date night.
Essa pov
Friday night. Six o'clock. I'm in my bedroom with Cass, going through my clothes for the best thing to wear. "You should wear a dress," Cass says, pulling a black dress out of my closet and holding it up to me.
I shake my head. "No, I never wear dresses. It'll give the wrong impression."
"What if he's taking you somewhere fancy?" she asks, raising an eyebrow at me. "You don't want to go to some five star restaurant wearing your work boots and jeans."
I frown at her. "It's a first date. Why would we go somewhere fancy?"
She rolls her eyes. "Come on, Essa. It's common sense. He's rich, his whole family is. It's probably normal to him. And even if it's not a fancy restaurant you're going to, wouldn't it be better to be overdressed than underdressed? You'll look adorable in this dress. Just put it on, and Draven will love you."
Cass has been obsessed with this date ever since I told her about it. She desperately wants to help. At least her reaction was better than Mom and Dad's. Dad almost didn't let me go, but Mom talked him into it, saying how I'm almost eighteen. Though she wasn't too happy about it either. She was surprised to find me talking to Bobby at all, and then I came back telling her he'd set me up with a date. She says it seems strange.
But I'm going, and that's all that matters. Giving in, I take the black dress and step into the closet to change. When I come out, Cass smiles. "See, you look amazing." I stand in front of the mirror to look at myself, but I can't see whatever she sees. If I look nice, it's because of the dress. It's got thin straps, has a skirt that falls down to my knees, and it swishes when I move.
"Are you sure?" I ask, looking at her uncertainly.
She rolls her eyes. "Have some faith in yourself. You look awesome. Now let me do your makeup."
Half an hour later she's managed to outsmart my hair to make the curls look sweet and graceful. My makeup is dark but not heavy, and I even have to admit I look good. It's almost seven, and I sit anxiously, squeezing the fabric of my dress nervously. Cass swats my hand, scolding me for wrinkling my breath.
In what both seems like a long time and hardly any time at all, the doorbell rings and Cass rushes to answer it. She smiles brightly when she sees Draven. "You must be Draven. Come in!" she squeals, stepping aside to let him in. From the doorway, I watch him, feeling embarrassed by our tiny home, but he doesn't seem to notice.
Instead he smiles at me. "You look... Wow," he says. "You look amazing." He looks pretty good himself, in a suit, so I'm glad Cass convinced me to wear a dress.
I start to reply, a blush creeping into my cheeks, but Cass cuts me off. "I told her she looked awesome, but she won't believe me." I give her a look and she sticks her tongue out at me. She gets the hint though and slinks off to our bedroom.
Draven grins at me. "So, are you ready to go?"
"Not quite," says Mom, coming up behind me and I turn beet red. "Have her home by 11:30," she directs him, looking him over.
He nods politely. "Of course, Ma'am." Mom smiles. Draven reaches for my hand, and I take it bashfully, suppressing a blush. Mom waves as we head out, and Draven walks me down the sidewalk to his car. I try not to stare at the clean red paint of his convertible. He opens the door for me, and I step in. He goes around the front to climb in the passenger side, and he flashes me a grin. "You're gonna love the place we're going to tonight."
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Fifteen minutes later we're in the parking lot of what looks like the fancy restaurant Cass predicted we'd be going to. Some Italian name I can't pronounce. Draven opens my door for me and walks me to the front. A guy in a suit asks us if we're Mr. and Mrs. Berlin. Draven laughs and says yes, and the man leads us to a table.
The inside has the lighting of a fancy restaurant. You know, like in the movies, when it's night time and the only light inside is from the fancy chandeliers. Our table even has a couple candles. A waiter pours us some water and leaves to let us look at the menus. "They're alfredo is good," Draven tells me, and since I have no idea what most of the other foods on the menu are I decide to order that.
Draven sets his menu down and looks at me. "So Bobby told me you guys had some sort of deal?" he says, smirking at me.
I turn red. "Yeah, you see, Bobby and I have never really got along well. I have to work for his family, so of course we never got along," I tell him. "He was always a brat to me, so I was always a brat right back. He went to boarding school for a couple years, and now he's back and he decided he wants to be friends with me instead. I wasn't really prepared to forgive, so we made this deal."
He laughs. "Sounds smart to me. But why'd you pick me?"
Now I don't know what to say. Looking down at the white linen tablecloth I shrug and say, "I don't know. I saw you go past the house a couple times, and I was intrigued, I guess. I saw you at the party, and you were the nicest of all those people. I wanted to get to know you better, and Bobby offered me anything..." I trail off uncomfortably.
The waiter comes back with the alfredo and I busy myself with twirling the noodles around my fork. Draven smiles at me. "Don't look so embarrassed. I'm honored." He watches me a moment. "When I saw you at that party, I wanted to get to know you better, too."
I smile and we eat in silence for a while. Draven is the one to break the silence. "So, what movie would you like to see? Anything specific you've wanted to watch?"
I shrug. "I think there's a horror movie recently released. I heard it was good," I suggest.
Draven looks surprised, but thrilled. "Wow, horror movies over chick flicks," he says. "Awesome."
An hour later we're in the movie theatre, sitting way in the back, sharing a bucket of popcorn. As the movie starts I take one look at the one blonde girl and say, "She's gonna be killed first."
Draven looks at me. "I thought you hadn't seen this before."
I laugh. "I haven't. It's just a fact that the busty blonde always dies first." Draven laughs and I explain, "My sister Cass always tells me I'm horrible to watch these movies with. I always predict what's gonna happen." We watch the movie quietly, snacking on popcorn, and Draven puts his arm around me, making my stomach flip.
The movie ends much too soon, and Draven has to take me home. It feels like the date has only just started, but it's almost 11:30, and sadly I'm home in no time. Draven walks me to the door and smiles at me before he leaves. "I had fun tonight," he tells me, taking my hand.
My heart skips a beat as I say, "Me, too." My heart almost stops when he leans in and kisses my cheek before walking back to his car. Feeling all fluttery, I watch him drive away before heading inside to face Cass's questions about the evening.