Page 13 of Heartstruck at Dawn
A second before we stepped out of the car, I grazed his chin with my fingers and leaned in for a slow and deep kiss. I wanted to reassure him and let him know I didn’t care about the blind date. I cared abouthim.
He grabbed my neck and pulled himself in, giving in to the kiss completely.
“You’re so sexy when you’re angry,” I said with a laugh.
“I’m furious.”
“I know.” I kissed him again, knowing I needed to stop myself at some point and get out of the car, but that accent of his was irresistible. “I’d rather have dinner with you instead,” I whispered in his ear, kissing it afterward. “It won’t take long. I swear there won’t be others. Tomorrow, I’ll talk to Nina and CJ and tell them everything. I promise. Besides, I know you love the SOS beacon, so start thinking about what you’re going to say this time.”
He finally yielded a smile and gave me one last peck on my lips before I checked myself in the mirror for my overall appearance. Caleb knocked twice on the window, and Aaron opened the door for us. We stepped out of the car and walked inside the restaurant.
The guy I was meeting saw me coming in and stood up to greet me.
“Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Ren. Ren Mori. You must be Billie,” he said with a grin.
“Yes, I am. Nice to meet you, Ren.” He was cute and looked decent for a change. Ren had jet black hair, dark brown eyes, and a friendly face. He wore jeans too, and a navy-blue, short-sleeved Lacoste shirt.
Caleb helped me to my seat and walked out of the small French restaurant. Ren eyed Caleb with curiosity but didn’t ask or comment a thing about it.
The place was cozy and dimly lit. Caleb surely hated the romantic atmosphere. I thought he would stand beside us, but it would’ve been too awkward if he did because there was nowhere for him to stand without obstructing the small restaurant’s circulation.
Ren’s two years older than me and very polite. He told me his father is Japanese, and her mother is Spanish. He explained how he grew up in Spain but came to New York for college in Columbia.
I mentioned how my mother was from Madrid, and we switched to speaking Spanish for the rest of the night just for fun. It’d been a while since I spoke Spanish with anyone, and I enjoyed it.
We talked about my time living in Paris and how the restaurant reminded me of it. The conversation kept flowing naturally, and the server took our order as we ate bread with butter.
We ate our meal and talked about art, photography, and books. I was so relaxed and enjoying myself that I completely forgot about the SOS beacon.
Ren excused himself to go to the bathroom. I took my phone out of my purse and saw several texts from Caleb.
Caleb:Ready when you are.
Caleb:I’m really going to change it up this time with SOS. You’ll love the excuse I’m using to take you away.
Caleb:Everything ok?
I didn’t know what to do! I didn’t want to use the beacon on Ren because I didn’t think he deserved it. He was so nice, friendly, and interesting to talk to. He was distracting me and helping me forget all about the drama surrounding my life.
And even though Ren was cute, I didn’t feel instant romantic chemistry with him on the date, but I did like him a lot. I thought Ren and I could be good friends.
The beacon would have to wait.
Me:Everything’s ok. Almost done with dinner. I’ll hold off on the beacon, ok? It’s not what you think it is.
He didn’t reply for the rest of our date. I knew that might’ve thrown him off, but I knew I could explain.
The server brought the check, and I offered to split it, but Ren insisted on paying.
We stood up and climbed the short flight of stairs back to the street. Caleb was right outside the door, smoking with a sour face. He wasn’t even talking to Aaron. He watched his feet as he paced slowly on the sidewalk.
He flicked his cigarette away once he saw us coming out and opened the door for me, huffing the smoke over his shoulder.
Ren told me he had a great time and asked for my number. We kept speaking in Spanish at that point, which I guess was even more annoying for Caleb.
I gave Ren my number out of courtesy, and you didn’t have to speak Spanish to figure out I was dictating my number to him. But what was I to do?I could always tell him I was dating someone else if he ever called or texted me. I didn’t see any harm. Ren asking for my number didn’t mean he intended to contact me or that we had to go on another date.
“Let’s do this some other time,” Ren said in English, tucking his phone back in his pocket. “Soon.”
