“What about me?” he asked. “I wasn’t doing anything but waiting for you to tell me where you wanted to go for dinner. Seems like a pretty normal thing for someone to do to me.”
“Not everyone will sit and give their date the silent treatment until they cave in and tell them where they want to go for dinner,” I argued.
He merely gave me one of his charming looks, pleased with himself that he had outlasted me. I wasn’t the one who had come up with the game in the first place, but I had insisted that I would be able to beat him at it. Now, I was sure he wasn’t ever going to let me live it down, and I just had to smile and put up with it.
The restaurant was just what I hoped it would be, and I was glad that I had asked Trevor to be the one to take me there instead of one of my other friends who would have been more critical of the place. I wanted to like it, but it was hard when I tried a new restaurant with someone who wasn’t as open minded as me when it came to trying new things.
It was easy for me to allow myself to be swayed by opinions of other people who didn’t care for the food as much, and I wasn’t able to ever know for sure whether I felt that way because of how I felt, or if I felt that way because of how my friends were acting about the food themselves. Still, Trevor himself seemed to enjoy what he ordered, and my salad was to die for.
Not to mention the fact I was having a great time with Trevor. Not just today. Not just when we had dinner the other night, but through everything. Through all the talking and laughing and teasing we did to each other. Through the quick phone calls and the little text messages.
I didn’t know how it just so happened that he and I fit together so perfectly, yet here we were, and I didn’t feel like either one of us was really trying very hard. It was as though we were made to be together so well that neither of us had to even put on our best behavior when we were with the other person. We already were behaving the way the other person would, and we just fit together like peas in a pod.
“Tell me about your first kiss,” I said.
Trevor looked at me in surprise.
“You really want to hear about that?” he asked. “It’s kind of a funny story, I guess.”
“Really?” I asked with a grin. “Then most definitely yes I want you to tell me about it. What happened?”
“Well, I had this crush on this girl named Gabby Barr. I dreamed about what it would be like for years, then when I was eleven years old, I finally got my chance. It was at some birthday party. It wasn’t either of ours, just some kid that we both knew. We were behind the jungle gym, and I guess we just kind of went for it. I can’t say that either one of us really made the move first, and it wasn’t like either of us really planned it out, either. We just were there and we both liked each other, then it was just happening, you know?” he asked.
“Right,” I said, though I didn’t know what he meant. I had never been in a situation like that before. But then, I was careful about talking about my personal dating life. He hadn’t asked me much about my personal life in that way, and so far, I had been okay with that. We had only been out together a couple times, so perhaps it was a little forward for me to ask him about that, but he didn’t seem too upset about it.
“I remember thinking that it wasn’t anything remarkable, but I guess that was a one-sided opinion. The girl threw up afterward. I wasn’t there when she did, but I heard from the other kids who were there, and you can imagine, I never got to live that down. Even in high school, I had my fair share of girlfriends, but I was still teased relentlessly for that one rumor,” he said.
I laughed. It was, perhaps, a little too loud and long for what the story was, but there was just something about him that made me feel like I was flying. I could laugh over and over just because of the fact we were here together, and that made me feel important.
Though I had often considered the day would come when I would find someone and settle down, I never thought I could fall in love with anyone so quickly. I didn’t know what it was about this man, but there was just something about the way he did everything that left me thinking about him all day, every day.
But, he also seemed to like hearing me laugh. I had never met anyone who liked to make me laugh as much as Trevor did. It seemed that everything he did was meant to make me laugh or smile, and that was such a nice change from the way things had been with other men in my past. I couldn’t say that I had ever been with anyone who had been terribly abusive, but I had never been with anyone who had been so willing to dote on me, either.
The fact that Trevor seemed to be keeping his eye on me every time we hung out together told me that he cared a lot about how I was feeling on the date, and he cared about what I wanted. It was something that I wasn’t used to, and I wasn’t quite sure how to handle. I made a mental note to talk to my mom about it when we spoke about this again, but for now, I would just enjoy the time he and I had together.
After dinner, Trevor asked if he could take me out for a short drive.
“I promise I’m not going to kidnap you,” he said.
“I’m sure if you do they’re going to come looking for me first thing in the morning. Just so you know the next time you want to kidnap a teacher on a school night,” I said.
“Shit, I forgot about that,” he said. “Alright then, if I’m not going to kidnap you, I do want to keep you out much past your bedtime. I like to hear you complaining about it when you’re late the next morning.”
“You are awful, I hope you know that,” I said with a shake of my head, but I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. I didn’t even try. There was something about Trevor that was so addicting, I didn’t think it was possible to ever get tired of him. I couldn’t imagine a man like Trevor could even have ex-girlfriends. Not with how amazing he was. I knew I had to be careful not to put him on too high of a pedestal, but at the same time, I knew I was falling for him, and falling fast.
I had to be careful over how much of my heart I was just throwing in his direction, giving it to him as though nothing else in the world meant a thing.
But, it was difficult. Especially when he did the little things that told me he not only paid attention to the things that I wanted in life, but he cared enough about me and respected me enough to enforce the things I wanted from him without even having to tell him all over again how I wanted things.
He took me back home after the drive, then he walked me up to the door.
“May I have a kiss goodnight?” he asked.
“You may,” I said, kissing him tenderly. I pretended like I was about to vomit after the fact, and he just laughed at me and shook his head.
“You’re alright,” he said. “You know that?”
“Thanks.” I grinned. “I should have been a comedian.”