God, why is he always leaning on things?
“Exactly. I’m just as confused as you are. The mafia is now going to either kill him or make him drink a ton of Cynar. Why are you here by the way, it’s clearly closed.” My hands are moving rapidly in frustrated gestures to the sky, then Dominic, then the door.
“Do you want to go grab some ice cream, Celeste?” Dominic asks. For some reason his question is jarring. Whether it was the quick topic shift or his use of my real name for once I’m unsure, but it makes my mouth go a little dry and a flutter flips over in my belly.
“That’s what you do after a bad date right? Eat ice cream?” he asks with that one sided smile he wears so easily. He looks like one of those nonchalant European Pinterest models, all dark and mysterious. Leaning on fucking buildings, not a care in the world.
I exhale a breath I didn’t realize I was holding and nod my head in agreement. The rage I had built up now ebbing away and draining from my body, limb by limb.
“Where to? Also, you never answered my question,” I ask as he begins leading the way down the street.
“I was closing down the cafe and came out of the back entrance, then came around the side because I heard banging.”He looks at me pointedly then points ahead of us. “There’s a little shoppe around the corner from here actually, I’ve gone since I was little.” He slows his pace so I can keep up in these damn heels.
“Hold on, can I just go change my shoes? I have a spare pair in my car.” I bite my lip awaiting his reply.
Why do I care if he cares about my shoes?
Maybe all those anchovies have gone to my brain because I definitely do not care what Dominic thinks about me.
“Of course,” he says, changing directions toward the parking lot. I unlock my adorable little car and rifle through the back seat until I find the shoe box with my spare sneakers in them.
“Why wouldn’t you just wear those to begin with?” he asks, his hip pressed to my car, eyeing my heels as I change them out from the back seat.
I exhale heavily, blowing a piece of hair out my face and look up at him from my seat, legs hanging out of the car. “Because, Dominic, the goddamn patriarchy! If I’m on a date, I’d like to look presentable with a nice pair of heels that make my legs look good, but clearly demonstrate that I can’t run away quickly!” I push myself up from the back seat with a huff, slam my car door and click the lock button. I lean against the beetle, mimicking Dominic’s cavalier stance.
He looks directly into my eyes. “Hoot, you don’t need heels to make your legs look sexy.” He pushes himself off my car and begins walking in the direction of the ice cream shoppe again. I’m left reeling with that sentiment. I slowly look down at my legs and back up to where he continues to walk away. I feel my cheeks heat and my toes curl in my sneakers.
So he thinks my legs are sexy. Noted.
“Hey!” I yell out as I run to catch up, a little out of breath.
I need to do more cardio.
“Yes?” he asks over his shoulder.
“Well that’s a very forward thing to just throw out there, Peggy!” My hands are in the air and my heart is racing.
Why am I so frazzled? Must be the anchovies.
“Doesn’t make it not true.”
“Can you slow down a bit, you’re like twice the size of me!” I pant. He chuckles but immediately slows his pace to match mine.
“So tell me more about this date,” Dominic asks, his head turning to look at me, his signature smirk tugging one side of his mouth upwards.
When did he get so tall?
Maybe I never noticed his height because he’s been behind a counter a lot of the time, but standing next to him now I can tell he’s easily over six feet.
“Well, it was awful and I absolutely will not be going on a second date with him.” I suppress the flashbacks of anchovies and vegan chicken and inwardly shutter.
“I guess that’s on me,” he admits.
“Hell yeah it is!” I state in only semi-mock anger, then throw a little punch to his arm. Unfortunately, my fist seems to bounce off of his toned bicep. I wince and shake out my fist.“Just stick to the list. I need to find someone soon, I just—I’m running out of time.”
He barks a laugh, startling me and making me realize my slip up. I shouldn’t have mentioned a timeline. That was dumb. “Running out of time? Hoot, is there a looming end date that I should know about?” His tone is teasing and his smile is lopsided, but after a moment of silence he looks up at me. I try to banish away the concern on my features before he sees but he saw it, I know he saw it.
His brows dip in some confusion but he strolls on. “Let’s chalk that one up to a practice run then. I promise the next one will be different,” he says more seriously.
