Aurora (#1)

s e v e n t e e n

I reached Aldea just before five but Tom seemed to be early and he was already waiting for me, except his back was turned to me. I tapped his shoulder and he jerked before turning around. His eyes widened and I looked at him shyly.

"Wow. You look amazing." He breathed, smiling.

"You don't look too bad yourself." I said laughing.

"Seriously, you look beautiful." I blushed, looking anywhere but his eyes. "Shall we?" I nodded and he opened the door to a black escalade I hadn't noticed was standing there before. I slid into the seat and placed my clutch in my lap.

"Thanks Geoff." He said before we started driving.

"So you going to tell me where we're going?" I asked.

"No. It's a surprise. A date is supposed to be a surprise." He grinned cheekily.

"A little hint maybe?" I pleaded.

"Not going to happen." He chuckled.

"Fine then." I huffed.

"Tell me about yourself." He said after a few moments of silence.

"What do you want to know?" I asked.

"Anything."

"I'm seventeen. I go to John Weston academy. My favourite colour is red and I've never had a pet." I shrugged nonchalantly. I told him the same thing I told Christian, but its not like he needed to know anything else. "Your turn."

"I'm nineteen and I go to Columbia University and study business so I can take over from my father. He's big on keeping the business in the family."

"You should tell him if you don't want to do it."

"It's okay really. I don't mind. It's not like I know what I want to do instead." He said.

"Fair enough."

"I've been groomed all my life to become the CEO of the company and now I can't imagine my life doing anything else. Like my dad I have put everything into it so I feel the responsibility to take it from my dad once he retires. I hope there's a few years before I do have to take over but you never really know what can happen tomorrow."

"Firm believer of Carpe Diem?" I smirked.

"Definitely." He winked. We continued talking about meaningless things while I dodged any questions that meant that I had to talk about my parents. Soon enough we got through the evening traffic and we were parked in a parking lot. Tom glanced outside and then proceeded to open the door. I was about to open mine when I almost tumbled out because Tom had beaten me to it. He grinned at me as I looked up, flustered. He gave me his hand and got out the car as gracefully as I could. When we turned around I saw that there was a cruise waiting at the pier. I raised one eyebrow while Tom grinned boyishly at me.

We walked to the cruise and he helped me cross the gangplank and on to the boat. It was luxurious to say the least. The cruise had a very romantic feel to it, with beautiful smooth jazz playing and fairy lights strung everywhere. There were many other couples who had joined us, talking quietly with the respective partners.

"It's a dinner cruise that takes a tour around Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty." He explained.

"That sounds amazing." I whispered, still in awe of the luxury cruise liner. A waiter met us and showed us to our own private dining area and gave us a menu. I say menu but there were only two or three options of each of the four courses.

"Your choice of wine sir, madam?" the waiter asked.

"Just a coke and..."

"Pink lemonade." I said. The waiter nodded and hurried away to get our drinks.