The Chase

Chapter 5

CECILIA    

    Anxiety fills me as I dig through my closet. Deciding on a simple red dress that hugs my curves giving the allusion I'm skinnier than I actually am and pair it with my favorite black heels.

    Comfy and somewhat sexy. Now that I have my outfit picked out its time to do my make up and hair. On further inspection I decide on a quick shower to wash my hair and rinse off the day. The hot water calms my tense muscles and allows me to relax for the first time since I got up and started counting the hours until my date tonight.

8AM - 10 hours until date

    "You look nice.... Dress up just for me?" Tabitha teases as I walk to the counter. She’s referring to the full face of make up I’m wearing. I got up early to practice some looks for tonight.

    "Well duh! Who else would I get dressed up for!" I wink and blow her a kiss.

    She sticks her tongue out at me, smacking my ass and leaving me at the front of the store to do my opening duties. I honestly love working here. My boss is my best friend and the work is easy. Hanging clothes and stocking shelves were all I actually had to worry about. Unfortunately, it gives me a lot of time to think about Jasper. His name still excited me. Sending shivers down my spine just thinking about him. 

12PM - 6 hours until date

    "So really why are you so dressed up?" Tabitha asks with a mouth full of potato chips.

    "You don't believe I'm dressing up just for you?" I tease "I have a date okay? Don't make it a thing.."

    "OOOOOHHHH!" She shouts like a teenager "Who with?"

    I shove a large bite of my salad into my mouth to avoid answering. But she isn’t giving up, dropping her turkey sandwich on her plate dramatically and staring at me until I'm force to answer from discomfort

    "Just a guy I met at the club the other night.." I stare into my bowl trying not to give away too much.

    "Oh wow. So we went out searching for a silver fox for me and you ended up with one instead?" she laughs. “Does he have a brother?”

    "No! He's too close to our age to be considered a silver fox." He is technically! What is the age cut of for an appropriate age gap?

    "Not the point smart ass! Do you have a picture???" I pull out my phone and open his profile "Jesus! Where can I get one?! MMMMMMH"

    "Okay okay don't be gross!" I try to hid the fact that I’m blushing. He is pretty hot and I didn’t mind flaunting his interest in me publicly.

    "C'mon that man is sexy and you know it! You're just trying to play it cool, try not to droll on him.." She jokes.

    I finish shoveling the greens into my mouth and leave her sitting alone in the break room. He was cute but not that cute. I wasn't going to fall all over him like every girl probably does. 

5:30PM - 30 minutes until the date

    The day went by quicker than expected. I'm actually really nervous for tonight. Did I dress alright? Where are we going? What is he wearing? What if you didn’t show up?! Would he do that? Stand me up.

    I had no idea the kind of man he was. What sort of things he’s into or where he might take me on a date. I just had to hope it wasn’t somewhere with a dress code. 

    I wish I could of gotten away with wearing jeans and a comfy top. Sort of regretting not taking him up on his offer to cook for me at his apartment. I could wearing whatever I wanted. But I feared it wouldn't stay on for long and as much as I'd love to see my favorite shirt on the floor of his bedroom, I refused to be a notch on his bed post. Besides Tabitha would never let me leave the apartment dressed less than best for a date.

    My thoughts are interrupted as a black BMW pulls up in front of the store and a clean grey suit steps out. "Wow so you can drive?" I don’t know why I expected him to pull up in a car with a driver.

    "Did you think I couldn't?" he flashes me a crocked smile.

    "Am I dressed okay for where we are going?" I ask avoiding eye contact as he traces down my body.

    "You look stunning.." he says then opens the car door motioning for me to get in. I do my best to hide how red my cheeks got from his compliment. 

    "Thank you. Are you gonna tell me where we are going?" I tend to blurt stuff when I’m nervous.

    "Huh? Yea sorry.. I wasn't trying to keep it from you. We are going to Scallos, It's Italian. Hope that's okay?" He looks at me with a brow arched.

    "I love Italian" I say enthusiastically. He seems as nervous as I am. Odd.

    He doesn't say much during the drive. In an attempt to ease the awkwardness, I click the radio on filling the car with soft music. I just look out the window humming along to a song I don’t know. About two songs later we are pulling up to the restaurant. A young guy in a red vest opens my door then jogs around the car taking the keys from Jasper and hops into the drivers seat.

    We are sat at a private table with dim lighting and handed menus. The waitress stares a bit too long at Jasper, clearly seeking his attention but he’s eyes are on me.

    “Can we just get some water?” She doesn’t look at me. Instead she turns and walks away, b***h. He never so much as looked at her which feels like a small victory.

    "So what are you doing on 'The Chase'?" he questions.

    "I just wanted to see what it was about. Just see what sort of people were on the app I guess." Couldn’t admit I was a little desperate. That would definitely make him run for the hills.

    "You aren't looking for your Mr. Right?" He smirked and leans his elbows in the table. 

    "Not exactly." I relax a little into my chair. He had a warm and welcoming smile that helped ease my nerves a bit.

    "That's surprising" Is it surprising? Do I just give off girl next door vibes? Is that even a bad thing?

    "What is that supposed to mean?" I bite my lip and try to hide just how curious I was about his opinion.

    "Nothing bad!" my tone of voice causing him to back track "You just seem like the type to 'want something serious."

    "I have my fun" I say trying and failing to seem mysterious. I was the serious type. It wasn’t intentional. Just sort of played out that way.

    "Okay then, Why are you on the app?" I pry "Tired of desperate blondes at bars?" s**t. That sounded jealous.

    A smile crosses his face "Just to see what's out there."

    I look away fully aware how jealous I sound. "Are you the dating type?"

    "I have my fun" he mocks.

    "You can have fun while dating." Just say you don’t date and we can get it out of the way. 

    "Not in my experience" So he has dated.

    "Okay then what are we doing here?" This was a date right?

    "We are two adults sitting down for a meal together" If he thinks he is going to hid behind a cute smile he is wrong.

    "Otherwise known as a date" It was my turn to smirk.

    "Fine we can call it a date if you'd like" I win.

    The waitress returns "Are you two ready to order?" She asks only looking at him. He orders the manicotti and I order the spaghetti. Bit generic but safe bet that I will like it. 

    "Have you gone on many dates with girls you've met online?" This date was starting to sound like 20 questions.

    "This would be my first, you?" Bullshit.

    "You're actually the first and only guy I've talked to from that app. Thinking about deleting it." I should of lied. 

    "I'm flattered to be your first" he says with grin. "I was surprised, I didn't expect to find you when I searched your name. " He search for me on the app?

    "Wait! You looked me up? Why?" Gotcha!

    He looks down at the table but it's too late, he cheeks are red. "Well yeah."

    Our food arrives and both relieved for the welcome interruption. I scoop noodles into my mouth, suddenly wishing I'd ordered something more attractive to eat. Why did I want to impress this guy so much?

At least the food was amazing, by the end of the night I was stuffed having eaten my entire plate of spaghetti and half the loaf of bread on the table. He pays the ticket refusing me as I offer to pay half and we make our way to the door.

    The valet has already pulled his car up to the front and the young man tosses Jasper his keys then opens the door for me. He gets in next to me and we sit for a minute "Would you like to come to mine for a night cap? I can behave myself if you can.."

This was a dangerous game.