After a long, exhausting day of classes, you reluctantly prepare for the blind date your best friend forgot to tell you about until yesterday. Ever since you started college you've been so caught up wth your work that you completely forgot about dating. You twirl in front of the mirror, watching your simple burgundy dress spin elegantly around the space. Checking your phone one last time, you see a new message from Emily...
« Good luck tonight, you can thank me later! »
You sigh as you close the door to your dorm and jump into the uber.
Pulling up to the restaurant, your nerves take over. "What if he doesn't like me??...what if I don't like him??....what if??"
You pay the Uber and stare at the restaurant standing in front of you, it's fancier than you expected and you wonder if you dressed properly. Taking a deep breath you push open the door and step inside.
A man in a suit greets you as soon as you're indoors and leads you to a table in the corner. You spot a table of two with one seat already occupied. You can only see the back of his head. "Could that be him? But I'm 5 minutes early? Nobody is ever earlier than me?". The waiter points at the table and you slowly walk over.
The man sees you and jumps out of his seat. He's wearing a white shirt and black pants. His sky blue eyes staring at you with astonishment. His wavy chestnut hair is pushed off his face but one long curl fell over his forehead as he stood up. There's something about the way he smiles, it is a smile so genuine and sweet that I can feel the warmth of it rush through my body. For a second, we both stood there, captivated by each other's eyes. He slowly held out a hand towards me.
« - You must be ________, I'm Harrison... Harrison Osterfield.
- Nice to meet you Harrison. »
You stutter as your reach out your hand to meet his. You expect him to shake your hand but he holds it tight and pulls you towards your seat. He lets go of your hand to pull your chair out and you find yourself disappointed that he let go.
«Your seat Madam » he says as he pulls your chair out and ushers you to sit down. You blush pathetically as you sit, taking your eyes off his for less than two seconds. He sits down across from you and he mentions how beautiful you look.
You talk for two hours straight about everything and nothing. You started by talking about family and university and somehow ended up talking about hopes and dreams. Surprisingly you both have a lot in common and never ran out of things to say. The waiter appears and asks if you would like to see the dessert menu. Secretly you would die for some ice cream but don't want to come across as greedy. Before you manage to say anything Harrison says:
« - Actually, I think I'll take this lovely lady to the new ice cream store down the street.
- Magnificent idea sir! »
The waiter puts the check on the table and Harrison beats you to it. He insists on paying even though you said you would pay for your half. Yet again, you blush. He's the sweetest guy you've ever met.
As you are both walking to the ice cream store, Harrison shyly inches his hand slightly towards yours, and you can feel the warmth of his fingertips press against yours. You move your hand around his and your fingers slip into his palm. His beady blue eyes glistened in the moonlight and he smiles like he did when he first saw you. You arrive at the ice cream store and order a vanilla scoop while Harrison orders a chocolate one. Sitting at one of the round tables you have a debate over which ice cream flavor is the best. After about 5 minutes one of the employees jokingly tells you to get a room and you both smirk and stare at each other awkwardly. You check your watch, 10pm!!! You can hardly believe you spent 3 hours talking, it hardly even felt like an hour. Harrison realizes how late it must be and offers to drive you back to your dorm.
He pulls up in front of the door and walks around the car to open your door. You step out and he leads you all the way to your the doormat. There, you both stand facing each other. You thank him for such an amazing evening and he tells you that he would love to do it again sometime. He seemed almost eager to get the formalities over with. He took a small step forward and shyly leaned in and kissed your cheek.
When he leaned back he had moved forward so that the tips of our shoes nearly touched. We pause, looking into each other's eyes. His eyes look blue from afar, but now that he's close I notice the the whole sky is stuck in them. They're bright and liquid warm, sprinkled with lighter specs of blue, framed by beautiful thick lashes. We both know what's coming and I glance away, then shyly look back at him. I love that he's taller than me, so I reach up and let my arms hang softly about his neck. My heart beats faster as he lifts his hand up and brushes a lock of hair behind my ear. Shivers run down my spine as our foreheads rest against each other. Slowly we both lean in and his lips press against mine. In that moment I forgot about the world and what surrounded us. When he pulled away my eyes were still closed and when I opened them I saw him smile a new kind of smile. He turned away and walked back to his car.
I turned the lock of my house and stepped inside. Once the door was shut I leaned against it. Thinking about what had just happened. It was the kiss of a man who seemed to have waited years for this moment. A kiss like this was a beginning, a promise of much more to come.
