Beth was awakened by the sound of her cell phone ringing. She blindly reached for her phone on the bedside table and looked at the caller ID.
"Hello?" she answered groggily, her voice still crackly from sleep.
"Sister! Where are you? We're waiting for you at the buffet!" Jenny told her somewhat frantically.
"What time is it?"
"10 na."
Beth bolted upright and quickly ran to the bathroom, still holding the phone to her ear.
"Sister, I'm so sorry! I just woke up."
"Evidently. By the way, is Jake with you? He's MIA din."
"What?" she spit the toothpaste out of her mouth and put the phone on speaker as she tied her hair up in a bun. "He's not with me. I haven't seen him since last night." She applied an apricot scrub onto her palms and started washing her face.
"Oh yeah, speaking of! You need to tell me all about your hot date! What did you guys do?"
"Jen, I'm trying to hurry up here," Beth chuckled.
"Brunch can wait. This is far more interesting," Jenny said excitedly.
Beth pulled a knee-length white sundress out of the closet and slipped it over her head. "We had dinner on the beach and then we went to a karaoke lounge. "
"Elaborate..."
Beth started applying a tinted moisturizer on. "He sang 'Don't Stop Believing' for me. With a dedication and everything. Sis, he was horrible...but oh so endearing! He had the crowd falling over him. Then we sang a duet."
"He got you to sing?! In front of an audience?! What?!"
"Yeah. Amazing, right?"she finished applying a light pink lip gloss and placed her feet into espadrille wedge sandals. "I'm on my way there."
"Don't you dare hang up!" Jenny yelled. "What I really want to know is what happened after the date!"
"We kissed."
She heard Jenny begin to shriek and immediately pressed the end button. She giggled to herself and put her sunglasses over her eyes even though she was indoors. She wasn't much of a drinker and the four vodka tonics gave her a hangover! She just stepped onto the lobby when she saw Jake striding towards her, dressed casually in plaid shorts and a white t-shirt, also sporting sunglasses over his eyes. They met halfway and without saying anything, he placed a gentle kiss on her lips.
"Good morning, baby girl," he said as if he didn't just steal a kiss from her, like it was a natural occurring thing for them.
"Good morning."she grinned at him. She was surprised that the kiss didn't bother her. She didn't know why she just felt so at ease with Jake. She knew in her heart and mind that things were moving at a rapid pace between them, but she couldn't deny it anymore. She was really attracted to Jake. She also wanted to spend more time with him!
"How did you sleep?" Jake broke into her thoughts. He grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers as they fell into step heading towards the buffet.
"So-so. Kulang."
"I slept horribly, too. I was kept up by a certain woman. A certain long-haired woman with porcelain skin, enchanting eyes, a cute nose, kissable lips," he paused and leaned closer to her, "very kissable lips..." he paused again and gave her another kiss. She smacked him on the shoulder and giggled before letting him continue.
"As I was saying," he continued with a smirk. "I just kept thinking about this woman. She's about your height...actually, she looks a lot like you," he jokingly assessed her. He pulled her sunglasses down revealing her eyes. "Oh. She is you!" He placed her sunglasses back over her eyes and brought the hand he was holding up to his lips and kissed it. He couldn't help himself. He promised to take it slow, but Beth hadn't protested anything he was doing, so he figured she liked it.
