AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He only talks about himself the entire way to the restaurant. We drive to a nearby town, and I begin to question if I’m about to be murdered in the woods right now. The valet service opens my door and I step out on the brick pavement. I haven’t worn stilettos in a while so this seems a bit dangerous.
Adam comes over and puts my arm through his. He smiles and tells me this is his favorite restaurant. Of course it is. I want to roll my eyes, but instead, I exhale and think to myself,maybe tonight will go better than you think. Give him a chance.
Once we’re seated, he immediately has a bottle of wine sent to the table. He still hasn’t asked me a single question about myself, so I decide to just get to know him more.
“So, Adam, I know through some of our texts you mentioned a successful business you’ve created. Very impressive. But, what about you, personally? What do you for fun?” I ask.
The server comes over to pour our wine into glasses. Adam takes a sip, and then tells him, “We’re ready to order.”
“Oh, let me look really quickly,” I say. I haven’t even had a chance to look at the menu. As I rush to glance it over, he tells the server, “I’ll have the steak and lobster, and she’ll have the salmon salad.”
Excuse me?
I hate salads. I start to speak up to say, “I’d actually like—”
“Thank you, sir, that’ll do.” Adam flashes the server a grin and he’s gone before I can squeeze out another word.
I cringe when he says, “Trust me, you’ll love it.” My mouth is agape, but Adam doesn’t seem to notice, or care. He starts to answer my original question. “I do go out a bit with some of the guys from the office. We take fishing trips once a month, and I do enjoy golfing.”
“Oh, that’s great,” I say.
“Yeah, I also love going to this one bar, The Rabbit Hole. You ever been?” He asks without even looking at me. I turn my head to see what has caught his attention. This time, I do roll my eyes when I find it’s a tall, skinny blonde chick with cleavage for days. I try not to compare myself, but damn, it’d be nice to have his eyes on me—his date—right now instead. Perhaps that’s asking for too much nowadays. “No, I haven’t been.” I don’t even follow up with any more questions. If he wants to get to know me better, he can be the one to start asking questions.
The food arrives at our table. Adam looks over at my salmon salad and says, “I should’ve gotten that instead. Looks delicious, am I right?”
“Would you like to trade then?” I offer.
“Oh no, I’m not much of a salad guy. More of a surf ‘n’ turf, so this plate is much better for me. Thanks though.”
He’s got to be kidding. If only I wasn’t raised to be so dang polite. I want nothing more than to get up from this table, toss my glass of wine all over his Liam-replica suit, and walk away without looking back.
But what do I do instead? I sit there like a rock that can’t move while dying on the inside. I decide to eat only the salmon of my salad and down as much wine as possible. The waiter offers dessert, and right as Adam is about to order, I interrupt with, “Oh, actually, we’re both on a diet, but thank you.”
The server gives a smile and a nod before announcing that he’ll be right back with our check.
Adam stares at me blankly. We both sit in awkward silence until the bill arrives. If I had to guess, he’s giving me some type of silent treatment since I spoke up for the first time all night.This guy’s a real winner.
He pays the bill and says, “Well, you’re welcome.”Unbelievable.
“I do appreciate the dinner, but I can speak for myself.”
He gets up and offers me his hand. “You’re right. My apologies. Let’s blow this popsicle stand and get to the party, hmm?”
I hesitate to respond. He notices and follows up with, “Come on, Autumn, what do you say? Give our night out a second chance?”
I’ve tolerated him this much. I figure it can’t get much worse, right? “Sure, sounds great,” I say, hoping I don’t regret it.
Zayn’s eyes instantly meet mine from across the room. Of course he’s here. Even when I’m at some random dude’s house party. I’m unsure if people are just soaking in the nostalgia of the decade before or if they actually believe they’re still in high school. Yuck. Sometimes change is good.
I smile and give him a little wave. He waves back right as Adam steps in front of me.
“Who the hell was that?” Adam demands.
“A friend, if you must know,” I snap back.Why did I think it was a good idea to come to a party with him? The dinner was bad enough.
“Well, allow me to make some friends,” he says as he grabs hold of a random girl’s hand and swirls her around.
He whistles, and the girl eats it up as if he’s the best thing since sliced bread. I want to vomit. “I—uh, excuse me,” I say.
