TWELVE

Diane walked into the restaurant, her arm hooked into Jayden’s. They stopped at the entrance for a while, surveying the restaurant. “Wow, this place is actually beautiful.”

Jayden tightened his hold on Diane. “Yeah, it is,” he replied softly, staring down to look at her face. Diane looked up at him and gave him one of those beautiful smiles that melted his heart away. “Come on let’s get our seat.”

As they moved, a water intercepted them. “Good afternoon, sir, ma. How may we help you?”

“Good afternoon. I made a reservation under the name Jayden Hale.”

The waiter flopped through a pad. Then, he raised his head and smiled. “Of course. Come this way,” he said, turning to walk. Jayden and Diane followed him without complaint. He took them to a seat beside the window. “Here is your seat, Sir and Ma,” he stated.

Diane gave him a smile. “Thank you.”

“Can I take down your orders now?”

Diane picked up the menu on the table glancing through it. “I’ll have the spaghetti with sauce please,” she says, looking up and giving the waiter a small smile. “With some juice.”

“Of course. What about you, Sir?” the waiter asked Jayden who shrugged his shoulders and said, “Get me the steak.” The waiter nodded his head affirmatively and turned to leave.

Diane looked around, her eyes twinkling excitedly. “This restaurant is really beautiful. I can’t believe I’ve never been here before,” she said to Jayden. “How did you find this place, by the way?”

“Brought a couple of girls out here for lunch before,” he slipped out and immediately muttered a string of course under his breath. ‘Are you crazy?!’ he yelled at himself inwardly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean……”

“Oh, it’s okay,” Diane replied, waving her hand dismissively. “I feel honored to be among the girls you deem fit to take to lunch,” she said sarcastically, “although, I was the one who asked you to lunch.”

Jayden chuckled. “Well, I could ask you out to lunch one of these days,” he said.

“I'll be waiting.”

About ten minutes later, Diane and Jayden were served their orders. Immediately they were served, Diane dug into her food.

“Wow, they make delicious food too,” Diane said as she chewed and swallowed, taking a gulp of her juice. “I am so coming back to this place.”

Jayden chuckled. “So, how is the situation at home?” he asked, kindly and with concern. “I mean your sisters, you and your husband, you know.”

Diane shrugged. “Jayden, I’ll rather not talk about it,” she said honestly. “The situation at home is not nice and whenever I can, I try not to think about it. Can we just have a peaceful and enjoyable dinner, please?” she said, her voice small.

The sadness in her voice constricted Jayden’s heart painfully. He reached out and placed his hand on her hand, squeezing it. “Of course,” he said.

Diane nodded and let out a small smile, turning to concentrate on her food.

Meanwhile, Nicholas and Ashley walked into the restaurant, arm in arm. While Nicholas was dressed in black suit, Ashley wore a short, stretchy and strapless blue dress with black stilettos. Her face was caked with make up and her hair was styled into curly waves.

A waitress sauntered towards them. “Good afternoon sir,” she greeted politely.

“We have a reservation under the name Langston,” Nicholas said without bothering to reply her greeting.

“Of course sir. Come with me. I’ll take you to your private booth.”

Nicholas and Ashley followed behind till he led them to a booth at the corner of the restaurant. They slipped into it.

“Make yourselves comfortable while I take your orders. Before you order your lunch, would you like anything? Something to drink? Appetizers?” the waitress asked.

“Diet Coke,” Ashley replied.

“I will like some orange juice,” Nicholas said.

“Right sir and ma. The menu is on the table. You can make your orders when I bring your drinks.”

Nicholas nodded and the waitress walked away.

“I like this place,” Ashley said. “It’s really classy, elegant and exquisite,” she added.

Nicholas smiled. “That’s good to know. I knew you would like it.”

Ashley beamed. “Nick, I would like to go shopping after lunch.”

“Of course.”

“Thanks babe.”

Ashley looked at his cap covered hair. “The dye hasn’t worn off yet.”

Nicholas sighed. “Yeah.”

“Good thing you are covering it with the cap. I don’t think I would be able to sit with you if you have such colored hair.”

“Why not?”

“Colored hair? Especially Pink and Purple? Nah. Those colors aren’t for men.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah! Don’t tell me your favorite color is pink or purple.”

“No, of course not. But men can like pink too. Just saying.”

“Here are your drinks,” the waitress interrupted as she served them. “Have you decided on what you will like to order?”

“Yeah. Get me some salad,” Ashley replied.

“I’m okay with the juice,” Nicholas replied.

The waitress nodded with a smile. “Of course.” And walked away.

“So like mum has been calling me for these past few days like she wants me to come home and some shit. She wants me to come and model for her fashion line. And I’m like gosh mum! Not yet. I’m so busy right now. And I’m not so sure I can model for her again. I mean it’s been a while I did that but she doesn’t even listen to me. Like she keeps pestering me. Oh! And did I tell you that my dad just bought a new Mercedes…..awesome, yeah I know. And…….”

She kept ranting on and on about herself as usual. Nicholas didn’t even understand what she was talking about again but he just nodded his head a few times to show that he was listening. Suddenly he raised his head a little bit and his gaze stopped at…..

Diane.

What is she doing here, he thought. She was seated with a man. He frowned, staring intently at the back of his head. He seemed familiar.

He watched as she laughed to something that the man said. Her lovely rosy cheeks inflated as she laughed. She brushed some parts of her hair to the back but they kept falling forward. She was so beautiful. He felt the rush of emotions in his chest as he stared at her beautiful smiling face.

He couldn’t believe he was feeling like this. Yeah, he had always known was a beautiful woman and he will be stupid to not find her attractive. But ever since the night they spent together in the living room, three days ago, he had being feeling so different and conflicted. He had found himself fantasizing about what it would be like to gather her smallish frame in his arms and kiss her; what it would be like to kiss every inch of her body; to undress every piece of her clothing, to spread her out on the bed and………..

No, no, no, he cautioned himself, shaking his head furiously. Remember, you hate her, he thought, shaking his head. He watched as she stood up, whispered something to the man and walked to the toilet. He stared at the way she walked, swaying her hips from side to side.

“Nicholas,” Ashley’s voice jerked him from his thoughts.

“Yes?” He looked at her.

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Hmm….yeah, Ash, I kind of need to use the toilet. I’m coming.” Without waiting for a reply, he stood up and dashed towards the toilet.

*

*

Diane had just finished using the toilet. She stood in front of the sink to wash her hands. As she looked into the mirror in front of her she saw Nicholas standing behind her and leaning on the door frame with his arms folded. She flinched and turned around suddenly.

She frowned at him. “Were you trying to scare me?” she asked, a little surprised.

He smiled. “Maybe.”

“Too bad. What are you even doing here?”

“This is a public place. People come here all the time. I’m here with my girlfriend.”

“Ashley is here? Why am I not surprised?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

“This obviously looks like a place she would like to come to. You know, classy and extravagant.”

“You make her sound like a gold digger.”

“No offence but isn’t she?”

Nicholas chuckled and walked towards her. “Why are you here?”

“Like you said, this is a public place and people come here all the time. What are you even doing in the females' toilet?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.” Against his wish, he found himself taking another step towards her.

She moved a step backwards.

He took another step forward.

“Stop….” Diane couldn’t complete her sentence as his masculine scent filled her nostrils. Gosh! She knew she was attracted to him. She just didn’t consider that it could be as bad as this.

Nicholas leaned closer, placing his hands on the sink on both sides of Diane and caging her between the sink and himself. He didn’t even know what he was doing. He didn’t stop to think about what he was doing. He just did it. He lowered his head towards her. His eyes dropped to her full lips.

Diane felt dazed by his closeness and the intensity of his gaze. She darted out her tongue quickly and licked her lips.

Nicholas groaned. “Diane,” he whispered, dipping his head low and placing a chaste kiss on her lips.

Diane’s heart lurched painfully. Her heart stuttered at first, then, began beating at a very fast rate. “Nick, what are you doing?” she stammered. She was filled with conflicting emotions. A part of her wanted to push him away and tell him to go to hell. But there was this other part of her that wanted to grab him and kiss him hard and good. “Nick?”

He didn’t reply. Instead, he skimmed her cheeks with his fingers. “You have lovely cheeks,” he whispered and placed kisses on both cheeks.

Diane’s face warmed as she became hot and red. Nicholas warm breath fanned her face, causing her blush to deepen. “Nick,” she whispered again.

“Sssshh,” he hushed her as he cupped her cheeks and finally did what he had been aching to do days ago. He lowered his mouth to hers in a passionate kiss.