breathed out. “Sorry, did I make you wait?”
He shook his head. “Not really. The taxi dropped me off just a couple minutes ago.”
“Taxi?” she repeated. He didn’t even bring his car?
Samuel just nodded. “Why not? This is New York. Roads are almost always congested, especially at this time on a Friday evening. I left home an hour ago and only just made it here. I would use public transport more often, to be honest, if I wasn’t such a public figure.”
“Ah,” she murmured, making a tentative smile. “My, uh, article I wrote for the blog probably wasn’t much help to you, huh?”
He returned the small smile with one of his own. It was really just a slight tilt up of the corner of his mouth, but it still made her feel warm.
“No, it didn’t,” he said bluntly, waking her up from her momentary daze.
She ducked her head, feeling a little bad. One of the parts of being a reporter she didn’t like was how some part of her job involved invading someone else’s privacy, with their permission or not.
“Oh,” she breathed out, startled into looking up.
She hadn't noticed when he raised his hand, but she did feel it when he tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. His fingertips lightly grazed her ear.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked, holding his arm out for hers.
She took his arm silently, lost for words, and led the way to the restaurant. It actually got pretty busy on Friday evenings, with a lot of couples going out for date night then. It also wasn’t the kind of place that took reservations, but because she and her mom had been going by pretty often, ordering out from there, they were a bit friendly with the owner and the staff. She had asked for them to save her a table no matter what.
Luckily, when they made it there, a table was waiting for them, and the restaurant didn’t even have to hold it. Samuel pulled her seat out for her like a total gentleman, pushing it in as she sat down, then took his own seat. A waiter passed by and dropped a menu for them.
“I don’t know if the food here would be too your liking,” she said nervously. This was one of the things she’d worried about, but he hadn't looked like he minded.
“I’ll eat just about anything so no need to worry,” Samuel said, picking up his menu with another smile. “What would you like?”
Camila didn’t even bother picking up her own menu and just watched him. He read the menu just like he did everything else, seriously and with his full concentration. When the waiter came back around, they both gave their orders. Camila had been there enough times to know what she wanted without checking the menu.