The Little Life

Chapter Nine

Tasha and I decided she would sleep over again since we both worked the following day anyway. We spent the day cleaning up my apartment and googling Jack. We found out he has an older brother who's a child advocacy lawyer in New York, and his parents both work for the post office in his hometown of McAdenville, North Carolina.

As it neared seven o'clock, I started getting butterflies.

"I don't think I can do it" I said to Tasha as I paced back and forth in my living room with my thumb in my mouth.

"Babe! You have to chill. It's gonna be fine. You've already been so close to him like so many times. This is nothing new. You can do it. I belieeevvveeee in yooouuuu" she said as she shook my shoulders and put her forehead to mine, which did make me giggle and feel a little better.

804xxxxxxx: Hey sweetheart. What's your address so I can pick you up tonight?

"He just asked for my address! What do I do?" I asked Tasha nervously.

"Uhh I don't know, give it to him?" She laughed and jerked my phone out of my hand, then sent him my address and put my phone in her pocket. "We have to get you ready! It's 6 o'clock"

We spent the next 45 minutes arguing about my makeup look. I said a sultry Smokey eye looked stupid with my dress, but Tasha disagreed. We compromised and I ended up with a cat eye and subtle light blue eye shadow. Cat eye being her idea, of course.

Sure enough, at 7 o'clock on the dot there was a knock on my door.

"Okay I'm freaking out. Nevermind. I changed my mind. I don't wanna do this. Nope" I said as I ran into my bedroom and shut the door. That was no use, as I heard Tasha answer the door and let Jack in.

"I'll just go get her. Stay here" I heard her say as she ran through my apartment to me. "Calysta oh my fucking hell you have to come out and see this" she whispered once she was in my room.

"I-I'm coming just...just give me a minute" I said as I paced back and forth in my room, debating on jumping out of my window.

"Nope. We're going now" she said as she grabbed my arm and slid the door open pulling me out with her, giving me no time to protest.

"Good evening Miss Hawthorne. You look beautiful" Jack said as he stood in front of me in all his manly glory.

"Thank you. You do as well" I said as I felt my cheeks turning as red as a tomato. "I mean not beautiful because you know, you're a man. But handsome. You, um, you look, yeah"

He let out the sexiest laugh I've ever heard and I watched Tasha look at him with the look she gives a burger after a night of drinking.

"Well you two better get going" Tasha said as she pushed me further towards him. "See you later! Or not. Ya know, whatever" she winked and made me roll my eyes.

Jack and I said our goodbyes and made our way out of the building and into the parking deck. As we walked he placed his hand on my lower back to guide me, causing a shiver to move down my spine. We walked a bit into the parking deck before he took his keys out and unlocked the same BMW from Fallout. It wasn't a super expensive one, but it was nice.

He walked to the passenger side and opened my door for me, waiting for me to get situated before shutting it and returning to the drivers side.

"So where are we going?" I asked as he started the car and began to leave the parking deck.

"You like burgers?" He asked as he put on his left blinker and turned onto the main road.

"Yeah they're the best!" I answered excitedly. I was glad he wasn't taking me to some fancy, $100 a course restaurant.

"I have a little restaurant I like to go to. They have the best burgers in the city. I hope that's alright"

"Of course! That's totally fine. I love burgers. I'm actually really glad we aren't going somewhere fancy. I feared I was underdressed" I said as I let out a nervous laugh.

"You're dressed perfectly fine. You're beautiful" he said as he glanced over and shot me a toothy smile.

We drove for around twenty minutes before we arrived at the restaurant. The whole way we talked about our lives, including our families and hobbies and things like that. We've had a really nice time already and that was just the car ride. The longer I was with Jack, the more comfortable I became.

As we pulled up, he parallel parked beside the restaurant and told me to wait while he came around and opened my door for me, then took my hand as we made our way inside.

The name of the restaurant was Beauvine Burger Concept. From the outside it was a quaint looking restaurant that could probably be mistaken for a bar since the only signage was an appliqué on the front door. They had patio seating with globe string lights strewn across the top of the patio under the awning, which was beautiful at night.

When we walked in I was greeted with a small room filled with people. To the right there was a bar area and to the left were tables and high top seating. For a Wednesday night they sure were crowded, but that means they're really good.

We instantly got seated at the back of the restaurant at a small, two person table. Our waitress brought us waters and said she would be back to take our orders, leaving Jack and I alone again.

"So what do you think" he asked as he took a sip from the wine glass filled with ice water.

"It's gorgeous in here! I haven't been around the city much since I just moved here and I've been busy. It's nice to find new places to go" I said, following suit with my own water.

"It's a favorite of mine. My best friend Davis and I used to come here a lot to talk business. Have you decided what you want to eat?" He asked. I could see something in his eyes when he spoke about his friend, but I couldn't detect the specific emotion.

"I think I'm gonna go with the Belle Ringer. Everything sounds so good though!" I said, looking over the menu excitedly. I'm not gonna mention I'm getting it because it has the name of my favorite Disney Princess.

He laughed, "You're very cute when you're excited".

I could feel my face get hot as I looked down at the menu to break the awkwardness. Luckily the waitress returned to take our orders at the perfect time.

"Can I get either of you anything else to drink?"

"I'll take a root beer please. Do you want anything else sweetheart?" He asked, looking at me.

"Um, no, I'm okay. Thank you. Water is good"

"We're you and your daughter ready to order?" The waitress asked, looking at Jack. Oh boy. If I wasn't red before, I surely am now.

"I think we're ready. I'm going to have the Bellytimber burger with duck fat fries, and she'll take the Belle Ringer with the duck fat fries as well" he said, handing her the menus but not correcting her.

"Okay, those will be up for you shortly!" The waitress said as she walked away to put our orders in and get Jack his root beer.

This should be a fun night.