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“Where?”
“On a date,” said Ant defiantly.
“A date?” squawked her mom. “You can’t have a date. Patrick’s here.”
“With who?”
“No one you know.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, that’s so. Can I go?”
“Sure honey, you can go.” That’s what Cap said. But it wasn’t what he’d said that gave her pause, it was how he said it. He said it like yeah, you can go, but we’re definitely gonna talk about this again later.
Didn’t matter. She had to go, for so many reasons, she had to go now. So without saying another word, she gathered her stuff and stepped out into the sultry summer night.
“Don’t mind her,” Cap said to Patrick. “She’ll be happy to go. Now, how about that drink? Nikki go grab us a couple of beers. Beer ok?”
“Sure. Beer is fine,” Patrick said, winking at Nikki.
“Great, a couple of beers then.”
Nikki didn’t mind. She was happy to go get them. Happy that Ant was gone and Patrick was there. He liked her. She could tell.
18
Romeo sat comfortably behind the wheel of his dad’s Audi A5 convertible and cruised up main street toward Brix. The car, a dark green, wood trimmed, fully loaded beauty, was about ten years old at this point, but still in pristine condition. It was garage kept and rarely driven.
Most of the time his dad just walked to work. So if the car got out on the road it was on the weekends and even then, only sporadically. Romeo probably drove it more than his dad did. Which is why he never bothered to buy a car of his own.
He had the top down, the radio on and a warm breeze blowing through his hair. His plan was to take Ant to Brix, a sophisticated little wine bar on the north side of town and then, if all went well, to The Kitchen on K Street.
Brix was dark and romantic with candles on the tables, soft music and sexy wine glasses. All big bowls and tapered stems made from thin, delicate, expensive, Austrian glass. Romeo had found that girls tended to generally like it there, so he knew it would be a great place to break the ice. And the Kitchen on K Street was a small restaurant opened by a friend of his, just outside of town. About a half hour drive.
It was one of those farm to table, nose to tail, precious plate, tasting places that seemed to be so popular these days. He actually hadn’t been there yet, though it’d been open for a little more than a year. But it seemed like the kind of place Ant wanted to open, the kind of place she’d like to go, and he was long overdue for a visit.
So he called ahead and told his buddy he might be by, if all went well, and asked him to make it special. Romeo wanted all of tonight to be special. He felt something for this girl, something he’d never quite felt before, and he’d been looking forward to this night all day.
Romeo stopped at a red light about a half a block away from Brix. He could see the patina of its rusted metal sign hanging on the brick front of the building down the block on his left. Up on his right, on the next block, he was pretty sure he saw a parking space between a white Corolla and a gun metal gray Hyundai.
Then some random, wannabe, piece of shit, beater of a muscle car convertible pulled up alongside him. With Tyler behind the wheel and two of his friends in tow. Tyler honked the horn.
Romeo glanced over but was so into the moment that what he saw didn’t even register. He just went back to waiting for the red light to turn green and ignored the noise.
So Tyler honked again. This time longer and louder. And when Romeo looked over to see what all the ruckus was about, Tyler spoke.
“What up?” he asked, through a wide grin.
Romeo still didn’t actually put two and two together. For a moment he thought it was just some random idiot out cruising the town. Of course, he wasn’t far off.
Then Tyler honked the horn again, longer and louder. Long enough and loud enough for people - a couple of pedestrians and an old couple in a Subaru looking to make a right turn - to take notice and get annoyed.
Romeo finally realized who it was. “Can I help you?”
“Let’s drag.”
“Drag? ”
