Page 60 of Friend Zone to End Zone

“Where is everyone?” I asked Cole in a hushed voice.

It was a few minutes past seven-thirty on a Friday night. It was prime time for this place to be completely filled with patrons.

But Cole just looked at me with amusement in his eyes and said, “We have the place to ourselves tonight.”

“What?” I gasped, almost choking on my own spit. “You reserved the whole place?”

He lifted a shoulder like it was nothing. “I wanted to make it special.”

I looked around the restaurant, trying to figure out how much he must have spent on his arrangements. A normal meal here usually cost at least fifty dollars. And with the capacity of about a hundred, reserving the place for a few hours had to cost him a pretty penny.

What had happened to my penny-pinching best friend? I had to say something.

“I know you keep telling me not to worry about this, but Cole, you can’t spend this kind of money on a random date. Because if this is what you do on a first date, what is the girl going to expect on a second, or a third?”

But he didn’t seem to hear me because he simply pulled out a chair at the secluded table and gestured for me to sit.

“Cole?” I asked. “Are you listening to me?”

He just smirked as he helped me into my chair, like this was funny to him for some reason. Then he sat in the seat across from me.

As he took the menus from the waiter who had been waiting for us, music started playing at the back of the room.

I craned my neck to see where the sound was coming from, and that was when I saw that not only had Cole reserved a restaurant for the night, but apparently, he had also arranged for a band to give us a private concert.

A very good band, from the sound of it.

There was a pianist, a drummer, and a guitarist standing at the edge of the room, and when a tall man with a black-and-gold masquerade-type mask entered with a guitar slung over his shoulder, I literally thought I was going to die of shock.

I put my hand to my heart and just stared wide-eyed at the masked singer whom I’d been a huge fan of ever since I discovered his music.

My throat constricted, my whole body went numb, and my pulse raced. And when the gravelly voice started singing“Chasing Tomorrow,”I was very confident that I could die right now and safely say I had already experienced the most spectacular night of my entire life.

“You got Incognito to come here?” I gaped at Cole, still not believing my eyes and ears. “How did you do that? He never does things like this.”

This couldn’t be real. This night…it just couldn’t be real. I had to be dreaming or living in a fairytale or something.

But Cole just had the biggest, happiest smile on his face. “Are you going to scold me again?”

“I…” I shook my head, so overwhelmed by the lengths he had gone to in order to provide this once-in-a-lifetime kind of date. “I just…” I gave my head a slight shake again as I realized I was now on the verge of tears.

Don’t cry.

You really don’t need to cry right now.

I willed the happy tears to stay inside because I didnotneed to have raccoon eyes when I was wearing the most beautiful dress and shoes, sitting in my favorite restaurant in the world, and being serenaded by the rock god that was Incognito.

It took a moment, but when I felt I could talk without having my emotions spill over too much, I turned to Cole and said, “No one has ever done anything like this for me before. I—” I let out a shaky breath. “I just don’t know what to say.”

Cole reached across the table and covered my hand with his. “If you’re about to tell me that I’m going to end up with a gold-digger because of all this, then please don’t say anything.”

And the slight smile that he gave me completely melted my heart.

“But why did you do this?” I asked. “How…?”

He gave my hand a squeeze and gently rubbed his thumb along my knuckles. “Because you do so much for everyone around you, Arianna. You deserve to be pampered every once in a while.”

“But I…” I started, fully planning to tell him that it was too much. But when I saw a tightening in his eyes—a look that told me he was worried I was going to reject the lovely and amazing gift he’d given me—I simply said, “Thank you.” I sighed and gave him a soft smile. “Thank you for all of this. I feel like I’m living in a dream.”

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