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Chapter Eight
Grayson
I fight my eyes away from the girl sitting in my passenger seat and focus back on the road. It’s 1:30 am and I rack my mind to come up with things that are still open that we could go to on a date. I head towards downtown and twenty-five minutes later, I park outside of a local nightclub. The club will only be open for another five minutes and I pull Charlee from the car, dragging her behind me as we run up to the door.
We slip past the bouncer and I immediately drag Charlee out onto the dance floor. It’s a slow song and I wrap my arms around her waist as we slowly start to sway to the music. Charlee’s hands slide up my chest to circle my neck and I smile down at her. She’s looking around the club with wide eyes and I watch her take everything in.
The nightclub is new, just opened a couple of weeks ago but it’s designed much like every other club with dark corners, loud music and flashing lights. There’s a bar along one wall and I catch Charlee eyeing it.
“Shouldn’t you have bought me a drink before you dragged me out here?”
“Did you want a drink, baby?” I ask.
I can see she wants to say something about the pet name but she bites it back. I’ve never called a girl by a pet name before in my life but it feels right, natural, with Charlee. She can try to pretend like she hates it all she wants but I see the way that her eyes soften every time I call her that.
“No, I’m ok.” She finally answers, looking away from the bar.
We sway silently back and forth as the last song plays and the house lights come on. The club is closing and I take Charlee’s hand in mine while we exit with the rest of the crowd. We head back across the road to my car and I get her door once again. I slide back behind the wheel and smile at her as she eyes me curiously.
“Now what?” She asks as I start to drive north.
“Now, we get dinner.”
“It’s 2 o clock in the morning.” She says like I’m crazy.
“You’re not hungry, baby?”
She pauses as she looks around and I can see her trying to hide her smile. My girl is smart and she already knows what I’m doing. She said three dates and I’m going to take her on all of them tonight. Then she can stay at my house and I’ll know she’s safe. I’ll take her on more dates, better dates after tonight.
“I could eat.” She says as she turns back to face me.
I pick her hand up, lacing our fingers together as I drive us to an all-night diner. I ask her about where she’s been staying and what she does on the drive but she gets skittish so I turn to talking about myself.
I tell her that I’m an architect and that I just started my own firm last year. We talk about my mom and how close we are. I tell her about my father passing away four years ago and how I miss him every day. She listens quietly as I tell her about my life and the drive goes by quickly. She lets me hold her hand the entire drive and I barely let it go as I round the car and open her door for her. I pick it back up in mine as we walk up to the diner.
We take seats in the back next to the windows and I sit next to her as we pick up our menus. I slip my arm around her shoulders as we decide what to order and the tired waitress comes over a minute later to ask us what we would like. We both get pancakes and eggs with orange juice and the waitress walks to the back to put the orders in as Charlee shifts closer to me.
I brush some loose hair away from her face as she looks around the diner once more. I’ve noticed that she does that a lot when we walk in anywhere. She looks around and takes stock of the surroundings, the people inside and where the exits are.
I try to get her to open up more as we eat our food but all I’m able to get out of her is that she was born and raised here in LA, her mom died when she was younger and she never knew her father. She grew up in the system and though she doesn’t come right out and say it, I’m sure that she lived on the streets for at least a part of that.
We finish up our food as the sun starts to rise and I realize that we’ve been at the diner for almost two hours. Charlee is just starting to sort of open up to me and I don’t want to leave but she’s starting to look a little tired and my need to take care of her is pressing on me. I pay the check and lead her back to the car.
“One more.” I say as I head towards the only place that I know will be open this early.
We drive over two blocks to the little smoothie place. My mom and I love the little café and come here often. I help Charlee out of the car and we head into the café, each grabbing a smoothie before we head back to the car. We park by the beach and sit in the car as we drink our smoothies and watch the sun come up.
We finish our drinks and I get out to throw them away. I slide back behind the wheel and turn in my seat to face her.
“Now, are you ready to go home?”
