Prequel- Chapter 9: First Date

Alena Fleur

"You are a man of your words, I see," I teased when I opened the door and found Elian sporting a red denim jacket.

"I had to go buy this," he grumbled, rolling his eyes.

I laughed and kissed his cheek. "Baby, it was a joke, though."

Yesterday, after my exams were over after one week, we were riding on his motorbike when I told him that he had to wear something red for me since we missed our chance to celebrate Valentine's Day. It was solely for the purpose of teasing him. As expected, he profusely denied it, but in the end, he gave in to my persistence and said that he would wear a red denim jacket or shirt.

The more time I spent with him, the more I realized he was the perfect guy for me. He knew when to say yes to me and when not to. He told me no when I asked him to come to my place on Valentine's Day, despite my midterms being ongoing. Apparently, because he knew he distracted me. However, he sent me a huge box of chocolates instead, which would also help with my stress-eating.

"I know," Elian said, then added playfully, "But you have to admit this jacket does look good on me, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does," I agreed wholeheartedly. "You can pull off any look. If you couldn't, I wouldn't even be dating you."

"And here I thought you weren't superficial."

"Oh, I'm superficial, alright. I mean it. Thank your parents for the good genes," I joked.

"I'll be sure to let them know." He winked at me, and I swear my stomach did a flip-flop.

I glanced down at my red crop top and black ripped jeans and asked, "How do I look?"

He smiled and kissed my nose. "Perfect as always, babe. Because I wouldn't settle for someone any lesser, either."

I grinned ear to ear and cheered, "I have taught you well!"

After our little flirting, I locked my door before wrapping my arm around his and happily hopping toward his car.

"Where are we going first?" I asked once I was done securing the seatbelt around me.

"That's a surprise—"

"I hate surprises," I cut him off bluntly.

"Okay then. We are going to an escape room," he simply said, and I smiled at the fact that he always rolls with me so fast.

"Escape room? That's a unique idea. Where did you get it from?" I inquired while he pulled out of the driveway.

"My best friends suggested it."

"Your best friends?" I arched an eyebrow. "You have never talked about them before. I was starting to think you were actually a loner behind your popular facade," I joked.

Elian chuckled. "To be frank, I really don't like making a lot of friends, but those two have stuck with me since childhood. They are like bugs I can't get rid of."

I laughed at the universal tendency to insult the best friends and asked him, "Do they go to our university?"

"No. Jace goes to UCLA. Ash took a two-year degree and started working. He comes to hang out with me at the campus sometimes."

"What are both of them like?"

"Annoying," he grumbled.

I chuckled. "What else?"

"Nah. Just annoying," he shrugged.

"C'mon, tell me."

"No, you tell me. Do you have a best friend?" he asked.

"Yes, I do! Her name is Abigail. I call her Abs, though. She doesn't actually have abs, by the way—which brings me to, do you have abs?" I asked out of curiosity.

He shook his head in disbelief at how fast I derailed from the topic and looked at me with a mischievous glint. "What do you think?"

My eyes roamed over his physique and the answer was obvious, yet I decided to say, "Well, I guess I will just find out tonight."

"Only if I let you."

"Like you can resist me."

"Can't deny that."

###

"That was really fun!" I exclaimed, getting out of the escape room Elian had brought me to.

"You surprised me there. You solved it like Sherlock Holmes," he complimented.

I raised the imaginary collar of my dress and said, "Of course. I am the—" I narrowed my eyes at him, offended. "Wait, did you think I was dumb?"

"Did I think one of the top students at Stanford was dumb?" He pretended to think hard, then admitted, "Am I crazy?"

"Good." I smiled in satisfaction and intertwined our hands while walking toward his car. I discovered that I really liked holding his hand. They felt so big and callused against mine; it was a soothing feeling.

From my peripheral vision, a bakery caught my attention.

"Look, that's my favorite bakery!" I squealed, pointing at the store like an excited child. "I want to go in there!"

"But we only have thirty minutes left until the movies," Elian reasoned.

"I will die if I don't have those brownies right away," I insisted dramatically. "We don't have to sit in. We will just have it parceled. We won't be late for the movies, I swear."

He gave it another thought, then nodded. "Fine."

A full-blown grin formed on my face at the thought of getting desserts. I grabbed his arm and started sprinting toward the bakery when I heard my phone ring.

I halted and pulled out my phone from my purse.

I froze up seeing the name flash on the screen, color draining out of my face.

"Babe? It's your mom, pick up," Elian said.

"Oh. Um, yeah, right." I composed myself and silenced my phone and said, "Baby, why don't you go wait in the car and I will bring over the desserts?"

He gave me a skeptical look. "Why, though?"

"I will tell you later."

He eyed for a good few seconds before reluctantly agreeing, "Okay," and going back toward his car.

I sighed and returned my mom's call.

"Hey, Mom."

"Hey, Alena! How are you doing? How were your exams?" came her excited voice.

I glanced at Elian's back and felt my heart twisting in guilt. I wanted to tell my mom about him, but I couldn't. But she wouldn't understand my feelings for him–about how happy he made me. She never tried to. Like other girls, I wanted to tell her all about my adorable boyfriend. But I had accepted it a long time ago that I would never be able to do that.

"—I hope you aren't feeling too lonely in your apartment." Little did she know that Elian helped ease that loneliness. "You should have just stayed at the dorms. I get worried for you now that you live all alone."

"Don't worry, Mom. I'm doing well." I had someone to protect me now. I wasn't alone anymore. "Anyway, I'm out right now, so I can't talk right now. I will call you later." I hung up the call and let out a relieved sigh, then I started wondering how I was going to explain Elian the situation with my parents.

As I wasn't paying enough attention to where I was walking, I ended up misplacing my foot and tripping over like a cartoon character.

I landed on my knees in the middle of the walkway and all the bystanders immediately stopped to help me. They started to ask me if I was hurt, and for some reason, from my position on the ground, they all looked funny. Because why wasn't any one of them laughing at me?

My fall was so funny. It was like God scolding me to stop overthinking.

Since no one else did the honor, I myself burst out laughing and their concerned expressions turned into confusion.

"Why are you laughing?" came the familiar voice of my boyfriend who rushed to me from the car.

When he met my laughing eyes, for some reason, he started laughing too.

The concerned crowd around us dissipated, concluding that we were a pair of nutjobs and moving on.

Elian kneeled in front of me, still laughing. "Are you okay?" he asked.

I shook my head, wheezing. "No, I think I might have scraped my knee. It hurts."

"God, why are you laughing if it hurts?"

My laughter roared louder, and my stomach started to hurt. "I don't know. You are laughing, too."

"I'm laughing because you are laughing."

It was weird. It didn't make sense to laugh right now. We were being bizarre.

"I just can't stop myself, though."

We continued laughing for a few more seconds before Elian decided to help me up and take me inside the bakery. There was an empty booth where he made me sit.

Only the exposed skin of my ripped jeans was bleeding slightly. Other than that, nowhere else hurt.

Elian brought an alcohol pad from reception to apply it to my knee.

"It's going to hurt," he warned.

"I like the hurt," I let out, and he gave me a murderous look. I blew him a kiss and said, "Just joking."

He shook his head, then prepared himself to apply it to my wound. But since he was taking too much time, I ended up dabbing it on the injury myself. He hissed, slapping my hand away, which made me chuckle at how cute he was.

"So what desserts do you want?" he inquired when he was done inspecting any other injuries.

"Three chocolate brownies and one red velvet cake."

His lips curved upwards at the mention of red velvet cake. He thought I would forget what he liked?

"I will get them, then we can go to the movies if you still want," he informed.

I twitched my lips and asked, "Are you giving me an option?" The perfect idea had just struck me.

He threw me a hesitating look and nodded.

I grinned ear to ear and said, "Then let's get a lot more desserts and go to your place!"

###

Elian stopped the car at the garage of an expensive-looking tall building, and I realized that he had been lying all this time when he said my apartment fell on his way to the university.

A bullshit lie.

But it made me like him even more. Because of the efforts he put in for me.

I quietly followed him into the elevator where he pressed the topmost button. We reached the penthouse and he typed in the pin and opened the door for me.

"Welcome to my not-so-humble-rather-fancy abode," he said with a flair and a butler-like bow.

I chuckled. "I have to agree, it is fancy." I glanced around the modern duplex penthouse. "But it's very lacking in decorations. Have you ever moved around a single piece of furniture since you moved in here?" I demanded with a hand on my hip.

His deer-caught-in-the-headlights expression gave me my answer.

"How long have you been living here?"

"Two and a half years," he mumbled.

"Seriously? How can a person be so lifeless as to not want to decorate their own place?" I rebuked. "It's beyond my understanding."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, you can decorate the place to your taste."

"You bet I am going to," I instantly said. "This is such a lovely place, and I seriously cannot let it go to waste with your zero sense of art."

"Some coffee?" he offered in order to get out of my grilling.

"Sure," I sighed and followed him into the open kitchen. It was very neat and untouched—just like how I liked it. I could tell he didn't like to cook, and my feelings were mutual on that.

I sat on the kitchen counter and watched him as he moved around the big space, looking for mugs, then coffee beans, sugar, milk... I was no longer focused on what he was looking for because my eyes were just trained on him, an unfamiliar but familiar heat coiling in between my legs.

"I'm sorry for ruining your perfect plan," I mumbled out of nowhere. I knew that he liked following a detailed plan, and a part of him must have hated diverting from that plan.

He waved his hand in dismissal and said, "Don't pay mind to that. I'm happy as long as you are happy."

A smile blossomed on my face as I beckoned, "Hey, come here."

He stopped pouring the coffee beans into the cup and walked over to me. "What is it?"

I snaked my arms around his neck and said, "Remember last week how I told you I wanted to jump on you?"

His breath hitched, only now realizing what I was implying. "Yeah?"

I smiled and brought my lips to his ear to whisper, "I want to do that now."

I had always been straightforward about what I wanted, and this time was no exception. I wanted him in ways I never thought I would want anyone. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would want to sleep with a guy on the first date. But Elian? He made me want to throw all my convictions out of the window.

Elian placed his hands on my waist and asked, "Are you sure?"

"More than I have ever been."

I wasn't sure what the future held for us, but I did know for sure that in the present I wanted to be with him and I would never regret it.