chapter 4

Dan threw his blazer on the couch and plopped down on it. Fatigue and frustration were a mild way to explain what he was feeling. Work hadn't exactly been the best and he didn't know how to deal with it.

His mother came down from the stairs and smiled when she saw him. She walked over to him and sat on the arm rest.

He noticed her presence but didn't acknowledge it because he was too tired to move, to speak. He had to, however, when she spoke up first.

“Hey. I knew I heard your car come in. How was work? "

He slowly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. His entire body felt numb, weak to move. He let out a sigh before answering.

“Hey mum. I am okay, work was okay. How're you?" He said it like a rehearsed response and Celia could see that he was in no mood to talk but she didn't stop.

“I'm okay. Just waiting for you to get back from work. We need to talk."

Nate frowned and lifted his head to look at his mother.

“What's going on? Are you okay?"

Celia could sense the look of concern on his face and she calmed him down.

“Yes, everything is fine. It's just that the date you agreed to, it's today."

Dan felt like he had been punched in the gut. First of all, he never remembered agreeing to go on one of the billion blind dates his mother always set him up on.

Second of all, the date was tonight. All he wanted to do was go upstairs, take a shower, and fall on his bed. He wasn't really hungry so he'll take care of that tomorrow. The last thing he thought he'd be doing was going to some fancy restaurants and sit across from some spoiled, over pampered brat and hear her talk about some lame fashion show or her latest trip to Paris.

For Dan, if he had never been to Paris, he would have known more than enough about the place from the way these girls spoke about it. But luckily he had so he just stayed quiet when some of them went the extra mile to lie about it.

That was really embarrassing to him but he didn't tell them. He told his mother instead but that didn't change a thing.

And for the love of Christ, he couldn't bring himself to say no to her. She had been his rock, his strength. She had stood by him through everything that happened.

He had always been a mummy's boy. Maybe it had something to do with the way he was a spitting image of her. The only differences were her gender (of course) and her long hair that was now a mixture of black and gray.

His mother was not very old, she just had that gene and so did he. He had seen the gray hair surface but they weren't obvious yet. Maybe in a couple of years.

Maybe it was because she was the only family he knew (except Micheal, of course). Things hadn't always been that way but life happened.

She had been there for him during Bright's death. He had wanted to be the son she needed, needed to be strong. But it was his first time experiencing grief and it had hit him below the belt.

To get back up on his feet had been a problem and he ended up having to need more care than he realized. She has instantly dropped her grief and focused on his, letting him heal off her.

“Mum, tonight? I don't think I can go, you have to reschedule or something. "

“No, I can't. I've rescheduled four times already. If l do anymore, Annah would think I'm standing her daughter up. She's a good friend, Dan."

He had already agreed to go in his mind but he still wanted to put up a little fight to see if she would cave in.

“Why do I get the feeling that you don't like Belinda and you don't want to go on this date with her? "

Bingo!

“That's because I don't know her enough to like her and you forcing me to go out with her isn't helping matters!"

She rolled her eyes and looked at him.

“The more reason you should go on the date so we can find out if you like her and if you don't, we can move on to the next option."

There was no use arguing with her. He had tried, he just never won. He pinched his temple, trying to gain some mental balance so he wouldn't go mad.

“Alright, I'll go pretend to like Belinda. Happy?"

He was already walking off when she whispered “Very happy."

Dread filled him as he made his way to the restaurant. During the drive, he had realized that he didn't know where he was going and he had to call her to ask..

His mother had given him her number as he was leaving so he'd be able to call her when he got there. He honestly didn't want to speak to her so he called his mother instead.

“Hey mum, can you ask her where she is? I don't really want to speak to her right now."

His mother ended the call and a few moments later she called back and gave him the address. He knew the place, it was a normal restaurant and he was surprised that a girl like her would pick a place like that.

The venue was a restaurant in the middle of town and it was a great spot. He spotted her as soon as he stepped out of the car.

The men at the restaurant had their eyes fixed on her and it was like the whole restaurant was fixed in a trance. A trance of her beauty. Interesting how Belinda barely realized it and just typed away on her phone.